One of the mods I've been working for the longest is "Make a Haven a home" which will transform the players haven into something less disgusting and more befitting an elder.

Notably it's going to add a bunch of stuff like a thinblood alchemy table, the ability to buy weapons (all costing resonance).

But I've also spent some time adding an arena mode so you can take out your frustrations/explore combatting these enemies.

Here I decide to take on Benny, Ysabella, and Safia with a bonus Damsel and Fortidude - not smart.

I've got a bunch of other mods running here too - including the shadowgun and shadowpuppet that lets you vanish bodies to summon puppets or fuel a shadowy version of bennys gun (including phosphorous rounds if you meet the criteria) and my favourite - contagious curse - where blood cauldron targets get inflicted by blood curse if a target detonates nearby.

But yeah, I wanted to show progress - try to breath some life back into Bloodlines 2.

Let's be real, of all the clans Lasombras probably the one that "needs" the least - they have probably the best overall ability-list in the game, and fit perfectly into the "stun and feed" playstyle that VTMB2 bottlenecks players into if they want to use their abilities.

So I gave them something fun.

Enter the Umbral Arms - a shadowy recreation of Bennys custom pistol (small nod to Nexushuyna who commented this on an unrelated mod a while back)

---

You summon it using Vestige, collected by vanishing corpses (Rremere players will still receive some vestige for dissolving enemies with a bite).

Kills with the gun also reward vestiige, saving some time but poof the corpse.

And if you prefer at max vestige you can poof a corpse (or a head which is easier to get as a Tremere) to summon a shadow-puppet - practically indestructible and acting as an ideal distraction for enemies (one clone at a time, duplicates will delete the original).

Oh, and your vestige is refilled and becomes infinite during enter oblivion - giving you even more power.

And last but not least - if you have either potence active (potion or the brujah buff) OR the boiling blood buff (from cauldron of blood) the gun will fire phosphorous rounds.

Other clans can benefit too, but they need to pickup stygian shroud to poof bodies and get the gun.

I'm still testing and will probably fold this into a larger suite of mods, but felt this was something fun.

Just some gameplay using my new mod - here I equip 4 relocate abilities and use them to take out the goons in the building site.

(also fail-charging straight into a wall at some point).

Here's my original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/vtmb/comments/1w8imk3/vtmb2_mod_ability_rebind_prototype/

And here's the mod page: https://www.nexusmods.com/vtmbloodlines2/mods/186

Note: treating this as a standalone prototype for now, the implementation causes some noticeable lag on opening/closing ability menu (due to essentially rebuilding the players control graph when you do this) so I'm not quite happy with it being a part of my "main suite" of mods.

But I'll continue working on it in the background.

I'd be interested in community feedback.

https://preview.redd.it/ma3vyf1tzsnh1.png?width=1300&format=png&auto=webp&s=429c70b0d31bc7ff1ba765fd6d1766e2412ad9d5

https://www.nexusmods.com/vtmbloodlines2/mods/186

As the name implies, this mod lets you rebind any ability to any slot, with a few caveats.

1. Still restricted to only one mastery and only in slot 4 - this is a mix of technical reasons (masteries are weird, they refund blood pips etc etc etc) and balance reasons (they're stupid powerful) but you can obviously rebind OTHER abilities into slot 4 if you want something.

2. Recall (Tremere Relocate) has to sit in slot 2 - because it's also complicated with the ability to set, unset and teleport to the sigil.

All relocates

There's some issues with this implementation - it's noticeably laggy on opening/closing the menu, and abilities will reset when reloading a save.

The truth is, this implementation probably isn't correct, this is the sort of thing that would do better being a blueprint mod and UE4SS is basically constantly having to set/unset things in the base game - but it works so can help people come up with build ideas.

I'm happy with how the colours turned out, I wanted to give colour feedback in the menu, and I tried to match them to colour-blind friendly for accessibluty reasons.

Anyway, here's a couple of videos of it in action:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvaSbdgog7E&t=7s

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VvaSbdgog7E&t=7s

As the name implies, this is my Ventrue overhaul I showcased previously:

https://www.reddit.com/r/vtmb/comments/1vb6yim/vtmb2_mod_preview_ventrue_revamped/

This replaces my historic "Masq Manipulation" mod - and no longer buffs Banu - it's all ventrue baby. (don't worry I have plans for banu too).

Features 3 things.

