Character Creation: Mage: The Awakening 1st Edition

Note in 2026: This was originally posted on my journal back in the days of LJ and, later, Dreamwidth. I'm moving over the characters from that journal to this blog just to have them in the same place, but backdating them so the dates still make sense because it'd make me twitch otherwise. I'm using the tag "old dw entry" to designate them, and I ain't gonna put this disclaimer in every one. 

I will, however, note that these pre-cancellation entries contain references to people and organizations that are not part of my life anymore. I'm aware I'm a monster to a lot of people, and I just have to live with that, but none of us gets to pretend the past didn't happen, so those links and references stay. You want me to change something, you buck up your courage and contact me. 

On we go with the original text of the first character in the project: 

As I mentioned a couple of days ago, I think it would be interesting to make a character for every game I own. Now, presently, I'm considering "own" to be "have copies with the character creation rules in my office" and "game" to be "roleplaying game that involves unique characters." I'm not making a character for Rising, as awesome a game as it is, because it's not really roleplaying per se (despite that, I encourage you to try it, if you have the means).

So, what I'm figuring is this. I'll start with Mage, just because it's on the top left of my bookshelf, and then switch over to my...wait, here: 

Originally there was a picture of the bookshelf in my office, but I don't have that pic anymore, so here's an otter with an inner tube

OK, see? You can see the Mage books on the larger bookshelf, top left. And then the smaller bookshelf, to the right, contains my non-WW games. I'll do Mage today, and do the first one on the other bookshelf tomorrow (which would be...hang on...Godlike), and then switch back to the WW shelf (Changeling) and so on.

I'm also going to follow the chargen procedure outlined in the core book, though I might use stuff from sourcebooks on whim, 'cause hey, they're there. So, for today, it's Mage

The Game: Mage: The Awakening
The publisher: White Wolf
Degree of familiarity: Um. Very yes. Of the 18 sourcebooks currently on my self, my name is in 10 of them. I was on the initial design team for the game, I've run two long chronicles and several one-shots, and I wrote the demo chronicle for Mage. Apart from Promethean, it's probably the NWoD game I know the best.
Books Required: Mage: The Awakening and the World of Darkness Rulebook. Got 'em both right here.

Let's kick this pig!

Like all World of Darkness games, Mage has a (very dense) chapter of setting before getting into character creation. I've read it, but it's been a while. Since I don't have all day, though (and since I'm familiar with the game), I'm just going to skim the Path concepts and see what jumps out at me. In so doing, I note that one of the sample concepts listed for Mastigos is "haunter-of-nightmares." That, I think, has some legs.

Let's see. A character that "haunts nightmares" would be doing either to harm people or to help them. I recall the old Apex game Shattered Dreams, and that was fun. Playing a character who watches out for people as they dream might be cool, plus it plays into the whole notion of unAwakened people being "Asleep." I think that my character really doesn't feel that Awakened people need his protection, because they should be able to take care of themselves. Sleepers, though, are sitting ducks, especially while literally asleep.

Clearly, this guy's going to need some serious Mind magic, and he'd be a good fit for a chronicle that's going to use the Astral journey angle of Mage. To wit, I'll grab the Astral Realms book and see if it gives me anything neat to play with (I haven't actually read it yet, unfortunately).

Wait, I'm getting ahead of myself. Let's use the character creation system in Mage.

Step One: Concept

In brief: Haunter-of-nightmares. He's the guy that the boogeyman is scared of. Some (most) nightmares are just dreams, and that's fine, but there are things roaming the Tenemos that just aren't supposed to be here, and those are my character's targets. I know that he's going to be a Mastigos, and right now I can't think of any reason for him to be something other than Adamantine Arrow, but I'll hold off on that decision until later.

Step Two: Select Attributes

(At this point, I swing over to Mr. Gone's website and grab a sheet.)

Let's see. I think my character is less of a physical brute and more of a nightmare creature himself. In the "real world," he's small and unassuming, but in the Oneiros, he's scary. As such, I'm going to be Social my primary spread, Mental secondary and Physical tertiary. I put two points into Presence and Composure and one into Manipulation, two points into Resolve and one each into Intelligence and Wits, and one into each of my Physical Attributes. That means that I'm pretty spread out, but it also means I've got a high Willpower, which is what I'll use as Health in the Astral Realms.

