Below are the basic rules for how to stat up a new character.
A summary of the points & values of chargen is also listed at the bottom of the character sheets.
To add further dots and abilities after chargen, see the page for experience points.
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Basic Steps
●Basic Concept
●Attributes
●Skills
●Merits
●Virtue & Vice
●Relevant "Creature Type"
●Derived Traits
●Equipment
Beyond just rules and numbers, you also need to decide on the character's name, appearance, personality, job, backstory, motivations, and so on.
Important Note: When spending points to buy dot-ratings in Attributes, Skills and Merits, the 5th dot in any such trait costs two points.
F.ex. having 5 dots in a Skill costs 6 of the points you have to spend on Skills during character creation.
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1) Basic Concept
Try to think about what sort of person you want to portray, and what sort of character you think you'll have fun playing.
All the choices and options you have to make later on will be easier once you know a bit about what you want.
There aren't any actual "rules" for this step, but it's still a core part of the process:
What do you want? What sort of person are you trying to design?
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2) Attributes
THE ATTRIBUTES | |||
TYPE | MENTAL | PHYSICAL | SOCIAL |
Power: | Intelligence | Strength | Presence |
Finesse: | Wits | Dexterity | Manipulation |
Resistance: | Resolve | Stamina | Composure |
●These are measures of the character's raw capacity (how smart are they, how strong, etc)
●Humans can have ratings between 1 and 5.
●They come in 3 categories: mental, social and physical.
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The Traits
Each of the 3 categories (mental, physical, social) is made up of 3 separate attributes, one of each 'type':
Power-Attributes: Raw might
●"intelligence" is pure intellect (classic IQ, memory, how 'smart' you are)
●"strength" is brute physical might (lifting, throwing, bench-pressing, etc)
●"presence" is social strength (the force of your personality, 'charisma')
Finesse-Attributes: Fine control, agility, maneuvering
●"wits" is mental flexibility (how fast you think, reaction time, adaptability, processing info quickly)
●"dexterity" is how well you move (hand-eye coordination, flexibility, gracefulness)
●"manipulation" is how good you are at maneuvering others socially, how to use your influence to get a result
Resistance-Attributes: Endurance & stability
●"resolve" is how determined you are (not giving up, how difficult it is to convince you, how far you'll go)
●"stamina" is physical health and endurance (how long you can hold your breath, how much health you have, etc.)
●""composure"" is emotional stability (how much it takes to make you cry, or panic, or be overwhelmed)
Power is how much you can do
Finesse is how good you are at using it
Resistance is what you can withstand
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Spending Points
The player has to prioritize these groups, choose which the character will be best at, which will be next-best, and which will be worst. For example, you might select "mental" attributes as your character's best, "physical" as secondary, and "social" as the character's worst attributes.
Each attribute begins at 1, and then spend points to increase them further, based on what you think your character should be like. The amount of points is based on the prioritizing you've done:
Primary / best attributes: You get 5 points to spend on them
Secondary / next-best attributes: Have 4 points for these
Tertiary / worst attributes: You can use 3 points on them
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3) Skills
●Each skill represents how well trained a character is in a type of task or activity
●Humans can have ratings between 0 and 5 (each skill begins at zero)
●If you don't have any dots in a skill, you're considered "untrained" in it.
●For most regular tasks, you can try to use a skill even if "untrained", but you get a penalty.
●These are also divided into 3 categories: mental, physical & social.
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Spending Points
Like before, the player has to prioritize the three categories: which type of skill will the character be best at, which will be secondary, and which skill group will they be worst at. This does not have to be the same as what you chose for attributes (f.ex. you can be best at physical attributes, and still be worst at physical skills).
Primary Skills: 11 points
Secondary Skills: 7 points
Tertiary Skills: 4 points
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Specialties
You now choose 3 "specialties" for your skills.
A specialty is a sub-field within a skill, a limited area, in which your character is more competent than the rest.
When making a dice roll for a task that falls within a Specialty you have, your skill rating is considered to be 1 dot higher, giving you +1 more dice to roll.
It is hard to give specific rules for what is an acceptable specialty and what isn't, beyond "it can't be too wide and it shouldn't be too limited". The corebook has several example for each skill, as do the pregen-characters posted by the GM team on this site. These can be used as guidelines and inspiration, but remember that the listed specialties are only examples, and not a "complete list of all the specialties".
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4) Merits
You have 7 points to spend on merits.
As mentioned on the Houserules page, we will not be using the Merits listed in the corebook, but the updated list found here.
In addition, different character types will have access to additional merits.
