Best Clan for Unique Dialogue?

[Nate]

It's my first playthrough of Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines. I was wondering what clan is the best to role for the most unique dialogue - clan/race-specific, but also dialogue through persuasion and seduction skills.

I want to play a more social role for the first playthrough, not so fussed about combat skills. As such, I want the most amount of dialogue options available to me.

I heard Malkavian is good for a second playthrough due to their insanity and having the most clan-specific dialogue, and Nosferatu for a third due to their appearance and stealth nature.

I heard Brujahs and Grangels aren't so good for non-combat focused players. That leaves me with Toreador, Ventrue or Tremere. Do they have enough unique dialogue between them and are friendly for first time players?

[Touch of Oblivion]

The dialouge is mostly the same except for Malks and Nossies, tbh, though there will be certain NPCs who react differently to you based on your Clan. Strauss in Downtown will react differently to a Tremere for instance since he's also a Tremere.

Also I do recommend getting SOME combat skills as there are point in the game where combat is required and having low skill ratings for those parts will make things MUCH harder for you. Pick one type over the others, Melee, Brawl, or Firearms. Don't worry about building into all three.

[Awful Tortoise]

Definitely the Malkavian. I did them on my first play through and it made me fall in love with the game. To your desire for the "most amount of dialogue options" neither clan has more or less than any other, but being bat sh*t insane, the Malkavians offer the most interestingly worded choices. Sadly, in my opinion, the game doesn't go far enough differentiating the experience for most other clans. The Nosferatus are the next most unique since you have to sneak around and use the tunnels more than any one else. The Tremere at least gives you ///////////possible spoiler* a new haven to live in with the other Tremere *end spoiler/////////// and Brujah will make you kinda feel like one of the gang, but there's only a little here and there that makes you feel like you're something different.

[EeeKitties]

You need combat for the second half of the game sadly.

- Tremere have unique "spells" and haven (I played this). Limited Dominate in the Plus patch, but the Plus patch isn't for first timers.
- Ventrue have full Dominate dialog options.
- Toreador have bonus to Seduction (if I recall correctly), and it's non-existant for male PCs.

Also a tip: Intimidate (probably only slightly useful in the Plus patch) isn't as good as Seduction and that's not as good as Persuasion (way better than the other two).

I would say Ventrue because of the Dominate dialog.

[-3xA'Lu©κy the disappearing act]

Malkavian without a doubt. As a Nosferatu people will react to you differently and moreso, but Malkavian has the most unique dialogue both ways.

[Nate]

Thanks for all the replies, guys.

I'm set on going Malkavian for a second playthrough, I think.

Originally posted by EeeKitties:

You need combat for the second half of the game sadly.

- Tremere have unique "spells" and haven (I played this). Limited Dominate in the Plus patch, but the Plus patch isn't for first timers.
- Ventrue have full Dominate dialog options.
- Toreador have bonus to Seduction (if I recall correctly), and it's non-existant for male PCs.

I would say Ventrue because of the Dominate dialog.

What's the Dominate dialogue options? Are they related to Persuasion?

Stuck between these three still. Tremere sounds the most interesting combat-wise, but are you saying with limited Dominate that they aren't good for unique dialogue?

[NixBoxDone]

Each of the three choosable dialogue flavours is a different kind of way to get what you want throughout the game, Domination is a fourth inate ability to crush the other persons personality for a short while, asserting your will over their own by sheer mental power.

Seduction is mostly used to get free meals, but can also in some cases be used to persuade someone to do something for you simply because they hope to get into your pants - which are optional as Malkavian.

Also very useful for the romance options hidden in the game, although it doesn't have any twilighty stuff about it. Srs bsns in this game. :o

Persuasion is your ability to sway people into deals and reasoning, kind of like a car salesman. :D

Intimidate is as the name implies, you let your civilised mask slip and show your conversation partner the monster lurking under your skin, threatening them with harm if they don't do as you suggest.

Some of the clans are better in one than the other, and out in the world some NPCs can be swayed using any of those, but some are only open to one of those - if that one happens not to be the one you are good at or chose to pursue, you might never know that there had been a different, most often better way to solve that particular encounter.

