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2020-10-02, 04:19 PM (ISO 8601)
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In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
I was never White Wolf's target demographic. But over the years, I've developed a little curiosity about what characters a person could play. Specifically oWoD for now's questions. I'm interested in the weird cousins, lesser servants, things like that.
There's the Big Three: Vampire, Werewolf, Mage.
There's the Not-So-Big Ones: Changeling, Wraith, Mummy, Demon, Hunter.
There's also Not-So-Well-Known Ones: Sorcerer, Gypsy.
What else was there available to play?
ETA: The table's gonna be messy. Clarification and expansion welcome.
Primary Class "Sub" Class Sources Vampire Dhamphirs (thin-blooded vampires?) ? Vampire Ghoul ? Vampire Revenants (hereditary ghouls) ? Werewolf Kinfolk ? Mage Cyborg/Genetic Super-soldiers Guide to the Technocracy Mage Hedge Wizard ? Mage Lich ? Mage Sorcerer ? Wraith Risen ? Wraith Mediums ? Wraith Spectres ? Wraith Variant Wraiths ? Kindred of the East Dhampyres ? Kindred of the East Keui-Jin ? ? ? ? Faithful ? ? Faithful ? ? Gypsy ? ? ? Year of the Hunter (1995) ? ? The Quick and the Dead ? ? The Autumn People Last edited by thorr-kan; 2020-10-07 at 01:25 PM.
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2020-10-02, 04:55 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
First off you've got the 'sub' splats, Ghouls for Vampires, Kinfolk for Werewolves, Risen for Wraiths. Oh, and Sorcerers for Mages, but they're a bit more weird. Not every splat has one, and some later ones like humans in demonic Pacts aren't technically PC options.
Then you have things like Faithful characters, which can cross over with other character types but normally don't. As well as Hedge Magicians, which are basically Sorcerers, but older and without an explicit connection to Mage.
Also Keui-Jin, which are 'Asian vampires' that are a mess of a whole lot of things and while an interesting splat potentially problematic. Actually Asia didn't exactly get the best treatment in oWoD, which I suspect has links to every splat having a choice which funnels back to 'associated with this geographical area' (Vampire is the best because things like 'Brujah ruled Cathage' are significantly less important in the modern day).
And good luck sorting out a party that uses more than one splat, they're all heavily imbalanced and have enough differences in basic rules to get you pulling your hair out.
As a side note, CofD (nWoD) 1e was much better on pretty much every front when it came to character types. Mortals were dealt with first and formed the basis of the system, and everything than altered mortals so that the rules were consistent between every game. This made crossovers much easier, although by late 1e the idea of balancing all the gamelines was completely abandoned and instead moved towards character options that borrowed theming from other gamelines.
On splats. Each character splat apart from humans got three subsplats: one innate, one social, and an optional specialised form of one of the first two. Although they also started playing around this this idea pretty quickly when Changelings got four supsplats. Minor splats are also a lot more common, and 2e made several of them a lot more playable in mixed groups (and even added some new ones in). Then there are again some 'one book and done' splats, like Inferno Demons.
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2020-10-03, 06:50 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
There were the year of the hunter books of 1995 where you could play either 1 an agent of an order of academic scholars studying the super natural, 2 an agent of the modern Catholic Inquisition, dealing with supernatural creatures or 3 an agent of the US federal government.
Year of the hunter also had two books I never read, The Quick and the Dead, and the Autumn people. Which look like they supported other mundane people messing about with supernatural monsters.
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2020-10-03, 11:20 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
There's also the Drones, Fomori, and whatever Gaian possessed were called. And Guide to the Technocracy brought in the option of playing cyborg/genetically engineered super soldiers who weren't actually mages themselves and in many cases, didn't even have an Avatar and couldn't be mages at all.
Then Forged in Dragons Fire brought in the idea of playing Bygones, so you could play a Dragon or any other sort of fanciful creature, if you truly wanted. Or more robots, or undead. And there's Lich's in that one splatbook for Mage that covered Greek and Aztec magic. Though they're more of just uber powerful undead mages then they are a new splat.Last edited by druid91; 2020-10-03 at 11:21 AM.
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2020-10-04, 01:13 AM (ISO 8601)
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- May 2009
Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
In addition to what's already mentioned...
