Dark and mysterious, the World of Darkness gave birth to the renowned vampire franchise Vampire: The Masquerade, offering a fresh and distinctive portrayal of the legendary nocturnal creatures. In this universe, vampires control the mortal realms from the shadows, striving to safeguard their secrecy and avoid the threat of vampire hunters.
Instead of being uniform, vampires are divided into clans, each possessing unique powers called disciplines and grappling with a weakness or 'clan bane' that poses a challenge. Although each clan harbors formidable entities, some clans stand out as particularly powerful.
Updated January 3, 2024, by Mara Cowley: Vampire: The Masquerade, often overshadowed by more mainstream games such as Dungeons and Dragons or Pathfinder, has seen a surge in popularity in recent years, attracting new fans and prompting requests for later editions. While the original VTM 5E excluded some clans as playable, supplementary books reintroduced them to both old and new fans, including the presumed extinct Ravnos and the death-centric clan, Hecata. Hence, this article has been updated to feature one more deserving clan.
11 Ravnos
The Crafters of Hallucinations
In Vampire: The Masquerade, Clan Ravnos was believed to have been eradicated during the Week of Nightmares, a period marked by ominous signs of vampire doomsday. Descendants of Ravnos succumbed to madness, unleashing chaos and slaughter. While the kindred assumed the entire clan had perished, a few resilient Ravnos have survived, a testament to the clan's resilience.
Surviving their clan's apocalypse, the Ravnos wield intriguing powers such as Presence to manipulate minds, Obfuscate to vanish from sight, and Animalism, enabling communication with or control over animals. However, the Ravnos' clan bane poses a significant challenge, as they must sleep a mile away from their previous day's resting place. This constant mobility prevents them from establishing roots, and if captured, they face severe repercussions.
10 Malkavian
Weavers of Madness
Descendants of the Antediluvian Malkav, members of Clan Malkavian inherit his powers while grappling with mental illness, ranging from psychosis and DID to paranoia and depression. These unique afflictions set them apart in the World of Darkness.
Malkavians possess distinctive powers, including the ability to vanish with Obfuscate, peer beyond the veil with Auspex, and dominate mortals or other supernaturals with Dominate. Their diverse array of disciplines allows them to induce madness in others, making them a force to be reckoned with.
9 Toreadors
The Seductive Manipulators
Seductively drawn to beauty, Toreadors fixate on various forms of aesthetics, from classical art to macabre spectacles. These dark sirens of the night possess the ability to puppeteer mortals and other kindred, wielding their beauty and mastery of clan disciplines Dominate and Presence to impose their will on others.
With the power to command protection with mere words and eye contact, they rely more on manipulation than brute strength to safeguard themselves.