For example:
●Standard Special Agent characters have access to the merits classified as Endowments
●"Psychic" characters can buy Psychic Powers with their merit dots
●"Thaumaturge" characters can buy magical Rituals by spending Merit dots
●Both "Skinchangers" and "Demon Possessed" have a small list of Merits only they can buy
Those who want other merits than those listed on this wiki (f.ex one of the Fighting Styles from the "Armory" book), can make a request to the GM team, which will be handled on a case-by-case basis.
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5) Creature Type
Here you apply the traits and changes given by the "type" of character you've chosen to play.
The assumed baseline for characters in this game is "Special Agent", and as shown on that page, this gives you the "Excellence" score (beginning at 1 dot), and 3 "Skill Masteries", which you must now choose. Some of these have requirements, which your character must fulfill.
You can also choose to play something else (f.ex. Psychic, Thaumaturge, etc), in which case you get other traits and effects at this stage.
Some character types can buy special powers by spending Merits dots on them, in which case you might want to do this stage of the chargen process before or at the same time as your choose Merits.
The "creature types" covered on this wiki so far:
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6) Virtue & Vice
Everyone has selfish urges, and everyone has selfless impulses (even if not everyone acts on them).
In this stage, you choose which sinful personality trait is the most dominant, as well as which virtuous personality trait is the most defining for your character. Of all the nasty behavior, and all the noble ways of acting, which one defines them the most.
You choose one of the seven Virtues and one of the seven Vices, as a simplified summary of the character's personality, the highest and lowest points, both as a guideline for how to play them but also because it affects the game mechanics.
There's roughly 7 billion people on the planet, and so if we assume an even distribution, that means that there's 1 billion different ways to act out each vice and 1 billion ways to behave with each virtue. In other words, these are broad categories, not rules stating what actions and behaviors you have to play.
Willpower: The most direct effect of Virtue and Vice is that they allow the character to regain WP points during game sessions.
In a situation where the player knows there is a clear disadvantage to acting according to their virtue or vice, and they choose to do it anyway, because it's what their character would do, when they choose to stay true to characterization instead of tactics, they're rewarded with WP.
If you act out your vice where there's an actual downside to doing so, you regain 1 willpower.
If you fulfull your virtue despite there being a significant cost, you regain ALL willpower.
It is usually harder to accomplish your virtue than your vice, both because it takes more before a "positive" trait becomes a problem and also because it's easier to be selfish than to be nice, but in return the virtue is more rewarding.
VIRTUE | Modern | Synonyms & Major Elements | Person |
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Faith | Loyalty | Integrity, Idealism, Principles, Trust, Conviction, Humility | Dependable |
Hope | Joy | Optimism, Finding solutions, Cheerfulness, Vitality, Motivation, Visionary | Fun |
Charity | Love | Compassion, Selflessness, Empathy, Giving, Sacrifice, Altruism | Kind |
Fortitude | Courage | Bravery, Chivalry, Endurance, Fearlessness, Stoicism, Mettle, Valor | Hard-working |
Justice | Honor | Responsibility, Law-abiding, Equality, Playing fair, Duty, Honesty | Fair |
Prudence | Foresight | Patience, Caution, Sensible, Pragmatic, Vigilant, Wisdom, Being Prepared | Careful |
Temperance | Self-control | Moderation, Forgiveness, Discipline, Harmony, Frugality | Calm |
VICE | Definition | Synonyms & Major Elements |
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Envy | Wanting what another has or is. Unhappiness at another's fortune |
Jealousy, Resentment, Schadenfreude, Spite, Bitter, Self-esteem issues |
Gluttony | Over-consume & wasting resources | Appetite, Voracious, Wasteful, Consuming, Inconsiderate |
Greed | Excessive desire to have or keep | Avarice, Covetous, Hoarding, Stinginess, Rapacity, Grabby, Materialistic |
Lust | Over-enjoying experiences | Addictive personality, Impulsive, Easily tempted, Indulgant, Thrill-seeker |
Pride | Excessive confidence/sense of self | Arrogance, Hubris, Self-Centered, Vanity, Egocentric, Solipsism |
Sloth | Physical & spiritual laziness | Apathy, Irresponsible, Unmotivated, Wasted potential, Careless, Despair |
Wrath | Wanting to injure or harm others | Anger, Hatred, Violence, Impatience, Revenge, Sadism, Rage, Abusive |
More in-depth descriptions of each trait can be found on the separate wiki-pages for the virtues and the vices.
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7) Derived Traits
Size = 5 (for standard adult human)
Health = Stamina + Size
Willpower = Resolve + Composure
Initiative = Dexterity + Composure
Speed = Strength + Dexterity +5
Defense = The lowest of Wits and Dexterity
Morality = 7