Submission: Mark Sandhurst

Name: Mark Sandhurst
Capacity: 8
Cardtype: Vampire
Clan:
Discipline:
Group: 5
Camarilla. You and Mark may play and use cards as though Mark was Sabbat. If Mark enters torpor burn 1 pool. +1 Bleed.

Art notes: He is wearing an overcoat and has a flare gun in his hand. His mouth is open bearing his fangs. There is a picture of him on page 66 of Nights of Prophecy.

World of Darkness Reference: Pages 66 and 82 of Nights of Prophecy, but there are multiple references to him through out the scenario since he is one of the antagonists. In the scenario Mark Sandhust is a double agent. He is both a Camarilla Archon and a Sabbat sleeper agent. He betrays the Players and starts a fight.

How does this card address a compelling game need?:

He is solid 8 Cap for Followers of Set. There is only one 8 Cap Follower of Set in group 5. Mark's Disciplines cross over fairly well with several vampires in groups 4-6 and since he can play both Sabbat and Camarilla cards he fits into multiple crypts.

Created by:
Justin Lacey

Update: July 25th 2017
I did some comparisons with Sundervere, The Devil Brahmin and found that Mark is slightly under-powered. He should have one more discipline point. Adding since it is the most common out of clan discipline for G5 FoS. Sundervere can bleed for more than Mark but he is also Red List. Mark's disadvantage is worse, but he has a better mix of disciplines. The also gives him cross over potential with Pentweret, Ogwon and Abdelsobek.

Mark Sandhurst
8 Capacity Group 5

Camarilla. You and Mark may play and use cards as though Mark was Sabbat. If Mark is enters torpor, you burn 1 pool. +1 Bleed.

Update: August 14th 2017

Decided to go a completely different direction. The Sabbat mechanic was purely thematic though it did allow him to use Abbot, but it was unnecessary. He didn't need +1 intercept. I tried it and it was a poor ability. Instead, I changed it to focus on non-bleed actions and I am really starting to like this version.

Mark Sandhurst
8 Capacity Group 5

Camarilla. Once during your minion phase, Mark may unlock after a successful non-bleed action.

Math
8 capacity = +9
8 disciplines = -8
unlock ability (require action) and non-bleed = -1
= 0

This ability is extremely good. He can unlock after a successful Corruption, Enticement, Temptation, Revelation, or Mind Numb. In playtest, I used it after removing a Pentex Subversion and the next turn I rescued one of my grand prey's vampires from torpor, then unlocked, which meant he was ready and could use Telepathic Misdirection.

Update: August 17th 2017

Here is the Math:
8 Cap = +9
6 diff disciplines = +1
9 disc = -9
ability = -1
=0

Mark Sandhurst
8 Capacity Group 5

Camarilla. Once each turn, Mark may unlock at the end of a successful non-bleed action.

Update: August 22nd 2017

Reasons
1) This adds several potential non-bleed necromancy actions.
2) This adds a good cross over in group 4-5 with Cagliostro, Abdelsobek, Neferu and Seterpenre.
3) In group 5-6, in addition he can cross over with Count Jocalo, who really needs the extra support.
4) This addresses the concern that is too abundant in groups 4-5.
5) His base text makes unnecessary.

Mark Sandhurst
8 Capacity Group 5

Camarilla. Once each turn, Mark may unlock at the end of a successful non-bleed action.

Updated.

Ankha wrote:

Your proposal isn't "solid", it's overpowered. Mark should be a 10-cap if you want to keep the rest.

What? The proposal is just one more level of a discipline than Lazarus James, who never sees play:

www.secretlibrary.info/index.php?crypt=729

Or compare to Bloody Mary, who also never sees play:

www.secretlibrary.info/index.php?crypt=1183

Or Muhandis:

www.secretlibrary.info/index.php?crypt=734

You do have a point is that Mark's discipline array might be too optimized. There only two 8 capacity vampires for Followers of Set that all have all in-clan at superior and none have +1 bleed. In fact, all of the Followers of Set with +1 bleed with all in-clan disciplines at superior are 10+.

What I was saying is that Mark's disadvantage is "If Mark is enters torpor, you burn 1 pool." is worse than Sundervere's disadvantage "If Sundervere is burned, you burn 1 pool." since Mark's disadvantage can be triggered multiple times and Sundervere's disadvantage will only ever trigger once.

Here was the math,

Sundervere, The Devil Brahmin
8 Cap = +9
5 diff disc = +0.5
Red List = +1
Disadv = +1
9 disc = -9
Burn for bleed = -1
+1 Bleed = -1.5
= 0

Mark Sandhurst
8 Cap = +9
5 diff disc = +0.5
Disadv = +1
9 disc = -9
+1 Bleed = -1.5
=0

Okay, lets go back to the thematic. His discipline mix is the least important part of the card, though he should have at least inferior in-clan

He has "You and Mark may play and use cards as though Mark was Sabbat." because he is a Sabbat infiltrator and in the Camarilla, specifically he is an Archon. The reason he has his disadvantage is if you capture him, he will turn on his masters and spill his secrets... if you burn him, you get nothing. The +1 Bleed is because he is dangerous and undermines diplomatic negotiations.

Maybe the better way to go... is remove the disadvantage, the extra discipline and the +1 Bleed all together and replace it with +1 intercept vs political actions?

Mark Sandhurst
8 Capacity Group 5

Camarilla. You and Mark may play and use cards as though Mark was Sabbat. He has +1 intercept when attempting to block political actions.

8 Cap = +9 points
8 disc = -8 points
Play Sabbat = -0.5 points
+1 intercept on specific action type = -0.5 points
= 0

Is that better?