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[CaptOtter]

A Gangrel turning into a fast bird would trounce a vampire with high flight....

[CaptOtter]

I'd be interested in 20th anniversary version of literally all of the things. Having said that, it sounds like the only acceptable path forward for the IP holders re- KotE is a game about supernatural creatures in the east that are vampires... and that's it. Mind you, I'd be interested in seeing what they come up with--but the fact is that I am basically guaranteed to back/kickstart/buy every 20th anniversary game, precisely because I already know I like all of those games. It sounds like I would not have any way knowing whether I would like what they came up with next by dint of the fact that...

[CaptOtter]

By way of a shortcut, ultimately my thesis in this comment/reply is that V5 narrowed the scope of what a V:tM game can be. Any game that can be run using V5 rules could be run in V:tM by virtue of the table/players and storyteller deciding to make certain kinds of characters--the reverse is not true. Classic V:tM would 1000% accommodate a desire to play a game in which everyone is an unhinged, rapacious anarch popinjay constantly riding the razor's edge between keeping it together and losing it to the beast. Even assuming arguendo that that sort of game didn't happen very often, it wasn't because...

[CaptOtter]

Watch out with this--the special powers or abilities listed for Lvls. 6-8 are incredibly specific to the sorts of powers Mummies (and specifically the Amenti--mummies made using the non-corrupted/actually functioning life equation/immortality spell/Horus magic thing). To get one of the extra powers listed, you have to have boosted that attribute above 5 by specifically using a mummy potion/amulet/spell/whatever. Then, if and only if you used a mummy Haku (Hekau?) power to boost that attribute, you get to pick a SINGLE power (or invent your own using the listed ones for scale) per attribute level...

[CaptOtter]

I'm downloading this right now! It baffles that this sort of thing doesn't exist already. Thank you so much for your hard work!

[CaptOtter]

Holy crap I totally did not get that! I feel like I've read through the magic rules a few times already and never picked up on this! Would you so kind as to tell me which page(s) of the book in particular explain this? I really thought it was still Revised style!!! (though this explains why I was so bewildered by the inclusion of the text box discussing optionally splitting successes among different aspects of the effect...)...

[CaptOtter]

Obviously anything is possible, but, what are the odds those hulls aren't insured? I mean, $20 million is a lot of money. And even if not insured, I find it hard to countenance that losing a $20 million yacht would be ruinous, if only because it seems unlikely that someone would invest all, or nearly all of their assets, innon-commercial vessels (particularly uninsured ones). What does that meeting between Ventrue even look like?...

[CaptOtter]

I don't think it's trivializing to cite something about a particular event, occurrence, or conflict, for the purpose of evidencing the actual capabilities of the entities and actors involved therein. The game implicitly justifies that the SI was able to achieve what it did by relying on our (in real life) knowledge that the U.S. government has XYZ capabilities, because we have spent the last twenty years hearing about and watching how those capabilities are deployed against our enemies--as much for our factual edification, as for political reasons. For better or worse, discussions over the plausibility...

[CaptOtter]

I love the Ravnos, but the concept definitely would have aged (much) better if it hadn't been based on racist stereotypes. A clan of wondering/nomadic/vagabond vampires would have been fine. Plenty to mine just there....

[CaptOtter]

I can't fault your logic or analyses re- the various reasons why Vampire powered by Storypath will probably never happen. But I'll be damned if I don't continue thinking it would be an excellent system for powering WoD games while preserving that Rev-20th Ann. feel....

[CaptOtter]

I don't think the problem is martial. We didn't just invent man-portable weapons that will shred a vampire. The problem is that vampires are a threat with asymmetrical capabilities, and as such present unique challenges for counter-intelligence/terror outfits. There is no precedent in modern mortal intelligence and counter-terror doctrine for spying on or thwarting a group of creatures empowered by principles, and capable of feats, that (even beyond being unknown) operate on principles that run contrary to basically every operative, officer, and analyst's understanding of the natural world. It's...

[CaptOtter]

In your construction of things, would it be possible to so endow an animal using Sphere magic (I assume some combination of high Spirit and Prime)? Or is this in the realm of feats like defeating the Curse of Cain (i.e., "u god? no? u fail")?

