Bloodlines - the best and the worst

[Sergeant Brother]

I was thinking of ways to incorporate the bloodlines a bit more into a homebrew V:tM version and I noticed that a lot of the bloodlines leave a lot to be desired. Many of the bloodlines are just the standard Clan but living in some particular place (Anda, Noiad, most of the African versions of the Clans) and some don't have much substance behind them.

Personally I like the Baali, they are a cool bloodline with a lot of character behind them as well as history. Their role in the setting is almost as strong as that of a full fledged Clan already, even if their numbers are low. I think that the Samedi are also interesting in combining elements of the Nosferatu and Cappadocians with their own unique flavor. I actually like the Daughters of Cacophony as well, even though they are one of the (way too numerous) grrl power bloodlines and based too heavily on their signature Discipline - in part because I have my own background fluff for their (Ventrue) origin.

What are some of your favorite bloodlines and why do you like them? What makes them interesting and worthy of inclusion in a game or interesting PCs? What are the worst bloodlines that you would never include?

[Shakanaka]

My favorite Bloodline, hands down, is the pre-V5 Nagaraja. I had an amazing game playing as one and I'll never forget it. The balance of trying to secure flesh to eat, while tiding the line of the Masquerade was awesome. The Vitreous Path of Necromancy was also awesome to use, as Wraith is one of my favorite lines in WoD. Interacting with Wraiths in VTM is what I consider to be a high boon.

Naglopers are another bloodline I really like. Basically the Tzimisce, but African and with a less brutal Clan weakness.

[Shadeprowler]

My personal favorite is the Kiasyd
I found that "You read for 200 years. You go back to sleep." is darn silly
First, you have to gather that reading material
My Kiasyds are usually like Indiana Jones, Lara Croft or the the Librarian from the movie franchise: The Librarian; working on the field, collecting books, artifacts, forbidden knowledge! Ancient ruins of an Elder's heaven, a Tremere werehouse, Settite Temple, treasures from the Shadow Court or from the local Necropolis? Tons of adventure to drag my unfortunate Pack/Coterie along... or doing them favors so they have to help me out!
It is not so easy to blend in when you are a tall Elf with picky feeding habits (crystal glasses, fine blood types and so on)
Dancing on the edge of insanity that would put a Malkavian to shame...

[Thoth]

Bloodlines are a weird topic because they were created later in the games design life cycle, which means that they are less of main clan but different, and more a refinement of ideas that were used earlier, though not always implemented particularly well. Kind of like how pre V5 Obfuscate is the sneaky discipline, yet Quietus was the one that had the ability to muffle sound, but then became all about blood poison.

Personally, I have always enjoyed the City Gangrel since the discipline shake up provides such a different feel to them. While it is true that they lack a unique mechanic or their own clan weakness, the playstyle and build approach is more enjoyable for me.

The bloodline that never made sense to me was the Blood Brothers, they never felt like a fully realized concept. They could have been quite powerful in the Dark Ages setting, but they were designed in the modern nights. They are supposed to be a weaponized form of vampire for use in combat, but between a coterie of Blood Brothers and a coterie of loyalist Gargoyles, the Blood Brothers don't really do much. This is made more apparent when you play the game with canon vampiric population numbers, rather than the more cinematic oversized populations common in many gaming groups, there just aren't enough vampires in any given place to account for a large group of Blood Brothers.

I have a love hate relationship with the Kiasyd. They felt like the designers took a few different designs, put them through a paper shredder and randomly stuck pieces back together until they had a full idea. I can get behind the idea of the Kiasyd being to Changelings what the Gangrel are to Were-critters. The problems begin with the rest of the design, everything about them screams NPC character. They are lore researchers who like to set up shop in places of education or research and rarely leave. The perfect description of the NPC the PCs track down to gain information or hires the PCs for a job. How so many players over the years have turned them into Indiana Jones or Laura Croft when the write up says they stays home and reads most of the time is beyond me. The Tremere and Giovanni are far better suited to such roles but they never seem to be used as such.

