Regarding unplayable or overpowered cards

AaronC wrote:

Thanks for coming to my defense, Old Man!

I researched what the power of Eyes of the Dead did in the original version of the RPG. It allowed the necromancer to use the "Deadsight" of nearby wraiths (aka ghosts). Deadsight is kind of like Aura Reading from the Auspex discipline, but less detailed and more storytelling oriented.

In my first suggestion, I made it like a good Auspex card, but, like in the RPG, there has to be a wraith nearby. It suggests a Masquer/Potence wall deck archetype. I think Necromancy should have been more reactive since so many Necromancy powers in the RPG involved divination.

In my second suggestion, I took the fact that Deadsight indicates which beings are close to death. In VTES, the beings that are closest to death are vampires about to get diablerized and allies somebody is prepared to rush. I think that was the concept of the actual card. My version isn't great, but at least there's a lot more flexibility, and it allows ally-heavy Giovanni decks an efficient means to protect key allies.

"Close to death" is also heavy linked with hunting (or gaining blood from hunting ground).

Lech wrote:

"Close to death" is also heavy linked with hunting (or gaining blood from hunting ground).

You're right, but the theme is used a lot in quietus cards. There is also Follow the blood for Black Hand. And two, maybe more, event and/or master that prevent every hunt.

If Eye of the dead became as powerful as Follow the blood, maybe it would be a tenfold improvement in power level, but people would still not use it.

Lech wrote:

"Close to death" is also heavy linked with hunting (or gaining blood from hunting ground).

When a vampire runs out of blood in the RPG, he falls into torpor but he doesn't meet the Final Death.

The information I read said that wraiths actually saw vampires with their Deadsight as avoiding the decay and taint of death, although the things around them seemed more decayed by comparison. The effect of preventing diablerie is just an attempt to translate the ability in some kinds of useful(?) VTES game mechanic terms.

Wiki wrote:

Wraiths and Mummies see death in everything. They do not see things in the physical world as they appear, but as they someday will be. A person about to die might appear cadaverous, with hollow eyes and jaundiced skin; a car destined to crash will appear dented in advance. Much of the world seems decayed or near collapse. Billboards are tattered, roads are potholed, paint is peeling, metal is rusting, buildings are crumbling. This can be used to find weak spots and to measure the Health level of a person.
All Wraiths are touched by Oblivion and are able to see the creeping influence and the inevitable death of everything. Because of this, deathsight is an ability that every wraith possesses.

The counterpart of deathsight is Lifesight.

Kuei-jin attuned with Yin can use Deathsight, and those attuned with Yang can use Lifesight.

Which give you informations about death of nearby persons, not only vampires. If you know that someone will be drained to death, you can take precautions, right? For example following the person. Or letting other know.

Isn't draining mortals empty more or less breach of masquerade?

So more practical kindred don't go on a glut leaving trail of bodies behind but only drink so much that the doner is left alive. And can be later on reused.

Lönkka wrote:

Isn't draining mortals empty more or less breach of masquerade?

So more practical kindred don't go on a glut leaving trail of bodies behind but only drink so much that the doner is left alive. And can be later on reused.

Law abiding kindred do that. Also, it's mainly a camarilla thingy.

It's more or less against the Sabbat ideology to do that, since you show you fear your prey. For independant, it depend on the clan. Giovanni won't give a flying fuck about that, and actually are likely to have problems if they let their prey alive because of their clan weakness. Follower of set and assamite are supposed to not do that, but aren't all that picky on that. Gangrel will only do that if it's pratical to do so.

And even for camarilla or masquerade-sensitive vampire, it's not an important rule. Mainly because, with the exception of assamite, if you kill the guy but make it look like a natural death, nobody will care. And if you kill it messily and let it on the street, the chance somebody vampire-award make the connection is pretty slim.

Lastly, even if you feed preperly, the people you just fed upon is a lot nearer to death, he will take at least one week to recover from the blood loss. So he is a lot nearer to death.