The seven clans in the original Bloodlines

The seven clans in the original Bloodlines Vampire: The Masquerade — Bloodlines gives you seven playable clans. This is something worth looking at before you start, because your choice can change more than the powers you use in a fight. It can affect your dialogue, how you feed, how people react to you, and how you get around. The word I was looking for earlier was clans. That’s your vampire lineage. Groups like the Camarilla and the Anarchs are a different part of the setting. Brujah Brujah are a good starting point if you want to get close and fight. Their three Disciplines are Celerity, Potence, and Presence: supernatural speed, physical damage, and the ability to weaken nearby enemies. They also get an unarmed-combat bonus. Their drawback is that they’re more prone to frenzy, so blood and Humanity still matter. You don’t want to lose control of your character at the wrong time. That doesn’t mean you have to play them as somebody who can’t hold a conversation. You can still invest in social skills. Their powers just give you a pretty direct answer when talking stops working. Gangrel Gangrel get further into the animal side of being a vampire. They have Animalism, Fortitude, and Protean. Animalism gives you supernatural animal attacks and ways to interfere with enemies. Fortitude helps you take damage. Protean gives you physical changes, including claws and eventually a more dangerous war form. Those claws deal aggravated damage, so there’s more to them than how they look. Gangrel are also more prone to frenzy and get stronger bonuses during it. But you’re still losing control. That isn’t the same as choosing when to activate a normal ability. If you want your vampire to feel physically monstrous, this is one to look at. Malkavian Malkavian is one of the biggest reasons to consider another playthrough. Their powers are Auspex, Dementation, and Obfuscate. You can reveal auras, affect people’s minds, and conceal yourself. Dementation also gives you special conversation options. But the really interesting difference is the writing. Your dialogue changes substantially. You hear things other characters don’t, and some of what you say makes a lot more sense when you already know the story. I’m deliberately not giving examples because discovering those things is part of the experience. You can choose Malkavian first, but it’s a particularly interesting choice for a second run. You’ll recognize things you wouldn’t have understood the first time. Nosferatu Nosferatu change how you move through the world. You can’t casually approach ordinary people the same way another vampire can. You need to be careful about being seen, and sewers and less exposed routes become much more useful. That doesn’t mean every person automatically attacks you or that conversations disappear from the game. But your appearance has real consequences. You get Animalism, Obfuscate, and Potence, so there’s a mix of supernatural attacks, stealth, and physical strength. Appearance and Seduction are stuck at zero, while rats provide more nourishment than they do for other clans. If you want another run to change more than your combat setup, Nosferatu and Malkavian are both worth considering, for very different reasons. Toreador Toreador are associated with art, beauty, culture, and their connection to human life. Don’t mistake that for being weak in combat. They get Auspex, Celerity, and Presence. Improved perception, supernatural speed, and weakened enemies give you plenty to work with. Auspex can also help a firearms-focused character through its Perception bonuses. Their Humanity gains and losses are doubled. Buying Humanity costs less experience, but harming innocent people can send you in the other direction much faster. They’re a reasonable option if you want to spend time with the conversations and still have useful combat powers. You still need to invest in the skills you actually want to use. Tremere Tremere are the blood-magic option. They get Auspex, Dominate, and Thaumaturgy, with Thaumaturgy being the big distinction. That gives you things like blood projectiles, a protective blood shield, and increasingly destructive blood magic. Their physical attributes can’t go above four, but that doesn’t mean you’re forbidden from using weapons. You just have a strong reason to explore the magic side of the game. There’s also clan-specific material involving Strauss and a possible haven in the Tremere chantry. I’ll leave the conditions out so people can find that themselves. One detail guides can get mixed up: the original game’s Tremere don’t get Ventrue’s conversational Dominate options just because both have that Discipline. The Unofficial Patch’s Plus version adds dialogue uses for Tremere. Ventrue Ventrue get Dominate, Fortitude, and Presence. You can influence particular conversations, take more punishment, and weaken nearby opponents. Their feeding restriction is the thing to watch. Rats won’t sustain them, and feeding from certain people can make them vomit. So you need to think about your blood supply instead of assuming every feeding opportunity will work. If you want authority and control to be part of how your vampire operates, their abilities give you a good place to start. Which one should you choose? Brujah or Toreador are reasonable choices for a straightforward first run. Tremere gives you blood magic. Gangrel gives you that more physical, animalistic approach. Ventrue brings control and durability, with more restrictive feeding. Malkavian and Nosferatu are the two I’d especially look at when you want another playthrough to feel different outside combat too. And check which version you’re playing. Basic and Plus aren’t interchangeable when somebody describes a feature or conversation. Plus includes restored material and other additions, so something in a patched guide may not exist in every version of the game.