Step Three: Select Skills

Again, I don't think my guy's much of a bruiser. Physical's tertiary. I think, though, that becoming the "haunter-of-nightmares" got him educated, so we'll make Mental primary and Social secondary.

Starting with Mental, I put three dots into Academics and Occult. My Mastigos has a background in humanities, obviously, and I think something scared him pretty badly, if he's gone to so much trouble to learn about the occult that much. I also throw two dots into Medicine. He knows how to recognize if someone is in medical danger and knows basic first aid. The last three dots go into Computer, Investigation and Science - those are Skills he's picked up along the way as he's done research and delved into the spooky side of the World of Darkness.

Social Skills are easy. Obviously I need Intimidation if I'm gonna be a badass in dreams, so I throw three dots in there. I give him two dots in Empathy, because he needs to be able to suss out if someone's fears are natural or supernatural. I put the other two dots in Persuasion and Subterfuge - good to be able to talk convincingly, and to detect lies.

Finally, Physical Skills. I put one dot in Larceny (since he's going to have to break into houses to get at people while they dream sometimes), one dot into Firearms (for when magic fails), one into Athletics (he's not in great shape, but he can run if he needs to) and one into Stealth (you're only as stealthy as your least stealthy cabal-mate, after all).

Step Four: Select Skill Specialties

I love these things. The characters I write for books always wind up with four or five, because they're just such an efficient use of 3 experience points, especially once you know what kinds of rolls you usually make. Anyway, for my character, I put one in Occult (Dreams, of course) one in Intimidation (Menacing Figure) and one in Stealth (Lurking).

Step Five: Add Mage Template

Yay! Magic!

OK, first thing's first. My character's a Mastigos, so I get a free dot in Resolve, taking my total to 4. Now, I should choose an order, if I want one (which I do). Let's think.

Arrow makes sense, given his bent for protecting people. I don't see him as being involved enough in Awakened politics to want to join the Silver Ladder, and although he's a Sleeper-protector, he's not gung-ho enough about it to be a Free Council. Plus, he's keeping magic away from people. I think that he could be a Guardian just as easily as an Arrow. Rereading the write-ups in the core book, I decide that since the Arrow is so focused on service, the Guardians of the Veil are a better fit.

Being a Guardian means that Investigation, Stealth and Subterfuge are my rote Skills, so I note that. I also get High Speech for free. I get six dots in Arcana, and the three possible spreads are 2/2/1/1, 2/2/2 or 3/2/1. I have to take dots in Mind and Space, of course.

Well, I want Mind 3, so that limits my options a little. I think I'll put my one-dot in Space; I don't see this guy as a scryer (though I'd probably pick it up in play). For the two-dot Arcanum, I think about Life, with the intention of raising it to three so I can heal other people eventually. But really, most of the "combat" I'll be in will be Astral, which doesn't do Health damage. Life and Spirit aren't as useful in the Astral reaches, either. I think we'll go with Death, partially for the fun shadow-shaping effects.

My Gnosis starts at 1, though I might dump some Merits into it (or I might not; we'll wait on that).

You know that the character creation step-by-step on pp. 64-67 of Mage doesn't include choosing rotes? You don't see that until the quick reference. Well, anyway, I get six dots in rotes.

Now, let me tell you about rotes. Having a Mage Sight rote is of dubious value, because Potency doesn't tend to matter. Ditto armor. So I'm going to apply what I know about playing Mage and take rotes that are going to a) give me a good dice pool and b) help me in situations where number of successes makes a difference. There are a lot of cool spells in Astral Realms that my character would use, but other than Seal Onerios, I don't know that I want any of them for rotes. Let's return to the Mage core.

OK, I know I want Augment the Mind. My Mastigos isn't all that smart, comparatively speaking, the ability to hone Mental and Social Attributes is going to be crucial. Plus, it's a killer dice pool for me (10 dice), and successes do matter, so it's a sound choice. It does eat three of my rotes points, though.

