Red Court Infected, revisited

[PirateJack]

There's very little in favour of having Blood Drinker anyway, because the main gain from it is the free scene of recovery upon killing someone through feeding. Given that if a Red Court Infected does actually kill someone they make the full transformation to NPC vampiredom, it doesn't really benefit them to have it. The +1 to people you've made bleed and GM Discipline rolls are both adequately modelled by Sponsor Debt.

[Cadd]

Because the actual mechanical function of Blood Drinker essentially requires full speed toward NPC-dom, in my eyes. Actually consuming blood in any quantity is (from my reading of the books) a Really Bad Idea^TM for a RCI, turning the power into essentially refresh tax.

Sweet job on writing out the template! I was thinking of summing up my ideas properly, and you just did it perfectly!

[Jabberwocky]

You can ask here.

And I did, thank you for providing the link. If I get an answer I will post it to the forums.

[vultur]

There's very little in favour of having Blood Drinker anyway, because the main gain from it is the free scene of recovery upon killing someone through feeding. Given that if a Red Court Infected does actually kill someone they make the full transformation to NPC vampiredom, it doesn't really benefit them to have it. The +1 to people you've made bleed and GM Discipline rolls are both adequately modelled by Sponsor Debt.

Ah, OK, I was really thinking of the +1 as the main benefit...

[Cadd]

Sure, it looks useful mechanically, but what is actually happening in the narrative when say a Red Court Vampire uses that part of the power? It's them drawing blood to drink. That doesn't seem very useful to a character who risks losing control and becoming an NPC if she drinks too much blood.

[Rossbert]

Not to be totally thick here, but isn't that the point? Your supernatural abilities come at a cost and if you run too low on willpower it consumes you. If you drink you better be comfortable with your control or have a non-people source.

[Cadd]

Sure there's a cost - struggling with the hunger. But actually consuming blood is past playing with fire for RCI - it's practically juggling nitroglycerin while doing pirouettes - you're going to fail. A RCI just can not keep control while consuming blood, it's hard enough just smelling or seeing it.

Losing control in the presence of blood means there's a struggle to avoid attacking someone. Losing control while drinking someones blood means ripping their throat out before your friends even realized you lost control. Incredibly close to zero marginal to recover.

Basically:
Get actual use out of Inhuman Strength - get Hungry, risk becoming an NPC.
Get actual use out of Blood Drinker - become an NPC.

[Jabberwocky]

Well, being cursed with such an infection might mean you have powers of the being you don't want to become. The infection WANTS you to complete the change… It's useless because you are not meant by your condition to remain an RCI forever. You are meant to turn. You can see it either way, I think.

[Rossbert]

Seems about right, the Blood Drinker power is basically a very flavorful extra cost to having supernatural traits.

[Cadd]

I find that kind of "extra cost" to be, quite simply, less fun.
In a group, why should a RCI effectively play with 1 refresh less than the rest of the group? Because that is the effect of forcing a player to take a power the character gets absolutely nothing out of.

Of course being a RCI is a downhill slope, just like playing a Changeling, only steeper. But that is easily, and more dramatically, taken care of with compels.

[vultur]

Sure there's a cost - struggling with the hunger. But actually consuming blood is past playing with fire for RCI - it's practically juggling nitroglycerin while doing pirouettes - you're going to fail. A RCI just can not keep control while consuming blood, it's hard enough just smelling or seeing it.

OK, but if they rip out the throat of some non-human creature, I don't think they turn. Blood Drinker isn't limited to humans -- it probably wouldn't work on creatures totally without blood like a chlorofiend or other constructs, but Fae, ghouls, animals, and so on should be fair game IMO.

The RCI restriction on killing to feed is more like the First Law, IMO -- it only really applies to humans.

[Cadd]

Hm... Interesting point of view... I hadn't really considered the drinking of non-human blood. Definitely an option for how to run it... I have always focused on the killing part, not really on what was killed. I'll have to talk that over with my players to get their view...