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

Delete this comment before a magefag sees it.

Please, for the love of god.

>but just look at all the many Conan stories of just that.

Conan is not World of Darkness.

The settings are nothing alike. Its magic users are nothing alike. If you're not going to bother playing mages to their true potential, but you want to bring them in your game anyway, why the fuck are you playing WoD to begin with?

I say this as someone who's primarily a vampirefag, but also know my way around some of the other splats, including mage, which is just plain OP compared to the others.

want them in your non-mage game*

Low level mages aren't all that great in violence.

High level mages are going to steamroll anything standing in their path.

I still think he should just use Tremere or Tzimisce sorcerer if he wants to use that kind of opponent.

Also lupines are manageable for vamps(not saying they go down easy but it more depends on woofs and vamps in question). Mages are league of their own

I was more referring to the fact that Conan frequently faces sorcerers of such caliber that confronting them is a nigh-impossibility.

In case you missed it, what works in one setting wouldn't work in the other. Not to mention, Conan is the protagonist of the stories, of course he's going to win.

Doesn't it take a while for a mage to get a spell off though? I thought they were all about ritual and not fast casting.

You can use them as an antagonist in the sense that whatever they are at odds with the PCs about it doesn't require killing them. Like say they are using the PCs.

The only way to reliably kill a True Mage is to get the drop on him, preferably before he knows anything about you, preferably before he's even aware you exist. In those cases, they splatter like any mortal.

But if the magus has any clue that the PCs might turn against him, he's probably already created contingencies against them. He might even have hanging sorceries to alert him when their fucking mood changes towards the murderous in his direction.

Imagine if you had the power to control luck, all energies, manipulate matter or shapechange people, or bits of all of these. Any by that, I mean anything to do with these aspects of reality. And you could even potentially do it from miles away.

Oh you're a vampire? I just scryed you and found out where you sleep during the day. Now I'm gonna cast a ritual and make your house fall down exposing you to the sun. Or I'll use a spirit to go tell a pack of Garou where you live. Or I'll just make your whole room explode in fire while I'm five miles away sipping a martini.

So yeah, if a mage is going to be an antagonist, its better if he has a reason to not kill the PCs.

No, they can fast cast if they have to, it just has repercussions on them. It causes reality to smack them back a little. But if it means saving their skin they're fully willing to do it.

Plus aren't more experienced mages able to fast cast more powerful spells with less backlash anyway?

I agree, Tremere and Koldun are definitely the better angle to go (because crossing the games is never all that good an idea).

You are also very right about lupines, they're manageable but I was just saying Vamps in general avoid them because holy fuck werewolves are death machines that come in packs of 5+

>The only way to reliably kill a True Mage is to get the drop on him
>In those cases, they splatter like any mortal.
>he's probably already created contingencies against them

Competent mages are going to have contingencies up and running in-general. Getting the drop on them is far easier said than done.

Basically if they have to fast cast and if it has to be vulgar (against the physical laws of reality or what most being could chalk up to coincidence) then all mages take a minimum amount of Paradox for the spell. Older, more experienced mages are just better at it, so the spell will more reliably go off. But any mage can lower the difficulty of a roll by spending Quintessence, plus spend a Willpower point, pretty much assuring that whatever spell they need to go off, will.

Yeah, this is true too, but I didn't feel like going into it. Basically getting the drop on them is their only weakness, but even beginner mages can hang spells that allow them to have preternatural danger-sense (Entropy) or detect malicious thoughts (Mind).

To the vampfags in the thread, have any of you played a character who was Blood Bonded?

I'm going to be playing a Gargoyle soon who is very much like pic related and I'm planning on being blood bound to the Tremere Regenta and I wanted to know some tips to rp-ing it.

>contingencies
Wards are extremely overpowered. Effectively hung spells around yourself (or places) at all times, ready to blow. No Time or Prime needed.

Also blood magic is ritualistc and is probably closer to what OP was looking at.

I'm cofdfag so don't know that much about owod but I had my players go against Lancea Sanctum once
>It's morning already. Let us run out into the streets and then move from cover to cover. Sun won't fuck us up as bad as him if he wants to chase.
>Bishop emerges from his haven and flings cross he was wearing into the sky. Stormclouds cover the sky and bloat out the sun while he whips out blood scourge.
>Coincidentally rumble of thunder sounds something like "Who wants the daddys belt?"