Werewolf included rules and splatbooks for other were-creatures:
Cats
Coyotes
Bear
Ravens
Sharks
Hyenas
Rats
Snakes
Lizards
Foxes
Spiders
Wraith created splatbooks for:
Mediums
Spectres
Risen
Wraiths from different Dark Kingdoms (with slightly different rules)
Vampire materials included:
Revenants (hereditary ghouls)Last edited by Yanagi; 2020-10-04 at 01:14 AM.
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2020-10-04, 12:55 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
'Kindred of the East' had Dhampyres. The children of a sufficiently Yang aspected Kue-Jin and a mortal. But they are very rare
All Comicshorse's posts come with the advisor : This is just my opinion any difficulties arising from implementing my ideas are your own problem
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2020-10-04, 02:33 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
The Cranky Gamer
*It isn't realism, it's verisimilitude; the appearance of truth within the framework of the game.
*Picard management tip: Debate honestly. The goal is to arrive at the truth, not at your preconception.
*Mutant Dawn for Savage Worlds!
*The One Deck Engine: Gaming on a budget
Written by Me on DriveThru RPG
There are almost 400,000 threads on this site. If you need me to address a thread as a moderator, include a link.
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2020-10-04, 02:37 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2009
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
Meanwhile Masquerade has dhamphirs, children of 15th Generation Kindred who managed to get alive enough to sprog, they basically act like traitless Revenants. They're very rare.
Although I'm not 100% sure if that's canon anymore. 5e changed quite a bit about how Thin Bloods work, and I'm not sure if they can have children like humans anymore (they're still all Caitiff, but now have more traits and can in theory embrace indefinitely). But 5e changed a lot, bringing in some cool new things and a lot of knock-off Requiem (oh, and wrote out the Sabbat before making the Anarchs into Sabbat-lite). It's pretty much what turned me off oWoD and into CofD permanently.
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2020-10-07, 11:24 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
The Mummy Player's guide had a few groups of non-Egyptian mummy. Also, the mummies in WoD: Mummy and its revision were significantly different than the ones in Mummy: the Resurrection.
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2020-10-07, 01:23 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2010
Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
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2020-10-07, 01:25 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2010
Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
I've edited the main post with a table for clarity's sake. Anybody who could fill in blanks would be greatly appreciated.
ETA: Did the original Changeling have any "sub" classes?Last edited by thorr-kan; 2020-10-07 at 01:26 PM.
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2020-10-07, 01:42 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
Originally they were just set up as NPC opponents to standard Western Kindred but they got there own game-line in the end.
Rules for P.C. Kue-Jin and Dhampyres can be found in the 'Kindred of the East' book
https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Ki..._East_Rulebook
P.S
Oh Dhampyrs got there own book 'Half Damned : Dhampyr'Last edited by comicshorse; 2020-10-07 at 03:20 PM.
All Comicshorse's posts come with the advisor : This is just my opinion any difficulties arising from implementing my ideas are your own problem
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2020-10-07, 02:01 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2009
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
Kuei-Jin are the main PC type of Kindred of the East, an annoying name because they aren't Kindred. They are likely no longer canon in their current form, 5e bringing in Blood Potency and Duskborn might mean they're a different type of Kindred like the Duskborn (14th+ gen Cainites) are. They're the reason there's 'no kindred' in East Asia, although West ?Asia and South Asia have their own bloodlines (including a recognised Clan or two for West Asia).
Side note, race or splat would be better than class, although each is a gameline in itself they are in concept and use much closer to D&D classes than races. Some splats do have race equivalent's (such as a Garou's Auspice), others don't.
You've included Kuei-Jin but not Cainites/Kindred or Garou, is there a reason for this?
I don't know enough about old Changeling, there were geographical groupings of Kith but I don't know how much they changed it up.
This is somewhat easier for CofD due to the lack of metaplot making entirely new types rare. But then again CofD also tried to make minor templates work in mixed groups, I'd actually like to play a Requiem ghoul (which get a more flexible power boost and higher cieling than Masquerade's ghouls, with IIRC no increase in downsides beyond 'not excepted everywhere).
