Are slasher merits a good investment for a combat focused nWoD Hunter?

Question

I'm making a Cheiron Group Hunter for a Hunter the Vigil game.

I'm set on playing my character as similar to the Operative, from Serenity, but with a darker outlook. He will see him self as damned, and that he has sold his soul to the Devil/Corporation.

I plan to back up this attitude by investing in a lot of Thaumautechnology and showing how it's made my character less human.

What I liked the look of Cortical Adaptation, which lets you gain slasher merits, and some other bonuses on spending a willpower, in part because I may be able to share some backstory with a VASCU character.

The other reason, is that as pay off for his soul, he is well aware that he's now more than capable of taking on what the night brings. So I need him to be a figurative combat combat monster, and this merit might let me do that.

However as I was trying to stat up the character, it seemed like a lot of effort for little return.

My build relied on boosting wits, and sacrificing dex. Then buying a dot in Status(Cheiron Group) and spending three dots in Cortical Adaptation, and burning another one of Atavism (making my dexterity sacrifice . That's 5 of my merit dots gone, and four of them having been spent not getting a direct bonus to combat. I wanted to put dots in Weaponry Monomaniac (2) and Frenzied Assault (1-2) but I'm short.

On top of this, my Slasher merits would only work when I activated them with willpower. If I (ever) get to 5 dots in Frenzied assault, I'm spending another willpower point to use it once.

All in all, it seems like a lot of effort for little gain. I don't want to get subjective, but I would like to know if I other options for combat effectiveness (maximum successes in combat) would also fit the character.

In summary:

• I want to maximize success in combat with weaponry or brawling
  • Someone else in the group has focused in Langschwert, and others in using Guns. I'd like to avoid those.
• I want to focus on my character being monstrous, so I'm focusing on my Conspiracies compacts.
• I am happy to sacrifice morality, and various other traits (in fact I like this idea) to get better results.

Answer 1

Since you're still interested in the concept, but couldn't get it to the table, I'm going to give my 2 cents.

We can work with :

• Standard character creation of which we already have spent some merit dots
  • Status (Cheiron Group) = 1 dot
  • Thaumatechnology (Cortical Adaptation) = 3 dots
• 25 experience (which we can increase to 35 by dropping to Morality 5)

---

Time to get started. Cortical Adaptation gives us access to the following interesting merits:

• Atavism (1 dot)
• Murder Expert (3 dots)
• Fighting Style: Frenzied Assault (1 to 5 dots)
• Weaponry Monomanic (2 dots)

Since we're sacrificing Dexterity for Wits I didn't list Hands of a Killer and taking Atavism is the no-brainer (& character creation only). I would round this out with taking Weaponry Monomanic.

I would then use experience to get Frenzied Assault to 3 dots (for a total of 12 experience). I wouldn't go for Murder Expert since it doesn't match with the Operative concept.

What does the future hold:

• Going for Damnable Certainty (after changing a morality tenet; see Hunter the Vigil p325)
• Maxing out Frenzied Assault
• Maxing out Weaponry (which you should have chosen as an Undertaking skill; Avenger seems the most fitting)
• Adding Morbid Fascination to the mix wouldn't be bad

---

Other Thaumatechnology to consider:

• Quick-Step (3 dots)
• Regenerative Nodule (4 dots)
• Berserker Splice (3 dots): Getting this as part of character creation will greatly enhance his no longer human feeling.

Answer 2

Combat/Meta vise Slasher merits (in general) are a little bit overpowered. The whole book is banned in nwod.org rule set, but it's okay to be used in your game if your Story Teller accepts it.

Atavism is a good one for building high defense and it's only 1 dot. You can't get it later since it's a character creation only merit. So I suggest you should get it.

If you want to keep it while surrounded and stunning enemies you can go for Dirty Tricks Fighting style and Dirty Tricks Brawl specialty. It also gives you use of knives and improvised weapons to be used with Brawl skill.

You can also start with lowered morality and get some XP from it.