E M E R A L D C I T Y C H R O N I C L E S
GAMEPLAY: PERMUTATIONS: BACKROUNDS: STATUS
Status works a little differently in V20 than it does in Revised V:tM, but not actually that differently than the status system we made up for our pre-reset game a while ago.
First, status is described briefly in the V20 Core book on pg 118 - however there is a lot more information available in the V20 Companion starting on pg 17. It gets a whole chapter. Please read this chapter, as it is a pretty core element of the V20 game.
Status is broken down into two catagories: the Status background & granted Titles. The Status background works a lot like the 'personal status' of old, and Titles are like 'positional status'. See the Titles page for more on those.
BACKROUND CAPPED BY CASTE
The Status background is capped by a character's Caste rarity bead draw at character creation like so:
-
Common: Max 2
-
Uncommon: Max 4
-
Rare: Max 5
Players need to draw a Caste bead at character creation which allows the character to meet certain prerequisites. As long as you are playing a character in that Caste you can never raise your character's Status background above that number in our game, ever.
 Allies |
|---|
 Alternate Identity |
 Anarch Information Exchange |
 Armory |
 Black Hand Membership |
 Buisiness |
 VampireClans.png |
 Communal Haven |
 Contacts |
 Domain |
 Fame |
 Generation |
 Herd |
 Influence |
 Mentor |
 Mob.jpg |
 Prestation |
 Resources |
 Retainer |
 Rituals |
 Status |
 Titles |
WHO CAN GRANT THE STATUS BACKGROUND
Firstly, Players can purchase it for their characters at character creation, per normal background cost. You're only limited by the Caste cap associated with your Caste Rarity bead draw. (If you're spending banked XP during character creation, then backgrounds cost the same as Abilities with XP). After that though, they can't be bought with XP, they can only be granted or taken away with in-character actions.
Otherwise, the status background is granted or stripped by the Prince or anyone she designates, (no lower than zero and no higher than the Caste rarity cap associated with the player's bead draw). She may set any rules she wishes on who may grant or strip standing, as long as the Caste cap stands. Granted status backgrounds do not have 'traits', or words associated with deeds in V20, it's just a general ranking of how well thought-of a character is.
Traditionally, a number of other titled court members may give negative dots of status in the course of their duties, such as a Keeper, when someone violates, or comes near to violating their declared Elysium or a Sherriff that is pissed they have to go through a protective Elder to interrogate a Neonate about a potential breach of a Tradition, but all status moves are subject to ratification or veto by a city's Prince. If a Prince decides their Seneshal may not grant negative status for some politically expedient reason or another, then she may simply deny her court member that aspect of her power if she wishes. The long term effects of this kind of tight grasp on her power however, may have unforseen political consequences.
Traditionally, (again, the key word here) those who may move around the Status
background via the power of their Title may only do so for acts that occur within their own Domain or to Kindred who reside there. Justicars, Archons, and Alastor's power to manipulate the standing of Kindred is often treated as absolute, globally, at least to the representative's face. To do otherwise invites the scruitiny of the Inner Circle, and no wise Prince wishes that for any length of time. Therefore, they are traditionally exempt from this limitation.
Kindred of the following offices can only grant and strip as many status per night as they have willpower to spend on enforcing their Title (more about Titles on that page). Any further limitations on these positions' ability to grant or strip Status background dots will be listed below:
-
The only Kindred that can grant the Status background are Princes & Justicars.
-
The only Kindred that can strip the Status background are Princes, Justicars and Harpies, (during a scandal).
Other Titles may traditionally stripf Status (listed below):
-
Justicars have no limitations on granting or stripping Status background dots. They are effectively domain-less Princes.
-
Archons, and Alastors have no further limitations on giving negative background dots.
-
Princes have no further limitations, however recognizing the standing of another by offering to extend their city's Hospitality does not count toward the Prince's nightly total willpower expenditures. Princes may grant or remove both the status background dots of another Kindred in their city and they may grant or take away Titles, both negative and positive. Princes may not exeed the Caste rarity cap of a character when granting the status background.
-
Seneschals may traditionally, when the Prince is absent, bestow the Prince's Hospitality (Read: call off the Scourge) by choosing to recognize the status background of a new arrival to the city. The decision may be revoked by the Prince if she chooses to do so. Seneschals may traditionally give negative Titles or strip a status background dot if the Prince has specified that as a power he gives the Seneschal. It is usually unheard of for all but a puppet Prince to allow their Seneshal to grant or strip Titles unless specifically agreed upon beforehand.
-
The Primogen of a clan may strip a dot of the status background from a member of their clan only. Like all uses of Title, it costs a temporary willpower to do this, though the act must be appropriate to their standing in the eyes of the Prince or risks being rejected by the Prince or her designates. There is a difference between the Clan Head and the Primogen in V20. For more on this, see the Titles Page.
-
Whips may no longer act as the Primogen when not present in V20. (That's not a power of the Primogen to grant any longer, nor a power of the Whip itself. In our game, Whips are appointed by the Clan Head. The Clan Head may also strip that Clan Title. For more about Clan Titles, see the Titles Page.
-
-
The Harpy is the only in-city Camarilla title that is not bestowed by the Prince. Staff grants the title based who they believe is actually the most influential Kindred in the city. The Harpy can strip backround dots or bestow negative Titles. In order to do this, the Harpy must go about the city extolling the vitures of the Kindred in question. The Harpy can Strip the Status background by holding a Salon in which they explain to members of the city why the Kindred deserves their ire and discontent. The Harpy may target any member of the Domain, even the Prince. At the conclusion of the salon, Staff polls those present individually OOC and asks which characters have been swayed by the Harpy. If the Haprpy was convincing, by majority, the status background is docked. Harpies may not grant new dots of the Status backround.
-
Keepers of Elysium may traditionally give a negative background Status to any Kindred they catch breaching Elysium or the Masquerade within their Prince's city.
-
Sheriffs may traditionally strip a background status dot to anyone who refuses to accompany them for questioning or judgment while they are within their Prince's own city. They may also remove a background status from any Kindred who refused to aid or actively hinders the Sheriff in the course of his duties. They can grant and strip the Title of Hound (deputy).
-
Scourges may strip a status background dot from any Kindred that is discovered to be harboring or abetting Vampires created without the Prince’s permission or who have not been presented formally to the Prince of the Domain.
-
Assistant Titles' powers are drawn from, and defined by the powers of the primary Title holder, but cannot exceed that position's power.
ANARCH REP
The Anarch Status background is only capped in terms of it being limited to an in-city level (1-5) as an Anarch's rep is puerely based on deeds. Getting the Movement to recognize an Anarch's status requires certain actions to be taken that staff can guide you through if you happen to be playing one of these Uncommon concepts.
-
In the case of an Anarch, a Baron may grant anarch status (commonly called 'rep').
-
An Anarch Baron is not constrained by the raised eyebrows of Elder Anarchs regarding the age cap, but few Barons have an interest in the exceedingly Camarilla-like behavior of keeping track of standing. Additionally, patting a Neonate on the head for every milk-run or scouting mission with a dot of rep rarely leads to respect within the Movement.
-
Most Rep is given out when an Anarch truly does something worthy of more than just local attention, ie. "Really fucking cool." For guidelines, look at the actual levels of Anarch Rep described in the book, that describe specific feats associated with Rep at each level.
