Unstable Mutation (Protean card vs Master:Discipline cards)

Name: Unstable Mutation
Cardtype: Action Modifier / Reaction
Cost: 1 Blood
Capacity: n/a
Discipline: Protean :Pro:
Clan: n/a

Card Text:

Action Modifier: This vampire loses Protean until the end of turn and gains the basic level of any discipline of your choice for the current action.

Reaction: Put this card on this vampire. This vampire may burn 1 blood to lose Protean until the end of turn and gain the superior level of any discipline of your choice until the end of the turn. A vampire may only have one Unstable Mutation.


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Flavor text: n/a

Art notes: A Gangrel depicted in agony undergoes a transformation under the moonlight, revealing him / her to have many disparate bestial features: feathers on their back, a tail, wolf claws, ram horns, scales, etc.

World of Darkness reference: n/a

How does this card address a compelling game need?:
Grants flexibility to Protean users without straying directly into another discipline's mechanical space, i.e. rather than directly give Protean +bleed, Protean users can 'acquire' Dominate, Presence, or Serpentis for a single turn but not without a trade-off (they lose Protean until end of turn and pay blood.) Most decks would prefer to save their Master actions for higher impact cards rather than spec'ing out their minions with various Master:Discipline cards, so with Protean / Unstable Mutation players could opt for that instead, opening up new and interesting deck ideas. Of course, the Unstable Mutation is either a 1-shot effect or semi-permanent multi-use effect with a cumulative cost (blood). Importantly, it is not strictly better than Master:Discipline cards, as those cards cost 0 pool/blood and increase capacity.

Created by: Tyler Mathis

1) Way too many moving parts, this is begging for misplays. If you propose a non-standard effect, then either make the inferior a boring +1 something, or make both effects similar enough for the superior to use an "as above" template.

2) It might need a limit on allowed disciplines to avoid giving away bloodline disciplines too easily.

3) I would prefer a "gain one level of..." template to work better with the wide discipline spread of the

Action Modifier: Put this card on this vampire. This vampire loses Protean :Pro: and gains +1 level of any one Discipline they possess. When this vampire goes to torpor, burn Unstable Mutation.

Action Modifier: As above, but gain the superior level of any one Discipline (whether they possess it or not.)

Is reminder text necessary? Probably not, but it is there for clarity. Part of the goal of this was to allow vamps with Protean to swap that out for specific bloodline disciplines, thus enabling weird and interesting decks.

That looks a lot better. I would not make the card stick. First, the card flow is very bad as a permanent effect, and that might be enough to kill the concept. Second, making it transient opens more design possibilities since one could be using a different discipline every time, or still keep playing most of the time.

LivesByProxy wrote:

Action Modifier: Put this card on this vampire. This vampire loses Protean :Pro: and gains +1 level of any one Discipline they possess. When this vampire goes to torpor, burn Unstable Mutation.

Action Modifier: As above, but gain the superior level of any one Discipline (whether they possess it or not.)

The "This vampire loses Protean" bit. Do you mean loses the discipline altogether, or loses one level of it etc? It may be helpful to clarify.

On the ability to grant the discipline fairly freely, I am concerned by the ability to gain Obeah and Temporis in a fairly easy fashion. Weenie-ish Protean isn't that hard to find, and so you can have little combat monsters throwing out Outside the Hourglass, or three caps with superior Spirit Marionette. And Spirit Marionette + Heidelberg gives you a reasonable way of fueling the costs too.