Character Creation: Dark Ages: Vampire

 And now, the character.

The Game: Dark Ages: Vampire
The publisher: White Wolf
Degree of familiarity: Lots! I was the, what, sixth developer for the line, and developed pretty much the whole revised series, except for the novels and the DA:V core book.
Books required: The Dark Ages: Vampire book. I'm going to keep the Storytellers Companion and the Players Guide to High Clans handy, though.

 
Yeah, I'm thinking Salubri. I want to make a tragic warrior, someone who's destined to win his last fight...but die in the process.

So let's see. Checking out p. 124 of Dark Ages: Vampire, I see the questions three.

In Life, I Was... nobody. Obviously he had a name and a past, but he refuses to acknowledge it anymore. He was Embraced in 1180, 50 years ago, long enough that most of the people he knew are dead or dying. He was a serf, a land-worker and a widower, a man whose wife died young and who had no other prospects. And then a houseguest...well, read on.

My Sire Chose Me Because... he couldn't let me die. Warrior Salubri have to help when they can, or they suffer until they can make restitution. My sire was on the run from a Tremere pawn, and stopped at my home. It was bleak in the winter, and look uninhabited, but my character (pardon me switching between third and first person, here) was there, brooding. The vampire entered, and then the pawn. In the ensuing battle, my character was stabbed, the Salubri killed the Tremere ghoul, and then Embraced my character, unable to find a way to make it up to him otherwise.

And it really didn't much matter, because he considered himself dead anyway. He started walked the Road of Kings, and after parting ways with his sire, learned about the philosophy of the Via Regalis, the Salubri clan, and the Cainites in general. He learned of the fall of Troy and, over the next few decades, ventured there. He took the name "Troy" because he knew that he, too, would fall to treachery someday. It was only a matter of what form that horse would take.

Now I Spend My Nights... being fucking morose, evidently. I think, actually, that Troy on the Path of Chivalry. He's living (unliving) out his own tragedy, and he's fully aware that the tragic hero always makes his own bed. But what else has he got to live (exist) for, anyway? The promise of being exsanguinated by the Tremere, or taken over by the Beast?

The fun thing is, of course, that if Troy goes losing Road, he might well fall out of his story entirely, and become just another vampire.

OK, let's do numbers! Oh, wait, first, Nature and Demeanor. Troy is a Penitent by Nature. He wants to die, because that's the nature of his story, but it's all falling out the way it should. I suspect he's very big on the notion that we're all born into sin, and only by recognizing our right place can we be Saved. For Demeanor, let's be classic Salubri and say Defender. He never wants to be put in his sire's position.

Now, Choosing Attributes. Physical, Mental, Social sounds about right.

Physical: Dexterity is the uber-stat here, so I'll put three here and two into Strength and Stamina. That'll give me a good start toward being a warrior.

Mental: Two into Intelligence and Perception, one into Wits. It's not that Troy's slow, but you know, when that horse comes around, he is going to think it's a good idea to accept it. That's not real witty.

Social: One dot in each, for average across the board. He's not going to be making ladies swoon with chivalrous poetry, but that's not what kind of vampire he is, anyway.

Choosing Abilities is next.

Skills are definitely first. I want three Melee and three Archery (warrior!). Two in Crafts (for fixing weapons and armor), Etiquette (Chivalry!) and Ride (horses!). One into Animal Ken (horses!).

And then Talents. Alertness, Brawl and Intimidation get two dots - all basic necessities for Troy, I figure. Athletics, Empathy and Leadership all get a dot. I don't see Troy as a real leader, but it's hard to be a Scion without some idea of how to lead.

Finally, Knowledges. Three into Academics (Troy studied hard for a lot of years). One into Linguistics (the language of the Second City, which all Salubri speak) and one into Theology (not his strongest point, but he's got to have some Biblical knowledge).

Advantages. I get four dots in Disciplines. My in-clan choices are Auspex, Fortitude and Valeren. I'll drop one into Valeren, allowing me to sense how close to death someone is (note, too, that unlike most Salubri I don't have a third eye yet), one into Auspex, and the other two into Fortitude.

