/cofd/&/wodg/ Chronicles of Darkness and World of Darkness General

Now let's talk about Baphomet! It's typical of Onyx Path's low test writers that all their characters are passively waiting for the arrival of the player characters to break the status quo but geez talk about missed opportunity. You got old titty mcgoathead a multimaster goetic lich who apparently hasn't been doing shit since dying except for trying to get the astral devil to stop grope him/her. You'd think she/he could at least find some time to go find his/her waifu/husbando in the astral realms or something.
The premise isn't that strong and the game's too much about resource management. If it'd have just been a straight up knock-off of the bygone bestiary I'd be jizzing all over it but as it stands its pretty meh

And that is exactly my problem with it.
You are a Beast. You have nothing to do.

But now let's stuff Beast. We have Mage to argue about.
Magic is broken AF with a Master being able to kill anyone with three successes.

I don't hate it. It's a bit disappointing, but has potential. It lacks focus, and Matt's game design beliefs leave much to be desired, but it's not terrible, just lackluster. I a good supplement can turn it around.

I don't need a crossover play toolkit for making antagonists. Hunter already exists, and it's easier to use.

Baphomet isn't waiting for you to do anything. They exist as a monster for you to fight. The way you break their Status Quo is with murder. That's what you do with Liches.
Although, if there's anyone who'd be stuck in a status quo rut, it's a lich.

I understand now.

Thank you.

Oh!

Recenty combed through a read through with quotes of M20.

I now have a newfound hatred and loathing of Phil "Satyros" Brucato.

But he/she doesn't do anything except be a loser in the Astral Realms. How can people go hunt monsters who don't even bother to be monstrous?

>Magic is broken AF with a Master being able to kill anyone with three successes.

How?

Mind Unmaking, for instance. Destroy someone's mind.
Use a Praxis. Exceptional Success on three successes.
One Exceptional Success option is "ignore Withstand".

Minds always broken. WoD is made for people with mindrape fetish.

>Mind Unmaking, for instance. Destroy someone's mind.

Not how the practices work.

Or Life unmaking. Stop them from Living.
Or Death making. Make them dead.
Or Time unmaking. Freeze them forever.
Or Space unmaking. Lock them in place forever.
Or Prime unmaking. Destroy their patterns.
Or Forces unmaking. Stop all movement.

...

Sounds like this will be a stupid thing that makes me angry, and will probably involve accusations of "pretentious".
Please don't continue.

She haunts dreams.

Frozen time is still time. Unmaking Time would mean removing someone from time entirely.

>Frozen time is still time. Unmaking Time would mean removing someone from time entirely.

Right! I was thinking way too conservatively.

What does Fate unmaking do?

Oh yeah that's impressive. Master of mind and best she/he/she/he/she/he/it can do is hang around like a creep in people's dreams. Changelings fresh off the boat from Arcadia can do that its not impressive

Makes you totally and utterly inconsequential even in the most minuscule way.

Look, you do some desperate things in a bid for immortality. If the choice is become a soulless dream monster or die the painful death of leprosy...

Fuck that shit though, I end up as some big titted goat man in the astral realms I'm gonna party so hard the Exarchs are going to have to come down to stop me.
**The real sweet lichdom though is the Bene Elohim, nothing stopping them from casting Alter Spirit on themselves and making the local Uratha freak the fuck out because they're like an Idigam but better**

So. Is it just me, or is Giant one of the best defensive merits when it comes to magic?

>Not being the triple threat of Lich/Banisher/Reaper while also having Bloodlines
Keep never reaching the Seventh Watchtower.

"So, if I get this right. You are a soul-eating monster, who can also summon the shades, and arms of ages-dead Vikings?"

>'When in doubt, just ashtray it.'

I meant the Tremere. Stygian Heralds were profoundly underwhelming to me when I was looking for a Moros Legacy.

>not being an Exarch
lol plebs

There is a Tremere House that does that.
Seo Hel.

>Hunting Ventrue just to rob their vaults filled with arcane artifacts and thousands of years worth of loot.
Oh god that sounds amazing.

