V5 Obfuscate
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 30 ก.ย. 2024
- Greetings Kindred, todays discussion is on the vampiric ability to go unnoticed, Obfuscate. I am truly enjoying doing these videos, I have been storytelling for years but V5 is new to me aswell so being able to read through and give my thoughts on each of the Disciplines is helpful.
Auspex, Celerity and Obfuscate are my all time favorite disciplines Obfuscate being the most favorite of them one of the many reasons I go with Malkavian's since they provide two of the three
And now with Preditor types you can get all 3.
@@VoivodeMekhet really?
@@Докторпарадокс Just imagine an ally cat Malkavian, Auspex, Celerity and Obfuscate.
I’ve been binging your videos, thank you so much for dedicating the time and making them with such passion!
V5’s handling of these dark gifts has been one of my favorites throughout all Vampire lines. As you’ve pointed out on several occasions, they’ve done a good job eliminating power redundancy while making high-level ones feel impactful.
The Disciplines were the first thing that attracted me into the system. Funny since I don't think they matter at all for play, lol.
Ok, Voivod. Let's nerd for a second. So the overall description of Obfuscate, I point you to the chameleon circuit of the TARDIS from Dr Who. Where the eyes just slide off the object. The 1000 faces you described from the other version, I'd say was like the Dr's psychic paper. You see what you expect to see.
I wondered previous to v5 if there was a negative presence ability. Like unless actively searching for the individual, the player is lowering their presence to be unnoticeable. A fellow gamer says that is basically what the v5 Obfuscate is.
I want to make a spy. So I'm thinking Obfuscate. A spy sells info, so auspex makes sense. What clan features obf and aus? Malk. Throw in forget from dom and a pretty good start. So what derangement? A paranoid spy? Good but he's no Jimmy Bond. Thought maybe Dexter. This spy's secret is that he secretly hunts predators. Just idea searching. Do you know the name Parintachin? Figured you probably know Poison Elves. Lus seems like a Malk. Maybe he diablerized a Parintachin Malk who talks to him.
Also for the spy, would be cool to have a p.i. minion who you Obfuscate as and never reveal your true appearance to the coterie.
Yes, let us nerd!
In Requiem, the effect of you see what you expect was exactly that. If a babysitter was sitting on the couch and the front door began to open and the toddler says, "Daddy?" before looking, the babysitter would then in fact see the child's father. In the older versions of Masquerade, Mask of 1000 faces allowed you to make a subject see what you wanted them to see.
Yes, your fellow gamer would be correct. I've always seen Obfuscate to being a kin to Dominate. You are making them not see you. Not truly achieving invisibility.
I love the idea you're cooking up for your Malk spy. Never underestimate the power of a janitorial staff in the hands of a spy. People never think about what they throw away. Also, in the case of a paper shredder, "A little tape and a lot of patients..." ~ Oswalt Cobblepot.
I have a question. How do you feel about letting Ministry vampires play around with Chimestry/ Fata morgana given the fact that they have access to presence and obfuscate just like the Ravnos? I cannot help but to feel like the powers of illusions would fit the ministry and their whole temptation thing extremely well, but I am also hesitant to try and steal something so fundamental for Clan Ravnos.
I get that and have gone back and forth on the same thing when it comes to a lot of the old clan specific disciplines. What stops a Gangrel with Dominate from gaining the Vicissitude amalgams? What stops a Toreador from becoming a master of Obeah? Only Storytellers implementing house rules stops that kind of thing from happening.
Both you and the gentleman gamer have used that bus example for chimeristry and so is that written somewhere like in the clan book or something?
To be completely honest I have no idea. That very much could be the case.
It's looks like to say: Use your Obfuscate + Potence or Obfuscate + Celerity to stanlock and then backstab your Sabbath cook-head enemy. Mission accomplished my Prince.
Nice.
Clan nosferatu
Damn right.
What you said about Obtenebration and Obfuscate's first power reminded me of something.. In V20's Anarch's Unbound.. There was a combo disc that was the 2 combined(Tenebrous Veil)... It took existing shadows and wrapped them around a character and then made them VANISH and not be found after(as long as they did not move.. and there are big enough shadows to use).. It was for when a character was about to be caught somewhere where they really shouldn't be. I could see a vamp getting into trouble... A door beginning to open and them FREEZING, using this power and really being nervous as the room filled (and silently hoping NOBODY had Auspex). Chimeristry always gave me a headache the second a player uses it to create a LANTERN or FLASHLIGHT... Which is a whole lot of head scratching of how a lamp that doesn't exist, gives off light, that otherwise people can't see without. The "lost boys" scene.. Not to sure if you could get away with Dominate doing that or not.. (at least the maggot ones... The noodles... Probably would need Chimeristry)
That's pretty cool. I have to admit that out of all the versions of the game v20 specifically the BNS LARP version isn't my favorite. They do have some great stuff though.
To attract or deflect awareness of one's self. Two disciplines or two sides of one?
