Mortal Character Creation Guide

Getting Started

The Mortal character-creation system is designed around five basic precepts. Keep these in mind while generating the persona you will assume in the World of Darkness.

You may create a character of any age, from any culture and from any nation, subject to the Storyteller's approval.

The character-creation system is intended more as a persona development device than as a strict system of mechanical codification. Who wants more rules at the expense of an interesting character or a good story? The character cannot exist as mere dots on a page - roleplaying is always more important than numbers.

Players have a certain number of points to spend on Traits they would like their characters to have. Players also get "freebie points" at the end of character creation; they may spend these to round out their characters, add personality and further differentiate their characters from those of other players.

A Trait score of 1 is poor, while a score of 5 is excellent. Thus, a character with a single dot in a Trait is either not very good with that Trait or is a beginner. Don't think that your character sucks because she's only got one dot in Manipulation. The experience system presented on p. 141 allows characters to grow and improve their Traits. Traits are rated according to a human scale.

**Please be sure to log into the game and create your character to generate your score sheet before you continue. Along with sending your application to the Staff (e-mail is listed at the bottom of this page) you can use the 'sheetset' command on the game to start setting up your stats. Some people find it easier to be able to see the sheet as they set their information, and it expedites the process of the Staff setting all of these points by hand, making it much faster for everyone involved.


Step One: Character Concept

A Concept is simply how you want your character to be in the game. Examples range from "Street Thug" to "Wall Street Tycoon" and will be the basic for everything else you set up for Stats and Background for your character during the application process. It will also heavily guide your character in the game. To get you started, it's helpful to write up a sentence or two about what kind of person your character is. This step isn't necessary, but it is recommended.


Choose Nature and Demeanor.

These two things are how your character acts, basically how they tick and react to the world!
You regain Willpower based on the Quest listed under each Nature.


Step Two: Select Attributes

These are what define your character. How strong they are (Physical), how well they can interact with others (Social) , and how intelligent they are (Mental).

Prioritize the three categories: Physical, Social, Mental. You give each of these categories one of the following values- (7/5/3). An example of this would be: Physical-5, Social-7, Mental-3. Your character automatically has one Point (or Dot) in each Attribute starting out.

You will now take these three categories, with the point value you have given them (either 7,5,or 3) and divide these points into sub-categories for each category.

Physical sub-categories (Traits):
- Strength-How strong your character is
- Dexterity-Your balance and reaction speed
- Stamina-How well you can take damage
Social sub-categories (Traits):
- Charisma-How charming you are to the people you interact with
- Manipulation-How well you can convince someone to do something
- Appearance-How attractive you are to the people who see you
Mental sub-categories (Traits):
- Perception-How aware you are of your surroundings
- Intelligence-How well you character can grasp ideas
- Wits-How well your character can think on their feet


Step Three: Select Abilities

Prioritize the three categories: Talents, Skills, Knowledges in the same fashion that you did with your Attributes. Only this time use the values of 13 points,9 points, and 5 points.

Now each category has many things under it, and you will spend the amount it says to "purchase" whatever you are looking to get for you character.

Example: Talents-9, skills-13, Knowledge-5
This now means you have 9 points to spend in Talents, while having 13 to spend in skills, and 5 points to spend in knowledge.

No Ability higher than 4 in this stage, and everything over 2 MUST be described in your background.


Step Four: Select Advantages

Merits and Flaws
Please be sure to see Banned Merits & Flaws & Restricted Merits & Flaws Pages during this step.

These are certain Advantages (Merits) and disadvantages (Flaws) that your character possesses. These each have a cost (Merits) or can give you points (Flaws) for each one you take. You start out with 15 freebie points that you can use to get Merits. (Though keep in mind, freebie points can be used for other things as well, so choose wisely)


Backgrounds are where your character came from, how they came about the way they did and what experiences they have lived though. You have 5 points to spend you your background. You do NOT start with anything in any background. The points you spend in your background you WILL have to explain and include in your back story. Also, it is helpful for the STs to have a small list of these things noted outside of your background story/questionnaire application for easy reference.
See Final Touches for more information.
Note that Age 1 Background is Restricted, and anything about it in that Background is Banned.
Note that Resources 5 is Banned.


Virtues
Your character's ability to resist the monster inside every Vampire. There are three different virtues:

  • Conscience-The ability to know right from wrong
  • Self-Control-The ability to resist the want to act on something
  • Courage-The ability to resist fear

You get Seven(7) points to spend on these three virtues. - Your character automatically has one dot in each Virtue.


Spend Freebie Points
Freebie Points can be spent on anything listed below, for the amount they are listed. You have a starting amount of 21 Freebie points to use as you see fit.

Freebie Points

Trait Cost
Attribute 5 per dot
Ability 2 per dot
Background 1 per dot
Virtue 2 per dot
Humanity 1 per dot
Willpower 1 per dot

Please remember that anything you spend Freebie Points on adds to your Character Sheet totals. Please DO NOT add Freebies Points yourself, but instead include them in list format somewhere else on the character application. Using Freebies to purchase Virtues DOES adjust your Road and Willpower ratings. At the current time, we are not classing Vampire characters with more than 7 Willpower.


Step Five: Finishing Touches


All characters are required to EITHER write a story-form Background or fill out our questionnaire.
//It is suggested to all Players wishing to write a story-form Background Story to read over the Questionnaire in order to make sure you give as much information as is requested by the STs. You do not need to do both the questionnaire and story-form background, but you may if you wish. The more information available to STs the faster classing your character will be, and the staff will have more information available to interact with your character in the game.

Write Out Any Additional Information about your character that the staff will need to know, or you feel may help define your character. These things include, but are not limited to:

  • Backgrounds like Allies, Contacts, Retainers, Influence and Fame. These things can all be listed in simple note format. If you decide you would like to leave the details for these things up to the STs, please just make sure you include anything you'd like to control yourself. For example: If Dillan has Contacts 2, he would add something during this step like "Crooked Accountant" or "Publisher".
  • Starting Possessions of Notice- This includes any weapons you want to have, any items that are special to your character. (You can get as detailed with this as you want, thought the more detail the better!)

Once your application is complete, please e-mail it to:

moc.evetneliseht|nimda#moc.evetneliseht|nimda


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