For this rule, we presume that both players and storyteller are acting “in good faith”. That is, players aren't deliberately trying to game the system or gain advantages, players don't sabotage one another and the storyteller isn't trying to 'screw over' the players. As such, when we describe conflict or disagreement, we presume that all parties involved are acting in one another's, and in the games best interests, simply disagreeing over what is in this best interest.

Every vampire has a feral, predatory nature that drives it to satisfy its lust for blood, to protect itself from harm, to protect its ego as well as those things and people that it considers 'his'. Called 'the Beast' by some Kindred of the Camarilla, it represents an urge to steal, torture and murder for these causes. A frenzy is what happens when the Beast temporarily takes over completely, but even when a vampire is not frenzying it will be exposed to the Beasts' desires. Vampires are thus always at risk of becoming mindless animals, enslaved by their most base desires.

Path ratings measures how close a vampire is to the complete and permanent takeover by the Beast. Vampires with high path rating are better able to resist the Beasts' suggestions of mindless destruction or petty selfishness in favour of some other moral code (the path).

Path ratings may change for the worse when a vampire steals, kills or tortures because they 'give in' and become closer to the selfish, violent nature of the Beast. When they lose path rating by the process described below, they accept these urgings and live with them. If not, they recognise that this behaviour is 'wrong' and try to be a different, better person by some standard of 'better' that does not involve giving in to the Beasts' desires. Humanity may also be (re)gained if a vampire is reforming according to its own moral code (path).

Each path has a 'Hierarchy of Sins', which is used as a guideline for determining the appropriateness of given actions for a characters' level of the path. Intent and outcome both play a role in judging the impact of an action on humanity, including negligence.

Like bloodpool and willpower, path-ratings (such as humanity) have two values, the ceiling value and the current value. The current value and ceiling at character creation are determined using the regular rules from the Vampire book and start as the same value (i.e. current humanity is equal to the ceiling)

The ceiling value of the path-rating can be raised by spending experience points, up to a maximum of 10, following the regular rules for humanity and experience.

The current values of path-ratings can rise or fall based on the actions of the character in relation to the path they are on, but may never go above the ceiling. For a path-rating to rise, a pattern of more ethical behaviour (by the views of the chosen path) needs to be established over time - a single act of kindness is not enough. For a path-rating to fall, a single evil act can be enough, and a pattern of less ethical behaviour (by the views of the chosen path) can also make a case.

By default the issue of rising on a path is raised at the start or end of the session and the issue of lowering on a path is discussed at the end of the scene in which an action took place.

The outcome of the discussion can be one of four - either there is consensus that the path-rating of the character should be modified (in which case it is), there is consensus that the path-rating of the character should not be modified (in which case it isn't), there is consensus that the matter is unclear and a roll should be made to determine the modification of the path rating, or no consensus could be reached.

If no consensus is reached, the status quo is maintained - however, a previous discussion which did not reach consensus should suggest the pattern going in a certain direction which may be an argument in a later discussion.

The basic path used is Humanity. There are other ways of dealing with the 'Beast', all of which are strongly discouraged by the Camarilla hierarchy. The exact method by which a character can change to a different path will be detailed at another time.

Alternative paths use their own 'Hierarchy of Sins' as a guideline for determining the appropriateness of given actions and are otherwise treated along the rules above. The ceiling value for a character's path rating is maintained even if the character changes to a different path (and as such, any XP invested can be kept). The details of how the current value is handled will be decided at another time.