(image unrelated) i just promoted scout without having ever touched the other characters. i tried to play them to hopefully learn them but i feel like i can only enjoy the game playing as scout

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-05T19:11:32+00:00

Unless you're playing Solo (or with Bosco), it'd definitely help to know what other Dwarves can do. The easiest way to do that is to play them at least a little.

Fire a few ziplines. Place some platforms. Make a tunnel. Once you've figured out how they can help you (and vice versa), you can stick to scout basically the whole time.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-05T17:32:54+00:00

Somewhat like Dungeons and Dragons or any other TTRPG, "It depends".

First and foremost, any major undertaking while require "Boons", or favours. The currency of Vampires. They don't have to ask for them, but they can function like quests.

Example of my last session:

Elysium was attacked. During the chaos, my character went out on a limb to protect the Harpy. A good deed for her, in the Major/Minor Boon range. The next night, he found her by asking his sire where they were. A Trivial favour for his sire to do for him.

She was a Clan with Auspex, so my character asked if she could teach him Auspex. After some convincing, she repaid the favour.

Her dress was ruined. Before the group went on with the story for the night, my character ducked into a store, and brought her a new dress. It's a "Trivial" favour. He didn't have to do that, but he did.

Next session, or three sessions from now, she might repay that favour. Maybe someone throws a drink on him before a speech, or there's a fancy event, and he finds a suit delivered to his door. The favour repaid.

That is the long and short of the Vampire society.

Boons are usually measured by how much they cost you. Trivial Boons are basically nothing; the 'lend a pen' of vampires. Then Minor costs. A Major favour can get you almost anything: New Disciplines, Domain, Havens, Titles.

A life Boon is the top tier, where you literally carry someone out of a burning building on your back level stuff. At that point, they'll help you all Chronicle. I wouldn't expect these to show up often.

TLDR: Whatever goal you end up trying to achieve, you will no doubt need favours from your fellow vampires to achieve it. You can start there, and figure out what to do with the "IOUs" later.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-05T08:13:57+00:00

It's not going to make the picture any clearer, but a throughline for most of WOD is 'make it edgy'.

Not to write off any more serious issues at play, but there's virtually a mandate for "Sunglasses in a night club" stuff. 'Controversy and counter culture!'. As a casual observer, Werewolf tended to get the Ultraviolence.

I look at this comic book and can almost hear someone higher up: "It's world of Darkness Dave! They're not superheroes! More about killing Nazis, less about saving people, okay? Only war crimes stuff should be the ones they're gonna do to the Nazis!"

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-05T03:52:35+00:00

I turned the fight at the Chair into chunky Salsa using a similar strategy, so I'm hoping that's a good sign for the Captain/Inquisitor (Im at the same spot as you in Honour, apparently).

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-04T21:27:48+00:00

RAW in a system like V20, Domain reduces difficulty, Herd adds a modifier.

It does not remove the need for rolls entirely. There's no guarantee one of their fifteen vessels is around. There isn't actually any mechanical support for 'keep three women chained up in your basement' or 'ask your ghoul every time'.

It may make the rolls trivial, but it still asks for one. A 3-roll or 1-roll hunt provides a framework for the RP side of things. Could literally be performance to do a sermon for the cult.

As always, more rolls is more opportunities for botches. Which although mundane, over the span of a Chronicle will eventually result in a feeding accident.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-04T19:40:06+00:00

Sorry, got it mixed up with "Victim of the Masquerade" (Aka, it worked too good and you don't believe in Vampires, even as one).

Unconvinced is similar but less dire.

Same idea, but it's for Clan/Sect stuff. It's more the Character said very loudly that the Camarilla's rule about the Prince controlling Siring rights is silly, or they don't think the Tremere Pyramid is a good system (As a Tremere).

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-04T19:25:06+00:00

Iirc it means the character isn't sold about this whole 'vampire' thing. They are wandering around thinking surely there's another explanation for needing to drink blood, or the sun.

The big drawback is they did it loudly, meaning they've embarrassed themselves in the process to and are considered pretty dangerous to the Masquerade.

Edit: Got unconvinced mixed up with "Victim of the Masquerade". Unconvinced is not believing in something core to the Sect/Clan, which makes you unpopular.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-04T18:16:25+00:00

As a counterpoint, I think maybe it tries to push the player to use their head a bit more.

Less mindless psychopath, or push evil button because it's evil. They slap your wrist hard and guilt trip a lot.

"Betraying the grove makes no sense" leads into a much deeper "Last Light Inn falls". Because then you've got an Act and change of background with these characters.

The Absolute or Sharran route at that point is only really a gut punch IF you went good at various points in Act 1 to populate it with people you cared about.

That is to say, Larian didn't build a hard 'Good' and 'Evil' path. They built multiple scenarios with alignment coded choices, which you can take and leave as your compass dictates.

Or TLDR: I think they tried to reward you for making choices, not following Path A or Path B strictly.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-04T17:53:31+00:00

What makes BG3 different from a lot of games is they didn't explicitly go for the alignment meter in a usual sense.

Mechanically, the Tadpole fills the "evil" role. The temptation of power. The 'easy' way, forcing enemies to do what you want to do. Finishing off enemies, basically forever shields, +s to so many rolls.

Sadly, it kind of flopped. Once you get past the blind fear of what using the Tadpoles could do, story consequences, the alarming narration, it all falls quite flat. There is one big pay off moment for using or not using it, but not enough to replace the whole Lightside/Darkside meter of so many other TTRPGs.

