This page describes how to create a vampire character, beginning with a general concept and translating that concept into the Traits and statistics that are used in the game. Though the process is relatively simple, it is best to create characters under the Storyteller’s supervision, so that they can answer questions and guide the creation process.
Much of a character’s life comes from the way you describe and roleplay zir. For example, your vampire’s general disposition and attitude toward feeding, as decided by you, might contribute to zir role in the story. However, certain aspects of a character — zir physical prowess, zir looks and zir vampiric powers, for example — are described in numerical terms and used in conjunction with the systems of the game. These features are called Traits. Traits quantify your character’s particular strengths and weaknesses, guiding the character in zir interactions with other players’ characters and the characters the Storyteller creates. For example, your character might have high Mental Traits, making zir invaluable when brains and cunning are required. However, ze might have low Physical Traits, forcing zir to rely on a friend’s character when violence or brute force is necessary.
Traits are commonly described in numerical terms with ratings from 1 to 5. (Humanity/Path ratings and Willpower are exceptions to this guideline, and some particularly ancient and powerful vampires have other Traits exceeding 5.) These numbers represent the quantity and quality of the character’s prowess with a given Trait. 1 dot is considered poor, while 5 dots indicate superiority. Think of Trait ratings as similar to the stars with which restaurants and hotels are rated — 1 is barely adequate, while 5 is excellent. Trait ratings become important when rolling dice to perform actions.
Vampire characters are composed of the following Traits:
The Vampire character-creation system is designed around five basic precepts. Keep these in mind while generating the persona you will assume in the World of Darkness.
Advancing New Characters
Kindred Age Category Experience Points Neonate 0-35 Ancilla 75-220 Elder 250-600 Methuselah 1000+
Note: This is the creation process for a Kindred character. For making ghoul characters, see Ghoul Character Creation.
Choose concept, clan, Nature, and Demeanor.
Prioritize the three categories: Physical, Social, Mental (7/5/3). Your character automatically has 1 dot in each Attribute.
Rate Physical Traits: Strength, Dexterity, Stamina.
Rate Social Traits: Charisma, Manipulation, Appearance.
Rate Mental Traits: Perception, Intelligence, Wits.
Prioritize the three categories: Talents, Skills, Knowledges (13/9/5).
Choose Talents, Skills, Knowledges.
No Ability higher than 3 at this stage.
Choose Disciplines (3), Backgrounds (5), and rate Virtues (7).
Your character automatically has 1 dot in each Virtue.
Record Humanity (equal to Conscience + Self-Control), Willpower (equal to Courage), and Blood Pool. If your character is on a Path, calculate using the applicable alternate Virtues.
Spend freebie points (15). Choose Merits and Flaws (max. 7 points of Flaws).
| Trait | Cost |
|---|---|
| Attribute | 5 per dot |
| Ability | 2 per dot |
| Discipline | 7 per dot |
| Background | 1 per dot |
| Virtue | 2 per dot |
| Humanity/Path | 2 per dot |
| Willpower | 1 per dot |
Concept is the birthing chamber for who a character will become. It only needs to be a general idea — brute; slick mobster; manic Malkavian kidnapper — but it should be enough to ignite your imagination. If you choose, a concept may be quite complex — “My character is a streetwise Nosferatu, Embraced as a child but with a precocious level of maturity. Being a Kindred scares him, but he knows that the alternative is Final Death and he’s not ready for that yet.” This stage involves the selection of the character’s concept, clan, Nature, and Demeanor.
A character’s concept generally refers to who the character was before becoming a vampire. Many Kindred cling desperately to any salvageable aspects of their former selves — their self-image, their occupation, how they lived, what was unique about them. In their new nocturnal world, echoes of their mortal lives are all that stand between many Kindred and madness.
Concept is important because it helps a vampire relate to the world. It’s not a numerical Trait, and it has no mechanical effect on the game. Its benefit is that it allows you to formulate a personality for your character, and it provides an anchor for a vampire who wishes to preserve zir dwindling Humanity — or to rail against it.
A character’s clan is their vampire “family,” the undead legacy into which ze was Embraced. Vampires are always of the same clan as their sires, the vampires who Embrace them. Look at the clan templates, and decide which one you’d like your character to be. As previously mentioned, the Storyteller may disallow members of certain clans based on the sect the chronicle involves. Many chronicles, for example, allow only vampires from the Camarilla clans, while games run at conventions or by organized play clubs sometimes stipulate specific “venue appropriate” criteria.
