10 Animalistic Features

For Gangrel With

Anger Management issues

The Beast Within Released

by Travis Legge

2 10 Animalistic Features
 “Your ears you keep and I’ll tell you why. So that every
shriek of every child at seeing your hideousness shall be yours
to cherish—every babe that weeps at your approach, every
woman that cries out ‘Dear God, what is that thing?’ will
echo in your perfect ears.”
- William Goldman, The Princess Bride
Credits: Special Thanks:
Written By: Travis Legge Daniel “Can I have a Marsupial Pouch?”
Developed By: Travis Legge McDorman whose Gangrel, Omar, was the
Edited By: Sarah Scharnweber inspiration for this book.

See Dan’s RPG work at http://www.drivethrur-

pg.com/browse.php?x=0&y=0&author=Da-
niel%20McDorman

See Travis’s work at Storytellers Vault: http://

www.storytellersvault.com/browse.php?au-
thor=Travis%20Legge

DMs Guild: http://www.dmsguild.com/browse.

php?author=Travis%20Legge

and DriveThruRPG: http://www.drivethrurpg.

com/browse/pub/338/Aegis-Studios

See Sarah’s writing at: http://www.drivethru-

fiction.com/browse.php?author=Sarah%20
Scharnweber

© 2017 White Wolf Entertainment AB. All rights

reserved. Vampire: The Masquerade®, World of
Darkness®, Storytelling System™, and Storytellers
Vault™ are trademarks and/or registered trademarks
of White Wolf Entertainment AB. All rights reserved.
For additional information on White Wolf and the
World of Darkness, please, visit: www.white-wolf.com,
www.worldofdarkness.com and www.storytellersvault.com.

5
 Animalistic
Features
“Fancy thinking the Beast was something you could hunt and
kill! You knew, didn’t you? I’m part of you? Close, close, close!
I’m the reason why it’s no go? Why things are what they are?”
- William Golding, Lord of the Flies

Bestial Kindred Unlike catlike eyes, excessive body hair, or an

animal musk, these features are so extreme that they
The Beast is never far from claiming control over
are accompanied by rules mechanics. Some of these
the Kindred. For the members of Clan Gangrel, this
may seem highly advantageous for being the effect of
harsh truth is writ large upon their very flesh. As Self-
a Clan Weakness, however, when weighed against the
Control fails and ego falls to Frenzy, the Gangrel come
clear threat to the Masquerade posed by such mutations,
to resemble the very Beast they hope to control.  
the benefits rarely outweigh the costs.
This booklet offers ten unique options for animalistic
Storytellers may feel free to disallow or restrict any
features for Gangrel characters to acquire after a frenzy.
of the following features if they feel that these will
These features should come at an advanced stage in
cause imbalance in their games. Storytellers are also
the Gangrel’s unlife. The transition from vampire to
encouraged to keep these features rare and unusual,
Beast should be slow and gradual. A Kindred is not
perhaps only allowing one feature from this list to be
going to sprout ram’s horns the first time she frenzies.
acquired each time the Gangrel loses an Appearance
The Beast’s emergence is subtler than that.
dot as a result of their Clan Weakness.
However, if you have a Gangrel who loses control
to the Beast with regularity, some of these extreme Features
aberrations may occur. Note that the vast majority of
these features are Masquerade-shattering nightmares.
A Kindred so afflicted must learn to hide if she wishes
Hide
to survive. Many such vampires seek tutelage in the Gangrel who develop this feature find their skin
Obfuscate discipline, if only to regain some semblance transformed into a thickened hide, similar to that of
of their mortal appearance. a hippopotamus or elephant. The hide is rough, often

