{Vampire: The Masquerade - OOC} New York by Night

[reapersaurus]

You'll need to look at your Willpower again. Indeed that was a typo in the rule book. It should be 2 points per dot. If I where you, I'd put the points in Courage. They cost 1 for 1, and effect your Willpower as well as the ability to resist fear.

Also, I noticed you have the unbondable merit. I'd rather you not have that because you are a Tremere and it would sidestep your clan weakness. In my opinion, clan weaknesses should never be something you can bypass.

Are we all using the same rules?
In my book, it costs 1 freebie point for Willpower, 2 for a Virtue (like Courage).
(I can't find errata about this online, or on White Wolf's site)
Virtues also max out at 5.
Willpower maxes out at 10.
Without high Willpower, Thaumaturgy is a eunuched Discipline.
uh-oh. this kinda concerns me. I didn't expect to have any rules conflicts...

[edit] I found on the WW Forums a discussion that mwntioned a confusion over Willpower ebing 1 or 2 points.
The members responded that it was 2 points in 2nd edition, in Revised (and on), it is 1 point.
Revised came out in 1998. [/edit]


As I understand, most ST's don't like Tremere having the unbondable merit for exactly the reason you mentioned.
I didn't take the merit for dodging the clan weakness, I took it for dodging the problem with Thaumaturgy Discipline (2 of their main powers, at level 2 and 4 both cause them to ridiculously become blood-bonded if they use the power.)

I have no problem with being blood-bound to the Tremere elders just like every other initiate, does that sound OK then, Ash?

Shalimar (and Ash, i guess)-
where is the 14 freebie points change taken from?
All books I've read mention 15.
and I was thinking the same thing about us not being able to Sire anyone, since our characters are so new, but Ash mentioned that we could, and also NY is not a Tradition-bound city yet. There are so few vampires for the population, that the limitations on Sireing might be very different than in an older, more intractable, overpopulated city.

 

[Ashrem Bayle [Home]]

You see. This is where I get in trouble trying to go from memory when I haven't used this system in forever. Sorry for the confusion.

You are right, Reaper. Virtues do cost 2 freebies each. Just so we are all on the same page, Willpower will cost 1 freebie as per the book. I'm thinking this was errated somewhere, but I can't find it, so we want use it.

Freebie point costs are the same as the table on pg 104 with the exception of in clan and out of clan disciplines (my House Rules).

Blood Bonds and Thaumaturgy:

For level 1, you only have to taste the vitae. As long as you don't actually ingest a blood point, I'd say it doesn't count toward blood binding.

As for level 4, well, its is used as another means of feeding. I doubt this would be much of a problem, as it is mainly used on mortals anyway. Just make sure you don't use it on the same vampire 3 times, and you are golden.

And yes, Vampires get 15 freebie points. Mortals get 21.

Caitlyn

The only thing I really have to add to this is that I wouldn't worry too much about clan stereotypes. There is nothing at all wrong with a talented singing vantrue or a very political Toreador.

As a matter of fact, one could argue that the Toreador are almost as much involved in politics as Ventrue anyway.

The clans are very similar in my opinion. The only difference is that the stereotypical Ventrue are concerned with leadership and capital gain, while the Toreador are concerned with manipulation and social status.

What I really wanted to say is remember:

Your characters are people first, vampires second, clan members third and sect members last. If that makes any sense....

 

[reapersaurus]

OK *whew*
I was really wanting to avoid rules conflicts as much as possible.

Ash - In doing some research just now, I found a wonderfully detailed page that picks up where you left off with creating a human character, then making them a vampire.
It makes SO much sense!
And it seems like a more organic, cool way of doing it, and may be the way all future WoD games do it.

http://www.nocturnis.net/articles/vampire/2001/May/290/page1.html
For ease of reading, I'll paste here, but the original is formatted better

STAGE ONE: MORTALITY

· Step one: Character Concept - choose Concept, Nature and Demeanor.

· Step two: Attributes - Choose Physical, Social and Mental Traits (6/4/3). Character automatically begins with one dot in each Trait.

· Step three: Abilities - Choose Talents, Skills and Knowledges (11/7/4). No Ability may be raised higher than three dots at this stage.

· Step four: Backgrounds - Choose Backgrounds (3). The only Backgrounds available at this point are Allies, Contacts, Fame, Influence and Resources.

· Step five: Virtues - Rate your Virtues (7). Character automatically begins with one dot in each.

