Predators recognize each other. By sight, by smell, by touch. And with that recognition comes a whole host of complications. Rivalry, fear, lust.
In Vampire: The Requiem, this knowing and its consequences are modeled by the predatory aura. In Blood and Smoke, this aura replaces the predator’s taint from the core book. It fills a similar role in the setting, but it’s more active. A vampire doesn’t lash out just because he becomes aware of another… he lashes out because she pushes him.
<Click here for the playtest rules.>
Updated February 9th.
Comments
21 responses to “Knowing your own”
Wow, nice. The fact you can use this on mortals is interesting. Makes seductive feeding a little easier which is nifty, even those without Majesty get help at it.
The part “They also gain +2 in any rolls to pursue that Beast’s compulsions. If the defender scores more successes, they turn the confrontation on the aggressor. The aggressor gains the Condition, and the opposition gains +2 in any rolls to pursue the Beast’s compulsions.” reads weird to me. What does the opposition gaining +2 mean? If I try to use my predatory aura to seduce someone and they resist and beat my roll I gain Wanton and they gain +2 to pursue my beasts compulsions, does that mean they gain +2 to seduce me, or to try to seduce other people?
Thanks
Good idea, but a little hard to read. It seems there should be beneficial results and negative, but i keep getting lost in the wording
I’ve updated the doc. Hopefully the aggressor/defender thing is clearer now.
Not a fan of the werewolf reaction. Had enough of OMFG Werewolves SO SCARY!!!! from CWoD.
Going to soften it some. The goal is for the WoD’s two territorial predators to know when they’re on each other’s turf.
Meanwhile, I’m a big fan of the werewolf reaction. It makes sense in every way, and I’ve never played cWoD so I don’t really care.
Maybe it’s because I don’t know enough about the rules for Conditions, but based on what I’m seeing, I’m going to assume to assume that the only way to get rid of a Condition is to meet it’s resolution. If such is the case, then I personally feel that the resolutions for both Seductive and Competitive are too severe, compared to the resolution for Bestial. Bestial, if a character gets involved in fights whether she started them or not, is easy to resolve, and the character doesn’t have to fear the possible loss of Humanity/Morality. From what I’m reading, for Seductive and Competitive, not so–those are resolved by bringing either yourself or another character into conflict with their current morality.
I’m thinking of softening the duration a bit.
We’re talking about the Beast here.
Shouldn’t Challenging be rolled with Manipulation or Wits, more symbolic of cunning, than Intelligence?
Lashing out with the Challenging Beast isn’t really “cunning” by itself, though. It’s only slightly more subtle than shouting “I AM BETTER THAN YOU, IDIOT” in the subject’s face. How you use the aura, and what you get the target to do while he’s under the aura’s influence, is where cunning (and Wits, and Manipulation) come in.
I like the idea of having auras for other supernaturals. Vampires feel…strange, when Mages are around. Like they are on the verge of sudden insights or epiphanies. And so on.
I really like the direction; it’s definitely interesting to give all vampires some raw emotional manipulation. I feel like each clan should have a small bonus at one of the three aspects, but no biggy.
I have to question the penalties though. One of the most useful effects is to make someone flee, as it removes a rival, witness, or nuisance without escalation of violence. In social situations it is doubly powerful, as it makes the victim look bad while you suffer none of the social stigma of initiating conflict. That in and of itself would be an awesome tool in Elysium (which begs the question, is this permitted in Elysium?). Yet here, the defender who chooses to flee forfeits a resistance roll AND must spend a Willpower point. Who would take that, particularly when the cost of failing isn’t THAT serious?
I imagine the desire was to not give an easy out for people seeking to escape seduction attempts, but the current description causes strange results of using the Monstrous Beast. The defender is almost assuredly going to use Compliance or Fight. Even if they fail, their reaction is not clear. Something frightening makes them run, but threats make them fight? How much is frightening that isn’t threatening? Why would my successful intimidation almost always result in violence breaking out, yet give me no benefit in that fight?
Perhaps I am misunderstanding the intent… the effects make it seem like you are infecting the defender with the Beast, but the methods of evoking the power make it seem like you are using the Beast to overwhelm/subdue/enthrall.
My last point is that as written Fight seems a much better deal than Compliance, as it does not require a Willpower point and if the defender wins the attacker suffers the penalties. The only good thing about Compliance is that your Resistance trait might be higher, but then probably no more than three dice, which will give you one more success on average. Worth the chance to turn the tables? I think Compliance should have something else going for it, like the ability to exit the scene shortly after losing the confrontation, whereas the person who chooses to Fight but loses is truly engaged and cannot escape.
Sorry if that sounded overly critical. Again, really like the direction!
Not a bad idea, sounds interesting. GMC and B&S sure sounds like they are introducing a metric crapton of new rules and mechanics. I know my group and I won’t use most of them or at least vastly simplify them so as not to interfere with gameplay as we try to memorize all the new mechanics that are starting to bog down the game.
Thanks. Overall rules density should remain about the same, but we are restructuring rules significantly. So I certainly understand it taking some getting used to. 🙂
Wow, I am sincerely impressed. I mean, if Requiem rules had been all along like they are turning out to be here in Blood and Smoke, I would have probably been waaaaaaaaaaaaaaay less nitpicky about NWoD. It feels like they would also be quite more adequate for running cWoD Masquerade games with respect to the old rules (e.g. B&S Obfuscate vs plain VtR Obfuscate, as well as waaaaay more powerful physical disciplines).
Can I ask you to consider adding a stretch goal to the B&S Kickstarter to make some sort of revision/errata to the Vampire Translation Guide in order to bring it up to date with these rules?
Thanks!
I’m not sure about updating the Translation Guide. I’d need to go over it and assess the labor involved.
Given that we’ve had both V20 and now B&S since the Translation Guide came out, it might be worth a revisit.
FWIW, I posted the second draft version of the Predatory Aura rules here:
http://forums.white-wolf.com/default.aspx?g=posts&m=1575689#post1575689
The Google doc linked here has also been updated.
+1 the changes!
For the Wanton Condition, “As well, the character that brought forth this Condition achieves exceptional success on three successes instead of five, when making any rolls to tempt your character.” The Bestial and Competitive Conditions also have similar language about exceptional success with three successes, but it seems to apply to anyone making the roll, not just the character that brought forth the Condition. So is the Wanton Condition actually different?
Does the vampire have to spend a Willpower point to Lash Out at werewolves and others (non-vampires)?