Funny finds

[Prometheas]

Ever find a Mechanic or piece of fluff/plot that's just completely hilarious when you take a step back and consider the context?

For Example: The latest version(DAV20 companion) of the Level 5 power for the sadhanna path "Power of Karma" Allows a cainite to preordain that a person become a wraith or Wan Kuei after they die.

Think about that for a second. Wan kuei are a vampire-like species that are always shadowed by the spectre of extinction because they don't have any way to replenish their numbers like Cainites do. They've been at war with the cainites for Millenia in india and there's a blanket ban over most of asia that declarers Talking to a cainite is equal to Infernalism unless there's a prince-equivalent level Wan Kuei overseeing everything. They Hate Cainiters with a passion and see them as either horrifying barbaric invaders or arrogantly dismiss them as "Lesser" form of hungry ghost...

And the only WOD power that lets a supernatural make more Wan Kuei on demand is in a Cainite Blood Sorcery path.

[Hello]

This is why I love Path of Karma. Rather than try to fight death, those who master this power end up accepting it. Its a shame that we may never see a pc use it in a game however, since it doesn't really fit with the usual themes of vtm, and its also going to be very difficult to incorporate. But just think about how badass it would feel to killed, and then come back as the child of a powerful individual to take revenge on your murderer.

This has the power to make you the main character of the story.

[Amethyst]

Ever find a Mechanic or piece of fluff/plot that's just completely hilarious when you take a step back and consider the context?

For Example: The latest version(DAV20 companion) of the Level 5 power for the sadhanna path "Power of Karma" Allows a cainite to preordain that a person become a wraith or Wan Kuei after they die.

Think about that for a second. Wan kuei are a vampire-like species that are always shadowed by the spectre of extinction because they don't have any way to replenish their numbers like Cainites do. They've been at war with the cainites for Millenia in india and there's a blanket ban over most of asia that declarers Talking to a cainite is equal to Infernalism unless there's a prince-equivalent level Wan Kuei overseeing everything. They Hate Cainiters with a passion and see them as either horrifying barbaric invaders or arrogantly dismiss them as "Lesser" form of hungry ghost...

And the only WOD power that lets a supernatural make more Wan Kuei on demand is in a Cainite Blood Sorcery path.

😂😂😂😂

That actually made me laugh out loud.

[Prometheas]

This is why I love Path of Karma. Rather than try to fight death, those who master this power end up accepting it. Its a shame that we may never see a pc use it in a game however, since it doesn't really fit with the usual themes of vtm, and its also going to be very difficult to incorporate. But just think about how badass it would feel to killed, and then come back as the child of a powerful individual to take revenge on your murderer.

This has the power to make you the main character of the story.

On the other hand, getting maximum usage out of it also implies you and your servants are Very bad at staying alive. There's a lot of unintentional comedy to unpack there that might mess with the VTM's mandatory brooding.

It's also great for reoccurring villains though.

[Hello]

On the other hand, getting maximum usage out of it also implies you and your servants are Very bad at staying alive. There's a lot of unintentional comedy to unpack there that might mess with the VTM's mandatory brooding.

It's also great for reoccurring villains though.

You don't like your current playthrough of the game? Just kill yourself and adjust your stats!

Some enemy giving you a hard time because you don't have the proper skills to go against them? Just kill yourself and adjust your stats!

Sometimes to get good at the game, you have to die a lot.

Just don't get diablerized, and if you do, just fill your killers head with suicidal thoughts so they kill themselves! Seems like a win, win. Your soul returns to the wheel, and there's one less cannibal vampire running around.

[Aleph]

You don't like your current playthrough of the game? Just kill yourself and adjust your stats!

Some enemy giving you a hard time because you don't have the proper skills to go against them? Just kill yourself and adjust your stats!

Sometimes to get good at the game, you have to die a lot.

Correct me if I'm wrong but: Doesn't reincarnating, then growing up, maybe converting to a vampire again, and learning or re-leraring all the stats takes... you know...time?

