VEKN Salubri Antitribu Newsletter - April 2002
or, for the more martially inclined minions out there:
OFFICIAL VEKN SALUBRI ANTITRIBU NEWSLETTER! FIRST ISSUE EVER!!
WELCOME TO THE TERRORDOME!!!
Volume 1, Issue 1
April 2002
Author: Atrovent the German Chainsaw
===================================================
TABLE OF CONTENTS
Introduction
Card of the Moment - Sword of the Righteous
Salubri Antitribu Tactics - Melee Weapons
Deck of the Moment - North American Chainsaw Massacre
Sign Off
===================================================
INTRODUCTION
Use the Edge (of your melee weapon) to get the Edge!
Here we are, the Salubri Antitribu. Oh, we were here all the time, but
we chose not to be seen. Now, with Bloodlines, this has changed. We
are strong enough to let the world know we are there. It's time to get
our revenge on the Baali and on the Tremere, who killed Saulot. Know
fear, magicians, if you see someone with a melee weapon, for it may be
someone of us or our allies. We won't use stealth, we choose to fight
openly with pure steel, like the Sword of the Righteous. Fear the
Vengeance of Samiel!
Atrovent, the German Chainsaw.
===================================================
CARD OF THE MOMENT: Sword of the Righteous
Name: Sword of the Righteous [BL]
Cardtype: Combat
Cost: 1 blood
Discipline: Valeren/Animalism
Only usable before range is determined.
[ani] Choose a melee weapon on this vampire. This vampire inflicts an
additional point of damage each strike with that weapon for the
remainder of the combat. A vampire can play only one Sword of the
Righteous each combat.
[val] As [ani] above, and the damage inflicted by the weapon is
aggravated.
[VAL] As [val] above, and prevent 1 damage this round.
Animalism: Only one of the blessed fighters of Clan Salubri Antitribu
has animalism, and since he has Valeren too, I'll ignore the animalism
possibilities right now and go straight to Valeren.
The inferior Valeren is an option all of our five clan vampires may
use, since all of them know at least a bit of Valeren. If need be even
some Progeny may learn it quickly with a single Sanguine Instruction.
But what does it do? It's simple: Aggravated damage for simple Melee
Weapons! That's something no clan has discovered before us, and the
few weapons with aggravated damage inborn are few (unique) and far
between, or did you ever try to get a Sengir Dagger? Others are for
specific clans only, the dreaded Femur of Toomler and Kali's Fang. Do
we need these things? Not any longer! Here is your
out-of-the-supermarket Meat Cleaver aggravated! Now we know where the
mad grinning on the artwork comes from. Even if you don't have a Sword
of the Righteous in your hand, your opponents will be thinking twice
before choosing to fight with an armed minion of yours, once he has
had the necessary experience. The sad thing is the clause "Only
usable before range is determined" so everyone will know what's going
to happen from the first moment of combat on. So some opponents will
try to outmaneuver you and a pesky S:CE will waste a great card.
Luckily, a Dodge may be countered with Vengeance of Samiel. Fortitude
may try to avoid the damage, but we have some tricks to further
increase it. This doesn't help vs Superior Mettle, Skin of Steel and
somesuch, but it's a start. If our opponent avoids blocking, we have
some bleeding actions and modifier for him.
Combat with !Salubri is a entire theme for itself (i.e. fighting vs
Drawing out the Beast, Thaumaturgy like Blood Rage and so on) and
can't be covered right here, but you get the direction (I hope). Just
to end this threat, you may play Fast Reaction to stop a first round
strike from your opponent and some of the nastyness mentioned before.
Superior Valeren does the same like the inferior version and prevents
a point of damage, so we won't need our Fortitude cards for simple
handstrikes, Bat-Aids, Thrown Gates or something like that. Not bad at
all and maybe a lifesaver on top of a lifestealer!
The next section, Tactics, will be written with the Sword of the
Righteous in mind.
