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Vampire Character Creation

Ex Libris Nocturnis - http://www.nocturnis.net By: Ian Grey (email: grendel_todd@hotmail.com) Summary: An alternate ordering of events. Fear the Unknown The recent advent of Mummy: the Resurrection reaffirmed to me a long-standing opinion that Vampire: The Masquerades step-by-step process is out of whack. In Mummy: The Resurrection (like Aberrant before it), characters are first built as normal people. Once that aspect is hammered out, THEN the character is put through the gristmill of becoming something ... else. It helps apply the idea that Vampirism is a curse, after all. CHARACTER CREATION PROCESS (Replaces sequence provided on pg. 103 of Vampire: The Masquerade Revised Edition) STAGE ONE: MORTALITY Step one: Character Concept - choose Concept, Nature and Demeanor.

Step two: Attributes - Choose Physical, Social and Mental Traits (6/4/3). Character automatically begins with one dot in each Trait. Step three: Abilities - Choose Talents, Skills and Knowledges (11/7/4). No Ability may be raised higher than three dots at this stage. Step four: Backgrounds - Choose Backgrounds (3). The only Backgrounds available at this point are Allies, Contacts, Fame, Influence and Resources. Step five: Virtues - Rate your Virtues (7). Character automatically begins with one dot in each.

Step Six: Details - Record Humanity (equal to Conscience + Self-Control) and Willpower (equal to Courage). Spend freebie points (5). STAGE TWO: Being Dead Step one: the Embrace - decide on a Clan. Think about your sire, how you came to their attention, and your subsequent embrace. Step two: Attributes - Add 2 points to your Attributes, spread as desired. Step three: Abilities - Add 5 points to your Attributes. Traits may be raised higher than three dots at this point.

Step four: Advantages - Pick Disciplines (3) from those available to your clan. Spend 2 more Background points (the full range is available now). Pick Merits & Flaws (if any). Step five: Final Touches - Spend 10 additional freebie points. Record Generation & Blood Pool. Note any changes for a Path other than Humanity. CLAN BENEFITS It has often seemed strange to me that the Clans (and Bloodlines) are stereotyped. Frequently all this seems to do is encourage players to do the opposite. Yet, they have these traits associated to them for a reason, the blood of their founder giving them both common cause and a guiding instinct or predilection beyond both curse and Disciplines. In Minds Eye

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Theatre's Laws of the Night they handled this by way of the Clan Advantage - a couple of Traits common to all members of said Clan. Below I've done the same for Vampire: The Masquerade, with an attached freebee cost. Storytellers and Players wishing to follow the idea that being of a particular Bloodline grants such talents or training may add this as a bonus or subtract it from their freebee point total to round out characters as they see fit. Assamite - Melee +1, Brawl +1 (4) Brujah - a dot in one of the following: Politics, Academics, or Streetwise (2) Followers of Set - Streetwise +1 (2). Gangrel - Animal Ken +1, Survival +1 (4) Giovanni - Occult +1, Merit "Medium" (4). Lasombra - Influence +1, Status +1 (2). Malkavians - Awareness +1, Malkavian Madness Network +1 (4) Nosferatu - Stealth +1, Survival +1 (4). Ravnos - Streetwise +1 (2). Toreador - 2 dots spread amongst one or two of the following: Academics, Crafts, Performance or Subterfuge (4). Tremer - Occult +1 (2). Tzimisce - Occult +1 (2). Ventrue - Resources +1, Influence +1 (2)

There are a number of strategic ways to put the revised schedule of character creation and clan benefits to good use when establishing new characters in a game. It works especially well with the Boot Camp option noted in the Vampire Storytellers Handbook (pg. 113), increasing the flavor and surprise of what it means to loose ones mortality and become one of the Damned.
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