The Gaki (V:tM 3rd edition)

Last week, I rolled a Natural 20 in real life. 

Over the past 6 months or so I've been looking for things which I wrote online 15-20 years ago, and while I've managed to track down most of them through the Internet Archive and backups of old mailing lists, there was one thing I couldn't find, and thought I would never find, because I thought I never shared it with anyone outside of my private gaming group. I had tried everything I could think of to find it and had resigned myself to it being lost to the mists of time. 

Last week I was Up Too Damn Late and the thought occurred to me to Google a specific text string. I knew that it wouldn't work, of course -- everything else had failed, so would this succeed? -- but I could honestly say I'd tried everything I could think of to find it. 

The first two Google hits were my missing creation: a writeup of the Gaki (a Japanese vampire) as a clan for Vampire: the Masquerade, written between 2001 and 2003. (Yes, I know about Kindred of the East. I never cared for it, mainly because V:tM is deeply rooted in Biblical mythology and KotE isn't. I also didn't much like the version of the Gaki which first appeared in the original 1992 World of Darkness sourcebook, but I used that as a jumping-off point.)

Have you ever read something and realized just how young the author was? This gives me a strange combination sensation of nostalgia, deja vu, and "Oh, you sweet summer child," because I was in my late 20s when I wrote this, and it shows. It's not just a matter of "I would have done this differently," although that's definitely part of it; there's also the fact that this piece feels like it's trying so hard to do everything right by explaining everything, instead of leaving things vague so that GMs can incorporate it into their games. Plus, it has that old White Wolf conceit of "Supernaturals did everything important in the world, so if you reference real world events there needs to be a supernatural link explaining how or why." It even has the obligatory Kewl New Discipline that every new bloodline needed to draw the players. 

At any rate, here's what I wrote 20 years ago. I'm showing it to you now so that when I update the Gaki for V5, you can see the difference between my writing styles of the then and now. 

V5: Nagaraja (my version)

https://tinyurl.com/p3dsktr4

Let's talk about predators.

Predators and prey always exist in unequal numbers; if there are too many predators, they end up eating all of the prey, and then the predators either starve or move elsewhere in search of food. Conversely, not enough predators means that the prey species ends up outstripping its natural resources and, again, either dies off or moves on in search of more food. As in all things, there is equilibrium.

Even vampires must obey this equilibrium or perish. While they have an advantage in that they do not need to kill in order to feed, which both reduces the drain on the prey population and allows for a greater concentration of predators in a smaller area, this is tempered by the disadvantage that vampires are not apex predators and that a suitably startled, informed, and brave percentage of the human population can and do take matters into their own hands to cull the numbers of vampires.

Furthermore, legend has it that in the days of the First City, when kindred ruled over the kine as gods, that there were havens within the High House of Caine for more than 200 vampires. Given the size of cities in the early days of human civilization, this is a great concentration of predators within a small space, and it is only by the strength and will of the First Vampire that the City did not fall to decadent bloodlust.

But think for a moment: 200 vampires, all ostensibly of the third generation as Caine forbid the creation of more; the third generation, from which come the mightiest vampire clans. Don't you find it likely that at least one of those kindred would have succumbed to the pressure of ecological equilibrium and developed a taste for other kindred?

After all, Diablerie had to come from somewhere.

The entire document may be found here.

Normally, this is where I'd place my justification for why I did what I did, but I don't know if anyone ever reads that part of my posts or not. I'll just leave this blank for now, and if anyone wants to know why I made these choices, I'll gladly answer. 

V5 Ghouls: Fatal Addiction

 Back in December I reviewed the V5 Companion, and when I talked about the section on ghouls as player characters I said that while I could understand why the writers didn't go into more depth, I might do so later.

It is now later, so please enjoy these expanded rules on ghouls (Google Document). Perhaps at some point I will combine these with the V5 rules and the V20 fluff into a single document, but right now I'm not willing to put in that much effort for such limited return. 

Please note that this is optimized for my Unknown Armies-style Stress Gauges for V5 system. If you aren't using that system then you'll need to find some way to measure addiction. 

Julius Jones, the ghoul of the vampire Maximillian in
  A Vampire in Broolyn

I really like how this turned out, because it presents an interesting dilemma for the players: Just how powerful, and how addicted, do you  want the people who know where you sleep? Who might even guard you as you sleep? On the one hand, you can get some pretty powerful soldiers fairly quickly, but you also run the risk of them becoming screamingly addicted and drinking your blood while you're helpless. Yes, they're blood bound to you... but does that matter when they're in the grip of a hunger frenzy?

So, just how hungry do you want your eaters of the dead to be? 

V5: the Clan of Death

In the mythology of Vampire: the Masquerade, there is a clan of vampires who did not achieve their position in the usual manner of "being a descendant of one of the 13 whom Caine embraced before the Flood." Instead, they diablerized the unsuspecting Antedeluvian of another clan, thereby becoming a clan in their own right, but this heinous act marked them as the enemies of the other kindred and to survive they needed to rely upon their magical abilities, subjugated supernatural soldiers, and their own tight-knit structure to survive. To this day they are mistrusted and seen as being only out for themselves. 

Quickly now: am I talking about the Tremere, or am I talking about the Giovanni?

Unfortunately, the answer is both. The Giovanni are just a re-skin of the Tremere, with Necromancy instead of Thaumaturgy and Potence instead of Auspex. The similarity was only reinforced in the 3rd edition (aka Revised) when Necromancy was given multiple magical paths in exactly the same manner as Thaumaturgy. I always preferred the Cappadocians, the original Clan of Death introduced in Vampire: the Dark Ages, who approached the study of the afterlife from a spiritual and scholarly aspect rather than from one of power and manipulation and whose disciplines were Auspex, Fortitude, and Necromancy. 

As it turns out, the writers for this version of VtM agree with me at least in part, because they have decided to rename the clan of death Hecata. I assume this is a reference to Hecate, the three-faced Greek goddess of magic (including necromancy) due to the fact that the Hecata are an amalgamation of the Giovanni, the surviving members of the Giovanni, and all the other death-related bloodlines like the Samedi and the Nagaraja. On the one hand, this is good because it ties up a lot of loose ends in the form of errant bloodlines tied to a meta-story. On the other, it's bad and lazy because, suddenly and magically, all of these bloodlines with their formerly disparate powers and weaknesses now all have the same disciplines (Auspex, Fortitude, Oblivion) and bane (the Giovanni weakness of dealing extra damage when feeding -- which, if used properly, can become a benefit in combat). 

