Cycle of cards

This is a cycle of cards I threw together with a new set being launched in mind. They all fulfill things easily within each diciplines preview, and while in most cases another card does a similar function for generally not costing a blood, each of these cards have a secondary effect usable later by the minion playing them.
Under my skin was the card that gave me the main principle behind the “get this now and something later” idea, along with cards like lokis gift, with a mundane primary effect and more useful secondary one.
All cards created by Corey Porter









Adaptive body
Combat
1 blood
Protean
After playing this card, put it on the minion that played it. Any round of combat after the current round, this minion may burn adaptive body to treat aggravated damage as normal for the current round.
[pro] prevent one aggravated damage
[PRO] strike: dodge, and this minion untaps at the end of the current action.

Art: a smiling gangrel elder (who looks like alaxander skarsgard of true blood fame) is walking toward the foreground of the picture. His shirt has been burned away, save for a few embers remaining around his right shoulder, but his skin is unscathed. In the background rests a headless figure slumped against a blood splattered wall, a lit propane blow torch still clutched in its hand.

Protean entries for many levels of the discipline, such as flesh of marble, shape of the beast’s wrath, purify the impaled beast and inner focus all have strong defensive capabilities typically allowing monumental soak values or removal of foreign objects with just vitae expenditure. Even reducing aggravated damaged or preventing all of it outright with high enough dice pools. Form of mist and spectral form allow a vampire to essentially not care about oncoming attacks while they move out of the way or just stand there and watch bullets or baseball bats swing into nothing substantial, without even exerting themselves, or possibly just leaving the fight without much effort, thus untapping. Vampire the masquerade 20th anniversary edition pages 199-203

Protean has the best strike:combat ends in the game, but little else. It’s a support discipline that does 4 things at most: agg poke, end combat, give stealth, and barely survive agg pokes with adaptability. Adaptability was printed as a rare when it shouldn’t have been, and only in the original sabbat sets to boot, so its very hard to come by. Negating agg is not what protean does anymore, since even an ivory bow shot isn’t very blood efficient to prevent with little adaptability. Protean is weak, adaptability is barely playable defense, and this card both helps vampires with no other way to survive a flamethrower shot and allows for staying on defense or taking another action with its untapping. It would do 2 things protean already does on one card, and make adaptability’s scarceness less relevant. This card was originally thought up for use in a beginner-level set, showing some things the weak-seeming protean could do without making new players hunt for sabbat rares.





Beastial Instinct
Action
1 blood
Animalism
If this action is successful, but this card on the acting minion. During a bleed action directed at you, this minion may burn this card to untap and attempt to block.
[ani] frenzy. Enter combat with vampire controlled by another Methuselah.
[ANI] as above, and striking to dodge or end combat costs the opposing minion an additional blood for the duration of combat.

Art: a shirtless nigel the shunned is tackling a vampire that looks like dolphin black in latex club-wear through a plate glass window, right off of the sidewalk of a city street. He is only seen from behind, but she looks startled/terrified.

Drawing out the beast, taunt the caged beast, and unchain the beast allow for a vampire to unleash the beast in others, and conquer the bast lets them control their frenzies to a greater degree. The rush on this card represents the beast making anything but bloodletting more taxing for a vampire targeted by the one using this animalism ability, while the untap represents the basic animalism abilities to gain warnings from animals and the beasts within themselves. Animalism entries in Vampire the Maquredae 20th anniversary edition p.127-134

Animalism is second to only dominate in strength at this point in the game, but it only has 2 rush cards, and none that are a rush at both levels. Animalism does not end combat often, or dodge, but doing either is what minions opposing them try often. This strengthens animalism combat, but not enough to make it a whole lot stronger than it already is. It gives gangrel, nosferatu, tzimitze, and akunanse another means to rush and make combat happen more along the lines they want. The akunanse benefit the most from this, since they have great combat with absolutely no answer to strike: combat ends.





