Antagonists

Not every character the players encounter needs a full 95-field stat block. The Antagonist type is the simplified alternative — a compact SPC (Storyteller-Played Character) that gives the AI enough to run combat, social conflict, and investigation without the overhead of a complete character sheet. Use antagonists for goons, monsters, one-scene threats, and anyone the players are more likely to fight than befriend.

How Antagonists Differ from Characters

An antagonist file is a stat block, not a person. It has no relationships, no coterie, no convictions, no Touchstones, no inventory, no loresheets, no predator type. What it has:

category — what kind of threat this is. The existing categories include vampire, mortal, ghoul, werewolf, mage, ghost, animal, and faith. The AI uses this for tone and capability assessment.

threatLevel — a rough power gauge: low, moderate, dangerous, extreme. This signals to the AI how seriously to treat the threat and how many of them to throw at a coterie.

attributes — the nine V5 attributes, rated 1–5. Same scale as characters, just more compact.

secondaryAttributes — health and willpower, pre-calculated rather than derived from Stamina and Composure + Resolve. This keeps antagonists simple — there are no computed fields.

skills — a subset of the 27 skills, typically 10–15 of the most relevant ones. The Bloodthirsty Sheriff has brawl, melee, firearms, intimidation, stealth, athletics, investigation, and others — but not craft, science, performance, or anything irrelevant to their function.

disciplines — a flat object: { "potence": 4, "celerity": 3, "obfuscate": 3 }. Just dots, no power selections. The AI treats these as "has access to powers up to this level."

humanity — a single number, 1–10. Determines how close to the Beast this antagonist is. A humanity 1 wight is a mindless predator. A humanity 7 antagonist is someone the players might actually negotiate with.

bloodPotency — for vampiric antagonists. Drives healing, discipline power, and feeding requirements.

specialAbilities — free-text field for anything that doesn't fit the standard template. A Spectre's deathly aura. A faerie's glamour. An Inquisitor Delta's anti-vampire training. Write these as the AI will use them — concrete effects, not vague flavor.

standardDicePools and exceptionalDicePools — pre-built pools for the antagonist's most common actions. "Shooting: 7 dice," "Intimidation: 8 dice," "Shadow-walking: 6 dice." The AI reaches for these first during conflicts, falling back to attribute + skill construction only for unusual actions.

When to Use an Antagonist vs a Full Character

Use an antagonist when:

• The threat is likely to appear in one or two scenes and then be defeated, fled, or killed.
• The threat is a type specimen (a generic Anarch Revolutionary, not a specific named rebel with a backstory).
• You need the AI to run combat quickly without navigating a full character sheet.
• The threat is non-humanoid (a wolf, a spectre, a wight).

Use a full character when:

• The SPC has ongoing relationships with multiple characters.
• The SPC participates in court politics, boon trading, or long-term schemes.
• The SPC might become a player character or a major recurring figure.
• You need the full Humanity, Conviction, and Touchstone system.

Most of a chronicle's named Kindred are full characters. The 22 antagonist files cover the bestiary: gangsters, hunters, animals, supernatural creatures, and archetypal threats the AI can deploy without advance preparation.

Adding an Antagonist

Fill in category and threatLevel first — these guide everything else. Distribute attributes at the power level appropriate to the threat. A low threat might have attributes averaging 2. An extreme threat might have multiple 5s. Add only the skills the antagonist will actually use. Give them disciplines if vampiric, or specialAbilities if something stranger. Pre-calculate health and willpower in secondaryAttributes. Write standardDicePools for the two or three things they do most — this is the field the AI will reach for first.

What Not to Do

• Don't create a full character and an antagonist for the same entity. Pick one. If they have relationships, they are a character.
• Don't leave threatLevel empty. The AI uses it to gauge encounter balance.
• Don't give an antagonist every skill. The point is focus. If the Sheriff doesn't need Science, don't give them Science.
• Don't forget standardDicePools. An antagonist without pre-built pools forces the AI to construct dice pools from scratch every action, slowing combat.