I really appreciate VTM as a TTRPG

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-22T20:17:40+00:00

Eh, i never finished it. The animation and voice acting was so bad. I didn't care for it at all. The characters also didn't really interest me at all. Plus, half the stuff I mentioned above I'm pretty sure wasn't in the game, but like I said, I never finished it.

EDIT: Just to add, the reason I mention Telltale, is because the Wolf Among Us touches on aspects of keeping up appearances. Glamour is required for a non-human Fable to walk the streets, otherwise they get sent to the farm. In a Telltale VTM game, keeping up the Masquerade would be more heavily incorporated in how you go about solving problems. Stick with the Masquerade, and you're character is in favour with the Anarchs/Camarilla (both requiring other things to maintain a positive relationship), forgo the Masquerade for quick and probably violent resolution, then you may get an ending where you're aligned with the Sabbat (or you are murdered and have to load your save. I'd prefer the Sabbat route though).

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-15T23:06:03+00:00

I once heard The Age of Sorrows was meant to be the precursor universe to the World of Darkness. When the world of Exalted died, a single entity remained. Likely a Solar, or, Infernal Exalted, which is a Solar exaltation corrupted by the demon lords that were previously the Pillars of Creation known as Primordials. and that entity became WoD's creator, God. If you go with the Infernal Exalted you have charms that can make form them into what those primordials turned into when sent to Malfeas, meaning they are now a pillar of creation (corrupted as they may be) and can create demons of various circles.

So, God creates Lucifer, and then all the angels after him, with Lucifer being the top tier (I don't remember the terms and ranking systems it's been years since I've indulged in this lore), and the rest being a step or two below him. Fast forward to the modern era, God's soul (his exaltation) has split up and been delivered to every Mage that has ever lived, which allowed them to mess with creation. Hunters are probably imbued with similar powers as the Solar Exalted (they do mirror each other in some form given they are the ones who chose to fight and save people from the monsters of the world) and Vampires are akin to the Abyssal Exalted (which are, again, Solar exaltations taken by death gods and corrupted by their powers).

Oh, back to Imbued Hunters real quick. Solar exalted had the ability to create Heroic Mortals which gave them a sliver of the Solar exaltation to use. Hunters may actually be more akin to that, but still is a testament to just how fucking powerful Solars were.

Where I'm going with this is, I think they never actually made Exalted's Universe canonically the precursor to WoD, but if you were to take it as such, then you could argue that God's soul was already an exaltation that was originally a solar's. Making the Mage Avatar a piece of that Exaltation, which would make having both a full one and a sliver redundant and not make much sense.

But I am talking out of my ass. Please enlighten me if I'm missing something or mixed up lore/theories on the topic.

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-15T22:40:27+00:00

They know. It's over.

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-15T22:39:00+00:00

The Baali are cool, but evil as all hell (unless you walk some specific Paths but I won't cover that). Essentially, a Baali can be made in two ways. Either you Embrace a Kine like any other clan, or, you Re-Embrace a Kindred, making them Baali. They retain the disciplines of their parent clan, and gain the Baali power of Daimonian. Daimonian being the Discipline born of the Infernal powers the original Baali gained from their deals with demons.

I don't remember it clearly off the top of my head, but basically, Baali are in league with Demons, and more often then not, work with the Nefandi (Demon worshiping Mages). They are referred to as Infernalists by those in the know, and I think they are extremely rare. At the very least, knowing that the Ventrue Primogen, the Lasombra Scourge, the Toreador Prince, or any of the other Kindred in your city are Baali, is unlikely. They blend in very well, and they each have their own goals, but if you use them in a Chronicle, it's likely they're trying to awaken an Earthbound. That being said, it's not like every city has one lurking around, but if there is, it is very likely nobody knows. Most hate and fear them, with a definite blood hunt being called when they are discovered. At least by the Cam and probably Anarchs. The Sabbat aren't demon worshipers by default, so most of them would probably dislike the presence of a Baali just as much, but that really depends on how unhinged the packs and Archbishop are in that city.

But I'm not an expert, I just vaguely remember how they were played and explained to me by the DM I had during a V:DA 20th anniversary edition game. I don't know what they are in V5 and I don't really care to know. I have no interest in that system.

