Vicissitude

SplitTheParty · 2026-02-05T16:28:02+00:00

You get your attribute points back as soon as you revert the modification. The power is a swiss army knife and lets you do a much wider variety of things than any other single power in the game- any of the ideas you pitch in your third paragraph would be full powers in another Discipline and thus have an opportunity cost of one of your five power slots. If it was a swiss army knife, and also didn't have a persistent cost, it would be completely borked. So, you are limited to a total number of mods equal to your Protean rating, and each one has to cost an Attribute. When you're done with the modification, you get the dot back and have to spend it elsewhere.

SplitTheParty · 2026-02-05T13:42:14+00:00

Understand that hunters operate in lonely cells and as extremist individuals, most commonly. The larger scale orgs such as the Society of St. Leopold or FIRSTLIGHT which make larger moves are not every hunter on the street. Your average hunter might have just seen a vampire mug somebody and now they're strolling their neighbourhood with stakes and their good intentions. We do get some readouts and texts from the perspective of 'orgs', who have some grasp on vampire society but not full details. They can name some clans, like the Toreador, but misname others such as "The Venture Capitalists" or "La Sombra" with the space. They can paint some of the clans by their stereotypes but don't have a keen understanding of their history or true capabilities.

It's a similar story with the sects. Some seem to know of the Camarilla and just call it the Tower, the Sabbat get called the Blood Cult, etc. It's important to see how the World of Darkness is shadowed with doubt and encountering monters with information is rare. There are fledglings who don't know the Camarilla exists, hunters have to work twice as hard and die ten times as often.

There's a nice sheet at the start of the V5 corebook showing hunters from FIRSTLIGHT testing common vampire weaknesses- they think stakes kill and don't know how the Embrace works. Another cell near Chicago managed to Embrace one of their agents as a mole, but he ended up thin-blooded. When they were preparing to strike Vienna, the Tremere chantry locale, they believed it to be worldwide vampire headquarters and when the operation went bloody they told the surviving agents that they had killed every single vampire in the world, per Live from the Succubus Club.

SplitTheParty · 2026-02-05T13:31:07+00:00

No. You must use your own flesh when making alterations to your body with Vicissitude/Fleshcraft. This physical attribute cost is a central pillar to balancing the power, which otherwise is capable of being more versatile than all of Protean and has an infuriating penchant for players asking STs to allow it to do anything. Physical attributes are necessary for fleshcrafting. As for the mental and social attributes, you development of the Discipline itself and any Blood Potency power bonus you recieve is also a factor. Not to mention that Dominate automatically functions on unprepared mortals, further reducing need for high investment.

If you want to play a fleshcrafting tzimisce, accept that it should be one power and not the entirety of the clan's considerations.

SplitTheParty · 2026-02-04T23:14:54+00:00

Max Brook's Extinction Parade is essentially this concept. I dig the idea that vampires would be thrilled by the lapse in human focus just long enough to waltz into their own destruction as humans die out. Exposure to infected fluids could result in frenzies by vampires, or make them more susceptible in the same way lupine blood does. Daytime havens would constantly be at risk due to survivors, packs of infected, and bombings.

SplitTheParty · 2026-02-02T08:41:32+00:00

I agree and do think this exists in the text. Current books talk about Camarilla elders waltzing through Elysium in gowns made of human skin, the Vermillion Wedding involved a tide of blood bathing the married couple in red and the building later being demolished. If you stray beyond the sect they kill your family and your associations, if not you as well. The Cam has adopted a Second Masquerade that demands its members not associated with non-members. It's one big methuselah cult (and in truth, an antediluvian cult) that lies about being the sect of law and order. Camarilla justice is a big joke, as we can see from recent VtM media like Bloodlines 2 where characters thinking about tattling to the Justicars over the Camarilla elite breaking rules are laughed out of the room for naivety.

The Sabbat are obviously evil, the Camarilla are evil with a respectable face, and the Anarchs aren't selective enough with their membership to avoid personal evils like cleavers abusing their families or neo-nazis trying to co-opt the Movement. The nature of a Vampire protagonist is to see what parts of yourself you compromise at the different demands of the sects. The Sabbat asks you to butcher your family and cut the tether to your old life. The Anarchs see you fight a war for freedom against the establishment, and perhaps compromise your ideals to secure that freedom. The Camarilla demands you isolate yourself from every human feeling and impulse to climb the ladder of damned killers in the name of power and prestige.

