Plus guns are a lot more versatile which increases the fun factor.
When I first asked whether guns were any good in the game a lot of people said they were crappy or just too weak (against non-humans). After playing with both melee and ranged I have to disagree with guns being underpowered.
The thing is that not every race is as good with ranged weapons as others, while melee works well on pretty much every character.
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If you wanna create the best ranged character pick:
- Toreador -
Reason? Simple, they got the best Clan Disciplines for a ranged char.
Auspex >
Besides it being a very useful discipline for everyone because you see where your enemies are, even through walls, it’s extra good for ranged chars because a level 5 Auspex adds 3 points to perception. This increases your gun stats.
Celerity >
Best discipline ever! (Read as the “Comic Book Guy” from the Simpsons.)
It’s like the bullet-time from max payne. Without it the game would probably suck.
Once again, it’s a great feat overall because it’s versatile and can be used with any way of playing. But it’s especially awesome for ranged because you can:
a) dodge all bullets. (already easily possible at level 3 Celerity)
b) Your rate of fire is increased insanely, as well as your reload time.
c) You hit more because you enemies don’t move as fast or you can aim better.
All of these advantages aren’t really the case with melee... (Mines the rate of fire/attack of course)
Presence >
Not important.
Although very good at max level I wouldn’t recommend putting points in it.
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So where to spend your points?
First level up Firearms and Perception as soon as possible.
Both increase damage and your aim. At low levels guns are quite useless.
Perception is a bit more expensive but it also levels up investigation. Not important but useful/handy nonetheless.
The first discipline you will level up is Celerity of course.
But don’t upgrade it until you have like 3 or 4 points in Firearms and Perception. Spend your XP nowhere else before that.
After that you should upgrade Celerity to 3. Then you can upgrade Firearms/perception to 4/4 or 5/4.
From now on you don’t really have to worry about baddies anymore. You can backwards outrun your enemies while shooting at them with Celerity active and your damage output is massive too.
You can choose to max Celerity and the last point in Perception (which is quite expensive) or level up Auspex first to level 4 or 5. (level 3 won’t give you an extra Perception point compared with level 2)
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Guns, guns and bullets.
The only downside to a ranged character are the money costs.
You will need to buy new bullets which drain your wallet all the time but it’s not a big problem or something (What else would you need the money for anyway).
When you start a new game, spend your first “knowledges” skills in Finance. This will automaticly decrease all costs.
Anyway, you can find the guns listed here:
http://www.gamebanshee.com/vampirebloodlines/equipment/rangedweapons.php
The beginning can be a bit hard with just a crappy Thirtyeight. But in the downtown area you will get the Brokk 17c, even though the description on that site says it’s not that good, try that thing with Celerity on and some decent Firearms/Perception skills. It’s a very reliable gun with a good magazine (18) and firerate.
Same with the Braddock 9mm. It *totally* sucks without Celerity because you can’t aim at all. But with Celerity active it’s suddenly a very good close range weapon.
Anywho, give it a try, I’m sure you’ll like it.
Hf.