If a player wishes, they need not choose a clan at all. Many vampires in the modern nights have blood so diluted that they can truly claim no clan. Unwanted and scorned, these clanless “Caitiff” are increasingly common. If you wish to play such a character, simply write “Caitiff” under the clan heading on the character sheet.
After choosing a concept and clan, a player should choose their character’s Nature and Demeanor. These behavioral Traits, known as Archetypes, help players understand their characters’ personalities.
Demeanor is the way a character presents zirself to the outside world. It is the “mask” ze wears to protect zir inner self. A character’s Demeanor often differs from zir Nature, though it might not. Also, Demeanor refers to the attitude a character adopts most often — people change Demeanors as often as they change their minds. Demeanor has no effect on any rules.
Nature is the character’s “real” self, the person ze truly is. The Archetype a player chooses reflects that character’s deep-rooted feelings about zirself, others, and the world. Nature should not be the only aspect of a character’s true personality, merely the most dominant. Nature is also used to determine a character’s ability to regain Willpower points.
Players now assign dots to their sheets. The first step in determining a character’s numeric Traits is to prioritize zir Attributes. Attributes are the natural abilities and raw capabilities a character is made of. How strong is a character? How attractive? How quick? How smart? Attributes take all these questions and more into account. All Vampire characters have 9 Attributes, which are divided into three categories: Physical (Strength, Dexterity, Stamina), Social (Charisma, Manipulation, Appearance), and Mental (Perception, Intelligence, Wits).
First, the player must select which group of Attributes is zir character’s strong suit (primary). The player then selects the group in which the character is average (secondary). Finally, the remaining group is designated as the character’s weak point (tertiary). Is your character tough but antisocial, or gorgeous but a complete airhead? Character concept and clan may suggest certain ranks for these priorities or obvious ways to play against type, but feel free to decide upon any scheme you please. Your character is a person first and a vampire second.
All Vampire characters start with 1 dot in each Attribute, reflecting the basic capabilities of the mortals from which they’re drawn. (There are exceptions, such as the Nosferatu and the Samedi, who have 0 dots in their Appearance Attribute.) A character’s priorities determine how many dots the player may allocate to that cluster of Attributes. A player may distribute 7 additional dots to zir character’s primary group, 5 additional dots to the secondary group, and 3 dots to the tertiary group. For example, a tough, athletic character will likely allocate 7 dots to zir Physical category, while a clever, wise character will place 7 dots in zir Mental category.
Abilities are also divided into three categories: Talents, Skills, and Knowledges. Talents are intuitive Abilities that are inherent or learned by honing raw aptitude. Skills are Abilities learned through rigorous training or determination. They may be improved with careful practice, but can also be studied or learned through training. Knowledges are just that — book learning and the like. Knowledges are typically mental pursuits or studies learned through schooling or research.
Like Attributes, Ability groups are also prioritized during character creation. Players should select primary, secondary, and tertiary groups for their Abilities. The primary group receives 13 dots, the secondary group gets 9, and the tertiary group receives 5. Note that, unlike Attributes, characters do not begin the game with automatic dots in any Ability. Further, no Ability may be purchased above 3 dots during this stage of character creation — even among the undead, experts in a field don’t grow on trees. You may raise Abilities higher with freebie points later.
Now comes the part of character generation during which the vampire truly becomes unique. Advantages are Traits that make the vampire a contender in the hierarchy of the night. Advantages are not prioritized; a set number of dots are allocated to each category. Although this number is fixed, additional Advantage dots may be purchased with freebie points.
When vampires are Embraced, their sires pass on to them certain blood-based mystical powers, known as Disciplines. Each character begins with 3 dots of Disciplines, which may be allocated as the player chooses. For example, ze may spend all 3 dots on one Discipline or spend a dot each on three Disciplines. Disciplines purchased with Advantage dots must be from the three clan Disciplines all clans possess. Each clan description lists the Disciplines practiced by that clan. If the character is a clanless Caitiff, ze may purchase whatever Disciplines ze wants, subject to Storyteller approval. (Note: Disciplines purchased with freebie points need not be clan Disciplines.)
A starting character gets 5 dots worth of Backgrounds, which may be distributed at the player’s discretion. Background Traits should fit the character concept — a destitute Gangrel street preacher isn’t likely to have Resources, for example — though the Storyteller may disallow or encourage players to take certain Backgrounds for their characters.
More Inhuman Vampires
Some vampires, such as those of the Sabbat, focus more on their vampiric nature than on the world around them. At the Storyteller’s discretion, a new character may start with 4 dots in Disciplines in lieu of taking any starting dots in Backgrounds (though ze may still spend freebie points on Backgrounds).