[AnubisXy]

The Harbringers of Skulls are my favorite, especially in light of the reveal about them in 5th edition. Alternatively I'm also a big fan of the Witches of Echidna (Setite bloodline).

[Sergeant Brother]

Yeah, I like the Nagaraja and the Kiasyd as well. I should have mentioned them above.

I know it’s silly, but the name of the Nagaraja bloodline kinda bugs me. It literally means Snake King and yet they have no snake powers or elements at all. It would have been better to switch their name with the Indian Setites, Daitya, and have the Indian Setites called the Nagaraja. Then again, they aren’t the only WoD faction with a weird name.

For the Kiasyd, I see them and more than just scholars who never leave the library, so I guess I diverged from the canon a bit, but I find their fluff and imagery really fascinating too.

I also agree that the Blood Brothers don’t make much sense. Not when the Sabbat already utilizes shovel heads and they Tzimisce have their combat ghouls. I suppose I could see the Blood Brothers arising accidentally from mass embraces with Tzimisce blood.

[Reasor]

The Nagaraja have losing the plot built into their clan history, and I love them for it. Charged with protecting Enoch from the Setites by the mummy Inauhaten, made undead by experiments on stolen Setite vitae (hence the clan name, I think)... then the rest of their history is about getting wrapped up in every other damn intrigue in the world, and fighting the Setites ends up not being what they're known for *at all.*

While I get the appeal of Gargoyles - it was a good cartoon - the bloodline really clearly does date back to a time before every person in the world had a cell phone with a camera. They'd never be introduced if the World of Darkness was being created for the first time today, and there's no way that they fail to take the blame for the Second Inquisition now.

[Thoth]

While I get the appeal of Gargoyles - it was a good cartoon - the bloodline really clearly does date back to a time before every person in the world had a cell phone with a camera. They'd never be introduced if the World of Darkness was being created for the first time today, and there's no way that they fail to take the blame for the Second Inquisition now.

Oddly enough I don't see the cell phone camera being the biggest issue, though it is a huge issue on its own. The proliferation of government backed surveillance technology in most major cities makes for quite a few masquerade problems. In some cities it is to the point that vampires would need maps for dead zones where there isn't any camera coverage.

Then the fact that you can now purchase infrared sensors that attach to your smart phone means you can basically scan crowds very easily for the ambient temperature bodies walking around.

The masquerade more or less doesn't function past 2005 in most advanced nations.

[MyWifeIsScary]

Baali: My problem here is that my headcanon is infinitely better than everything the writers seem to want to do with these guys.
I love the blood brothers. I wish they could embrace or have people join their circle.
I love the Samedi but I think the Thanatosis situation is messy. Necromancy would make more sense for them. Thanatosis might work if we changed how Protean functioned.
Gargoyles are great. But Visceraticka should be a collection of alt protean powers (like Thanatosis)
Liahman... I see Ogham as Koldunic sorcery. Works better like that.
Caucophany: All female bloodlines that last for more than a century shouldn't really be a thing. Sex influences mortals but if you put any thought into it there's many reasons why vampires would be less discriminate.

Kiasyd aren't mechanically sound. Like, it would just be too hard to be a neonate Kiasyd. Maegar are much better.

The Harbringers of Skulls are my favorite, especially in light of the reveal about them in 5th edition. Alternatively I'm also a big fan of the Witches of Echidna (Setite bloodline).

Duat have no fury like the settite so scorned: I hate the Witches of Echidna with a passion.
1: Priests in ancient egypt worked magic. They don't need a magic bloodline to help them out. Furthermore priestly magic (akhu) is very much dissimilar to witchcraft in the way it's practiced, thought of, and so on.
2: Though the main bloodline are called the priests, that's not to the exclusion of priestesses. Egyptians had priestesses. There's no need for a girl power/fight the patriarchy bloodline. The followers of set aren't a bunch of conservative men worshipping The Man, they're men and women worshipping an anti-establishment figure. Throwing in the mandatory-adversarial-lilith-counterpart when Set already has actually-opposite characters like Amun-Ra or Horus really helps to confuse Set. It's like Set is Red and Lilith is Pink and they're opposites on the colour spectrum... but wait pink and red are pretty close so surely Set must be blue or green... Essentially, we're making Set lesser by pulling this bullshit. Why is 21st century radical feminism attacking relatively progressive egyptians?
3: Egyptians were writing before Greeks. While Settites do adapt to everything I'd much prefer it if their core beliefs were explained through one mythology.