Backgrounds! I have to put two into Generation, so there's that. I think Troy's a wanderer, so the other Backgrounds don't really appeal. I'll just drop them all into Generation and start out at 7th. That means I can burn through blood like no one's business. It also means I can theoretically take a trait to six dots.

Virtues. I know I want a high Road. I'll put three dots into Conviction and two each into Self-Control and Courage. I'll probably raise those later, though. That makes my Road 7, at present, and my Willpower a whopping three.

And now, bonus points! Merits and Flaws? Oh, you betcha! Well, first, let's just go ahead and take Dark Fate. Troy's going to fall. That's just how it is.

And, I like Unblinking Vigil from Players Guide to High Clans. Troy just...doesn't blink. Ever. Even sleeps with his eyes open. Maybe compensating for his lack of a third eye (so far), but it still creeps people out.

Finally, I'll take Nightmares. Troy dreams of his fall, but he doesn't remember the dreams.

OK, since I've now got 22 bonus points, let's spend 'em! I'll buy my Self-Control up to four, which eats 2 points (and also bumps my Road to 8, which is where I want it). I'll spend three to up my Willpower (down to 17). I need some Abilities. I'll buy a fourth dot of Academics, another dot in Linguistics (Latin), two in Occult, a fourth dot in Melee, a dot in Survival and a second dot in Empathy. That's 14, for a total of 19 spent. I have three more bonus points. I'll buy the Well-Educated Merit, which allows me to use Knowledges that I don't actually have at +1 difficulty (normally, that's not possible).

And that's it. Oh, wait. A roll of a d10 gets me 9 blood points. Rule. That means Troy's ready to brave the Dark Medieval! 

Character Creation: Silver Age Sentinels

The Game: Silver Age Sentinels
The publisher: Guardians of Order, now sadly defunct.
Degree of familiarity: More than you'd think. I ran a monthly chronicle that just never went where I wanted it to go, but had some interesting characters. I wrote a story for their fiction anthology, and I was actually going to write a large chunk of the second ed core book, before the company folded.
Books required: Just the core. 

OK, I mentioned earlier that I had an idea for a mystical superhero, but I didn't want to do it with Heroes Unlimited because the system is annoyingly random. The hero I made happened to have a mystic origin, but that's not what I'm talking about. So the decision now is: Do I do some magic-y here, or do I save it for Mutants and Masterminds or Marvel Superheroes? Hmm. Just a sec.

Well, first, a little background. SAS is a Tri-Stat game, meaning that it's a point-buy character creation system and a kind of wonky game engine; I remember making some adjustments to combat, in particular, so that you could actually hit something. But the game book itself is fantastic. It's honestly the best treatment of superhero games I've read from a GM/player perspective (and that's no diss to M&M or Marvel, but damn, this is good stuff). Plus it's gorgeous. And very much a four-color kind of deal.

You can build any character you can think of, even the big blue Boy Scout, if you start with enough points. I think I shall make a 150-point character, same base as the game I ran. Now I just need a concept, and I'm a little dry right now. I don't want something horror-related, angsty, or jumpy/flippy, since I've done a bunch of those. This is going to be tough.

OK. My character is an altered human in the classical, silver-age sense of it. He was given powers by a freak accident, and since radiation is out of vogue, I'll go with biochemistry. Greg West was a research assistant at Empire University, working on biomedical experiments. The idea was prosthesis that could feel, and could be wired into the nervous system. Greg's mentor had a fixation on increasing the voltage, forcing the body to adapt, grab the signal and control it, but there was a problem with tissue damage. Greg helped come up with this nifty serum that basically made the human body resistant to powerful electrical jolts on a cellular level - it still conducted and manipulated electricity (since you kind of have to if you want to send signals along the nervous system), but didn't suffer any damage from it.

Greg, in the classic superhero blunder-that-turns-out-to-be-awesome, tried that shit on himself. It worked perfectly. He could withstand jolts of electricity that would fry any normal human. Problem was, Greg didn't have any limbs he needed replaced, so they hooked up a false hand into his nervous system through the nerves in his arm and tried to trick his body into accepting it. That worked, too. Success! Everyone go home.