What's worse is that the V5 writers have decided that the shadow powers of the Lasombra come from the same netherworldly source as the Hecata's necromancy, and now canon Lasombra have Dominate, Oblivion, and Potence. So now not only do the Lasombra resemble pre-V5 Giovanni, they also have access to necromantic powers... which rather puts the lie to the Hecata's claim as the "clan of death", doesn't it? Ugh. 

By the by, this is why I made my version of the Lasombra jettison the whole "shadow power" concept. Not only was Obtenetration reductive ("We're the clan called 'The Shadow' and we have shadow powers"), but it also opened a huge can of worms by making the Hecata no longer unique and giving the power-hungry Lasombra access to too much power. 

So, with all that said, here is my version of the Clan of Death. In terms of game heresy it's worse than my Tzimisce writeup but not as bad as my non-Obtenebration Lasombra. Much like in Cult of the Blood Gods it integrates the Giovanni and Samedi back into the mother clan but, if I may say so myself, my version does it less awkwardly by ignoring a lot of the metaplot-backstory baggage which caused all the problems in the first place. This also nicely explains how and why the Cappadocians have managed to get along without the Camarilla: they are effectively a sect in their own right, and much like the Banu Haquim of previous editions* they are too useful and too powerful to alienate but too insular and too disturbing to be kept close. 

Also, for those who are wondering about the Nagaraja, I left them out because I think they're too interesting to be a mere bloodline. I'm going to tweak their concept (and probably their disciplines) to see if I can't come up with a clan that has a distinct flavor of India and Central Asia. 

* I am NOT a fan of the Assassin Clan joining the Camarilla. I preferred them as NPCs who did awful things for payment in large quantities of vitae, not the Cam's new enforcement branch. 

Pathfinder Prestige Class: The Plutomancer

This is a re-work of a class I wrote in 2009. Hopefully this is a better version. 

Tangible rewards in the form of money are staples of dungeon adventuring, yet sometimes extracting those riches is a herculean task: art objects, luxurious furniture, multi-ton adamantine doors and dragon hoards filled with millions of copper and silver coins are all valuable, yet exceptionally difficult to transport for sale. Likewise, a struggling dungeon delver is often frustrated by his inability to sell his hard-won gains at anything near what they cost on the market; half price seems to be the default unless advanced haggling rules are used. And may the gods help you if your Game Master knows anything about economics and decides to rule that you have flooded the local economy with gold and driven up  the prices of even the most basic goods and services.

The solution to all of these dilemmas is the Plutomancer prestige class. Whether a cleric in service to a god whose portfolio involves greed, commerce, or thievery, or a mage who exemplifies the classic struggle to turn lead into gold, the Plutomancer is a welcome addition to any party by the simple expedient of acting as a force multiplier for looting.

(Author's Note: In terms of what this class brings to the table, i.e. mainly flavor, non-combat skill bonuses, and more efficient looting of treasure, it ought to be a class archetype and not a prestige class. However, making this a compatible archetype for multiple classes is more effort than I want to go through, and I do want this available to both arcane and divine spellcasters. Therefore I have made it a five-level PrC with a low entry that player characters can dip into as they see fit.)

Requirements
Feats: Skill Focus (Appraise), and either Negotiator or Skill Focus (Profession: Merchant)
Spells: Ability to cast Locate Object, plus either Fabricate or Greater Make Whole and at least one other transmutation spell of 3rd level or higher.

Class Skills
The Plutomancer's class skills (and the key ability for each skill) are Appraise, Bluff, Craft, Diplomacy, Knowledge (Arcana), Knowledge (Local), Knowledge (Geography), Knowledge (History), Linguistics, Perception, Profession (Merchant), Sense Motive, Spellcraft, and Use Magic Device.
Skill Ranks Per Level: 4 + Int modifier.

Class Features
Hit Die: d6.
Weapon and Armor Proficiency: Plutomancers gain no proficiency with any weapon or armor.
Spells per Day/Spells Known: When a new Plutomancer level is gained, the character gains new spells per day (and spells known, if applicable) as if she had also gained a level in a spellcasting class she belonged to before she added the prestige class. She does not, however, gain any other benefit a character of that class would have gained. This essentially means that she adds her Plutomancer levels to the level of some other spellcasting class she has, and then determines spells per day, spells known, and caster level accordingly.

Class Abilities

Level	Base Attack Bonus	Fort Save	Ref Save	Will Save	Special	Spells per Day
1st	+0	+0	+0	+2	Gilded Magic, Mind on my Money	+1 level of existing class
2nd	+1	+1	+0	+3	Deep Pockets,  Money on my Mind	+1 level of existing class
3rd	+1	+1	+1	+3	Moneychanger, Secret Chest	+1 level of existing class
4th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Canon of Coin, Pawnbroker	+1 level of existing class
5th	+2	+1	+1	+4	Fence from Beyond,  Flesh to Ore	+1 level of existing class

Gilded Magic (Su)

Whenever the Plutomancer casts a spell, its visible manifestations appear lavish and expensive. Create Food and Water produces a sumptuous feast with fine wine, Mage Armor manifests as elegant clothing or jeweled regalia, and similar cosmetic embellishments occur at the GM’s discretion. These effects are purely illusory and have no mechanical impact.

As a standard action, the Plutomancer may touch a mundane, nonmagical object and cause it to appear opulent and finely crafted through illusion. Common materials take on the appearance of precious metals, gemstones, fine fabrics, or masterwork craftsmanship, though the object’s true nature is unchanged. This illusion lasts for 10 minutes per Plutomancer level.

While benefiting from Gilded Magic, the Plutomancer gains a +2 circumstance bonus on Bluff and Diplomacy checks made to pass as wealthy, project financial success, or influence merchants, traders, or similar NPCs in commercial or transactional contexts.

This bonus does not apply to attempts to directly modify purchase prices, resale values, or otherwise stack with the Plutomancer’s class features that alter buy or sell prices.

Mind on my Money (Ex)

The Plutomancer may choose to use their Wisdom or Charisma modifier instead of Intelligence for Appraise checks. This choice is made when the Plutomancer gains this ability and cannot be changed thereafter. Additionally, when selling items they may gain +10% of the item’s normal resale value (typically 50% of list price) per Plutomancer level. If they choose to do so they cannot use alternate means to increase the sale price, such as through the use of Diplomacy or spells. 

Example: a Plutomancer wants to sell a 100 gp item. Normally that item sells for 50 gp. A 1st level Plutomancer sells it for (50+[10%*50]) or 55 gold, a 3rd level Plutomancer sells it for 65 gold, and a 5th level sells it for 75 gold.