Ultimately, they're problematic, because they're written to undermine a faction I like, for reasons that aren't actually founded. They were born because someone who didn't understand Settites decided they didn't like Settites and wanted to knock the Settites down a peg. They're toxic.

[Sergeant Brother]

All of the girl powers bloodlines, and there are oodles of them, are pretty bad and really don't make any sense.

Years ago I came up with an alternative origin and explanation for the Daughters of Cacophony, which I like and makes me like them more. The others are bad, especially since there are so many of them. The Ahrimanes are particularly bad in my mind, for redundancy (you don't need them with Gangrel), don't make logical sense, and have a Persian name that has nothing to do with their theme.

Samedi should have Necromancy and they do in any game I run.

[No One of Consequence]

I know it’s silly, but the name of the Nagaraja bloodline kinda bugs me. It literally means Snake King and yet they have no snake powers or elements at all.

Steven Brown and Andrew Greenberg were, as a pair, really bad about coming up with names that were just completely wrong. Hense the ghoul families bearing the name of vengeful spirits risen from the grave, a 19th century Appalachian offshoot of the Gangrel bearing the name of the ancient Persian demon-god of darkness and lies, and a bunch of cannibal necromancers calling themselves Serpent Kings.

[Ragged Robin]

I've always preffered sub clan Bloodlines like warrior setites or Dominate malkavians or destroyed clans.

[Black Fox]

My opinion is that bloodlines should only exist as a mystery to be explained in the chronicle. If the bloodline does not have an interesting origin, purpose, or other unique facet that adds to the setting, there is no reason to have them. And if an ST introduces them in a specific chronicle, there should be a reason this blood in the game. Otherwise it's just a distrction/fan service.

So I don't have any bloodlines that are simply members of the same clan by a different name or perhaps a different set of in-clan Disciplines. I hate sub-clans. No Assamite Viziers, Lamia, Anda, Danava, etc. Mechanically they should all be the same as their parent clan. Saying they are a different clan because its members are in an area with a different human culture is just silly. Many of these bloodline names are just alternative names for the clan as a whole.

Now that most of the secrets behind the Giovanni clan are revealed, I just make the Samedi as Cappadocians whose specific lineage has a Flaw that makes them Monstrous/Cursed. I handle most sub-clans like this if their clan weakness is sufficiently different that it is part of the lore of the game. I give certain lineages of vampires a common Merit or Flaw (usually supernatural in origin) that is passed down through the line. I do it to make these lineages more distinctive. Not all lineages have that, but some do. So it was an easy switch for me to do this and transform certain bloodlines into their main clan.

So what about the others? Here is what I do in my own chronicles.

Bloodlines that are actually just cults or sects with secret powers

Baali - I prefer the idea that the Baali are just a cult that has access to a unique Discipline, much like how the Children of Osiris is a cult/sect that has access to a unique Discipline. Neither are bloodlines. Members remain members of their old clans, even if the Baali cult culture denies that is so. I am not that enamored with them as a concept, but they are perfectly fine as a unique example of a long standing infernalist cult. They have their original clan weaknesses, but also gain an additional Flaw to mirror the "bloodline" weakness as well as a result of whatever pact they made.