I feel like the book (Sorcerer Revised anyway) leaves this as sort of an open question--or at least far more open than the hard "NO" of some of the other splats. What they appear to do is make the arguments for why you would or would not allow either ruling. Even then, I think the text somewhat reluctantly concedes that there's...

[CaptOtter]

I'm mostly working with Sorcerer Revised, as it appears to really just be an update of the 2nd Ed. Sorcerer book, but if there are meaningful rule changes germane to this discussion, please educate me. Having said that, there are broadly two scenarios I envision in which a ST would have to rule on whether animals can be hedge magicians (or psychics for that matter.) I'll start with what I think is the clearer of the two scenarios:

Scenario No. 1: A hedge magician is turned into an animal, but retains their human intelligence, memories, personality, etc.Sphere magick can undoubtedly...

[CaptOtter]

Agree. Except I would extend this more or less to DAV (the revised, chronologically earlier setting). Obviously DAV20 is an outgrowth of the latter; I just think they were at their finest in that particular setting.

I can't speak for CoC (never played it, sadly.) However, my rejoinder re- Shadowrun and D&D is that the changes made to those two systems over time were overwhelmingly procedural in nature, with some inevitable externalized substantive changes as a result. By contrast, V5's changes are radically procedural and substantive--and by "substantive," I don't mean...

[CaptOtter]

I don't think it's unusual for people to give a lot of weight to what they already think or think they know about someone when that person is accused of something, even something terrible. I'm sure that when John Wayne Gacey was arrested and charged, there were plenty of people who 100% thought it was all just a giant misunderstanding... until they started digging up skeletons in the backyard. Hell, there were victims of Larry Nassar's (young women whom he had violated dozens upon dozens of times) who stood behind him basically up until he was being sentenced, and they were very unfortunately...

[CaptOtter]

I think other people mentioned already that there doesn't seem to be very much of a sexist or chauvinist undercurrent in the Tremere, particularly not if you consider facts like that one of the big three is/was a "woman". But even putting a pin in that, I think there's something fundamentally flawed about your supposition that goes beyond questions specific to the Tremere, and that is: I think it's unlikely that an individual's self-identity (and identify politics,) would develop over time in such a way that they would come to feel more strongly about an identity marker that is categorically...

[CaptOtter]

I think it's unlikely the Rite/Ceremony/Great Work system, or the cap on rolls (i.e., Arete+WP) were play tested very much (if at all). There's too much from the canon and fiction from prior editions that just isn't possible if you use those.

I think it's even more crazy than that--in all likelihood, most mages would have to start rolling Stam before they can even complete the first roll, since it's unlikely most mages have Stam 5 (i.e., peak human resilience and conditioning), and not every mage is going to have the Life 3 necessary go get to 5 (and they'll have to hang that effect...

[CaptOtter]

My issue with the new rules basically boils down to this change. From a dice/statistics perspective, it's pretty dubious that the first few thousand years vampire history would play out as written in older editions. A pretty esoteric (but I think damning) example would be the sheer amount time that the Tremere were supposed to have been able to successfully hide the slow switchover to vampirism from the Order of Hermes. It's plausible under the old rules because the beast, while a serious liability, was ultimately manageable enough. Of course I fully expect that all V5 fans can and will head cannon...

[CaptOtter]

I think the suggestions here regarding the Nos are great, but I would also add Tremere Antitribu (depending on when your game takes place), and Lasombra Antitribu. If you look at descriptions of BSDs, some of them are insanely beautiful and seductive, which goes to show they're (i.e., the Wyrm's followers and minions) not all Troma movie monsters. Honestly, what I like about corrupting forces like the Wyrm is that pretty much everyone is susceptible to being corrupted on an individual level.

[CaptOtter]

I feel like it's important to point out (and I hope we're on the same page about this) that when this sort of warning is given (i.e., "know your audience") it's often because there's stuff in the text that one would typically associate with trigger warnings (e.g., domestic and sexual violence; child abuse; genocide; torture; etc.,) and while that's certainly in there, it's important to go an extra, somewhat bizarre step. In this book, they call out some religious followings that are relatively popular in modern America. I was shocked when I saw it--not because it offended my sensibilities...