Creating a Character
This section describes how to generate a character with our system.
Step 1: Concept and Clan
The first step in the process is to decide upon the style of character you wish to play. Choose a concept and a Clan. Perhaps you want to play a drug-dealing Brujah or a Malkavian with a split personality?
We recommend that you keep a copy of the 2nd Edition Vampire: the Masquerade sourcebook handy as a reference.
New players to the game should choose one of the standard Camarilla Clans: Brujah, Caitiff, Gangrel, Toreador, Tremere, Malkavian, Nosferatu or Ventrue. (See V:tM Page 126 for a full description of these clans)
Step 2: Statistics
You have 50 points to spend on Generation, Stats and skills.
Generation
Your character is 13th generation by default. You can spend points out of the 50 to decrease your Generation. The lowest level you can buy is 8th generation. However, there are Random Picks (see Step 7: Random Pick) that could lower your generation even more. Further decreases can only be obtained by committing diablerie during game-play.
| Generation | Cost | Max Discipline | Max Stat | Blood Pool | Blood per round | Max Skill level |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 15th | 0 | 5 | 20 | 8 | 0.5 | Advanced |
| 14th | 0 | 5 | 20 | 9 | 1 | Advanced |
| 13th | 0 | 5 | 20 | 10 | 1 | Advanced |
| 12th | 2 | 5 | 21 | 11 | 1 | Advanced |
| 11th | 3 | 5 | 22 | 12 | 1 | Advanced |
| 10th | 5 | 5 | 23 | 13 | 1 | Advanced |
| 9th | 8 | 5 | 24 | 14 | 2 | Advanced |
| 8th | 12 | 5 | 25 | 15 | 3 | Advanced |
| You cannot buy any of the generations below here. The only way to obtain them is to get a pick from the random pick during character generation that reduces your generation. | ||||||
| Restricted Generations | ||||||
| Generation | Cost | Max Discipline | Max Stat | Blood Pool | Blood per round | Max Skill level |
| 7th | N/A | 6 | 30 | 20 | 4 | Master |
| 6th | N/A | 7 | 40 | 30 | 6 | Master |
| 5th | N/A | 8 | 50 | 40 | 8 | Master |
See V:tM pages 52 and 53 for a description of generation.
Statistics
Statistics define the basic aptitudes of your character. The maximum you can have in a stat is 20 during character generation. However, these can be increased later during game-play by spending experience.
Physique
This is the measure of your character’s physical characteristics. How dexterous they are, how strong, etc. This Stat is also used for your Wound Points.
Grit
This is how strong a person you are mentally. It defines your willpower and how able you are to resist effects on your mind. You can spend temporary Grit when playing your character to show that you are making additional effort. You should ask the storytellers at the end of the night or in your Orders how many Grit points you will have regained by the next event.
Education
This Stat defines how well your character has been educated. It is not a measure of intelligence but how much academic training they have had.
In addition, every point you take in Education gives you an extra point to spend on skills. For example, if you spent your entire 50 points buying 15 in Physique, 15 in Grit and 20 in Education, you would get an additional 20 points to spend on your skills. This is to show that educated people really do know more!
Example Statistic Levels
The table below should give you an idea about the Stat levels actually mean.| Level | Description | Physique (PHYS) | Grit | Education (EDU |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1-8 | Poor | You are weak and frail | You buy everything you see advertised | You never went to school |
| 9-12 | Average | Unfit but fairly healthy | You can generally resist chocolate | You left after high school |
| 13-15 | Good | You exercise regularly | You are self-confident | You entered Further Education |
| 16-20 | Exceptional | You could be a professional Athlete | You are strong willed and stubborn | You have multiple degrees at a high level |
| 21+ | Super-human | Super-hero or Super-villain | Your will is unshakable | You know everything there is to know |
Step 3: Skills
There are 3 levels to each skill: Basic, Advanced and Master. Master level is only available to characters with a generation of 7th or lower.
Have a look at the Skills list to find out what the skills are. The listed skill cost will give you the skill at Basic. Buying the skill again gives you it at Advanced. For example, the Dodge skill costs 2 points. It will cost 2 to get Basic Dodge and 4 in total (with the skill bought twice) to have Advanced Dodge.
Step 3: Backgrounds
You now have 5 points to assign between your backgrounds. This is separate from the 50 points you spent previously. Background levels go from 0 to 5. You can have one background at 5, five backgrounds at 1 or anything in-between.
See V:tM page 171 for full descriptions of the backgrounds.
