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Shadwen
2010-12-03, 03:54 AM
Hi, Im going to be playing a game soon. It is allowing all clans in the basic book. This is Laws of the Night. The most recent print.


As a player: I wish to play an assamite. I feel this will be beneficial to the group..as i will be the scout for them..and in the worse case scenerio..the ninja... Would this be a wise decisions? Or should I go for a pure offensive build.

As an Assistant ST: We have forseen a couple issues. The first one being the Ravnos clan. Chimestry is beyond powerful. Is there a way to handle this with game mechanics or simple rules in the book that we might be missing to tone it down?

As an Assistant ST 2: We have also seen the issue of the Lasombra Tentacles. Obtenebration Level 3. How would we limit this so we dont have a bunch of lasombra running around with 12 shotguns.


You are only allowed to use Laws of the Night. The game point buy is 17 with 7 flaws/5 negs.

The most important issue is how to tame the ravnos and the lasombra. Any ideas/tips would help. Please no banning them..we are trying to restrain from doing that.

Semidi
2010-12-03, 05:20 AM
Hi!

I love V:tM (if you can't tell by the avatar), and I'm a member of the Camarilla (global larp organization). Here is our addenda for Masquerade: http://www.mst-office.net/masquerade-addenda/

The changes the club made with regard to the disciplines you mentioned are the following:

Chimistry:

Chimerstry


1. Chimerstry is meant to be a subtle and devious power. Please review the section titled “What is Chimerstry” on page 61 of the Revised Ravnos Clan Book for a guideline on how to use Chimerstry. Storytellers are encouraged to allow characters a mental test versus the Chimerstry users permanent social traits to disbelieve wild or blunt uses of this power.
2. Ignis Fatuus and Fata Morgana: You do not need to defeat an opponent in a Social Challenge to activate these powers. Pay the cost listed and the illusion springs into life, visible by anyone present. If a character has a valid reason to disbelieve the illusion, they may attempt a Static Mental Challenge against the illusionist’s permanent Social Traits. Success on this challenge allows the character to see through the illusion (or hear through it, smell through it, etc.).
3. Horrid Reality: To use Horrid Reality, spend a point of willpower and target an illusion created by Fata Morgana or Apparition. For the remainder of the scene you may make a social challenge to cause the illusion to attack. If the challenge is successful the target takes a maximum of 2 points of aggravated damage, 3 points of lethal damage, or 4 points of bashing damage. The type of damage inflicted by Horrid Reality depends on your illusion’s mode of attack. An illusory pistol would cause lethal damage (or bashing to vampires) while fire summoned by an illusory Warlock would cause aggravated damage. All of the challenges for Horrid Reality apply, regardless of the target’s level of Auspex. Even a character who consciously realizes that your creation is illusory will be unable to disbelieve it completely enough to avoid taking damage. Damage caused by Horrid Reality fades at the end of the scene. Chimerical damage can be reduced by powers like Fortitude and may be healed normally. This power cannot be used to create non-damaging effects like staking or grappling.

Obten:


1. Special Effects and Optional Rules [Clanbook Lasombra]: These rules are not used in the Sanctioned Chronicle.
2. Arms of the Abyss: Potence and Fortitude cannot be added to the arms. The number of Traits possessed by each arm is equal to the number of Discipline powers the character has in Obtenebration. For example, a character with Advanced Obtenebration would create Arms of the Abyss tentacles with five Physical Traits each.
3. Black Metamorphosis:
1. This must be a tentacle-based attack, using the character’s Potence and Physical Traits. The character may not take any sort of action itself.
2. The Clumsy Negative Trait is not cumulative with other Negative Traits inflicted by Obtenebration


Chimistry, with the above modifications still remains incredibly scary but not as game breaking. The big change is Horrid Reality, which is a bit wonky to deal with. Obtenebration is still, in my opinion, the most power non-magic (i.e. not Thaum, not Necro) power set in the game. You become a one man mob and an elder killing machine. Taking away tentacle's win all ties and fortitude starts to balance it a little better. Obten is still terrifying though.

With your specific questions:


As a player: I wish to play an assamite. I feel this will be beneficial to the group..as i will be the scout for them..and in the worse case scenerio..the ninja... Would this be a wise decisions? Or should I go for a pure offensive build.

Depends, what sect do you belong to (Cam, Anarch, Sabbat, or Independent?). Remember, with the Camarilla, Assamites are scary business and can be blood hunted by the Treaty of Tyre and the Convention of Thorns when they are outside of their mountain. Also, even when they are not, they are hardly ever trusted in the Camarilla (and hardly exist in the Anarchs), and due to the whole "get darker as the age thing" unless you're playing a fairly young Assamite, you kind of stick out. Finally, is your Assamite on Path of Blood, if so, then again, this will be difficult to play as diablorie is... not looked kindly on in Camarilla cities. I'd maybe suggest playing something like a Nosferatu instead and keep the whole scouting thing. In terms of actual build? Yeah sure scout away--being a combat monster isn't too hard to do along with being a stealth monkey.

If this is a Sabbat game, yeah, Assamite antitribu are cool.

As a player these things can lead to a fairly boring time for you unless there are other Assamite players.


How would we limit this so we dont have a bunch of lasombra running around with 12 shotguns.

Your tentacles can't wield shotguns, they lack the motor skills. Also, Lasombra tentacles are much more scary in both mob combat (a Lasombra in a mob with his 5 tentacles forces opponent to bid 6(!) (1 in opposition to you, 1 clumsy, and 4 for the four tentacles) traits a round and Lasombra have a win all ties (puissance). As a bonus, Sabbat trade disciplines like crazy so don't be surprised to run into a Lasombra that has 4 actions a round (everyman, 1st cel, 2nd cel, black met). Also, if shroud is active, even on opponent succeeding there's another blind fighting test. The above fix helps a little, but Lasombra are always going to be the ultimate combat machines.


You are only allowed to use Laws of the Night. The game point buy is 17 with 7 flaws/5 negs.

You have to be specific, 17 freebie points on top of xp or 17xp + freebie points? That's not really too big a deal. No one except proxy kissed Giovanni can start with an intermediate discipline (because of the way freebie points work) and chances are you're not even going to get to deal with some of the crazy **** people can pull with discipline mixing and matching.


Please no banning them..we are trying to restrain from doing that.

First, MET Masquerade is not balanced. At all. Not one bit. I mention win all ties a lot. That's incredibly unbalanced. Also, the Brujah combo discipline Iron Heart is crazy good, so is just about all of Thaumaturgy and Necromancy. Anyway, Lasombra and Ravnos are scary, you can make them a little less scary, but they're still going to kick the ass of most Tzimisce (you have horrid form and are bidding 18 traits? I'm bidding 10 and have a win all ties so nyah) and Ventrue (fortitude just kind of blows compared to the tabletop version).

Second, I wouldn't ban Ravnos or Lasombra, but I'd make them incredibly rare and not incredibly populated (assuming this is a Camarilla game and not Sabbat). Lasombra are very, very rare outside of the Sabbat and the latest Laws of the Night is set after the week of nightmares so most Ravnos have eaten each other.

Final note, white wolf has created a document that gives suggestions for applying nWoD rules to the oWoD settings. I might suggest this as the nWoD rules are a little cleaner than oWoD and a little more tame if that's what you're looking for while keeping the awesome oWoD setting.

Enjoy your rock, paper scissors, and if you have any other questions, I might be able to help as I have a bit of experience running LARPs based on Laws of the Night.

(I'd suggest allowing the other Laws of the Night books like the Sabbat Guide and the Anarch Guide and the clan books as they add A LOT of flavor and depth to the game.)