You guys are causing me to worry about a relevant crossover game coming up on Tuesday.

Two vampires (daeva nosferatu) one werewolf and one mage, either acanthus or moros.

Should I be worried?

Omg run. But seriously it depands on players and ST. You guys are doing any adjusting or what not?

Yes. Any game with a werewolf can quickly degrade into erp

>Should I be worried?

If that player picks Acanthus, all hope is lost.

No adjusting. Rules as written. I'm the ugly vampire. Could a moros un-ugly me?

Yes. Sounds like a clusterfuck.
Especially with an Acanthus who knows what he's doing.

>Rules as written

Prepare to get fucked up the ass.

Not really. From what I hear changing rules of the clan curse requires adept at least and it probably won't stick.Thou this is a question for someone more versed in mage

Also remember that you don't have to be ugly when you are nosferatu. You can for example give off aura of fear that will make everyone think you want to stab them in the eye with a fork.

I don't know about CofD but in OWoD there are a few things that mages can't do. Things like pull the moon down, or make the sun explode, or reverse gravity over the entire earth. Basically things that are so cemented in reality that the collective belief of all Sleepers make it basically impossible.

Aside from these, the other things they can't do: Remove a Malkavian's madness, erase a Nosferatu's ugliness, cure vampirism. Basically these are God-level curses that they can't break.

>there are a few things that mages can't do
>Basically these are God-level curses that they can't break.

wrong

You can't remove template flaws short of arch mastery but you can suppress it's effects with magic.

For example you can't cure a Vampire from the effects of sunlight. But you can cast a Forces 2 spell that shields them from sunlight for the duration.

>Basically these are God-level curses that they can't break.
If we're talking OWoD then it only requires Prime 6 to mess with divine whatnot. It's Archmastery, but still doable.

>Acanthus

That I'm aware of but how would you downplay effects of a curse that twists others perception of the nosferatu. Mind for both physical deformity and for spooky feeling he causes?

>Archmastery

Mind is all you need. Or Prime, to see the truth of how not-scary he/she really is.

Unless the vampire is just THAT butt ugly.

Prime is really handy with truth.

Well there is a bloodline of nosferatu that looks like 250kg motherfuckers that got drowned and allowed to swell

There is also elder in Prague that turned into giant lizard for some reason

Mind would work for preventing the feeling of unease and to make people hallucinate a different appearance, Death could sculpt his features, Prime could force people to see his 'true' appearance, Forces can create a hologram masking his appearance, Life can make people see whatever you want or hide the vampire from the living, Time can summon their mortal form into the present, etc.

>Forces can create a hologram masking his appearance,

I always thought for some reason Prime would be the thing to make illusions but I know fuckall about mage

depends on system version.

in nwod 1e prime could cast illusions, 2e its forces sorta, though prime can make physical mana "illusions"

Prime is the Sphere that messes with the fundamental essence of the universe. The stuff that is basically Gnosis, or the power inside vampire Vitae. It's Quintessence.

You basically have to have Prime to make anything from nothing, rather than drawing it from a source. So for example creating fire with Force 3 Prime 2, or making a chair with Matter 3 Prime 2, or making a fully-fledged human being with a soul and working consciousness: Life 4, Mind 4, Spirit 4, Prime (2 I think?)

I'm kind of surprised you could create souls in Ascension.

Prime is also what allows Mages to make things do aggravated damage, because it breaks things down at the fundamental level. The Technocracy has a metal alloy they call Primium that does Agg to werewolves and vampires.

So Prime is sort of fundamental to spellcasting in mage?

We blood bonded each other with a Gangrel in a game. I don't know if it really counts, it was a pretty different situation.

You no longer need Prime to conjure anything as of 2e.

The metaphysics behind both the Spheres and the Arcana are quite different in some areas.

Dunno about New WoD, but why doesn't the werewolf kill the vampires on sight?

In Ascension, yes.

Only in Ascension. Mages tended to be more well-rounded back then.

Awakening is a more specialized system. It makes you feel unique.

because thats not a thing in nwod..

WW have no automatic (and retarded
) "kill on sight" response to vampires..

Only if you're making stuff Ex Nihilo. You can still easily manipulate any existent thing if you have the relevant Spheres.

>implying Paradigm doesn't make you unique
But I do get where you're coming from.

