Perspectives

This is a rant. It is inspired by my own perceptions and interactions in games. I have had other players tell me they had no idea they could do these things, and my own characters have a reputation for fantastic feats because I describe what it looks like to see some of the things they are capable of. In a mediated scene there are no challenges so a player can describe whatever their character is capable of doing. I’m writing to you in the hopes of upping the cinematics and bringing some awareness to the average player as to just how freaking crazy cool our characters are. I hope that after reading this you will reconsider the impact your characters have on the world they interact with. We play walking legends in this game, and I for one would like to see them described as such.

Perspective:

The strongest human alive, the “Pocket Hercules” dead lifted 319 pounds to win the world record and the Olympics in 1995. He has 10 Physical Traits. Albert Einstein had 10 Mental traits (and maybe a few specializations for that extra +1). The sexiest and/or most charismatic man/woman alive has 10 social traits. How many traits does your character have?

A 50cal Desert Eagle will blow through a brick wall, disable an engine block, blow a 9” hole in someone as the exit wound. This weapon is called a “Heavy Pistol” in OWOD.

A “high caliber” rifle has an accurate range of over 100 yards, and will tear through 1 inch steel plate before killing a 500 pound deer on the other side of it.

A “mass trauma” shotgun will turn a 200 pound human into hamburger, after knocking them several feet back from the impact.

A 9mm pistol will punch through a car door to leave a 4” exit wound on the person hiding behind it.

Potence 1 makes a person punch as hard as a 9mm.

Potence 5 makes a Vampire punch like a 306 rifle.

With Potence 4 a vampire can pick up and throw a dumpster or VW bug. They could also heave/swing a midsized sedan.

Wolf Claws turn everything into Aggravated, which means the victim ends up looking like a 3^rd degree burn or shark attack victim.

How about Celerity?

For instance, a four-minute mile is considered the standard among professional mid-distance runners.  Now, the math:

1 mile / 4 minutes = 0.25 miles/minute

0.25 miles/minute x 60minutes/hour = 15 miles / hour.

So if a human being with 10 physical traits can run 15 miles per hour, how fast can your 18-trait vampire run?  Assuming Celerity will double your speed at level 2 and quadruple it at level 4, that is 30 MPH and 60 MPH respectively – if the vampire has the Forced March combo discipline, they can maintain top speed for hours per blood point spent, not rounds.

LOTNr says that anything higher that Swiftness (Lvl 2) is generally considered a breach of the Masquerade… meaning using celerity 3 is demonstrating more speed than a human has ever considered being capable of. With Fleetness (Lvl5) your passing puts out small fires, pulls debris behind you and “sows confusion among slower moving entities”.

But what about Fortitude?

First off, a corpse doesn’t bruise. Bruising requires blood flow and the engorging of aggravated tissue. No bruising means that getting hit with fists or a club are not likely to show on the victim. Broken bones would look nasty, but do not turn funny colors. Second, vampires don’t bleed unless they want to, so there’s no blood splatter from a gun shot or nasty weeping wounds from a knife.

If the vampire succeeds in the tests to test down damage levels, they can be shot with a 9mm and the bullet impacts them without causing damage. They can be shot with a 306 and the bullet somehow does not manage to penetrate their whole body. If they have aegis they can swallow a grenade and the explosion does nothing but give them gas.

But what about the non-combat stuff?

With Auspex 1 you can read a hand written note by running your fingers over the page. You can taste the poison in a class of water or blood, you can hear with the accuracy of a cat and track be your sense of smell like a K9

With Presence you strike awe and terror into the emotions of those around you. You are the person everyone wants to be with and please, just as you are the one they don’t dare anger because you’re just “that cool”.

The point I’m trying to make with all of this is that in the Old World of Darkness, vampires are fucking awesome, powerful superman like creatures. Every one of us is a Wolverine or Sabertooth. The ones who actually focus on building combat characters are far worse. I would very much like to see this portrayed more in the OWOD venues. It helps to illustrate just how far from human vampires really are.

We sell ourselves short when we cheapen the capabilities of our characters by reducing the cinematic impact of even Low Approval, non-Elder powers.  And as impressive as these powers are to the average human, strange powers like Thaumaturgy or Elder powers in general should be just as awe-inspiring to the average vampire

Thank you for your time.

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