Have you ever had a really strong character right under your players noses?

i remember there being a small group of dedicated christian vampires in the background, who were understandably unhappy about what happened

He's a kindly homeless man the party hangs out with. He once had epic levels in every character class, but in his current senile state he's just a commoner.

Aren't some old-ass Lasombra actually deeply religious, since the clan vied for power through church as opposed to Ventrue doing that through state?
Granted, since they are vampires, and Lasombra at that, it is a very different outlook and practicing of Christianity, but religiousness regardless.

I don't think I've ever had the actual BBEG be who the players thought it was, s/he is always right under their nose.

Lilith, first wife of Adam, is the royal imperial court chronicler. They just assume she is a vampire like the rest of the aristocracy.

Yes.

Imperial china vtm

Not going to lie, that sounds pretty rad

>He once had epic levels in every character class,
Impressively dumb.

There was this kind man who had quite a station in the kings court even though he didn't seem to do anything important. He did give some epic quests where in some forgotten places the party could find powerful gear that belonged to the great heroes of a previous age.

Turned out he was the leader of the last great party and he got blasted by a spell that slowly ate his memories in return for staying the same age. The clues he gave of each quest was the little he remembered of where his buddies died or left behind gear. In the final confrontation he came along and asked to be healed from the spell turning him into a mage/fighter killing machine that helped the party break through the main host of demons. By the time the party got to the throneroom of the big bad he already aged to elderly man.

Well, not exactly epic levels in every class, but he was an impressive and unimpressive inexplicit many things at various times long ago enough in the past and far away enough to not be too terribly relevant to the current plot unless the players want it to be. Even then, yeah it's still pretty dumb, but that's what my players will put up with for sticking me as the DM.

I haven't, but my GM was going to have an NPC turn out to be a heretic sorceress in disguise with a psychic illusion. She was supposed to be a late-campaign reveal that we'd played into her plan all while she'd help us, since we'd share most goals. She'd get a McGuffin, and we'd get rid of a warlord. Any proper psyker could probably spot her a mile away, but we were a bunch of Guardsmen stranded without much support at all half a galaxy away from our home Hive.

It was a weird experience when I saw him present this Mordian officer, pause, look at me, look at his notes, look at me, facepalm, sigh deeply. You see, for a gag he'd given my character Psyniscience way back in the campaign as a fluff thing, and as long as you CAN see through the illusion, you must ATTEMPT to.

So he asked me to roll, I succeeded, and in one roll we derailed about five sessions because Kruger apparently went insane and kept saying the new commander was a mutant heretic witch.

Still fun though.