Character Creation: Geist: The Sin-Eaters

[Originally there was a very heartfelt post about taking my kids to the zoo preceding this character; obviously I'm not going to transfer that bit from my Dreamwidth. Greetings from the future. Woooo.]

The Game: Geist: The Sin-Eaters
The publisher: White Wolf
Degree of familiarity: As much as anyone could, at this point. I helped write and playtest the game.
Books Required: Geist: The Sin-Eaters (of which I have a handy pdf) and the World of Darkness Rulebook. 

 

OK. Now, what I'm not going to do is get philosophical about the character. Well, maybe a little. Let's just jump into this.

Step One: Choose Concept. I'm starting this with a specific idea: I want to make a character whose Threshold is the Prey. I only want to do that because no one played one of them in my playtest group, and so apart from the demo at Origins, I haven't really seen one played yet. I wasn't sure exactly how I wanted to approach this character, but spending the day at the zoo helped.

My character is (was?) a herpetologist. More specifically, he was on the cusp of finishing his PhD, which involved various venomous snakes and how their venoms might be used to enhance certain drug cocktails. He spent a lot of his time "milking" the snakes; he was (is?) something of a perfectionist, and he wanted to make sure he got enough and didn't hurt the snakes. One night, he stayed too late at his lab and got a little too careless with a taipan. The snake struck, biting him several times before slithering off into a dark corner. The scientist tried to call for help, but collapsed, his blood already clotting, and he thought as he died that human beings truly were fragile, for all their intelligence.

He didn't die, however. Hovering nearby was a geist. It had been following him for some time, interested by the man's fascination with poison and using it to heal. The geist found this interesting because it was a creature of the natural world, itself. The Burnt Shaman, it appears as a luminous being smelling of ozone. Its gender is impossible to guess, and it doesn't care anyway. In life, it might have been a holy wo/man, but now, as a geist, it represents humility in the face of the elements. Since the scientist's last thoughts were an admission of humility before nature, the Burnt Shaman intervened.

Anton Crist fell to the floor, dying in terrible pain. What stood up again was Anton Crist and the Burnt Shaman, one of the Prey, the Chosen of the Pale Horseman.

That's Threshold, anyway. As for Archetype, I want Anton to be a helpful sort of Sin-Eater. He's not a Celebrant - he's too driven and task-oriented for that. But certainly not a Mourner or a Pilgrim, either. Making a scientist into a Necromancer is too obvious. I think that focusing on his final (?) lesson, humility in the face of nature, he's an Advocate. He seeks out the ghosts that are anchored far from humanity, be it in the jungle, in the woods, at the bottom of a river, or just in abandoned buildings, and tries to help them move on.

Step Two: Choose Attributes. Mental seems like it should be primary, but actually, I think Anton's a more Physical character, especially post mortem. I'll make Mental secondary, and that leaves Social last.

Physical: Three into Dexterity (he milked snakes, for crying out loud) and one each into Stamina and Strength.

Mental: Two into Intelligence, one each into Resolve and Wits.

Social: Even across the board. I'm not generally afraid of putting one dot into an Attribute, but I don't see Anton as that low in any of these.

Step Three: Choose Skills. Mental Skills are definitely primary, here; much of his training has been in scientific pursuits. Physical's secondary, Social is (again) last.

For Mental Skills, I obviously need a few dots in Science. I'll put two there, and two into Academics, Medicine and Computer. I'll put one into Occult, one into Investigation and the last one into Science.

For Physical Skills, I put four into Athletics. Anton has made himself into a climbing, swimming, running machine after the Bargain. For what he does, he'll need it. I'll put my other three dots into Survival, Firearms and Weaponry.

And, Social. Well, Animal Ken gets two, right off. I'll put one into Empathy and the last one into Streetwise (again, probably acquired post-Bargain).

Step Four: Choose Skill Specialties. I think I better put one into Medicine (Toxins) and one into Science (Zoology). The last one, I put into Survival (Animal Bites).

Step Five: Apply Sin-Eater Template. I've already covered Archetype and Threshold. I've one dot of Psyche, which I may or may not choose to raise. My Synergy starts at 7, and I know I'm not going to lower it; he and his geist and pretty much in synch, at least for now.

I haven't thought about the Burnt Shaman's keystone memento at all, though, so I'll do that, since it'll inform my choice of Keys. The Burnt Shaman smells of ozone, and if you guessed that's because he was hit by lightning, you'd be right. His memento is a long, snake-like coil of fulgurite. It formed around his hand as he died. As a useful keystone goes, it's not as cool as, say, a gun, but Anton could probably whomp someone on the head with it in a pinch. It gives me the Pyre-Flame and Primeval, the Threshold is Prey, and the associated Skill is Survival.

Well, then, let's do Manifestations. I get three dots. I want to consider concept, obviously, but it'd suck to have crappy dice pools, so I want to play to my strengths. Intelligence and Dexterity are my higher Attributes, so what might that give me? Well, none of the Manifestations run off of Dexterity, but the Oracle runs off Intelligence. Hmm. What I'd like is to be able to breathe water, actually. How do I make that happen? Tear-Stained Shroud, of course. Dammit. I'd have to refigure my Keys so I could take Tear-Stained.

No, you know what? I got this. I'll take one dot of the Oracle, one dot of the Marionette, and one dot of the Rage. For Keys, I'll take Primeval and Pyre-Flame. So check it out.

I can astrally project; yes, I've got to set myself on fire to do it, but big deal. I can up my Perception-type rolls, which is fine (I'm not interested in the second dot of the Primeval Oracle, at least not right now). With the Marionette, I can control animals; I don't reckon Anton's activated the Pyre-Flame Marionette yet, because it's an investment and it's better done in play anyway, IMO. And then for the Rage, I can throw freaking fire at people, or make them get attacked by snakes.

But by astrally projecting, I can fly up or down to the places where hard-to-reach ghosts lurk. Now, to do things like Plasmic Infusion, I'd still have to get there, but this was I can chart out my course ahead of time. This is a prudent thing to do, Anton feels (see Virtue, below).

Step Six: Choose Merits. Well, for an Advocate like Anton, I think the Pass On Ceremony is appropriate, so I'll spend a point there. I'll take a dot in Contacts (Academia). I'll take Good Time Management from Asylum; Anton's going to be doing research, and that'll help. Three left. How about Status (Science Center)? Anton can use their lab and even get his hands on poisonous snakes (which he can then control with Primeval Marionette). I'll throw one dot there, since he's not a PhD yet. I'll put the last two into Fast Reflexes; bite me once, shame on you. Bite me twice, shame on me.

Step Seven: Determine Advantages. Synergy's done. I have a max of 14 plasm, and I start with 7. Initiative is 8, Speed is 11, Defense is 2, Size is 5, Willpower is 4, Health is 7.

Anton's Virtue is Prudence. He thinks through problems and tries to plan out his approach. It's man's advantage over nature, after all, and we need that advantage. His Vice might seem to be Sloth, but it's not, for two reasons. One, Anton is actually very driven and likes to be busy. Two, I've played a character with Sloth as a Vice and it's a pain in the ass to play well. I make his Vice Pride - that's what makes that moment of humility more impressive for him. He's actually a little full of himself.

And that's it for Anton, in fact. Enjoy!