Virtues are very important to Vampire characters. They provide the moral backbone for characters and determine how readily they resist the temptations of the Beast. A character’s emotional responses are very closely tied to zir Virtues; these Traits define how well the character resists frenzy and how keenly ze feels remorse. Virtues are essential in resisting the urges of the Beast and the Hunger, and most vampires lose points in their Virtues as they grow older and more callous.
A Vampire character has three Virtues. Conscience governs a character’s sense of right and wrong, while Self-Control determines how readily ze maintains zir composure and contains zir Hunger. Courage measures the character’s gumption and ability to withstand the proximity of fire, sunlight, and other things that vampires dread.
Given that Vampire is fundamentally about coming to grips with one’s monstrous nature and, hopefully, overcoming it, Storytellers who want to emphasize Vampire’s core struggle of the Beast vs. Humanity can encourage their players to select the Virtues of Conscience and Self-Control for their characters. However, certain Kindred, particularly the vampires of the Sabbat, adhere to different ethical outlooks, known as Paths of Enlightenment. For these vampires, the Virtues of Conviction and Instinct may replace the Virtues of Conscience and Self-Control, respectively. (All vampires have the Courage Virtue.) If you decide that your character is sufficiently inhuman to warrant these Virtues, and if the Storyteller permits you to take them, you may circle the appropriate Virtues on the character sheet. Be warned that in taking these Virtues, you have effectively designated your character as inhuman and — frequently — a monster.
Every character starts out with 1 dot in Conscience and Self-Control, and 0 dots in Conviction and Instinct. The player may then distribute 7 additional dots among the Virtues as they see fit. These Virtues play instrumental roles in determining a character’s starting Humanity (or Path) and Willpower levels, so be careful how you spend the points.
At this stage, the player may spend 15 freebie points to personalize their character. First, however, a bit of bookkeeping needs to be done.
A character’s starting Humanity rating equals the sum of their Conscience + Self-Control Traits, yielding a score between 5 and 9. Players can also increase their Humanity with freebie points, as too low a rating indicates that the Beast lies in close proximity.
Note: Characters on Paths other than Humanity may use different Virtues to determine their initial Path ratings. Consult the section on Paths to determine which Paths use which Virtues.
A character’s beginning Willpower rating equals their Courage dots, and thus ranges from 1 to 5. Players often raise their starting Willpower with freebie points, as the Trait is critical to dealing with a Kindred’s dangerous emotional situations. Willpower is also used to resist frenzy, undertake especially daunting tasks, and power certain Discipline effects.
The next step in character creation is determining the vampire’s starting blood pool. This part is simple — roll a 10-sided die. The number is the number of blood points a character has in their system at the beginning of the game. This is the only die roll that is made during character creation.
The player may now spend 15 freebie points to purchase additional dots in Traits. These points may be spent however the player chooses — thus the term “freebie” — though the Storyteller is the final arbiter of what they choose to allow in the chronicle. Each dot has a variable freebie-point cost based on which type of Trait it is — consult the chart on for freebie-point costs of Traits. Remember that Disciplines purchased with freebie points need not come from the character’s clan Disciplines (though purchase of some Disciplines may require explanation about how they acquired them, and the Storyteller may restrict access to certain Disciplines).
Optionally, the Storyteller may allow the player to take up to 7 points of Flaws to gain more freebie points, or use freebie points to purchase Merits.
The Backgrounds page contains a complete list of available Background Traits, as well as information on how they may be pooled among coterie members.
Willpower measures a character’s inner drive and competence at overcoming unfavorable odds. Unlike other Traits, Willpower has both a permanent rating and a temporary pool of points. The rating is rolled or tested, while the pool is spent. When a player spends a point of a character’s Willpower, they should cross off the point from the Willpower pool (the squares), not the Willpower rating (the circles). The rating stays constant — if a character needs to roll Willpower for some reason, ze bases the roll on the permanent rating. The pool is used up during the story.
A character’s Willpower pool will likely fluctuate a great deal during the course of a story or chronicle. It decreases by 1 point every time a player uses a Willpower point to enable zir character to do something extraordinary, like maintain self-control or gain an automatic success. Eventually, the character will have no Willpower left, and will no longer be able to exert the effort ze once could. A character with no Willpower pool is exhausted mentally, physically, and spiritually, and will have great difficulty doing anything, as ze can no longer muster the energy to undertake an action or cause. Willpower points can be regained during the course of a story, though players are advised to be frugal with their characters’ Willpower pools.
