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In vampire the masquerade is there any inherent reason to eat humans that isn't taste?

I am aware that elders may need vampire blood, and that there may be a taste issue for blood, but players can't taste food in game. Is there any mechanical reason to eat animals?

I can imagine some reasons- social stigma, it causing a deterioration, hunters coming after people who buy blood- but I dunno if any of these are actually mentioned in the lore. So, is there any downside to drinking animal blood (which you can buy cheaply) vs human blood (which requires fighting people).

I don't object inherent to new reasons from requiem, though I am playing vampire the masquerade 5e. Old reasons from old lore are fine.

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2 Answers 2

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Animal blood is less "nutritious."

In all versions of Vampire: the Masquerade, animal blood is less potent. In Vampire 5e, it offers no value to a vampire of Blood Potency 3 or higher (so, not a neonate), has the resonance "Animal" (so only advantages disciplines like Animalism or Protean), and never offers a Dyscrasia. (p.212) In Vampire: the Masquerade Revised, this is reflected by giving animals smaller blood pools that belie their size and quantity of blood. Even if you eat an entire bear's worth of blood, for example, you add 5 blood to your pool — half that of a human. (p.303)

However, you mention animal blood being able to be bought cheaply. In Vampire, that's not even considered "animal blood," which must be drunk fresh, or "bagged," which is human blood preserved medically. The stuff you buy from a butcher is useless — it has no blood point value and tastes terrible.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ Do vets keep supplies of bagged cat and dog blood for operating on pets??? Oooh now I want to give my PCs a nasty surprise when they find some bagged blood in another vampire's haven! :-) \$\endgroup\$
    – DrBob
    Commented Feb 15, 2020 at 13:59
  • \$\begingroup\$ And I guess if you get it fresh enough from the slaughterhouse it is still nutritious and edible. I used to know a guy whose job included a weekly trip to collect 10 litres of fresh cattle blood - for feeding the biology dept's colony of tsetse flies. They liked it warm and liquid, so it didn't keep. \$\endgroup\$
    – DrBob
    Commented Feb 15, 2020 at 14:04
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Jadasc's answer covers pretty much everything.

I'd add this - if the vampire has Animalism Discipline at level 3, they can pick Animal Succulence as their option. The core rules, p246 says this:

Feeding from animals slakes 1 additional Hunger, and the vampire counts their Blood Potency as two levels lower in regards to penalties to slaking Hunger from animal blood.

You can also eat your animal familiar, which slakes 4 Hunger (regardless of animal size), but can never get rid of your 5th Hunger slot.

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