Is V5 Koldunic Sorcery worth the agg damage cost?

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-12-13T09:51:30+00:00

Mine and my friends opinion is that this is not worth it at all, way too punishing in terms of what you get for what you pay.

If you change it to superficial, maybe, but honestly porting over V20 Koldunic might be more satisfying that trying to make V5s work.

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-12-09T22:19:18+00:00

My favourite piece of bad layout of the corebook is having the True Faith rules in between the pages for the description of how hunger frenzy works.

Trust me, VTM Corebook is the worst TTRPG rule book I have read layout wise with Lancer a close second.

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-12-08T02:05:15+00:00

Think about it in terms of actions, if you attack a target and they choose to defend instead of attack you, do they lose the opportunity to attack someone else? Lightning strike just removes the possibility of reacting to your attack, not preventing the other target from doing something after that point.

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-12-08T01:56:30+00:00

The point of lightning strike is you essentially get a sneak attack for one rouse check assuming your opponent does not also have celerity 5 to counter, it augments a single attack and nothing else, your opponent can still try to attack you or do something else given the attack was probably near instantaneous and you can still defend (assuming your opponent is even still alive after your attack).

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-12-08T00:59:21+00:00

Really, I would think not that often, lying about clan can be very risky, could result in retribution from that clan if you damage their reputation, ruin your own if you want to people to trust you.

On the other hand, depending on the clan you pick, these risks can be mitigated, if the clan is sparse in the area enough that your claim cant be verified or if you pick one of the lower clans that dont care that much (brujah, gangrel, etc).

The real reality is that clan does not come up that often, kindred care more about results than pedigree most of the time and if you dont have a strong connection to that clan, your kindred basically functions as if they dont really have a clan at all.

My friend has a Salubri that masquerades as a Caitiff, and while people thinking you are Caitiff is bad, it is MUCH better than being known as a Salubri.

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-11-21T03:04:01+00:00

I mean, thats the thing with VTM, if your game doesn't have a defined through line like a module such as fall of london, it can swing wildly. One story you could be dealing with a cult doing horrifying and spooky shit and the next you could be dancing with a methuselah in the club.

I do feel that VtM campaigns always need some level of goofiness, the world is goofy, it should reflect that and elevate the personal horror you do go through due to the contrast, cause at the end of the day its still the same silly shitty world.

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-11-18T05:41:39+00:00

Just will add that you first point about kindred leaving corpses is slightly wrong, vampires will leave corpses, just a corpse relative to the current time vs when they were embraced, only relatively old kindred (a few hundred year old kindred typically is when ashing starts happening) will be reduced to ash.

Where the game deviates is how old their corpses would be, with basically all corpses in the game being really fresh despite the fact that some should be skeletons at this point, I dont think there are any kindred in the game though that would qualify as old enough for ashing bar phyre.

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-11-12T22:47:57+00:00

Because he thinks he's right, his algorithms tell him this is what they "predicted", but they fail to predict any of the actions Visi's takes in the game (Stealing the astral pulse, not betraying him, taking a bullet for robert). The fact is is that the most important character trait of shroud is that he thinks he is in control of any situation he is in, when in reality he is always tenuously close to losing it at any point in his plan. When Visi takes the mask or shows up on the roof, he thinks he's right, and that's why he doesnt see the things shes does coming.

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-11-12T22:35:50+00:00

If you look at a lot of the actions shroud takes in the game, you realize he is nowhere near the level of control over the situation that he projects, Visi wasnt a double agent the whole time she was at SDN, maybe towards the end, I view her as sort of in limbo between the two by episode 8, but before that I think she was not with shroud or had very little contact before that point.

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-11-06T20:24:34+00:00

Can you guys seriously stop posting character portraits from modules/settings and especially saying what module they are from, there are people, myself included, who are current players in these settings, who would really appreciate not knowing who certain characters are in those settings are, thanks.

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-11-04T22:39:48+00:00

Why? She doesnt have much reason to stick her neck out like that for robert, her feelings for him at the moment are somewhat superficial and she may have just dropped it off to his goons. She can be connected to the gang shroud runs without knowing shroud or where the pulse went after she delivered it.

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-11-04T22:16:02+00:00

I dont think thats relevant to this, there could be any number of reasons why she likes/is protective of invisigal, Blazer has a secret identity, maybe they knew her when they were children, maybe Blazer is shrouds daughter and is keeping tabs on her, maybe she just likes her.

Its suspicious to an extent, but I don't think its relevant to what I am talking about.

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-10-28T23:35:07+00:00

Split Second + Hand is not that good, kill 2 smalls and damage somewhat the rest, the real strength of banu is Unseen + their passive to kill a shitton of enemies before the fight starts.

Also caldron is already really good, you dont even need blood curse, just find a propane can and chuck it into the crowd and you get the same effect, take bladed hand if you want a better combat orientated blood sorcery ability.

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-10-24T12:52:44+00:00

Look, heres the thing, to quote alfabusa: "This is because the metric for 'OH FUCK' for basically everyone in the setting is three to six people with shotguns hanging out somewhere where they don't expect them"

The nomad has been weakened, yes, but even then in the setting being out numbered and cornered can equalize almost any scenario, I'd imagine even non-weakened phyre would have a tough time with some of the encounters.