Oh, awesome.

Or Hunting Seer storehouses. The Masks are obviously Relics. And the Aegis are clearly a Labyrinth for the Guardians, so you'd rob Seers.

So how do a gang of bank robbers join the Aegis Kai Doru? And what would the masks do?

I posted in the old thread like an idiot.

#

Had one of my players make a sacred prostitute and one of my stock NPCs is a self-styled love goddess. They're gonna be Decree of Heart no matter what, but any Guild can fit; if they's a honeypot then they're Maa-Kep, if they put mystic value into the transferent act of sex then they're Mesen-Nebu or Tef-Aabhi, etc.

#

I wrote them up as a Cult on the forums; Carnivale/Black List, a Conspiracy of professional thieves that wear the masks of Irem's sacred animals when they kill or steal.

They tried to rob an Aegis Labyrinth and were offered a job. The Masks obscure their identities supernaturally. Probably also give benefits similar to the Masque merit.

>you actually answered my dumb Oglaf question
You're not bad.

Yeah. They draw upon the souls they have bound to themselves, and create weapons and tools from their personas. When using these tools, they use the wielder's skill.

>Conspiracy
What was there special endowments?

Thats good I like it

Imbued Items look like shit.
Arcana rating of the spell + wielder's Gnosis.
"Here sleepwalker, take this magic ring, it'll shoot magical fire at whatever you point it at. It will protect you!"
Four dice.

I think he means in the traditional sense of the world. Although either way the magical masks would be obvious.

Animal masks sounds more like Hotline Miami, although you could easily merge the two into one concept.

You're using them wrong.

It's actually worse. Since each use requires at least one mana, it'll only work a few times.

As with Mage 1e, your average pistol or rifle if often far more deadly than lightening and fireballs, and without most of the supernatural complications.

Does anyone know of somewhere I can watch a short/small cWoD game online? my Youtube-fu fails me. I prefer with video, so I can see the dice pools in action, but a recorded audio session would work too. I just want to see and get a feel for the game beyond just reading the rules.

I plan to run a game for my group next year. They haven't had the best of experiences with more gothic games, and are not sure about the system. So, I would like to go in better prepared. I'll also probably try a Roll20 game later in the year.

You say Mummy and I try to be there.

Conspiracy as in "Cult type that gains bonuses to Grasp" not "Hunter group with Endowments."

>
Cult (8, Conspiracy): Reach 0, Grasp 5, Obedient, Paranoid

>Mystery Cult Initiation:
1: Gain a Larceny Specialty of your choosing.
2: Gain the Contacts (International Crime) Merit at one dot.
3: Gain a dot in one of the following Skills: Subterfuge, Intimidate, Firearms
4: Gain the Resources Merit at three dots.
5: Your character is gifted one of the magical jackal masks of the Carnivale, imposing a -3 penalty on all mundane and supernatural attempts to connect her to acts and crimes committed while wearing it. This penalty does not apply while wearing the mask; rather, it makes her difficult to track down once it has been removed, usually after a heist or assassination.

Yeah, I'm new to Mage and might be misreading, but it seems like if you can achieve something without magic, you're better off doing it that way, and magic only excels at things it's simply impossible/excessively impractical to do mundanely.

wait theres rules for Cults now? I am confused. I thought we were talking about Hunters

I'd've liked a shoutout to atypical path configurations in the DM section
The Circle of Degrees and Banishing and Summoning from the storytellers guide were pretty cool

2e especially is a game where being an occultist is more useful than being a D&D wizard. Pew pew isn't the useful thing, ritual and ceremony is the useful thing.

In 1e, ritual and ceremony were only used to break the game with stacking Potency, while in 2e they're the default.

He made them a Mummy Cult.

That's a big theme of Mage, yes.
Do stuff normally, back it up with magic.

Ah well. That's just the Merit. If one does them oneself they seem to be "seal this spell in an object".

>I'd've liked a shoutout to atypical path configurations in the DM section
What do you mean?