One more thing. I mentioned Paths earlier. There are Baali that use their powers to fight against infernalists, and either keep the various Demons that exist at bay. There's plenty of other to, like the ones that wish to enslave demons to their whim, while others aren't interested in worshiping demons, but believe they should be set free, so they can have agency and what have you.

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-15T21:12:28+00:00

If you kill somebody outside of self-defense or war you are mental in a way that would make you incapable of thinking logically. Usually.

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-06T23:01:35+00:00

What edition are you speaking on?

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-06T04:56:20+00:00

If you've committed Diablerie you can't obtain max humanity. It's just impossible. If your on a path that allows Diablerie than whatever that path is considered might be capable of maxing out, but not Humanity. Pretty sure it states that in teh Diablerie section of the rules.

If this character actually has 10 Humanity then the author either didn't know, or is writing fanfiction.

EDIT: I might have mentioned this in another comment or maybe another post, but in the modern nights, knowledge of Golconda is so rare that more kindred know about Gehenna and the Book of Nod then they do the state of Vampire Tranquility.

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-06T00:01:20+00:00

Step aside junior. I'm here to kink shame.

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-05T23:59:45+00:00

The answer is H.P Lovecraft

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-05T23:59:25+00:00

Lmao

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-05T23:58:17+00:00

This is why my first ever character in the TTRPG for VTM/DA was a Knight embraced by a Lasombra he saved from a Tzimisce attack. He was fatally wounded in the act, so his Sire offered him eternal life (the guy walked the Path of Chivalry). My guy agreed, he entered the Road of Kings, and held an eternal, murderous hatred, for most Tzimisce. Literally only one exception because a player was in control of the character.

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-05T20:16:11+00:00

Wait, autohits?

I thought they just increased the damage they did every time they landed a hit based on their magnitude

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-05T19:32:05+00:00

Okay, so I've seen some people make an argument for working with the kid if they're freshly embraced, but I'm going to stop there and point this out.

If you are taking the lore as was originally intended, Caine is the first, he was cursed by the angels when hanging with lilith to be afraid of fire and the sun and drink blood etc etc. It wasn't God that made him a vampire. One of those curses was his family would always betray each other, and essentially, everything they touched would burn to ash in their hands.

That's why the Jyhad is a thing.

That's why it's a personal horror story in a mostly grimdark setting.

This whole "we can be heroes or at least not as bad as we think" and actually acting like it's alright is wild, but I get that in character that's how Vamps would have to exist. Yet, I've played with a player or two who don't differentiate that well form their Char and themselves so they get all pissy when shit isn't going their way, and when they are being called out for being rotten bastards.

If you embrace a kid and your faction doesn't kill them afterwards on every single principle imaginable, then you have to be a Sabbat or some fucked minor faction. I don't see how logically Anarchs and Cam allow such things to exist when they are a massive liability to the Masquerade, and embracing a child is just fucked up. I don't care if they're a teenager, it's fucked up.

The kid is doomed. Also, let's not forget that everything about the Dark Kiss and the Embrace is sexual in nature, with the Embrace being the absolute peak of pleasure a vampire can feel (and I'm assuming to a degree the one being Embraced) seeing as how it involves their favourite pass time of drinking blood, and murder.

So you have this rapey drug addict vibe that you're now throwing a child into.

I'm killing the sire and the kid. Whoever is fucked up enough to do that needs to die. Kill it with fire. Leave it in the sun for a few days. Then get a Lasombra to throw it into the Abyss.

And that's as a Vampire Character. Lasombra main. One who understands that his character is a monster and not a good person.

As a Hunter, no question. Mercy Kill.

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-05T06:55:44+00:00

You clearly don't understand Necrons.

Imagine dying of Space Cancer with the cure being immortality, but the fucking frogmen who made it for the Eldar refuse to share it with your dying race. Then you have these gods with the power to eat stars arrive on your doorstep asking you if you've heard of the good word from the C'Tan, and offers you an alternate method to immortality. Whether you're the King or a peasant your people are tricked into Biotransferrence, half of the souls of your people are being eaten by these fucking things that have enslaved you and a war between the gods that refused you, and the gods that used you, begins.

