Mar 8, 2015, 11:21 PM

Hey folks! Before you say anything please read the following two disclaimers. 🙂 So if your response was going to be similar to one of the following:

  1. "The World of Darkness isn't meant to be balanced between spheres!"

or

  1. "I don't care about balance and/or mechanics!"

then you might be wasting your time reading this! I hope it has its little special niche among those who like to talk shop about dice and crossover mechanics as they relate to MU*.

So I spent a few days reading and re-reading the Werewolf 2.0 book, about an afternoon going through Demon (just so you know @Coin, they are also referred to as the Fallen so pfthp) and maybe one good solid through Vampire. It doesn't make me an expert but that's what this thread is for if my misconceptions can be dispelled. 🙂

TL;WR first: I think as of now Demon is at the top of the chain, followed closely by Werewolf, which is lagging slightly behind Vampire. The difference in power ranges doesn't seem to be remotely as huge as in the regular nWoD.

  • Demon has too many toys (sometimes literally) to not be squarely ahead. It has more than one ways to deliver aggravated damage and a way to heal themselves and others even during combat. They have the (current) game's best item making from what I read, and excellent escape powers for when shit hits the fan, including burning a cover to fuel themselves. Hell, they can conditionally come back from death.
    They also have ways of attacking social dynamics which are pretty impossible to defend (and in a MU, can be as devastating as character death). They are also fantastic at information gathering - they are basically the best spies in the nWoD.
    Their one weakness is angels. If for any reason that's not a clear and present delimiter Demon has no built-in weaknesses.

  • Werewolves are solid death machines. In this edition they can do so much to cripple and deal damage, plus so much ability to take it without going down they are in a really good place. Between Gauru healing, merits like Living Weapon, form specialization and pack bonuses/buffs, they are tremendously good.
    Their item making is also top-notch, with the built-in limitation Fetishes usually need to be fueled by Essence - thus they can't be loaners. They even have pretty good information gathering abilities although they're indirect, by utilizing friendly/recruited spirits for it.
    Their weakness in cross-sphere is aggravated damage. They can't deal it to non-spirits/Uratha, they can't do that much to heal it (they heal a point every two? days, but that's not going to be helpful in mid-scene).

  • Vampires are considerably buffed in 2.0. They take bashing from just about everything that's not supernatural, they can spend vitae to heal or buff themselves, their default senses have been boosted and some of their merits and Devotions are scary. They also have the usual array of bloodsucker-things, including ghouls, Vitae addiction, etc. They can be sneaky as hell and their manipulative powers are about or even higher than Demons', and well above that of Werewolves.
    Where they fall short is that they have a choice of spending their resource; they can either heal or buff themselves on each turn. They also come with a natural item-making limitation (it's not a prominent part of the sphere), although on a MU* it's a good bet many will just have friends gear them up from other spheres or get HR'ed something.

Now... after all this, my assertion in all this is that each sphere has certain limitations which are meant to be there. I've the feeling these things were playtested a hell of a lot more than in vanilla nWoD, and so removing them to 'fix' them could topple the scale more than it would do good.

For instance if you allow Werewolves to heal aggravated faster it would automatically push them way higher, quite possibly past Demons. If Demons work at any time without without the non-theoretical fear of Angel involvement, they are even higher than they currently are. And if Vampires get native item making they could offset their other limitations.

Just some thoughts. I've kept it pretty generic until/if other people feel like chipping in. 🙂