1. Some convenient keybinds, you can edit them in the obv_config in the shared folder of your mods - these do things like allow you to directly open your ability menu (default z)

2. Blood heal - press Q+W together (that's my default feed/use but I think for others it's tk/use so it might get weird) and you'll consume your left-most abilities blood to regain health
   Greater Heal is given from resilience and Blood Buff is given by spark of rage (activating your clan passive when you use it)

3. The Ventrue kit - this revolves around a new buff I call "Masqued Mind"

MM does 3 things as well

1. It resets and suppresses the Masquerade
2. It allows you to talk to partially resonant NPCs without needing to change clothing
3. It also refunds the blood cost of your next cast Strike/Relocate/Affect

(there's some custom logic on the last bit - e.g. recall refunds its blood on TPing to the sigil, not on placing it).

MM is lost if you feed or execute a non-resonant target or enter a building.

And their abilities all have methods of granting or interacting with MM - from resilience granting it on resonance feeding to terminal Decree granting it when you target resonant enemies (if you have resilience).

Overall, this makes ventrue masters of running around street level - and with affects like beckon, glimpse and Taunt can still be used in combat encounters.

---
My personal favourite use though is what I call the "bungee jump" - which is to place a recall sigil on a rooftop, drop to feed on a resonant-event NPC, and then teleport back - no masq violation thanks to Resilience and I don't use up recalls blood pips because they're immediately refunded.
(but I am a dirty Tremere player).

---

From a technical standpoint this is my first mod that utilises a central event dispatcher instead of each mod subscribing, this gives me much better control and bloats the game less than having 3 or 4 things have "on kill" or "on feed" listeners or hooks.

It will probably be my last standalone mod, my next plan is to finish rearchitecting my old mods and my current ones into a single standalone mod suite.

As a preview some upcoming work includes.

Ability Presets - allow the player to define their equipped abilities and swap between them with a single keypress instead of needing to open the menu and toggle them all.

Arsenal Enhanced - Gunfusion - allowing players to merge dual-guns into stronger variants (Revoler into Hi-Cal into Sniper rifle).

Likewise rearchitect to bring everything into the new central dispatcher, this should eliminate some lag problems people have been seeing.

Brujah - healing on kill with lightning strike, healing during charge, enhanced tk throwing during brutality, dig shit up with earthshock.

Tremere - bringing my existing Tremere ReVamped mod into the new architecture - I'm also going to add "Contagious Curses" which allows nearby blood curse explosions to spread to cauldron of blooded targets.

Banu - Headhunter - Regen blood pips of assassination and decapitations, more ways to decapitate - Mute now binds enemies and dissolves bodies.

Lasombra - a surprise.

Toreador - Finale - the final pip of a relocate is filled faster through fleetness.

Retro-Reload - Their clan passive adds ammo to their current gun. Blurred Momentum likewise adds ammo to a current weapon.

and lastly - "Make a Haven a Home" - a massive undertaking to clean up the haven and grant it new functionality, including mixing thinblood alchemicals, buying weapons, a fast travel system, and a couple of extra secrets.

I've been working away the last few months and chose to only just now cut a single copy of the Ventrue Mod - most things are working, I'm just now testing and refining to get things into a fit and playable (and non-laggy/crashing) state.

Carry 4 - so more than giga or thermite.
destroys giant bugholes, warp ships in 1, and can also demolish walls (this matters if you bring mechs or FRVs into the maps with city-walls).
activates instantly in a wide but defined area or you can lay it down as a trap.

And the damage is huge - insta-kills chargers, hulks, and seems to leave fleshmobs on 1.

Also solid against vox and factory-striders.

Other than the low throw arc, which you can mitigate with positioning, planning, elevation or doing the jump throw - it's a pretty astounding bit of kit.

Now I might be a bit biased, I've always wanted a grenade you can set and detonate later with another gun and I LOVE you can use this mine for that.

What we thinking?

Some of you might know me from my other mods, notably my https://www.nexusmods.com/vtmbloodlines2/mods/170 "Tremere ReVamped" which gives the blood mages some much needed vitae manipulation abilities (as well as the capability to produce thin blood alchemicals through blood curse and feeding on resonant targets).

Well, I wanted to do the same thing for the Ventrue - the master manipulators who cast one ability and immediately get tired and need a snack and a lie down.

Compared to the Ventrue we see in cutscenes, Phyre is pretty weak on dominate - sure urging someone to break their own neck is cool, but it lacks some finesse.

