The new clan bane is linked to the destruction of their Antediluvian. The old clan Ravnos weakness was the temptation to commit specific crimes. These amalgam powers are Chimerstry, which can make an individual experience a brief hallucination, and Fata Morgana, which conjures more complex hallucinations that can affect a group of people. The new version of clan Ravnos have access to Animalism, Obfuscate, and Presence, with the old Chimerstry abilities now being amalgam powers of Obfuscate. The old version of clan Ravnos had access to Animalism, Fortitude, and Chimerstry, which was their unique discipline. Chimerstry allowed the Ravnos to create illusions, which would become more convincing and complex as they mastered the discipline. The Ravnos are back, and they have a role in Kindred society, rather than being outcasts and nuisances. The clan was almost wiped out by their Antideluvian waking up and being destroyed by the sun, but they’re slowly returning to prominence. The Week of Nightmare (or some equivalent) still took place, but the details are sketchy. They now share a kinship with the trickster gods of old, and their compulsion is one of seeking adventure and defying odds, rather than being a menace. The Ravnos are still nomads, but this is tied to their new clan bane, rather than a connection to the Romani people.

The new version of the Ravnos in the Vampire: The Masquerade Companion has erased the old clan. Clan Ravnos was used as a sacrificial lamb to tell the fans that Gehenna was coming, and they were mostly a non-entity in the events that followed. When the Antideluvean awoke, it drove everyone in its clan mad, and many of them were destroyed by their allies in the ensuing chaos. It took the combined efforts of three of the most powerful Kuei-jin, the Technocracy from Mage: The Ascension, and sunlight itself to destroy it. An event called the Week of Nightmares occurred, where the Ravnos Antideluvean woke up in India and went on a rampage. Perhaps the biggest mistreatment of the Ravnos happened at the start of Gehenna. As time went on, the writers toned down these aspects of the Ravnos and established the clan as one of the most powerful in India, altering their identity in the process. Clan Ravnos were often shunned by the major factions and were written off as being untrustworthy, even among vampires. The Ravnos weren’t alone in this, as clans like the Assamites and Giovanni were also the subject of harmful stereotypes. This resulted in a clan whose weakness was an inability to resist committing crimes, and a unique discipline based on deceiving others. The Ravnos were based on Romani depictions in vampire fiction, most notably Bram Stoker’s Dracula.

The clans in Vampire: The Masquerade are based on various aspects of vampire fiction.

Vampire the masquerade ravnos