Campaign Impact: Wealth by Level

The Plutomancer’s ability to sell items for a higher percentage of their listed value and purchase items at a discount increases the party’s effective Wealth-by-Level compared to baseline assumptions. GMs who wish to maintain standard wealth expectations may do so by adjusting treasure parcels, limiting access to large or distant markets, or embracing a higher-liquidity campaign in which wealth is less restrictive.

Deep Pockets (Su)

At 2nd level, the Plutomancer is immune to encumbrance penalties caused by coins, gems, and jewelry; these items do not count against the Plutomancer’s carried load. In addition, extradimensional storage items carried by the Plutomancer (such as bags of holding, handy haversacks, portable holes, and similar items) weigh 50% less and can store 50% more weight and volume while within 10 feet per Plutomancer level. This benefit applies only to the Plutomancer and does not affect those items carried by other creatures.

If one of the Plutomancer’s extradimensional storage items is outside this range while carrying more than its normal maximum capacity, the excess contents are immediately expelled into the nearest open spaces adjacent to the item until the item’s normal capacity is no longer exceeded. This expulsion occurs harmlessly but may cause items to fall, scatter, or become unattended at the GM’s discretion. Items are expelled in an order chosen by the Plutomancer; if the Plutomancer is not present or incapacitated, the GM determines the order, favoring the least valuable or most easily accessible items. A secret chest enhanced by this ability is an exception and does not expel its contents when transferred to the Ethereal Plane.

At 4th level, coins, gems, and jewelry placed into extradimensional storage carried by the Plutomancer occupy no weight or volume for the purposes of that storage. This does not increase capacity for other items and does not allow extradimensional spaces to contain creatures or objects they otherwise could not hold.

Money on my Mind (Ex)
The Plutomancer gains a bonus equal to their caster level to all Perception skill checks made to notice hidden, concealed, or unattended valuables; secret compartments or hidden caches of goods; or for detecting another's use of Sleight of Hand to steal from them. Additionally, when buying items they may subtract 5% from the purchase price for each level of Plutomancer. If they choose to do so they cannot use alternate means to decrease the sale price, such as through the use of Diplomacy or spells. 

Example: a Plutomancer wants to buy a 100 gp item. A 1st level Plutomancer purchases it for (100-[5%*100]) or 95 gold, a 3rd level Plutomancer purchases it for 85 gold, and a 5th level purchases it for 75 gold.

Moneychanger (Sp)

At 3rd level, the Plutomancer adds the spell Blood Money to their spell list if it is not already present. 

A number of times per day equal to their level in this class, a Plutomancer may transmute currency and gems, but not other types of valuables, into other forms of currency and/or gems. For example, 40,000 copper coins become 40 platinum coins; useful for hauling away a dragon hoard. Any amount of currency may be transmuted in this manner, but it must all be touching and the Plutomancer must be able to touch at least one of the valuables. Moneychanger cannot affect creatures or transformed creatures (such as those affected by flesh to ore) until such effects have fully ended or the creature has been destroyed.

The total gold piece value of all currency and gems before and after the transmutation must be identical, based on standard listed values; Moneychanger cannot increase or decrease the total gold piece value involved. When producing gems, the Plutomancer may only create gems whose individual listed values are standard denominations, and any remainder gold piece value that cannot be represented as gems must be produced as coinage.

The transmuted coins, gemstones, trade bars etc. all retain their other characteristics such as size, weight, portraits, etc. of their country of origin. However, a successful Linguistics skill check allows the Plutomancer to alter these characteristics convincingly; failure results in markings that may be identifiable as forged or irregular. The DC for this check is 15 for simple alterations, and DC 20 or higher for foreign or highly regulated currencies.

Campaign Impact: Blood Money allows the Plutomancer to bypass costly material components at the cost of personal injury. This may increase access to spells that are normally constrained by wealth. GMs should review this spell carefully and may wish to adjust treasure, spell availability, or downtime assumptions accordingly.

Secret Chest (Sp)

Once per day, the Plutomancer may summon or dismiss a secret chest as if casting the Secret Chest spell. The Plutomancer must still purchase both the masterwork chest and its miniature replica, and may apply Money on my Mind to reduce their cost. This ability functions at a caster level equal to the Plutomancer’s total caster level. Except as noted below, this ability is identical to the secret chest spell.

Unlike the spell, the chest does not disappear after 60 days; it remains stored on the Ethereal Plane indefinitely, provided the miniature chest remains intact and in the Plutomancer’s possession. If the miniature chest is lost or destroyed, the secret chest is lost as normal. Summoning or dismissing the chest is a standard action and provokes attacks of opportunity, as per the spell.

A Plutomancer may maintain only one secret chest at a time using this ability; creating a new secret chest immediately ends any previous instance. A secret chest benefiting from Deep Pockets does not expel its contents when transferred to or from the Ethereal Plane.

Canon of Coin (Ex)
At 4th level, the Plutomancer gains Canon of Coin as a bonus faith trait, even if they already possess a faith trait. This trait does not count against the Plutomancer’s normal limit on traits.

If the Plutomancer already possesses the Canon of Coin trait, they instead gain a +1 trait bonus on Appraise and Profession (Merchant) checks.

Pawnbroker (Sp)

At 4th level, the Plutomancer adds Fabricate to their spell list if it is not already present.

Once per day a Plutomancer can, with a touch, convert up to 100 pounds per caster level of non-living objects into gold coins equal to the amount of gold the Plutomancer would receive for selling those objects normally, after all applicable modifiers. Magic items get a saving throw vs. DC 15 + spellcasting ability modifier; living items and artifacts are unaffected. This ability functions at a caster level equal to the Plutomancer’s total caster level.

Note that this value is based upon intrinsic material worth, not weight or artistry; even a ton of stone is still only worth 1 gold, and a masterpiece painting is nothing but pigments on canvas, so converting objects of art into coins will yield less than their cultural worth. 

Pawnbroker only affects free-standing objects and not those which are attached to, and therefore could be considered parts of, a larger object. Furthermore, a large  item cannot be partially converted; the conversion must be all or nothing. 

Pawnbroker may be used to convert a Flesh to Ore victim into currency.

Fence from Beyond (Sp)

The Plutomancer always has someone they can call to help facilitate commerce. Once per day they may conjure a mercane (for magical items) or a witchwyrd (for more mundane valuables) as a calling effect. The creature appears in an adjacent open space and remains for 10 minutes per Plutomancer level, or until it completes all agreed-upon transactions, whichever comes first. The Fence from Beyond is keenly aware of the passage of time and departs promptly when the duration expires, regardless of whether negotiations have concluded.