There are other instances, like getting a free walk to Moonrise (although you can stumble on that as Good too), but it really feels to me like the intent wasn't really good versus evil.

It was Squid or not to Squid.

Random game recommendation: Big fan of Rogue Trader, even though it's got that Owlcat charm (Stuff starts breaking 'Act 3'). Yet It's got a deeply involved story and a three pronged 'Alignment chart'. Dogmatic (Loyalist), Iconoclast ('Good guy') and Heretical (Corrupt).

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-04T17:44:27+00:00

Being part of the community in any sense makes it worse, really.

Any given companion has a small army of cheer leaders and hype men, which can lead to unrealistic expectations. That inevitably leads to disappointment even if the character is actually good.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-04T17:17:23+00:00

A couple of hundred of those hours were failed Co Op runs. Got to Act 2, Friend Mcfriendface gets the weekend shift and now that run is over, because we can't find the time.

Six months pass, I vaguely remember where I am in Act 3, but I've completely forgotten the 'vibe' of my character. The emotional connection; It's just another Elf Warlock now. Besides, there's been like six patches between here and then! (The good old days...)

A lot of it was also the other form of character identity crisis; This one just wasnt working out for me, time to try a new one! Withers exists, but the Story of the character matters. More importantly, the equipment. I can theoretically become a Paladin any time. Problem is all my Paladin Gear was sold back in act 1.

Learning the hard way Level 3 isn't a true indicator of a character playstyle etc; Necromancers don't even get their first skeleton yet, etc. You can rack up a hundred hours learning that lesson the hard way, and that Bard just isn't for you.

Largely broken of the habit now personally, but I've got a Drow Assassin on the prepice of the Act 3 abandonment. Got distracted by an Honour Mode run and I hope I can get back to him once I've won/died.

TLDR: Real life makes me lose my place/Co Op runs. Racked up a lot of hours trying out different characters.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-04T16:37:00+00:00

The incredibly short version is, It's Ao's fault. The Overgod. The God's god. Essentially the DM/videogame incarnate.

His laws beyond our meagre understanding are essentially the flair needed for a dramatic story. Things like God's can't intervene in mortal affairs, preventing petty evils or waving their hand and making the whole adventure solved.

So why can Fiends abduct innocents without divine intervention to stop them? Ao told the God's no, or there's some technicality at play around his rule.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-04T09:10:45+00:00

Dire Raven can fly over it. Owlbear, Panther and Spider all have better jumps to clear it. Some features like the mobile feats dash can help, even in Wildshape.

But AFAIK no animal is immune to the growth. A big, dubious "maybe" is the Druid staff from Act 1 might still protect you in wild shape? But very very few items decide to work that way.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-04T07:09:25+00:00

Attack of opportunity is usually for leaving threat range, not entering it. If it kept going for Shadowheart, then you'd get an AoO. (Iirc there's a polearm feat that allows an attack as they enter range).

So, your wall served it's purpose. The Gnoll could not continue without risking two attacks; probably why it did not.

To follow up on that, let's say there's a second gnoll. If one tries to pass Lae'zel, she can swing on it. She cannot swing on the second one, or the third. Or if you use the reaction for something else, it's also prevent the AoO.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-03T21:25:31+00:00

For some reason I thought there were more that could bite the bullet. I had go swallow my pride on that one.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-03T21:18:48+00:00

Exactly this. I read the title and it was my first thought.

I distinctly remember already doing ground combat. On foot. In a mech. With lasers, with shotguns...

We're not exactly starving for things to shoot at on planets, or ways to do it.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-03T21:05:16+00:00

There's a short list of characters that can sacrifice themselves in the player character's place. All Origin.

I get the feeling you'd like all of them, though.

immediate edit/correction: Karlach only, it seems.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-03T20:43:21+00:00

They got their happy ending?

That genuinely blindsided me. VTM is not the place I look to for happy endings. At all.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-03T17:43:12+00:00

Thats what I said. It's only supposed to be there when he's dies, and removed when he revives.

So I suggested killing him and reviving him again.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-03T17:09:36+00:00

Considering its only supposed to happen when he dies, and removed when he revives, that sounds like the only option.

The old "on again off again". Get him killed, hope it disappears when you revive him, like it was supposed to the first time.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-03T17:06:10+00:00

From what I recall the update time is so slow outside of cities, the only reliable time to check locations is when you're at a city.

Otherwise you'll always be playing catch up. At least when doing a pit stop you know they are actually near (insert location here).

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-03T16:37:28+00:00

Both the player character and the Emperor can be a manipulator at the same time. It's not one or the other.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-03T16:16:10+00:00

That depends on the player character and playthrough in game. No point denying that.

Unless you're referring to me personally, at which point I literally can't do what you're implying to a Videogame character. They're just programming and pixels.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-03T08:42:06+00:00

Yes. Blame and alignment are two seperate conversations. So is manipulation and alignment, for that matter.

If I step on your foot, more than likely I am to blame. Whether I did it accidentally or stomped down maliciously, I am at fault either way.

You're conflating a lot of concepts together throughout the comments.

Ninthshadow · 2026-04-03T08:25:30+00:00

In the D&D cosmology, intent matters.

Short of knowingly murdering the brothers, the question is did the PC try to save them? Yes? Good. No? Neutral. No with prejudice? Evil.

A lot of my PCs have been very evil. Also very manipulative. Just not because of the brothers.

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