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So who's interested in a little character swap?  Boone here was my go-to for Fuzz's game that kind of crapped out far too early on the forums. A Pacific Theater footslogger, he had the unfortunate luck to fall into a punji pit that was a bit deeper than most on one of those many, many unnamed islands out there in the middle of the ocean. And if he happened to run into a very foul creature that fell on him and embraced him so as to have a pliable lackey from whom it could wring out knowledge of the modern world, is there any doubt as to why he's such a dour guy?  pre:Name: Derrick Boone Clan: Nosferatu
Nature: Pedagogue Generation: 11th
Demeanor: Curmudgeon Sire: Shishi-do, Lion of the Undertown
Virtue/Vice: Resolve / Pride Concept: Grumpy Gus War Vet
<ATTRIBUTES>
Physical: Social: Mental:
Strength ●●●-- Charisma ●●--- Perception ●●●--
Dexterity ●●●●- Manipulation ●●●-- Intelligence ●●---
Stamina ●●●-- Appearance xxxxx Wits ●●●--
<ABILITIES>
Talents: Skills: [4] Knowledges:
Alertness ●●●-- Animal Ken ----- Academics -----
Athletics ●●--- Crafts ----- Computer -----
Awareness ●●--- Drive ●---- Finance ●----
Brawl ●●--- Etiquette ----- Investigation ●●---
Empathy ----- Firearms ●●--- Law ●----
Expression ----- Larceny ●●--- Medicine -----
Intimidation ●●--- Melee ●●--- Occult ●----
Leadership ----- Performance ●--- Politics ----
Streetwise ●●--- Stealth ●●●-- Science -----
Subterfuge ----- Survival ----- Technology -----
<ADVANTAGES>
Disciplines: [7] Backgrounds: [4] Virtues:
Potence ●●-- Contacts ●●--- Conscience ●●---
Obfuscate ●●--- Generation ●●--- Self-Control ●●●--
Celerity ●---- Resources ●●●-- Courage ●●●●-
Path: ● ● ● ● ● - - - - - ( ) Humanity
Willpower: ● ● ● ● ● ● ● - - - ( ) [3]
Specializations:
Dexterity (Nimble Fingers)
Performance (Acting)
Merits: Inoffensive to Animals [1], Acute Sense (Sight) [1]
Efficient Digestion [3], Language (Chinese) [1],
Language (Japanese) [1]
Flaws: Enemy (Emilio Giovanni) [-2], Haunted [-3],
Permanent Fangs [-3], Blood Hunted [-6]
Current Experience: 0
Experience to Date: 10
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Dec 5, 2013 00:12
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The posts in this thread are quickly charting the path by which the average person goes "Vampire is neat" "Well this metaplot thing sure is neat" "Huh, that's a little weird" and finally to " " with poo poo like Tzimisce.The longer you look, the stupider it gets!
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Dec 5, 2013 00:26
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Captain Oblivious posted:The posts in this thread are quickly charting the path by which the average person goes "Vampire is neat" "Well this metaplot thing sure is neat" "Huh, that's a little weird" and finally to " And that's only the tip of the iceberg. I almost recommend checking out the FATAL & Friends thread on the TG section. I'm just gonna crosspost this amazing rant from that thread about WoD lore. Halloween Jack posted:It all starts with the Gangrel leaving the Camarilla, because Xavier found out the truth about the antediluvians. So he's like, "Hey, you bastards, you're vampires, you're not suppose to lie. Now I know the truth, and I'm gonna tell Mulder." Since he's so noble and gullible enough to actually believe what all the other elders have been saying all these centuries, Xavier walks away sobbing, cuz his fellow vampires have betrayed him. Most of the other Gangrel leave, too, cuz, you know, Xavier said so.
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Dec 5, 2013 00:39
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Cooked Auto posted:And that's only the tip of the iceberg. I almost recommend checking out the FATAL & Friends thread on the TG section. Actually, there is an Oh-poo poo-I-Run-Like-Hell Creed: Bystanders. Basically, all Hunters are "Called" in a moment where they suddenly see a supernatural for what it really is, and their creed is determined by their thoughts and actions. If the individual takes no action or runs, he or she becomes a Bystander: someone aware of the supernatural but without any of the neato powers full Hunters get. One thing they can do is hold down a steady job, though, so regular Hunters will often hit them up for resources and safehouses.
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Dec 5, 2013 01:01
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Wait, so Thinbloods can sire other vampires, but they can't ghoul anyone? Lily was the source of the blood in the clinic...
