Game News Bloodlines 2 Clan Introduction - Ventrue

[Infinitron]

Tags: Brian Mitsoda; Cara Ellison; Florian Schwarzer; Hardsuit Labs; Paradox Interactive; Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2

Florian Schwarzer is apparently busy these days, so there was no Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines 2 livestream today. Instead this week's clan was introduced in a 40 minute prerecorded video after an exclusive early reveal at Polygon (who also published an interview with the game's writers). I'm talking about the Ventrue, the ruling aristocrats of vampire society. As you might expect, the Ventrue of Bloodlines 2 have powerful mental domination abilities, stronger than the Toreador's though affecting only a single target. Interestingly they also have supernatural resilience, making them the game's tanks. As usual, there's a new page on the official website with details about that. The trailer however is mainly about the power of the Ventrue's social stature, except for the brief gameplay snippet at the end:

VENTRUE
Historically, Seattle has been the site of many industrial booms, and of course, the Ventrue have been there to capitalize on its fortunes. As more and more billion-dollar corporations shape the local and global landscape, enterprising Ventrue have entrenched themselves in the businesses of the 21st century, paving the way for a prosperous future for their clan… and making enemies of the residents who preferred the way things used to be.

The blood of rulers has flown in the veins of the Ventrue since time immemorial - be they high priests, emperors, investment bankers, or chairmen of the board. No surprise then that lineage and loyalty are held in high esteem; even less that others might mistake them for pompous nepotists. The Clan of Kings sees the truth: they are the architects of vampire society, the guardians of the Masquerade. In these modern nights, they are the only thing to stand between the Kindred and extinction. Knowing this, how could they not stick together, to better weather the onslaught? To command the right to rule, for everyone's betterment? And to swiftly deal with anyone to fall short of these exacting standards?

DOMINATE
Guardians of the Masquerade and Princes of uncounted cities, it runs in the Ventrues’ blood to be obeyed. Their signature Discipline allows them to Dominate the actions and memories of others.

• Mesmerize (Blood Cost: 3), the primary Dominate power, allows the Ventrue to place one NPC in a brief hypnotic trance. The person so affected is oblivious to the world around them, ignoring sound, touch and even pain. The • • slot intensifies Mesmerize’s effect.

• • • Command (Blood Cost: 0), the secondary Dominate power, significantly extends the Ventrue’s control over the Mesmerized NPC. They can now be ordered to move, remove obstacles, or even attack others. The • • • • and • • • • • slots upgrade Command.

Using Dominate powers is not a Masquerade violation.

FORTITUDE
Few things truly worry the vampire who masters Fortitude, the Discipline of physical resilience. After all, why fear the battle when you are certain to outlast your foe?

• Absorb (Blood Cost: 2), the first active, allows the vampire to take a brief defensive stance in which they may deflect all attacks they can see, healing their wounds for every would-be strike. The • • slot increases Absorb’s effects.

• • • Personal Armor (Blood Cost: 2), the second active power, hardens the vampire’s skin into a stone-like barrier. The • • • • and • • • • • slots upgrade this power to the point where a true master becomes impervious to attacks, causing attackers to stagger back from the recoil of their own strikes.

Allowing a mortal to witness your Fortitude under attack is a Masquerade Violation.
​

Florian won't be available next week either, so the sixth and final clan will instead be introduced by a mystery guest. I wonder which clan it's going to be. Nosferatu, Malkavian, or something more exotic?

 

[Morality Games]

Any design document for this game that didn't involve including both the Malkavians and the Nosferatu as playable options was pretty much dead at the pitch. -20 points from Gryffindor.

 

[Background Character]

Fuck yeah best clan coming through (game still gonna suck though)

 

[Wunderbar]

diablerises somebody

imagine turning into a madman or an ugly monster by your own choice.

 

[MicoSelva]

My guess is the final clan will be neither Nosferatu nor Malkavian (because these take actual effort to implement), but it will be something 'weirder' than the ones already introduced.
Also this is a Paradox game we are talking about - more clans coming as DLC over the next three years, $14.99 each!

 

[Wunderbar]

My guess is the final clan will be neither Nosferatu nor Malkavian (because these take actual effort to implement)

gangrel then

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I stick to my previous estimates that it's 60% chance Gangrel, 20% chance Nosferatu, 15% Malk, and then as the wildcard Lasombra. In terms of gameplay mechanical and VFX stylistic opportunities, Lasombra are an obvious choice.

 

[Dr Schultz]

I stick to my previous estimates that it's 60% chance Gangrel, 20% chance Nosferatu, 15% Malk, and then as the wildcard Lasombra. In terms of gameplay mechanical and VFX stylistic opportunities, Lasombra are an obvious choice.

I doubt they will use a clan which is not in the Camarilla or among the Anarchs. I put my money on Gangreals. Second choice Nosferatu. Malkavians as a dlc clan.
Alternatively, the last "clan" are the Caitiffs, clanless vampires

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

I stick to my previous estimates that it's 60% chance Gangrel, 20% chance Nosferatu, 15% Malk, and then as the wildcard Lasombra. In terms of gameplay mechanical and VFX stylistic opportunities, Lasombra are an obvious choice.

I doubt they will use a clan which is not in the Camarilla or among the Anarchs. I put my money on Gangreals. Second choice Nosferatu. Malkavians as a dlc clan.
Alternatively, the last "clan" are the Caitiffs, clanless vampires

Lasombra jumped ship to the Camarilla in recent events of the timeline.

 

[Dr Schultz]

I stick to my previous estimates that it's 60% chance Gangrel, 20% chance Nosferatu, 15% Malk, and then as the wildcard Lasombra. In terms of gameplay mechanical and VFX stylistic opportunities, Lasombra are an obvious choice.

