Resonance (Socratov rework)
Why change Resonance?
The rules for Resonance in V5 can make for an interesting bit of resource management and comes back in hunting, improving disciplines, Thinblood Alchemy and so on. The strength of the mechanic is to create a a more narrative effect around the thing Kindred need most: blood.
The Good
The good parts of Resonance in V5 are the 4 humours, resonance effects, its use in advancing disciplines and the concept behind dyscrasia. Where the Hunger mechanic takes away the more detail oriented resource management of blood, the concept of resonance adds it back in. This time, however, it's not about how much points you take and use, but what flavour you are looking for and how you source the intensities needed. The Corebook (p.231) points to an ST being well within their rights to require more or more intense resonance to learn higher rating Discipline powers. Collecting dyscrasia before an intense scene where the coterie needs every advantage they can lay their hands on is similarly a great idea. This is a concept which adds tension and drama as well as interacts very well with the concepts of downtime and projects. it allows the character to focus on the individual instead of only engaging in coterie level play. Especially when Thinbloods are present.
The Bad
Sadly with the concept also came some thinly patched holes. In the corebook we are introduced to 4 humours as resonances. Some attention is spent on 'Animals' as a 'resonance' (it's not a mood or emotional state) for purposes of advancing Animalism and Protean. Cults of the Blood Gods and Chicago by Night introduce us to Empty resonance to advance Oblivion.
The Ugly
This is where the flaws in the concept take the good down with them: Animal is not a mood or intensity. A lack of resonance or emptiness of resonance isn't exactly scalable. So where the other disciplines could be improved with different levels of resonance, the other disciplines (Protean, Animalism, Oblivion) get no real support in this idea. Which creates a difference between disciplines. Inelegant if you ask me.
The solution
The best solution would be to create a system which is congruent with the look and feel of V5 (so on a 1~5 dot basis) and a recalibration of the disciplines to have all disciplines being advanced using the same principles. So we return to the 4 main humours, the classical Hippocratean Sanguine/Choleric/Phlegmatic/Melancholic moods and this time we include animals and kindred as well. This rework will focus on 3 parts:
- Humours and their connection to corresponding Disciplines
- Intensity
- Rules for feeding on prey
Humours & Disciplines
| Humour | Disciplines |
|---|---|
| Sanguine | Blood Sorcery, Presence |
| Choleric | Potence, Celerity, Protean |
| Melancholy | Fortitude, Obfuscate, Oblivion |
| Phlegmatic | Auspex, Dominate, Animalism |
By folding Protean into Choleric (as it aligns most with the concept of physical disciplines), Oblivion with Melancholic (as it aligns most with with the concept of entropy and the end) and Animalism with Phlegmatic (as it most closely aligns with the theme of control over others and soothing passions) we are back to using 4 humours which are scaleable.
Intensity
Resonance is like a vector with direction (Humour) and magnitude (intensity). The intensity can be graded on a scale of 1 to 5. You can gain intensity by feeding on prey with a certain resonance.
You can increase you existing resonance rating (intensity) by consecutively feeding on vessels with a matching resonance. If the resonance of the vessel you feed from is more intense than your current resonance rating, you gain 1 resonance dot for every Hunger slaked*. If the vessel's resonance intensity is less than or equal to your intensity rating, gain 1 resonance dot per 2 hunger slaked.
If you feed on a vessel with a different resonance than your own, lose one 1 dot of your current resonance per slaked Hunger*. When you reach 0 dots in resonance continued feeding starts building up resonance like above.
\* You don't need to reduce actual hunger to gain resonance but feed an amount enough to otherwise reduce hunger.
Prey
To gain Resonance you need to feed on blood or things closely associated with it.
Animals
Feeding on Animals can produce resonances just like feeding on humours. Though animals don't provide as much nourishment as kine do they still feel emotions like anger, heat, boredom and sadness. You will mostly find domesticated animals to be Phlegmatic, wild animals to be Choleric and in mating season you will find lots of Sanguine resonating animals. Melancholy can be found in mistreated animals (like those in too small places) or in monogamous animals which have lost their mating partner. Those cases are considerably rarer, however.
Mortals
Mortals give the full range of Resonance depending on time, place and temperament, very rarely will you find a human with a stable 0 resonance as that effectively means the person in question has lost all sense of emotion and sense of self. Humans previously associated with emptiness of resonance like psychopaths are instead Phlegmatic.
Bags of blood
Bags of blood are still human blood and retain, along with the life force associated with the blood, that little zest for life. Bagged blood remains resonant with the human it has been drawn from, but always requires 2 Hunger slaked to improve resonance and can't improve resonance above a rating of 2.
Lupines
Lupines are special mortals in the case that their blood is supernaturally potent and slakes Hunger at a rate of double that of a mortal. Their blood is always Choleric and has at least resonance 3. If the blood was taken from a Lupine in their Crinos form the resonance is always 5.
Kindred
Even though vampires are dead and don't have blood, they have Vitae. And using the Vitae imparts a certain metaphysical property. A kindred's Resonance is either their existing resonance (through feeding), or the Resonance associated with their last used Discipline where the intensity is equal to the rating of said Discipline.
Wraiths
Through the use of the Oblivion (the discipline, not the place) power Passion Feast a kindred may sustain themselves by feeding on a wraith. While a Wraith doesn't have blood or Vitae, they have passions which allow them to remain as they are instead of passing on into the Maelstrom at the heart of Oblivion (the place, not the discipline). Wraiths usually have a Melancholic resonance, though some wraiths might temporarily contain a different resonance due to events happening. Those effects are only temporary and wraiths usually revert back to Melancholy due to their connection to the shadowlands, Death and Oblivion (the place). The intensity of a Wraith's Resonance is directly proportional to their Passion and gets lower as the kindred feeds more and more and the wraith loses their identity and sense of self.
Credits
Author: Socratov
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