The Fence is not compelled to trade, but begins with an attitude of Indifferent toward the Plutomancer and will only negotiate with them. The Plutomancer may use Mind on my Money and Money on my Mind to influence prices as normal. The Fence will not knowingly purchase living creatures, creatures that were once living (such as those affected by Flesh to Ore), or artifacts.

The Fence from Beyond buys and sells items at fair market rates appropriate to its nature and resources; it does not automatically possess rare, unique, or specific items, and highly unusual requests may require additional time, contacts, or may be unavailable at the GM’s discretion. The Fence may agree to seek out requested items and return at a later date, though success is not guaranteed.

The Fence will not engage in combat or provide any service other than buying and selling goods. If threatened, attacked, or summoned into immediate danger, it departs instantly. A Fence that is injured, cheated, or knowingly endangered by the Plutomancer or their allies will refuse future dealings and spread word of the Plutomancer’s unreliability.

Restoring relations with such contacts requires an atonement costing 1,000 gp per character level; if the Fence is slain due to negligence or betrayal, the cost increases to 2,500 gp per character level. Atonement restores the Fence’s attitude to Indifferent.

Flesh to Ore (Sp)

Once per week, the Plutomancer may use flesh to ore as a spell-like ability. This functions as flesh to stone, except as noted below. This ability has a caster level equal to the Plutomancer’s total caster level, and a saving throw DC of 16 + the Plutomancer’s spellcasting ability modifier.

A creature transformed by flesh to ore becomes a stone statue shot through with veins of mundane precious metals (such as gold, silver, and platinum) and gemstones worth 300 gp per caster level. Flesh to ore cannot create special materials, including but not limited to adamantine, mithral, cold iron, alchemical silver, or any other special or magical material.  

Until the statue is destroyed, it is treated as a transformed creature, not an object, for the purposes of spells and effects. The precious materials within the statue have no value and cannot be extracted while the statue remains intact. Effects such as Moneychanger, spells such as stone shape, or similar abilities cannot alter, subdivide, or transmute the statue or its contents while it remains intact. If the statue is restored to flesh by stone to flesh or similar magic before it can be destroyed, all precious materials are lost, crumbling into worthless stone dust.

However, if the statue is destroyed then the creature is irrevocably slain, and its remains become inert stone, precious metals, and gemstones of the stated value. Once destroyed in this manner, the creature cannot be restored to life or flesh by any means short of wish, miracle, or similarly powerful magic, even if the remains are present. After destruction, the inert materials may be affected normally by abilities such as Moneychanger.

Artifacts and creatures immune to flesh to stone are likewise immune to flesh to ore.

V5: Ground Anchor

There's too much stress in my day job, so it's time again to geek out about something I like: vampires and role-playing games. 

In Vampire:the Masquerade, there's a vampiric Discipline (suite of supernatural abilities) called Potence. In previous editions, Potence was boringly simple: each point you had in it (and Disciplines run from 1 to 5) gave you an automatic success* at any strength based test, including damage.

* OK so short version: You have a pool of dice which you roll, typically your attribute plus your skill. Each of those has a rating of 1-5, so player characters end up rolling between 1 and 10 dice depending on how buff and how skilled they are. The average difficulty is 6 or better on a 10 sided die, so that's 50% chance of success on each die. The more dice you roll, the greater your chance to succeed and the greater your chance to succeed well, as 1 success is "barely" and 5 is "amazing" and 10 is probably "godlike".

Let's say you're a moderately fighty character with Strength 3, Brawl 3, and Potence 3. You would roll 6 dice, count up how many of them were 6 or better, and then you would add three because of Potence. Stupidly simple, but brutally effective as a combat focused character could end up rolling fifteen dice. 

But all of that is old style. V5 does away with that and replaces them with a suite of abilities which scale in power. For example, at Potence level 1 you could choose the power Lethal Body, which enables you to ignore increasing amounts of armor and deal deadly damage with your punches and kicks... or you can pick Soaring Leap, which enables you to jump 3 times your Potence rating in meters straight up and 5 times that horizontally.

Most of Potence is like this: you can pick an obvious combat power, or you can pick a utility "feat of strength" power. I like that, especially since the character I play is a priest who is trying really, really hard to be a pacifist.

However, there's only one second-level Potence power, which is Prowess and that basically repeats the old version of Potence of adding that value to their damage and feats of strength. I didn't want that for my character, so I came up with a utility power for second level:

Level 2 Potence: Ground Anchor

Channeling inhuman strength into their legs, hips, and back, the user can absorb the force of a landing after falling from a great height. This strength can also be used to resist being toppled or pushed back by another.
■ Cost: One Rouse Check
■ Dice Pool: Dexterity or Strength + Athletics
■ System: So long as the user succeeds on the Dexterity + Athletics roll to land on their feet, they can absorb without injury the impact of a landing up to 100 times their Potence level in meters. (Due to terminal velocity, at Potence level 5 the user can survive a fall from any distance.) However, this energy must go somewhere, and so whatever the user lands on immediately suffers the effect of falling damage, which is one level of Superficial damage per meter of fall (core book, p.409). The user may also add their Potence rating to any Strength + Athletics roll to resist being pushed back or knocked over by another; however, this does require a firm foothold to work.
■ Duration: One scene 

Google Docs version here. 

One of the things which I like about this power is that it segues nicely into the third Potence ability Uncanny Grip, which is where "Focusing their unnatural strength into their toes and fingers, the vampire grips and burrows their extremities into almost any surface, enabling them to climb and even hang otherwise unsupported from walls and ceilings." There's a logical progression: Leap far distances, then fall further distances safely, then spider climb or hang on. Yes, it sounds a bit super-heroic, but it makes narrative sense.

I also like the punny name. You can anchor yourself to the ground... or you can plummet to the ground and bury yourself into it, like an anchor hitting the sea floor. If Cassidy had this power in the first episode of Preacher, he wouldn't have ended up like this:



Finally, to answer the expected question: While I find it highly unlikely that you would actually be able to hit someone with this, as there is no effective way to steer while plummeting to the ground, there's always someone who is going to try it. Well, guess what? There's already a to-hit roll baked into the activation (Dexterity + Athletics). Set the difficulty to the target's Dexterity + Dodge and if you beat it, you hit!

V5: Vampire Values

This is something I made to help me with a  project* that never fully gelled. But it's a neat thing in its own right, and so I figured I'd share it with you. 

The Left-Right axis represents how much emphasis the typical vampire of that category feels towards his clan. The far left is "Leave me alone" and the far right is "We are brothers".

The Up-Down axis represents how much respect members of that clan have for rules, traditions, and authority. The very top is "Hidebound traditionalist" and the bottom is "Screw you, I do what I want."

