Character Creation

First, be mindful of the fact that occasional character death is a reality in this game. I understand you all will be putting a lot of effort into your characters, so having a character die isn't something we want to see very often. But it could still happen, on rare occasions even at the hands of an NPC. Try not to take it personally. Just pick yourself up, learn from it, and build a new character. Moving on...

Next, if you're a complete newb who's understanding of the game mechanics is so low that the sight of the character sheet makes you feel utterly lost
DON'T PANIC
Just let me know. I can walk you through character creation step-by-step if need be.

For those of you who know a little more about what you're doing, material from any and all nWoD books that aren't specific to other non-Vampire races is allowed. As a special note, since the Second Sight book could be regarded as startling that line, yes, that one is also allowed. But keep in mind that whatever you play, this is a VtR game, and is going to have VtR storylines, so please try to stick to Kindred characters, unless you plan on selling me a really good concept for something else.

If you don't feel confident in your knowledge of the stats to build the best possible sheet for your character, or if you don't have access to all the permitted books to know what's out there that might be useful to you, just ask. Based on what you tell me about the kind of character you want to play, I'll do my best to make sure no one has an unfair advantage over you just because some other people may have access to books that you don't.

• Everyone making a new sheet will be starting with a base 35 XP.
  Bonus XP opportunities:
  
  • Exceptional backgrounds, i.e. extra effort put into character goals aside from the short answer required in the questionnaire, a list of deliberate storyline plot hooks, personality description, and/or a writing sample in the form of a brief scene.
    
    
  • Something fun I've seen done in other games is the addition of a them song for your character. http://www.imeem.com/home has a nice selection of free streaming audio, and a link to something like that will do just fine. Please put it in your Character Details and let me know it's there if you want XP for it. Songs for your character are worth 1. Songs for one of my characters that I like enough to use are worth 2.
    
  • This point isn't limited to character creation, but I always welcome maps and floor plans of preexisting locations I haven't detailed yet, matching the details I already described, or of an entirely new location of your own design. It'd probably be a good idea to run the idea by me first before going to the effort of making the image, but I love it when I have visual aids to play with.
• Starting Blood Potency for Vampires is 2. Mortal or Ghoul PCs who are embraced later in the game will, at that time, have a Potency of 1, however they also get a free dot in the discipline of their choice, provided their Sire has that discipline.
  
• No stat at character generation may exceed 3 dots.
  Exceptions to this rule:
  
  • The 'clan advantage' attribute dot is to be allocated at the very end of character generation, and may in fact be the 4th dot.
    
  • Some of that free starting XP may be used to buy a 4th dot.
    
  • Merits may exceed 3 dots. Some Merits can even exceed 5, if combined with those of another player.

Backgrounds

Please keep your character backgrounds somewhere about the range of .5 - 2 pages. If you have some specific ideas on plot hooks for your character, just list them off with your background. Then I can make a deliberate effort to make sure that what you're looking for actually happens. And I always give XP when someone makes my job easy. ;)

When I check a PCs background for storyline possibilities, here are the specific things I usually look for:
- People from your character's past.
- Elements in your character's past that could plausibly get the attention of another PC or NPC.
- Abilities that your character has that could be considered useful or threading to another character here, such as a unique or particularly talented craft or supernatural ability.
- Experience with things that resemble the storylines I’ve already started to build.
- The type of circles your character runs in.

I also like to see some details left somewhat ambiguous. Specific names and locations for example, when left out, give me the chance to fill in the blanks with direct ties to this game. A list of goals, if you can think of any, can also come in handy. IC goals give me the ability to predict how your character will react to certain situations and plan scenes accordingly. OC goals may be completely contrary to the IC ones. Those are the ones for which I'll try to present opportunities in-game for you to achieve.

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Questionnaire:

1) What’s your character concept?
Just a brief description of what kind of character you want to play. i.e. High-steel worker from the 40s, detective, struggling artist, former samurai, journalist... etc. I understand not everyone can come up with an original concept, but please try your best to find a happy medium between something cliché and off the wall.

2) How would you describe yourself as a role-player?
a- Mission oriented: You want to be given a goal and then set loose
b- Leader: You’re the one giving that goal to other players
c- Supportive: Following the pack helping them do whatever needs to be done
d- Rogue: Going off and doing your own thing

3) How would you describe your character?
a- Mission oriented
b- Leader
c- Supportive
d- Rogue

4) Out of character, do you want your character put in a situation that, in character, they believe they’re well suited for? Do you want to see what happens when your character is thrown out of their element? Or do you not have any strong feelings about either one?

5) Do you prefer working with PCs or NPCs?

