[Vampire: The Requiem] Boons & Prestations Strategy Guide

Out of Character (OOC):

Chronicle: Mage 2: The Dethroned Queen

Venue: Mage: The Awakening 2nd Edition

Chronicle Storyteller: Jerad Sayler

Assistant Storytellers: Hannah Nyland & Alex Van Belkum

Boon & Prestation Strategy Guide

This guide is an expansion of the System of Boons and Prestations among the undead. Basic definitions and principles from that document have been expanded here (not replaced), including a more thorough set of examples of what services in different areas are most appropriately equated to which Denominations of boon or prestation (see Denomination in the Protocols). The content of this document is not a collection of rules; rather it is about guidelines and methodologies characters might use when dealing with Boons and Prestations. At the end of the day, vampires get away with what they can.

In the table above, the “Task” column lists several common prestation categories, and some appropriate requests within each category, depending on the Denomination of the transaction. These examples are not set in stone, as boons and prestations are ultimately a negotiated currency, nor are they an exhaustive list. Nearly any action may be used for boons and prestations.

The table here is intended to provide a clear set of examples to calibrate values in the “economy” of boons and prestations.

Pedigree:
One of the unique elements of the this system of boons and prestations is that each boon has a “Pedigree” based on the power and status of the Debtor. Like shares of stock in different companies, the value of these Pedigrees can vary and change as the Debtor’s standing rises and falls. Thus while a particular boon may never be renegotiated into a different Denomination or transferred to a different Debtor, due to Pedigree, the real value of that boon can change over time. A Trivial Boon owed by a Neonate Debtor has a different value than one of an Elder Prince Debtor. A Trivial Boon provided to a Neonate Debtor who then ages into an Elder (while still owing the debt of prestation) has gained in value. although it is still a Trivial Boon in terms of its Denomination.

Pedigree also changes in regard to court offices which affect the Status of the officer. A boon granted to a back-seat political climber who later becomes his clan’s Whip, then Primogen, and then finally Prince, is an investment well made. Conversely, a prestation owed by a Prince who soon loses her throne rapidly diminishes in value. Pedigree is also important when exchanging prestation with another kindred. A Major Boon from a positionless influential Elder whose patrons are four lords is not worth the same amount as one from an Elder Prince of a small city who has a patron who is his Primogen despite their positions and standing. A single Major boon from the Elder Prince may only be worth a Minor boon or two from the positionless Elder depending on whom you are trading with and the circumstances of such.

Kindred Strategies for the System of Boons and Prestations:
Kindred have developed numerous strategies around the system of prestation over the centuries. Below are just a handful of example strategies. Players may choose to adopt a strategy, mix and match or create their own.

Medium of Exchange & Deferred Payment:
The most common strategy is simply to treat boons and prestations as a transactional affair, granting them when performing a service or deed for another and offering prestation when they themselves are in need.

Life Insurance:
Because a Debtor’s prestations transfer to the individual who killed him or her (outside of a legal Bloodhunt, as per the Protocols) some young Kindred take on prestations from very powerful or dangerous Kindred Grantors.

For example: A Neonate in Macon is afraid that a coterie led by an Ancilla may try to kill him. He seeks out the Elder Prince of Atlanta and asks for a boon of protection. As compensation for such a valuable service when he is in such intense immediate need, he agrees to a prestation of a higher Denomination than might normally be prudent (such as a Major Prestation). The Neonate then returns to Macon and advertises the fact that he owes a Major Prestation to the Elder Prince of Atlanta by registering it with the local Harpy. Now the coterie must consider the risk of killing him, which would end them up owing the Prestation to the Elder Prince themselves. Of course, the downside of this strategy is that the Neonate is now beholden to the Elder Prince, so it can be a double-edged sword.