Compelling suggestions
Action/combat
1 blood
If this action or strike is successful, place this card on the minion who played it. This card may be burned during any referendum to give this minion 2 votes

 bleed at +2 bleed

 strike: combat ends



Art:  a young and attractive female torrie/ventrue smiling with a shimmering aura about her head

Presence is strong in vtm. Works on mortals and kindred. It can be used to have mortals erode a rivals resources, or to appear mighty to an enemy. Or of course to gain political sway at Elysium.  Presence entries from vampire the masquerade 20th anniversary edition p.193-198



Presence lacks toolbox cards. It gains votes, bleeds, and strikes to end combat, but there are very few cards that do more than just one thins (which is why force of personality and prefect paragon are goo, multiple application) so following that path, this card gets votes and something else presence can do for a blood anyway, but now at the same time as banking votes.






	

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Enduring sight

Reaction

1 blood

Auspex

After playing this card, but it on the reacting minion that played it. The minion with this card may burn it anytime to  get +1 intercept for the current action.

[aus] +1 intercept

[AUS] reduce a bleed against you by 2



Art:a young female vampire with electric blue hair wearing white lingerie is holding a revolver in her right hand and is touching a brick wall with her left. She is seen from the side, with her eyes closed. The outline of a human figure can be seen in crackling yellows and blues on the other side of the wall.



Most of the lower ranks of auspex can easily be used to gain insights, see the unseen, and mitigate losses if one is about to be attacked, especially if the attackers think to take a vampire with auspex by surprise. All of these abilities are common auspex card abilities. Auspex entries Vampire the masquerade 20th anniversary edition p.134-141



Auspex can get intercept and reduce bleeds, but they have no cards to date that can be burned by the vampire for intercept. This card just adds some versatile defense to a defensive discipline that greatly benefits from cards that give intercept and ther things at once. As a side note, I do not believe +2 intercept for aus costing one blood to be particularly game breaking, but other might.






	

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Fractured sanity

Action modifier

1 blood

Dementation

After playing this card, put it on the acting minion. The minion with this card can burn it anytime they are in combat to cancel a grapple card or a strike that would end combat as it is played.

[dem] +1 bleed. No other modifiers may be played to increase the bleed amount of this action.

[DEM] +1 Bleed



Art: a malkavian twisting a burly vampire’s arm.

Dementation has plenty of ability to hinder a vampire or other individual’s functioning, especially if it involves a lot of thought or attention, but hampering mental faculties. The burn effect of this card addresses that ability, and the modifier uses the already established property to enhance bleed through utilizing insanity. Dementation entries from vampire the masquerade 20th anniversary edition p.147-151



Dementation has limited combat applications in vtes. Coma is ok but costly, and personal scourge is trash. Blessing of chaos is an often used way around s:ce, but takes a whole action. I’ve always been a dementation fan, and know they hurt for versatility. Command of the beast is a dominate card that is all kinds of useful in some situations, because it botches your prey’s math. Power of one at little potence has the same effect. Adding a +1 bleed to the mix of a kindred spirits bleed means KS for 2, this card for three, and then eyes of chaos for 5. not much different than 4, but sporadic, like dementation is supposed to be, and its of course not free. It seems balanced, useable, and relevant.






	

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grifters old way

action modifier

1 blood

Chimestry

After playing this card, put it on the acting minion. The minion with this card may burn it before range is chosen during combat to equip a non-unique weapon from your hand that costs 3 or less pool and inflicts with a regular strike, 3 or less damage.

[chi] equipment and retainers cost this minion 1 less blood or pool until the end of this action. (this ncludes cards equipped or employed as this action as well as cards recruited or employed during combat)

[CHI] as above, but with +1 stealth.



Art: a grey haired ravnos man at a pawn shop counter. He is holding a wad of cash that seems to be evaporating and the man behind the counter’s back is turned, getting a gun off the wall.



Chimestry is great for making things look like other things, or making things from nothing. A fanny pack may really be a cowboy style holster for a large revolver. A walking stick may be a shotgun. But shimestry doesn’t have a disguised weapon, and should have one. It can also make absolutely nothing appear as a valuable, hence the reducing costs typically paid in money. mostly low level chimestry entries vampire the masquerade 20th anniversary edition p.144-147



As I said, chimestry should, but doesn’t, have any disguised weapon combat cards, and have no cards showing gaining wealth for illusion. I think thematically both should be there (and not just horrid reality as a disguised weapon card) and ravnos need ways to do things like pull out a free raven spy and a half priced 44 magnum if they get blocked hunting, or doing anything. Ravnos aren’t weak, but this card would pull them up, and allow more diversity in what they do, in addition to making them a very capable toolbox clan, while not quite rivaling the tremere.