Ahrimanes - Like the Baali, not actually a bloodline. They are a self-selecting group of Gangrel who agreed to a participate in a magical ritual that will screw up their vitae in exchange for being able to learn the Spiritus Discipline. The ritual only works on Gangrel vitae because of the unique thaumaturgical experiment Murcia was doing with her own vitae. Interesting only as a faction within a large, chaotic Sabbat for whatever purpose their founder Murcia has for them. The Sabbat merely tolerates them because the sect is about "freedom." But they do not associate with their sect members for the most part. The Ahrimanes society is considered to be part of the Loyalist camp, and they do cooperate with other Sabbat to keep the centralizers from taking over. They are more like a flavor text to show the diversity within the Sabbat as a very loose camp (not the highly centralized war machine of the "Sword of Caine" of Revised). I'd be totally fine if someone wanted to change their name from Ahrimanes to Amazons or whatever to better reflect their actual traditions.

Not Truly Vampires

Gargoyles - I've never liked them as actual vampires. They exist in my game, but not as vampires (though it did require the sacrifice of other vampires to create them). They are just an artifact of Tremere power in the Middle Ages. And no new ones have been created in centuries. There are conflicting reports that either the ritual knowledge has been lost, or that the ritual just stopped working. They do need to drink blood to survive since their "energy" needs to come from somewhere. So they are blood drinkers, but not vampires in the sense they are Kindred/Cainites. Meaning identical mechanics for play of game, but cannot actually embrace or count as real vampires.

Blood Brothers - Similar to the Gargoyles except with the Sabbat. A partially successful attempt by House Goratrix (and some Tzimisce) to provide them servants like the Gargoyles of old. Supernatural blood drinkers with a bad sun allergy, but again not actual vampires in the sense of them being Kindred/Cainites. Each new batch has to be created on its own. Unknown to their creators, Blood Brothers cannot exist forever and will eventually just self-destruct after 50 years or so.

Actual Bloodlines

Nagaraja - Perfectly fine as a unique bloodline for the True Black Hand revealing its origins as a death cult of Mages before vampires took it over. If you are not using the True Black Hand in some manner related to its original depiction, why have them in your game?

Lhiannan - In my chronicles, the Lhiannan were the result of the Gangrel Methusaleh the All High attempting to pass on the curse/power to an Unseelie fairy sorceress. This is the origin of the myths that tie Odin (and the Aesir) and Freya (and the Vanir) together although this was done long before the Indo-European peoples ever inhabited Europe. This was not a normal embrace, as it was more of a magical experiment that went horribly wrong. While "the Crone" was the bizarre result of this fairy "turned" vampire, her childer (the Lhiannan vampires) were all once humans because real fairies cannot be turned into vampires. Ogham is a power usable only by them. They are intended to be used as antagonists for Werewolf in elder day before they were finally wiped out. I would never use them in modern Vampire, but might make use of them in a Dark Ages game. My backstory for them is mainly intended to build up the All High as a significant foe for the Garou.

True Brujah - Pretty much as described but without Temporis Discipline which I find ridiculous. But certain Temporis powers might just be a variant of elder Disciplines for Celerity known only to them. The "False Brujah" are just the Brujah, but their Clan Weakness is a result of the Brujah Antedeluvian cursing Troile and her descendants and twisting, not replacing, Cain's original curse on him and his line. While mostly used as a way to distinguish the True Black Hand's credentials in the Jyhad, their main purpose in my chronicle is to be a bogey man to the Brujah clan (which most Brujah laugh about and do not take seriously). I would probably only ever use NPC True Brujah if I was running a Jyhad level chronicle that would put PCs into contacts with the Inconnu or True Black Hand who would have them as members. Otherwise it'd just be myth and rumors.

City Gangrel - I find myself compelled to include them only because they are a major part of the Sabbat, and their feud with the "Country Gangrel" is an important part of that sect's politics as originally written. History is the same in the sense that one of the eldest Gangrel who entered the Sabbat is founder of the line, and he quarrelled with the other Gangrel elder who joined. The City Gangrel themselves did not exist before this person fled to the New World. How exactly he changed one of the in-clan Disciplines from Animalism and Fortitude to Celerity and Obfuscate isn't known. I haven't even figured it out myself, but it is likely the result of some forbidden magic, maybe an Infernalist Pact that is now much regretted. There was a big political struggle between these two Gangrel elders in the Sabbat in trying to lead/influence the clan - perhaps involving their opinion on the Gangrel antedeluvian and what being a Gangrel antitribu should mean.

