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I don't typically play Toreador a lot, and one of the nice things about VTMB is it doesn't directly lock you into anything. Playing a Toreador doesn't mean that you have to concentrate on the Seduction feat.

However, I started a new Toreador, decided to go with Seduction, and made it all of 15 seconds into the game before I re-rolled the character for Intimidation. Intimidation actually has direct benefits. It will get you stuff, it will get you out of things, into things, and through things that are otherwise less easily overcome. It's beneficial to have from the character's point of view.

I have, in the past, played with Seduction enough to know that it's good for a few free lunches, and a few giggles here and there. Does it have any real benefits, though? The character doesn't actually need a free lunch. The laughs are fine, but the character doesn't actually need those, either. Historically, I've always played into characteristics that have tangible benefits. I can't possibly max everything, so I spend my experience points on what is useful, not merely entertaining.

Somebody, however, must have gone for it at one time. Does a high Seduction feat actually come to prove useful at any point? Can you bat your eyes at the security guards in the Museum to get a pass? Will it get you through Tawny's apartment successfully? Can you use it to charm your way through the Society of Leopold? Does it make Bishop Vick get all weak in the knees? Does it impress the Giovanni, or the Sabbat, or Andrei, or the Kuei-Jin, or even the Tong? Can you use it to sway the Gargoyle?

Sure, it impresses VV, but, as the dialog options say, I don't actually need to impress that "pompous Toreador crybaby". Lets face it - you can get though as a Nossie without very much trouble, and paradoxically, a Nossie's looks actually have indirect benefits in their own right in some places. Do a Toreador's looks ever have the same kinds of benefits, either directly or indirectly?

If anybody has explored this aspect of the game thoroughly, I would love to hear your insights.

***spoilers***

Well, since I wasn't going to be using it anyway (not really necessary, as I mentioned), I cheated the thing up to 10 right after Santa Monica just to see what happens in various places. I just finished the Hollowbrook, so here goes (starting with the obvious stuff that pretty much everybody knows)

Spoiler

The blood dolls - one in every club, two in Asylum, that get progressively harder to seduce the farther along you get.
Romero (as a female) - you can *ahem* help him take care of his 'personal issue' yourself if your seduction is past a certain point.

Other than that, as Leviathan mentioned, in some places it will give you ways out that can be had with Persuasion, so not much to choose, and apparrently as a male, it allows you to 'sleep' with Jeannette, if that's what blows your skirt up.

What I didn't know before -

Spoiler

the prostitutes. You can seduce any of them, apparrently, and they will follow you to a secluded place where you can feed in privacy. Presumably you must have a certain level of seduction to do this, but I don't know if the level is the same for all of the prostitutes, or if they get progressively more difficult like the blood dolls.

So, by and large, yes. It's all about a free lunch. As one might expect, a Toreador (or any other clan except Nosferatu) with high seduction can pretty much forego rats, vagrants, and street thugs as aperitifs entirely. So, oddly enough, it might actually be a useful feat for a Ventrue, what with their excessively delicate palettes and all.

Spoilers

Spoiler

Seduction doesn't seem to have many exclusive benefits so I never spend on it... it's almost seems like an under-developed tactic that could've been fleshed out more. One thing that almost makes Seduction worthwhile is the interactions with Officer Chunk, but of course you have to be a woman, which is another disappointment. The last talk with Chunk is hilarious if you had been using seduction lines up to that point. So yeah, it's good for a laugh but not much else like you said

Jhereg wrote: Other than that, as Leviathan mentioned, in some places it will give you ways out that can be had with Persuasion, so not much to choose, and apparrently as a male, it allows you to 'sleep' with Jeannette, if that's what blows your skirt up.

Well you can actually still sleep with Jeannette as a female. It is a matter of using the correct dialogue with Therese and Jeannette before hand. Also from my experience the seduction feat is mostly giggles. However it does prove to make the Giovanni Mansion WAY easier.

I'll try not to spoil the game here. However, I may do a little. Seduction, like persuasion, adds dialogue options that can make the whole game easier, as well as some free stuff. Both do essentially the same thing, in a dialogue, for the most part. Anything you put into both is a good thing, whether male or female. And any clan out there. If V:TMB is your first immersion into an RPG, then you need to try a few more RPG's out there. Go get a copy of the Baldur's Gate games, Star Wars KOTOR, and Neverwinter Nights. Try playing those with little charisma, or even none. Anyway, seduction is something fun to use, and perhaps even almost needs to be used.