Your preferred Banes and nullified breaking points

[Irioth]

One of the parts of Requiem 2nd Edition I like the most is the possibility for characters to gain Banes that replicate many legendary vulnerabilities of vampires, and to take them in the place of Humanity breaking points they become inured to. I'd like to know which Banes you prefer or dislike, and which breaking points you'd most often block with them. In your analysis, please also be mindful of such special cases as the Coil of Ziva allowing to have a number of Banes equal to Willpower rating instead of three, as well as the Coil of the Voivode converting the Embrace into a Humanity 3 breaking point.

[Live Bait]

I've been thinking about making a "truthfulness" bane but the only game where I got to be a character ended before I lost any Humanity.

[Charlaquin]

I'm partial to Invitation. It's just so classic. Blood of the Unwilling can be pretty fun. Not a fan of Crossroads. Webs is a really weird one, since spider webs are a detail you ordinarily wouldn't even think about beyond a bit of art dressing, so it pretty much only ever comes up when the ST wants it to, and whennthe ST wants it to come up its completely unavoidable.

As for Breaking Points to exempt, premeditated killing gets you the most mileage for the Bane in my opinion, since that will also immunize you to the Beaten Down Tilt. Accidental killing can spare you unwanted Breaking Points when you get carried away with feeding, and ditto for creating a revenant. Learning Cruac is an important one for Acolytes to get rid of.

[Your3rdShadow]

The character I intend to use once I get my vamp game going(Still looking for a GM) Is a mehket of the SanGiovani bloodline, the banes I'll be using are are face of hunger for the bloodline bane(it's pretty much the same thing as in the book) and the plague of purity, which seemed a fitting bane for a necromancer. Beyond that I'm not sure which banes I'd use, but I'm absolutely taking my banes for Premeditated murder, and accidental murder, like chalaquin said, those will get me the most mileage. Especially as a necromancer, I'll be needing to get bodies one way or another.

[Irioth]

In my opinion, Invitation, Plague of Purity, Repulsion, and Symbols are cool and thematic, and not too problematic to manage. Hated by Beasts is just the same unless the character specializes in Animalism or plans to feed from beasts on a regular basis, too troublesome otherwise. Grave Soil, Holy Day, and Webs may be almost as good or rather bad depending on which guidelines the ST establishes for their use and whether the character is able to take appropriate precautions. Bells leaves me skeptical since it would be too rare in a modern environment and too crippling in many Dark Ages settings, but the Hymns variant may be somewhat easier to manage. Blood of the Unwilling, Crossroads, Face of Hunger, Open Wounds, and Rat King/Queen seem far too burdensome for adequate feeding, freedom of movement, the Masquerade, or regular interactions with mortals in most circumstances.

As it concerns breaking points, I think prority should often be given to any three among all forms of killing (premeditated, impassionate, and accidental) and impassioned violence, with choices depending on the character's lifestyle and how killing or doing harm in combat and during frenzy qualify. If the player usually shuns combat and is very careful with frenzy and feeding, or gets up to Willpower dots options thanks to the Coil of Ziva, one may also consider other recurring events the character has little chance of avoiding in the long term, such as increasing Blood Potency, existing for a long time, or spending time in torpor. If the vampire is highly involved into covenants or blood magic, getting Covenant Status or developing Cruac may qualify, although past a point these become self-limiting events. If the character masters the Coil of the Voivode a case may be done for the Embrace. Depending on how the ST interprets the term 'culture' (civilizations vs. subcultures), experiencing new ones may be worth to avoid as well, or too rare to bother. Experiencing serious trauma may be worthwhile if the player cares about keeping mid-high Humanity and the character often faces combat or other physical hazards. Sustained periods without human contacts or feeding from a child seem too easy to avoid to bother, except for unsual lifestyles. Events related to one's mortal existence are far too rare and self-limiting to bother. Almost all Humanity 7-10 breaking points are so frequent and unavoidable in the existence of the average Kindred that in the long run it seems much better to accept detachment. I'm dubious about how often creating a revenant may actually occur; I suppose it is highly dependent on ST's judgement.

[Tessie]

I don't remember if it's in the book or just a house rule that you can't take a bane for diablerie, but that would definitely be my preferred nullified breaking point.
As for banes I mostly prefer those that doesn't remind me of bans. My Gangrel character has taken Open Wounds and Face of Hunger (house ruled to activate at 50% Vitae instead of just 5 Vitae) because both can lead to interesting situations, but neither feels like my character has a compulsion. Taken for Premeditated Murder and Mass Murder respectively. It's very much a low Humanity campaign.

