Vampire: The Masquerade
General rules for character creation:
* You'll note that vampires aren't restricted in which faction they may join.  The more established temples within the Ministry have devised the Sacrament of Sanguinus Vitae, where their most devoted Faithful are rewarded with the gift of vampirism, that they might continue to serve for centuries more.  This rite requires a live vampire to serve as the host--or "Sire"--to the cultists so favored; through the Sacrament, one vampire can be used to convert three or four cultists into faithful, loyal Ministry vampires.  After the rite, the most harmless of host vampires may be fed small quantities of blood, revived and hence used in subsequent rituals; however, most host vampires are deemed too dangerous to keep around and are hence disposed of shortly after the dark ritual's close.  Vampires who serve the Ministry through their own free will are possible yet comparatively rare.
* Beginning Kindred start with 25 Freebie points.  Beginning ghouls start with 35 freebie points to help compensate for their comparative lack of supernatural power.  You see, while the Kindred were learning and grappling with the powers of the Blood, their humble ghouls were perfecting themselves with their assigned tasks....
*
No Age Background! Why not?  Well, let's see...you get a steaming heap of freebie points, for what price?  A few points of Humanity?  No wonder munchkins love this Background so much.  "Gee, I have 40 more freebies and my Humanity's only 3!  Oh, darn.  I guess I'll have to justify that by spending all my freebies on combat crap and killing everything I lay eyes on, huh?"  If you even so much as ask me to make you an exception here, I'll still turn you down and rechristen you "Twinky Munchkin McPowergamer" on top of that.  I hate Age that much.  I also hate Age's inference, that Humanity loss is utterly inevitable.  Gee, I'll bet the Kindred who have found the joys of True Faith and/or Golconda must be crushed to hear that.  So no Age, and make that order a double.  But you still want to play one of the Romans who nailed up Jesus, or some other obscenely ancient vampire?  The solution's quite simple: torpor.  I'm willing to hear any story on how and why you slipped into and out of torpor over the centuries, as long as it doesn't involve space aliens or anything else more freakish than normal.  And if you only woke up from torpor recently, don't forget to grab the Anachronism flaw on your way up....
* Clan weaknesses, as always, will be enforced.  Even the Toreador and Ventrue won't get a free ride here.  Contrarily, the Clan weaknesses which seem the most harsh might get the occasional "lucky break" (though having your hideous Nosferatu or Samedi welcomed as a brother by the Ministry's most monstrous servants might be of dubious benefit...).
* I can post a complete list of Merits and Flaws pertaining to Vampire Third Edition upon request; unfortunately, I don't have all the Clanbooks, so if you want a Merit or a Flaw from one of the Clanbooks which you have but I lack, I'm afraid I must deny the request.  I respect the hours of playtesting which White Wolf invests in each of their games, and if I don't have the source material then I simply can't do the Merit or Flaw justice.  Of course, I can be a big softie and may just hunt down and buy the Clanbook just to accommodate you.  You're welcome.
* No Discipline may begin higher than Rank 3.  Certain exceptions--with sufficient explanation and/or counterweights attached to that increased power--may be granted on request.
* Camarilla, Sabbat, Independent...any of these three factions is acceptable.  I don't have all the notes which tell me who controls what, so if I don't have
Podunksville by Night (which says that the Sabbat rules Podunksville) and my research into the actual Podunksville leads me to conclude that it would make a nice Camarilla town and so I say such, then I'm sure you'll forgive me my trespass, won't you?
* For Sabbat Kindred, Paths of Enlightenment may be chosen instead of Humanity.  However, if you create an Unbeliever who follows the Path of Evil Revelations, be sure that your backstory includes a reason why the Ministry of Light hasn't recruited you by now (and why you haven't gone to
them yourself)....  "I'm too eeeeevil, even for the Ministry"?  Not freakin' likely....
* In this timeline, Ravanna hasn't yet awakened from torpor (and may not awaken at all).  This is why Clan Ravnos is Welcomed instead of Restricted.  We're working towards a whole new End of the World here....
Welcomed:
  Clans:
    Assamite /
anti
    Brujah /
anti
    Followers of Set / Serpents of the Light
    Gangrel /
anti
    Giovanni
    Lasombra /
anti
    Malkavian /
anti
    Nosferatu /
anti
    Ravnos /
anti
    Toreador /
anti
    Tremere
    Tzimisce
    Ventrue /
anti
  Bloodlines and Bastards:
    Baali -- Ministry
    Caitiff / Panders
  Ghouls:
    Common ghouls, Blood-bound or not.
    Tzimisce revenants -- Bratovitch, Grimaldi,
      Obertus or Zantosa
Restricted:
 
Clans:
    Cappadocians
(with a damn good backstory...)
    Tzimisce
antitribu
    Tzimisce Old Clan
  Bloodlines:
    Baali -- Unbeliever

   
Daughters of Cacophony
    Kiasyd
    Nagaraja -- Ministry
    Salubri /
anti
    Samedi
  Ghouls:
    Szlachta
(Use stock stats with some variations)
    Tzimisce revenants -- Oprichniki


Even
More Restricted:
  Bloodlines:
    Nagaraja -- Unbeliever


Forbidden:

  Clans:
    Giovanni
antitribu (if such a thing even exists....)
    Tremere
antitribu
    True Brujah
  Bloodlines:
 
  Blood Brothers
    Gargoyles
    Harbingers of Skull
s
  Ghouls:
    Vozhd
(Don't even ask.)



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anti =This entry includes normal and antitribu variants of this Clan or
  Bloodline
.