6) You were told by a superior to perform a certain task. Do you:
a) Fight your way into completing it
b) Find a legitimate way to completing the task
c) Trick someone else into doing it
d) Pay someone else to do it
e) Openly question the order
f) Ignore the order
g) Ask how much it's worth to them

7) You encounter someone else after the same thing you are. Do you:
a) join forces
b) ignore them
c) use them until they're no longer useful
d) "remove" the annoyance from your path

8) You find a dangerous and powerful item. Do you:
a) keep it and do good with it
b) give it to the person who sent you after it
c) sell it to the highest bidder
d) find the rightful owner
e) destroy it to keep it out of the wrong hands
f) yours -are- the wrong hands

9) You need to get inside a building blocked by a guard. Do you:
a) Knock out the guard
b) Sneak in through the fire escape
c) Talk in circles around the guard until they let you by
e) Find a legitimate way in
f) Bribe the guard
h) Find an alternative to getting in that building

10) Please list the storyline types you’d be interested in. And let me know if there are any you would really not be interested in. Here are some examples, but not the only options: Combat, politics, investigation, and occult.

11) Scale of 1 to 5, how much cheese would you like to see? 1 being as realistic as possible, 3 has some action movie physics, and 5 is as realistic as anime.

12) Why did your Sire want to make you a Kindred?

13) How much experience do you have with this system, or WoD in general?

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Character sheet

(I'm still working on getting it to look right here...)
If you prefer to edit your sheet in MSword (like I do), and want to keep it looking pretty, go into 'File' -] 'Page Setup' and set all your Margins for 0.25". Then set your font for "Courier New", size 12.


Player: Concept: Covenant:
Character: Virtue (+2WP): Clan:
Chronicle: Vice (+1WP): Bloodline (BP≥2):
______________________________________________________________________________
Mental Physical Social
______________________________________________________________________________
Attributes 5/4/3 (+1 Clan Favored Attribute)
Power: Intelligence @OOOO Strength @OOOO Presence @OOOO
Finesse: Wits @OOOO Dexterity @OOOO Manipulation @OOOO
Resistance: Resolve @OOOO Stamina @OOOO Composure @OOOO
______________________________________________________________________________
Skills 11/7/4 (3 Specialties)
(-3 Unskilled) (-1 Unskilled) (-1 Unskilled)
Academics_________ OOOOO Athletics_________ OOOOO Animal Ken________ OOOOO
Computer__________ OOOOO Brawl_____________ OOOOO Empathy___________ OOOOO
Crafts____________ OOOOO Drive_____________ OOOOO Expression________ OOOOO
Investigation_____ OOOOO Firearms__________ OOOOO Intimidation______ OOOOO
Medicine__________ OOOOO Larceny___________ OOOOO Persuasion________ OOOOO
Occult____________ OOOOO Stealth___________ OOOOO Socialization_____ OOOOO
Politics__________ OOOOO Survival__________ OOOOO Streetwise________ OOOOO
Science___________ OOOOO Weaponry__________ OOOOO Subterfuge________ OOOOO
______________________________________________________________________________
Merits 7 Other Traits Disciplines 3
__________________ OOOOO Humanity (Base 7): __________________ OOOOO
__________________ OOOOO Potency (Base 1): __________________ OOOOO
__________________ OOOOO Size (Base 5): __________________ OOOOO
__________________ OOOOO Defense (≤Wits&≤Dex): __________________ OOOOO
__________________ OOOOO Initiative (Dex+Comp): __________________ OOOOO
__________________ OOOOO Speed (Str+Dex+Size): __________________ OOOOO
__________________ OOOOO Willpower (Res+Comp): Sorcery/Ritual/Devotions
__________________ OOOOO Current: OOOOOOOOOOOO __________________ OOOOO
__________________ OOOOO Vitae (9+Potency): __________________ OOOOO
__________________ OOOOO Current: OOOOOOOOOOOOO __________________ OOOOO
Flaws/Derangements Health (Stam+Size): __________________ OOOOO
________________________ Damage: OOOOOOOOOOOO __________________ OOOOO
________________________ Wound Penalties=… __________________ OOOOO
________________________ (Health-Dmg-3) if≤0: __________________ OOOOO
______________________________________________________________________________
Equipment 2
Vehicle Durability Size Structure Acc Safe/Top-Speed Handling Occupants Cost
________ OOOOO
________ OOOOO
Weapon Strength Clip Range Damage Size Cost XP Costs (Base 35)
________ OOOOO Discipline = dot X 5
________ OOOOO Out of Clan = dot X 7
________ OOOOO Skill = dot X 3
________ OOOOO Specialty = 3 each
Armor Strength Base Firearms Speed Initiative Cost Merit = dot X 2
________ OOOOO Ritual = level X 2
________ OOOOO Willpower = 8 each
Item Durability Structure Size Cost Attribute = dot X 5
________ OOOOO Blood Potency = dot X 8
________ OOOOO or 3 Merit dots each
________ OOOOO Humanity = dot X 3
________ OOOOO Equipment = cost X 1