Most competent mages had proficiency in most of the Spheres, while in Awakening it's rather more selective with the Arcana.

So what's scarier in awakening a mage with a few arcana at high level or a mage with many arcana at mid level.

Depands but from what I hear it is better to master one or two and have your cabal mates cover the rest

Higher level as in Mastery? Masters don't fuck around.

I'd generally be more afraid of the Mage with a few at a higher level than some schmuck who discounts the potency of the more advanced practices over a larger number at a lower level.

That being said, it would also depend on what those are.
Space 2 is a game changer.

Is having sex with a vampire a bad idea?

Daeva
>only once
Ventrue
>probably shouldn't
Nosferatu
>basically rape
Gangrel
>too late, you're dead
Mekhet
>tee hee

>Ventrue
>>probably shouldn't
What do you mean?
youtube.com/watch?v=lT3BbmGf9Ag

Ventrue sex is just using dominate to make you think you had the best sex in your life.

If you have sex with a Daeva more than once it effectively becomes a yandere.

Yandere vampires not being something you want.

>yandere vampires
>tsundere mages
When does it end?

vampires can't get boners

Vampires are bottoms

Werewolves are bottoms

Delete this before the werefags show up

NEVER

>best antagonist
Definitely a Tzimisce I built.
I didn't like the whole "mwahaha I'm an evil flesh monster" idea, I had some lesser Tzimisce do that, the younger ones, and even a few ones older than this one who just couldn't keep up with him.
Basically I hinted at his existence by having a harpy inform the coterie that there had been sightings of Sabbat in the city, they were told if they found anything out that were duty bound to inform the Prince.
Of course they find something out, a ghoul was trying to buy blood, no one knew who owned this ghoul, this made the vampire behind the local blood trade nervous, pulled some strings in the background and the coterie was told that a ghoul no one knew had been harassing the blood bank.
Being good little neonates and knowing a plot hook when it was dangled in front of them, the coterie decided to investigate.
Upon a group of actual vampires confronting the ghoul up and surrendered, informing them he was unarmed and not stupid, his master wouldn't punish him for not sacrificing his life.
This confused the coterie a little but they took the ghoul to the Prince, but first they tried to get information about his master out of him, I have his dialogue on his Lord, I prewrote it, and it just made the party nervous.
"Oh my Lord is a merciful one, but he's not stupid. I'm not blessed with the way his citadel moves or it's routes, I am simply pulled when needed."
After threats and intimidation didn't work, the Toreador attempted seduction, because of course he did.
"My Lord is much more beautiful than you, though you are attractive, and I don't really swing that way, sorry."
The coterie now believed they were dealing with some kind of Toreador Antitribu for some reason.
Anyway, they took the ghoul to the Prince. After hearing the ghouls spiel about his master, including a new line about how he served a being greater than the false gods the Prince unknowingly served, the Prince gestured to his sheriff, who crushed the ghoul's skull.

user please
First knotposters show up, then tsundere mages follow and then erp happens

DEAL WITH THE CONSEQUENCES OF MY ACTIONS

>In Vampire: The Requiem Second Edition, the Daeva instead are at a greater risk to suffer from blood addiction. Every time a Daeva drinks from a mortal vessel more than once, they have to roll their Humanity in order to avoid dependency, otherwise, their addiction will last until the mortal is dead.

That's just... so utterly stupid. I mean, I get that it fits well with the theme of what a Daeva vampire is, but it's still stupid. I guess all Daeva head off to big cities to avoid feeding on one particular human more than once.

But it's so easy to get a Daeva under your sway. How is it so utterly stupid?