Very true. Interesting how the Ministry has both Presence and Obfuscate.
This is one area where I really liked the refining and reducing of dice rolls. I forget exactly what it was but I remember being discouraged by the first couple levels in (Revised ed I think?) where it seemed an awful lot of dice rolling and potential to fail for Cloak of Shadows etc.
In general they did a good job giving all disciplines passive or free cost powers that make sense while the new rouse check mechanic is much preferred to keeping track of blood points imo
Yes, the fact that the disciplines just work unless contested makes me love this system.
The way Mask of 1,000 faces used to work was that you’d look like the most average non descript person which would make it difficult for people to remember how to describe you if they even took note. I don’t recall if it was in first edition but you could, with effort and time, define your look but people skipped the time and effort part which is why I think it got so ridiculous
In fact, the first Nosferatu Clanbook (and my favorite of the original line of Clanbooks) had a story of a Nosferatu who would carefully craft an image they had developed for use when they went to the club where they were planning on embracing this narcissistic beautiful woman
Sorry for blowing up your comments but this was always one of my favorite cardinal Disciplines (along with Auspex though I never had much problem with Auspex aside from minor details of specific powers so that was more how they were handled) and I have had a LOT of thoughts on it over the years lol
I used to make my players spend blood for each trait they wanted in Mask to stop it from getting stupid.
I remember that story. That was amazing, I remember reading that sitting near a bon fire at a werewolf game that sucked, lol.
So apologies necessary. I love making new friends who like to go on about the world of darkness. I try to answer every comment asap and start up conversations and the like. Thanks for being interactive.
Played a malkavian that used obfuscate and auspex constantly. He was paranoid about being lied too. He was a programer and hated bad or false information.
Hide information or refuse to give information did not trigger his derangment, but lying or falsifying information drive him to frenzy.
Nice. I really do feel like using some disciplines can just bring out the worst in people. You get this "If I can do this, why can't they" mentality.
Love these overviews and talks about the Vampire series.. I live in a pretty isolated area, and collecting the books and playing when I CAN, has been a hobby of mine for A LONG time, to finally have discussions about them is GREAT FUN for me.. So thanks for creating these. Keep up the good work..
Glad you enjoy it! I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.
I seriously agree with you with regards to how Chimerstry and Obfuscate would flow and the usefulness of the levels over time. Not only that but Mask was often used by people in a manner that I started to question what the difference was from Chimerstry. When I saw the V5 Obfuscate and how they were combining Disciplines I instantly predicted it would be an Obfuscate Amalgam. I thought Presence would work best too but assumed I would be wrong and I’m thankful for how they handled it
Considering that a lot of disciplines were just filled with filler levels so that there would be 5 I love the Amalgams. So much better. Chimerstry especially.
A malkavian character i have yet to play named don is planned out to be a former ghoul doomsday prepper from the 1960s. He’s having to use obfuscate and dominate to cover for the fact that he’s a man out of time. Modern day internet, cellphones,the Prince/barons, sheriffs on both sides of the night, and his grandkids being everywhere are just the start of his problems when a certain sabbat pack “asks guess who’s back?”.
For chimistry I had an old spc that hardly got used but would be my in game excuse to have the players get hints. She’d create a illusion covered hunting blind then do things like create a rustling sound behind the players, the sound of their ghoul dog barking or a feeling of a breeze coming from the direction of a door or certain smells being more prominent. It worked because very few of my players would have auspex much less at a high enough level.
Interesting use of Chimistry. I like the idea of using to give hints.
I love you reference The Shadow. I was obsessed with that movie, had all the radio broadcast on cassette tapes, had a bunch of comics, and even joined a fan club. I’m not sure why you mention Obtenebration but I would totally say Auspex and Obfuscate which I’m sure made someone make a Malk
Oh wait, I forgot the use of Dominate
I love the Shadow too. So happy that I can listen to all the old broadcasts on TH-cam now.
I think I brought up Obten because I always wanted to make an Anarch Lasombra based on the Shadow.
Yes!
@@VoivodeMekhet when I was young and stupid I was in a small Wraith larp ever so briefly and the ST let me make a Wraith servant of the Legion I based on the Shadow using stuff like Argos and with relic guns. As I said, young and stupid lol
I always preferred Cloak Of Shadows over Silence of Death because it's a free version of Unseen Passage, even though you cannot walk you can still functionally make anyone ignore you with a roll if they have auspex, and can activate it whenever. "You hear someone entering." activate cloak of sahdows and your gone. But personally I LOVE the Ravnos side of this discipline.
Obfuscate has really had one hell of an upgrade in v5. I love all the stuff they brought in from Requiem. I actually think this is my favorite version of Chemistry.
@@VoivodeMekhet Yup I believe it has the most powers out of any other discipline, I think they did a good job of incorporating it and the mecahnics of the rules, even though I would have preferred a seperate discipline it does make sense as Obfuscate is already affected the mind and senses to make anyone ignore the user or see the user as someone else, The Ravnos are just skilled at casting this out on others.