Every walkthrough I look at says I can persuade the couple in front of the fountain to give me their invitation, or convince the man that his girlfriend is too drunk, and they leave the party and drop their invitations. But I get none of those options.

Playing female Toredor with a Persuasion skill of 6. Is that not high enough? Is there some other way to sneak into the mansion, or get an invite? I can fight it out, but I feel like I am missing a lot of what makes this game so special if I just run around the yard murderlizing everyone.

Is there something I am missing?

I think you can convince the husband of the drunken woman to leave with her after which he should drop his invitation.

There are other ways too like distracting a guard at the side entrances. I don't believe Nossies can just get by the front door guard so other ways are built in.

I have talked to both the husband and the wife multiple times, in varying order, and I never get any persuasion lines. Do I need a minimum Persuasion skill? It always ends with me demanding they give me their invitation, and the husband starts throwing punches.

I tried distracting the smoking guard around back by throwing the empty sardine tins (?) at him, but he doesn't move. He will tell me I can't enter, but nothing distracts him from his cigarette.

Going to revert to an older save. Seems like something is not loading. And if that doesn't work, gonna have to murder everyone. I am trying not to be a monster, but it looks like I have no choice.

Thanks for the responses. Still love this game.

You can sneak to the backside of the mansion using obfuscate and enter. You can convince woman to give you invitation. You can also kill anyone who hinders you. Many choices. You can't go wrong. Without obfuscate, there are tin cans around; just distract those guards, exactly as in the beginning tutorial!

[SOLUTION]

You probably already worked it out or just slaughtered your way in, but for others who might encounter the same "problem", here is the solution:

You have to talk to the guard at the main entrance. He asks you for an invitation. Tell him anything, he won't let you in, but now you can talk to the couple, first talk to the wife and after that to her husband. Ask him if his wife was okay and then suggest he should bring her home.

Persuasion: 5 = no prompt for sick wife
Persuasion: 6 = "Is your wife sick" (You have to talk to wife first, and say you are family, you forgot invitation, ask for hers, and don't threaten her before talking to husband)

Had the same issue. Ended up using the Dominate Suicide Discipline on the husband. Its available to Tremere (what I'm playing) and Ventrue. It doesn't violate the masquerade nor can it be traced back to you. Only negative being a hit to humanity.