OOC: On playing a ghoul
I have come to a zen about my character. It's not an epiphany, It's not a moment of Hubris either.
It's why I have come to love this character, when I absolutely HATE the current Requiem system.
I play one of the very few ghouls in the game. I say very few because in the North East region I've only ever heard of one other ghoul PC. One.
I'm also a combat monkey.
What I mean by that is I built my character with combat as a first priority. I have an amazing defense at this point, and a masterwork level of combat skill. I have all three physical disciplines. They're at base levels, true, and possibly not worth having at those levels, but that's all I can get. It may be ALL I can get - the rules for Ghouls were never really fleshed out fully.
I also sqeezed out just enough points to take control of Boston's underworld. It's not a very big underworld, but it DOES reflect the real world - La Cosa Nostra is strong here, but not as strong as in Chicago or New York. The Irish Mob has decent numbers, but are weaker than LCN. And the Russian Organization is here, but low key.
As a combat monkey, it's my job to crush things. If the Cardinal ever decides he wants someone dead, he's going to send me to kill them. And Kill I shall. And I'll probably end up killed in the process.
As a ghoul, I'm screwed in combat.
Think about it. I'm using borrowed blood, and a smattering of disciplines. I have NO blood potency to power effects. I have maybe 5 blood traits total. Any Vampire who wanted to could crush me. Any vampire starts out with more xp than a ghoul, and more powers. Heck, they get some powers free, while I had to pay for all but my one dot in Celerity. Vampires also get a wider range of abilities to choose from - all I can have is physical disciplines.
I also can't count on any support.
I'm a Ghoul. A meat puppet. A Pet. And while there is the aspect most everyone has that "I'm Cardinal Dirae's property" and the implicit understanding that killing me will get them punished - Really, do you bloodhunt someone for killing your dog?
Cause that's what I am. A dog of the church, and a pet of the Dirae family.
But.
I have a level of almost absolute power as well.
After all, who's going to suspect the family dog of plotting to destroy someone's livelyhood for an offense?
Who outside of my "Master" even knows that the Underworld of Massachusetts has a single leader?
Alex T, the Camarilla MST wrote an Essay on why he thinks Combat in the nWoD is bad. I agree in part with him. Only in part, because frankly, Vampires are creatures of intense violence. And no matter what you do, that's going to be there. People are going to die
But at the same token, it doesn't mean you die stupid.
He mentioned several strategies for weakening opponents. Weaken their social position in the Requiem, destroy their havens and their livelihoods, destroy their good names.
The best way for these to work, of course, is if they don't know who started their decent.
Someone told me last game that they didn't even consider my character save as a servant to the Cardinal. Why? because I'm "Just a ghoul"
heh. heh. Heh. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NEVER UNDERESTIMATE AN ENEMY!
That's one of the beauties. Everyone underestimates me. "Oh, that's just Cardinal Dirae's lapdog. Pay him no mind."
*snicker*
I feel sorry for the first person to make my life difficult. Because no one. NO ONE. is going to expect she shitstorm I can make their lives. Because there's one other thing that I've learned about vampires.
They're as paranoid as they are arrogant. Obviously it was one of their other Enemies. Obviously it couldn't have been a ghoul acting on his lonesome - that's unheard of.
heh.
It's why I have come to love this character, when I absolutely HATE the current Requiem system.
I play one of the very few ghouls in the game. I say very few because in the North East region I've only ever heard of one other ghoul PC. One.
I'm also a combat monkey.
What I mean by that is I built my character with combat as a first priority. I have an amazing defense at this point, and a masterwork level of combat skill. I have all three physical disciplines. They're at base levels, true, and possibly not worth having at those levels, but that's all I can get. It may be ALL I can get - the rules for Ghouls were never really fleshed out fully.
I also sqeezed out just enough points to take control of Boston's underworld. It's not a very big underworld, but it DOES reflect the real world - La Cosa Nostra is strong here, but not as strong as in Chicago or New York. The Irish Mob has decent numbers, but are weaker than LCN. And the Russian Organization is here, but low key.
As a combat monkey, it's my job to crush things. If the Cardinal ever decides he wants someone dead, he's going to send me to kill them. And Kill I shall. And I'll probably end up killed in the process.
As a ghoul, I'm screwed in combat.
Think about it. I'm using borrowed blood, and a smattering of disciplines. I have NO blood potency to power effects. I have maybe 5 blood traits total. Any Vampire who wanted to could crush me. Any vampire starts out with more xp than a ghoul, and more powers. Heck, they get some powers free, while I had to pay for all but my one dot in Celerity. Vampires also get a wider range of abilities to choose from - all I can have is physical disciplines.
I also can't count on any support.
I'm a Ghoul. A meat puppet. A Pet. And while there is the aspect most everyone has that "I'm Cardinal Dirae's property" and the implicit understanding that killing me will get them punished - Really, do you bloodhunt someone for killing your dog?
Cause that's what I am. A dog of the church, and a pet of the Dirae family.
But.
I have a level of almost absolute power as well.
After all, who's going to suspect the family dog of plotting to destroy someone's livelyhood for an offense?
Who outside of my "Master" even knows that the Underworld of Massachusetts has a single leader?
Alex T, the Camarilla MST wrote an Essay on why he thinks Combat in the nWoD is bad. I agree in part with him. Only in part, because frankly, Vampires are creatures of intense violence. And no matter what you do, that's going to be there. People are going to die
But at the same token, it doesn't mean you die stupid.
He mentioned several strategies for weakening opponents. Weaken their social position in the Requiem, destroy their havens and their livelihoods, destroy their good names.
The best way for these to work, of course, is if they don't know who started their decent.
Someone told me last game that they didn't even consider my character save as a servant to the Cardinal. Why? because I'm "Just a ghoul"
heh. heh. Heh. MWAHAHAHAHAHAHA! NEVER UNDERESTIMATE AN ENEMY!
That's one of the beauties. Everyone underestimates me. "Oh, that's just Cardinal Dirae's lapdog. Pay him no mind."
*snicker*
I feel sorry for the first person to make my life difficult. Because no one. NO ONE. is going to expect she shitstorm I can make their lives. Because there's one other thing that I've learned about vampires.
They're as paranoid as they are arrogant. Obviously it was one of their other Enemies. Obviously it couldn't have been a ghoul acting on his lonesome - that's unheard of.
heh.