*What it's the rest of the Coterie supposed to do in the meantime?. Do they play chess for a couple of centuries until your next char sheet it's "up to date", instead of trying to gain more xp on top of what they already have? . Either they all accept to leave to leave their plans on "stand-by" and follow you to the after life, or it's going to be a very awkward situation

I'm pretty sure "the talk" with the rest of the Coterie, to convince them all into collective suicide, it's going to be very funny :P

*That would also mean your enemy will have time to complete his plans. Tipically, giving your enemies many years of advantage to gain experience, power, and time to do whatever they want it's not the greatest idea.

Depending on the story, this may be either the opportunity your ST it's expecting to make stuff advance amd spice things up ... or forcinga setting overhaul that's going to anger the ST to the point you can expect Shiva himself to cross the Gauntlet and erase your soul next time you even mention the word "reincarnation". :P

---

Trully the power it's very vague. I'm not clear on how much the fate - or fate in general - it's certain and compelling. Like:

*How much of your life can you select? (can you say, "Ok, and I'm going to be embraced by Caine, who's going to be a very nice and supportive sire, and I'm going to rerach 13 in all Disciplines after Diablerizing God - then I'm having my vengace")

*How far in the future can you see? and how much can you control the future. (What if you want vengance but the enemy becomes so unreachable in terms of power that you would need milenia to catch up even with the best of luck. What if armaggedon comes first, before your "stats are rigth"? , Perhaps your very enemy destroys the world ).

*Is it unchangeable? What if another practicioner of Path of Karma - or someone that knows about reincarnation - wants to target your reincarnation before you grow up? (like, your enemy kills himself after, and wants to be positioned to take revenge before you do)

It's likened to a Dark Fate - wich it's another can of worms: That defect it's the perfect defect for a troll Player to select. You select a very clear dark fate, and then start doing all kinds of crazy suicidal stunts (I'm going to take down a Werewolf Caern!, or, I'm gona keep awake after sunrise and take a walk outside to my enemy's haven - slowly!. ) After all, that's not how you die...

I think that power it's great for an ST character. An antagonist that comes back after his Final Death, and players need to understand his powers to defeat him...But as a PC power ...how to put it? ... it needs total ST/Player cooperation/coordination to be something positive. And even then it would be disruptive on a table unless everyone it's on the same page about it.

[Prometheas]

Trully the power it's very vague. I'm not clear on how much the fate - or fate in general - it's certain and compelling. Like:

*How much of your life can you select? (can you say, "Ok, and I'm going to be embraced by Caine, who's going to be a very nice and supportive sire, and I'm going to rerach 13 in all Disciplines after Diablerizing God - then I'm having my vengace")

I'm pretty sure logically impossible circumstances like level 13 disciplines, diablerizing god, and Caine being a responsible parent either don't happen or backfire Spectacularly. I'd also say an ST is well within their rights to say "No, you may not use an obscure blood magic path to alter the fates of Vampires lower generation than you A La Dominate rules".

*the above would also mean that re-writing fate to give you all your stuff back after death would leave you 1 gen higher than you started. Something I think would be a pretty fair trade-off for literally gaming death itself.

*How far in the future can you see? and how much can you control the future. (What if you want vengance but the enemy becomes so unreachable in terms of power that you would need milenia to catch up even with the best of luck. What if armaggedon comes first, before your "stats are rigth"? , Perhaps your very enemy destroys the world ).

That's the fun part, the power doesn't let you see the future at all and previous powers in the same path are vague At Best about it. You have to blindly guess the likely future and shape fate from there, possibly screwing yourself over if you guess wrong(for example: predestine yourself to being reborn as a wealthy prince, only to be born in a country that will experience violent revolution during your lifetime)

*Is it unchangeable? What if another practicioner of Path of Karma - or someone that knows about reincarnation - wants to target your reincarnation before you grow up? (like, your enemy kills himself after, and wants to be positioned to take revenge before you do)

Depends on who knows more in that situation. If you know when and how your rivals will reincarnate, you can assassinate the infant before it grows up to be a problem. I imagine path of karma practitioners guard information about their incarnations the same way international banks guard the account information of billionares.

It's likened to a Dark Fate - wich it's another can of worms: That defect it's the perfect defect for a troll Player to select. You select a very clear dark fate, and then start doing all kinds of crazy suicidal stunts (I'm going to take down a Werewolf Caern!, or, I'm gona keep awake after sunrise and take a walk outside to my enemy's haven - slowly!. ) After all, that's not how you die...