The Willpower Trait is measured on a 1-10 scale rather than a 1-5 scale. At character creation, a character’s Willpower is equal to zir Courage Virtue.
| ●○○○○ ○○○○○ | Weak |
| ●●○○○ ○○○○○ | Timid |
| ●●●○○ ○○○○○ | Insecure |
| ●●●●○ ○○○○○ | Secure |
| ●●●●● ○○○○○ | Certain |
| ●●●●● ●○○○○ | Confident |
| ●●●●● ●●○○○ | Strong |
| ●●●●● ●●●○○ | Controlled |
| ●●●●● ●●●●○ | Unshaken |
| ●●●●● ●●●●● | Unbreakable |
A character’s blood pool measures how much vitae the vampire has in zir system. The blood pool comprises a number of individual blood points. Each blood point corresponds roughly to one-tenth of the blood in an average adult mortal (a pint or one-half liter outside of a human).
The maximum number of blood points a vampire may ingest is dictated by zir Generation, as is the number of blood points ze may spend in a single turn. A vampire with zero blood points in zir system is ravenously hungry and likely in the throes of frenzy.
The Health Trait measures a character’s physical condition, from perfect health to Final Death. As characters are wounded or otherwise impaired, they lose health levels, then regain them as they heal. A character’s Health Trait consists of seven different “health levels,” and each level applies a different dice pool penalty to any actions taken by the person in question. A character who is Hurt subtracts 1 die from zir action dice pools, while a Crippled character subtracts 5 dice from zir action dice pools. If health level penalties leave a character with no dice in a given dice pool, the character cannot take that action. However, a point of Willpower can be spent to ignore wound penalties for 1 turn.
Note that dice pool penalties from health level loss apply only to actions. They do not apply to purely reflexive dice pools, such as soak dice, most Virtue checks, or Willpower rolls to abort to another action. If a character is Wounded and suffers more non-Aggravated damage, ze may still soak with zir full Stamina (plus Fortitude, if ze has it). The health level penalties do apply to damage rolls for Strength-based attacks, but not for mechanical weapons like firearms. Ultimately, this rule must be adjudicated by the Storyteller and common sense.
| Health Level | Dice Pool Penalty | Movement Penalty |
|---|---|---|
| Bruised | 0 | Character is only bruised and suffers no dice pool penalties due to damage. |
| Hurt | -1 | Character is superficially hurt and suffers no movement hindrance. |
| Injured | -1 | Character suffers minor injuries and movement is mildly inhibited (halve maximum running speed). |
| Wounded | -2 | Character suffers significant damage and may not run (though ze may still walk). At this level, a character may only move or attack; ze always loses dice when moving and attacking in the same turn. |
| Mauled | -2 | Character is badly injured and may only hobble about (3 yards or meters/turn). |
| Crippled | -5 | Character is catastrophically injured and may only crawl (1 yard or meter/turn). |
| Incapacitated | Character is incapable of movement and is likely unconscious. Incapacitated vampires with no blood in their bodies enter torpor. | |
| Torpor | Character enters a deathlike trance. Ze may do nothing, not even spend blood, until a certain period of time has passed. | |
| Final Death | Character dies again, this time forever. |
During the course of a chronicle, characters — much like players over the course of their lives — learn from their mistakes and grow. Change is inevitable, even for the eternal undead. Over years and centuries, vampires hone their Disciplines, learn (and forget) the ins and outs of cultures and languages, and refine their skills at the Jyhad.
A great deal of what characters learn is beyond the scope of any game system to reflect. In many cases the more mundane aspects of growing older — and, one would hope, wiser — are reflected in the players’ increased confidence and perspicacity. Learning to lock your car when you leave it in a public parking place is simply common sense, not really a skill that can be purchased. Emotional transformations are roleplayed, not bought.
Sometimes, though, characters improve themselves in skills magical or mundane. A system of rewards, called experience points, is used to reflect these more quantitative changes. Experience points reflect the Traits that a vampire hones as time passes.
At the end of each story, the Storyteller awards experience points to each character. The players then write down how many experience points the character has earned. Between stories, players may spend their characters’ experience points to purchase or increase Traits.
Experience points can be used to improve Attributes, to acquire new Abilities or enhance ones the character already has, to raise existing Disciplines or purchase new ones, or to increase Virtues. Backgrounds may not be purchased through experience points (unless the Storyteller rules otherwise), though they may be acquired through roleplaying if, for example, the character makes a new friend, acquires a windfall, or commits diablerie. The costs for all of these different changes vary greatly.