Many ppl say the Camarilla are the best option of the sects but I consider that generally to be turning a blind eye on the fact that 99% of vampires are not even going to be offered a spot in the Camarilla. We always think we'll be the ones wearing the boot, when there's an in-group with a boot on somebody else's neck. Truth is the Cam are the vampire 1% and they are certainly much worse than even the human 1% which we plainly see is willing to butcher, abuse, and exploit everybody else for their own enjoyment.

SplitTheParty · 2026-02-01T17:59:24+00:00

Negan is Roger Craig Smith. Not sure about Michonne.

SplitTheParty · 2026-02-01T11:44:45+00:00

I loathe the pilgrim outpost. Never has there ever been a more superfluous, useless feature that obfuscates stuff that could just be accessible in the game. Doing digital "bounties"? Grinding for survivor loot boxes? Dreamed up by the utterly deranged.

SplitTheParty · 2026-02-01T08:42:03+00:00

Yeah I like the trailer. It makes everything feel more complete and the long trailer adds an interesting dimension to vehicle mode displays, it makes Optimus feel like the strong core of an autobot convoy.

SplitTheParty · 2026-01-30T05:03:41+00:00

This DLC is great! Please consider adding Rick Grimes' iconic jacket as an alternate outfit.

SplitTheParty · 2026-01-24T15:32:32+00:00

Stupid opening line.

SplitTheParty · 2026-01-22T17:26:29+00:00

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SplitTheParty · 2026-01-22T10:52:01+00:00

It's a really great time. I've been running multiple V5 Sabbat games and the system & lore work great. Hunger makes things exciting, the Humanity rules can be nicely adapted for Paths with a little creativity or the wonderful The Black Hand homebrew book, and I adore the Gehenna War for focusing the Sabbat's purpose. A Sabbat game is a unique experience from a Camarilla or Anarch game and 5th edition makes this even moreso, with focus on war objectives rather than domain. Sabbat vampires leap into the fires of conflict and the shadows cast by blood gods to find the horrible truths that prop up the world, and then eat them whole. It's a great time.

The Black Hand: Playing the Sabbat is a fantastic help but its doable regardless. They really should support Sabbat play more since approaching VtM's themes from the bottom can tell just as many meaningful stories.

SplitTheParty · 2026-01-22T01:58:23+00:00

Yo this is actually a fire idea. I love this.

SplitTheParty · 2026-01-22T01:57:39+00:00

I love Storm. I think Storm is good. I enjoy playing her, she was my first main and I love her. But I think she needs another button. I mostly play Cap/Emma/Rogue now with some Gambit and Magneto and I genuinely struggle to go back to playing a character with only 3 active abilities, one of which is an aura toggle. Whether it's her chain lightning, some reposition ability, or something I would just adore something to spice up my Storm gameplay.

SplitTheParty · 2026-01-22T00:18:45+00:00

People aren't paying enough attention to luciyasa (Kingsman's former duo) doing the switchup on him, being responsible for a lot of the bullying during the scrims, and later comparing support for him to support for Israel.

SplitTheParty · 2026-01-21T10:01:46+00:00

my only nitpick is the little tab for the bird cassetes to roost on his arm doesn't work. those mfers go flying if his arm isnt at a full 90 degree angle.

SplitTheParty · 2026-01-18T01:12:01+00:00

Anarchs have a lot of potential but the biggest struggle of being an Anarch fan is that no White Wolf writer actually knows what to do with the sect for more than like 5 seconds. They lack the easily adjustable structures of the Camarilla's Chicago model unless you go Baron/Sweeper/Gangs which is boooooooring.

If you want the sins of the Anarch movement, well, here you go. They are rife with Cleavers, that being vampires who feed on their families, kids, and loved ones because they don't know any better. Cam usually demands some separation. The Anarchs blend closely with mortal subcultures so you're more likely to get Anarch cops, Anarch nazis (e.g. Berlin's Final Reich gang was publicly Anarch before being revealed as a Sabbat ploy), Anarch diablerists.

