Superhuman Strength
A vampire possesses a strength no mere mortal can match up with. They essentially have the strength of ten men. This makes them extremely hard to deal with in physical combat.

Superhuman Speed
As vampires live beyond mortal time, they can phase through a small period of time, enabling them to move faster than what the human eye can perceive. This is also why vampires are said to be able to "teleport".

Enhanced Senses
As a predator, the vampire is equipped with enhanced senses of hearing, smell and sight. The vampire can see as well in total darkness as humans can see in broad daylight. There are even rumours that vampires possess infrared vision allowing them to track living beings.

Hypnotism
Probably their most useful weapon, vampires can plant suggestions into anyone meeting their hypnotic gaze. The strength of the suggestions depend on the difference between the vampire's will and that of the victim's. Using this power, vampires can also force victims to forget about the attack.

Damage Resistence
Vampires are extremely resistant to physical damage. Conventional weapons like blades and guns cannot damage their physical form. Only holy items or weapons made of specific materials can inflict injuries on them.

Regeneration
Even if a vampire is wounded, their rate of healing is very fast. Most wounds will heal with one night of rest. Only serious wounds caused by holy items would scar them forever. Some even say that a vampire can heal all its wounds by draining all the fresh blood from their victim.

Animal Control
Vampires can control the minds of bats, rats and wolves found in their vicinity. These animals will obey every command of their newfound master's, even if it brings death.

Shape Shifting
Vampires can shape-shift into the shape of a bat or a wolf. They can also disperse into elemental vapours, thus allowing them to skip in through door slits or narrow cracks.

Wall Climbing
Vampires can climb walls without the aid of any equipment. They can climb up or down the steepest walls the way insects do (much like Spiderman), enabling them to seek refuge in places where no mere mortal can reach.

Magical Abilities
Vampire have limited control over the weather. They could raise a fog or summon a storm to cover their tracks. Older vampires may have other magical powers such as necromancy or alchemy.

Creating new vampires
New vampires created by a vampire master will become their master's slaves. Only victims whom has been chosen to rise by the master vampire would rise as vampires themselves. Vampire slaves have to obey the will of their master. Only when the master is weakened (eg. in daylight), destroyed or if the master consciously releases its control; then the slave could act on its own will.

Embracing or the Turning
Turning a human is the process by which a human becomes a Kindred. A Kindred achieves this by removing -- usually drinking -- all the human's blood so that they die, and replacing that blood with Kindred blood.

Contrary to popular fiction, embracing does not take place merely as the result of a Kindred biting or feeding off of a human. After being embraced, the new Kindred will take on the characteristics -- psychological and physical -- of the Clan that embraced them.

Before a human can be turned, the Kindred who wishes to "Sire" that human must get permission from the Prince, or leader. Embracing a human without permission -- which endangers the Masquerade** and can be very cruel to the human -- is a serious offense, often punishable by Final Death.

**The Masquerade is a set of laws punishable by death that are intended to keep the Kindred from being seen as anything other than human. Since the time of the Spanish Inquisition in the Dark Ages, the Kindred have survived only through "The Masquerade". The Masquerade is the means by which the Kindred live among us. The Kindred are surrounded by a sea of human beings, who, if they knew of the existence of the Kindred, would hunt them down, torture them for knowledge and burn them alive.

A central tenet of the Masquerade is that Kindred must follow the Laws of Man. This rule began as a practical way of preventing Kindred from being imprisoned or otherwise subjected to scrutiny, but over time it has taken on a more purely moral agenda. Each generation of Kindred leadership seeks to hold its followers to a higher moral standard, so that today, Kindred in general are more moral than their human counterparts. They are more loyal, more passionate, more selfless and have more integrity than most humans.

For thousands of years -- ever since the civilized world was divided into city-states -- regional populations of Kindred have been ruled by princes. To this day, there is a Prince in every city, and he or she is the leader of all local Kindred, comprising members of each of the five primary Kindred Clans.**

Immortality
Of course, vampires are immortal. They do not age and die with the passing of time. Although they may appear to have aged when they have not fed for a long time, they will be rejuvenated when they drink a lot of blood. They are also immune to all forms of diseases known to humans. Due to their long "life span", their cunning and intelligence cannot be underestimated as it is one of their most formidable weapons.

The Kindred's "retarded aging process" is observed most noticeably in their almost nonexistent heart rates. Their hearts do beat -- so powerfully that they're audible in some cases, especially to other Kindred -- but only when they've been angered or recently fed.