	

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knuckle negotiating

action

1 blood

Potence

If this action is successful, put this card on the acting minion. If a minion opposing this minion in combat ends combat as a strike, you may burn this card to cancel that strike. If you do, the current round ends immediately, and a second round of combat occurs. During that round, neither minion may end combat as a strike.

[pot] D: bleed with +1 strength until the end of the action

[POT] as above, and with +1 bleed



Art: a brutal bruja is flipping a car with one hand and holding a man in a suit by the throat with the other.



Potence makes you strong, that’s what it does. Going about an action to get rid of resources may require some strength, so this card represents starting off a hostile situation with some potence running, and at superior, someone who is flipping over cars as they walk can probably do fair damage to whatever asset they are really after. The burn ability is basically just using potence to keep fighting, even if you almost got majesty’d out of a fighting mood



potence section, vampire the masquerade 20th anniversary edition p.192-193






	

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Rule of mind

action

1 blood

Dominate

If this action is successful, put this card on the acting minion. You may burn this card during any methuselahs master phase to tap a mortal ally or a vampire with capacity less than 5.

[dom] d: bleed at +1 bleed

[DOM] as above, and mortal allies and vampire with capacity less than 5 cannot block this action.



Art: Lodin walking by a sabbat neonate strapped with ammo belts and holding a machine gun, but with a blank look on his face.



Dominate lets you attack resources and hinder those who would stand in your way by tinkering with their mind and bending it to your will. All 3 parts of this card fall neatly into that explanation. Dominate, vampire the masquerade 20th anniversary edition 151-158



Dominate doesn’t need much, but being able to tap a blocker or save a grand prey from a lunge of weenies it has some trouble with. This card is just ok, since it costs a blood, but isn’t horrible, and helps stealthbleed, walls, and other dominate favorite archetypes.






	

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Spectral favor

Combat

1 blood

Necromancy

After playing this card, put it on the minion who played it. The minion with this card may burn it during a d action directed at you to untap.

Only usable before range is chosen

[nec] for the duration of combat, you get +1 hand size. Discard down to your noral handsize after combat.

[NEC] as above, and the opposing minion takes 1r damage during the initial strike resolution of each round. Only one spectral favor can be played at superior each combat.



Art: two vampires fighting as wraiths whisper to a female Giovanni and specters tear at the opposing tzimitze.

Necromancy allows one to gather information from spirits, hence the basic ability and burn ability of this card. Breath of thanatos allows specter baithing, hence the superior version  necromancy entrees vampire the masquerade 20th anniversary edition 159-184



Necromancy combat sucks. They have a meh strike:combat ends (its free but you don’t untap and its hard to acquire) and they have limited good-ish cards like dead hand. Allowing the discipline to capitalize on it’s fluff-given ability to gain intel from ghosts and use them as weapons gives necro one more card that isn’t wall paper. (still its very weak, but at least has a versatile combat card with this, whereas it had stealth, intercept, block fail, and 1 zombie before that were playable)






	

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Tinkerers trick

Action modifier/combat/reaction

1 blood

Thamaturgy

After playing this card, put it on the minion who played it. This minion may burn this card to become immune to damage from non-unique weapons until the end of the current action.

[tha]{combat} only usable when choosing range. Non-unique weapons used by this minion do an additional point of damage each strike during this combat.

[THA] {modifier, combat, reaction} chose a non-unique equipment on another minion. That equipment is removed from the game, face down, until the end of the current action.



Art:a brujan girl throwing a malfunctioning gun toward a tremere woman, who is shooting it out of the air.



