Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition Interest Check - Still Recruiting! Ignore post count.

[pugbutter]

@Necroes The problem is I can't access PDF's & don't own any rulebook's, so I don't know how you could help me learn the game. I am extremely intuitive at picking up on how to play TTRPG's.

@Dark Cloud

Either hit me up on Discord or give me a working email address. This goes for anybody who wants any of the four most useful books in .pdf format:

• V5 Corebook
• Chicago by Night V5 (essential for the Lasombra or Hecata experience, as this one contains Oblivion mechanics)
• V5 Companion (mostly useful for playing a Tzimisce or a Salubri, but it contains a few variant rules as well)
• Cults of the Blood gods (mostly for learning about minor vampiric religions and roleplaying various mystery-cults. Useful for magic-oriented Clans like Tremere, Samedi, Nagaraja, etc.)

[Dark Cloud]

@pugbutter The problem is my device can't access .PDF documents.

[pugbutter]

Can't help ya then

[Necroes]

@pugbutter Went ahead and put in the opener that you're offering PDFs.

[pugbutter]

Am I allowed to transfer EXP from one section of the character sheet to the next? For example, I'm making a Tremere, and I'd like to put a few Advantage dots toward knowing level 1 Rituals. They both cost 3EXP each.

[Necroes]

@pugbutter Getting a bit excited, but I'm not going to tell you to not start brewing a character. That said, I'm going to have to say 'no' to that one. Tremere are notoriously busted, and while I'll allow you to play one, I'm not going to do you any favors in making the process easier. Especially as the closet equivalent to what you're asking me would be for me to let another player give up two advantages for a level 1 discipline power, which would also be a 'no,' even with the trade deficit.

[pugbutter]

Hey, if they didn't want me being OP then they wouldn't have made it cost 3 EXP (per) to be able to produce infinite tracking devices, climb any sheer surface, or completely ignore Humanity rolls to wake up during the day. Being Tremere is supposed to incur a massive social cost in exchange for being a bit of a blood-magic Ubermensch.

By the way, what dice pool would you want for sleight-of-hand things like pickpocketing people? Would that be Dexterity + Subterfuge? Larceny? An attribute roll like Dexterity + Composure?

[Necroes]

@pugbutter When it comes to tremere, I'm perfectly okay with you becoming overpowered. That said, you have to survive long enough to get there, while remembering you're in a city filled with vampires infinitely more capable of ending you instantly than your magic could ever protect you against.

When it comes to dice rolls, it's going to be a very in-the-moment kind of decision. Using your example, if you're actively trying to distract someone to slide something into their pocket (yea, I know why you're asking) then that would be dexterity + subterfuge. If they're already distracted, and you just need to take advantage of that without causing a scene, then you're looking at composure + larceny. Something more revolved around taking advantage of timing to, say, drop it into a bag while no one is looking could be wits + dexterity.

Essentially; Make your character flavorful, and don't go fishing for min-maxed skill combinations. If you do, that's fine, but don't expect to just be able to rely on those to constantly get you what you want. It's my job as story teller to insure the rolls I'm calling for are the ones that best fit the circumstance, and the game provides me with a large canvas to make that happen. Personally, I'm a big fan of odd attribute-skill combinations for rolls.

[pugbutter]

I just want to be good at the things I'm purporting to be good at. :D

[Cu Chulainn]

I'm thinking of either a hired killer who finds beauty in bloodshed playing around with Celerity's blitziness, or an eccentric underground director maxing Auspex.

[Necroes]

@pugbutter@Cu Chulainn

Keep in mind you two; You're starting out as fledglings this time around. You'll have been kindred for a couple years, max; Likely still connected to your human side, and without a great deal of power. From the sounds of it, you two are aiming for 'what my character will become' as opposed to 'what my character starts as.'

[Cu Chulainn]

If we're using the same number of EXP as Neonates begin with, I feel like my ideas would definitely work as they both encompass what my character was while they were human. It's just adapting to the world of darkness that's the real issue.

[Necroes]

@Cu Chulainn Oh no. Didn't you see the edit in the opener? @pugbutter helped convince me that you should all start as basic fledglings, no bonus exp.

[pugbutter]

I mean I think you're reading too deeply into something from that one post. Because right before that I expressed my desire to play Neonates. 😅

Also, if you're taking votes for the Session Zero meta, here are mine:
[...]

