backSample Character Creation
We've added a number of new concepts, like mandatory specializations and Lores, so hopefully its worth going through a detailed example of character creation. We don't want to give enough information to create a character without the help of White Wolf's books, so certain sections are glossed over.
Chris is going to play Gloria Mundi with his gaming group. His ST announces the game will be set in Spain, so Ventrue, Lasombra and Gangrel would all be acceptable characters. Chris likes the idea of playing a Gangrel who has survived living under Lasombra rule, and it seems like no other PCs are going to play Lasombra, so the character will work well with the group. He decides to call the character Balare, a Basque woman's name meaning "strong." She was an actress in her mortal life and continues this profession to some degree in her unlife by rousing Kindred and Kine alike against the Lasombra. She has been a vampire for 15 years.
Chris decides that her Nature should be Survivor and her Demeanor will be Director. Balare likes to be in charge of the people around her as it will help her stay alive.
Balare will live up to her name as Chris makes Physical Attributes Primary. Mental will be Tertiary, specifically Balare will lack in Perception. Social Attributes will be very important as Balare was an actress in life. Chris gives her high Appearance and Charisma, skimping on Manipulation.
Skills seem the natural Attributes to be Primary as Balare will need Performance and Music, likely at high levels, as she was an actress. Chris puts points into Etiquette, Melee, Music, Performance, Ride and Stealth. Chris wants to put 2 points into her Etiquette to represent her dealings with the patricians who pay for the theater and to help her relate to the upper reaches of Kindred society. Etiquette cannot be raised above 1 without a special merit. Chris uses points to raise Etiquette to 2 for now, noting that he will have to fix this discrepancy later.
Balare does not seem the Knowledgeable type, so he makes Talents secondary. He puts points into Athletics, Alertness, Brawl, Expression, Intimidation, Streetwise and Subterfuge. Chris is actually taking more Talents than he did Skills for Balare. He considers switching the priority of Skills and Talents, but decides most of the Talents he wants Balare to have should only be at very low level, one or two dots.
Balare will only have a few points to put into Knowledges. Chris chooses to give her Academics, Bueracracy, Linguistics, and Politics, representing the smattering of education she's picked up in her travels. Academics and Politics are also limited to 1 dot each, just like Ettiquete was. Chris doesn't want to put more than 1 dot into each of these though, so its not a problem. Chris would also like Balare to have a point of Law, but Law is limited to 0 dots without a special Merit, so he can't give her any.
Lores are another type of Ability, but Chris can't buy any of these for Balare at this point. He may want to do so with freebie points or XP.
Some of Balare's Abilities require specialization. Specifically, these are Etiquette, Melee, Music, and Academics. Chris chooses to specialize in Etiquette (Spain), Melee (Knife), Music (Flute), and Academics (History). When using these Abilities outside of their specializations Balare will suffer a 2 dice penalty to her Ability. Balare's Music score is 3, so if she tried to play the Lyre she would roll her Charisma (3) + effective Music (3 – 2, min 0) = 4 dice. If Balare tried to recite Homer's Iliad, an Academics (Poetry) roll, she would roll her Intelligence (2) + effective Academics (1 – 2, min 0) = 2 dice.
Now Chris moves onto Advantages. First comes Disciplines. Balare is a survivor, not a fighter, so he gives her one dot of Fortitude, one dot of Animalism, and one dot of Protean. This balance will give Balare a diversity of skills to draw on and stay alive with. Balare doesn't have any Animal Ken for now, so she won't be very good with Animalism. Chris makes a note of this and decides to buy Animal Ken with freebie points if he can. He would also like her to have another dot of Fortitude, reflecting her Survivor nature.
Backgrounds are fairly easy to choose. A former actress and a frequent traveler wouldn't have most of the Backgrounds. Chris distributes points amoung Contacts, Fame, and Resources, focusing on the first two.
Chris decides that Balare would have fairly balanced Virtues, with Courage being the highest of the three. She is not a fighter, but she has seen enough over the years to be brave enough to stand her ground when needed.