===================================================
SALUBRI ANTITRIBU TACTICS: Melee Weapons
The Melee Weapon - a lost Art. In the beginning of the Jyhad, the
Brujah were meant to be the clan using weapons for they had the might
(potence) and the speed (celerity) to use them well. Now there is
another clan who make use of those little toys, our clan, the Salubri
Antitribu. Here are some melee weapon helpers for our hands only:
Valeren cards:
- Sword of the Righteous (more damage, aggravated, see card analysis above),
- Vengeance of Samiel (more damage, no dodge),
- Gift of Bellona (help equipping)
Salubri Vampire:
- Thomas Steed, the Angry (fetch weapons)
Salubri clan cards:
- Blessing of the name (more damage)
All of those cards use melee weapons, so guns or undefined weapons
like Bomb, Chainsaw, Flamethrower, Grenade, Improvised Flamethrower,
Ivory Bow, RPG Launcher, Smoke Grenade, Starshell Grenade Launcher,
Talbot's Chainsaw and White Phosphorus Grenade won't do the trick for
us. So, to get things started, lets look at the melee weapons
currently available at Al's Army Apparatus and other trademark shops
in your neighborhood.
Melee Weapons vary in three aspects: The cost in pool, the damage they
are capable of and the uses you get out of them, i.e. once per strike,
once per round and so on.
Some have restrictions regarding clans and/or being unique. The famous
Sword of Judgment is only usable by a Brujah antitribu, so we'll have
difficulties enhancing it. Kali's Fang or the Femur of Toomler need
Assamites or Tzimisce to bring into play, but could then be
transferred to a Salubri Antitribu to be enhanced, so we'll have a
look at them.
With only two exceptions all melee weapons are useable each strike, so
we'll first check these out.
Leading in the High-price section with 3 pool is the unique Kali's
Fang of clan Assamite (strength+1 aggravated damage each strike). It's
the same like the less expensive Femur of Toomler, import taxes from
the Near East must be higher than from the Balkans. If we don't need
the Assamites in our house, we should whore in the Tzimisces to save
some money. Or we'll do the same aggravating trick with, say, a Meat
Cleaver and a Sword of the Righteous.
Cost-intensive (and mainly unique) weapons are with 2 pool to pay the
Bang Nakh (strength +2 damage each strike), the unique Crimson
Sentinel (strength +1 damage each strike plus soul counters), the
unique Femur of Toomler of Clan Tzimisce (strength+1 aggravated damage
each strike) and last but not least the unique Sengir Dagger (strength
aggravated damage each strike).
Keeping Sword of the Righteous in mind we don't need aggravated damage
that much. The Crimson Sentinel is unique and may be used by others,
so the Tiger Claws are an option, but if you like it aggravated it's
not that important whether you do one or two points of damage.
In the one pool section we have the Bastard Sword and it's modern
counterpart, the Meat Cleaver (both strength+1 damage each strike) and
the very rare Rowan Ring, which you lose at the end of the combat and
which is therefor not an overwhelmingly good option. The Garrote is only
useable at close range (which melee weapon isn't, but it's mentioned
on the card, and so I'll repeat it faithfully) and may be used to burn
an opponent, thereby being lost. She is an interesting option, with
aggravated damage from, say it with me, Sword of the Righteous
(thanks), there's always the chance for torpor and burning.
In the more-than-cheap section for nothing are the Wooden Stake,
who'll send the opponent to torpor (like the aggravated damage we'll
try to do anyway) and lost in the process, and the vulnerable Meat
Hook (to Potence) and Poker (to Fortitude). Both do strength +1
damage, Poker likes fighting Kyasids, Meat Hook gives you a press you
hopefully won't need.
Like I said before, almost all melee weapons are useable "each
strike", only two weapons are useable once each combat (and therefore
less expensive): Brass Knuckles cost nothing for strength +1 damage,
the Gas-powered Chainsaw, by the way the only chainsaw out of three to
count as melee weapon, costs one pool and does three damage. Since we
don't have additional strikes easily available, for no Salubri
Antitribu has got Celerity, the once per combat clause will only
hinder us if the fighting go to further rounds with presses (but not
Psyche and some such, this starts an entire new combat). Is this a
problem? Not really, since we do have Sword of the Righteous (you
guessed it) to do aggravated damage and other cards to increase the
damage to such heights that an opposing vampire will probably not
survive the first round - with the exception of S:CE, in which case
there won't be presses either. Dodges can be countered with Vengeance
of Samiel, Maneuvers with Fake Out if nothing better comes to mind. A
Gas-powered Chainsaw of the Righteous can do 4 points of aggravated
damage, an amount even Fortitude can't easily compensate, and
more-than-cheap Brass Knuckles of the Righteous do two points of
aggravated damage like the dreaded, but unique and expensive Sengir
Dagger.