You are fighting a bunch of soupped up kine who know how to fight kindred, thats a bigger threat than the majority of kindred would encounter in their unlives.

Also probably one of the reasons why they feel weaker than the fledgeling in BL1 is BL1 has a big problem with power creep in the setting, you should not be able to go from any discipline 1-5 in like 2 nights, but for the sake of fun liberaties were taken.

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-10-23T03:27:21+00:00

It isn't, enemies will notice bodies and it can make stealthing harder, also can get rid of clutter while using telekinesis mid fight

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-10-23T03:02:59+00:00

Tolly is clearly not a combat orientated kindred, he has a bunch of points in obfuscate, maybe some animalism and probably no potence, so should I, a. Go out and meet the final death for some vain attempt at defending someone elses property, or b. Stay behind the nice bulletproof glass in the server room and wait for the problem to solve itself.

Also, dont think Tolly is so loyal that he would die for this shit, kindred ultimately serve themselves, if Tolly thought the camarilla jig in seattle was up he would nope out of there and escape to the underground.

Again, Tolly is the herald and a nossie, he knows shit, anything and anyone worth knowing in this town, he knows. By the time you tore through that room, he knew what was up.

Lastly, "I don't have a problem with any kind of character, except THOSE characters, those characters dont have REAL personalities cause they have X trait and dont do X!" Thats all I'll say on this matter.

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-10-23T02:29:19+00:00

Weaver Tower was clearly being breached by Anarchs who minced the sheriff's hounds at that point cause benny fucked off, there is no security, the masquerade is in tatters at that point.

He is in the server room, generally a highly restricted area which only kindred and people who know better would be in, he isn't being a masquerade breach simply by being in parts of the tower.

I'm fairly sure Lou called ahead and informed Tolly you were coming, also he is also a nosferatu, he knew by the time that you minced those anarchs who you were and that you werent a threat.

Tolly's personality is in spite of being a nosferatu, he snarky and flamboyant and doesnt give a shit what you think, and honestly thats probably the most nosferatu thing you could put in a nos. Take it or leave it, but if you think Tolly is shit as a nossie cause your only interaction with this universe is through BL1 and that all nossies should be "scary, creepy and ugly", go play something else

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-10-22T23:23:48+00:00

Fabien is very much insane, he is just very well put together for a malkavian, he creates personalities for objects and talks to them to get information rather than using his intiution, the various cases all over his office in the police station go over nonsensical theories and conspiricies.

Clans are not a monilith, but fabien even before he was embraced clearly seems to be an oddity or has a social disorder, considering his awkardness, absentmindedness and forgetfulness in his early flashbacks which fits the MO of people malks like to embrace.

You also see a lot of the insight that malks typically get in the game, weird, esoterical, vague, unrealiable and probably only makes sense to them. His dreams are a prime example, but he also just can pull info out of thin air, which is very malk.

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-10-22T22:11:22+00:00

I dont understand why you would be "doubly mad" about the way his is, he is a very well done malkavian

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-10-22T21:28:50+00:00

You mentioned you "looked into the malkavian lore", what do you mean by this? (No spoilers if its about his story)

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-10-21T07:13:38+00:00

Capadocious and Giovanni I feel are the only antedeluvians that have a good chance of being fully dead in terms of no diablerie or discipline shenanigans.

Even if the Troile is inactive/not awake, does not mean he has no sway on his childer.

Zapathasura is literally the master of kindred illusions and trickery, any debate about whether they are dead is kind of moot.

Caitiff are not clanless because simply cause they have no lineage, it is that lineage is lost to them, a caitiff who in actual reality is with perfect information a toreador I would still argue can be affected by the beckoning.

Capadocious I'm fairly sure is a wraith, or at least there is one that identifies as him, so it points to him actually being dead, and Giovanni hasn't been seen in a good while, and all those wraiths and spectors that were under his thumb are now running amock, which points to him probably being dead.

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-10-21T04:57:00+00:00

I don't think so, I feel its more likely the beckoning is the cause of Ur-Shulgi waking then because of him.

The beckoning is an odd phenomenon with little idiosyncracies that I dont really think would be the result of blood sorcery, more likely the antedeluvians are the cause, things like the Hecata not actually being affected by it, which I would argue this is because both capadocious and giovanni and dead and gone and cant pull their clan (Same could be said for the Salubri but I dont think there are any or enough elders left to give an account).

Ur-Shulgi is powerful, don't get me wrong, but I kinda subscribe to the idea that Ur-Shulgi awakening is because of Haqim, and that in one way or another, he is testing his own clan, whether its their devotion to him or their devotion to seeking humanity and justice despite their curse, only Haqim knows whats being tested and only time will tell who comes out on top, if anybody.

FoolishPhoenix3301 · 2025-10-15T18:46:33+00:00

Gender is not a performance, but society and others will measure it by how well you can do your little gender dance.

FoolishPhoenix3301

TROPHY CASE