Between the paths of conjuring and technomancy, thamaturgy can augment items for the better, operate them without touching them, or make them just not work with just effort and vitae expenditure. All 3 of this cards functions are covered in those 2 paths. Thamaturgy, vampire the masquerade 20th anniversary edition 212-240 mostly conjuring, 220-221 and technomancy 224-226



Thamaturgy can do lots to summon equipment, but not much to augment it, or destroy it, as would be possible in the fluff. This card isn’t great, but its relevant to the canon power of thamaturgy, and can be used at superior to be even better of a toolbox than before by removing a sport bike, camera phone, or weapon for a whole action.








	

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Vampiric endurance

Combat

1 blood

Fortitude

After playing this card, put it on this minion. This minion may burn this card during any round of combat after this one to prevent 2 damage, or treat aggravated damage as normal for the current round.

[for] prevent 2 damage

[FOR] prevent 4 damage



Art: a gangrel woman leans relaxedly against a brick wall with her hands in her pockets. There are broken weapons and unmoving bodies on the ground around her.



Fortitude doesn’t require activation, its always on, and adds to your soak in vtm. It even lets you soak fire, sunlight, etc, even though you can’t normally. In vtes, that would mean everytime you get hit, its reduced by one pre level of fortitude, plus agg is healed normally. Obviously, that would be ridiculous. This card lets a vampire get more milage out of damage prevention, and copies fortitude’s canon effect more closely than most cards, while preserving the game balance. See fortitude in vampire the masquerade 20th anniversary edition p.158-159



Fortitude is defense and multiacting, nothing else. Freak drive is the most simplistic and balanced multi acting card I can think up, but there is no really good semi-permanent defense/damage prevention card to date. If ablative skin was a pre-manuever combat card, it would be close. This card is an overcosted resilience at big and a weaker amror of vitality at little. But it lets fortitude have standing defensive options,  which wall decks would have been enjoying since ’94 if a card like this had been printed.






	

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vampiric reflex

combat

1 blood

Celerity

After playing this card, put it on the minion who played it. This minion may burn this card during any round of combat after this one to gain an additional strike.

[cel] maneuver

[CEL] strike: dodge



Art: a vampire leaning sideways to doge speeding bullets while raising a large semiautomatic pistol.



Celerity does all of these things, very simply. See celerity entry vampire the masquerade 20th anniversary edition p.142-144



Celerity does not to date have a lingering effect to gain an additional strike later, and sometimes just one more additional is the difference between being ousted and winning.






	

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veiled movements

combat

1 blood

Obfuscate

After playing this card put it on this vampire. The vampire with this card can burn it during a hunt or equip action for +2 stealth, or during any action for +1 stealth.

[obf] maneuver

[OBF] strike: dodge



Art: a puzzled looking brujah thug is seen having just thrown a punch into thin air. A pair of eyes are seen peering from a shadowed doorway a few feet away.



Obfuscate is great for not getting caught and avoiding conflicts see obfuscate entries in vampire the masquerade 20th anniversary edition p. 184-188

Obfuscates answer to combat is trying not to get into it, and then trying not to get hit if that fails. This card is 2 of obfuscates normal combat abilities, and some stealth to avoid combat later.

You should format this post a little better... it's hard to see where the card begins and the blurb begins.

A couple of those are essays not cards... I'll try dig through and read more carefully where each card starts and ends.

Sorry for that. I had very little time to copy and post that. I only have internet on my phone most of the time so icouldnt post how I wanted, being with pictures of each card minus art before each entry. I will edit the post when I can get those files from the pc to the web.
bear with me, ill edit in a few days, or when I figure out how to do it from my phone.

edit: my phone is almost good enough. rest of editing to follow when I can put files in the right place.

No no, you just need another break between parts and to add little text details like underlines and bold to things so it is easier to read.

Yup, a bit of formatting would go a long way. As it is, it is nigh unreadable, which is shame, since you obviously gave this much thought. Bold your card names, perhaps italicaze the part of description which isn't on the card but describes the art and reason behind each card and make some space between each entry and voila!.

I will gladly read and comment thoses as soon as, as other have pointed, you will have formatted them in a way that allow reading. I do not actievely try to be a jerk, but reading this need far more energy than what it seem worth.