Special thanks to my Lovely Assistant Adrian for helping me pretty up this graph.
Graph designed at www.desmos.com/calculator

From left to right, and top to bottom:

• Tzimisce: Traditionally, fiends want to be left alone to do their own thing, and they will fight anyone who makes them conform. However, they adhere so strongly to their own customs and traditions that they will fight a friend, or protect an enemy, rather than break them. 
• Lasombra: The magisters believe in order -- their order, to be precise. Unfortunately, so does every other Lasombra, and in a clan which believes in survival of the fittest, turning on each other is inevitable. However, one does not just wage war willy-nilly; no, there are proper ways to engage in internecine conflict.
• Ventrue: Don't try to separate the Ventrue from the Camarilla. The blue-bloods are the Camarilla, and they won't let you forget it. To attack them is to the attack the clan is to attack the Camarilla, and so if you want to take one down you had best be subtle, cunning, and have the backing of as many fellow Camarillians as possible. 
• Ba'ali: I hate the Followers of Set and so the Ba'ali are the super-evil baddies in my VtM world. Infernalists are hated by both Camarilla and Sabbat, and so the philosophy of "We must hang together or we will all hang separately" is definitely in play. Furthermore, even though demons are typically backstabbing individualists and therefore opposing covens may feud if they serve different masters, by and large the Ba'ali are fanatical servants to their masters and their causes. 
• Pyramid Tremere: Ironically enough, the Tremere built a tightly-knit organization much like Ba'ali to survive their first centuries as a clan due to all of the other clans wanting to kill them for their ursupation of Saulot's line. This organization further stratified when they helped form the Camarilla during the Spanish Inquisition. As such, they are very loyal to both clan and sect, but blood has primacy. 
• Non-Pyramid Tremere: After the destruction of the Vienna Chantry by the Second Inquisition in 2008, the Pyramid shattered and the clan was thrown into disarray. Without the strict internal hierarchy, individual warlocks compete heavily for the lore, artifacts, and secrets that the united Clan once possessed, fearing their clanmates as much as their enemies. Shattered Pyramid Tremere can and do exist in any quadrant, depending on which House they back and what they do to survive. 
• Toreador: The artistes and degenerates don't so much love the Camarilla the stability it brings. After all, it's hard to be artistic and indulge in bacchanalia when the city is burning and there's no one to appreciate your art. That said, there is frequent infighting between clan mates, as good adjectives for them are "catty, bitchy, and backstabbing."
• Brujah Idealists: Often as old as they are rare, the "intellectual rebels" of the clan hearken back to their old days as warrior-scholars and philosopher-kings of Greece. They are moderately conservative in terms of both clan loyalty and adherence to authority, which in an odd way makes them "bold, punk rebels" against the majority of their clan. 
• Banu Haqim: This position is more of an averaging than anything else. What was once a highly unified clan of strong Tradition has now schismed due to the rise of Ur-Shulgi, the reversal of the assassin's blood curse, and parts of the clan affiliating with the Camarilla. Weirdly, in an attempt to make them less of a Muslim stereotype, V5 has done just that by turning them into feuding groups a la the Shia and the Sunni. So they are highly loyal to their groups and traditions, but the groups and traditions of others are the enemy. 
• Gangrel: Pretty much the clan of lone wolves, the animals can best be described as "If we don't like the way things are, we'll just turn into wolves and live in the forests for a few centuries, and you can't do anything about it because we're outside your jurisdiction." They follow their own code, and to hell with you. 
• Malkavian: The lunatics are all over the board and cannot be pinned down in any way other than "unpredictable", so they exist at 0,0 because I needed to put them somewhere. 
• Nosferatu: The lepers are the canonical example of "my clan, right or wrong, and to hell with the rest" as from as far back as first edition they have been described as ignoring sect differences in favor of clan loyalty. Sabbat, Camarilla, Anarchs? Doesn't matter. A Nos is a Nos and they all hang together against the world, sometimes playing the sects against each other for the benefit of the clan. 
• Caitiff: "Everybody hates me and abuses me. I wish I could overthrow the system, but no one wants to associate with me and I'm pretty powerless, so I'm going to keep my head down and hope they ignore me."
• Hecata etc: First they were the Cappadocians, then the Giovanni, and now they're known as the Hecata. Named after Hecate, the multi-faced Greek goddess of magic, they are a sect in themselves and comprise multiple bloodlines (Giovanni, Harbingers, Samedi, Lamia, Nagaraja, etc) with all the associated infighting that brings. They're also not much liked by the other clans due their preoccupation with necromancy and the fact that a deal struck with one is not necessarily a deal honored by another bloodline, let alone the clan as a whole. In short, they fight among themselves like the Lasombra (only with less style and restraint) and try to keep their heads down like the Caitiff so they don't get slapped down by the larger sects... all while trying to increase their power, and that of their bloodline (and, unavoidably, their sect) until they are again a force with which to be reckoned.
• Inconnu: These powerful vampires have somehow managed to remove themselves from the eternal struggle that is unlife, and spend their nights doing their own thing (pursuing hobbies and studies, achieving Golconda, watching the other undead squabble like children, etc). They want to be left alone, and other than that no two are alike. Think Methos from the Highlander TV show, only far less personable. 
• Brujah Iconoclasts: This is where the vast majority of the rabble exist. "Burn it all down, man! Tear down all the structure, all the hierarchy that keeps the Man in power! Traditions are just rules that anchor you to the past,  and we live in the now! Only in anarchy do you find true equality, and if anyone says otherwise, beat the crap out of them! Especially those bastards of our clan who say otherwise!"
• Ravnos: Known as charlatans, thieves and liars, this clan is basically hated by everyone and blamed for everything that goes wrong, so of course they're going to stick together, thumb their nose at authority, and do what it takes to survive. You would think that would result in highly ritualized and codified clan traditions, but the paradox-seekers are just as likely to regard them as hindering nonsense which blinds them to the truth  of reality as the customs of others. 

* The project was based on "If I have X amount of status within the Camarilla, how much status does that give me within my own clan and in the eyes of other clans?" I figured that before I could derive that I would need to see how much stock other clans put in status with the Cam, with others, etc, and that's how the chart came about.

I still think there's merit to this project, but it's too complex to turn into a simple formula of "If you are of X clan with Y status, then you have A status within B clan", so this chart serves as a sort of guideline in that regard. For example, a Ventrue would view a Nosferatu with high Camarilla status in the same regard that he would view a member of his own clan, but the Nosferatu clan would not do the same. They would, however, appreciate clan loyalty when they see it, and treat him with the courtesy of "He might be a bastard, but he stands by his own and I respect that."  A Tzimisce might arrive at a similar result via a different method ("You are petty and controlling, but you honor your traditions as do I"), a Gangrel wouldn't care and if forced to do anything would probably bugger off, and a Brujah would see him as The Enemy and give him no respect at all.