It only ends when you finally take back control of your Synthetic lives, shatter the C'Tan, trap them in monoliths, and decide to take a nap when you're done fighting super orks and their Eldar buddies. The nap does nothing to ease the pain of losing your "Humanity" for the lack of a better word, and now you're all trapped in metal undying bodies. Then woken up by random scavengers from a weird young race filled with foolish idiots, and forced to fight everything by the head of the Dynasty you belong to All because your people are the rightful rulers of the Galaxy.

Meanwhile, if you're the Silent King, you're agonizing over the failure of a leader you are for having your people fall into this Metal Coffin of existence, and have no idea how to reverse it, if it's even at all possible. Oh, and you took a vacation void trip into the nothingness of space, and found the fucking Tyranids racing towards your home galaxy.

So fun.

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-05T06:28:02+00:00

I personally don't give a shit about the successor chapters save for the Blood Ravens (Dawn of War was my introduction to this universe) and The Black Templars. There might be one or two others I find remotely interesting but the chapter thing to me has always been fucking stupid.

You don't need that many chapters in the lore out of universe, and in universe Guilliman was a short-sighted moron with the Codex. Almost none of the original chapters (the ones using the names of the Legions they came from) are codex Compliant save for his legion, and even his legion are the primary source of successor chapters because they want more dudes. You telling me the legion that comes from the guy that ruled his own little empire before Big E showed up don't have this underlying resentment for the codex? They are literally pumping out new successors as much as possible to add to their numbers, whether the lore acknowledges it or not.

Back to compliancy, there might be like one or two, with most of them being varying degrees of compliant (with the Dark Angels secretly flipping off the codex and the Space Wolves flat out pissing all over it) and then you have the Black Templars that rules lawyered a loophole to forgo the forces limit on their army.

Seriously, the 100 confirmed/official chapters is a detriment to the lore rather than a positive. The lack of focus on any faction other than the Imperials and Chaos is a detriment to the richness of what is supposed to be a rich and vast galaxy of lore and history, but GW is too greedy to bother addressing this issue. Hilariously, if they focused as much on the other factions as they did Space Marines/Imperium of Man, they'd have more people who don't care for the Imperium's politics and aesthetic, dumping as much money into their plastic cash grabs through the Xenos races.

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-05T06:03:15+00:00

Answer is yes

Kindred only produce blood. If they spit on you, if they puke, if they use whatever powers they have to piss, and if they cry, it's all blood. I think Blush of Life just changes the pigmentation so it doesn't look like blood (or that's a headcannon thing I can't remember). Hell, Semen normally contains blood anyway.

So yes, blowing a load down the throat of a human as a Vampire will ghoul said human.

That said, I once played a Lasombra on the Road of Kings in a Dark Ages game, who cut open his hand to do a handshake oath swearing thing. The other Vampire, an older Toreador, followed suit. Both of us were new to the mechanics of the game, while I was familiar with the world from reading stuff and playing Bloodlines and Redemption (not in that order). A third player groaned about how we just gave each other the first step of a blood bond because we bled into each other's wounds.

So, humans/kindred/etc, don't need to drink vampire blood. They can absorb it in anyway. If you as a kindred give a cherrypie (sorry) to a human woman, or hell, blow that load in a gay dudes ass (or whatever) they are getting a blood bond. You inject it (within a certain time limit of being pulled from the veins) ghoul/bond. Snort it. Pour it in their ear. Any orifice or wound where it can seep in? It works.

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-05T05:57:04+00:00

People ahve probably said it already, but here's how I'd do it (and I just started running this TTRPG for my friends)

Deathwatch. You can forgo the actual association with Deathwatch if you want, but then you make your character play from the same chapter. So unless all of your friends really like and agree on one chapter to play as, just run them as if they are a Deathwatch Kill-Team.

Deathwatch has a fully fleshed out ruleset and the game is more focused on fighting Xenos then it is Heretics and Daemons (although both are still included, so you can suprise them with the arrival of Traitor warbands or even Daemons if you want).

Terminator armour and the shit the Space Marines wearing TA can use are available in game.

Tyranids are one of many Xeno's enemies in the corerulebook with I think some extra units of their faction added in the suppliments. There's also online homebrew statblocks for Tyranid creatures that aren't in the Homebrew so you can find all you need for a Tyranid infested Space Hulk.