The initial scores for Humanity and Willpower are decided by Virtues at this point. Chris records those scores. He notices that Willpower is especially low for his image of Balare, so he will seek to improve that.
Chris now has freebie points to spend to customize Balare. He knows he needs to resolve her too high Etiquette with a merit, and he wants to give her some Animal Ken and higher Willpower. He spends two freebie points on the Unusual Ability Merit, specifying that Etiquette is the Unusual Ability. He also buys a dot of Animal Ken and two dots of Willpower for Balare, she is now starting to look like what he wants her to. He would like to buy another dot of Fortitude for Balare, but he can't do that with freebie points, he will have to wait until he can spend XP. It makes sense for Balare to take the Actor flaw because of her past, so Chris does so. This gives Balare an extra specialization in Music as well as two more freebies! It does reduce Balare's starting Status though, which Chris notes by erasing the default point of Permanent Status and recording seven dots of Temporary Status. Chris also takes the Well Traveled merit for 1 freebie point. This gives Balare an extra Etiquette specialization. Chris wouldn't be able to buy Actor or Well Traveled unless Balare met the minimum requirements for these merits and flaws. Fortunately, Balare's Music of 3 and Performance of 3 easily qualify her for Actor and her Linguistics of 1 is just enough for Well Traveled.
Chris assigns these two extra specializations to Music (Horn) and Etiquette (Roman). So Balare now has Music (Horn, Flute) 3 and Etiquette (Hispania, Roman) 2.
Chris still has plenty of freebie points left over. So he chooses to buy Lores, something a traveling character like Balare is likely to have a lot of. He buys Vampire Lore at 2, which costs just what any normal Ability would. This represents Balare's reasonably long existence as a vampire. She has figured out the same things most other Kindred have, and hasn't made any special effort to research. He also buys Province Lore (Tarraconesis) 1, Province Lore (Baetica) 1, City Lore (Gades) 1, and Clan Lore (Gangrel) 1. These Lores cost half what a normal Ability would with freebie points.
With the freebie points Chris has left he buys another point of Contacts for Balare.
Now Chris can spend Balare's experience points, or XP for short. Balare has been a vampire for 15 years, so Chris has 15 XP to spend. He thinks that Balare should have more Lores to represent her travels, so he buys another dot of Province Lore (Baetica) and City Lore (Gades). These purchases also cost half of what they would for normal Abilities as all Lores but Vampire Lore cost half the normal number of freebie points or XP.
Chris also wanted Balare to have another dot of Fortitude. He spends some XP to buy this second dot for her. Chris also spends XP to increase Balare's Manipulation, something she would have improved in her years as a vampire as they tend to be manipulative creatures. Finally Chris spends some XP to increase Balare's Expression, another thing she would have gained over the years. He has some XP left, but he doesn't have anything specific to spend it on, so he saves it.
At this point Chris has done a lot more thinking about the character and has decided he wants her Demeanor to be Celebrant. This is a simple change, so he just makes it on the character sheet.
Balare
Gangrel
Survivor / Celebrant
Attributes: Str 4, Dex 2, Sta 4 / Cha 3, Man 2, App 4 / Per 1, Int 2, Wit 3
Talents: Athletics 1, Alertness 1, Brawl 1, Expression 2,
Intimidation 1, Streetwise 2, Subterfuge 2
Skills: Animal Ken 1, Etiquette (Hispania, Roman) 2, Melee (Knife) 1,
Music (Flute, Horn) 3, Performance 3, Ride 2, Stealth 2
Knowledges: Academics (History) 1, Bueracracy 2, Linguistics 1, and
Politics 1
Lores: City Lore (Gades) 2, and Clan Lore (Gangrel) 1, Province Lore
(Tarraconesis) 1, Province Lore (Baetica) 2, Vampire Lore 2
Disciplines: Animalism 1, Fortitude 2, Protean 1
Backgrounds: Contacts 3, Fame 2, Resources 1
Virtues: Conscience 3, Self-Control 3, Courage 4
Humanity: 6
Willpower: 6
Status: Permanent 0, Temporary 7
Merits: Well Traveled 1, Unusual Ability 2
Flaws: Actor -2