V5: Nosferatu and their Curse

After I posted my version of the Ravnos last week, a friend of mine asked me this:

And then I got to thinking, like I always do, but specifically because I am playing a Nosferatu in my Sunday night and, through circumstances which surprise even me, my character has become the face of the group.

I need to explain why this is hilarious. You see, in Vampire: the Masquerade, each bloodline of vampires has a specific weakness. Those of the Nosferatu clan are hideous, like the vampire in the Murnau film of the same name.

Back in previous editions, all Nosferatu were inhumanly ugly. As in "There's no passing for human, you are obviously a supernatural(ly ugly) creature." This is problematic because in this game, the most important rule that vampires have is The Masquerade, which basically says As far as the humans are concerned, There Are No Such Things As Vampires, and if you reveal our existence to the public we can and will put you to death for it. The humans almost killed us once during the Spanish Inquisition, and nowadays there are billions more of them with much better weapons. We will kill you before we allow you to kill us all.

As you are probably guessing, this is a Big Problem for Nosferatu because they can shatter the Masquerade at the drop of a hankie. Most players got around this by putting a lot of points into the discipline (vampire super power) of Obfuscate, which is a power that starts off as "You don't see me" and develops into "Now I cover myself in illusion and I can look like a normal human, so no problems here." This was kind of annoying for a lot of players because it meant that you either had to sink a lot of points into Obfuscate, or be a stealthy creepy type, or just not interact with mortals by living in the sewers and eating rats.

Fifth edition of the game changed that curse somewhat, in ways both good and bad. The good news is is that they no longer immediately break the Masquerade when seen by humans, but instead have the Repulsive flaw (a penalty of -2 dice to all social rolls which depend upon appearance) and can never look any better. So in other words they look horribly deformed, or maybe having suffered grievous injuries, but they don't look supernatural.

In addition, trying to hide their repulsive nature incurs a penalty equal to their Blood Potency, and this applies even while using Obfuscate to mask themselves. This last part struck me as odd, because if I have the supernatural ability to mask myself in an illusion to look like anyone, even a specific person, it seems weird that I would still be repulsive even if I looked like a supermodel. Admittedly, it's just a dice penalty to overcome and not a blanket "No", so it works well enough for most people. It still bothered me, though, and part of that is because the Nosferatu no longer had reasons to live in the sewers and other deep dark places of the work, which had become part of their trademark over the decades.

One of the core rules of V5 is the concept of "Bane Severity" and it is tied to Blood Potency. The short version is that the older a vampire gets the more powerful it gets, but so too does the power of its bane. In the case of the Nosferatu, that would be their hideousness... except not. They'll always be Repulsive, but that won't increase; only the difficulty in hiding their hideousness increases. So... they'll still be ugly as they become older and more inhuman... but they won't be any uglier... they'll just have a harder time hiding it despite their experience?

No. No, no no. I did not like this, so of course this meant I would need to re-work their bane so that the flavor and the lore would match while still making the clan more friendly to new players. I think I succeeded.

First I cherry-picked a neat bit from Vampire: the Reckoning*, which also featured a version of the Nosferatu clan. In VtR, the Nosferatu were repulsive, but not specifically when it came to looks; it could be "A palpable aura of menace, a charnel odor, or the undeniable manner of a predator is just as compelling as a twisted body," meaning you could absolutely have a Nosferatu who was average looking, even beautiful, but still be repulsive. Using that as my base, I decided that the bane of the Nosferatu would be a penalty equal to their Bane Severity for social interactions, and how that manifests depends on the nature of their repulsiveness.

If physically repulsive: Appearance is very important for first impressions, and the Nosferatu’s repulsiveness colors all social interactions (Bane Severity as a penalty to all skills paired to social attributes) the first time she meets any non-Nosferatu while not under Obfuscate and continues to until she manages to convince them (through good skill rolls, effective roleplaying, or demonstrations of sincerity) to look past her physical flaws and judge her on the merits of her character. Nosferatu with this bane effectively possess a modified version of the Repulsive Looks flaw and cannot take it again.

If socially repulsive: The Nosferatu is a gilded turd, gives off a serial killer vibe, or is otherwise odious in manner. So long as social interaction with him is kept at the superficial level everything is fine, but when he interacts meaningfully with a non-Nosferatu he suffers a penalty (Bane Severity to all skills paired to social attributes) unless he manages to convince that person that he is normal, or at least harmless, in a roll opposed by Wits + Insight and succeeding by a margin equal to his Bane Severity. Nosferatu with this bane effectively possess a modified version of the Obvious Predator flaw and cannot take it again.

In both cases, success in one encounter does not remove the penalty from future encounters unless that person has not left the Nosferatu's presence.

A Nosferatu wishing to help a non-Nosferatu acclimate to their presence must succeed at a difficulty of his Bane Severity. This cannot be done in a single sitting, but rather over a period of time, until the number of successful attempts is more than the Nosferatu’s Bane Severity. If the Nosferatu increases his Blood Potency, then he must start over with the new difficulty as previously acclimated persons must adjust to the new change.

Alternately, you can use my Unknown Armies-style Stress Gauges for Vampire 5e rules that I made a few months back and require anyone who interacts with that Nosferatu succeed in a stress check -- depending on the nature of the hideousness, I'd say Self or Helplessness checks for physical ugliness and either Unnatural or Violence checks for social ugliness -- with the difficulty of the stress check as Bane Severity/2. There's no need to "roll to normalize" because a Stress Check is exactly that.

Here's a Google Docs version for use in your game.


What I like about this system is that newly-made Nosferatu are just slightly hideous, and they don't have to spend points to hide it, which gives flexibility to new characters and makes the clan more accessible to new players. However, as the characters get older and gain power, they begin to look or act worse and worse, and so those characters have a choice: put points into Obfuscate/increase their social skills, or go live with the rest of the repulsive freaks underground. Not every Sewer Rat is going to want to learn Obfuscate; some may want to focus on Animalism or Presence instead, and now they have a reason to congregate in warrens, just like in first edition.


* Oh boy, how to explain? Short version: the publishers of Vampire: the Masquerade decided to end their game universe and release a game similar to but not the same as it, titled Vampire: the Requiem. It took a lot of VtM concepts and mangled them into different positions. It was... not well received by fans of the old game, in much the same way that 4th edition D&D was not well received by fans of 3.5e. I think it tells you all you need to know that VtM was rebooted into the 5th edition a year or two ago, whereas VtR has ceased publication.