It's one of the many reasons this game has such a high replay value, you never know what you miss by intimidating everybody instead of charming them out of their knickers, dominating their weak wills or swaying them with your conversational skills and sharp reasoning.

Especially since you need the right skill on the right level at the right time, in many situations.

I really wish more games would do things like this - the only games that come anywhere near are out of Bioware nowadays, and they seem to be a bit lazy on the outcomes as well, handling these optional dialoges as "fix all"s, mainly. :(

[Touch of Oblivion]

What he means by weaker Dominate is that the Tremere don't get as many unique Dominate dialogues as the Ventrue do. I can't recall specific examples but a Tremere with high enough Dominate might get an option that says "Do what I tell you." while a Ventrue might get "You shall do your new master's bidding, slave!" and the NPC will likely respond differently.

Also there's three Disciplines in the game that can have unique dialogue options: Dominate, Presence, and Dementation. Tremere and Ventrue get Dominate, Toreador and Brujah get Presence, and only Malkavians get Dementation.

[Wesp5]

As explained here, all clans have use in dialogues. You should choose your first playthrough clan for the combat that is needed too: Toreador for firearms, Tremere for magic or Ventrue for melee.

[CrackeR]

Why do people suggest NOT using the (plus) content in the UOP the first playthrough? Really why wouldnt you want to be enriched on your first run? <shrug>

[EeeKitties]

I forgot about Presence hah. Short answer: Dominate costs blood, and forces people to do actions.

If you've changed your mind and want a character with unique combat, I highly suggest Tremere or Gangrel.

@Cracker The reason people play Basic first is it's more the way the game originally was, the Plus patch restores a whole extra level and so on with some combat modifications (less overpowered spells, constant blood draining, can be a bit harder, if I recall correctly anyway). Plus, it's fun to see the changes! I think.... if you were only ever going to play it once ever, then maybe then just have the Plus patch.

[Wesp5]

Originally posted by Cracker:

Why do people suggest NOT using the (plus) content in the UOP the first playthrough?

I could imagine that on the second run you would then recognize how unfinished the game actually was on release.

[Nate]

Thanks heaps for the information guys, really useful and has helped.

So just to clarify - is it worth investing in points in Persuasion and Seduction to have my options open if I roll a Venture (which I'm considering) with full Dominate dialogue options available to him?

Originally posted by The Gentleman MOA:

What he means by weaker Dominate is that the Tremere don't get as many unique Dominate dialogues as the Ventrue do. I can't recall specific examples but a Tremere with high enough Dominate might get an option that says "Do what I tell you." while a Ventrue might get "You shall do your new master's bidding, slave!" and the NPC will likely respond differently.

Ah okay, cheers for the clarification.

Originally posted by The Gentleman MOA:

Also there's three Disciplines in the game that can have unique dialogue options: Dominate, Presence, and Dementation. Tremere and Ventrue get Dominate, Toreador and Brujah get Presence, and only Malkavians get Dementation.

So how frequent is the unique dialogue for Brujah or Toreadors with Presence? Is it as frequent throughout the game as the Venture's dominate?

And do Ventrue get a decent amount of Clan-specific dialogue?

[Touch of Oblivion]

All the Clans with social Disicplines like Dominate, Presence, and Dementation likely get the same amount of chances to use their Discipline to instantly solve a dialogue issue. However, it is still worth putting points into Persuasion and Seduction since sometimes you will have the chance to use one of those(if high enough) but NOT have the option to use Dominate/Presence/Dementation.

The useage for any of the above Disciplines is often enough that it's nice to have, since Feats(Att+Skill rating) can go up to 10 but Disciplines only go up to 5, a lot of the time you might run into something where at Persuasion 6 you could convince someone to do something, but you only need Dominate 2-3 to convince them. Makes things a little easier.

Another reason Seduction is still worth it is for seducing the blood dolls in the clubs in each hub. There's always one(or two if in Chinatown) people you can seduce and feed from in the club without making people flip out. They think it's a couple getting frisky etc. There's a blood doll in Chinatown, the female one, who I believe needs like...Seduction 7 or 8 to have any chance at getting. Others might only need 2-5