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2020-10-07, 09:14 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Sep 2015
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- Orlando
Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
Werewolf the Apocalypse had
Kinfolk - of all the Fera
Ajaba - werehyenas
Ananasi - werespiders with three aspects: Weaver, Wyld, and Wyrm
Bastet - werecats with variants: tiger, cougar, lynx, lion, caracal, jaguar, leopard, cheetah
Corax - werecrows/ravens
Gurahl - werebears: black, polar, grizzly, and brown
Kitsune - werefoxes
Mokolé - weredinosaurs. Seriously. Their animal forms were monitor lizards like komodo dragons, crocodiles, or alligators, but their "hybrid" form is a freakin dinosaur made of random parts, it was stupid easy to build a winged dragon
Nagah - weresnakes
Nuwisha - werecoyotes
Rokea - SHARKS
Ratkin - rats"Scary magical hoodoo and technology are the same thing, their difference is merely cultural context" - Clarke, paraphrased
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2020-10-08, 05:07 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
Simba- Were Lions
All Comicshorse's posts come with the advisor : This is just my opinion any difficulties arising from implementing my ideas are your own problem
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2020-10-08, 05:38 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
The werebats, werebats, and werebulls were all driven to extinction by the Garou.
Oh Demon has Demons, split into the normal 'possessing people' kind and the 'possessing objects' Earthbound. And I'm addition to the faithful and hedge mages from Hunters Hunted and the like Hunter has the Imbued, who are organised similar to human hunters but are different because they're supernatural with a bunch of tricks based on Virtues and Creeds and the ability to see through supernatural illusions and resist supernatural mind control. The late-lifecycle mythology of oWoD got a bit confusing which is why 5th edition is a soft reboot.
Which is also why CofD vampire has no definitive mythology and CofD Werewolf has to competing variations on its mythology which both might be fairly incorrect (the Pure have definitely got one detail wrong). Plus an almost purely reactive metaplot, things will change but only if it's because something is nearly impossible to ignore.
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2020-10-08, 08:51 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2010
Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
Are Werewolf's Kinfolk other weres, or are they a separate race?
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2020-10-08, 09:50 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2009
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
Kinfolk are humans with Fera... 'genetics'. What causes Fera isn't clear, early Werewolf talks about genetics, I believe in late Werewolf it's meant to be related to the spirit/soul, WW changed more than that up between 1e and Revised.
Oh, Fera are shapeshifters/were-Xs.
So yeah, Kinfolk are related to Fera, but never underwent the First Change. Fera-Kinfolk pairings are the best way to produce more Fera, I don't think that Fera-human makes anything other than Kinfolk while Kinfolk-Kinfolk has only a small chance of creating Fera. Fera-Fera are a mixed bag, vary between the various races of Fera, and the resulting kids have to be kept in the sept sir to being in constant warform until the First Change. That's if the baby doesn't explode on birth due to not having had the chance to dream up their warform. Or a parent doesn't undergo spontaneous werefox combustion. Or just plain don't exist for a couple of Fera.
Urgh, so yeah, think of Kinfolk as half-weres (and roughly quarter spirit, because this is WoD).
If you think that this leads to a lot of problems with inbreeding among the Fera, yeah you're right. It's a weird thing where what's meant to keep Garou linked to human society actually acts as a buffer against it, as most Tribes only associate with their Kinfolk.
Apocalypse has great ideas but a lot of problems.
Oh, and we've forgotten an important splat.
Abominations.
What happens when you Embrace a Fera? Well they get a Willpower roll. On a success they die peacefully, but on a failure they die painfully. However on a notch they become an Abomination, a Fera vampire. Basically you get all the Vampire abilities and your Clan (unless Caitiff), and keep your shapeshifting and any Gifts you've learnt. Most Abominations are Garou. You've got a big raw power boost on top of your vampirism, but vampires hate you, Fera hate you, spirits who aren't of the Wyrm hate you, and you basically can't learn any new gifts that aren't of the Wyrm. You munchkin.
Just be careful when embracing Fera. There is a chance of spontaneous werefox combustion.
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2020-10-08, 07:12 PM (ISO 8601)
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
The Cranky Gamer
*It isn't realism, it's verisimilitude; the appearance of truth within the framework of the game.
*Picard management tip: Debate honestly. The goal is to arrive at the truth, not at your preconception.
*Mutant Dawn for Savage Worlds!
*The One Deck Engine: Gaming on a budget
Written by Me on DriveThru RPG
There are almost 400,000 threads on this site. If you need me to address a thread as a moderator, include a link.