[Live Bait]

No taking banes for diablerie is in the FAQ, you can link to it from the lower of the two stickys.
I think I remember Rose saying no to taking a bane for Embrace as well.

[Irioth]

No taking banes for diablerie is in the FAQ, you can link to it from the lower of the two stickys.
I think I remember Rose saying no to taking a bane for Embrace as well.

But you can turn the Embrace into a Humanity 3 breaking point with the Coil of the Voivode, which opens it up to taking a bane for it.

[Irioth]

I don't remember if it's in the book or just a house rule that you can't take a bane for diablerie, but that would definitely be my preferred nullified breaking point.
As for banes I mostly prefer those that doesn't remind me of bans. My Gangrel character has taken Open Wounds and Face of Hunger (house ruled to activate at 50% Vitae instead of just 5 Vitae) because both can lead to interesting situations, but neither feels like my character has a compulsion. Taken for Premeditated Murder and Mass Murder respectively. It's very much a low Humanity campaign.

The big problem with Face of Hunger, Open Wounds, and Rat King/Queen is not any compulsion, it is the trouble they give with regular interaction with mortals and keeping the Masquerade, although of course it also depends a lot on how the ST manages these areas. Taking a bane for Mass Murder. Heh, even I hadn't thought of going that far.

[Tessie]

Since none in the coterie is able to easily feed from humans anymore and all story is focused on vampire politics and other supernaturals the masquerade doesn't really come up as much as it used to (with certain exceptions). What Open Wounds and Face of Hunger does for my character is mostly giving certain impressions to other vampires that can change how they react to and interact with him.

[Live Bait]

But you can turn the Embrace into a Humanity 3 breaking point with the Coil of the Voivode, which opens it up to taking a bane for it.

I'm aware that we were discussing that, as I said I believe there was a post by Rose saying that wasn't intended to be possible. The ST is is of course free to ignore this even if I could point to the post.

[Irioth]

I'm aware that we were discussing that, as I said I believe there was a post by Rose saying that wasn't intended to be possible. The ST is is of course free to ignore this even if I could point to the post.

I thought you were talking of vampires who don't have the Coil of the Voivode, since to them the Embrace would be an automatic Humanity loss. So it makes sense it cannot be nullified by a bane. If we are talking about vampires with this Coil, I would very much prefer to allow the Embrace breaking point to be potentially nullified with a bane as usual, since IMO all breaking points should be liable to be nullified this way, including the ones created by Coils, and even for Dragons the Embrace would remain a self-limiting resource, due to the need to expend a Willpower dot. If there was a supposed ruling about this, I'd prefer to ignore it, since I disagree with its intent and find it arbitrary and unduly restricting. Besides, it seems I can't find it.

[Irioth]

Since none in the coterie is able to easily feed from humans anymore and all story is focused on vampire politics and other supernaturals the masquerade doesn't really come up as much as it used to (with certain exceptions). What Open Wounds and Face of Hunger does for my character is mostly giving certain impressions to other vampires that can change how they react to and interact with him.

I see. Indeed, your chronicle being as you describe it, I agree that these Banes would be much less burdensome than usual for your coterie.

[Rathamus]

Remember there are other things that can cause breaking points as well, beyond what's listed in the book. How about backstabbing for power, fun and profit?

[Live Bait]

I thought you were talking of vampires who don't have the Coil of the Voivode, since to them the Embrace would be an automatic Humanity loss. So it makes sense it cannot be nullified by a bane. If we are talking about vampires with this Coil, I would very much prefer to allow the Embrace breaking point to be potentially nullified with a bane as usual, since IMO all breaking points should be liable to be nullified this way, including the ones created by Coils, and even for Dragons the Embrace would remain a self-limiting resource, due to the need to expend a Willpower dot. If there was a supposed ruling about this, I'd prefer to ignore it, since I disagree with its intent and find it arbitrary and unduly restricting. Besides, it seems I can't find it.

I couldn't find it last time I went looking for it and it was back when the book was PDF only I believe so there's a lot to read though. It's a ST call anyway and as it didn't make it into the FAQ I doubt it's official.
Unless I'm very much mistaken nothing in CofD costs a Willpower Dot, Onyx Path abandoned that machnic like they did X times Dot xp costs.