>2e especially is a game where being an occultist is more useful than being a D&D wizard. Pew pew isn't the useful thing, ritual and ceremony is the useful thing.
Sure, that's more in like with the WoD. Still, it's disappointing to look over Forces and see spells to hurl thunderbolts like Zeus and realize they suck and aren't ever worth it.

>Do stuff normally, back it up with magic.
So it seems. A bit disappointing. Maybe Mage isn't for me.

>Mummy Cult
Why?

>So it seems. A bit disappointing. Maybe Mage isn't for me.

Of course, this could mean "Conjure a sword, smite them with it".

There is plenty of mysticism in the game.

>Not being a bodyguard for your Archmage boss
>Not enchanting your AR to fire magic missiles
>Not enchanting your plate carrier vest to repair after every bullet impact.
>Not ripping up pieces of concrete to create cover
God I really want to play a militant Mage campaign.

...Damn it. Yes.
So do I.

You can do all that. Enchantments that bolster mundane activities seem ideal. But it's not what I really think about normally when I hear the word mage.

you got a skype or something? I need to find more people to play WoD with

I get what you mean but I like magic when theres a touch of realism. It makes all the crazy shit that happens much more impactful.

Banishing and summoning for instance, did away with weak arcana, and instead split a bonus amongst Practices between the 'Banishing' and 'Summoning' (or preceding and following) Arcana in front of and behind your Strong Aracana
The degrees approach was a general freedom to choose two strong and a weak arcana
both ways shortly described the metaphysics or culture of those Path changes and how they might satisfy different approaches or expectations from play, so it would be a good fit for a GM section

I do. But three games a week is too much already...

I only have 1 regular game and 1 thats irregular. I get what you mean tho 3 is usually my hard limit too. Still want to add anyway? Can always use more Veeky Forums folks to talk too.

Skype name in nametag. Everyone else can add me too. Just let me know your from Veeky Forums

what kind of name is rhyss anyway

australians are weird

anyone who lives in Sydney is welcome to check out my real life group
Currently running FFG Star Wars but have been writing up a mage chronicle in anticipation of the release

I am aussie too but in SA add me on skype bro

Thunderbolts are great. So are rocket propelled grenades.
There's a reason you shouldn't use either under most circumstances.

Man likes Mummy.

I'm not sure what you mean.

alternatives to the 5 paths, Mastigos, Moros, Acanthus etc

Does Aggravated damage still ignore armour/durability in 2e?

But why would that be in the corebook? That's more a thing for a Storyteller's Guide. Or even a Player's Guide, but the Paths are more set in stone than the Auspices or Clans.

yeah okay, I'll probably manage it much later today

Can Temporal Summoning (Time 3) un-supernatural a supernatural with Temporal Sympathy? If you can bring the dead back to life by overwriting them with a past self, surely you could overwrite a vampire with their self before their Embrace.

Mummy has rules for having a subservient Cult
I wrote up several examples, one of which being the Totally Not Payday Crew, and described them both as a Cult for a Mummy to own and as a Mystery Cult to join.

You could try. Whether or not it would work would depend on whether or not your ST is using Requiem vamps, and whether or not they've read Imperial Mysteries, and know that bit about all the splats having their own patrons in the Ascension War

Do mages get the easiest "lel Defense against firearms" in the game now?

Celerity?
Being a werewolf?

Pretty sure the easiest firearm defense is still Werewolves, who defend against them by default in any non-Hishu form.

But Mages do have fantastic defense with Acceleration.

Fortitude?
Do Bullets still count as Bashing to vampires?

I'm thinking of analogues such as making up bloodlines in Vampire
a counterquestion would be, why not?
The core book offers rules alternatives for core game mechanics, and it wouldn't detract with the default presentation

So! Thinking of siccing this guy on my players tomorrow when we run our VTM Chronicle. What do you think?

Too OP for neonates?

Celerity isn't actually Defense against firearms.

Dots of Celerity penalize Firearms attacks, which is basically what defense is.

All attacks are downgraded now. As long as shit isn't supernatural in origin, it does Bashing.

