Making a Character
Your character is your window into the World of Darkness. Everything you do flows through them — their voice, their hunger, their desperate bargains and terrible mistakes. Building a character who is compelling to play and who belongs in the city takes some thought. This chapter walks you through it, step by step.
Step 1: Core Concept
Before you touch a single dot, ask yourself: who was this person before they died? What was their name? What did they do? Where and when were they Embraced, and by whom? What are they now?
A good concept is one sentence. "A fallen priest who feeds from the confessional booth." "A corporate fixer who cleans up Masquerade breaches for the Ventrue." "A street medic from a forgotten neighborhood who woke up dead after a gang shooting and never stopped trying to save people." The concept gives you a hook for every scene. When you don't know what to do, return to the concept.
Write your character's name on the Relationship Map. You will add to it throughout creation.
Step 2: Clan and Sire
Your clan defines your bloodline, your curse, and your innate Disciplines. Each clan carries a Bane — a supernatural weakness — and a Compulsion that the Beast can force upon you when your Hunger runs high.
| Clan | Disciplines | You are... |
|---|---|---|
| Banu Haqim | Blood Sorcery, Celerity, Obfuscate | A judge, assassin, or seeker of justice |
| Brujah | Celerity, Potence, Presence | A rebel, a firebrand, a philosopher-king |
| Gangrel | Animalism, Fortitude, Protean | A feral survivor, comfortable in the wild |
| Hecata | Auspex, Fortitude, Oblivion | A necromancer, death-dealer, or family loyalist |
| Lasombra | Dominate, Oblivion, Potence | A shadow lord, an ambitious social Darwinist |
| Malkavian | Auspex, Dominate, Obfuscate | A seer, a mad oracle, a shattered prophet |
| Nosferatu | Animalism, Obfuscate, Potence | A spy, a monster, the keeper of ugly secrets |
| Ravnos | Animalism, Obfuscate, Presence | A wanderer, a trickster, forever on the move |
| Toreador | Auspex, Celerity, Presence | An artist, a diva, a connoisseur of beauty and cruelty |
| Tremere | Auspex, Dominate, Blood Sorcery | A warlock, a scholar, a seeker of forbidden knowledge |
| Tzimisce | Animalism, Dominate, Protean | A fleshcrafter, a territorial lord, a collector |
| Ventrue | Dominate, Fortitude, Presence | A blue-blooded ruler, bred to lead |
| The Ministry | Obfuscate, Presence, Protean | A tempter, a cultist, a liberator through vice |
| Caitiff | Any two (your choice) | A clanless outcast, free from curse and lineage both |
| Thin-Blood | None (Alchemy via Merits) | Barely a vampire, the future or the end |
Your sire is the vampire who Embraced you. What is your relationship? Are you their prized project, their desperate mistake, their weapon? Write them on the Relationship Map. Choose your sect — most characters belong to the Camarilla or the Anarch Movement, but independents and autarkis survive in the margins.
Step 3: Sea of Time
How old is your vampire? This determines your Generation, your Blood Potency, and how many experience points you have to spend.
- Childer — Embraced in the last 15 years. 12th–16th Generation. Blood Potency 0 (thin-blood) or 1. No bonus XP; you are brand new to the night.
- Neonates — Embraced between 1940 and about a decade ago. 12th–13th Generation. Blood Potency 1. Spend 15 experience points to reflect decades of survival.
- Ancillae — Embraced between 1780 and 1940. 10th–11th Generation. Blood Potency 2. Gain 2 extra Advantage dots, 2 extra Flaw dots, lose 1 Humanity, and spend 35 XP.
Most chronicles begin with neonates: old enough to have history, young enough to still be climbing.
Step 4: Attributes
Attributes are your innate capabilities, divided into Physical, Social, and Mental. Distribute your dots: one Attribute at 4, three at 3, four at 2, and one at 1.
Health = Stamina + 3. Willpower = Composure + Resolve.
Step 5: Skills
Choose one distribution for your Skills:
- Jack of All Trades: One Skill at 3, eight at 2, ten at 1. You know a little about everything.
- Balanced: Three Skills at 3, five at 2, seven at 1. Broad competence with a few standouts.
- Specialist: One Skill at 4, three at 3, three at 2, three at 1. Extraordinary in your niche, thin everywhere else.
If you have Academics, Craft, Performance, or Science at 1 or higher, take a free specialty in each. Then take one more free specialty in any Skill you have at 1 or higher.
Step 6: Disciplines
Choose two of your clan's three Disciplines. Put two dots in one and one dot in the other. Caitiff choose any two Disciplines. Thin-bloods have no intrinsic Disciplines but can acquire Thin-Blood Alchemy through Merits.
At each dot you select a specific power. Read the Discipline entries carefully — your power choices define what you can actually do in the night.
Step 7: Predator Type
How do you hunt? Your Predator Type defines your feeding style and grants a specialty, a Discipline dot, and possibly Advantages or Flaws. Are you an Alleycat who takes blood by force? A Sandman who slips into bedrooms while victims sleep? A Consensualist who only feeds with permission? A Scene Queen who rules a subculture and feeds from its members? Your Predator Type says a lot about who you are when the Hunger takes over.
Step 8: Advantages and Flaws
Spend 7 points on Advantages — Backgrounds like Allies, Haven, Resources, Status, and Merits like Beautiful, Iron Gullet, or Bond Resistance. Then take 2 points of Flaws in addition to any from your Predator Type. Flaws make you interesting. An Adversary who wants you dead. A Prey Exclusion that limits who you can feed from. An Archaic mindset that leaves you baffled by modern technology. The best Flaws are hooks the Storyteller can pull on.
Thin-blood characters must take between one and three Thin-Blood Merits balanced by an equal number of Thin-Blood Flaws.
Step 9: Convictions, Touchstones, and Humanity
Choose one to three Convictions — the moral beliefs that anchor your Humanity. "Thou shalt not kill." "Protect the innocent." "Never abandon your coterie." For each Conviction, create a Touchstone: a living human who embodies that belief. Your Touchstones are your last link to the mortal world. They are also incredibly vulnerable. Write them on the Relationship Map.
Set your Humanity to 7 (6 if ancilla). Choose an Ambition — a long-term goal — and a Desire, something you want right now.
Step 10: The Coteries
You don't survive the city alone. Your coterie is your pack, your crew, your family in the dark. Coteries range from Camarilla operatives to Anarch street gangs to Thin-Blood collectives hiding in a gentrifying neighborhood. Draw positive and negative relationships between your character and two other members. Your coterie watches your back when the Sheriff comes knocking. They also decide, in the worst moments, whether you live or die.
Finishing Touches
Write a description. What do you look like? How do you dress? What do other Kindred notice about you first? Add distinguishing features, a personality sketch, and any history that shapes who you are tonight.
Set your starting Hunger to 1. Zero Health and Willpower damage. Zero Stains. And then step into the night.