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Dec 5, 2013 01:37
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gatz posted:Wait, so Thinbloods can sire other vampires, but they can't ghoul anyone? Lily was the source of the blood in the clinic... Not necessarily. The Thin Blood flaw actually holds a chance of failing if you try to sire. First off, all blood costs for a thinblood to use vitae to heal, raise attributes (Blood Buff), or activate Disciplines, they're all doubled. Next, you can't sustain ghouls or create a blood bond. Finally, the Embrace only has a 20% chance to succeed. The 14th Generation and 15th Generation flaws, though it doesn't outright state that you must, imply that you should also be taking the Thin Blood Flaw. A 14th generation vampire has a blood pool of 10 BP, but only 8 can be used to heal, raise attributes or activate disciplines. The last 2 can only be used to sustain ghouls and blood bonds, or wake in the evening. Disciplines cannot be raised beyond level 4. A 15th Generation vampire drops their available pool to 6 (blood costs are doubled as above, remember!), though they CANNOT create or sustain ghouls, blood bond someone, or sire. So basically just blood buff and activate disciplines with 6 BP, the rest are only for waking in the evening. No discipline can go beyond 3. on the other hand, sunlight only does Lethal damage to the 15th generation. They can actually eat and drink, though they can only hold the food down for about an hour or so unless they also have the Eat Food merit (vampires can't really eat since their stomach organs are withered and ashy). Most important, they can actually knock up a human, or be knocked up themselves! Dhampirs are the children of 15th generation vampires. They're like revenants, but without the history of familial inbreeding and ghouldom that comes with the title. They produce 1 vitae/day naturally, can hold up to 10 BP and, being born into their state unlike their parents, can actually use all 10 BP for healing and disciplines. Being (super-)human, they can't form a blood bond or create ghouls with their half-vitae, though. They're limited to level 1 Disciplines, but generally, that's enough to allow them to excel at whatever they put themselves to in life. A Dhampir can frenzy, though it's easier for them to resist than their vampiric parent(s). Difficulties to resist are 1 lower.
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Dec 5, 2013 01:59
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^ Got it. Thanks Vic. You are a pretty much a walking database of Vampire lore.
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Dec 5, 2013 02:16
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Another very important aspect of 15th generation vampires is that they can create their own Disciplines. As in, make poo poo up, spend the XP, and you can do it now.
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Dec 5, 2013 02:27
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15th generation are caitiff, right? So would a nosferatu 15th gen even look like a nosferatu?
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Dec 5, 2013 02:36
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gatz posted:15th generation are caitiff, right? So would a nosferatu 15th gen even look like a nosferatu? The concept is Cinderella, and the entire warren shits on you because not only are you a thinblood you're a loving super model compared to them (although if I recall correctly your sire tends to scratch up your face). apostateCourier posted:Another very important aspect of 15th generation vampires is that they can create their own Disciplines. As in, make poo poo up, spend the XP, and you can do it now. This also means that The Stoneman, the Caitiff responsible for creating the funniest drat Discipline on the planet, may have Diablorized his way up from being some wretch to around 9th or 8th generation. citybeatnik fucked around with this message at 02:53 on Dec 5, 2013 |
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Dec 5, 2013 02:47
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Okay, now please tell us about The Stoneman.
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Dec 5, 2013 03:04
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Please do. 
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Dec 5, 2013 03:10
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citybeatnik posted:There's a template for just that in the Time of Thin Blood. Man you'd think the Nosferatu would be pragmatic enough to realize that a Nosferatu who doesn't look like a Nosferatu (and isn't revealed to be a Nosferatu bullshitting if somebody uses Auspex) is an ace in the hole for intelligence gathering.
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Dec 5, 2013 03:40
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Captain Oblivious posted:Man you'd think the Nosferatu would be pragmatic enough to realize that a Nosferatu who doesn't look like a Nosferatu (and isn't revealed to be a Nosferatu bullshitting if somebody uses Auspex) is an ace in the hole for intelligence gathering. Never underestimate the bitterness of a bunch of fuckers so ugly they've had to live in a sewer for multiple human lifetimes.
