The rules on whether it takes a turn to activate Stains or not are seriously iffy.  That's White Wolf for you, but still makes me sad.<br/><br/>Here's what I decided.  If your Spite rating is less than 4.0, it takes a turn to manifest your Stains.  You roll however many points of Spite for however many turns you want to activate a Stain, and for that many turns, the Stain is active.  This is because it effectively takes an action to come to terms with yourself and call forth a darkness you're not really comfortable with yet.  They appear at the end of the turn and disappear at the end of the corresponding turn.<br/><br/>For example, if you activate a Stain on round X and tap 3 Spite, it'll activate, be active for your next three turns, and then deactivate when your turn on round X+3 is done.  If you activate Adder's Scales to get some armor for 1 turn, and get attacked before you can go again, the Adder's Scales will protect you, but will disappear at the end of your next turn.<br/><br/>Once you reach a Spite rating of 4.0, you're comfortable enough with your Stains that you can activate them reflexively.  You then can form the Stains on the effective beginning of your turn, allowing you to form a Stain and attack at the same.  Tapping multiple Spite at this point also lets you do multiple Stains.<br/><br/>Example, if you activate two Stains by tapping two Spite while you have a 4.3 Spite rating, Dagger Tongue and Adder's Scales, you can use Dagger Tongue that turn and Adder's Scales will likewise protect you before your next turn.  However, when your next turn rolls around, they'll both vanish unless you tap more Spite on that round to keep them going.<br/><br/>I feel as though this is an effective compromise, but I realize it may be confusing.  I will change it if people start getting puzzled or the like.<br/><br/>Also, when people post, I would appreciate if you can put in the header for your Vitality, Willpower and Spite ratings.  This will make things easier for me.  While I guess you don't have to, it will certainly keep confusion at a minimum.<br/><br/><strong>Natalia Peterson, Vitality 5/8, Willpower 2/4, Spite 2.0</strong><br/><br/>Post the values as of when your turn begins.  Otherwise, more confusion will happen when someone isn't sure whether the two Vitality they just used has been accounted for with their current value.  Everyone should start with full Vitality and Willpower, and the Spite should be an interger.