Something else I think we've all butted heads with in the game is also the resonance system.

On paper, cool, in practice, frustrating.

I'd already dabbled a bit with Masquerade manipulation ( https://www.nexusmods.com/vtmbloodlines2/mods/171 ) but this really didn't feel like the right approach - a temporary suppression as opposed to a full-on psychic toolkit.

So enters my mod (Still a work in progress)

---

So what you're seeing in this video is the expression of a pure Ventrue kit and its interactions with a new buff I call "Masqued Mind".

---

Masqued mind (buff)

does 3 things...

1. Tap into the collective unconscious to suppress the masquerade - the Masquerade is suppressed and reset - this does not protect you if it is already broken, and targets away before expiration may still impact on the masquerade.
2. Targets see what they want to see, you may talk to any partially resonant target and they will speak with you despite clothing - this consumes Masqued Mind.
3. Your next Strike, Relocate or Affect cast during this time is immediately refunded - this consumes Masqued Mind

Lasts 30 seconds, ends early if you feed on a non-resonant target.

---

You can see the effect as the "scry the scroll" that lines the outside of the screen, which I feel is visually noticeable without being directly obscuring, and it has a nice amplifying effect for a lot of the Ventrue skills.

Now you might be asking yourself, how do you get Masqued Mind?

Well let me walk you through the Ventrues Kit.

---

Terminal Decree - Grim Harvest

Capture the targets departing thoughts granting resonance of the appropriate type if the target was resonant. Also works with partially resonant targets.

---

(by itself this doesn't grant resonance, but it combos with another ability later)

---

Possession - Masque of a thousand Faces

Partially Resonant targets grant Masqued Mind when possessed - remember you can end it early by holding the cast button again (no need to attack).

---

Cloud Memory - Masqued Mind

Send calming ripples through psychic storms - Using Cloud Memory on any target grants Masqued Mind.

---

Mass Manipulation - Collective Unconcious

Fuel your abilities through the latent willpower of those around you - After use, the next ability you use that would consume Masqued Mind does not, and is still refunded.

---

Resilience - Memory Eater

Feeding on resonant (or partially resonant) targets grants Masqued Mind - this includes Grim Harvest.

---

Oh, and as a bonus I also give Masqued Mind when you drink a blood potion, not just refilling abilities but giving you a free cast for some fun combos, or an emergeny reset on the masquerade.

---

The astute among you might already be seeing some combos - specifically that if you have Masqued Mind you can endlessly cast Cloud Memory.

And yes, this is semi-intended - it feels amazing after feeding on a resonant target in a public space (or terminal decreeing them) to be able to cloud the memories of all nearby Cops, or any fleeing and alerter witnesses - letting you play as true cleanup crew.

Because the thing protecting you from breaching the masquerade is the same thing that lets you use your abilities on loop, and different abilities have different triggers - it becomes a bit of a simon-says of how to use which ability when.

For instance, possession is a great opener against a partially resonant target, but when you talk to said target you'll consume the masqued mind, meaning you have to feed.

You could just terminal decree them which both rewards (some) resonance and refreshes your buff (as they're a resonant target) BUT then you still don't have possession recharged, so it's often best to feed.

---

Now some might also be thinking "but won't being able to chain cloud memory with itself trivialise some encounters?"

And the answer is, maybe, but you don't get it for free, you have to activate it by feeding on a resonant target - and those are less common in combat encounters.

Possession and terminal decree both require resonance - so you're competing for its activation using one of the resonant affects, OR you

---

My absolute favourite combo out of this though is Mass Manipulation + Glimpse of Oblivion + Terminal decree.
If you can get Masqued Mind active during this (blood potion) you can then just hunt down every enemy that's feared and running away using terminal decree like some sick "fish in a barrel" interaction.

---

But yeah, the mods in a pretty nice state, I need to do a little more work on it to iron out one or two edge-cases, but it will be coming soon - potentially as part of a large modpack

As a preview, I'm actually giving every clan a bit of an identity.

Tremere I've already discussed, but they get shields and blood pip regen abilities as well as the ability to brew thinblood alchemicals in the bodies of cursed targets they feed on.

Brujah I'm letting heal on lethal lightning strikes and through an ability I nickname "dine and dash" from charge - Their brutality passive also enhances all their TK throws to lethal level (in an ability I call "titanfist).

