Post by Katie on Aug 25, 2019 18:53:27 GMT -5
Character Creation: Use the standard character creation system as detailed in the Vampire: The Masquerade Dark Ages 20th Anniversary Edition core rulebook. Before we even get started filling in dots and stuff, you need to get your own character sheet(Downloaded from the Dropbox). Each clan has its own strengths and weakness, they also have their own personality stereotypes, so you will want to pick a clan that matches your character's personality.
Step One: Choose Concept (ex. "Scholar", "Artist", or "Master of the Occult") Name your character, and add yourself as the player. Heh, talk about hard work. Just know if you send me Caine, I will fire you. Period. Currently any child concepts will be denied.
Choose Clan. Please note anything outside of the basic Camarilla Clans require a preliminary sheet written up - and you will need to speak to the Story Teller about the character as well - before you begin playtest. If you chose a rare bloodline it also requires Storyteller approval and must make sense for your beautifully-written, conceptually-elaborate backstory.
Choose Nature. This who your character truly is. Nature can be found on page 152 in the core rulebook and there are examples starting on page 175.
Choose Demeanor. This is what your character shows the world. Both nature and demeanor are the way your character acts and portrays herself. Demeanors are also listed on page 175.
Step Two: Select Attributes
Starting Vampire characters receive 7/5/3 points to spend on their Physical (Strength, Dexterity, Stamina), Social (Charisma, Manipulation, Appearance), and Mental (Perception, Intelligence, Wits) traits.
Step Three: Select Abilities
Starting: You receive 13/9/5 points to spend on Talents, Skills, and Knowledges. All abilities start with 0 points(Unless you have the Jack of all Trades merit, which requires ST approval before being allowed into play then follow the merit rules to buy up Ability). No ability can be raised higher than 3 at this stage.
"Consider your origins; you were not made that you might live as brutes and fools, but so as to follow virtue and knowledge." -- Sir Boian Vlaszy, Clan Tzimisce
Abilities measure your character’s capability to undertake specific kinds of tasks. Whereas Attributes measure raw potential in broad fields, each Ability is a much more focused area of talent, skill or knowledge. Abilities let your character use his or her potential most effectively and compensate for underlying deficiencies in some cases. A physically weak but experienced knife-fighter can make mincemeat out of a tough, burly opponent who has no clue how to fight well, for instance, and a priest who lacks personal charisma but understands the principles of rhetoric can defeat a charming but unskilled opponent in debate.
Keep in mind your character is more than just dots. Look at your backstory to determine what makes sense for the sheet spread. Anything 4 or higher should be specialized and will be closely examined even if learned during play. This is because it makes you the top-inchalant of whatever that ability is. Performances should have Mini Specs at any level (i.e Singing or Dancing).
Talents; A Matter of Innate Ability
"We have an eternity stretched out before us, while the mortals have but an eyeblink. How can we be so selfish as to spend our time fighting and despoiling? The eventual salvation of us all lies in the secrets of creative genius and poetic insight; you have but to look for it." -- Sir Wenceslaus Premysl, Clan Toreador
Talents are matters of innate aptitude, requiring no training to necessary develop, and they improve primarily or exclusively through experience. Characters get better at them only by doing them regularly. It is possible to attempt actions related to Talents that a character does not possess. The player simply rolls the character's Attribute dice pool without the benefit of Talent-based dice, but also without penalty. Everyone (or nearly everyone) possesses the most rudimentary grasp of each given Talent, even without the minimal competence required for one dot's worth.
Step Four:
Select Advantages and Choose Disciplines. Starting characters receive 4 points to spend on disciplines.
These points can be placed into In-Clan Disciplines (the three Disciplines associated with the Clan), or into the Physical Disciplines (Celerity, Fortitude, and Potence). Out-of-Clan Disciplines must be purchased with Freebie Points, and will need to be completely explained in your background and yes, most often they will require a background to be approved.
Specialty Disciplines (such as but not limited to Serpentis , Necromancy , Obtenebration , Quietus , Vicissitude , Protean or Thaumaturgy ) Are only authorized for the clans they are associated with. This means no Brujah With Obtenebration or Toreador with Serpentis. Don't make me go Gray early please. Again with abilities, please remember your character isn't a chart of dots. You can buy them high but it will be looked at closely during creation and need to be explained in the background.
Choose Backgrounds. Starting characters receive 5 points to spend on Backgrounds.
"Your wishes may matter in your own lands, wretch. But this night, you stand upon mine. And here, my word is law. I would butcher you for your insult, but it would prove a wasted effort. You clearly would learn nothing." -- Voivode Frantisek Patrescu, Clan Tzimisce
Some backgrounds are different in FOTA. You can read about them under Character Creation/Backgrounds Ruling for Specifics.
Rate Virtues. Starting Vampire characters who follow the Road of Humanity receive 7 points to spend on Virtues (Conscience, Self-Control, and Courage). Other Roads and Paths will have 5.
For most Vampire characters, virtues begin at 1 point, unless noted otherwise above and below.
Vampire characters who follow Road of Humanity are NOT permitted to start with a Humanity rating of 7+ with out prior Storyteller approval before play testing. (ST'S NOTE: The simple translation for this is - talk to me about your character. Tell me why their humanity is still that high. As long as you're not talking about some kind of sadistic bastard with no regard for human life, I'm sure we can work something out.) They must also have a just, valid reason to have a humanity so high in the background.
Alternate Virtues begin at zero: While every human (and thus every recently Embraced Kindred) has a modicum of their “natural” Virtues, vampiric Virtues must be learned from the ground up. So, while a character with Conscience, Self-Control, and Courage is created with one free dot in each Virtue, then has seven points to spend on Virtues, a character with Conviction, Self-Control, and Courage begins with only two free dots (in Self-Control and Courage). A character with Conviction, Instinct, and Courage begins with only one free dot (in Courage). All characters receive seven points to spend, but must use points to buy the inhuman Virtues to at least 1. This may seem unfair, but shunting off one’s human nature is not undertaken lightly. Even monsters are not created overnight.
Vampire characters who follow a Road OTHER THAN Humanity should regard those Virtues associated with that Road. Characters following a Road other than humanity must have a Willpower score of at least 5. Characters who start with a road other than humanity should justify it in their backstory. Playing a Road other than humanity is an extremely challenging and very serious aspect to roleplay. The character literally tears out of themselves social norms that billions of people around the world have followed for thousands of years...to replace them with something utterly inhumane and make them more of a monster. Those Road guidelines are and should be far more restricting to a character than Humanity ever could be.
Step Five: Finishing Touches
Merits and Flaws: This is so awesome it has its own Page called Merits and Flaws. They are on page 419. There are more available in the Lore of the Clans book.
Record Humanity: (Conscience + Self-Control).
Record Willpower: (Courage). Record Blood Pool: (Determined by Generation).
Step 5: FREEBIES!
You are allotted 25 freebies TOTAL on your first character creation. This means only 25, instead of the 15 given in the book (not on top of the original 15).
Freebies are spent as follows:
With the freebie allowance, it is possible to min max the shit out of your character. Beware, do this with caution! The world is full of more challenges than you are able to specialize in!
MERITS AND FLAWS
We prefer that you do not take more than 7 points in Merits, and Merits will not be available to purchase with XP.
You will not gain the benefit of more than 7 Freebie Points worth of flaws, though you may take more flaws if you feel it necessary for your concept, with Storyteller approval!