I find it frustrating that I cannot use the healing spells outside of combat nor sneak past the guards in the Bloodlines quest in the Dragonfall expansion, as, for one, there is no option to tell the other guys in the team to stay back for a moment, while when they follow, they do it in a most revealing way... :(

So, about the mode, is it possible? Also, how to use the Blitz's drone? In the main game you could use a green switch to do it - here there is no such a thing, while the annoying useless-for-now drone follows Blitz around anyway.

There is no such switch in any version of the game yet.

Not possible.

Okay, blow by blow This should not be an issue since after every combat, you should automatically heal the last wound you took, which is all the heal spell will do. Also, you can use medkits (and repair kits) outside of combat. The stealth system, what there is of it, is inelegant to say the least. Sadly no, there is no way to make one person sneak at a time. As many said before me, sorry no. There is a joystick tab on the far right (it is the top one If memory serves), like the spells tab and abilities tab that you use to rig into your drone. Once rigged into it, it acts as an additional PC like a summoned spirit does (with the advantage of you not being able to loose control of your drone).

Actually is possible to sneak all the guards in the Bloodline Quest:

- Upon entering the mission area outside the Aztechnology building, head over to the opposite side of the building, ignoring the front entrance and the guards/turrets stationed there.

- Once there, you will see a bus, some computers, and a person named LTG worker. Talk to the worker and persuade her to vacate the area (requires Decking 4, then either Charisma 5 or Strength 6). When the worker is gone, go to the LTG box that the worker was standing next to and unlock the nearby loading dock door (requires Decking 4 or a decker in your party).

- Now that you are inside the building, you have to find yourself a disguise because if you are spotted by a guard the alarms will go off. First, however, move forward and have your decker jack in to a terminal next to Secure Door 4 (its straight ahead, then left, of where you enter from). Inside the matrix, you will find the Elevator Controls, Security Cameras, and Secure Door Controls. Hack into all three of these, then go ahead and exit the matrix.

- Off to find yourself a disguise. The security cameras you took over aren't perfect, but they do give you some idea of where the guards are and their patrol routes. Head south of your position, past Secure Door 3, to an unlocked door on the other end of the hallway. There is a guard that patrols the next area, so keep an eye on him and wait until he heads into the lobby area (shown by Security Camera 1) before moving as quickly as possible across the hallway to Secure Door 1. Inside of the Secure Door 1 room, you will find a Locker with some Knight Errant uniforms. Put them on.

- You now have a disguise that will keep you safe from getting alarms set off the instant you are seen, but you still need to talk your way through the building. Head through Secure Door 5 and a guard will ask you what you are up to. Convince him that you belong there and he will leave you alone (requires Charisma 5 or Etiquette: Security). You are now free to use the elevator to head to the basement level, or you can first poke the Aztechnology Executive in his office (shown by Security Camera 2) if you are doing the Lodge Objective.

- Once you have used the elevator, you wll find yourself in the sub-basement floor where you can find your objectives. But before you get there, you have to deal with several groups of guards who all want to know what you are doing down there. For the first group that you meet immediately upon opening the first door on this floor, you will need either Charisma 6 or Etiquette: Security.

- Having bluffed your way past the first guards and had them run off, you can move ahead into the next area with the Lab Blast Door. Go down the hallway and enter a small room with a terminal you can have a decker jack into. Inside this matrix, you will be able to open the Lab Blast Door, the Facility Operations Records (paydata), and the Security Cameras. Go ahead and hack all of these before you exit the matrix, though you don't really need the Security Cameras.

- When you open the Lab Blast Door, you will be accosted by a big troll who, like the others, wants to know what you are doing. Bluff your way past this guy to move further into the facility (requires Etiquette: Security and Charisma 6).

- Once you are past the troll, you can move forward through two rooms (with alot of explosive barrels) before running into a door with a biometric scanner guarding the main laboratory. Getting through the door is a non-issue, but this room is filled with Aztechnology Blood Mages. The Blood mage will confront you and then use some freaky magic to try to get you to confess to being an intruder. You will be given several options to attack these guys, but obviously don't choose any of these. Endure the Blood Mage's spell (requires Body 6, or Charisma 4) and they will be convinced that you really are Knight Errant Guards.

Note: If you want to complete the Schockwellenreiter Objective for this mission, you need to fight those mages to acces the computer with the files.

- Having gotten past the Blood Mages, you finally can move forward into the room with the Generator Controls: your objective. Use the admin password you recieved (Xolotl) to first disable the safety overrides, then overload the generators. The moment you do this, the alarms will go and every guard in the building will go hostile. You only have 7 turns to escape the building, so run for the exit, jack into the terminal next to the exit door to unlock it, and get the hell out of there.

After a turn or so after setting the generators to blow, Paul Amsel will contact you and tell you how awesome you are for sneaking through the facility undetected.

