Voss said:
That wasn't really true in oWoD. A Tremere scholar was a very different animated corpse than a nosferatu scholar, and not just because one was ugly on the outside.
The old Clans were essentially stereotypes that most players I know tried to break out of at least to some degree, the new Clans are broader stereotypes that more easily stretch to incorporate various concepts.
Before, Tremere were all essentially the same. It was difficult to make a Tremere that wasn't a scholar, simply because the weight of all the crunch and fluff pushed you that way. If you pegged someone as a Tremere you knew pretty much everything about them. The only reason I know of that people played them was because of the overwhelming brokenness of the rules that governed them.
Nosferatu were all forced into one of just a few roles, due to having such a crippling flaw. Other Clans similarly, Gangrel once they hit Elder pretty much couldn't interact with mortals, Ravnos were all criminals (really! every single one!), while Toreador could be stopped in their tracks by seeing a painting at the wrong moment.
Some Clans didn't have such crippling flaws, and were (IMO) more playable and popular.
In the nWoD there are only five Clans, and they each have a flaw that's much, much less obtrusive than most of the old ones.
Ventrue will be more likely to go funny in the head if they start dropping Humanity... but low Humanity also makes it harder to interact with Mortals, which is pretty much their schtick, so that's not exactly crippling.
Daeva lose Willpower if they don't indulge their Vice. But, you get to decide what your Vice is and what it means, and if you choose not to indulge it losing Willpower isn't the end of the world. It comes back.
Nosferatu can't open-end on Social rolls. Big whoop. You can decide the reasoning why for yourself.
Gangrel can't open-end on mental rolls. Also big whoop. They can be smart, just no flashes of insight.
Mekhet have essentially the old Lasombra flaw, not exactly the most crippling thing. They are also quite possibly the most powerful Clan (they know secrets, in the WoD that's power) and having an extra weapon against them isn't a bad thing. If you even know you are facing one.
I guess my point is that Clan is no longer a straight jacket. Sure, a Tremere scholar is no longer by definition a different kind of scholar than a Nosferatu scholar (or Ventrue), because each clan actually has space for variety. All Tremere scholars were about the same, and all Nosferatu scholars were about the same, that's no longer true. Your clan no longer defines you. In fact, it's far more important in the game world, and conceptually, what Covenant you are in, and that has very little mechanical impact at all.
I wholeheartedly approve of most of the changes in the nWoD. Sure, a lot of my old books became obsolete, but the replacements are uniformly better, both crunch and fluff.
(Why yes, I do play both tabletop and LARP).
--Seule