Investment:
A common strategy for Elders is to identify promising Neonates or Ancillae climbers and seek to offer their services in some way so as to be able to become the Grantor of a boon. Because the value of a debt of prestation, regardless of Denomination, increases or decreases according to one’s Status, a patient Kindred can gain a large portfolio of prestations owed to him and then watch them grow in value over time. It is not unheard of that crafty Elders will put into play a scenario that compels a target to need their services. The Common Law of Prior Consent simply requires that the Debtor willingly agree and not be compelled to accept the boon. It doesn’t prevent the Grantor from working behind the scenes to put the potential Debtor into a position where he will need a boon. A reverse investment is undertaken by crafty Kindred looking to climb the social hierarchy of the Danse Macabre.


They’ll seek out an Elder who is looking to make an investment in a younger Kindred, and once the
boon is granted, it’s in the Elder’s best interest to see the outstanding prestation grow in value. This may result in an Elder, intentionally or not, favoring the indebted Kindred and smoothing the path to acquire positions such as Primogen, Whip, Harpy, etc.

Collecting:
Just as a numismatist collects and studies currency without necessarily seeing the coins as an investment, so too do many Kindred collect prestations. With characteristics somewhere between a wine connoisseur and a biographer, Prestation Collectors are most interested in the Pedigree and history of a prestation debt. Collections are as varied as the interests of the Kindred who collect them. Some collectors just like to collect “Sets”: Major Prestations owed. Some Collectors are interested in a “Clan Set”, where they are simultaneously Grantors for Major Boons to a Neonate, an Ancilla and an Elder of the same Clan. A “Grand Set” is when one has acquired a “Clan Slam” for all the  Clans, and a “Royal Set” is a Major Prestation or larger from each of the seven Clanheads. Archivist collectors might be interested in very old prestations that have a rich and
colorful history and have been passed down through exchanges across many hands.

Exchange:
Not all Grantors are in a position to make the best use of a Debtor’s prestation. They may not live in the same domain as the Debtor, or they might have claim on a prestation of very large Denomination to a powerful Kindred from whom they are afraid to call prestation due. But the prestation itself has a value based on the Denomination and Pedigree. Boon Exchangers act as the middle-men connecting Kindred, Grantors who wish to exchange outstanding prestations among one another. They may be direct trades one for one, or a single large Denomination prestation with a strong Pedigree for many smaller prestations. Given their position of influence and knowledge of boons and prestations, Harpies are often the most likely to be Exchangers, though sometimes independents act as “honest” brokers.


For example: Ted is a young Neonate of Clan Ventrue. In 1982, he answered the call of the aging Ancilla Daeva Prince Jefferson for a martial force to hunt Belial's Brood out of Schenectady, New York. In that engagement, before they entered a burning building, Prince Jefferson offered Ted a Blood Boon for staying by his side no matter what happened, long enough for the Prince to get out if things went badly. Ted got burned a bit, but he managed to hold off fire and foes long enough for the Prince to make good his escape. Then in the 1990s, Prince Jefferson received patronage from three different Elders for his stand against the New York vampires, and in 2008, he was acknowledged as an Elder in his own right. Unfortunately, the newly Elder Prince had fallen far to his Beast over time, and Ted is not interested in dealing directly with him, though he has the right by the prestation he is owed. He solves this problem by trading the High Pedigree Life Boon from Jefferson away to the Daeva Neonate Harpy Bradford of Boston in exchange for four Blood Boons from a coterie of fresh young no-name Gangrel Neonates who roam New England - prestations which Bradford got by saving the coterie’s impolitic asses with his silver tongue when they managed to piss off the Nosferatu Prince and the Sheriff last year. Later, when the Nosferatu Prince is angry at the Harpy, the Harpy can either offer his Prince the prestation from the Elder Prince of Schenectady as recompense for his offense, or he can call on the Elder Prince’s services himself. Meanwhile, Ted can take those four Gangrel out to Erie, Pennsylvania, where he has them help him oust a local coterie of Unaligned so he can claim his own praxis there and make a name for himself.

