"Would you still recommend the 1.02 patch over this one?"
Personally I like the 3.5 unofficial patch, but I know DR prefers to use only the official 1.02 patch. You can find the 3.5 patch here, although it does change some aspects of the game. As for the other patch, I have used it but decided that I liked the 3.5 patch better.
"...Any ideas on which mods would make this game more enjoyable to play for the second time around?"
I'm going to work on doing some re-skinning, and possibly more, but I don't know of many Bloodlines mods out there. You might want to try this mod that claims to add "[a] map of Baton Rouge for Vampire: The Masquerade." You also might try playing with histories enabled, or try this mod that says it adds sixteen new clans to the game. I have not tested those out yet, so I would like to know how they work if you do choose to try them.