Characters can opt to spend part of a night on training (roughly a third of the available time). Training time need not be consecutive, but only a single trait can be trained for at a time.

The smallest unit of measurement for training times is 'day', and training times are always rounded down to the nearest day (with a minimum of 1 day).

Note that a trainer is usually a person, but that is not necessarily the case. Sometimes a trainer can be replaced by another source of insights, a scroll of ancient knowledge written by a vampire eons ago, or even mystical insights achieved during lengthy months of meditation. Substituting some other source of insights for an actual trainer works for most traits except Attributes and Abilities. Player characters can be trainers, provided that they qualify for the trainer requirements.

In the following rules, NR stands for 'new rating' and CR stands for 'current rating'.

Next to the requirements of precursor, prerequisites and training, the following is added to the requirements for learning a new discipline:

Taste of Blood — Have partaken at least once of the vitae of someone who has learned to use the discipline. This is often cited as the reason some Kindred call distinct powers “gifts of the blood”.

• Attributes can be raised up to and including 5
  • Training time: NR weeks
  • Trainer: A trainer is not required, but halves the necessary amount of training time
  • Trainer qualification: Attribute rated at New Rating or better

• Abilities can be raised up to and including 5
  • Training time: (NR × 2) days
  • Trainer: A trainer is not required, but halves the necessary amount of training time
  • Trainer qualification: Ability rated at New Rating or better

• Specialities can be raised up to and including 3, and requires a trainer.
  • Training time (favoured): (NR × 2) days
  • Training time (non-favoured): NR weeks
  • Trainer: A trainer (or source of insights) is required for both favoured and non-favoured specialties.
  • Trainer qualification: Exact (or closely related) Specialty rated at New Rating or better

• Expertises and Languages require training
  • Training time (favoured): 1 week
  • Training time (non-favoured): 2 weeks
  • Trainer: A trainer (or source of insights) is required for both expertises and languages
  • Trainer qualification: Must have the expertise or languages to be trained
  • You must have the slot for the expertise or language available before you can start training for it (these slots do not cost XP separately, but come with the Ability)

• Disciplines, including the starting power, must be learned from a trainer
  • Training time (bloodline): 1 week
  • Training time (non-bloodline): 2 weeks
  • Trainer: A trainer (or source of insights) is required, and this trainer must have the Gift you wish to learn
  • Trainer qualification: Must have the gift to be trained
  • Special case: To learn a gift, you must have partaken at least once of the vitae of someone who has learned to use the discipline. (Note that the blood of the trainer suffices in practically every situation)

• Backgrounds can be raised up to and including 5, and require roleplay to acquire them
  • Please confer with the storyteller to arrange the required story for your backgrounds,
  • They may also be given out as rewards. Be sure to indicate what kind of backgrounds you are interested in when rewards come along,
  • Generation is a special case.

• Virtues can be raised up to and including 5
  • Training time: none
  • Trainer: A trainer is not required

• Willpower can be raised up to and including 10
  • Training time: none
  • Trainer: A trainer is not required

• Merits and Flaws can be changed only through quests and require active Storyteller involvement.

The following are special cases that can only be used in discussion with the Storyteller.

These special case rules describe optional methods of bootstrapping into knowledge without a qualifying trainer.

• Specialities Special case: favoured specialities can be trained without a trainer, but this takes (NR months) of training time

• Disciplines Special case: It is possible to train for a gift that builds on a gift that your trainer has (i.e., you can train for a gift directly following a gift your trainer mastered), in this case the training time becomes (number of precursors + 1) months. This does not apply to the first gift of a discipline — those are special cases unto themselves.