Banu - I'm letting mute stun enemies and I'm adding a "lick the blade" passive to their Perk - this will make executions and decapitations still restore a single blood pip - giving them some "blood mage" of their own.

Toreador I'm making the gun clan - their passive replenishes bullets in their curent gun, and so too can their mastery. Their fleetness is also getting enhanced with "finale" which makes the final pip of a relocate recharge faster (e.g. Blink can be cast every 5 seconds with it).

Lasombra - I'm giving a shadowy version of Bennys gun thats ammo pool is fueled by dissolving corpses with a new interaction, or banishing enemies through Oblivion.

---

Everything is still being worked on and tested, but I am ticking along.

I've always felt like the designers of 5e get Arcane Archer wrong.

They're always more "fighter that has some special arrows" rather than a true fusion of martial and spellcasting.

And don't get me wrong the arrows are thematic and mostly cool - but it's "shoot arrow with magic theme" rather than "marry arrow with magic".

Part of the issue might be being determined to make it a fighter subclass instead of, say, a Ranger subclass so it gets proper spellcasting.

Anyway, here's my pitch for one.

The TL/DR is "get short rest spellslots, use them to cast strike and smite spells, even if they're normally melee, can also do a special attack shot that casts a spell into an arrow, and you must hit with it. Also you later on get to do some of this stuff as a reaction".

# Arcane Archer


### Arcane Shot Progression


| Fighter Level | Cantrips | Spells Prepared | Arcane Shots | Arcane Shot Level |
|--------------:|:--------:|:-------------------:|:------------:|:-----------------:|
| 3 | 1 | — | 2 | 1st |
| 4 | 1 | — | 2 | 1st |
| 5 | 1 | — | 2 | 2nd |
| 6 | 1 | — | 2 | 2nd |
| 7 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2nd |
| 8 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2nd |
| 9 | 2 | 3 | 2 | 3rd |
| 10 | 3 | 3 | 2 | 3rd |
| 11 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3rd |
| 12 | 3 | 4 | 2 | 3rd |
| 13 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4th |
| 14 | 3 | 5 | 2 | 4th |
| 15 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 4th |
| 16 | 3 | 6 | 3 | 4th |
| 17 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 5th |
| 18 | 3 | 7 | 3 | 5th |
| 19 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 5th |
| 20 | 3 | 8 | 3 | 5th |


**Spellcasting Ability:** Intelligence


---


# 3rd Level — Arcane Shot


You have learned to weave magic into your ranged attacks.


You gain the Arcane Shot progression shown in the Arcane Shot table.


## Arcane Shots


The Arcane Shot table shows how many Arcane Shots you have and the level of those Arcane Shots.


You expend Arcane Shots to cast your Arcane Archer spells. Whenever a spell is cast using an Arcane Shot, it is cast at the level shown in the Arcane Shot table.


You regain all expended Arcane Shots when you finish a Short or Long Rest.


For example, when you are a 9th-level Fighter, you have two 3rd-level Arcane Shots. To cast the 1st-level spell *Searing Smite*, you expend one Arcane Shot and cast it as a 3rd-level spell.


Arcane Shots can only be used to cast spells granted by this subclass. They cannot be used to cast spells gained from another class, your species, feats or any other source.


## Spellcasting Ability


Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for your Arcane Archer spells.


## Arcane Archer Expanded Spell List


You always have the following spells prepared and can cast them using your Arcane Shots.


### Cantrips


- True Strike
- Either Prestidigitation or Druidcraft (pick one)


### 1st Level


- Searing Smite
- Thunderous Smite
- Wrathful Smite
- Entangling Strike


### 2nd Level


- Shining Smite


### 3rd Level


- Blinding Smite
- Elemental Weapon
- Lightning Arrow


### 4th Level


- Staggering Smite


### 5th Level


- Banishing Smite
- Swift Quiver


Whenever a future spell is published that is cast as a bonus action immediately after hitting with a weapon attack, it is automatically added to this spell list and considered prepared.


Whenever you cast a spell from this spell list that normally requires hitting with a melee weapon, you may instead cast it after hitting with a ranged weapon.


Spells granted by this subclass may also be cast using spell slots gained from another class.


## 3rd level - Imbued Shot


When you cast a spell that has a casting time of one action, you may imbue it into a ranged weapon attack.


