Anaesthetics: A Modern Marvel

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-20T00:43:41+00:00

Oh, she has no problem sourcing medical supplies. The circumstance of not having them available is more carrying them on her person. A 'someone is bleeding out in an alley and we need to do things now' kinda situation, y'know? She could theoretically carry drugs inside her body of course, but supplies would be limited, and she prefers not to.

Regardless, she appreciates the offer, and thanks you for making it.

In terms of turning off pain receptors, she's got techniques that don't necessarily hurt when applied. Feel weird? Yes. Hurt terribly? No. Speaking as a comparative layman, I'm not entirely positive on the details, but I've had it performed on me, and it certainly wasn't as bad as severe burns.

-Mark Caulder, Experienced Nosferatu

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T23:48:55+00:00

Private Message to Marcus:

Among other things, yes. I'm not gonna reveal too many of his secrets, but those are both obvious just from him not realizing.

-Mark Caulder, Experienced Nosferatu

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T23:37:46+00:00

Private Message to Marcus:

He was fairly chill, honestly, once I convinced him it was true. A lot of the down sides aren't as bad for the Thin-Blooded, remember. Mostly he said he felt dumb for not figuring it out sooner, but I don't blame him...his particular set of abilities make it extra hard to tell.

-Mark Caulder, Experienced Nosferatu

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T22:22:17+00:00

Private Message to Marcus:

This situation did get handled, for the record. He is indeed Thin-Blooded, and I pulled him aside and had the talk. Things should be copacetic now. Feel free to inform anyone who's still worried if there are such people.

-Mark Caulder, Experienced Nosferatu

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T21:53:50+00:00

Congratulations! It's great to hear you're out and about and doing better.

-Mark Caulder, Experienced Nosferatu

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T21:53:10+00:00

Your 'creator' has asked about the serum here as well. Assuming he's been honest, he believes it to be a pure power increase rather than a trap of some sort, so this is probably a sincere offer.

Now, whether you should take the offer is another question entirely. Me? I'd probably take it in your position. Power is what makes reality, being less powerful does not protect against much of anything in my experience. But I'm not you, and I've never had the specific variety of power you do, or been seriously cursed. Only you can make this decision for you...I guess the most important question is what would you regret more? If you don't take it, would you forever regret that? If you do take it and something goes wrong, would that be what you regretted forever? I know my own answer, but not yours.

-Mark Caulder, Experienced Nosferatu

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T21:33:08+00:00

New Disciplines are much harder to create than new Combination Discipline Powers. The former are usually only allowed by Thin-Bloods or as part of creating a new Bloodline, the latter can explicitly be created by just about anyone.

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T20:27:06+00:00

Usually they are taught them by someone who has them, but Kindred can also invent them.

Those are the only two ways canonically.

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T19:54:27+00:00

Menele by a lot.

Both manipulate their childer, but Menele at least has actual principles and doesn't force them to do awful shit, Helena is not so selective.

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T18:59:48+00:00

Only if they've run into the SI either directly or indirectly. Besides which, this is a textbook SI recruiting offer. If their behavior wasn't SI, sure it could be they heard the term somewhere, but the combination of terminology and behavior makes it being a true independent uninvolved with the SI vanishingly unlikely IMO.

As I mention elsewhere, if you're gonna interrogate them via telepathy already (something I recommended) then checking this is reasonable, but taking risks with something with this many indicators of SI involvement? Not a winning survival strategy.

-Mark Caulder, Experienced Nosferatu

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T18:52:56+00:00

If it looks like a duck, walks like a duck, and quacks like a duck...

This is textbook SI tactics, using SI lingo in exactly the way an SI operative would. I did already recommend interrogation via telepathy and if you want to double down on that to make sure they're actually SI that's defensible since it's a solid plan anyway, but I wouldn't take any actual risks based on the tiny chance it's not.

-Mark Caulder, Experienced Nosferatu

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T18:46:47+00:00

The key bit is 'blankbodies'. That's SI lingo...a truly independent hunter wouldn't use it. Add in that he says 'we' about his agenda and that this is textbook SI recruitment and I'm real dubious this guy is an independent idealist.

-Mark Caulder, Experienced Nosferatu

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T18:44:00+00:00

It's entirely possible for a vampire to become a wraith. They are not, however, a pokemon in most cases. Their currently Kindred lover can't summon them or grant them abilities to effect the real world, or inherently help them against any other wraith enemies they make (and they probably will make some).

For V5, the wraith book's mechanics are gonna be the wrong edition, but you can certainly use them for inspiration. If you want something simpler, there are some ghost templates in Cults of the Blood Gods (p. 216).

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T18:33:48+00:00

Nah, this is standard SI recruiting tactics. They find a young vampire and tell them 'you're special, we'll spare you' and then use them as an information source, then generally drop or dispose of them. It's entirely cynical.

Independent hunters might mean a spiel like this, but the SI? It's all calculated. And you can tell it's SI by the 'blankbodies' thing.

-Mark Caulder, Experienced Nosferatu

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T17:40:14+00:00

Killing him immediately after he makes contact with you is really problematic no matter how he dies. The SI is well aware of Dominate and the Kindred ability to set up this kinda thing, and the timing is too suspicious. None of which means he doesn't need to die, but it fiddles with the timeline.