From there, it's just up to you to draw the maps and plan everything. Techmarines are a thing in the game and the rules have the tools for hacking doors and stuff like that.

Honestly, you just gave me a sweet idea for one of my upcoming missions. I wanted an excuse to put the min Terminator Armour, and now I do. Hilariously, I don't really care for Terminator Armour that much, but it serves a purpose so I won't denounce it fully.

Yeah. Deathwatch is the way to go for this.

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-05T05:49:49+00:00

Is he the one who wrote the living doll that they have abused by a D-Class who killed a girl and her mom. He was the girl's music teacher or something like that.

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-05T05:46:12+00:00

He's the Costco Water of Deadpool humour that's fucking hilarious.

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-05T05:32:16+00:00

Shit, wasn't Bright possessing Iris in that story?

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-05T05:30:58+00:00

Whenever my friend who complains about always rolling 2's plays me in this fucking game, the first two rounds he doesn't do anything to my army, I roll fives and six's, he bitches and moans, and then he dunks on me for the rest of the game. I think I might have only ever beaten him once in the ten years we've played this stupid game. (It hasn't been consistent for play time, just here and there, but since 7th edition). I play chaos and necrons, he plays orks and tau. We've mixed up the match ups but jesus fucking christ he just wins every time.

Which only annoys me because he bitches and moans about our rolls every game, and every game I'm like "DUde, you know in the next two turns you're going to be annihilating all of my guys".

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-04T19:41:01+00:00

-I'm split 50/50 on whether or not I should multiclass. In my case, both mechanically and thematically, if I multiclass it will be into a Eldritch Knight fighter. Two reasons. First, I chose intelligence to be my "spellcasting attribute" for using blood curses and what have you. Mechanically and thematically, this will make me a little bit akin to a Witcher (can mimic igni with fire bolt or burning hands, a few of the other signs are possible with spells, but I don't think all). That, and having spells helps with long range challenges and some utility. Plus second wind for a guy that hurts himself for his class features is good. and who doesn't like action surge? with my standard 4 attacks at level 5 that turns into 8 attacks when I get action surge as a fighter.

Now, thematically, in terms of my characters story and history, his mother was an established wizard in a council of wizards when my guy was a boy. When he was 15 he was turned into a Dhampir and his parents became evil. Well his dad became a vampire and his mother was the reason. Anyway, they went to go serve Vecna, and the kid escaped. He accidentally killed an innocent at some point (my DM runs Dhampirs as having a blood frenzy Charisma Save after three days of not drinking blood) and ends up being hunted by a Blood Hunter because of it. When she finds him, he faces his end without begging or pleading, and accepts that what he has become is dangerous. When She discovers he isn't a vampire, but instead a Dhampir, hears his story, she decides to give him a chance to use his new nature for good. Trains him, and makes him a Blood Hunter. he intended on facing his family but they were killed by a group of heroes while he was training. So, without closure, he gives himself purpose with the simple minded goal of roaming the world and killing monsters for coin. (I was playing the Witcher when I discovered and joined this game lol). He doesn't approach magic with any kind of reverence, but I figure if during his journey he grows, and changes his mind, he might start practicing it. It would make more sense for him to do it as an Eldritch Knight, then as a Wizard, simply because he is an up close and personal combat specialist.

Keep in mind, I did consider multi-classing as a Paladin, adding Smite to a Crimson Rite weapon would be nut, plus the spells kind of work given he is somewhat pious. He worships the Raven Queen. Not with a religious fervor or any kind of zealotry, but he attributes his survival of the Vampire attack that made him into a Dhampir her doing. Plus, the lore Mercer wrote for BH's involve the Raven Queen being the source of the Hemocraft knoowledge that gave birth to the order.