6 10 Animalistic Features
a grayish color, and is clearly not human skin. In
some cases, the hide is covered by a thick layer of fur.
Whatever the case, it is clear that the vampire with
this feature is anything but human.
Gangrel who suffer from this animalistic feature
receive a natural Armor Rating of 2, with a Penalty
of 0. This stacks with any armor worn by the Kindred.
Horns
Gangrel suffering from this unfortunate animalistic
feature develop an obvious set of horns. These horns
may take any of an array of appearances. Common horns
include deer or moose antlers, ram horns, or goat horns.
Kindred with this deformity gain a gore attack. In
order to attempt to gore an opponent, the vampire must
roll Dexterity + Brawl (difficulty 7). The gore attack
deals Strength + 3 damage. If the Kindred knows the
Protean power Wolf Claws, she may spend one Blood
Point in order to cause the damage from her gore attack
to become aggravated. Once activated, this causes the
horns to deal aggravated wounds for the remainder of
the scene.
If the Kindred uses a gore attack, she suffers a +1
Difficulty to all Dodge rolls on the following turn due
to being unbalanced.
Hooves
Gangrel who develop this feature find their feet
replaced with animalistic hooves, which sprout from
the end of their ankles. These hooves can be cloven
or single, both functioning the same way.
Apart from the inability to wear normal footwear
and the obvious issues with appearance, the hoof
causes no real inconvenience to the Kindred. Having
hooves makes little difference to the walking speed,
movement, or mobility of the vampire.
Gangrel who develop this feature deal Strength +2
damage with a kick. If the Kindred knows the Protean
power Wolf Claws, she may spend one Blood Point in
order to cause the damage from her kick to become
aggravated. Once activated, this causes the hooves to
deal aggravated wounds for the remainder of the scene.
Marsupial Pouch
This animalistic feature is extremely utilitarian, if
a little bizzarre. The Kindred develops a pouch on
their abdomen, which is of sufficient size to conceal
any item that could be concealed in a pocket. This is
extremely useful for vampires looking to smuggle things
like a small ancient relic, a DVD with incriminating
evidence, or a pistol.
7
 Under most circumstances, this feature will pose no
real issues for the vampire, but pulling a Glock out of
a slit in your stomach is definitely what most Princes
would consider a breach of the Masquerade...
Permanent Claws
Kindred who develop this animalistic feature grow
long, bestial claws from their fingertips and toenails.
These claws are not long enough to negatively
affect manual dexterity, but they are annyong
and inconvenient outside of combat situations.
Furthermore, these are clearly not human nails, and any
mortal seeing the claws will likely find them unnatural.
Upon developing this feature, the Gangrel has a claw
attack, which deals Strength +2 damage. If the Kindred
knows the Protean power Wolf Claws, she may spend
one Blood Point in order to cause the damage from
these claws to become aggravated. Once activated,
this causes the claws to deal aggravated wounds for the
remainder of the scene. These claws cannot be retracted.
Prehensile Feet
Gangrel who develop prehensile feet are able to grab
and manipulate objects using their feet with dexterity
rivaling that of their off-hand. This allows the Kindred
to make virtually any Dexterity-based check that they
would make with their hands, instead using their bare
feet. Tasks performed in such a fashion suffer a +2
difficulty.
Prehensile feet fit into normal footwear with very
mild discomfort. If a mortal sees the Gangrel using their
prehensile feet, they may think it is strange, unique,
unusual, or down right creepy, but they are unlikely
to view it as anything supernatural.
Prehensile Tail
This feature manifests as a thin, three-foot-long tail
extended from the lower back. This tail allows the
Gangrel to manipulate objects and exert force. The
tail has no fingers, so is useless for fine manipulation,
but is perfectly capable of lifting and wielding a melee
weapon. Any rolls involving precision with the tail
(inclusing attacks) suffer a +2 difficulty.
Concealing the tail is possible, but painful. The
tail can be restricted in a simple pair of pants, but
doing so imposes a -1 penalty on dice pools due to the
constant nagging pain in the lower back that results
from squeezing the tail at an unnatural angle. The
tail can easily and comfortably be concealed beneath
a trenchcoat.
8 10 Animalistic Features
Spines
Gangrel with this feature develop sharp spines like
a porcupine or echidna. These spines make physical
contact with the Gangrel a dangerus proposition, as
merely brushing against the spines can cause injury.
Anyone making physical contact with the Gangrel
suffers one level of damage, which may be soaked
normally, as spines rip and tear at the flesh of the poor
sap that touched the Gangrel. This includes even the
most casual social contact.
The Gangrel may also use the spines as a weapon,
raking them across a victim’s flesh, dealing Dexterity +1
damage with such an attack. If the Kindred knows the
Protean power Wolf Claws, she may spend one Blood
Point in order to cause the damage from these spines
to become aggravated. Once activated, this causes the
spines to deal aggravated wounds for the remainder
of the scene. These spines cannot be retracted.
Tentacles
Gangrel who develop this feature sprout a number of
slimy tentacles from their torso. Most of these tentacles
are vestigial, but a few function, granting the Gangrel
+2 dice to any rolls made to initiate or maintain a
grapple. These tentacles also reduce the difficulty of
any checks made to swim or maneuver underwater by 1.
This animalistic feature is Masqerade shattering.
Gangrel who develop it often retreat to the sea, where
their inhuman appearance will not place them in
perpetual danger. At the Storyteller’s discretion, these
tentacles may be concealed under a trenchcoat, but
Kindred doing so do not benefit from the bonus dice
to grapple.
Whiskers
Whiskers are long, stiff hairs that grow from the
face, arms, and upper torso of the Kindred. These hairs
are tactile and contain extensive nerves allowing the
vampire to percieve additional information about her
surroundings. Gangrel who sprout whiskers gain an
entirely new set of sensory data which reduces the
difficulty of all Perception checks by 1.
Whiskers cannot be concealed short of wearing a
mask, and are considered by most Princes to be a flagrant
threat to the Masquerade. Gangrel with whiskers must
take precautions when concealing them under a mask
or cloth, as binding the whiskers results in distracting
discomfort (-1 die penalty to all actions).