V5 Ravnos & Chimerstry

More Vampire: the Masquerade stuff.

I confess, I don't grok the Ravnos as written. In previous editions they're "gypsy vampires" and they're "all criminals"* and I'm just going to hope that bit of racism is fixed when the clan is officially written for V5.

That said, I don't see anything unique about them other than Chimerstry, their clan-specific discipline of illusion, and I think this is a missed opportunity. Consider the following: Ravnos as the reverse-Gangrel clan.

You see, most vampires are loners and the Gangrel even moreso, given their affinity for the wild places of the world and their ability to transform into wolves or bats for travel and then meld into the earth during the day. But both Gangrel and Ravnos as written have some degree of wanderlust, and since the Ravnos are based off the Romani, who travel in caravans, shouldn't the Ravnos actually be anti-loners? Shouldn't they travel in broods or troupes or covens or whatever the term is, along with their living relatives and ghouled servants?

I think they should. That would actually make them distinct from other kindred, tie in to their Romani heritage without being racist, and make playing them more interesting. They're basically the carnies of the vampire world.

At any rate, here's my version of the clan and their discipline. You'll note that not only did I make their clan weakness (called a bane in this edition) less racist but it also hearkens back to the "aura of unease" weakness they had in first edition. I rather like that.

You'll also note that I made Chimerstry into a three-level amalgam discipline, just like I did with Vicissitude. I really do like that approach because it distills the essence of the discipline into its core components: Shape flesh, shape bone, turn into horrible monster. Anything other than that is just padding in my opinion, and since I folded it into Protean it doesn't need to be padded out further.

I applied the same philosophy to Chimerstry, whose main elements seem to be "Make static image, make moving/interactive image, hurt people with image." I don't think I'm missing anything more than that, and so it also gets the three-level amalgam treatment.

And honestly, the first two powers of Obfuscate could just as easily go to Chimerstry. Cloak of Shadows? "I project an image in front of me that I hide behind." Silence of Death? "I produce illusory countersound." Unseen Passage? "The image in front of me moves with me as I move."  Heck, Mask of 1000 Faces might as well be Chimerstry in that it's a moving image laid over the owner's body.

This focus on family is why I removed Animalism and Fortitude. Those are great disciplines for loners, but less useful when traveling with an extended family in a caravan or carnival. Instead I asked myself “What disciplines would be useful both for the carnies of today and the ‘gypsy caravans’ of yesterday?”  Presence is useful because not only is that great for the people who want to play up the stereotypical huckster and con man, but it’s also useful for protecting your family from angry mobs and  vengeful princes. It’s the silver tongue only helps bring in money and helps get you across borders to escape persecution. Between that and Obfuscate, it’s how you protect the people who protect you during the day… and because you have family to protect you during the day, you don’t need to forage for food in the wilderness (Animalism) or run screaming from Lupines and/or the sun (Fortitude).

As for Celerity, I confess that my decision was mainly based on “rule of cool” meets “gypsy stereotype.” I’ve seen too many movies where the Romani women were sensual dancers, the men were devilishly clever musicians, and they were all good with knives. Celerity both compliments and enhances this concept, and it also allows them ways to escape when they’re inevitably blamed for things going wrong in the city.

And now we come to the weakness. I changed it for three reasons:

1. It’s racist AF. “The Ravnos are vampire Romani, and all Ravnos are criminals, so by extension all Romani are criminals too.”
2. It’s not in tune with folklore. 
3. It makes them difficult to play, because now you have a character who MUST cause trouble and stir the shit. Moreso, this is a great way for a “chaotic asshole” player to ‘justify’ conning the other PCs and that could lead to inter-party strife. 

So instead, I used a variation on the “aura of unease” weakness from first edition, but changed it to reverse the racism. Instead of “All gypsies are thieves”, it’s “All Ravnos are blamed for everything that goes wrong, and so that scapegoating falls upon their families as well.” This is an in-game justification for why the Romani are hated and suspected of crimes. I suppose you could argue that this is moral whitewash which takes the fault of racism and xenophobia away from humanity and blames it on supernatural causes, and to an extent I guess that’s true. But it’s not explaining away ALL racism as the fault of vampires, just the racism towards this one type of people. Maybe you’ll think it’s awful, but I think it’s a hell of a lot more palatable than “Ravnos are criminals and Ravnos are Romani, so the Romani are either criminals themselves or tacitly permit the existence of such within their community.”

* No, seriously. From 2nd edition through 4th (aka V20), they all had a clan weakness which read something like this:

The Ravnos clan are all criminals; each Ravnos has a specific vice ranging from plagiarism to mass murder. When the opportunity to indulge that vice is present, Ravnos must succeed in a self-control check to avoid indulging it.

Now combine that with the "descended from Gypsies" line and you can see how a lot of people got really upset with that.

Psychokinesis: A Discipline for V5

Here's a weird thing about Vampire: the Masquerade: even though popular fiction is rife with vampires flying without turning into bats, there's not a single vampire clan or bloodline within the game which has this ability. Nor do they have any form of telekinesis, which has always been a popular vampire ability for setting the mood by opening books, closing doors, or snuffing candles remotely. The closest they ever came was in making the Movement of the Mind thaumaturgical path, which meant only those vampires who knew thaumaturgy could get it (and boy, was thau guarded jealously by the Tremere), and only as an afterthought. V5 doesn't even have that.

For a game that's supposed to embrace (heh) vampires in all their folkloric and pop-cultural glory, this seems like a huge gaffe to me, so I fixed it. I took Movement of the Mind and turned it from a V20 thaumaturgical path to a V5 discipline that anyone can get -- at least, in theory, as it's a rare discipline whose possession is seen as a matter of prestige (unless of course the GM changes that.)

Now your V5 game can have vampires who creepily glide over surfaces, fly like the Lost Boys, and who can telekinetically hurl objects!

Here it is in Google Document format.  Your feedback is most welcome.

Unknown Armies-style Stress Gauges for Vampire 5e

As you probably know, I'm a big fan of Unknown Armies. Even though the setting isn't for most gamers, there's just something about the core mechanics of the game which I find satisfying in its utility and adaptable to different genres (for example, were I run a game set in the Firefly 'verse, I would use UA).

I think the most evocative part of UA are the Stress Gauges, which were called Madness Meters in previous editions. They're like the Sanity system of the Call of Cthulhu RPG, only better, because not only are the sources of stress/madness broken down into categories like Violence, Helplessness, and so on, they also give you the choice of being unable to cope with the stresses (and therefore going insane) or become hardened to them (and risk becoming an emotionless sociopath).

