Not to be confused with Touchstone (WTF).
A Touchstone is a connection of a vampire to the mortal world. Most Touchstones are humans, but they can also be places or objects.
Vampire: The Masquerade[]
Each vampire begins with as many Touchstones as Convictions: humans who represent what you used to value in life, someone who represents or seems to incarnate one of your Convictions. If lost, the Conviction is lost as well. A Touchstone must be a living human being (and a Ghoul, by the example of Roger de Camden); connecting to Humanity through the inhuman is, at the very least, going the long way around.
A Touchstone might be:
- Your surviving human spouse, lover, or parent;
- Your human child, or (for older vampires) a descendant of your family line;
- A human who looks exactly like someone you loved in life;
- A human you admired in life or their descendant;
- A human related to someone you killed very early in your unlife: someone you swore you didn't have to kill because you aren't a monster, not really;
- Someone you have come to recognize as a rare decent person even in your eyes: a volunteer at the animal shelter, a priest, a nurse, a social worker, a nice old lady in the neighborhood;
- Someone who represents something you once held dear in life and still cling to: a soldier, a baseball player, a musician or artist, clergy from your faith;
- Someone who guards, symbolizes, or protects a thing you value: the doorman of the building you used to live in, the cop on your old beat, a crusading reporter, the single mom living in your childhood home, the caretaker who sweeps your gravesite.
Vampire: The Requiem[]
A Touchstone challenges the vampire's values and forces him to face his true nature. This has a generally-positive effect on the Requiem, even when the vampire has to face tribulation because of it. They are a vital part of a vampire's connection to his Humanity and vampire's without a Touchstone tend to succumb to the Beast more easily, feeling the pull of Torpor in his mind.
For young Kindred, the Touchstone is usually someone he knew in life. She may be a family member, confidante, lover, or even a rival. She's someone who reminds him of what he was when he was alive. For older Kindred, the Touchstone is usually tied to his less savory affairs. She may be the daughter of his prized ghoul, someone who looks like his long-dead wife, or the janitor he passes by every morning on his way to sleep. She’s someone who reminds him that once, he was alive.
Gallery[]
References[]
- VTR: Vampire: The Requiem Second Edition, p. 87-88
- VTM: Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition Corebook, p. 134, 146-147, 173, 239-241
- VTM: Vampire: The Masquerade Player's Guide 5th Edition, p. 207-212