When you do so:


- The spell ignores its verbal and somatic components, and any material components that have no specified cost.
- Provided the spell doesn't have a range of "self" The spell's range becomes the range of the weapon used, even if it normally has a range of Touch. Attacks made beyond the weapon's normal range are made with disadvantage as normal.
- If the spell targets one or more creatures, you make a ranged weapon attack against each target as part of casting the spell.
- A target hit by one of these attacks is affected by the spell normally, including making a save if required.
- A target missed by one of these attacks is unaffected by the spell, unless it targets an area.
- If the spell requires one or more attack rolls, these attack rolls are replaced by the ranged weapon attacks made as part of this feature.
- If the spell affects an area rather than targeting one or more creatures, the attack roll is made against an AC of 15, though may also gain benefits of cover. On a miss the spell originates from the point where the ammunition first impacts a creature or surface,
- The spell's attack modifier, spell save DC, damage, healing and other effects are determined normally. Only the attack roll is replaced by a ranged weapon attack.



> **Designer Note:** Essentially there's 3 scenarios.
> Spells with attack rolls, just make a ranged attack (or multiple) - this is spells like scorching ray, you must hit every target for the spell effect to apply.
> Spells that target with saving throws - make a ranged attack AND THEN the target makes a saving throw. If there's multiple targets then the attack must hit that target for the effect to apply - e.g. Charm person.
> Spells that affect an area - they just have their range changed to be that of your ranged weapon.
---


# 7th Level — Arcane Study


Your study of magic and combat has expanded, allowing you to better weave spells and ammunition together.


You gain the following benefits:


- Your attacks with ranged weapons count as magical for the purpose of overcoming Resistance and Immunity to nonmagical attacks and damage.
- You learn one additional cantrip of your choice from the Wizard or Druid spell list (already shown in the table)
- You may now learn Wizard and Druid spells using the Arcane Shot progression table, you learn two spells now and more as you gain levels in this class.


A spell of 1st level or higher learned through this feature must meet all of the following criteria:


- It is of an Arcane Shot level you can cast.
- It has a casting time of one action.
- it does not share a school with any other spell you have learned through Arcane Study (not including cantrips)


Whenever you cast a spell of first level or higher learned through this feature, you must cast it using your Imbued Shot feature.


Whenever you gain a Fighter level, you may replace one of these spells with another eligible spell.


Additionally, whenever you gain a Fighter level, you may replace one cantrip granted by this subclass with another Wizard or Druid cantrip.


---


# 7th Level — Curving Shot


When you miss with a ranged weapon attack, you can use a Bonus Action to reroll the attack against a different creature within 60 feet of the original target.


> **Designer Note:** This also applies to casting area spells using Imbued Shot, allowing a second attempt.


---


# 10th Level — Spellshot


When you take the Attack action on your turn and have at least two attacks available, you can replace two of those attacks with a single use of your Imbued Shot feature to cast a cantrip granted by this subclass or learned through Arcane Study.


---


# 10th Level — Ever-Ready Shot


When you roll Initiative, you regain one expended Arcane Shot.


---


# 15th Level — Arcane Assault


When you hit a creature with a ranged weapon attack, that creature has disadvantage on the next saving throw it makes against one of your Arcane Archer spells before the end of your next turn.


This disadvantage applies even if the spell is cast as part of the triggering attack.


Additionally, your number of Arcane Shots increases to three, and you learn one additional cantrip from the Wizard or Druid spell list (already shown in the table)


---


# 18th Level — Arcane Countershot


When a creature you can see targets you with an attack or spell, or an ability that causes you to make a saving throw, you may use your reaction to magically evade.


You teleport up to half your speed to an unoccupied space you can see - avoiding the triggering attack - though you may still be within the affect of certain area affects.


You may then use Imbued Shot against the attacker, casting the spell as part of this reaction and making the first attack roll with advantage.


You regain uses of this feature after completing a short or long rest, unless you expend a use of your arcane shot (no action required) to replenish its use.

I'm sure there's a mod for this, but something I'd love to see baked into the base game is the idea of certain items or objects being able to share an equipment slot.

For instance, I'd love to be able to have both arrows and a bow on the same should slot, with the bow being the top of the stack - so one I pull it I can then pull arrows from the same slot.

I'd also love if we can do the same thing for things like throwing knives/shuriken and even the new bombs - so you can have a sword on that same pocket, pull it off, and then access the knives or bombs underneath.

And lastly.

Wristblade having a retractable dagger is cool, but it should really be a vambrace/arm equipment item then, and point out when we make an unarmed fist.

