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Bloodlines: The Legendary
 
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Bloodlines: The Legendary
Publisher: White Wolf
by Johnathan T. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 07/16/2019 14:07:17
“Bloodlines: The Legendary” is a collection of 9 vampire bloodlines, which are kind of “sub-clans” or offshoots within the big five. These bloodlines, as the title says, are supposed to be legendary in nature- feared, or at least well known, by other kindred. It explores their unique appearances, certain covenants they lean towards, and the history and lore of the bloodline. Additionally, these bloodlines add unique clan Weaknesses, Disciplines and Devotions to follow their theme. While some certainly go above and beyond the mark (creating personal favorites), others seem to fall short, or just reach the bar, or just don’t seem to fit. As such, it’s a mixed bag that needs to be individually appraised. And, going through the book, my main critique is the actually the lack of variety in clans: There are 3 Ventrue bloodlines, 3(ish) Daeva bloodlines, 2(ish) Mekhet bloodlines, 1 Nosferatu bloodline, and no Gangrel bloodline to speak of. As such, it’s value and usage to players who prefer Gangrel or Nosferatu is severely lacking. My opinion of individual bloodlines is below:
  • Brom are seekers of the grail and “Fisher Kings” of the Ventrue. Their unique Discipline, Crochan, deals mainly with healing their injuries and the injuries of others. Their Ventrue weakness reflects their search for the grail, causing them to be nomads. While I like the idea of a grail seeker bloodline, the Brom personally don't appeal to me as more than storyteller characters.
  • The Carnival are deformed “Freaks” of the Daeva and take up a look similar to freak show exhibits. Their unique Discipline, The Show, is all about imitating show tricks such as stretching limbs, climbing on walls, and even creating siamese twins. Their Daeva weakness is augmented in one of two ways: either they become so physically deformed that they obtain the Nosferatu weakness, or they have a physical impairment that reduces your speed. The Daeva/Nosferatu combination weakness is an intriguing concept that I personally feel is superior to the speed impairment (in addition to roleplay). This striking offshoot of the Daeva appeals to me both as storyteller characters (or, like the book suggests, an entire troupe) or even as player characters.
  • The Children of Judas are introduced as “Suicide Kings”, deriving their unique affinity with suicide and depression. A major section of their lore goes into the anatomy of despair, depression and suicide (to preface their heritage). Their unique Discipline, Despond, is very much based around making targets so miserable that they are more likely to off themselves. Additionally, the more knowledge you have on an opponent grants you more modifiers on the roll (such as knowing their Virtue or Vice, some personal trauma in their life, etc), something I very much appreciate. Their Daeva weakness is a slight addition to the vanilla weakness, in that you now lose willpower by not indulging in personal despair or despair in others. While I enjoy this bloodline, it’s usage as a player character seems less appealing that as a storyteller character (perhaps as a sheriff).
  • The Galloi are the “Pretties” of the Nosferatu, gaining supernaturally attractive (and adrogenous) forms by bathing in special Vitae. Their weakness comes from this blood bath, where once you become supernaturally beautiful you still have a mechanical disadvantage in social situations; and, if you don’t refresh the beauty, you are even more repulsive than a regular Nosferatu. Their unique Discipline, Taurobolium, is a scaling Discipline: When used, you are more likely to gain successes during a blood bath (which give you bonus dice on social rolls). As such, my main criticism of this bloodline comes from the symmetry of it: You aren’t gaining a mechanical bonus when becoming more attractive, instead you go from “supernaturally repulsive” to “repulsively attractive”. To offset this, you must garner more successes than the negative modifier already in place (You have to achieve at least 3 success to offshoot, so about a dice pool of 6). Personally, this irks me. However, I overall feel like this is a pretty cool bloodline, one that I can see as a potential storyteller character.