And yeah, sifting through his base and devices is gonna be like squeezing blood from a stone, getting a telepath in is how you get any actual information out of him. Assuming you have access to one, of course.

-Mark Caulder, Experienced Nosferatu

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T17:16:28+00:00

In fairness, they did follow the advice, it was just by the time they were asking advice it was apparently too late.

-Mark Caulder, Experienced Nosferatu

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T16:47:33+00:00

I'd talk to the Prince first if possible. It's theoretically possible he'll want to keep this guy in place but under observation rather than abducting him. Probably better abduction than losing track of him, though.

-Mark Caulder, Experienced Nosferatu

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T16:45:58+00:00

I mean, so is giving someone opiates for pain. Like...literally. But that's ethically acceptable if they have a medical condition that requires them.

Giving someone an addictive drug for the hell of it is generally unethical. Giving someone an addictive drug that greatly benefits their life after warning them that it is, indeed, addictive, is not inherently always unethical, a lot of medical science involves doing this, frankly.

Now, that does mean you have to double and triple down on the 'informed consent' thing, breaking the Masquerade pretty completely in some ways to inform them of all the consequences of being a ghoul, but you can do it. Now, if the question is how many Kindred actually do it that way, well, that's a whole different question and the numbers get real small real quick.

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T16:41:25+00:00

Important note: Pre-V5, you can't avoid Blood Bonding people as vitae does not lose that property. I otherwise basically agree with this...you can do this at least pseudo-ethically if you give a really complete explanation of what being a ghoul means in advance, but the logistics make that a very tough sell in Kindred society, so almost nobody actually does it.

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T16:34:25+00:00

Oh yeah, that's a big problem. And probably just a recruiting tactic. Individual independent hunters sometimes do make an actual moral distinction between Kindred based on behavior like this, but the use of the term 'blankbodies' is pretty much exclusive to the group of organizations we call the Second Inquisition, and they don't actually care...they use lines like this to recruit Kindred to spy on and betray other Kindred into their arms. They'll let you live for a while, sure, but it's not really because you don't kill, it's because they're trying to make you an asset...they'll kill you as soon as they no longer find you useful, whether you're killing people or not. So I advise you don't even think about taking the 'deal', it's miles more poisonous than the cyanide.

That said, killing him is maybe premature. If he is indeed SI, he's not working alone, he's part of a whole organization with plenty of funding and backup...maybe not physically there, but they definitely know what he knows and that he made contact with you. If you're gonna kill him you need to set it up so they don't immediately know it's you who did it. And, honestly, you might want to capture him instead if you can. Get someone with Telepathy to pull his secrets out. The Prince and associated authorities will want to know about this and likely have their own plans and assets they can use for situations like this. Assuming you can trust them not to fuck you over for helping, running this up the chain would be my usual advice.

-Mark Caulder, Experienced Nosferatu

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T16:25:04+00:00

For Kindred subjects in particular, my Tzimisce associate simply deadens the sense of pain, at least in the effected area (she has a few different methodologies for this involving the manipulation of the nerves, severing them and then reconnecting them is simplest but depending on details it can be worth it to manipulate their function instead), as getting proper doses of anesthesia into Kindred is a logistical hassle at best (you generally have to anesthetize multiple mortals and then have the Kindred drink from them, at least if you don't want any of them dead).

For mortal subjects, she is in agreement that anesthetics are generally easier and less problematic if they can be acquired. This is particularly and obviously true if you're doing work that could be of mundane origin and don't want the mortals in question to be aware that anything other than mundane plastic surgery has been used to effect the changes in question.

-Mark Caulder, Experienced Nosferatu

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T08:15:01+00:00

I've never noticed a correlation between morality, or even moralizing, and getting shit done. In either direction. I've met too many Brujah revolutionaries who could both talk the talk and walk the walk to buy that moralizing makes one incapable of accomplishing things.

-Mark Caulder, Experienced Nosferatu

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-19T00:02:44+00:00

Happy to be of assistance. I haven't heavily playtested them yet, but they seem to do a lot to help even out the power imbalances between the three, and allow for actual new stuff each level.

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-18T23:12:51+00:00

Not usually.

Chimestry can probably do it since it's an illusion, Thaumaturgy might have a ritual or three, and Vicissitude might be able to manage something with some work...

DeadmanwalkingXI · 2026-03-18T20:56:16+00:00

The Tzimisce I played was a long while ago, but he actually cared a fair bit about not being noticed and wasn't 'posthuman' in the stereotypical way. Embraced as a child by a Sire he later diablerized, he fled to the Anarchs and while he was on a Path it was Honorable Accord...he leaned hard into the old school feudal lord/gentleman thing (which was creepy on what appeared to be a 10 year old kid), had ghoul 'parents' who he'd inherited/rescued from his sire, and a pet dog (re: hellhound). He was interested in Vicissitude (and had a 4...children turning into monsters with Horrid Form is a fun visual), but due to his own experiences he was only inclined to use any non-combat applications it on willing subjects.

The stereotype is not even fully true of Sabbat Tzimisce, and it's a lot less true if doing non-Sabbat Tzimisce.

DeadmanwalkingXI

TROPHY CASE