As it stands it's mostly a novelty rather than something truly functional.

Same old mod, but renamed, revamped, and delivering the true Tremere Blood Mage experience in Bloodlines 2.

https://www.nexusmods.com/vtmbloodlines2/mods/170

When I first created the mod the goal was simply "make the Tremeres passive not suck" - but it expanded to include other abilities, as well as revisiting the elixirs.

---

The two big new things are.

1. Blood Curse and Blood of Potency give you better blood pip control - blood curse will actually siphon pips out of enemies and blood of potency rewards pips any time a corpse is dissolved or destroyed through blood curse explosions or recall

https://youtu.be/U0tuURAye2M

2. Potence elixirs have been revamped to also increase and replenish ammunition.

https://youtu.be/1xi5eNYw19E

Here's a summary:

## What it does

- Corrosive Touch body dissolves grant shield for Tremere.
- Recall telefrag kills grant shield.
- Blood Curse + feeding can create elixir drops from cursed targets.
- Elixir type is based on the target’s feed-time resonance:
  - None/default -> Mending
  - Sanguine -> Blood
  - Choleric -> Potence
  - Melancholic -> Fortitude
- Blood Curse now restores combat blood pips while channelled near the cursed target.
- Blood of Potency / Greed adds blood-pip rewards to Corrosive Touch dissolves, Recall telefrags, and Blood Curse explosions.
- Elixirs have upgraded secondary effects.

## New in 0.3.0

Blood Curse now acts as a close-range blood-pip regeneration tool. It floors Strike pips on cast start, then restores Relocate, Affect, Mastery, and Strike pips while the target stays nearby. If the target is affected by Cauldron of Blood, restore beats can affect all combat slots.

I also removed the old Corrosive Touch resonance-overflow reward. It was causing lag spikes through the resonance/autosave/UI path. Full-shield overflow is now intentionally dropped, and the Blood of Potency / Greed pip rewards are the upgrade path instead.

## Elixir upgrades

- Blood Elixir activates your current clan passive.
- Mending Elixir cleanses Boiling Blood.
- Fortitude Elixir grants shield.
- Potence Elixir can charge a heat baton, empower guns, refill a TK-held gun, dualize supported guns, or summon a blood-material sword.

## Compatibility

Tested on Steam build `23416145`.

https://stevewaretester.github.io/VTMB2_SkillCalculator

Summer update is out and I've processed the data into a few new pages.

1. Ysabellas collectibles have been added to the map:

https://stevewaretester.github.io/VTMB2_SkillCalculator/?at=phyre.map

https://preview.redd.it/do2gbod3tz6h1.png?width=2503&format=png&auto=webp&s=6c29f6adbdec56fe153371e0987a01cf659a2b51

Map is still overall a WIP but this should help mark what you've collected and help you find them.

This was made by dumping the locations from the game files and then translating to the map PNG.

Just be sure to filter by Ysabella and Adverts to see it.

2. Ysabellas Combat has been updated

https://stevewaretester.github.io/VTMB2_SkillCalculator/?at=ysabelle.combat

The rapier is an absolute beast.

3. Ranged weapons have been added to Phyres combat tab

https://stevewaretester.github.io/VTMB2_SkillCalculator/?at=phyre.combat.ranged

Some experimenting in game, but mostly driven by data dumps - there's potentially some inaccuracy but I made sure to try things myself - if anyone does find any data against what's written let me know.

4.I've updated the Damage graph with ranged weapons and Ysabellas rapier:

https://stevewaretester.github.io/VTMB2_SkillCalculator/?at=phyre.combat.graph

https://preview.redd.it/tl85kpoqtz6h1.png?width=2482&format=png&auto=webp&s=4f011a9b4b8e824b6e5f7a2ab7345e29be143ae7

As you can see her sword is pretty much the top of the damage-chain - it's essentially the speed of toreador with the range of tremere - but then more damage, so pretty nuts.

Ranged weapon-wise, we get to see that the shotguns are the kings of burst damage (expectantly) with the smgs being reliable.

My vote for best overall probably goes to the pistols - good overall damage and relatively easy to acquire (possess a cop and set them loose).

https://www.nexusmods.com/vtmbloodlines2/mods/171

On the eve of the new DLC I decided to do a stupid and publish a new mod.
It will almost definitely break in the upcoming, but on the off-chance it doesn't, this is something that's bugged me for a while.

