These are the steps to creating a character. Don’t cheap out. Do all of them.
At the bottom of this page will be a quick checklist to make sure you have everything.
Step One: Character Concept
If the character sheet is the map to your character, character concept is the legend. Character concept is a couple of words that describe your character in a dramatic, literary sense.
Is your character a Puckish Rogue?
Is she an Itinerant Researcher?
Is she a Celebrant Technoshaman?
Perhaps the Path, Order, or other setting snippets sparked a basic character idea. That idea is a concept.
Next, you’ll need three Aspirations. Aspirations are your goals for your character. Note that they might not be goals your character personally holds, but they’re goals you have for your character. For example, you might want to see your character lose a friend in the scope of the story. No reasonable person would want to lose a friend, but it’s a valid Aspiration because it’s something you want to see happen in your character’s story.
When choosing Aspirations, look to two short-term Aspirations, and one long-term Aspiration. Short-term in this case means something that could happen to your character in a single game session, and long-term Aspirations are things that take a greater, extended effort to accomplish. Phrase Aspirations in a few words, but no more than a sentence. Keep them on the general and vague side, since more specificity means they’re less likely to be fulfilled.
Last, choose a Virtue and a Vice. These traits reflect your character’s personality and provide a means to regain Willpower.
Step Two: Select Attributes
Every character possesses nine basic Attributes. These Attributes cover a character’s inherent capabilities. They come in three categories, Mental, Social, and Physical. Each category possesses three Attributes.
At this stage in character creation, each Attribute receives one free dot (as noted on the character sheet). Then, prioritize categories. Choose which grouping is most important to your character, then second most important, and last.
The top category receives five dots to distribute, the second receives four, and the last receives three. You may divide these however you see fit, but no Attribute can go above five dots in total.
Step Three: Select Skills
There are 24 Skills, divided into Mental, Physical, and Social categories just like Attributes.
Unlike Attributes, Skills receive no free dots.
Prioritize categories the same way you did with Attributes, dividing eleven among the top category, seven to the secondary, and four to the final category.
Step Four: Determine Skill Specialties
Now that you have Skills for your character, you get to refine three of them with Specialties.
Skill Specialties are single word or short-phrase descriptors that help to narrow down your character’s particular area of expertise.
For example, your character might have Occult (Witchcraft), Occult (Herbalism), or Occult (Ghosts). Choose three Specialties.
When choosing Skill Specialties, you can look at them in three major ways:
First, you can supplement inferior Skills that you still want your character to use.
For example, your character might only have a single dot of Investigation, but if you take the Specialty “Crime Scenes,” your character becomes much more effective in that specific field.
Second, you can maximize efficiency with a mastered Skill.
For example, if you took four dots of Firearms, selecting a “Rifles” Specialty makes your character remarkable with a rifle, and beyond other characters with just four dots.
Lastly, you can use Specialties to give your character a little personal flare and flavour.
For example, your character might have a Crafts Specialty in “Model Kits.” This might not benefit your character directly in the game, but it says something about your character and her priorities.
Step Five:
This is split into a number of sub-steps:
Path
Choose your character’s Path: Acanthus, Mastigos, Moros, Obrimos, or Thyrsus. Note your character’s two Ruling and one Inferior Arcanum from this choice.
Order
Choose your character’s Order. Most characters will be in a Pentacle Order (Adamantine Arrow, Free Council, Guardians of the Veil, Mysterium, and Silver Ladder) but you can play a Nameless or a Seer if the story works with them.
Determine your 3 Rote Skills from the Order.
Assuming your character has an Order, she receives a free dot in the Order Status Merit, a dot of Occult, and the High Speech Merit.
Nimbus
Describe your character’s Nimbus.
Flavour the Nimbus Tilt, and consider how it effects your character.
Dedicate Magical Tool
Determine your character’s Dedicated Tool. Her Path and Order determine possible magical tools.
Arcana
Next, determine your character’s starting Arcana.
Your character starts with six total dots in Arcana.
She may only have one Arcanum at three dots at this time.
Three to five of her starting dots must be in her Ruling Arcana, and both Ruling Arcana must have at least one dot. None of her starting dots can go to her Inferior Arcana.
The possible combinations are as follows:
- Specialist:
- 3, 2, 1
- 3, 1, 1, 1
- Balanced:
- 2, 2, 2
- 2, 2, 1, 1
- Generalist:
- 2, 1, 1, 1, 1
Rotes
Your character starts play with three Rotes. She can only have rotes which she can cast with her Arcana. Look at their Ruling Arcana pages for example spells.
Gnosis
By default, your character starts with a single dot of Gnosis. For five of her starting Merit dots, your character can start with Gnosis 2. For all ten of her starting Merit dots, she may start with Gnosis 3.
Mana
Your character starts the chronicle with a full Mana pool, as derived from Gnosis.
Obsessions
Obsessions are like long-term Aspirations, but grant Arcane Beats and Mana when you resolve and make major progress toward them. Characters with Gnosis 1 and 2 may have one Obsession. Those with Gnosis 3 may have two.
Praxes
Your character has one Praxis per dot of Gnosis. Look to the Arcana descriptions again and choose spells to be your initial Praxes.
Resistance Attribute
The Awakening is tough on the mind, body, and soul. Every Awakened character begins play with one additional dot of Composure, Resolve, or Stamina, which may not raise the Attribute chosen above five dots.
Add this to your character sheet at this time.
Step Six: Choose Merits
Every character begins play with ten Merit dots, unless some of those points were spent on Gnosis.
You may choose any combination of Merits, but the characters must meet all prerequisites to purchase a Merit.
These Merits may affect other traits on the character sheet; be aware of these when calculating Advantages in the next step.
Step Six: Determine Advantages
All characters have certain derived traits, which depend on their Attributes, Skills, and Merits.
Determine the following Advantages and note them on your character sheet. If a Merit modifies your character’s Advantages, it’ll be noted in the specific Merit.
- Size: Characters start at Size 5.
- Health: Size + Stamina
- Speed: 5 + Strength + Dexterity
- Willpower: Resolve + Composure
- Wisdom: 7
- Initiative: Dexterity + Composure
- Defence: (Lower of Wits + Dexterity) + Athletics
You can now play a game!
Checklist
Step One
- Get the general vibe of the character; the concept
- Create 3 Aspirations
- Choose a Virtue and a Vice
Step Two
- Start all Attributes at 1 dot
- Order Mental, Social, and Physical for what you want to focus in
- Add 5 to the first, 4 to the second, and 3 to the third
- None above five
Step Three
- Select Skills
- Prioritise same as for Attributes
- Add 11 to the first, 7 to the second, and 4 to the third
Step Four
- Determine Skill Specialties
- Choose 3 of them, each related to one skill
Step Five
- Select Path
- Note Ruling and Inferior Arcana
- Choose Order, get a free dot in Order Status Merit, a dot of Occult, and the High Speech Merit
- Create a description of the character’s Nimbus, it is subtle for low Gnosis but grows.
- Determine Nimbus Tilt
- Determine Dedicated Tool
- Determine starting Arcana: 6 dots total, must have 1 dot per Ruling Arcana, at most 3 dots in any Arcana, and none in Inferior Arcana
- Start with 3 Rotes
- Start with 1 Gnosis, can trade 5 Merit for Gnosis 2.
- Start with full Mana for your Gnosis
- Determine Obsession, start with 1 for Gnosis 1 and 2
- Get one Praxis per Gnosis
- Get one extra point in a chosen Resistance Attribute