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2020-10-09, 07:29 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
I believe each generation that includes a normal human reduces the chance of being kinfolk somewhat? I mean, this isn't really something that came up in game and served to define what your family was like. It's why I prefer Forsaken to Apocalypse, Wolf Blooded are now a larger group who might be completely unrelated to Uratha, and after a couple of generations just kind of blend into the population so that a new Uratha could be born to almost anybody.
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2020-10-09, 09:40 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
Yeah, I have no idea about numbers, which were never White Wolf's strong point, anyway. I think it more or less boils down to "In theory, pretty much anyone might become a werewolf, because there's a touch of kinfolk in almost everyone's bloodline, but it's a lot more likely if their garou ancestor is recent."
The Cranky Gamer
*It isn't realism, it's verisimilitude; the appearance of truth within the framework of the game.
*Picard management tip: Debate honestly. The goal is to arrive at the truth, not at your preconception.
*Mutant Dawn for Savage Worlds!
*The One Deck Engine: Gaming on a budget
Written by Me on DriveThru RPG
There are almost 400,000 threads on this site. If you need me to address a thread as a moderator, include a link.
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2020-10-09, 07:37 PM (ISO 8601)
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2020-10-12, 09:36 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Jul 2005
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- St. Paul, MN
Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
I see you've made a chart. For the year of the hunter stuff I'd do the following sub-spats and books:
Arcanum Scholar, Halls of the Arcanum
Inquisitor, The Inquisition
Government agent, Project Twilight
Autumn Person, Autumn People
I really don't know what's in the quick and the dead
For the older mummy books I'd do:
Amenti, Mummy:A World of Darkness & World of Darkness: Mummy Second Edition
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2020-10-13, 11:36 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Dec 2007
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
Werewolf includes a lot of different kinds of werecreatures... weresharks, werespiders, werecoyotes, werecats (many varieties), werehyenas.
I just got a bundle that includes weresaber-tooth tigers and were dire wolves, too.The Cranky Gamer
*It isn't realism, it's verisimilitude; the appearance of truth within the framework of the game.
*Picard management tip: Debate honestly. The goal is to arrive at the truth, not at your preconception.
*Mutant Dawn for Savage Worlds!
*The One Deck Engine: Gaming on a budget
Written by Me on DriveThru RPG
There are almost 400,000 threads on this site. If you need me to address a thread as a moderator, include a link.
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2020-10-22, 10:43 AM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2020
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2020-10-22, 01:17 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Aug 2010
Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
I gotta get back to this at some point.
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2020-11-12, 12:04 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
Don't forget Street Fighter and all its books. Also White Wolf, not sure if setting is WoD but same base mechanics. Plus combat system of course.
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2020-11-19, 12:54 AM (ISO 8601)
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
It's definitely a different system and setting. Similar combat and health systems but otherwise completely different.
Most of my posts are made on my mobile device. Please excuse any errors from auto correct.
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2020-11-19, 05:33 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Oct 2009
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Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
Yeah, while we could count it we'd also have to count the Trinity Continuum, so Psions, Novas, and whatever you played in Adventure, as well as Scion and it's Divine Beings. Now both are great settings, and IMO run on the best version of Storyteller, but they aren't WoD.
Exalted is more complicated, 1e at some point was going to be the prehistory of WoD, hence the similarities between splats, and some Exalted characters maybe showed up in WoD, but there's no explicit links. Most Exaltations map pretty well to an existing splat anyway.
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2020-11-23, 01:21 PM (ISO 8601)
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- Jan 2009
Re: In oWoD, what "class" of characters could you play?
Were Orpheans (like Orpheus, not a mispelling of mage Orphans) canonically part of oWoD?
I don't think I ever read the book, but it seemed in the same spirit/theme as oWoD and about... sorta like dream sorcerers, or something like that?
For Mage, you could play an acolyte (by which I mean, not a mage, but a human supporter of the Traditions who believes in magic and isn't a witness), but that'd be pretty dull unless you're also a sorcerer.
Could be fun to play a hanger-on of a Maruader who is swept up in their reality and gets super powers because the Maruader thinks they do... but that's not really something you can base a mechanical system on.
Nephandic imbuements/investments on a human are technically something that could make a PC, if an evil one.