Except... (always complications, yeah?). Even once the wires were detached, Greg could still control the hand. And the computer near it. And the electronic locks. And the doors. And the iPod in his pocket. Greg's nervous system was so sensitive to electronics that he can manipulate them without touching them, as long as they can see enough of the device to know where to focus. The more sophisticated the device, the more trouble he has with it (which is why villains in battle armor are still going to be problematic). Greg wanted to keep these powers to himself, but the data from the experiment was too obvious. So Greg made his identity public when he started fighting crime. (Hey, that's what you do with superpowers, right?)

Personality-wise, Greg's...a little off. He's a cheerful, happy guy, but he's fiercely loyal to his friends, and he runs a little hot. He's got a weird sense of humor and he's uncomfortable with tense situations, so he tries to act the clown to keep things light. It doesn't always work. But all of this plays perfectly into his hyperkinetic alter-ego, the Gremlin!

Right. Now, numbers.

Stats. Only three: Body, Mind, Soul. They go from 1 to 20, where 1 is infant and 20 is, like, Galactus or something. I want decent stats across the board, but Mind is definitely Gremlin's strong point.

Body: 8
Mind: 15
Soul: 12

Yike, that's 70 of my points right there.

Attributes. Otherwise known as powers. Let's see what we got.

Armour: I want Gremlin to be functionally immune to electricity. That's Optimized Armour, which provides double the bonus. It's 3 points/level. I'll take level 4, which sets me back 12 points, but also means I ignore 80 points of electrical damage.

Computer Scanning: Duh. Gremlin can read the data in computers with a glance. It's 2 points/level, and with level 4 Gremlin can scan any computer within 100 meters. Sounds good.

Divine Relationship: You're silly if you don't take this. Anyway, Gremlin's just one of those annoyingly lucky guys. I'll buy 4 levels, allowing me 4 re-rolls per session.

Heightened Senses: Gremlin can detect electrical currents. That's just 1 point.

Organizational Ties: Empire University has my back. I figure the University exerts Moderate power in the setting, if the game's set in Empire City, so that'll set me back 8 points for level 4.

Sensory Block: Gremlin can knock out most communication and other electrical detection. It's 1 point per sense I block, so let's list 'em: electric current detection, homing weapons, magnetic field detection, radar, sonar, ultrasonic hearing. That's six. I'll also dump 5 points into an Area Power Modifier Value, allowing me to shut down these senses within a 1 km radius.

Special Attack: I figure Gremlin's usual mode of attack it to make the machines around a person go crazy, but he can also release the stored-up electricity in his body for a good zap. Special Attack is 4/level, and you put levels into damage and into special wonky things. And then there are restrictions. Oi. OK, let's do this. The attack is touch-only; Gremlin has to touch (but not strike) his foe to make it work. It does some damage, but mostly it fries your brain, making you unable to walk or think straight. And I think there's always the danger that it's going to go haywire and electrocute people around him. So: We'll buy level 3 for damage (60 points, respectable), Drain Body and Drain Mind (both are reduced by 3 when you're hit), Penetrating (huh-huh) for 3, so it goes through 60 points of Armour, Stun (it can't kill). But, for the downside, we'll take Backblast (affects everyone around me, but at lesser damage), Limited Shots x3 (I can only use it once, and then it takes several minutes to recharge), Melee, Slow (I need a turn to charge up). In total: 12 points.

Special Movement: Wall-crawling. Gremlin can stick to walls using static electricity. Costs me 2, and is well worth it.

Telekinesis: OK, there's no "control machines" power per se. I could use Dynamic Powers, but that's such a pain in the arse in play. I think, instead, I shall modify the hell out of Telekinesis to represent Gremlin's control of machines. TK works by weight, and this definitely falls under the "more limited" form, so it's 2 points/level. At level 6, I can manipulate 100,000 kg of material, or about 110 tons in real measurements. 110 tons is probably quite enough to control any electronics in my immediate area. Sets me back 12 points. But I ain't done here.

I need Range and Area as PMVs. That allows me to control all the machines in a given area, and to do it in an area not centered on my own body. So. Gremlin can affect any machine within 100 meters (PMV 2), and in an area of 1 km (PMV 5).