Nope, these Don't Exist

Kiasyd - I don't think they add anything to the game as their origins are too convoluted. It's possible this was meant as a backdoor way to prepare crossover with the Fairy (later Changeling) game into Vampire. Though I find it funny that since Revised people have mistakenly placed them in the Sabbat when their original description made it very clear they were not Sabbat.

Laibon - Note sure why these were invented. If you want solitary wandering Kindred from Africa, just use the Gangrel.

Mariner Gangrel - No. Fish Gangrel do not exist. I find it silly.

Old Clan Tzimisce - Don't exist because I don't have Vicissitude as a Discipline in my chronicles. All Tzimisce have the Old Clan Disciplines. The "Old Clan Tzimisce" do exist as Tzimisce left overs that survived being destroyed by the Sabbat, but want nothing to do with the Camarilla. But it is a political faction, not a bloodline.

To Be Determined

Daughters of Cacophony - I really wish I knew what was the original idea behind them. There is something about them that I want to use, but I can't figure out what is the big secret reveal behind them. I imagine it had something to do with Gehenna.

In my chronicles, I have been playing with the idea that certain vampires not actually be descended from an Antedeluvian. The founders of these unrelated Kindred are a result of Satanic pacts that recreate the curse - but such people are mechanically the same as 7th generation vampires. I intended this as a back door means to explain certain Bloodlines. But I just realized I might not actually need this to explain any of the bloodlines. Who knows, maybe I might use it for the Daughters of Cacophony.

[No One of Consequence]

I've always preffered sub clan Bloodlines like warrior setites or Dominate malkavians or destroyed clans.

Likewise. Though I ended up starting to refer to them as Strains to avoid confusion between small b in clan bloodlines and big B separate Bloodlines.

[AnubisXy]

Duat have no fury like the settite so scorned: I hate the Witches of Echidna with a passion.
1: Priests in ancient egypt worked magic. They don't need a magic bloodline to help them out. Furthermore priestly magic (akhu) is very much dissimilar to witchcraft in the way it's practiced, thought of, and so on.
2: Though the main bloodline are called the priests, that's not to the exclusion of priestesses. Egyptians had priestesses. There's no need for a girl power/fight the patriarchy bloodline. The followers of set aren't a bunch of conservative men worshipping The Man, they're men and women worshipping an anti-establishment figure. Throwing in the mandatory-adversarial-lilith-counterpart when Set already has actually-opposite characters like Amun-Ra or Horus really helps to confuse Set. It's like Set is Red and Lilith is Pink and they're opposites on the colour spectrum... but wait pink and red are pretty close so surely Set must be blue or green... Essentially, we're making Set lesser by pulling this bullshit. Why is 21st century radical feminism attacking relatively progressive egyptians?
3: Egyptians were writing before Greeks. While Settites do adapt to everything I'd much prefer it if their core beliefs were explained through one mythology.

Ultimately, they're problematic, because they're written to undermine a faction I like, for reasons that aren't actually founded. They were born because someone who didn't understand Settites decided they didn't like Settites and wanted to knock the Settites down a peg. They're toxic.

The Witches of Echidna were created by the authors to highlight the Typhon/Set conflict within the main clan and, indeed, within Set himself (Echidna being Typhon's wife in Greek mythology). That's also why they are Greek rather than calling themselves Witches of Nephthys or anything else. The idea of Typhon and Greek mythology is pretty important within the concept of VtM Set. They were also intended to help set the stage for what we see in V5 with the Setite civil war, which is one of the V5 developments that I think is pretty cool. Though yeah, if you don't like any of those things then it's natural to dislike the bloodline.

Also note that while they're called "Witches" the books make it clear that there are many male members as well as female members, so I don't know that they're supposed to be Girl Power or anything.