Boon Policy:
This strategy is usually held in the provenance of a Harpy, Prince, Elder or other influential Kindred. Just as monetary policy by a national central bank can be loose (releasing large amounts of currency to reduce the value of it) or tight (removing currency from the system to increase value), so too can an individual Kindred’s interpretation of boons and prestations create a tight or loose boon policy in their domains. Traditionalist Elders, especially those most likely to hold many prestations in reserve such as a Prince, are most likely to encourage a “tight” boon policy amongst Harpies. This is done by encouraging others (and practicing through example) to require larger Denominations for the same services or goods that might normally require the Debtor to take on a prestation of a smaller Denomination. On the flip side, they can support settlements of less-than-normal prestation for a specific Denomination. Younger Kindred, or those with Unaligned sympathies, often seek to loosen boon policy by encouraging smaller Denominations for services and goods and thus smaller claims of prestation in their domains.

For example: In the Domain of Detroit, the Elder Primogen Alexi of Clan Ventrue wants to make sure every prestation he is owed by members of the court is worth as much effort and resources as he can make it worth. The Denominations cannot be changed but he can try to skew the meaning of the Denominations in practice in the city. In order to push this tight policy, when the Neonate Primogen Thomas Mills asks him to vote a certain way on an issue in the upcoming Primogen Council meeting (normally a Minor Boon), Alexi hems and haws about it, implies that there are numerous complicating factors that make that rather problematic, and finally negotiates the service to a Major Boon. It might be that Thomas knows he’s being taken, but he really needs that vote. In order to counter Alexi’s manipulation of the city’s boon policy, in his own dealings he downplays the importance or effort he and others are actually putting out, claiming that many difficult tasks are actually “a piece of cake”. Later that night, as part of his own loosening efforts, Thomas agrees to teach intermediate Celerity to a local Nosferatu, but only negotiates it as a Trivial Boon, saying, “For you, it’s barely any trouble at all.”

Accumulator:
Some Kindred just want to have “more” than other Kindred. The Denomination and Pedigree matter less to an accumulator than the sheer quantity of Debtors they can acquire. They may not have a plan to use them, at least not yet.

Clemency:
A favored tactic of those with the power to dispense punishments, such as Elders and Princes, is to offer clemency in the form of a boon. This serves two purposes in the Danse Macabre. As opposed to Final Death, the threat of which may box a Kindred into a corner of desperation that may end up risking the Masquerade, a Blood or Life Boon instead allows them an “out” while still maintaining the severity of the punishment. Lesser punishments for more minor offenses – the removal of eyes for gazing upon an Elder, the removal of limbs, staking for decades – can all be mitigated with the transaction of a boon and the promise of prestation. Common custom in this regard is for the punishing authority to offer a choice: “You will surrender your left hand for a period of not less
than a year, or owe me Major Prestation.” Note that this strategy presents one common exception to the Prior Consent element of the Common Law of Boons and Prestations. A lawful authority exerting a punishment within their power to levy – upon a charge that the Kindred is accused of – is not considered a compulsion. However, the Kindred must still willingly consent to accept the boon in exchange for clemency.

Plea Bargain:
Reading the above, a player may come to the conclusion that a boon can be used easily to create an “arms-length” transaction of conspiracy, one that might very well normally get him killed, but it’s the Debtor who has to undertake the act – like setting up a Praxis seizure or death of another Kindred. Fair warning is provided, however – once the act demanded under prestation is committed, the former Debtor is under no obligation whatsoever to the Grantor (unless some other form of pressure exists as well). This means that a confession like “the boon made me do it” is a valid defense in some domains for egregious acts that might otherwise carry a severe punishment. An authority may consider the Debtor not to be in willful control of his own actions if he is repaying a prestation to a Grantor – much like a sire is held accountable for the actions of his progeny, not the progeny himself. This nuance of the system of prestation serves as a check against most cases of boons being used to extract heinous crimes. Then again, a Prince may decide to equally punish both the Debtor AND the
Grantor, or even simply punish the Debtor worse for being incompetent enough to put themselves into such a debt in the first place. Such is the capricious and arbitrary nature of Princely justice.