While yes it it certainly possible to bluff your way through the Bloodlines Mission via Stats, Etiquette and Dialogue, though it does require a significant investment in the dump-stat-if-you're-not-a-Shaman-(or-an-elf-I-suppose) Charisma, the question, at least as I interpret it, was 'Can I sneak Metal Gear/Tenchu/Alpha Protocol/Republique style by dodging the guards/cameras/enemies sightlines without the rest of my team giving me away?'

And the answer is 'Technically yes, but practically it requires a lot of savescumming. A. Lot. Of savescumming.' That's why I say the stealth system is inelegant, because the game heavily implies that this is a valid way to be remain undetected (and if you were alone, or able to move one runner at a time, it would totally be viable), with the guards not reacting to you when you're behind them until you're very close. But realistically, since you can't, no it's really not.

It's actually possible to get the data, free all three clones, AND still get Paul to tell you how awesome you are - thereby netting both the karma for releasing the clones AND the karma for making it stealthily (and more karma when you sell the bloodline data).

Though it's a bit dodgy...

First, once in the bloodmage area (after you've convinced them you're KE), get someone to log into the Matrix. They'll challenge you, but won't go hostile as long as you don't do anything "illegal" in there. So what you can do, is get your decker to go to every single Matrix screen and kill all the ICE - but DO NOT open any doors or access the terminal.

In the meantime, when you get a turn in the "real world", get someone to go near the generator control (and pass the guard with charisma/security). Do not use the generator yet.

Back in the matrix, get your decker to the point where the terminal access node is. Also create two AIs and get each of them to the door controls that are furthest from the terminal access.

In the "real world", activate the generators to get your "stealth bonus". Ensure your main character is near the terminal that you're about to unlock (unless he's also your decker, in which case you're already close enough).

Then, in the same turn, activate the terminal and one door with your decker, and use the AIs to activate the other one and get out of the matrix. Then go to the mage's terminal and grab the files for the Schock guys. Then run like hell to the exit, hack the exit terminal and GTFO!

By the time the mages go hostile, you've either already unlocked everything or are very close to it. Once I even managed to kill them all before leaving (but it was close).

I think your quotation there explains what the OP was asking. A lot of other posts in this thread are assuming the player will have the correct stats to make the disguises work via conversations, and the strategies they give to solve the OP's problem require the player to have those stats. But maybe they don't.

I found this thread today via a Google search because I had the same question as the OP. Through no fault of my own, I got stuck being unable to retain my stealth on the Bloodlines mission. I shut down the power and went into the building through the side entrance. I found and put on the security guard uniforms. But even with disguises on, all the real guards who stand in unavoidable locations (i.e. the elevator room) still see me no matter what I do. And they ask for ID even though I have a security uniform on. And then they attack me because I don't have any ID. That is quite unfair, given the fact that the the game gives me no possibility to acquire any ID.

Therefore, the security uniform is a completely useless disguise if you don't happen to have a character with the exactly "correct" stats to make the disguise work with dialogue choices. IMO that's bad game design because it breaks the ability to solve the mission properly for many players, and it penalizes players who built their characters in a way that doesn't happen to correspond to the mission's random & unreasonable stat demands.

To avoid that problem, the developers either should have:

1. Made the disguises work for everyone who wears them regardless of character stats (entering the building through a special entrance and finding the disguises while being undetected already amounts to more than enough effort to reward the player with a disguise that works on its own).

or

2. Include in the game a mission item called "security ID" so that characters who don't happen to have the stats that the mission randomly demands can still solve it with stealth anyway.

I am not sure that your point is correct when you say that "technically yes" the mission can be solved in the proper way with the "incorrect" stats through savescumming. I spent an hour reloading saved games to try to sneak past the guard who is in the elevator room. As far as I can tell, it is simply impossible. I assert that the elevator cannot be reached without him seeing you (but I could be wrong about that). Even if it is somehow possible, then it is probably beyond the capability of an average gamer to figure out, which would leave it effectively impossible for most players (which means it is a major problem that needs to be fixed via a patch).

But how do you know it is technically possible? Have you done it? Or were you just assuming it is technically possible...but maybe it's really not?

This is important to figure out with 100% certainty because I am sure other players who encounter this game-breaking problem will search for a solution via Google and then find this thread, just like I did. They are going to want to know the same thing I wanted to know: is it technically possible to sneak past the guards if you chose the "wrong" stats? And if the answer is yes, then how is that done, exactly? ....Alternatively, is this an inherent defect in the game that cannot be overcome?

If the guard in the elevator room can be snuck past, then I'd love to see a youtube video of someone actually doing it.

I think you were being very diplomatic when you called the stealth system of this game "inelegant". IMO a more accurate description is broken.