That's not how dark fate works. The final details of that Flaw are always up to the ST, so a vampire trying to "game the system" is only going to end up embracing final death much sooner.

I think that power it's great for an ST character. An antagonist that comes back after his Final Death, and players need to understand his powers to defeat him...But as a PC power ...how to put it? ... it needs total ST/Player cooperation/coordination to be something positive. And even then it would be disruptive on a table unless everyone it's on the same page about it.

Honestly, it isn't that bad. A player with this path using it on the group is the same thing as having them fill out new character sheets in case they die, only their next characters get past lives for free.

Whether those next characters end up being starting characters or if they get the same pool of XP their players died with is up to the ST.

[Hello]

Trully the power it's very vague. I'm not clear on how much the fate - or fate in general - it's certain and compelling. Like:

*How much of your life can you select? (can you say, "Ok, and I'm going to be embraced by Caine, who's going to be a very nice and supportive sire, and I'm going to rerach 13 in all Disciplines after Diablerizing God - then I'm having my vengace")

*How far in the future can you see? and how much can you control the future. (What if you want vengance but the enemy becomes so unreachable in terms of power that you would need milenia to catch up even with the best of luck. What if armaggedon comes first, before your "stats are rigth"? , Perhaps your very enemy destroys the world ).

*Is it unchangeable? What if another practicioner of Path of Karma - or someone that knows about reincarnation - wants to target your reincarnation before you grow up? (like, your enemy kills himself after, and wants to be positioned to take revenge before you do)

It's likened to a Dark Fate - wich it's another can of worms: That defect it's the perfect defect for a troll Player to select. You select a very clear dark fate, and then start doing all kinds of crazy suicidal stunts (I'm going to take down a Werewolf Caern!, or, I'm gona keep awake after sunrise and take a walk outside to my enemy's haven - slowly!. ) After all, that's not how you die...

I think that power it's great for an ST character. An antagonist that comes back after his Final Death, and players need to understand his powers to defeat him...But as a PC power ...how to put it? ... it needs total ST/Player cooperation/coordination to be something positive. And even then it would be disruptive on a table unless everyone it's on the same page about it.

I see this power more as a way to gain enlightenment, similarly to how kindered who follow the path of death and soul use necromancy to expand their knowledge, on you know, death and souls. It would be interesting to see a vampire trying to research how the wheel works, maybe even have them try to understand how good and bad deeds affect the wheel.

[Nail Eater]

Ever find a Mechanic or piece of fluff/plot that's just completely hilarious

My friend used to create superheroes which, overlooking some mechanical rules, can literally tear the world apart. For example:

-Gurahl who could deal over 80 dices of damage
-Fianna who had 27 dices for most social tests
-the luckiest garou on the world, who has 2 automatic succeses for most tests and, in case of emergency, reroll a few of them
And my own ideas
-Cainite who can eat food, is inoffensive to animals and can look like an ordinary mortal without using bloodpoints
-buying a big disused powerstation in the center of London for 500k£ using 1st level of Path of Corruption (the city official said that he won't sell it so cheap).

We used 2nd and revised editions.

[Reasor]

In Requiem 2nd Edition, the Nosferatu clan flaw imposes -2 to all Manipulation and Presence rolls, and turns every failure into a critical failure - only interactions with other vampires are exempt. The clan's exclusive discipline, Nightmare, requires a roll with either Manipulation or Presence for every power except the first. Nosferatu are objectively worse at scaring mortals than they are at scaring other vampires.

I've never seen the 1st Edition Vampire: the Masquerade books, but I've heard it said that Obfuscate had to be redesigned for 2nd Edition Masquerade because the Nosferatu clan discipline made that discipline unusable, too. Someone who knows should feel free to correct me if that's false, but my heart says to trust that rumor. If any clan is going to be that truly cursed by the game itself, it's the Nossies.

[Prometheas]

My friend used to create superheroes which, overlooking some mechanical rules, can literally tear the world apart. For example:

-Gurahl who could deal over 80 dices of damage
-Fianna who had 27 dices for most social tests
-the luckiest garou on the world, who has 2 automatic succeses for most tests and, in case of emergency, reroll a few of them

...What?!?