In fact, I like it so much that I converted it to use with Vampire: the Masquerade, another of my favorite system. It was a fair amount of work, but I thought it was a great idea and so did my GM, so I did it.

That said, here's a Google Doc for Stress Gauges in V5. Not only did I re-calibrate some of the benchmarks because I didn't agree with them, I also added a sixth gauge called Addiction. Not only is this great for games without supernatural components (like the aforementioned UA Firefly game), but it's also a natural fit for Vampire where hunger for blood, itself an addiction, rules the player characters.

If you like V:tM and you like granular measurements of insanity and sociopathy, I think you'll like this adaptation.

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

Vampire 5: Non-Obtenebration Lasombra

It's amazing what a week away from home does for my creativity, as something which had been bothering me for a long time finally resolved into a solution in my mind. I now present to you a clan which I couldn't quite grok, so I cut pieces off it and stitched on others from different sources until I was happy.

Erin's Non-Obtenebration Clan Lasombra for V5

Author’s Note: Why are there no shadow powers?
I found them annoying and reductive.

Who are the Lasombra according to canon? Prior to V5, they were basically the Sabbat’s version of the Ventrue who had shadow powers. Now that V5 has had the Lasombra quit the Sabbat and join the Camarilla for… reasons…  they’ve lost even that evil mirror aspect and are just another highbrow clan. V5 doesn’t do a great job of explaining how they differ from the Ventrue, just that they do.

Perhaps the differences were made more clear in 2e and 3e’s clanbooks, but it’s literally been decades since I read those and, to be honest, most clanbooks were crap. I recall the Lasombra being overshadowed (hah!) by the Tzimisce, who could be summarized with the fascinating concept of “monstrous, transhumanist Draculas” and who therefore occupied their own distinct space within the game.

I was also bothered by the literalness of the name. They are literally named “The Shadow” and they have shadow powers? It was just too much for me, far too blatant a show of power and capability. Then V5 came along and turned Obtenebration into Oblivion, which was then linked with Necromancy, and I said “NO. Hard no.” If the Lasombra had access to Necromancy then not only would they exploit the hell out of it, they’d find a way to control or destroy the Cappadocians / Giovanni / Hecata / whatever they’re called these days. That seemed like a lot of work to me, and I felt it was easier just to keep them separate.

Then a heretical thought occurred to me:  What if I made a shadowy clan who didn’t have access to shadow powers? Then their name would take on a whole new meaning, highly symbolic instead of literal, and that felt exciting to me. But how would I re-invent them?

My Storyteller, Adrian Rook, came up with a great concept for them regarding control. It didn’t completely suit my purposes (mainly because they still had shadow powers), but I could respect where he was going with it and I knew I could live with it in his game. However, it didn’t satisfy me and I kept thinking about ways to change them to make me happy. His influence can be seen here in both the clan compulsion and in various aspects of their personality.

It wasn’t until I read the V20 book Lore of the Clans that the concept of  the Lasombra being cancerous corruptors who blackmail people and hollow out organizations to wear as a suit fully blossomed. Maybe that concept has always been there and I never realized it, or maybe this was a new interpretation on the clan, but I found it different and unusual and it shifted my concept of the Lasombra from “like the Ventrue, only with more asshole” to “powers behind the throne”. As I considered this, things started to make a lot more sense: they’d tunneled inside the Church and twisted it to their own ends, and then when the Inquisition started they did the same with the Anarch movement, suborning it into the Sabbat. The Tzimisce became their enforcers and figureheads while the Lasombra ruled it like viziers, the Cardinal Richelieu to the Tzimisce’s King Louis.

I also realized that this concept was stealing a lot of thunder from the Followers of Set, and frankly I was okay with that. The Setites annoy me for a lot of reasons, mainly because their concept seems to be “We are evil corruptors because we are evil and we like to corrupt, tra-la-la.” Evil for the sake of being evil bores me, as does corrupting others because it’s your religion. But corruption in the service of personal power? Now that’s interesting, and it fit perfectly within the concept of shadowy control freaks accumulating power through taking control of organizations because in order to do that, first you need to control the people within them. Also, if you’re a clan named “The Shadow” (and especially if you have shadow powers) you really need to have a weakness to sunlight. Since I was stealing from the Setites, I figured I’d steal that too.

So yes, the Setites are on the trash pile with this concept. I’ll try to replace them with a more interesting group of evil bastards when I have time. Meanwhile, the new Lasombra have a more interesting mix of disciplines which are well-suited for their role: Animalism to sense the desires of the Beast and to quash it, Auspex to get leverage, and Presence to make people like them, trust them, and/or fear them.

Ultimately it comes down to this: I like this new version of the Keepers, and that’s what is important. If you don’t, that’s fine; you don’t have to use them.

Insalubrious Basterds

More Vampire: the Masquerade nerdery.

As you may have noticed. we fans of role-playing are creative, passionate, and impatient. This means that when a new version of an RPG comes out and doesn't update a thing we like, then we will take it into own hands to make that thing ourselves so that we can have it for our game.

So just like I did with the Tzimisce, here are the Salubri for V5.

https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Salubri

A few notes:

• The clan bane and compulsion were crafted by my GM Adrian Rook, who I think got the ideas from various sources that weren't quite what either of us wanted, so we made a delicious jambalaya out of them to get what we wanted. 
• The same goes for Valeran; the list of powers and their levels were largely taken from someone else's attempt t make a V5 version but, oddly, they kept all the V20 mechanics which made me think it was just cut and paste from that edition. So honestly, I did more work converting them to V5 than the other person did. 
• Veterans of previous versions will note that this is a combination of the Healer's Path (Obeah) and the Warrior's Path (Valeran). I'm okay with this, because V5 already has 2-3 powers per level in all the other Disciplines and the writers apparently want to condense and consolidate the amount of old KNDs into a more manageable number. 
• Also, in my opinion, Valeran sounds better than Obeah. I don't think Valeran is itself a word; it's probably a derivation of vale, the Latin word for "farewell", because the power is about "saying goodbye to evil". Another possibility is that it is rooted in the Latin valeō, which means "I am strong / I am healthy / I have worth" and also means in New Latin "I leave, I go away" which brings us right back to farewell but in a more badass way. Please compare that to the word Obeah, which is "a system of spiritual and healing practices developed among enslaved West Africans in the West Indies" -- so basically, a religion. Yeah, let's not go and compare someone's religion with a supernatural power of a dead thing, thanks. 
• Also, fun fact: salubrious is a Latin word which means "wholesome, healthful, promoting health or well-being" which means that they already have the healing thing covered in their name and don't need a Discipline with another name for it as well. 

So, yeah. That's stuff you know now.