At this point the coterie was confused and a rather standard, hunt down the Sabbat HQ while dealing with mooks and political intrigue had begun.
By the end the coterie was noticing a few things, namely that damn near every ghoul in the Sabbat belonged to this "Lord" and they were all religiously fanatic, and any vampires they ran into would rather die than admit defeat, as if they were personally insulted that they should fail.
Of course the second point was confusing as most vampires do not want to die, then the coterie met him.
I'd named the Tzimisce Joshua because the religious symbolism was ironic and funny to me and WoD loves it so I might as well use it too.
Joshua was physically perfect, highest possible appearance stat, physically not too strong, mentally not all there. He was shirtless because a shirt wouldn't fit over the bones protruding from his back, though silk was draped off them, there was also a silk skirt connected to a ring of bone protruding from the front of his right hip that looped around to connect to a second ring at the back of the right of his hip.
Before they met Joshua, they'd heard his name and learned how he became Archbishop, he'd called the previous Archbishop a cruel and false prophet and held him in the sunlight until he died, by hand.
Joshua knew some sorcery for that one.
When the coterie finally entered his citadel, a flesh palace that moved under the city, burrowing carefully and leaving packed dirt behind it, like a worm you could live in, Joshua did not greet the coterie with threats for invading his sanctum or vitriol for killing his minions, he seemed genuinely hurt that they'd killed his friends though, asking them why.
As I hoped this took them by surprise, but they recovered and called him an evil monster.
Joshua simply inspected himself and asked who said he was a monster, pointing out they were the ones murdering his friends and family, they'd invaded his sanctum, and they had even hurt his home.

I did some cool stuff with the citadel too but I just really liked how thrown away the coterie actually was, they were just like, "Well shit, what did the Sabbat actually do this game?" and realised that they'd just been fighting the Sabbat purely because they thought they were supposed to.
At this point Joshua offered to let them join him, he'd forgive them for the death of his friends and family, all they had to do was repent, genuinely apologise, and help him kill the Antediluvians.
One member of the coterie refused, the rest followed suit. They managed to almost destroy him before he killed them, so they did pretty well considering they were fighting a powerful Tzimisce who was basically 4th Gen through diablerie.

The fact that vampires can be blood bonded to humans. Granted, only a certain kind of vampire, but still.

Anyway, what happens a Domitor is diablerized? Does the blood bond break or just transfer to the vampire who diablerized him?

>The fact that vampires can be blood bonded to humans.

This isn't the same as normal blood bond. It just means human will end up dead

>It just means human will end up dead

What?

I know it's true, but fuck off anyway

They will drink the mortal to death

Where the fuck did you get that from?

How do you think this works?

Vampires don't generally want a walking weakness like that walking around, they're addicted to the blood, drinking the mortal to death is the best fix.

I figured it was a rather obvious conclusion

Here's what 2e has to say on the subject:

>You taste the romance in all things, but none so much as blood. Mortals are not just food. They are your obsession, and that fixation grows with every sip. Drink more than once, from any mortal, and you risk becoming emotionally dependent on your prey.

>Have you ever felt complete and utter tension
when simply thinking about someone? Have you ever made a
stupid excuse to run off and touch yourself to get rid of that
tension? Have you ever blushed when someone’s name came up,
then lashed out when someone accused you of having feelings
for them? This is what the second stage of the bond feels like.
It’s easy to confuse for love. It’s a strong, pervasive affection that
makes you vulnerable, and keeps you persistently wanting more.

Problemy is the guy that wants more from you is super strong monster and you are just a wimpy mortal. This is like Looney Toons Elmyra

While I'm not denying that it's a possibility that the Daeva clan weakness can and probably has ended up killing humans, I don't really think it's as widespread as some people here imagine it is.

If you're obsessed with someone, in such a way to be emotionally dependent on them, you're not going to get rid of them in a permanent way.

Could they probably lock you up, keep you under lock and key forever and ever? Sure. Outright drink you dry? Highly unlikely.

>If you're obsessed with someone, in such a way to be emotionally dependent on them, you're not going to get rid of them in a permanent way.
>what is yandere

Also pretty sure the curse specifies that the condition persists until the object of obsession is kill, and given the nature of the Beast I would say that most Daeva obsessions come to a violent and bloody (and then bloodless) end.

>what is yandere

Anime shit.

>Also pretty sure the curse specifies that the condition persists until the object of obsession is kill

Nope, just until they're dead. Not killed by the Daeva. Just plain old dead. Could be an accident, could be killed by someone else, but nowhere does it say that the Daeva will murder the one with whom they have the emotional dependency bond.

The name is anime shit, but it's not an uncommon concept in other media. Ever heard of Fatal Attraction? That hit movie where a woman becomes dangerously obsessed with a man after a one night stand to the point where she tries to kill him?

To say something "is "kill" is just a meme alternative to saying "dead".

So i heard that awakening is gnostic game about living in the jail that is "human existence" and taking another identity and trying to escape by ascending.

But aside from the shadowname mechanic and mechanics for archmages are any other that enforce that theme or its all setting?