[Spencer from The Hills]

In Requiem 2nd Edition, the Nosferatu clan flaw imposes -2 to all Manipulation and Presence rolls, and turns every failure into a critical failure - only interactions with other vampires are exempt. The clan's exclusive discipline, Nightmare, requires a roll with either Manipulation or Presence for every power except the first. Nosferatu are objectively worse at scaring mortals than they are at scaring other vampires.

It's almost averted by applying to the normal Humanity social penalty, which has exemptions depending on the nature of the interaction, except most Nightmare powers, and even several of its devotions, use Empathy.

"When dealing with humans, treat the Nosferatu’s Humanity as two dots lower for the purpose of Social penalties, and treat any Presence and Manipulation failures as dramatic failures."

"These modifiers apply to rolls relating to humans. Manipulating humans for food with Subterfuge or frightening them with Intimidation are not affected; but trying to understand a human’s emotional cues with the Empathy Skill would be affected."

[Nail Eater]

...What?!?

We once got an idea to make the most overpowered characters we could overlooking some rules like dicecap. Using proper combination of gifts, merits and stats we created a few superheroes. Unfortunately I can't give you a certain examples (except Ahroun with Silver and Wyrm immunity), it was over 20 years ago and my friend is gone. But I can give you my own ideas, based on 1st, 2nd and revised edition.

Lupus Ahroun Wendigo with spirit parent (merit from 2nd Edition tribebook)
Homid Gaillard Fianna with faerie blood (merit from 2nd Edition tribebook)
Homid Gaillard Shadow Lord who was also a revenant (survivor from Danislavs, ok, canonically it isn't possible but I liked the idea)
Homid Philodox Silent Strider with romanian blood (from WoD: Gypsies; yeah, I know it is considered offensive but as I said it was in late 90's)
Metis Theurge Uktena who was also a sorcerer (possibility mentioned in Uktena 2nd Edition tribebook)
Homid Ragabash Stargazer who was also a psychic after a trip to Flux Realm (an optional aka storyteller's discretion possibility from 1st edition Umbra: the Velvet Shadow).

Imagine them as a pack (I tried this when I run campaign from Rage across Australia).

[Prometheas]

We once got an idea to make the most overpowered characters we could overlooking some rules like dicecap. Using proper combination of gifts, merits and stats we created a few superheroes. Unfortunately I can't give you a certain examples (except Ahroun with Silver and Wyrm immunity), it was over 20 years ago and my friend is gone. But I can give you my own ideas, based on 1st, 2nd and revised edition.

Lupus Ahroun Wendigo with spirit parent (merit from 2nd Edition tribebook)
Homid Gaillard Fianna with faerie blood (merit from 2nd Edition tribebook)
Homid Gaillard Shadow Lord who was also a revenant (survivor from Danislavs, ok, canonically it isn't possible but I liked the idea)
Homid Philodox Silent Strider with romanian blood (from WoD: Gypsies; yeah, I know it is considered offensive but as I said it was in late 90's)
Metis Theurge Uktena who was also a sorcerer (possibility mentioned in Uktena 2nd Edition tribebook)
Homid Ragabash Stargazer who was also a psychic after a trip to Flux Realm (an optional aka storyteller's discretion possibility from 1st edition Umbra: the Velvet Shadow).

Imagine them as a pack (I tried this when I run campaign from Rage across Australia).

I'm going to be honest, I'm not as familiar with the mechanics of werewolf as I am with every other game(It's the one game I've never had a chance to play, so I only know broad strokes and the metaplot).

For example: I don't know off the top of my head what gift combos a Lupus Ahroun Wendigo has that break the moment you add the Merit: Spirit Parent.

[Nail Eater]

I'm going to be honest, I'm not as familiar with the mechanics of werewolf as I am with every other game(It's the one game I've never had a chance to play, so I only know broad strokes and the metaplot).

For example: I don't know off the top of my head what gift combos a Lupus Ahroun Wendigo has that break the moment you add the Merit: Spirit Parent.

In that case it wasn't about the mechanics but rather about a group of unusual characters meet each other. To be honest this character was created to have the player decide: his duty or his mysterious past.