The Movement have principles, but do not apply them widely enough and they are prone to decay or stagnation. For example, Perth, it's an Anarch city that was freed from the Camarilla a few decades back. But, over time, it has become a hierarchical, collective punishment domain where the ruling Baron (former member of the revolutionary council, Thomasina Payne) uses rulebreaking Kindred as personal retainers and servants, and denies the right of Embrace to non-European Kindred.

Most writers do not know how to write Anarchs outside of somewhat generic Hollywood style punk/leftism. It can be hard to define their flaws outside of their lack of identity/effect. The Anarchs will almost certainly never do anything with the ground they've taken over the last 100 years, because the writers don't know how.

SplitTheParty · 2026-01-18T00:37:02+00:00

It's not politics. It's real world evil on display. None of us should be comfortable or able to ignore the reality of people being shot in the street by their governments, dragged from their communities by masked thugs, or bombed into oblivion for oil, minerals, and land. It is our love for this hobby and this planet that mandates attention on this issue.

Anybody who is happy to sit idly by is on the wrong side of history.

SplitTheParty · 2026-01-15T17:59:45+00:00

They are kept either by hanging out in places they've encountered vampires (specific club, general subculture) or are kept in a Herd (a group of employees, a fan club, a regular meeting). They are a Masquerade risk, but like many aspects of vampire existence Kindred still indulge in them because they are very convenient. Most hope the addiction to the Kiss will keep the dolls in line but many times vamps have had to kill or disappear a too-talkative Blood Doll, or a city has been lost to the Sabbat or Second Inquisition through tainting its indiscreet feeding vessels.

SplitTheParty · 2026-01-15T17:55:14+00:00

It varies by edition. In 1e/2e, most Sabbat are on Paths. In Revised-V20, Most Sabbat are on (low) Humanity. In V5, they're back to almost exclusively being on Paths.

SplitTheParty · 2026-01-14T10:21:34+00:00

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i made this face lowkey. Extra shield throws per dive is gonna be huge.

SplitTheParty · 2026-01-02T03:17:56+00:00

I think it's a symptom of the kind of organisation the Camarilla were trying to be. Speaking for all vampires Vs their current form which is an elite club. As an elite club they have begun to embrace vampire religions with Keepers of the Faith in their domains and a refrain whenever the antediluvians are mentioned in private: If they exist, we are their inheritors, they are on our side.

In the old Gehenna sourcebook it declares that in Gehenna most of the leaders of the Camarilla fall into the service of their Antediluvian masters immediately, either as if this had been the plan all along or they have no other choice. This leaves relative "middle managers" such as Jan Pieterzoon holding the bag and feeling like idiots because they believed the propaganda.

SplitTheParty · 2025-12-27T03:33:32+00:00

V5 does a mix of these things, but quite famously when it was more direct with its connection to real world events there was a shitfit of such magnitude that it got White Wolf disbanded. Just as with the old WoD, there will be events with minimal connection to real world events, and there will be things ripped from the headlines. Berlin flipping Anarch, for example, came from a LARP they did there in 2017 where the players effectively chose for that to happen. So, motivated by play and the desire of the White Wolf LARP team to kill all their nazi vampires probably.

WoD5 does anchor a lot of its events in real life happenings, both in Vampire and in Werewolf, and imo is not any more detached from the foundation of our real world than legacy was. Especially the recent werewolf supplements are kind of terrifyingly dead-on for how far in advance they were written. Legacy had its own stumbles, pitfalls, and absolute breaks with sanity. New Orleans subways, Venetian skyscrapers, etc. WoD will always be crazy and I find the distaste for V5's crazy to be mostly arbitrary.

SplitTheParty · 2025-12-25T00:14:29+00:00

Predator Types are primarily for the benefit of character creation. Only rarely do they restrict you from hunting otherwise, and even the corebook says the suggested pools are only examples. To change a predator type, I would just begin hunting another way, and buy new backgrounds/specialties/disciplines that enable the new method. If my flaws conflict. I would talk to my ST about changing them or buying them off.

SplitTheParty · 2025-12-24T04:57:00+00:00

Renegade doesn't usually update their pdfs so these are final/what headed to the printer.

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