Abilities (2)

A detailed guide to abilities in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, covering skill point allocation, return on investment, and optimal leveling strategies for all disciplines.

This guide provides an analysis of the abilities in Vampire: The Masquerade - Bloodlines, focusing on their return on investment (ROI) and offering advice on how to best allocate skill points. The effectiveness of certain abilities can be significantly boosted by free points gained from skill books and character creation choices, as well as temporary buffs like Bloodbuff.

Key Ability Recommendations:

• Brawl: Avoid investing more than one dot, as you will receive 2-4 points for free from Nines and Skill Books.
• Computer, Dodge, Firearms, Stealth: Do not start with any points in these, as you can gain 0-2 points for free from Skill Books.
• Other Abilities: Maximize points in other abilities as the second dot costs 8XP instead of the usual 4XP. Investing 2 dots in an Attribute like Intelligence can save 12XP compared to splitting points between Intelligence and Wits.

The following table details the return on investment for specific abilities, helping you plan your character's development. For example, gaining 2 dots of Security from skill books and 2 dots of Dexterity during character creation, combined with Bloodbuff, can result in a lockpick rating of 5 without spending experience points.

Ability Return on Investment:

• Lockpick: Investing up to 2, 3, or 5 dots can yield significant XP returns (5XP, 4XP, 4XP respectively) with 0XP cost.
• Persuasion: Investing in Persuasion offers increasing XP returns at higher levels: 3 dots return 5XP (cost 6XP), 4 dots return 7XP (cost 4XP from 3), 5 dots return 3XP (cost 6XP from 4), and 9 dots return 2XP (cost 41XP from 5).
• Hacking: Higher levels of Hacking also provide XP returns: 4 dots return 3XP (cost 10XP), 6 dots return 2XP (cost 14XP from 4), and 8 dots return 2XP (cost 21XP from 6).

While these details may seem complex at first, they are invaluable for players who wish to meticulously plan their character's leveling path for maximum efficiency.