Vampire: The Masquerade Guide – Best Skills For New Players

Players new to Vampire: The Masquerade will want to take these skills if they want to unravel mysteries, charm NPCs, and survive.

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Vampire: The Masquerade is not like other tabletop RPGs that have a focus on combat or accumulating wealth. It has a much greater focus on roleplaying and character development than other RPGs. With that being said, the player needs to be ready to contribute when called to action. The source of all drama is conflict and all of the pontificating in the world is meaningless when the character needs to fight for their life, extract information from an unwilling person, or sneak through an area without getting caught.

Most Vampire: The Masquerade chronicles use a contemporary city setting, with most stories taking place within the past decade, in a city that players will recognize. As such, there are common situations and threats that most players will encounter in their games and it helps for new players to be proficient in skills that could save their unlife.

Physical Skills

Brawl – This is the skill that is commonly used when trying to feed on an unwilling victim. It’s especially useful to be able to do this in the heat of combat, as the effects of the Kiss will make it much harder for the opponent to resist. Firearms and Melee might seem like they would be more useful, but there are a few caveats to this. It’s not always possible for players to be able to easily acquire guns and ammo, such as in chronicles set in places with strict gun laws (like the United Kingdom). Melee is useful when needing to stake another vampire in the heart, but it’s possible for the player to lose their weapon. With Brawl, the player is always armed.

Larceny – Kindred are often called upon to act on the wrong side of the law. The secretive nature of Kindred society & upholding the Masquerade means that they cannot always go in guns blazing in order to resolve a situation. The ability to pick locks, detect security cameras, and open safes can be extremely useful for the vampires who need to perform missions where secrecy is essential.

Stealth – For many of the same reasons listed above. The ability to move unseen among mortals and Kindred alike can be a life-saver. It’s also helpful when trying to evade pursuit (unless the pursuer has supernatural abilities). The Stealth skill might seem tailor-made for vampires with the Obfuscate discipline, but most Obfuscate abilities automatically work and only require a Rouse check, even when resisting an Auspex user.

Social Skills

Insight – Kindred society is held together by duplicity. Vampires lie to everyone on a regular basis, including themselves. The ability to determine truth from lies is an essential trait in Vampire: The Masquerade, as the player needs to know who their allies are.

(Insight is also helpful for those moments when players are being dense and the Storyteller is dropping some blue whale-sized hints about what is going on, but no one is getting it.)

Persuasion – It’s likely that one member of the Coterie will have access to either Dominate or Presence, which means that mortals are easy to work around (unless they know the secret of Kindred existence and can resist the effects of mind control). The Persuasion skill is more important when dealing with other Kindred. The Storyteller might require the player to act out scenes in order to realistically persuade foes, but it still helps to have the points in Persuasion if it comes down to a dice roll.

Subterfuge – In the same way that Insight is important for uncovering falsehoods, the ability to tell convincing lies is also vital for surviving in Kindred society. The player will often need to cover for their coterie members, protect their Touchstones, and keep important details from their elders in order to stay safe. Being caught out in a lie can have catastrophic consequences, so the player wants to be ready if it comes down to an opposed roll.

Mental Skills

Awareness – The majority of enemies that the player will face in Vampire: The Masquerade are part of secret societies, such as one of the vampire sects, the Second Inquisition, or the criminal underworld. These kinds of foes won’t approach the player on the street and ask for a one on one duel. If the player finds themself in danger, it will either be from foes who sneak up on them, or from people they used to trust turning on them. As such, the Awareness skill can give the player’s an early warning against a surprise attack, which might be the difference between unlife and final death.

Finance – Money makes the world go round and the ability to manage wealth is vital for someone who plans to be around for centuries. Having quick access to cash means that mortals can be bribed, guns and expensive tech can be acquired, and safe havens from the sunlight can be purchased. It’s possible to go asking other vampires for help in acquiring these things, but those will cost favors, and being indebted to another Kindred is not something that the player should consider lightly.

Technology – We live in an age of computers and smartphones, where people freely share the intimate details of their life into small pieces of plastic. Most Kindred are outlawed from owning technology, due to the threat of the Second Inquisition, but it’s not something that they can ignore forever. The ability to hack computers, secure a database from outside interference, and quickly sift through someone’s emails can be a very powerful tool in the information age.

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