Coterie Age: Neonates (Embraced 1940-2000, +15 EXP, Blood Potency of 1-2 depending on whether we're using the Companion errata)

@pugbutter

[Necroes]

@pugbutter Come on, now, friend. This is a VtM game we're talking about! If I didn't make my players regret the things they say, am I really living up to the role of story teller? Punishing players for their actions is, quite literally, my job in this game.

But, seriously, you're all starting as basic fledglings. I wasn't being mean about it, that really does make the plot a lot simpler on my end. Moreover, this isn't the kind of game where a 'lower level' character is inherently less fun. Bringing you all down to the lowest level gives me a good buffer for trying out this system in a forum context (which is a very new thing for me) while also limiting the amount of explanation I need to do if our third and/or fourth players are more new to the system.

[pugbutter]

Okay thank you for explaining. I was so confused.😹

Well, my Ventrue concept is innately inseparable from '70s Americana, so if we're fledglings then I'm not playing him. I'll follow through on a Tremere sheet for now, but if someone else wants to play a Tremere then I always enjoy being one of the up-close-and-personal Clans too (Gangrel/Brujah/Nosferatu), and I'll pick one of them instead, so really @Cu Chulainn and everyone else have first pick.

[Necroes]

@pugbutter I've got an idea for letting people play characters from an older time, even if they are fledglings. It's something we'd have to discuss, but as long as you don't go back before the 1900's, I can work with it.

[Cu Chulainn]

Even without the bonus EXP, I fail to see how that changes my characters being established people when they were still human at all. The statistics and attributes you start out with seem more than enough to have that much in place.

[Necroes]

@Cu Chulainn Embracing an established murderer is an exceptionally bad idea. While it seems like vampires wouldn't care about that sort of thing, death is very loud. Going around killing humans is a good way to draw attention to yourself, and using your powers to do it will draw attention to kindred society. Things like that risk a breach of the masquerade, which would likely end up with your character being the target of a blood hunt.

Keeping that in mind; Toreador, as a clan, are more ordered and tend to follow the rules. They're very obsessed with art and beauty, and they also tend to attach themselves more strongly to their humanity. It's going to be something of a hard sell to find a Toreador to sire your character, knowing they're not especially artistic, they already have a disconnect to their humanity, and they make a habit of murder. Unless your Toreador was sired by an anarch, who sired them without permission from the local Prince, it's unlikely the character as you have described them would have been embraced to begin with.

Now, if you were aiming for someone more traditionally artistic and less bloodthirsty to begin with, who after their embrace begins to turn into a killer, then that's far more reasonable. The other option for that character that would make sense would be if, instead of Toreador, your clan were Brujah.

Your second idea seems much more reasonable from the outset, but I'm not entirely sure what you mean by 'director.'

[Cu Chulainn]

I feel like this is a very surface-level appraisal of my character concept. The idea wasn't some crazed serial killer, but rather a seasoned soldier groomed by their sire's interest. While I'm still considering the finer details, I have someone more akin to a more modernized troupe of a pompous duelist in mind, a fencer concerned with the intricacies of their bladework.

To call someone well-versed in combat not especially artistic feels like a very rash statement considering that even warriors make up the ranks of the Toreador. Combat can be, in itself, an art form, hence why many of its forms are referred to as "martial arts." This was an aspect I wished to play upon as well.

The idea of a professional killer specifically comes from the notion that while Toreadors are traditionalists by virtue, they very much represent hedonism at its basest form. Considering that they are also referred to as "Perverts," the original idea was someone who would see the world as their canvas, their blade as their paintbrush, and the splattering of blood as their own creations of art. It wasn't someone who would kill often, but is instead someone who would see the act of killing not only as a necessary evil, but as a form of art that must be performed to perfection if it's to be truly appreciated, whether they are obsessed with the strokes of their knife or the blood splatters that come from their killings.

I understand, however, why this would sound like something that should be avoided as its more aligned with what a Sabbat Toreador would consider as art. The basis for the idea was also the notion that to be truly human is to live dangerously, to feel the rush that is life and death. I am aware, however, that this is closer to the "massive cope" that the Sabbat utilize to maintain their humanity, rather than how actual humanity mechanics work.

That aside, the point I'm trying to make is that a killer, a soldier, or a warrior could find their place in the Toreador just like how a painter or a sculptor would. I did not want to make a character who would just charge in, break things, then leap out like most Brujah would. Instead, I wanted to play a skilled fighter who is concerned about executing each of their strikes with perfection, viewing their techniques as another form of art to be appreciated.