Haven

Like all Backgrounds, the Haven Background is entirely optional. A vampire with no dots in Haven has a suicide’s grave, a room in an abandoned motel, a rented office, or an apartment with windows blacked out with plastic bags. They can still remain safe and hidden by day in this relatively small and insecure haven by default. The Storyteller may allow a player character to default a somewhat better haven from another Background such as Resources, Status, or Influence. Of course, if those Backgrounds go away, so does the character’s nice haven. A character with none of those other Backgrounds, however, can still have a perfectly reasonable haven as long as they have this Background. For instance, a character might not have enough money to afford a 20- room Victorian mansion in today’s economy, but if their great-grandmother left them one that had been fully paid for, there’s no reason they can’t remain in residence as it slowly dilapidates. Base ratings in Haven abstract the haven’s size, security, and privacy. All of those factors affect the chance of spotting, penetrating, and surveilling the vampire’s actual resting place. Add +1 to the Difficulty of, or one die to dice pools resisting, such efforts for each dot of base Haven rating. Kindred know their havens intimately. For each dot of base Haven rating, add one per dot to dice pools to notice danger (including awakening rolls, p. 219) while in your haven.

Base Haven

•	Small haven, but more secure and private than the default. Examples: basement apartment, crypt, locked storeroom in a warehouse.
• •	Good size, security, or privacy. Examples: a singlefamily home or row house, wolf enclosure at the zoo, branch sewer tunnel.
• • •	Very large, secure, or private. Examples: a compound outside town, a bank building, a decommissioned subway station.

Hidden Armory

•	Each dot in this Merit adds a stand of arms to your haven’s supply: one pistol and one long firearm, with ammunition. They are as secure from discovery as your resting place.

Cell

•	Your haven has a dedicated, locked place to store two prisoners, with a base Difficulty to escape of 5. Each extra dot either allows you to store twice as many prisoners (up to a maximum of 32, only in very large havens) or adds +1 to the escape Difficulty. This Merit is not available in small havens.

Watchmen

•	You have either private security or criminal thugs guarding your haven. Each dot of this Merit supplies four Average guards and one Gifted boss (see Mortal Templates, p. 185). If guards would be conspicuous here, buy this Merit cautiously.

Laboratory

•	Your haven has an equipped laboratory with a dedicated industrial sink, gas jet, reinforced floor, etc. Each dot of this Merit adds one to the dice pool for rolls related to one Science or Technology specialty or to Alchemy dice pools for thin-bloods using the Fixatio method (p. 284). This Merit is not available in small havens.

Library

•	Your Haven has a dedicated library on the occult, Cainite legends, city history, vampire lore, or the like. Each dot of this Merit adds one to the dice pool for research rolls for one Academics, Investigation, or Occult specialty. Small havens limit this Merit to a maximum of one dot.

Location

•	Your haven nestles in one of the most fashionable or otherwise exclusive areas of the city, in the Rack, on a small island, or otherwise in a prime spot. Add two dice (or +2 to foes’ Difficulty) to bonuses on the relevant die rolls from either Chasse (p. 195) or from your base Haven rating (pick one). If neither modifier precisely maps to what you have in mind, work out with your Storyteller when you can expect a two-dice bonus to occur. For example, a Haven close to Elysium might grant a two-dice bonus to Etiquette tests in Elysium and on tests to pick up on court gossip.

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Your haven nestles in one of the most fashionable or otherwise exclusive areas of the city, in the Rack, on a small island, or otherwise in a prime spot. Add two dice (or +2 to foes’ Difficulty) to bonuses on the relevant die rolls from either Chasse (p. 195) or from your base Haven rating (pick one). If neither modifier precisely maps to what you have in mind, work out with your Storyteller when you can expect a two-dice bonus to occur. For example, a Haven close to Elysium might grant a two-dice bonus to Etiquette tests in Elysium and on tests to pick up on court gossip.

Luxury

•	High-definition flat screens, designer furniture, objets d’art, or other expensive details give you a two-dice bonus to Social tests dealing with mortal guests in your haven. If you don’t have at least three dots of Resources (•••), your décor was gained illegally.

Postern

•	Your Haven has a rear exit, secret tunnel, grating in the cellar leading into the sewers, or other unobtrusive way out. For each dot of this Merit, add one die to your dice pools to evade or escape surveillance near your haven.

Security System

•	Your haven has a better-than-average security system. For each dot of this Merit, add one die to your dice pool to resist (or alert you to) unauthorized entry into your haven.

Surgery

•	Your haven has one room equipped as a field surgery or better. Add two dice to relevant dice pools, generally Medicine, for tests performed in your haven. This Merit is not available in small havens.

Warding

•	Your haven possesses some kind of magical ward barring supernatural forces. You may not be able to de activate it, but it allows you to pass. Discuss the limits of your w ard with the Storyteller. Each dot of this Merit adds one to the dice pool to resist supernatural scrying, as well as whatever other entry the Storyteller allows it to prevent. The Storyteller may require you to possess Occult 3 or better, or Blood Sorcery, to buy this Merit.

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Your haven possesses some kind of magical ward barring supernatural forces. You may not be able to de activate it, but it allows you to pass. Discuss the limits of your w ard with the Storyteller. Each dot of this Merit adds one to the dice pool to resist supernatural scrying, as well as whatever other entry the Storyteller allows it to prevent. The Storyteller may require you to possess Occult 3 or better, or Blood Sorcery, to buy this Merit.

Holy Ground

•	Your haven exists in a place of significance to your cult. You may keep an apartment once owned by a respected Pater or claimed an alcove in the catacomb where the cult’s founder is said to have slept. Other cultists view you as the custodian of a holy place. Once per story, you may call on a small group of cultists to help defend your haven if it’s threatened.

Shrine

•	Tabletop Shrine — The space is no bigger than a desktop or small table, with items that easily fit in a drawer or a box you can stow beneath a loose floorboard: a few candles, a ritual bowl, a small vial of Vitae. You may perform Level One rituals, if they can be done solo.
• •	Moderate Shrine — You’ve devoted a room solely to worship, complete with a small altar and several items relevant to your faith. You may perform rituals of Level Three and below and can accommodate one or two other worshipers in the space.
• • •	Large Shrine — You’ve spent considerable time and resources on making the shrine as close to your faith’s temples and basilicas as you can. You may perform rituals of Level Four and below and can accommodate up to 10 other worshipers in the space. If you also have the Security System Merit (Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 189), add one additional die to rolls to resist unauthorized entry into the shrine.