The Storyteller is the final arbiter of how many experience points each character receives, as well as which Traits may be raised. Accordingly, the Storyteller should oversee where experience points are spent. Players may wish to put points into areas that don’t honestly reflect what the character has learned during the story or chronicle, in which case the Storyteller can veto their actions. For example, if a character did not use zir Dominate Discipline at all during a story, ze could not have improved it, and thus the Storyteller should not allow zir to increase the number of dots in that Discipline. The same stands for improving Virtues: A character who just killed three children and diablerized zir sire has no logical grounds for increasing zir Humanity rating. Note that a character does not have to use zir Traits successfully to be eligible for an increase. We often learn more from failure than from success, and the undead are no different.
As Storyteller, try to be fair about experience-point expenditure, and never take things to the point at which the player feels they have no control over the character any longer. Ask the players what they feel their characters learned before awarding any points, and use that as part of the basis for giving them experience points. These limitations are put forth to add a level of reality to the game. If the changes in the character are completely random, the impact is lost. Weave the changes into the course of events, and make the changes reflect what has occurred.
Virtues increased by experience have no impact on the character’s Humanity, Path, or Willpower. Once the character-creation process is finished, that’s the end of the matter. For example, a character who, during a story, manages to act in spite of their fear of fire is eligible for a Courage increase, but increasing Courage does not automatically increase Willpower.
No Trait may be increased by more than one point during the course of a story. Vast changes in Traits take time, and the game should reflect that limitation.
Increasing existing Traits can be done fairly readily, so long as the character uses or practices the Trait in question. Learning new Traits, however, is a little more difficult. Even a vampire can’t simply pick up a functioning legal knowledge or learn to fight if ze doesn’t know even the basics (to say nothing of learning a new Discipline). Thus, learning an entirely new Ability or Discipline requires some tutoring and study, in addition to the required experience-point expenditure. This study can be simple (a night-school course to learn the basics of Computer) or brutally difficult (months or even years of mind-bending rituals, formulas, and blood manipulation to learn the first dot in Thaumaturgy), but it must always be accomplished. Having the Mentor Background helps, but even a mentor can teach only what xe xemself knows.
Storytellers: Do not allow players to neglect this requirement! Particularly for more esoteric arts such as Disciplines, pursuit of new knowledge — and payment for the same — can lead to all manner of incredible stories.
Awarding experience points is a double-edged sword. As a Storyteller, you can hurt your chronicle by giving away too many as well as too few. If you give more to some players than you do to others, you might seem as if you’re playing favorites, and you also risk unbalancing the game. However, the characters who do the most, who take the risks and learn from their mistakes instead of simply sitting on the sidelines, deserve the experience points to reflect the changes they’re going through. The rules below should help you avoid most problems, but you should feel free to experiment and fine-tune them to fit your needs.
At the end of each game session, or chapter, you should award the characters between 1 and 5 experience points. 1 point is awarded automatically, simply because the character experienced the chapter’s events. Despite ourselves, we tend to learn from the follies of others as we do from our own.
You might decide to give extra experience points at the end of a story, if the players have done their part and the characters have faced down substantial trials. Only a few points should be given this way, as they are effectively “bonus points” for a job well done.
More points can be awarded if you decide they should be, or if you want the characters to advance more quickly than they currently are.
| Trait | Cost |
|---|---|
| New Ability | 3 |
| New Discipline | 10 |
| New Path (Necromancy, Thaumaturgy, other Blood Sorcery) | 7 |
| Improve Attribute | [current rating] x 4 |
| Improve Ability | [current rating] x 2 |
| Clan Discipline | [current rating] x 5* |
| Other Discipline | [current rating] x 7* |
| Secondary Path (Necromancy, Thaumaturgy, other Blood Sorcery) | [current rating] x 4 |
| Virtue | [current rating] x 2† |
| Humanity or Path of Enlightenment | [current rating] x 2 |
| Willpower | [current rating] |
| Storyteller’s Discretion | |
| New Background | 3 |
| Improve Background | [current rating] x 2 |
| Merit | [rating] x 2‡ |
| New Specialty | 4§ |
| * Caitiff have no clan-based Disciplines, just as they have no clan. For them, the cost of raising all Disciplines is the [current rating x 6]. This is both the curse and the blessing of being clanless. | |
| † Increasing a Virtue through experience does not increase Traits based on that Virtue (Humanity, Path, Willpower). | |
| ‡ A 1-dot Merit would cost 2xp, a 2-dot would cost 4xp, and so on. | |
| § Except for cases that require the character to take a specialty when taking the first dot in an Ability (Crafts, Performance, etc.), the character must have 4 dots in the related Attribute or Ability before taking a new specialty. | |