Conclusion: With the possible exception of the Garotte and the Brass
Knuckles, the Gas-powered Chainsaw will be my weapon of choice for
this stage of the Eternal Struggle!
===================================================
Deck of the Moment: North American Chainsaw Massacre
(I named it for the powerbases, Baltimore and so on, and of course for
the chainsaws mentioned above!)
Crypt:
Doris McMillon 2 val
2 Wolf Valentine 4 VAL for press to continue
combat vs. Tremere
2 Thomas Steed, The Angry 4 val aus ani melee weapon searcher
2 Kervos, The Lietenant 3 val aus
2 Idalia, Prophet of Guadalajara !Malk 4 AUS dem if
successfully equipping, untap her at end of turn
3 Adonai 7 VAL AUS for D action to attack
camarilla, +1 bleed, +1 strength vs. Tremere
Library (60 cards)
11 Combat Starter:
3 Fast Reaction (use Sword of the Righteous after playing this card,
not before: No first round strike, so no S:CE, Dodge .)
Telepathic Tracking (does not work well with Chainsaws, so I'll remove it)
2 Nose of the Hound
4 Forced Awakening
Wake with Evening's Freshness (usually you have Intercept due to
auspex, sport bike or Blessing of the name, so I'll change it for an
additional Forced Awakening)
11 Combat winner:
6 Sword of the Righteous
2 Vengeance of Samiel
Blissful Agony (if something goes wrong or if you want to have fun, use at superior)
2 Taste of Vitae (do 6 aggrevated with chainsaw of the righteous,
vengeance of samiel and get more blood back then you could handle,
except on Adonai maybe)
Sense Vitality (if you don't win or in conjunction with Fame)
4 Bleed:
2 Pulse of the Canaille (on Idalia, put it on Adonai if you'd like to
gamble with Archons. No one else can use it, so maybe only 1 is
enough)
2 Burning Touch
9 Equipment (non-melee-weapon):
2 Leather Jacket
Flak Jacket (more of these?)
2 Laptop Computer
Pier 13, Port of Baltimore (key for an equipment deck)
2 IR Goggles (maneuvers are a weak point without them, no cost, very Baltimore-friendly)
Sport Bike
4 Equipment (melee-weapon)
4 Gas-Powered Chainsaw (shall be enough, if more are needed, use Heidelberg to recycle)
9 Master:
Elder Library
2 Powerbase: Mexico City
Powerbase: Chicago
2 Blood Doll
Fame (the Fame-Sense Vitality - Angle is to be explored in a further
newsletter. You tend to burn a victim rather then sending him into
torpor, so it may be dropped in this kind of deck)
Heidelberg Castle, Germany (it's HeidelbUrg, of course, it's a castle
(burg), not a mountain (berg). Trust a German on this.)
Vast Wealth
5 Intercept:
Melange
2 Enhanced Senses
2 Spirit's Touch
2 Equipper:
2 Gift of Bellona
4 Combo:
4 Blessing of the Name
60 cards for a deck, a concept like the one discussed in the Brujah
Newsletter of the esteemed Skaffen, doesn't work for a combat deck
(like he mentioned). Since I couldn't believe a Brujah, I had to try
myelf and got a bloody nose (okay, some of the blood was from my
preys, but who cares). In one game with five players I was out of deck
after ousting my prey, but was still able to oust my grandprey, too,
since the permanents are great on themselves. But you get very
calculable, and my third prey managed to stop me, though getting out
of deck himself. Never saw this happen before in any game (we played
without time limit for nearly six hours).
To avoid playing with no surprises, you could simple double the
Library cards with the exception of the permanent equipment, which
shall be enough already. I'm not sure if the availability of the
equipment is still good enough if you do this, but it's a start.
===================================================
SIGN OFF
Okay, this was the first newsletter for the Salubri Antitribu. I hope
you enjoyed it. The topics of the next letters are weapon fetching,
cards to make melee weapons even more devasting, helpful vampires from
other clans, a view on allies we could use and melee weapon hosers.
The order may vary. Quite a way to go!
Comments, congratulations, help and other positive stuff is always
welcome, negative stuff is to be send to your favourite Tremere or Baali.
Atrovent the German Chainsaw,
Oliver.volland@gmx.net
"If it's true that the Tremere you murdered haunt you wherever you go
- may you never walk alone!" Song of the Chainsaw, Volume 1