Looking at Death, I immediately grab Animate Shadows. Cleverly used, it's a scary spell, and I figure it'll be perfect for making my character terrifying in dreams (also, again, good dice pool - 7 dice).

Finally, I take the Soul Marks rote. I figure it's one of the first things my character would have learned upon becoming a mage. Helps to determine whether someone needs his attention, magically speaking. Yes, it's just a one-success spell, but without the rote I've got a dice pool of three, while with it I'm up to six.

Step Six: Merits

Ooh. So many choices. OK, first off, I'll take a dot in Status (Order). I'm not high-up in the Guardians, but they know me and I have a little bit of autonomy. I don't take Status (Consilium), though, because again, I'm less interested in mages than Sleepers. I throw a dot into Contacts (Psychiatric) because it helps me find people I need to help, and I take two dots of Dream, just because it fits so well with my character.

Three dots left. I take Eidetic Memory, because it'll help it remembering seemingly insignificant aspects of a dream (nothing is insignificant in a dream, of course). My last dot gets thrown into Occultation. I want my character to be mysterious and hard to track. One dot isn't much, of course, but I can buy it up later.

Step Seven: Determine Advantages

This is pretty easy, for the most part. Willpower is 7 dots. Speed is 9. Initiative modifier is 5. Health is 7. Defense is 2. Morality is 7.

Now, Virtue and Vice. I think my character's main motivation for trekking into other people's dreams and ousting nightmare creatures and baleful entities isn't justice. I think, instead, that he was attacked by one of these creatures when he was younger, and it probably spurred his Awakening, if obliquely. But he's not doing this out of righteousness, because that would have attracted him to the Arrow. He's doing it out of fear, because your mind is the one place that you should be safe, but you're really entirely vulnerable. That to me suggests a Virtue of Hope.

His Vice is definitely Pride. He's bought into this "haunter-of-nightmares" thing, and he really doesn't have the magical expertise to back it up against something powerful, at least not yet. He'll be able to bring his cabal into a dream to help him, but that just fuels the pride - "I am the gatekeeper."

Step Eight: Awakening to Life

Wow, there's a section on magical style in here. Who knew?

OK, let's consider the character's history.

Sleeper life: The character was a grad student. He'd already obtained a BA in Psychology, and had participated in some interesting research with a pharmaceuticals company (owned by the Cheiron Group, perhaps?), but was trying to get a Masters in Clinical Psych. He was interested in dream and sleep research, but was feeling pretty directionless - most of the research being done was in drugs, and he's not a big fan of psychopharmacology. I think that his mother was a chronic insomniac who became a chronic pill-popper, and then wound up institutionalized after a suicide attempt. Everyone assumed it was due to a bad reaction to her drugs, but she told her son the truth one night when he visited - "I just couldn't go back to sleep. They're in my head now."

With that horrifying message in mind, my character was looking for a non-drug way to get inside and help people with sleep disorders. He started digging into past-life regression, talk therapy, hypnosis and a lot of fringe techniques, and wound up learning more about nightmares than he wanted. He attracted the attention of something malicious, and it followed him home. It kept him in REM sleep for a full night, tortured him with every little thing in his subconscious, and tried to break him.

But he doesn't break easily (high Resolve and Composure). He outlasts the creature, and just as he's about to wake up, he sees a door. Knowing it could be a trap, but also knowing that if he wakes up, it might not be here tomorrow night (and who knows if this creature will still be here to torture him?), he opens it. It lets him into Pandemonium. He leaves his own Oneiros to Awaken, carving his name in the Watchtower, and wakes up, refreshed but terrified.

Courted by the Arrow, he ultimately goes with the Guardians because of their "the Sleepers can't handle this stuff" spin. And he agrees; if he hadn't Awakened, he'd have wound up sharing a cell with his mom. He takes the Shadow Name Raytwontoo. He tells people it's an African god of sleep and dreams, but that's a lie. It's R812, the code on his mother's bracelet at the asylum.

OK, looks good. He's a character I'd play. Would definitely require the right kind of GM, because if there's no Astral stuff, there's no reason for him to hang around with a cabal.