# [[45 Slaking Hunger|Slaking Hunger]] Drinking blood reduces a [[39 Vampires|vampire’s]] [[41 Hunger|Hunger]] level by a fixed amount. Only draining a human of blood, thereby killing them, can reduce Hunger to 0. $\quad$Younger vampires can reduce Hunger to 1 without killing a human victim. As a vampire’s [[46 The Blood#Blood Potency|Blood Potency]] increases, so does their resting Hunger level. Above Blood Potency 7, for example, vampires cannot reduce their Hunger below 3 without killing a human victim. $\quad$It takes time to drink blood and care to do it properly. The [[45 Slaking Hunger#Bite Attacks|bite]] of a vampire can seem downright euphoric to the victim; vampire fangs produce a supernatural intoxicating effect while opening up a blood vessel. Assuming the vampire takes the time to hit a vein or artery correctly and licks the wound closed afterward, the victim may only remember the encounter as a drug trip, an interlude of weird rough sex, or just a delirious fog of drunken intimacy. Even a closed wound and happy hallucination for the victim might still leave behind an air embolism, to say nothing of long-term anemia. $\quad$As a general rule, attempting to preserve the victim’s life, health, or blissed-out screen memory (all of which of course also preserve the [[06 The Camarilla#The First Tradition The Masquerade|Masquerade]]) takes longer than simply ripping open an artery and slurping down the red stuff. On the other hand, a victim who fights back slows things down and endangers the Masquerade. A vampire can drain and kill a helpless or otherwise unresisting human in roughly five turns. | Source | Hunger Slaked | Time | Notes | | ----------------------------------------------------------------- | ------------- | -------------------------- | ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------- | | Multiple small animals (three to four cats, a dozen or more rats) | 1 | One scene | Slakes no Hunger for vampires above Blood Potency 2<br>Animal Resonance; No Dyscrasia | | Medium-sized animal (raccoon, dog, coyote) | 1 | One turn | Slakes no Hunger for vampires above Blood Potency 2<br>Animal Resonance; No Dyscrasia | | Large animal (horse) | 2 | One scene | Slakes no Hunger for vampires above Blood Potency 2<br>Animal Resonance; No Dyscrasia | | Blood bag | 1 | One turn | Slakes no Hunger for vampires above Blood Potency 2<br>No Resonance or Dyscrasia | | Sip from human | 1 | Three turns | Includes licking wound closed | | Maximum non-harmful drink from human | 2 | One scene | Includes licking wound closed | | Harmful drink from human that risks death unless treated | 1-4 | One turn per Hunger slaked | Aggravated damage equals Hunger slaked; Human rolls Strength + Stamina against a Difficulty equal to Hunger slaked to survive blood loss | | Human drained and killed | 5 | 5 turns | Only way to reach Hunger 0 (zero) | ## Feeding from Animals With very few exceptions, mostly animals larger than human mass, feeding from an animal kills it. A very careful vampire who takes a whole scene to feed could perhaps slake one point of [[41 Hunger|Hunger]] without killing a large dog, if for some reason they valued the dog’s life. Even then, the dog would likely wind up crippled or badly injured. $\quad$Large animals can hold a great or other blood products. Even whole blood comes stored with anticoagulant preservatives such as CPDA-1. All of these alterations makes bagged blood unpleasant (at best) to drink, and almost useless to [[10 Lexicon of the Damned#^Kindred|Kindred]]. $\quad$Without the Iron Gullet Merit ([[35 Advantages#Merits|p. 182]]), vampires gain no sustenance from processed blood. *Unprocessed* bagged blood, as with animal blood, cannot slake any Hunger for drinkers with [[46 The Blood#Blood Potency|Blood Potency]] above 2. $\quad$Bagged blood, like all blood more than about 15 minutes out of a body, has no Resonances or other empowering effects to the drinker, although [[17 Tremere|Tremere]] and [[20 The Thin-Blooded|thin-blood]] alchemists can sometimes still use bagged blood and blood products in their [[64 Rituals|Rituals]] and Formulae. The act of [[63 Blood Sorcery|Blood Sorcery]] Ritual or distillation awakens its latent [[47 You Are What You Eat#Resonance|Resonance]], but consumes it in the same instant. deal of blood – a cow contains almost 40 liters of blood and a horse more than 50, compared to five in most humans – but animal blood simply doesn’t nourish vampires’ true appetites. Animal blood never harbors Dyscrasias, for example ([[47 You Are What You Eat#Resonance and Disciplines|p. 227]]), and even [[13 Gangrel|Gangrel]] find drinking exclusively animal blood more bland than ecstatic. For vampires above [[46 The Blood#Blood Potency 2|Blood Potency 2]], no amount of animal blood can slake even a single point of Hunger ([[46 The Blood#Blood Potency|p. 216]]). ## Feeding from Bagged Blood What about just buying and feeding from medical blood bags? Unfortunately for the [[39 Vampires|vampire]] community, most medical supply blood is fractionated: centrifuged to separate the plasma from the blood cells and then stored as plasma, packed red blood cells. ## Feeding from Other Vampires A [[39 Vampires|vampire]] who feeds on another vampire slakes 1 point of their [[41 Hunger|Hunger]] for each point of increased Hunger they inflict on the donor, willing or unwilling. Feeding from a vampire of at least two levels of [[46 The Blood#Blood Potency|Blood Potency]] higher than the drinker slakes 2 points of Hunger for each point of Hunger gained by the donor. Conversely, feeding from a vampire of at least two levels of Blood Potency less than the drinker slakes only 1 point of Hunger for each 2 points of Hunger inflicted on the donor. $\quad$Feeding directly from another vampire also risks a Blood Bond ([[48 States of Damnation#The Blood Bond|p. 233]]). ## Bite Attacks $\quad$[[39 Vampires|Vampires]] can use their fangs as weapons during a Brawl-based attack. To attempt a bite attack, the players must declare their intention to bite before rolling their dice. They can do so in two ways: either after succeeding in a grapple contest ([[69 Advanced Conflict#Close Combat|p. 301]]) or directly with a [[32 Core Traits#Strength|Strength]] + [[32 Core Traits#Brawl|Brawl]] attack with a 1-success penalty, as bite attacks are harder to target on exposed flesh unless part of a grapple. $\quad$A win on the roll lodges the attacker’s fangs into their victim, treating the foe as grappled and dealing them exactly two Aggravated Health [[25 Conflicts#Damage|damage]] despite the margin of success or the damage modifier. The bitten foe can escape through a contest of Strength + Brawl as per the rules of grappling, whereas the attacker may continue biting without the 1-success penalty. Feeding does one point of Aggravated Health damage to mortals per turn as well as slake 1 [[41 Hunger|Hunger]] for the feeder. Against a vampire tar get, a feeding attack increases the target’s Hunger (as per [[45 Slaking Hunger#Feeding from Other Vampires|Feeding from Other Vampires]], above), instead. $\quad$This only applies to vampiric bite attacks. Treat bite attacks from other creatures as regular attacks, unless their rules state otherwise. [[44 Rousing the Blood|⬅️ Previous Section]] | [[Vampire - The Masquerade 5th Edition Core Book#Structure|Table of Contents]] | [[46 The Blood|Next Section ➡️]]