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Dec 5, 2013 03:56
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Feinne posted:Never underestimate the bitterness of a bunch of fuckers so ugly they've had to live in a sewer for multiple human lifetimes. This is, of course, how certain clans go out of their way to turn you in to something inhuman. Everyone instantly thinks of the Sabbat clans as doing this but the Tremere and Ventrue both have systems set up that encourage you to become a sociopath if you want to survive your Accounting. This runs in to some hilarity due to the Ventrue's bad habit of going after "heroic" individuals who are naturally not the kind that would make it as a vampire until you twist them. OneTwentySix posted:Okay, now please tell us about The Stoneman gatz posted:Please do. Follow along with me to the wild days of Vampire, where people were still trying to decide between SERIOUS BUSINESS and superheroes with fangs. This is pre-Revised, mind. Now the thing with Caitiffs is that, well, Caine technically was one - each of the clans exhibit their abilities and weaknesses due to the Curse that Caine laid down on them, with the abilities of the Antediluvians passed on through their blood due to how powerful they were. But it takes a while for the individual Curse to pass along to the new vampire - this is the Becoming, and it's during this time that a Ventrue-to-be develops its taste for specific blood, or a Malkavian is driven to madness by the Truth, or a Nosferatu is warped and twisted and deformed in a process that can take days or weeks. It's also the period of time where your internal organs atrophy, you vomit up everything in your stomach, and you have actual changes in your skull that let you retract and extend your fangs - there's a spongy tissue there and yadda yadda craziness yadda. There's a rather neat blurb discussing Ramona the Gangrel Sig character that goes in to some detail with this. But I digress. Anyway. So that happens. But it's still a -mystical- thing. You get it both from the blood and from hanging around with your Sire during this time. But what happens when you're not around your Sire and your blood is not thick enough to carry all the Curse with you? BAM, Caitiff. Vampires that have actually ducked most of the Curse. This particular viewpoint actually survived in to Revised - it's basically the philosophy of both the Panders (gently caress YEAH JOSEPH PANDER!) and the Unbound, a loose collective of Caitiff Anarchs that are only having their numbers grow in the modern nights. But, anyway. That's in the modern age. In the -ancient- age, you -still- had these fuckers. And some of them claimed to be direct offspring of the 2nd Generation - like both them and Caine, they did not have the various Curses laid upon them. Most of these were killed off pretty drat quickly. -Most-. The Stoneman survived. Here's the most complete write up about him I was able to find, yanked from someone's pet project concerning the genealogy of all of the vampires and their lineage (kind of what fellow goon Loomer has been working on). quote:He is shrouded in mystery and all attempts to get answers about his age or history from him are met with an enigmatic smile. The Stoneman has allegedly created several new Disciplines on his own, and is willing to teach the powers he has developed to other Caitiff - if they meet his standards. Some few have even made the claim that he had diablerized one of the Antediluvians or that he is actually a childe of Caine returned from the East. No one can say for certain just what the Stoneman looks like, for he apparently can change his shape at will, and he is almost never described the same way twice. That's from the unrevised book Outcasts: A Players Guide to Pariahs, which specifically dealt with Caitiff, Ronin, and other weirdos in the gamelines. This same book also has my absolute favorite Discipline ever just for how -goofy- it is, one that I hold up as an example of the pre-Revised mindset. I present to you... Kineticism. It gives you control over kinetic energy. Somehow. Because vampires. The first dot in it lets you reduce the damage from attacks - you soften the blows that would land on you and THEN soak. The second level lets you change the course of projectiles - you get enough successes and you can shoot someone with their own bullets. The next step? Getting punched means that you can punch HARDER - damage dealt to you increases the damage of your next attack. The next two ranks basically improve what's come before - the 4th just lets you improve the damage of your attacks without needing to be kicked in the nuts, while the 5th level improves your damage reduction. This is a thing. This is a sample Discipline with actual rules laid one, and is just one of the many that were apparently created by the Stoneman. And he's still kicking - he's got a mention in the Time of Thin Blood. ... holy gently caress now I kind of want to play an all thinblood game.
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Dec 5, 2013 06:51
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Vicissitude posted:So who's interested in a little character swap? I could do a character swap but I really only have Mage characters  Admittedly it means that when we end up meeting Kuei-Jin I can talk endlessly about how they're totally bullshit. Actually the funny part about Bloodlines is that you directly meet every major splat and a whole bunch of minor ones except the Mages somehow. Admittedly, that does make a bit of sense (it would be ridiculously hard to explain what the gently caress the Technocracy is in a game that's ostensibly about vampires, and a lot of the more recognizable mages like the Hermetics or Verbena really have a Thing against vampires) but it's really the one oversight that you'll notice the most if you go straight from Bloodlines into oWoD proper, at which point you're like "man what the gently caress there are magic-hating science wizards with PLASMA GUNS?"
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Dec 5, 2013 18:11
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But I thought we meet/let ourselves get captured by the Technocracy in Chinatown and that one jerk tries to experiment on us? TBF they don't go into detail and I think that's it for this game.
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Dec 5, 2013 18:26
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This poster loves police brutality, but only when its against minorities!