  • The Gulikan are the “Bloodhounds” and “Perfumers” of the Daeva clan, being supernaturally good (even obsessed) at identifying scents and creating Vitae infused products. Their weakness, as an offset of the Daeva, has them completely entranced by individual scents- if they don’t find “the one” who carries their scent, they take a -1 dice penalty until they can. Their unique Discipline, Ortam, is awesome: You can learn “Essence Vitale Absolue”, giving products such as soap, tobacco or even perfume an addictive Vitae scent. Additionally, they can create various “Fragrant Devotions” that can act as pheromone-based imitations of other Disciplines, such as Majesty. The overall idea of this clan, as those who can control others simply through scents, make them an awesome start for player characters or storyteller characters.
  • Then we have the Kuufukuji’s, a Mekhet (or Daeva) bloodline nicknamed the “Hungry” because of their tradition of self-control over man and beast. Their weakness reflects their internal balance of the beast, where having too much vitae means you cannot use your Disciplines and having too little makes you likely to frenzy. Their unique Discipline, Shihai, lets you spend willpower to gain bonuses to resist Wassail. Honestly, this is probably the least “legendary” bloodline in the book; one that, I really don’t find compelling as a storyteller or player character.
  • The Macellarius are the “Gluttons” of the Ventrue, high-bred connoisseurs of blood and flesh. Their weakness stems from this fact, as they grow older their bodies start to become overtly large and obese- making dexterity rolls far less effective. This is compounded with their thematic Discipline, Gustus, which enables them to consume raw human flesh for Vitae, poison others, release stomach acid for aggravated damage, and even temporarily absorbing a victims skills or attributes. I’ll admit, I like the aesthetic of this bloodline.
  • The Melissidae are the “Queen Bees” of the Ventrue, and my personal favorite bloodline in this book. As they imitate hives of insects, their weakness makes Queen Bees weaker when not around one of her drones (a cumulative negative modifier for each hour she’s away). Out of the other bloodlines, the Mellissidae gain a variety of devotions, along with their own unique form of Animalism based on insects. Through this, they can create severely addictive blood that tastes like honey, host a swarm of insects in a victim, and create hive drones out of thralls. Making entire cults of personality from this bloodline is well described, even thematically reinforced. Overall, I really can’t express how awesome this bloodline is and how much higher quality this is than some of the other bloodlines. I would love to play a fledgling Melissidae or even run a storyteller character Melissidae.
  • Lastly, we have the Players, a group of “Wannabe” vampires from the Mekhet. Their main schtick is that they imitate other vampires, while never really being better than pretenders. Their weakness causes them to lose power over people they’ve influenced, causing them to fade out of the spotlight. They don’t have a unique discipline, instead using a mixture of Majesty and Obfuscate to create devotions that thematically suit them. One enables you to imitate movies, for example, while another lets you turn your mundane self into a star. While I enjoy the concept of a bloodline of vampires pretending to be stereotypes, it’s lacking the “legendary” status that several other bloodlines feel like. As such, not impressed (also doesn’t help it was put after my favorite bloodline).


Rating:
[4 of 5 Stars!]
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Bloodlines: The Legendary
Publisher: White Wolf
by Enrique F. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 05/02/2006 12:57:32

A bad book, I expected more from White Wolf. Only 2 or 3 bloodlines are interesting enough. If you want to see more bloodlines buy Bloodlines: The Hidden rather than this one, The Hidden is better. Many of the stories and background of the bloodlines shown here just don't fit in the mood this game should have and won't be a good addition to your chronicles. Unless you want to play Vampire: The Freaky.



Rating:
[2 of 5 Stars!]
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Bloodlines: The Legendary
Publisher: White Wolf
by jake w. [Verified Purchaser]
Date Added: 03/19/2006 01:48:15

Not worth the paper it is not printed on. The have mabye 3 bloodlines that can pass as usable. On the other hand, one of the bloodlines have a Gluttonous problem just like in the last bloodlines book. What is "Legendary" about a group of fake gangstas called "Playas".



Rating:
[1 of 5 Stars!]
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