Give Vampires a way to work with darkness

[Kaed]

Just a way to make an area mystically dark for escapes and such. I know it's mechanically possible, because we have those photon disruption grenades and I think a wizard spell does it?

It feels like something that would be useful and thematic with them. I don't think it should be something that's high level or costs a lot of blood. Maybe it's free, save for a cooldown, but you have to get to like, 150 blood or something?

Also, their inability to see in the dark confuses me very much. They are creatures literally borne of dark magics. And yet, they get lost in the dark like everyone else??

[Azande]

They already have a power that lets them do a blink to the nearest shadowed tile. But them not being able to see in the dark is a bit strange.

[Pacmandevil]

I dont think buffing vampire is needed ever, despite this being a good-theme-fitting concept.

[Kaed]

I dont think buffing vampire is needed ever, despite this being a good-theme-fitting concept.

 

Counterpoint: mechanics that give them something to do besides quietly dominate the crew constantly as thier primary mechanic means less total reliance on it.

Design-wise, giving them an ability is that competes with dominate for usefulness means that they'll actually use something besides dominate.

*spreads shadows all over the room and vanishes* is a lot more spooky than *dominates the ERT member to kill his teammates again*, though both options get you out of trouble by providing a distraction.

[Scheveningen]

means less total reliance on it.

 

it was nerfed

 

*spreads shadows all over the room and vanishes*

 

another lightcode headache to solve by the sounds of it. seems more of a shadowling sort of mechanic that deserves to stay there, i don't think vampires would benefit very much from turning the lights out instantly in a room. nor does it make a whole lot of sense either, considering that's not something they do in VtM/White Wolf documentation.

[Kaed]

means less total reliance on it.

 

it was nerfed

 

*spreads shadows all over the room and vanishes*

 

another lightcode headache to solve by the sounds of it. seems more of a shadowling sort of mechanic that deserves to stay there, i don't think vampires would benefit very much from turning the lights out instantly in a room. nor does it make a whole lot of sense either, considering that's not something they do in VtM/White Wolf documentation.

 

How was it nerfed? You need to provide a little bit more context when you make statements like that. Never mind, lohikar explained it, and it definitely sounds like we need something useful to fill in the mid tier power list now that it's moved to late game. Bats is not useful, and never has been, and most people just ignore Presence.

Anyway, this isn't masquerade and being loosely based on it thematically doesn't mean we need to follow it to the letter. Making a cloud of darkness is ~already something in the code~ so I don't think I see why it would somehow be a headache to implement. In fact, I just spoke to [mention]Lohikar[/mention], and he said all it is is a negative light effect. Easy peasy.

Even ignoring the part about inhibiting vision of crewmembers who might be trying to attack it, vampires currently have the ability to jump to shadowed places, so creating a large area wherein you can teleport to any place inside, including through a window or door definitely seems like it would benefit them to me.

[Munks]

Counterpoint: mechanics that give them something to do besides quietly dominate the crew constantly as thier primary mechanic means less total reliance on it.

Design-wise, giving them an ability is that competes with dominate for usefulness means that they'll actually use something besides dominate.

 

This is a good train of thought but what will happen is they will continue to quietly dominate the crew except now its even easier for them to run away should Security actually manage to garner enough IC evidence (and support) to go after them. The "hey i found something cool in maint come look haha you don't have any IC reason not to come with me bro don't make me ahelp" will continue and if they somehow manage to give Sec justification to go after them they'll just drop shadows and run away. You assume antags actually want to be robust vs relying on the same easy shit round after round

The bit about being able to pop shadows and use them to pop up on the other side of the window does sound nifty but I'm not sure if it outweighs giving vampires an escape utility that will be nothing but an annoying get-out-of-jail-free card, not quite on par with wizards' blink/jaunt but still a tedious inevitability whenever a vampire accidentally goes loud