And, I'll take a Restriction on my TK. It only works on machinery, and I can't force the machines to do something they aren't physically capable of doing. Put another way, I can't make a truck fly. I reckon that drops my cost to 1/level. In total, then, I pay 13 for this power.

Skills: Let's do Skills first. Skills cost different amounts based on how useful they are, and I've got 30 points right now. And, I get a free Specialty in all of them.

Biological Sciences 2 (8 points) - Physiology
City Knowledge 2 (6 points) - EU
Computers 4 (16 points) - Hacking
Electronics 4 (16 points) - Sensors
Mechanics 2 (8 points) - Automotive
Medical 2 (6 points) - Neurology
Physical Sciences 4 (20 points) - Physics
Unarmed Attack 3 (21 points) - Strikes
Unarmed Defense 3 (21 points) - Strikes

Total for Skills: 122. A little higher than 30. But all is not lost! I'll take 10 levels of the Highly Skilled Attributes, which nets me 100 more Skill points. And since I'm 8 over, I'll take Power Usage 1 (Telekinesis).

Drawbacks. OK, I'm presently at 151 points, which is a whopping 1 point over. I always do this, but I like weaknesses, so odds are I'll take a few and wind up having to adjust my points.

Well, I'll take Detectable (Telekinesis). When he commands machines, Gremlin's eyes glow and spark and you can hear the static crackling in the air around him. That's 1 point back. I'll also take Backlash. If I blow my Special Attack roll by 3 or more, I suffer the effects myself (the damage, the stun, the Stat Drain, etc.).

That gives me 2 more points to play with. I'll buy up Body by one more point, giving me 9.

OK. Now Derived Traits. My Attack Combat Value is the average of my stats, or 12. My Defense Combat Value is two less than that (10). My Health is my Body + Soul x 5, or 105. Not bad.

And, some background notes. Mostly I did this above. I picture Gremlin's costume as green with black trim, and an open mask that lets him show off his crazy smile, but with lenses over his eyes that project static, so he's got eyes like a dead TV. He laughs, capers and giggles during fights, tells bad jokes, and runs villains over with cars while they're busy monologing.

As far as his comic history, he first appeared in Slipstream #102. At first, he was a nuisance to that speedster hero (who shows up in the core, BTW), but when the Iron Duke sent his machines against the city, Gremlin, laughing like a lunatic all the while, met them with a small army of cars, trucks and other gadgets he "borrowed." Slipstream managed to crack open one of the Duke's robots, and Gremlin gleefully took control of it, using its command codes to shut down the others. Gremlin asked to join the Guard, but the amount of property damage he caused made them leery. Slipstream, however, likes the weirdo, and so Gremlin at least got to accept the city's thanks alongside the big guys. 

Character Creation: Dark Ages: Mage

Kinda coming full circle back to Ars Magica, here, if you think about it.

The Game: Dark Ages: Mage
The publisher: White Wolf.
Degree of familiarity: Some, but not as much as, say, Fae. I wrote the character creation chapter and was involved to some degree with the concept stage, when Jesse did the outline. Ran a playtest game, and a chronicle that I really have to dust off the cobwebs to remember. Although, the ash-maiden makes an appearance (kind of) in Keys to the Supernal Tarot, because I always loved that character, even though I suspect the player would as soon spit on me as look at me anymore.
Books required: The Dark Ages: Mage book, and either the Dark Ages: Vampire book or the free Dark Ages rules download.

OK, the trouble with Dark Ages is that I'm not a histor...oh, we covered that already. OK, well, I think what I'll do is hit up Wikipedia and see if there are any historical events circa 1230 that inspire me. Wait a tic.

OK, got one. The University of Toulouse was founded in 1229, as part of a treaty ended the Albigensian Crusade. Interesting. I think that my character will be a Hermetic mage. The Order was following the Cathar Crusade closely, and when it ended in the foundation of a university (well, that was part of it) that had to teach theology, they knew the Messianic Voices were gonna jump on that shit (not a historical term). So, you figure they'd send a cabal or two. One of the founders was actually of Genoese stock, and I think that the Order had some dealings with him - he probably didn't know about mages, but Folquet de Marselha sure didn't want heresy creeping back in. So the Order struck a deal with him to get some folks from Genoa into the university in whatever role, and some of them were mages. Including, as it happens, Alessi, my character.