I doubt they will use a clan which is not in the Camarilla or among the Anarchs. I put my money on Gangreals. Second choice Nosferatu. Malkavians as a dlc clan.
Alternatively, the last "clan" are the Caitiffs, clanless vampires

Lasombra jumped ship to the Camarilla in recent events of the timeline.

As far as I know, only a part of the clan is trying to shift alliances. And - given the history of Lasombra - not with the best intents. Reason why they are not even in the base sourcebook (v.5)

 

[Outmind]

They said there'd be 5 clans + thinbloods, right?

That doesn't bode well for the rest of the clans since we know we're getting Torries now. They could have easily substituted them for Ventrue without losing much of the clan's flare and added Nosferatu or Malkavian. Something tells me that Ventrue will be the last one , leaving the more interesting-to-play options out. Technically, we could get Asamite or Salubri if Sabat options are off the table, but I think that's a pipe dream at this point...

They might surprise us with Malks o Nosferatus, but both clans represent tons of additional work in either the game mechanic or dialogue department.

I'd hate to say I told you so...

I was originally under the impression that Gangrel were a given. Whichever way you slice it, we're losing either them, Malks, or the Nosferatu. A pitty really.

 

[Dr Schultz]

In hindsight, I think they will probably use the Caitiff card in order to explain how your character can "join" a Clan midgame. If you are not a mere thin-blood, but a caitiff, you can technically learn the discliplines of all clans by paying more xp. According to the 5th ed sourcebook, there is only one restricton: You need to drink a drop of blood from a vampire who masters the disciplines you want to learn. It's not a diablerie. You don't need to kill the "master", as far as I remember. Maybe in the game they will simply give you the chance to join a clan by drinking from one of its members, learning the associated disciplines in the process.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Well probably not, and the Thin-Blood thing with joining is established to happen through Diablerie, which presumably means some kind of blood hunt. Not like there isn't high chances of that being in the cards, since the PC is one of the victims/witnesses of a mass embrace by parties unknown as the kick-off point for the story.

As far as I know, only a part of the clan is trying to shift alliances. And - given the history of Lasombra - not with the best intents. Reason why they are not even in the base sourcebook (v.5)

More likely they decided to make them more readily used among the "splat Clans" by having the majority of them cut a deal with Camarilla and join in the Chicago By Night metaplot update stuff. It's apparently going to be more of a 50/50 split, maybe more staying in the Sabbat, but it's also the top of the Clan who are leaving (most if not the entirety of Amici Noctis is bailing to Cam), the ones staying behind in Sabbat are by and far the lower-rungs.

As for why they join, they aren't doing that with bad intentions (well, except in the sense that in the longterm they intend to get a Ventrue-sized slice of the Cam cake, and they aren't going to actually honor the deal), but because 1) self-preservation with the Second Inquisition and how Sabbat's rejection of Humanity makes them easy targets, and 2) they aren't all too keen on Sabbat's new structural changes like Gehenna Crusade and how going vampire ISIS would forfeit all of their accumulated stuff (hence why the Cam defection is spearheaded by the elites of the Clan).

 

[isador]

Could also be Assamites or Setites since those two are either Camarilla or Anarchs now.

 

[Mr. Magniloquent]

Probably the worst clan intro vignette, yet. The strong womyns voice acting was even more flat than the 2D flash animation.

 

[aratuk]

Probably no way for them to implement Malkavian without controversy, because to do so would stigmatize mental illness, right?

But I'm not informed. Is there already a sanitized, rewritten nü-Malkavian that passes muster these days? Complete with caregivers, group sessions, and a 24-hour suicide hotline?

 

[RickOmbo]

Believe me, you don't want playable Malkavians in Bloodlines 2. Not only would the developers have had to come up with decent lines, they would also have had to find voice actors able to pull it off.

 

[luj1]

They really need to stop with these graphic novella cheap trash intros.

 

[Bester]

Just saw the video. She's smoking a cigarette - what about vampires' inherent fear of fire? https://whitewolf.fandom.com/wiki/Rötschreck

Exposure to small amounts of sunlight or fire, at a safe distance or under the character’s control, hardly ever provokes Rötschreck. A vampire might step away from a person lighting a cigarette, and she might prefer to stand well back from a screened-in fire in a fireplace, but she doesn’t panic. If someone jabs a lit cigarette at the character or a flashbulb goes off in her face, however, it might be a different matter.

And in here, she's smoking it. And then lights a giant human bonfire with it.

 

[Vaarna_Aarne]

Well lighting a cigarette is pretty low-end stuff, and use in that manner is basically a display of control and intimidation. If you show or fear Rötschreck you're a chickenshit. Further note is that the revised and expanded Fortitude also increases general mental resiliency.

Rötschreck is probably the most ignored thing in VtM anyway, mostly because it'd get very stupid very fast if you used it as written (like, just look at Bloodlines 1). Though V5 does revise the difficulties and what stats are used to a notable extent to make them more functional instead of "and then everyone failed" stuff.

 

[rusty_shackleford]

Probably the worst clan intro vignette, yet. The strong womyns voice acting was even more flat than the 2D flash animation.

how to get strong Ventrue womyn gf

 

[lukaszek]

deterministic system > RNG

 

[Wesp5]

Smiling Jack is smoking a cigar and both Strauss and LaCroix have open fires in their havens in Bloodlines 1. But I think that the Mystbusters showed that you can't light gasoline by throwing a cigarette into it in the first place !

 

[UnknownBro]

These trailers feel cheap and uninspiring. I hope that they don't represent the final quality of the game.