V5: Gargoyles & Other stuff

A few things that I've been working on for the past couple of weeks.

First, here's the V5 version of the Gargoyle bloodline. I feel like most bloodlines in Vampire: the Masquerade are dumb, but I like the Rockheads because they are unique and have a logical place in the canon history. My V5 GM Adrian Rook and I made this cooperatively, although I admit I lifted the background flavor text straight from V20 because this is a conversion.

What's cool about this symbol is that it's the alchemical symbol for "earth" superimposed over
the sigil of House Tremere, and the gargoyles are rocky being made by the Tremere. 

Now some of you may be wondering what this "affiliated discipline" thing is, and it's just an idea that I'm fiddling around with. Sometimes it makes sense for a clan to have access to a discipline that that suits it thematically but is not one of its core three. This is known as an Affiliated Discipline, and members of that clan can purchase it (and only it) as if they were Caitiff. Not every clan needs an Affiliated Discipline, and a clan with one should have only one.

So for example, if you feel that Nosferatu in your game really ought to have Auspex, but you don't want to upend things by re-writing the entire clan readout, you can just say that Auspex is an affiliated discipline for the Nosferatu and give them a break on its XP cost. 

Finally, I’ve never understood why, in this increasingly complicated and paperwork-driven world, the Bureaucracy skill was stripped from Vampire in 3rd edition whereas the much more limited Finance skill continues to hold on in V5. If you ask me, Finance should be a specialization of Bureaucracy.

Oh, hey, here it is as a skill.

Bureaucracy 

This skill represents a character’s understanding of “the system” and their ability to navigate and abuse it. It is useful for bypassing (or creating) red tape, ensuring important things are “misfiled”, and simplifying ordinary life -- for example, bureaucracy will help you get in and out of the DMV at record speeds

•      You have good organizational ability and can file your own taxes. 

••     You understand power structures, specifically who is really in control. Your permits are always approved and on time.

•••    You can perform stalling tactics indefinitely and could be a professional bureaucrat. 

••••   Very little gets done without your approval. 

•••••  The Bureaucracy is a tool, and you are its master.

Specialties: Approvals, Business Management, Coverups, Denials, Finance, Forensic Accounting, Government, Information Requests, Hiding Paper Trails, Law, Money Laundering, Skirting Regulations, Speedy Resolution, Thwarting Others