Looking at p. 76 of Dark Ages: Mage, I consider the questions.

Before I learned the truth I was... a merchant's son in Genoa. Probably doomed to load shit onto Dad's boats. Alessi was strong and diligent, but bored. The sea was calling him. Or maybe it was some beautiful, exotic boy from the ships.

Yeah, you know, I like the idea of Alessi fancying guys. And that might add another impetus for the Order in Genoa to ship his ass to France, actually.

I learned the truth by... talking with a sailor who'd come in from Africa. This guy was a Hermetic who'd traveled back to the source...kind of. He'd gone for the "Thoth" part of Hermes Trimestigus, and gone to Egypt. He arrived in Genoa on a ship carrying some goods that Alessi's father was hoping to buy and resell, and the two wound up talking. Alessi learned the Truth from this guy (and no, they didn't have that kind of relationship. Alessi doesn't care for older dudes).

Now I spend my days... hoping to hell that people aren't going to cut my head off. Alessi's heard the stories about the Albigensian Crusade. "Kill them all, God will know His own," yeah? Alessi tries to be devout, but the fact is he likes men, and we all know what God has to say about that. He also practices his magic and studies whatever scraps of knowledge Genoa sends him, but he's about fed up with that shit. Time to get involved in the school's foundation and whatever other magical shit is going on (that's your cue, non-existant ST!).

Step One: Concept. Shit, didn't I just do that? Oh, wait, Nature and Demeanor. Nature is Gallant - Alessi wants to show these French dudes what fun the Genoese can be. Aw, yeah. Demeanor is Survivor. He's playing things close to the vest for now, because he's scared.

Step Two: Choose Attributes 7/5/3. I want Mental to be first, then Physical, then Social, but I know I'm spending some freebies here. I'll put three into Intelligence and Perception, and the other dot into Wits. Alessi's smart and perceptive, but he's used to being told what to do.

I put three into Strength and one into the other two. Lots of time lifting heavy shit onto and off of boats.

And, one across the board into the Social Attributes, though I want to raise Appearance.

Step Three: Choosing Abilities. Right, 13/9/5, nothing over 3 dots right now. Well, I'll go Knowledges first, then Skills, then Talents.

Knowledges: Obviously I know stuff about finance and shipping and money, so I'll take 3 in Academics. Alessi pays attention this mama, so I'll put two into Hearth Wisdom. I'll put one in Enigmas, and one in Linguistics so I can speak some French, and then two each into Occult, Politics and Theology.

Skills: Two in Etiquette, and one each in Herbalism, Performance and Stealth. Hmm. He likes being stylish and stuff, so I'll do two into Archery and two into Ride. In time, I can be Legolas. Hah!

Finally, Talents. One in Alertness, two each into Athletics and Awareness. Done with Abilities.

Step Four: Advantages. I get 5 measly dots in Backgrounds. Guess where my freebies are going?

Well, I want Resources 2, because Dad gives me an allowance. Other three go into Servants, Fount and Status, and I'll be raising them later. Incidentally, I added the Servants Background to this book because I wanted a way to simulate magical constructs easily.

Now, magic! I don't see Alessi as being real powerful, magically, so I'll probably spread out his dots. First, though, I need to remind myself how the hell magic works in this system.

OK, I don't see Alessi as being real big on Anima. I see him as a mental-and-energy kind of mage. And in keeping with the aura of secrets we've got going, I'll put two dots into Corona, the Pillar of Beer, and one into Primus, the Pillar of Smacking Bitches Up.

Step Five: Finishing Touches. Willpower starts at 5. I don't get an Aura modifier, and since I don't think I'll be raising Foundation, I won't wind up with one. And now, 15 freebies.

Right off the bat, I want Appearance 3. I wanna be cute. That's 5 points.

I'll blow six points on Backgrounds, and raise my Servants to 5 and my Fount to 3. That leaves me 4 points, unless I take some Flaws. I'll take another dot in Occult and another in Linguistics, which puts me even, but let's see if any Flaws tickle me.

