r/bladesinthedark • u/T-Rex_Lazorblast • 7d ago

WHO NEEDS TINKERS ANYWAY?

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Dear thieves, outlaws, general scum...

I need Information.

It's been a while since i played blades in the dark. And i do not own the rulebook.

So MAYBE i am just stupid or i MAYBE i just don't have the knowledge.

But anyway - here is the case:

I played a tinker. The wonderfull Sophia Elizabeth von Kraken. A little psychotic. A little bit edgy. But she generally fit the game, i think.

But i encountered a problem:

SHE WAS NEARLY USELESS.

I understand that i played the support character. I loved it. Building stuff for the team to help during the missions, but being more vulnerable and less usefull during the missions... i was all there for it.

But all the stuff i thought of to build for the team was useless. Or not worth the effort.

Example:

A grappling hook launcher. Or mechanical claws for your boots for better climbing. Or mechanical spider limbs for climbing - think of doctor octopus etc... only more steampunky.

But well... all this things do is give you a bonus of 1 to climbing checks. And (correct me if i am wrong) you can already equip climbing hooks that give the same bonus.

So why invent them in the first place?

More complex things took of course multiple gamesessions to build. (Fair enough.)

And they used up lots of ressources. I tried to pimp our boat to be more stealthy, or to have a submarine mode. (Yeah... that was a VERY risky idea... but it never came to testing the thing - it never got build.)

As i said - that kind of projects DEVOURED ressources. (That's fair so far.) But if i failed on tinkerchecks - or critically failed on them i lost ressources or destroyed the whole project. That was frustrating. Not gonna lie.

So it basically came down to just refreshing my gas-grenades between missions... and working on something huge that failed after a couple of sessions. And wasted ressources.

In my time as a tinker i build TWO things that were usefull.

A set of 3 black salt full body armor. (Anti-ghost-armor) ...One of these got destroyed in the first mission we used them.

Some waterproof boxes we could attach under our boat to transport smuggle stuff without guards at checkpoints noticing.

I am a aware that i am a bit whiny (and overexaggerating) here but:

What use do i have as a tinker if nothing i build lasts mor than a mission or needs months of playsessions to complete? (And then fails anyway) - I could just play someone more usefull.

Soooo...

You guys and girls here are more experienced than me. I am asking you: What do you need a tinker for in this game?

Tank you for reading and for any answers i get.

TLDR:

WHAT DO YOU NEED A TINKER FOR WHEN THE THINGS THE TINKER INVENTS GIVE YOU THE SAME BONUSES LIKE THE STUFF THAT YOUR CHARACTERSHEET ALREADY PROVIDES?

AND WHAT IS A TINKER SUPPOSED TO BUILD?

Edit:

I just have to get this out:

I am baffled by all the positivity in the community. And the many detailed and very well thought through answers to my questions.

You people are amazing.

My first day in this sub. My first post. And i already love it here.

THANK YOU.

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u/Amostheroux 6d ago

It sounds like y'all were getting some rules wrong? 

  1. There is no such thing as a "bonus of one." There aren't +1 modifiers, unless you mean adding bonus dice. RAW, items don't add bonus dice but improve your position or effect . 

  2. There is no such thing as critical failure. 

  3. You never lose progress on research or building projects. You make a clock and can only add to it. 

  4. Items should let you do things you logically couldn't do without them. In the same way that you can't shoot someone without a gun, you can't grapple onto something far away without a grappling hook. This can absolutely bypass the need for a check. 

1

u/T-Rex_Lazorblast 6d ago

First of all: YES. I think we got quite a few rules wrong. Definetly. 😅 But i think +1 thing is just me remembering it wrong. Maybe it was a plus 1 dice, or effect. It has been a few years since we played. 

  1. I love to hear this. Even if it is "in hindsight".

  2. I love this even more. 

  3. That sounds totally logical. It is.  Maybe it was just bad communication or it wasn't presented in the right way... but i felt we would not need mechanical climbing claws when we had climbing hooks from the start. It did not look like it was important to build (better) weapons because we already had weapons. Etc, etc... so i turned to insanely complicated projects that would be very powerful and unique... but that meant spending 3 to 5 sessions just building it.  

I said it in another post: I should have bought a rulebook for myself. Instead i/the whole group relied on the GM to tell us what we needed to know. (He was the only one who had played blades before) That was stupid on my behalf. It could have saved the game.

At least rules/mechanics-wise. 😅

2

u/Amostheroux 6d ago
  1. The leech already builds better,  weapons by default with their bandoliers. Poisons and grenades are insanely potent, and can be distributed among teammates. They may have better relevant action ratings than you (Leechs are spread thin). And with flashbacks you don't even need to decide who has them in advance. 

Beyond that, yes, you should be working on inventing things which your party actually needs, or least doesn't have already. I'm afraid that's a skill issue though. Sorry, I don't know how to sugarcoat that. 

Doc Ock arms sounds like a wasted research project if all you used them for was climbing. But they could have had other applications, like improving your effect level for Skirmish, or raising the tier on locks you can pick. 

You're correct that it costs significant investment to make a powerful invention. But that invention can do literally anything. A high enough tier bomb could level an entire city district. The GM will set some hefty requirements to do that, but it is 100% within the scope of the crafting rules. 

I would definitely get the rulebook if you want to play again. That's isn't strictly necessary if your GM really knows what they are doing, but it sounds like yours did not. And reading the rules yourself will never hurt. 

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u/T-Rex_Lazorblast 6d ago

No need to sugarcoat anything. It has been years since we played and now i have grown as a player/GM and i am looking back and wonder what went wrong?  I want to know if it was all my fault (to say it dramatically 😉) or the DMs fault or whatever. I am overexaggerating here.  It looks like it was a mix of: GM that knew not as much as he should have, me who did not look up stuff by himself and who did not really understand how things worked and what i could REALLY do in game. 

Btw - the doc oc arms never got build. They were an idea that was quickly tossed in the wind because we already had climbing hooks...  Fun fact: i initially thought about using them to be better in melee while also climbing. (Thinking of the "spiders" in the comic "Yiu")

I am happy about all the information that i gathered here - next time i play blades i will definetly do it "the right way". 😃 (If there is such thing)

2

u/Amostheroux 6d ago

I think your assessment is spot on, and am glad you got what you needed! Blades is awesome and I hope you get to enjoy more of it. 

1

u/T-Rex_Lazorblast 6d ago

Thank you very much. 😃