Masquerade V5 Character Creation Guide

Character Creation Summary

While these rules can be found on page 136 of the Masquerade V5 core book this will be a simple guide for character creation. It is suggested to use the full creation rules based on pages 138 - 151

Core Concept

• What was your characters name in life?
• What did they do? Where and when were they Embraced?
• What is their name now?
• Where are they now?
• How old are they?
• What did they do when they were alive?
• What did they want to be?

Clan and Sire

• Pick your Clan and complete any necessary approvals if needed
• Make Character Ties for your Sire or create an NPC Sire with your Storyteller

Attributes

• - One Attibute
• - Three Attibutes
• - Four Attributes
• - One Attribute
• Health = Stamina + 3
• Willpower = Composure + Resolve

Skills

Pick one Skill distribution

Jack of all Trades

• - One Skill
• - Eight Skills
• - Ten Skills

Balanced / Generalist

• - Three Skills
• - Five Skills
• - Seven Skills

Specialist

• - One Skill
• - Three Skills
• - Three Skills
• - Three Skills

Specialties

Give a Free Specialty to the following Skills, provided you have a single dot in that skill

• Academics
• Craft
• Performance
• Science
• One More of your choosing

If you have not taken a dot in these skills at creation, you will still gain a free specialty upon purchase of your first dot.

Disciplines

• Choose 2 of your In Clan Disciplines. Put in one and in the other.
• For the first dot of each discipline, pick a level 1 power
• For the second dot of the main discipline, you can choose either a level 2 power or another level 1 power for this slot.
• If you have chosen to play a Caitiff, You can pick any 2 disciplines to do the above, please speak with your storyteller about these disciplines before choosing them.
• If you have chosen to play a Thin-Blood, do not pick any disciplines.

Predator

Unless freshly embraced or unfortunate enough to be a Thin-Blood, Vampires have a Predator type. These are the main ways your Kindred will feed. Given a situation they will usually default to this way of feeding. For predator types go to page 175 of the V5 core book.

• Add one of the listed specialties to your sheet, If you do not have the associated skill for the specialty. Add a single dot in that Skill instead.
• Add one dot to a listed Discipline, then pick an associated power.
• Apply any associated Advantages or Flaws.

Advantages

Vampires

• Spend 7 points on Advantages in addition to those gained by your predator type.
• Take 2 points of Flaws in addition to those gained by your predator type.

Thin-Bloods

• Spend 7 points on Advantages
• Take 2 points of Flaws
• Take 1 - 3 Thin-Blood Merits
• Take the same amount of Thin-Blood Flaws.

Convictions and Touchstones

• Select one to three Convictions, examples can be found on page 172 of the V5 core book
• Create an equal amount of Touchstones. Touchstones must be living Mortals.
• Set your Humanity to 7, then add or remove Humanity based on your Predator Type.

Additional Experience

• Additional Experience is not given to a single Character during Creation. Instead 2 Advantage Dots are gifted to the Character's Coterie upon its creation.

Trait Costs: Experience

Trait	Experience Cost
Increase Attribute	New Level x5
Increase Skill	New Level x3
New Specialty	3
Clan Discipline	New Level x5
Out Of Clan Discipline	New Level x7
Caitiff Discipline	New Level x6
Blood Sorcery Ritual	Ritual Level x3
Thin-Blood Alchemy	Formula Level x3
Advantage	3 per dot
Blood Potency	New Level x10
*Humanity	New Level x10

* Pending Addendum, Humanity Experience cost is an optional rule.

Trait Summary

Attributes

Trait	Examples	Type
Charisma	Charm, Magnetism, Strength of personality	Social
Manipulation	Getting others to do what you want	Social
Composure	Self-control, cool, calm head	Social
Strength	Exertion of force by the muscles	Physical
Dexterity	Agility, Grace, Eye-hand coordination	Physical
Stamina	Toughness, Resilience, Endurance	Physical
Intelligence	Memory, reasoning, intellect	Mental
Wits	Cleverness, intuition, spur-of-the-moment-decision-making	Mental
Resolve	Focus, Concentration, Attention	Mental

Skills

Trait	Examples	Type
Academics	Humanities and liberal arts, booklearning	Mental
Animal Ken	Animal handling and communication	Social
Athletics	Running, jumping, climbing	Physical
Awareness	Senses, being aware of your surroundings, spotting threats	Mental
Brawl	Unarmed combat of all types	Physical
Craft	Crafting, building, shaping	Physical
Drive	Operating vehicles	Physical
Etiquette	Politeness in social settings	Social
Finance	Handling, moving, and making money	Mental
Firearms	Using ranged weapons, such as guns and bows	Physical
Insight	Determining states of mind and motives	Social
Intimidation	Getting another person to back down	Social
Investigation	Following clues, solving mysteries	Mental
Larceny	Breaking and entering, guarding against that	Physical
Leadership	Directing and inspiring others	Social
Medicine	Healing injuries, diagnosing disease	Mental
Melee	Armed hand-to-hand combat	Physical
Occult	Secret lore, both real and unreal	Mental
Performance	Expressing art in person to an audience	Social
Persuasion	Convincing others	Social
Politics	Handling, moving, and making government	Mental
Science	Knowledge and theory of the physical world	Mental
Stealth	Not being seen, heard, or recognised	Physical
Streetwise	Understanding the ins and outs of criminal and urban society	Social
Subterfuge	Tricking others into doing your will	Social
Survival	Remaining alive in adverse surroundings	Physical
Technology	Understanding and using modern technology, computers, and online activity	Mental

Mortal Templates

Use these templates to build SPCs when even Quick Character Generation takes too much time. If desired, use Advantage points to buy more Skills.

Weak Mortal

• Attributes: two at , Remaining at
• Skills: Three at , Five at
• Advantages: None

Average Mortal

• Attributes: Two at , Three at , Remaining at
• Skills: Three at , Four at , Five at
• Advantages: Up to 3 points (2 points maximum Flaws)
• Disciplines: 2 Level 1 Disciplines for Ghouls

Gifted Mortal

• Attributes: One at , Two at , Two at , remaining at
• Skills: Two at (One with a Specialty), Four at , Four at , Four at
• Advantages: up to 10 points (4 points maximum Flaws)
• Disciplines: 3 Level 1 Disciplines for Ghouls

Deadly Mortal

• Attributes: Two at , Two at , Two at , Remaining at
• Skills: One at , Three at , Five at , Six at , and Three Specialties on any Skill with a Dot.
• Advantages: up to 15 points (no Flaws)

Ghouls

While using the above rule set, apply the following:

• Add 1 Level 1 power of one of the Regnant's Disciplines to the Ghoul
• At (••) Retainer, the Ghoul can have a total of 2 Level 1 Discipline power
• At (•••) Retainer, the Ghoul can have a total of 3 Level 1 Discipline powers
• If the Regnant has Draught of Elegance, Temporarily Give the Ghoul 2 dots of Celerity
• If the Regnant has Draught of Endurance, Temporarily Give the Ghoul 2 dots of Fortitude
• If the Regnant has Draught of Might, Temporarily Give the Ghoul 2 dots of Potence

Should a Ghoul need to make a Rouse Check for any Disciplines, they take 1 Aggravated wound instead