Character Creation: Vampire: The Requiem 1st Edition

I'm using the Daeva symbol, though I might not make a Daeva.

Anyway, without further adOOOOOOOOOOOOOO...

The Game: Vampire: The Requiem
The publisher: White Wolf Game Studio
Degree of familiarity: Lots. Certainly more than some assholes think. I'd really like to run a chronicle, but the one I had planned out kinda fell through. Sigh. Anyway, wrote for the core book (the Ordo Dracul, back when they were called the Brujir) and wrote the demo, and for a bunch of the sourcebooks. Currently developing two of them, in fact.
Books required: The Vampire book and the World of Darkness Rulebook. Plus whatever else I grab.

One of the things that sometimes annoys me about Requiem is that the clan names didn't change (some of them), and that the brass at WW felt the need to shove in OWoD clans as bloodlines, kind of at the last minute. I could've lived my whole life without seeing the Malkavians again, no matter which vowels you change (and no, I haven't read Ventrue yet, because no one has offered me a trade).

That's especially true because the clans themselves did change. Look at Nosferatu. They were the smelly, skulky vampires, living dwelling in sewers, and now they're the real monsters, the ones that use fear as a weapon. So why does Scratch still look OWoD?

Well, I know the answer, but it'll sound snarky, so I won't bother. Anyway, Requiem is a great game, it just should've been more different from Masquerade.

Enough rambling from me. Time to make a character.

Step One: Concept. I'd like to make a character who's very much a product of the era he's from (some of the people reading this might know what that's on my mind), but I don't want to make an old character. My character was Embraced on July 20, 1969. He got evicted that day, and he stood there with his duffel holding everything he owned in the world, watching the moonwalk on a store television, and seething with hate for a society that was glorifying that bullshit while people like him got shit on.

He wasn't evicted because of anything he could have avoided; he lost his job, tried to make his rent, couldn't, and wound up behind. Fine print in the lease fucked him. He lost most of his possessions. He got thrown in jail that night for being drunk and disorderly, and wound up sitting next to a distinguished gentleman in the drunk tank. The man asked him if he came here often. "This isn't a bar, man," he replied.

"Au contraire," said the gent, "this is where I come to drink." And then everything gets fuzzy.

Now, on any other night, the gent would have just drained the guy a little and let him sleep it off, and then forced the guard to let him out. But something went wrong that night. The usual guard was sick, and the guard on duty was resistant to the vampire's commands. The Gent (the only name for his sire that my character ever knew) Embraced his victim in order to break out before sunrise. He needed the help of another vampire to break the hinges on the door.

That's a good start. Oh, I need a name. Just as my character's sire is only known as "the Gent," my character is known as "Salt." You spill Salt, you get bad luck, and his luck's been nothing but bad for years. His real name is Harold Torn. He's a Nosferatu, but I don't have a good sense of covenant yet.

Step Two: Select Attributes. Okey-doke. I think this guy did manual labor of some kind when he was laid off, and he seems more Physical than anything else. I'll put Mental secondary; he's bitter, not dumb. That leaves Social last.

Physical: Two into Strength, two in Stamina, one into Dexterity. No sweat.

Mental: I'll put one into each, and then the extra into Resolve. I see this guy as keeping his mind...

Social: ...but not his mouth. Two into Presence, one into Manipulation, leaving Composure at one sucky little dot.

Step Three: Select Skills. OK, let's mix it up a little. Mental is last; he doesn't retain information well. Social is first. Since his Embrace, he's become more socially adept, in certain areas. Physical is in the middle; he'll only have a couple of Skills, but they'll be high-rated.

Social: Four into Streetwise right off the bat. Being homeless will do that. Three into Intimidation; he takes this "Nosferatu" thing seriously. One each into Animal Ken, Persuasion, Socialize, Subterfuge.

Physical: Three Athletics, Three Brawl, one Larceny. Hmm. No Stealth, but that's OK. He's not that kind of vampire.

Mental: One each into Academics (he spends time in libraries in winter), Crafts (that uber-Skill!), Investigation (he knows how to observe a room) and Occult (he's a vampire).