· Step Six: Details - Record Humanity (equal to Conscience + Self-Control) and Willpower (equal to Courage). Spend freebie points (5).

STAGE TWO: Being Dead

· Step one: the Embrace - decide on a Clan. Think about your sire, how you came to their attention, and your subsequent embrace.

· Step two: Attributes - Add 2 points to your Attributes, spread as desired.

· Step three: Abilities - Add 5 points to your Attributes. Traits may be raised higher than three dots at this point.

· Step four: Advantages - Pick Disciplines (3) from those available to your clan. Spend 2 more Background points (the full range is available now). Pick Merits & Flaws (if any).

· Step five: Final Touches - Spend 10 additional freebie points. Record Generation & Blood Pool. Note any changes for a Path other than Humanity.

Both Vychtorya and Nikolai started play as humans for a few sessions.
Sabrina was human very recently, and of course Caitlyn is human (I don't know about Jemal).

Ash - could we use this system?
What are your guys' thoughts?

 

[KitanaVorr]

Originally posted by reapersaurus What are your guys' thoughts?

Well everyone is human pretty much recently since the earliest we could be embraced was six months ago.

I like it but the only thing I'm not happy with is that the freebie points are pretty low for me as a human and would kind of mess up where I put them to raise her to 5 on a couple of places. I'd have to rethink how I want her be.

I do want to play Cate as a human for a while before having her be embraced.

I do really like the clan merits that they put in there. It makes being part of a clan more interesting.

Ash, what are the rules you have for who can sire?

 

[Shalimar]

Since it has been changed to willpower only costing 1 per point I have 2 extras. I leave it up to you to decide Ash can I buy the additional dot of generation(brings her to 8th gen, for a total of 7 freebies spent) for 2 points?

 

[reapersaurus]

I like it but the only thing I'm not happy with is that the freebie points are pretty low for me as a human and would kind of mess up where I put them to raise her to 5 on a couple of places. I'd have to rethink how I want her be.

Ya, a human gets less freebie points (and all I can conclude is that the character sheet that listed 21 freebie points for humans is a typo), but the cool thing (for Caitlyn) about this system is that when you become a vampire, you will get 2 more attributes, so you don't need to spend those 10 expensive freebie points on upping your Appearance.

For all of us, I think it grants the same # of points, but it gives us more flexibility as to where we put them.
And as you mentioned, the unique clan benefits adds flavor, and distinctiveness to the process, while not really affecting much power-wise or anything.

 

[reapersaurus]

Ashrem - I've been thinking, and when reading between the lines, are you (effectively) hinting that I probably shouldn't spend the Discipline points on 4 and 5 level Thaumaturgy, Path of Blood, since we're not going to be fighting vampires in this Chronicle?
I could easily put them in my next two choices, Auspex 1 and 2 (looking towards Auspex 4).

While I do want to honor the character concept of Nikolai (him being able to defend himself), I don't want to spend a majority of the points for this Chronicle on something that likely will not come into play.
(_part_ of the fun of the game for me is being able to use the kewl powerz that vampires get, at least once)

 

[Ashrem Bayle [Home]]

Well, let me say that you MIGHT fight vampires. It depends on what you do. I have pretty clear cut notes on my NPCs and if you do something to make one attack you, he will. Vampires are usually very respectful, even with their enemies, because you never know when one might frenzy.

Like I said before, I don't have a plot all thought out. If you do something to put yourself in a situation where another vampire feels that physical confrontation is the way to go, then well....thats where it will go.

That said, the vast majority of combat will probably be with humans (your prey, police etc.)

Reaper:

Cauldron of Blood is ESPECIALLY good against humans. And remember, no vampire want to fight an opponent capable of aggravated damage. Level 4 is also very good against humans.

If you want to be powerful in combat in this game, I would keep levels 4 and 5. However, don't forget about Auspex and especially Dominate. Both are very nice.

Its just a matter of what you want really. I don't think any combination would be bad.


Mortal to Vampire:

Don't worry about this just yet. Mortal characters should be built per the mortal rules, vampires per the vampire rules. While I like that system posted earlier, I don't want to create any confusion. I'll deal with the Embrace when the time comes.


Shali:

Sorry. 9th gen is the max. There havn't been any 7th generation vampires in NYC in a long time. At least, none giving the Embrace.

 

[Shalimar]

Just figured I'd ask. I'll just take the sanctity merit from the Sabbat Guide if thats ok.

 

[KitanaVorr]

ahh so much planning can't we just roleplay and see where it leads us?