Tee-hee! They do! I'll take Faint of Heart. Alessi's never really seen violence, and it scares him. I'll also take a 1-point Witchwalk. Alessi's eyes are an extremely pale blue, which is totally at odds with his otherwise dark complexion. I'll use those three points to buy a second dot of Primus, allowing Alessi to store extra Quintessence and enchant items against magical stuff.

Right, some last details. Servants, for instance. I'll actually break the rules a little and combine magical and Commoners, here. Five dots means I get three exceptional servants, so one of them is a little tiny homunculus dude that Alessi's mentor made for him before he left for parts unknown again. The little guy is called the "Scholar's Friend." He can act as an inkwell (dip your pen in him for ink), or an eternal candle (he burns forever, producing enough light to read by). He can also remember one phrase verbatim, which is handy when you're still learning various languages.

The other two are both Commoners. One is a spy, a man employed by Alessi's family to watch out for the family's interests in France, and who caught Alessi practicing magic one night and wanted in. Alessi is considering taking him on as an apprentice someday (name: Otto. It means "eight"). The other servant is a porter, basically doing step-and-fetch-it work. His name is Profaci, and he's young and gorgeous. Alessi dreams of him sometimes, but doesn't think Profaci swings that way. But then, Alessi's command of Corona is improving...but no, that would be horribly sinful.  

Character Creation: Fading Suns

Like an old galaxy tattoo.  

The Game: Fading Suns
The publisher: Holistic Designs
Degree of familiarity: Not a lot. I played it once at...Origins, I think? It was a few years back. I remember that the GM had more familiarity with the d20 rules than the real original rules, but that we didn't want no steekin' d20 rules. I remember enjoying the game and pounding the hell out of aliens with telekinesis.
Books required: Just the core, which is on my shelf though I can't remember where I got it. 

 
God damn, there are a lot of supplements for this game.

Anyway, Fading Suns is a sci-fi game including magic (theurgy), psi powers, aliens, and swordplay. In the future, the stars are going out, and the Church blames that ever-present enemy, "sin." Technology is evil...wait, what? Yeah, the Church decided sometime back that tech was a bad thing, but that the noble houses could use it, so as to take the burden off the rest of us poor peasants. The merchant leagues, of course, actually have the best figs, and among the three of them, the nobles, merchants and priesthood call the shots.

There are jumpgates on most of the known worlds, left there by ancient civilizations. You can travel offworld, but most people don't. The system is quite feudal, and despite the high-space setting, most people live fairly low tech. You could insert a reference to Firefly any old time, and it's not too far off the mark, though this is a much more high-fantasy setting, obviously.

Fading Suns isn't a White Wolf game, but it reads like one. There's a lot of dense history - it's not as dry as Mage: The Awakening, but neither is desert sand, of course. Fading Suns is quite readable, there's just a lot of it. But for all that, there's an awesome little summary of the known worlds and a full description of one planet (Pandemonium). This game definitely says "run me" to me.

And, as I mentioned a few posts back, I have a character concept. A priest.

Yeah, you read that right.

Step One: Formulate Character Concept. My character was a guy from Cadavus. Cadavus is one of the poorer planets in the Known Worlds, but has a number of monasteries, and they maintain historical records going back centuries. My character was an avid churchgoer from a very young age, and learned that arguments over "dogma" bore a very strong resemblance to "making this shit up as you go." And he was good at that. Any given argument over what the Pancreator wanted or would or would not approve of basically cooked down to who could remember the obscure quotes from the Prophet's texts in a pinch, and interpret the events of the world(s) in a manner consistent with those quotes without sounding like a boob. And so he took holy orders, because some folks thought he was gifted with divine insight. Turns out, Amat Lee is just a really, really good bullshitter.

Now, does that mean he doesn't believe? He doesn't think about it much. Everyone believes, and it's not safe to profess un-belief, so he worries more about answering the questions that people pose to him. He did his schooling on Cadavus, as much as he could, and then got shipped to Byzantium Secundus to take his vows. After that, he asked to become mendicant, traveling the Known Worlds in search of the Prophet's wisdom. Made a very convincing argument as to why he should be granted special status. And off he went, into the black.