Step Four: Select Skill Specialties. Three things that come to mind with this character. He's Intense. That's a good Intimidation Specialty. He's bitter over society's ills, especially how it wastes time on vapid bullshit while other people (read: he) are left to starve. How does that translate into a Specialty? How about an Academics Specialty in Philosophy? Finally, he's unlucky, at least he thinks he is. I'll specialize Occult in Omens.

Step Five: Apply Vampire Template. I've already decided on clan, and so I start thinking about covenant some. Immediately, I disregard Invictus (doesn't work at all for him) and Lancea Sanctum (I don't want to play one). As much as I love fun blood magic, Carthians just makes so much sense. OK, Salt's a member of the Carthian Movement, but probably not a terribly important one.

I get a free dot of either Strength or Composure. Tempting as it is to have Strength 4, I figure that his Embrace helped him hold his tongue a little - being a predator means being patient. Composure it is!

Disciplines are easy. I put two dots into Vigor (probably developed immediately upon his Embrace) and one into Obfuscate (for carrying his duffel into places he shouldn't).

Blood Potency starts at one. I might raise it with Merit points, though, especially since certain Merits are so cheap for Carthians.

Step Six: Select Merits. Hmm. No Haven (still homeless, or at least no permanent crash space), I know that. I'll put one dot into Covenant Status, at least. Honestly, nothing else occurs to me, and since he was Embraced in 1969, it's been almost 40 years that's been up. That's enough time for his blood to thicken without diablerie, so I'll just drop the other six points into raising his Blood Potency to 3. Officially, that means he can still only spend 1 Vitae per turn; I've house ruled that in my games, BTW.

Step Seven: Determine Advantages. Willpower is 5, Health is 8, Defense is 2, Speed is 10, Size is 5, Initiative is 4. Humanity starts at 7, but I'll drop it to 5 and take the 10 XP. I'd like to buy cheap Merits.

NOTE: Now, I know it says in the book that the cost breaks on Merits for covenant Status don't apply to Merits purchased during character creation. However, I interpret that as "using your seven Merit dots," not "using XP you get for Humanity." The XP you get for Humanity is supposed to represent things you've acquired at a cost to your soul, but since becoming a vampire, and there's no reason for it not to benefit from the covenant bonus. Plus, as an ST, I'd interpret it that way, so there.

Anyway, of my 10, I'll spend 3 to buy Herd two (normally would cost 6). Salt killed a slumming teen one night, and other Carthians gave him a dressing down and showed him how to feed from folks without killing. He's gotten good at it. I'll spend two to buy Contacts 1 (Homeless) and Allies 1 (Strippers). He's a fixture in strip clubs of his city, and he's got a kind of reputation as the guy to call if a customer stalks, threatens, harasses or (Heaven help you) harms one of the girls. That leaves me five points, which I'll spend on a dot of Nightmare.

Virtue and Vice. Definitely Fortitude. As much as he complains about his luck, he endures, and he's good at staying alive undead. Vice is trickier; I'd say Envy, but I see him as more immediately dangerous than that. Let's go with Wrath.

Step Eight: Spark of Unlife. For almost 40 years, Salt has stalked the city, never choosing a home, never really committing to anything. He spends the cold winter nights in the city's library, and the shorter summer nights underground in the subway systems (if the city has 'em). He's never chosen to join a coterie...until now. He got cozy with a stripper named Misha, who read his Tarot cards one morning after work, and in those cards, she saw the truth about him - yes, he was dealt a really raw deal...40 years ago. Yes, he's got legitimate reasons to be mad at the establishment. But he's not doing anything about it. He's just wallowing in bitterness.

This infuriated Salt, and he bit her, draining her dry (losing his second dot of Humanity, I think). He disposed of the body in the river as the sun was rising, and walking away, he grudgingly admitted that she was right. He could be doing more. He resolved to join up with some other vampires and see what he could do.

He swears he could feel Misha's eyes on him as he walked away from that river. It was not a pleasant feeling.

Oh, one more thing: Rolling a die, I get 9. Awesome. I'm not starting off hungry.