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DeusExMachinima posted:But I thought we meet/let ourselves get captured by the Technocracy in Chinatown and that one jerk tries to experiment on us? TBF they don't go into detail and I think that's it for this game. I'm fairly sure that's the Society of Leopold or potentially Strike Force Zero.
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Dec 5, 2013 18:33
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 I'm gonna add that to the second post. If I ever actually played a real game of VTM, it'd probably make some sort of caitiff anarch. MJ12 posted:I'm fairly sure that's the Society of Leopold or potentially Strike Force Zero. If I remember correctly, it's the first of those two options.
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Dec 5, 2013 18:36
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gatz posted:If I remember correctly, it's the first of those two options. If I remember correctly, it was somebody entirely unrelated, or at least I missed some sort of material. The character in question is called the Mandarin, which implies a connection with the Asian vampires to some degree, but that's about it. However, in one of his experiments, he sicks hunters on you, although I believe they're just hunters, not specifically ones from the Society. Then again, I might be completely wrong because at that point, my patience with some of the more annoying gameplay decisions started running out - kind of like Troika's deadline or budget or general will to live - and I might have missed the subtext.
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Dec 5, 2013 19:04
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TheMcD posted:If I remember correctly, it was somebody entirely unrelated, or at least I missed some sort of material. The character in question is called the Mandarin, which implies a connection with the Asian vampires to some degree, but that's about it. However, in one of his experiments, he sicks hunters on you, although I believe they're just hunters, not specifically ones from the Society. I'm quite sure that in one of (spoilers for very far ahead, don't read if you haven't played) his servers, behind a ridiculously high level hack there's e-mails between him and the asian vampire leader, who commisioned him, needing more info on the Kindred, and you can confront them based on the discovery Please let me know if spoilers are going too far, I've tagged them but I'll remove them if deemed necessary. mortons stork fucked around with this message at 19:28 on Dec 5, 2013 |
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Dec 5, 2013 19:25
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^ Those are fine. I do like how you prefaced the spoiler tag with a little non-spoilery description in the parentheses. More people should get into that habit, since it helps people to not accidentally spoil things for themselves because they thought what's in the spoiler tags was for a different part of the game, or something else.
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Dec 5, 2013 19:38
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TheMcD posted:If I remember correctly, it was somebody entirely unrelated, or at least I missed some sort of material. The character in question is called the Mandarin, which implies a connection with the Asian vampires to some degree, but that's about it. However, in one of his experiments, he sicks hunters on you, although I believe they're just hunters, not specifically ones from the Society. Yeah, you're right it's a pretty generic group. I just assumed they were a stand-in for another WW line. Also this got posted in the games thread but it's slipped a few pages back so just check this link out. Amazing if they actually pull it off. http://planet-vampire.net/forum/index.php?topic=6314.0 OTOH perennial fan favorite Wesp is involved!  I read recently that with the Plus patch in the late-game you can turn your ghoul into a vampire and avoid her story death. I mean, is that even how it works in the source books?
DeusExMachinima fucked around with this message at 20:03 on Dec 5, 2013 |
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Dec 5, 2013 20:01
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DeusExMachinima posted:OTOH perennial fan favorite Wesp is involved! The answer is yes, you can do that. Ghouls can be Embraced, no trouble.
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Dec 5, 2013 20:10
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MJ12 posted:I could do a character swap but I really only have Mage characters It would be really, really hard to properly put magic (OK, magick) in the video game without without just making a scriptfest level where we get hurt mostly in cutscenes. Given that most mages have to at least try and mask their abilities as coincidences, it would be a wasted effort anyway, as the players who don't know oWoD wouldn't know what the gently caress is going on. It's not completely impossible, but it would require a lot of effort - more than a brief cameo would be worth.
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Dec 5, 2013 20:18
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MJ12 posted:Actually the funny part about Bloodlines is that you directly meet every major splat and a whole bunch of minor ones except the Mages somehow. DeusExMachinima posted:Yeah, you're right it's a pretty generic group. Rogue AI Goddess fucked around with this message at 20:58 on Dec 5, 2013 |
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Dec 5, 2013 20:54
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LeJackal posted:The answer is yes, you can do that. Ghouls can be Embraced, no trouble.  Is it some kind of faux pas, is there prejudice against it/them? Or is it something sensible, because you don't have to give the new vamp the Talk? Actually, since ghouls drink vampire blood, what are the mechanics of sucking on a ghoul, yours or someone else's? Actually, more ghoul mechanics in general would be cool. Like, what happens if you give them lots of blood, how much blood do they hold, that kind of thing. Rockopolis fucked around with this message at 21:54 on Dec 5, 2013 |
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Dec 5, 2013 21:06
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Your post - it's revealing what was in the spoiler tags. Please tag the relevant parts.