Amat is searching for something that's really true. He would love to be enlightened, to have a real religious experience, but in his heart, he's upset - offended - by how stupid everyone acts in the name of "the Pancreator." The Inquisition kills people. People live in fear of technology, when it's what allowed us to reach the stars. We slaughter alien races and claim that God told us to. And when the proles need justification, they look to men like Amat Lee. He just wants one sign from God that all that he's doing is worthwhile, because he has thousands of arguments saying that it is.

Step Two: Character Role. This is easy: Amat's an Urth Orthodox priest.

Step Three: Select Characteristics. I get 20 points to divide up between my characteristics. Actually, first, I set my Spirit Characteristics. These are arranged into pairs, and I pick one half to be primary. Well, because Amat is human, the Human/Alien split has to be 3/0. For Introvert/Extrovert, I'll go 1/3; Amat's in his element among people. Passion/Calm is 1/3. Amat wishes he were more passionate. Faith/Ego...well, here could go either way. I'll make Faith primary. Amat wants to believe, but he doesn't want to believe in stupid things. He wants the true glory of God, and thinks it's really out there somewhere.

OK, now, I do the 20 points in other Characteristics, and they all start at 3. 8 is the max, and there are six of them. Let's see. I want Wits and Perception to be high, so I'll put five points in each for scores of 8. I'll put three into Tech, so that Amat has a chance of learning Tech stuff (I might also want cybernetics later). I'll put two into Endurance and Strength, and three into Dexterity. There we go.

Step Four: Select Skills. Some Skills are natural, which means you get a free rating, which I like. Some are learned, which also makes sense. I get 30 points to divvy up into Skills.

I'll put three into Charm; Amat's a great talker. I'll put two into Impress, three into Observe and one into Sneak. That leaves me with jack and shit for combat, but I'll get freebie points later. On to Learned Skills, with 21 left to spend.

Obviously I want Academia, and I'll sink 3 points there. Definitely want Bureaucracy; 3 points. I'll put 2 into Empathy and 1 into Focus. I'll take several Read Skills: Latin (2 points), Urthish (2 points) and Urthtech (1 point; in the future; 1337speak is a language). I'll put 4 into Debate and 3 into Oratory, and that's my 21 points.

Step Five: Benefices. I get 10 points here to buy lots of crazy shit, including stuff like psi and theurgy. Let's see. I'll take Ordained, obviously. I want to be pretty high up, so I'll take 9 points, giving me the rank of Priest. I'll take the Affliction: Dark Secrets. His dark secret is that he doesn't really believe, and since there are people are who can read minds, that's dangerous. I'd call that 3 points worth. That gives me 4 points to spend, and I'll dump 2 into Secrets (Church lore and history) and 2 into Retinue (he has a scribe/record-keeper with him at all times).

Step Six: Spend Extra Points. I get 40 of these puppies. I can raise anything on the sheet, and I'm thinking Skills need some attention, but I want to look at Blessings first.

I want Shrewd (+2 Wits when fast-talking). That's 2 points. I'll take 2 points in Reputation (Famous); people know him as a greater interpreter of Church dogma. I'll spend 3 and raise my Alien to 1, because that then allows cybernetics. Amat wants to remember everything he's heard, so he has an audio recorder implanted. That costs me 3 more points, and I've got 30 left to spend. Incidentally, the cyber gives me a mild stigma. There's always a slight crackle of static in the air around Amat, especially when there's a lull in conversation.

I want more Skills, like I said. And they're one point each, oh lordy. I'll buy up Oratory and Debate to 8, which costs me 9. I'll buy Lore (Theology), which I can't believe I missed earlier, that saps away 8 more. 14 left. Guess I'd better do something about the fact that I can't fight. I'll buy Melee up to 6 (three points), and buy Parry, Thrust and Flat of the Blade (7 points total).

Four points remaining. I'll put 2 points into Speak Latin, and two points into Curious (I get +2 Extrovert when seeing something new).

My Vitality is 5 + my Endurance (5), so 10. I don't have a Wyrd rating.

And that's it. Neato!