Step 4: Clan Disciplines
There are 3 disciplines associated with each clan, as described by the table below. You automatically have 3 levels to assign between your clan disciplines. (See V:tM page 156 for a description of these disciplines)
| Clan | Clan Disciplines | Clan Flaw | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brujah | Celerity Potence Presence |
The weakness of the Brujah is their emotions. They are far more likely to Frenzy than the other clans. | A fanatical and rebellious group of individuals [2nd Ed. Vampire: the Masquerade] |
| Caitiff | You have no clan. | Sometimes kindred have no knowledge of their sire. Other times their blood is too weak to identify them with a clan. [2nd Ed. Vampire: the Masquerade] |
|
| Gangrel | Animalism Fortitude Protean |
Each time your enter a frenzy you gain a new animal feature. | Shapeshifters and wanderers. Gangrel are most in touch with Mother Earth. [2nd Ed. Vampire: the Masquerade] |
| Malkavian | Auspex Dominate Obfuscate |
Malkavians are insane. They all have some kind of dergangement. | With madness comes wisdom and insight. [2nd Ed. Vampire: the Masquerade] |
| Nosferatu | Animalism Obfuscate Potence |
Nosferatu are hideously ugly | While solitary and shunned, the Nosferatu are surprising informed about kindred events and gossip [2nd Ed. Vampire: the Masquerade] |
| Toreador | Auspex Celerity Presence |
Toreador are easily entranced by beauty | Sophisticated and impassioned about art and beauty. The Toreador are known as either artists or poseurs. [2nd Ed. Vampire: the Masquerade] |
| Tremere | Auspex Dominate Thaumaturgy |
All Tremere are bonded to the rest of the clan at their embrace. | The Tremere as a clan have only been in existance for about a thousand years but they have done alot in that time. They are a clan of magicians and are the kindred masters of magic. [2nd Ed. Vampire: the Masquerade] |
| Ventrue | Dominate Fortitude Presence |
They have particular tastes and can only drink from a particular type of person. | The upper crust of Camarilla society. Ventrue have a noble heritage and are most often found with great political power [2nd Ed. Vampire: the Masquerade] |
| To take any of the clans below here you MUST get permission from the storyteller. Do not ask for one of these clans for your first character at the game. | |||
| Restricted Clan List | |||
| Clan | Clan Disciplines | Clan Flaw | Description |
| Assamites | Celerity Obfuscate Quietus |
Assamites cannot imbibe the blood of other kindred and must give 10% of all the blood they recieve to their sires | Kindred assassins from the Middle East [2nd Ed. Player's Guide] |
| Daughters of Cacophony | Fortitude Melpominee Presence |
Daughters of Cacophony hear music constantly and have to fight against being distracted by it | Singers without peer. This is a bloodline. [2nd Ed. Players Guide] |
| Dunsirn | |||
| Followers of Set | Obfuscate Presence Serpentis |
Settites are extremely susceptible to light and take more damage from it. | Masters of corruption originating from Ancient Egypt [2nd Ed. Players Guide] |
| Gargoyle | Fortitude Potence Visceratika |
Susceptible to Dominate | See Storytellers |
| Ghoul | Celerity Potence |
Not a vampire and most likely bloodbonded to one | |
| Giovanni | Dominate Necromancy Potence |
Mortals take double damage from being fed on by Giovianni | Mafia necromancers [2nd Ed. Players Guide] |
| Lasombra Anti-Tribu | Dominate Obtenebration Potence |
Members of this clan cannot be seen in mirrors. | Lasombra are the ultimate in manipulators and power-mongers [2nd Ed. Vampire: Dark Ages] |
| Ravnos | Animalism Chimestry Fortitude |
It takes willpower to resist performing the Ravnos's crime of choice | Nomadic Gypsies with a predilection for petty crime [2nd Ed. Players Guide] |
| Salubri | Auspex Fortitude Obeah |
The Salubri take damage when someone resists being fed from | The closest Kindred come to holy. This is a bloodline. [2nd Ed. Players Guide] |
| Samedi | Necromancy Obfuscate Thanatosis |
Samedi, like the Nosferatu, are incredibly ugly. Their flesh rots and they look and smell, like corpses. | Utterly disgusting and obsessed with death. This is a bloodline. [2nd Ed. Players Guide] |
| Tzimisce | Animalism Auspex Vicissitude |
The Tzimisce must sleep surrounded by at least 2 handfuls of soil from the land of their birth | Scholarly and cruel. The Tzimisce are the least human but arguably the most brilliant. [2nd Ed. Vampire: Dark Ages] |
| Unknown | Either you or everyone else don't know what your clan is. Effectively you'll be treated as Caitiff. | ||
In addition to the discipline of Thaumaturgy, Tremere also gain a free level 1 Ritual (see the V:tM page 169 for a list). Further rituals can only be obtained with permission from the storytellers.
Step 5: Freebie Points
You now have an additional 15 points to spend on any part of your character to customise it even more. You have the option of taking Merits and Flaws to make your character more interesting. You cannot buy generation with freebie points.
The table below lists the costs of the different things that you can spend freebie points on. Note that you cannot gain more that 7 points from Flaws.
| Section | Cost |
|---|---|
| Statistics | 2 per additional level |
| Skills | See the skill list for costs |
| Backgrounds | 1 per level |
| Clan Disciplines | 5 per level |
| Non-Clan Disciplines | 7 per level |
| Caitiff Disciplines | 6 per level |
| Merits | See the Merits List |
| Flaws | See the Flaws List |
Step 6: Humanity, Wound Points and Blood Pool
Unlike the standard Whitewolf rules, humanity goes on a 1-100 scale. By default, your humanity starts at 50. As you role-play your character, the storytellers will update your humanity based on what your character does. (See V:tM page 200 for the Humanity Hierarchy of Sins)
Your Wound Points are equal to how many points you have in the Physique Stat. You take one wound for every point of damage.
Your maximum Blood Pool is determined by your Generation. Look at the table in the Generation section to get this value.
Step 7: Random Pick
To make character generation more interesting, you can gain additional skills, points, merits or perhaps flaws by making a random selection. See a storyteller when you want to do this step of character generation.
Step 8: Storyteller Inspection
You should now have a finished character. Please give us a copy of your character to review. It can be in electronic format or handed to us on the night.
Step 9: Character History
Please supply us with a background for your character. A good background will tell us where your character learned their skills, how they make their money, who their contacts and allies are, etc. It should also describe your characters history and why they were embraced as a vampire.