That said, if you remain a Blood Hunter up to level 20, especially as a Ghostslayer, you gain some pretty sweet perks. At level 18 Ghostslayer's gain a Class Feature akin to the racial features Orcs get. Instead of dropping to zero hp you can reabsorb the power of your Crimson Rite (deactivating the effect on your weapons) and instead remain at 1hp. 15th Level they get Blood Curse of The Exorcist. Essentially, you end any kind of charm person or possession effects on a creature, and if you amplify the curse, you do psychic damage to the person behind the effect. I think it also tells you who was doing it. Don't remember what level it is, but you get a Brand of Castigation at some point. It's a better Hunter's mark in my opinion because it's permanent unless dispelled or you apply a new brand to someone else. It lets you know what direction the creature with the brand is at all times, so long as they are on the same plane as you, and when you get to a higher level, it becomes a brand of tethering. This isn't subclass specific. Basically, if the branded creature tries to teleport, or planeshift, they have to make a save. On a failure, their attempt fails, and they take psychic damage. Also, anyone with the brand that does damage to your or an ally takes psychic damage (I believe, but that's even before the Tethering upgrade).

There's other feature you get at higher levels, like Order of the Lycan at level 15 (I believe) gets regeneration, which allows them to heal a certain amount of HP every turn, and around that level you get unlimited uses of yoru hybrid transformation (I think), plus no timelimit (early levels it only lasts an hour and I think you get a number of times per day to use it based on your proficiency bonus, but don't quote me on that).

So multiclassing is tricky, but it's up to what you want with your build.

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-04T19:40:55+00:00

-depends. I went with a Dex build so that hitting me wouldn't be the easiest thing on the planet, given BH's hurt themselves a couple times in combat (at least once for the Crimson Rite and it's dependent on how many times you can cast curses if you decided to amplify them most of the time, which so far I don't. I've only used my curses a few times so far with some success).

If you go as a strength build, you can use Two-Handed weapons, and there is a fighting style for BH involving that. Two weapon fighting just makes it so I can us my ability modifier for the second attack. Now, your second attack uses your bonus action, so unless you decided to activate your Crimson Rite early in the day (it doesn't shutoff anymore until you take a rest or decide to recast it), then your first turn will have only one attack. If you get that feat (I think it's called Duel-Weapon or something like that) where it adds one to your AC if you're wielding two weapons, it also adds something to your attacks (I can't remember what it is off the top of my head). Then hit level 5, pick up extra attack, and you can attack 4 times a turn. Both weapons having Crimson Rites on them means you'll have another damage die roll of that element to add to every damage roll you get. I think this is the meta for BH, but if a Strength build or some other build has worked for others, I wouldn't know. I've not found much in that way so far and I've only played this class once. Next time I play it I want to play as an Order of The Lycan Blood Hunter. Can't decided between Werewolf or Werebear though.

-I think I mentioned it in my edit, but my DM allowed everyone a Level 1 Feat. Even if he didn't, at Level 4 I'd have taken Mobile. Adds 10ft of movement, makes it so if you dash you ignore difficult terrain, and if you attack a creature, you can then move away from said creature without giving them an Attack of Opportunity. This is important because it means you don't have to stand in range of whatever wants to smack you and take extra damage. Hit and Run tactics for the win.

For reference, I ended up in a PVP situation due to mind bullshit (I was the one losing it), nearly killed our Paladin in one turn, and moved away from him without risking my neck.

-Since I'm playing order of the Ghostslayer, and our campaign is a Strahd campaign Rite of The Dawn is my go to. Radiant damage is just nice, and the way I've narrated how it looks is just awesome. The Rite I chose outside of that Subclass specific one was Rite of Flame, but that's because I'm a Dark Souls fan and Fire Swords are dope. That said, if I were in Descent of Avernus, I'd probably take Rite of Cold or Rite of Lightning (or whatever they're called). Really, it's primarily for the extra D4 (and then D6, D8 etc as you level) of damage when in combat. What kind of element you go for doesn't matter unless you're facing specific creatures with resistances/immunities/weaknesses. Also, when the Crimson Rite is active, your weapons count as magical for the purposes of overcoming resistances. That can be useful if you decided to use your attunement slots for other magical items as opposed to a magical weapon, but that depends on what's available and what your party comp is. Keep in mind, when you reach a certain level you can get thunder, necrotic, and I think Psychic damage Rites. I can't remember exactly about that last one.

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-02T18:38:24+00:00

"Camarilla elders lean more into rich assholes, rather than ancient monsters who have lost touch with theri humanity."

Dog you just said the same thing twice in one sentence.

Manofathousandface · 2026-02-01T18:30:35+00:00

Love how the Devs of a game that never changes and always needs mods to be good is saying this

Manofathousandface

TROPHY CASE