In the game the masquerade is mostly a crap wanted system that punishes you for doing vampire things in non-vampire places.

Now the implementation sucks, you're either

1. "Fine" (white-green-amber)
2. "oh, the red bar increases all the time?"
3. "tolly just stole my resonance, the worst thing to have to grind in the game".

But the WORST part is that the only influence you have over it directly is WAITING.

If you're in red you just go stand on a rooftop until you're not.
And then you wait before doing anything risky.

I don't mind managing the masquerade, but jesus christ TCR give me the tools to do so.

Oh wait, I gave them to myself.

Here's a video:
https://youtu.be/Kkukk0uEy4I

MUTE

Prevents masq from triggering on feed

Cloud Memory

Actively reduces current masq

Both

Give you a temporary "masqued mind" buff (shown by the shattered glass screen vfx) that will prevent masq from increasing.

Now you're not invisible, humans will still freak out, cops can agro, and if they stay that way after the buff fades (about 10-15 seconds) then you'll spike the masquerade and toll will show up with a splintery buttplug.

But you can use mute to feed on a resonant target without finding the most remote dark alley in the game. You can lower your masquerade value with cloud memory so you exit the red and get back to ground level.

Blood potions are suddenly a safety net.

These are all good things.

And it should make arguably the crappest affects in the game slightly more attractive.

Now, will this continue to work with the DLC?
probably not, I'll be here to fix it when i can, but at least it's out in the wild for now.

https://www.reddit.com/r/valheim/comments/19edug4/valheim_should_learn_from_enshrouded/

Post I made ages ago, I shouldn't have invoked the name of enshrouded but the core of what I was trying to say is "valheim needs more systems that are fun and add functionality" - which they've done.

And now they're adding a grappling hook.

And again, because the native links on reddit aren't always obvious:

https://stevewaretester.github.io/VTMB2_SkillCalculator/?at=ysabelle.skills

This just showcases her skilltree and the upcoming features from the trailer and the post - but I wanted to get it out now and raise awareness so people will see.

Most intriguing are her rapier and her razor wire, new melee combat and a frankly better-sounding alternative to telekinesis.

That and ranged weapons outside bennys sidearm and so will hopefully be added to phyre too!

Hi all, I'm one of the guys that's been adding mods to bloodlines 2 - notably my recent mod of the corrosive shield and alchemic sorcerery, but also others like the melee override and I even had a fabien fast travel mod (hilariously the same implementation the devs added in the spring update of clicking phlegmatic targets).

So far, I've been releasing individual mods rather than a SINGLE giant modpack, I haven't pulled an "unofficial patch" that's technically 10+ mods in a single easily downloadable and installable way - because I want to keep the experience tuneable to individual players and they may not want an entire overhaul.

The key exception to this IS the corrosive shield mod, which is technically a core shield enabler mod, 4 mods, 2 helper mods, and then a library and a shared data repository.

This does come at the cost of convenience though, because you need to manually edit your mods.txt to get all my mods working together.

As I'm gearing up though, I'm wondering if it's worth having one specific modpack which is my stuff, so that it can all be installed at once.

Upcoming content includes

Make a Haven a Home - which will tidy up the haven, add thinblood alchemy, add a shadowbroker (for buying weapons), recordings of all the radio shows to listen to at your own leisure, a window exit and a fast travel system to all the elysiums - once you become sheriff that is.

Clan Completion Talents - New abilities for either having completed the game as a specific clan, or completing their skill-tree. This is a mix of minor benefits...
Any - Blood Heal - Restore HP at the cost of bloodpips.
Brujah - Titanfist - Fire TK projectiles with lethal force
Tremere - Bloodcraft - reload guns, duplicate melee weapons, swap elixirs
Banu - Distraction - create noise at a point for enemies to investigate
Ventrue - Discerning Tastes - Gain more blood pips and resonance from resonant targets, NPCs ignore your clothing so you can talk to anyone without swapping costumes.
Lasombra - Shadowcache - vanish weapons for later use to resummon.
Toreador - Silken Grasp - use TK like a grappling hook to pull yourself to distant locations.
ALL - bloodquickening - bloodheal now also activates your clan passive.

---

I'm wondering if it's worth putting these together in one big mod and call it the "Obvious Overhaul" or keep it as two separate mods?

Edit: to be clear, put ALL my mods together in one modpack, so you'd have as single place to get the CCT's, the MAHAH, the Melee override and the Alchemic Sorcery