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Dec 5, 2013 21:09
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Oh poo poo, sorry! I had spoilers turned off and didn't even notice. Edited!
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Dec 5, 2013 21:56
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I'm pretty sure I didn't have to kill that security guard to get into the Controlled Substances safe.
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Dec 5, 2013 22:00
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Rockopolis posted:Oh poo poo, sorry! I had spoilers turned off and didn't even notice. Edited! Thank you. Gort posted:I'm pretty sure I didn't have to kill that security guard to get into the Controlled Substances safe. I didn't either. The only way to get in is by hacking the computer.
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Dec 5, 2013 22:05
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Is it possible to take his keys when he's in a dazed state after being fed on? Killing him seemed excessive.
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Dec 5, 2013 22:12
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MJ12 posted:I could do a character swap but I really only have Mage characters About that. We DO meet a mage, in Chinatown. He runs one of the shops, and gives you a very odd job to do. Unlucky indeed. e:fb how did I not see Ephemeron's post. apostateCourier fucked around with this message at 22:17 on Dec 5, 2013 |
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Dec 5, 2013 22:13
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Ensign Expendable posted:Is it possible to take his keys when he's in a dazed state after being fed on? Killing him seemed excessive. Nope, he only drops them if he's dead. There is no pickpocketing in bloodlines, which might have been a neat thing.
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Dec 5, 2013 22:46
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Rockopolis posted:Yeah, but don't you have to worry about going blind if it's your ghoul? Ghouls can hold up to two points of blood without getting sick. They metabolize it at the rate of one point/month. They can spend it to heal, blood buff, and power Disciplines, just like vampires. Granted, they have a hell of a time learning Disciplines (only the first level, and it costs 20 XP- almost 3 times as much as a Catiff Vampire), but they still have access to them. You CAN stuff a ghoul full of (I think) 5 points of blood, but that's like two and a half litres of blood. The consequences are pretty much what you'd think drinking that much blood would do to you.
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Dec 5, 2013 23:17
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Rockopolis posted:Yeah, but don't you have to worry about going blind if it's your ghoul? Not really a faux pas - several clans make it a habit of Embracing their ghouls. It's just that the average ghoul is a tool, picked for a very specific purpose to further your ends. If you end up Embracing that ghoul, not only do you need to deal with a new vampire that can get you killed if it fucks up you have to replaced the ghoul. Drinking from a ghoul is like drinking from a mortal, as near as I can recall - you run no risk of being bound to them nor can they Embrace. If you give them -too- much blood weird things start to happen, and the max that a ghoul can hold is 10 - it's part of the reason the 13th Generation were treated like poo poo in the Dark Ages, due to them only having as much blood in them as a human. The lower the Generation the ghoul's master is, the slightly better they are at learning Disciplines (I want to say that if you have a master that's ~8th gen you can learn up to the 2nd level, and there's a weird stairstep process that I can never for the life of me recall. As for the guy that people are saying might be a mage, I actually figured him as a Changeling. And my view of The Mandarin is that he -is- one of the Five Elemental Dragons or whatever they're called - the Asian setting in White Wolf is a mess and the various groups over there tend to work together.
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Dec 5, 2013 23:19
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Can you cross-infect ghouls, like force one to drink up from you to co-opt the bond, or could we have slipped Mercurio some blood just to be nice?
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Dec 5, 2013 23:23
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Added Space posted:Can you cross-infect ghouls, like force one to drink up from you to co-opt the bond, or could we have slipped Mercurio some blood just to be nice? I've always interpreted the "you can only have one 3-point" bond as you can have as many lower tier ones as you can handle, but that's because I've had to deal with players doing the "well I'll just bond myself to so and so and thus be immune to it forever!".
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Dec 6, 2013 00:01
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DeusExMachinima posted:Yeah, you're right it's a pretty generic group. I just assumed they were a stand-in for another WW line. It is indeed true And rather lovely, as it defeats the entire point of the Heather plotline
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Dec 6, 2013 00:08
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| # ? May 9, 2024 21:45 |
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apostateCourier posted:About that. We DO meet a mage, in Chinatown. He runs one of the shops, and gives you a very odd job to do. Unlucky indeed. I dunno, from the guy's name and dialogue, I figured that he wasn't a mage. I thought he was a Demon, specifically a Yama King.
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Dec 6, 2013 00:21
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