Drinking the blood of a vampire creates a strong one-way bond between the drinker and the vampire. To create a full blood bond (a 'three-step' bond), the blood of a vampire must be drunk on three separate nights:
- After the first drink, the drinker will feel a mild affection for the vampire for the rest of the night, perhaps not something that would even be noticed as unusual.
- After the second drink, this feeling grows into a genuine affection that will last up to a full week. If this is at odds with the drinkers normal feelings, they may suspect something is out of place when this wears off.
- After the third drink, the drinker is blood-bonded - in effect, in 'love' with the vampire.
When a vampire drinks another vampire's blood, the drinker will know, without fail, that the blood is powerful. An elder's blood is likewise even more powerful. Whether the drinker realizes what this means depends on experience- considerations such as have they knowingly drank vampire blood before, not counting their embrace. Either way they will recognize it as potent and powerful.
A 'drink' is defined as at least one blood point transferred via the +blood code, in game terms. In 'real' terms, one blood point represents at least a half a pint in volume, up to a full pint for those of 1st Sanguinis. This is quite a large quantity and means that it is all but impossible to 'accidentally' make someone a ghoul or one-step bond them. Nor can you do so subtly- say by spiking the victim's wine, having your lip cut as you kiss them, etc. Fill that goblet with pure vitae and make 'em drink it. Vampirism and ghouling is a bloody business, and anything less than a full blood point will have no effects on the recipient, besides perhaps tasting odd as noted above.
A blood bond is effectively permanent in the game for vampires and lasts a full century without a drink. However, the bond is less permanent for mortals. Mortals must drink from the bonding vampire (a.k.a regnant) at least once a year, and blood bonds of mortals have been known to fail in as little as 3 to 6 months if the the vampire has absolutely no form of contact with the mortal thrall. This also means that in game terms, a vampire character must log in at least once every 30 RL days or risk losing the blood bonds of mortal/ghouled player characters. Those lost bonds will reset to a 'two-step' (two drinks) bond.
1The Final Death of a vampire instantly dissolves any bonds to those it has in thrall and its thralls experience this as a psychic shock. A mortal or ghoul's death will free it from a bond; though unless they have been Embraced they are now dead and it hardly matters anymore. A sire that Embraces a ghoul who has been at their side for decades may find that the new Childe's devotion to them is not quite what they are used to.
A few rules:
- A vampire cannot blood-bond their own sire, or any of their direct progenitors — the bond will automatically fail. ("Uncles" are fair game.)
- A person (vampire or mortal) can only be subject to one blood bond; only the first bond put in place holds power. There is no limit to the number of bonds a character may inflict. It is rumored that certain very powerful Tremere rituals can break blood bonds.
- Someone who is blood bonded may be commanded by their regnant via Dominate, without eye contact being required, and without any range restrictions. However, the regnant must still communicate the command to the subject and use the dominate power at the moment they receive the message - but this may be by telephone, or even delayed recording if the timing is perfect. Yes, this is an exception to our technology theme, although not an exception in that a character best hope they have good cell reception.
- With regard to all social contests, a character can claim advantage over any other character who drinks their vitae for the rest of the IC night on which they drank. This advantage occurs even if the victim is already blood bonded to another vampire.
Your character's IC knowledge of Bloodbonds is recorded in your vampire lores. Hence, if you don't have the appropriate lore levels, you should RP ignorance of all of the above.
Blood Bond Commands
Players can track to whom their characters are bound, the number of drinks drunk of their character, and the number of drinks drunk of another character. Architects are permitted to see all bonds.
| Command | Usage |
| +bond/list | Lists the number of drinks to and from other characters |
| +bond/list <name> | Lists the number of drinks to and from other characters from <name> |