>Mystery Cult Influence (•••, ••••, or •••••)
>Effect: Your character has influence over a Mystery Cult (see p. 106) without actually being a subordinate member. Perhaps your character is a “power behind the throne” or even worshiped as a deity. Your character benefits from the same level of Mystery Cult Initiation, without having to be tied to the cult. This means fewer responsibilities to the cult, plausible deniability if they’re revealed, and the ability to step away at any time.

Shit, son, what in the flying fuck is this?

You can have 10 dots of merits for 5 dots with absolutely no downsides!

It takes a Celerity + Auspex devotion to get defence against firearms.
It's one of the best devotions in the game.

Are devotions even around in Vampire 2e?

I need to take my name off I keep forgetting too.

Huh really? I understood the logic of Bullets counting as bashing because the wounds are not severe enough to cripple a vampire and you cant kill a vampire due to blood loss or organ failure. But something like an axe can gouge out flesh or remove limbs so they are more dangerous.
Seems weird that its now Bashing as well. It also makes taking a blade to fight a vampire useless so might as well take a bat or sledge hammer

Increase his appearance to 5 because Vicissitude lets you do that for free.
What Koldunic Sorcery path is it? Path of Fire is the most broken shit.

Not sure why he has Protean, I mean it's useful but Viscisstude 4 is way better because raw strength increase.

>Obrimos

>dat rainbow fire

Is it because he's a Silver Ladder or is the Celestial Fire just naturally gay as fuck?

>Absolutely no downsides
Except, yknow, having to manage a cult
The moment your sleeper cult decides its time they all drink poison, because the guy below you said so and they don't know you exist, is the moment you gain 5 merit dots to redistribute elsewhere.

Did not know he could take appearance 5 for free.

Protean is for a combo discipline.

This is V20

He does have Path of Fire.

Extensive full-body trauma and the like is still Lethal - getting run over by a bulldozer is going to paste a vamp, not bruise them.

Blades cut tendons, destroy veins and arteries, cut flesh.. all of which Vampires don't really care about. They're dead all over.

Everything is Bashing to a vampire unless it's a bane, supernatural damage, or gross physical trauma.

Well. Yeah. That's why I said it. Quicken Sight.

Here is the Rationale:

unds that would easily kill even the hardiest of humans.
Kindred take only bashing damage from many sources that
would normally cause lethal damage to humans. This includes
most non-supernatural weapons. A sword slices through a
Kindred body the way it would a human; it’s just that vampires
don’t have the same need for stable flesh, working organs, and
intact blood vessels. A mortal whose viscera splay across a city
street is most certainly doomed, whereas a vampire recovers
after only minor inconvenience and a small investment of Vitae.

He is a Mysterium actually.

Bloodlines' equivalent is Legacies.
Also, the corebook doesn't really offer many rules for alternative game styles. It doesn't have the space for it.

>Persistent: Add the vampire’s dots in Celerity to her Defense, or to her Dodge roll when defending actively. If a Firearms attack denies her normal Defense, the attacker still takes a penalty on his attack equal to the vampire’s dots in Celerity. A character must still be aware of incoming attacks to defend against them.

>When activated, Quicken Sight lasts for a turn. The vampire can examine the details on fast-moving items, and respond to things outside the normal human spectrum. She can read multiple pages of text in three seconds. She can apply her Defense to ranged attacks, and can benefit from aiming instantly

Celerity still provides Defense against Firearms. Quicken Sight just gives you more than just your Celerity dots.

>He is a Mysterium actually.

Soit's not a choice & Prime effects are inherently fruity?

>Except, yknow, having to manage a cult

No, that's Mystery Cult Initiation 5 (cult leader).

Mystery Cult INFLUENCE lets you be hands off.

werewolves get defense against firearms as a basic template ability.
awoo~

You'd still lose the merit if the cult ceased to exist, m8

that space is limited is fair, but the mage GM section does propose a list of alternative rules and alternative paths aren't comprehensive to describe and would have been nice to see in that spot too. Nothing stopping me or anyone from pulling them from the Chroniclers Guide I found them in.

Werewolves are still the best splat. I want to see a Werewolf vs a Mage.