Sanguine Sands
WoD: Gypsies
Character Creation
Step One: Concept and Identity
Start off your character with a single question: Who are you? A gearhead? A desperate runaway? A card shark? This brainstormed image gives you a basic foundation for that character’s identity.
Follow that up with another question: Is that who you were when you first Awakened, or has Awakening made you the person you are today? Awakening, after all, is a life-changing event. After it, no matter how much she tries, a mage is never quite the same person again. By asking yourself whether your mage had that essential identity before the Awakening or if she acquired that identity as a result of Awakening, you can trace the effects of Awakening on the character you create.
And finally, ask one of the simplest, most important questions of all: What do you want? This last inquiry supplies motivation, the driving force of any intriguing character. Once you figure out
what your mage wants out of life, the universe, and everything, you’ve got a handle on what she’ll do in order to get it.
Families of Power
Family and identity are extremely important to the Rom. This is even more true in the World of Darkness than in our own. Persecution is greater, and the Gypsies are more often targeted for assimilation or genocide. This persecution has begun to cause rifts between certain Gypsy families - even among those who still value the true knowledge which built their race. Such is human nature.
Archetypes: Nature and Demeanor
Based on those tendencies, each character has personality archetypes: a Nature and Demeanor that represent the ways she interacts with her world. Nature reflects the character’s inner self, whereas Demeanor represents the way she presents herself to other folks. Depending on the character, these two Traits could be pretty similar or wildly divergent. Our corporate shark, for example, might present himself as a Crusader who’s building a better world; under that Demeanor, though, he’s actually a Trickster who delights in upending the expectations of his officemates.
Elements
(Optional: Can only be taken during character creation)
When a newborn Romani enters the world, his mother often consults a wise one or mystic to determine whether her child is destined for a particular role in the family. These "birth readings" only give a positive result in perhaps one out of every two or three readings, but if a baby is claimed by one of the five elements (earth, air, fire, water, or spirit), it's certain that he will be trained in what the Romani feel are compatible skills.
Step Two: Attributes (6/4/3)
Attributes reflect your character’s innate physical, social, and mental capabilities. Ranging from one to five dots, these Traits provide the basis for the dice pools you use in order to get things done. The Physical category features Strength, Dexterity, and Stamina. Charisma, Manipulation, and Appearance make up the Social category; Perception, Intelligence, and Wits comprise the Mental Traits category. As mentioned earlier, each dot in one of these Traits represents one die you roll when attempting a task. The more dots you have, the better you are with the Attribute in question.
All Attributes start off with a base rating of 1. You get points to spend when raising them up from there during character creation. When you do spend those points, however, you need to prioritize the importance of your Physical, Social, and Mental Attributes. In your primary category, you get six points to spend; in your secondary field, you get four; the lowest priority, the tertiary group, gets a mere three points, which obviously don’t go far. You can use freebie points (see below) to raise those initial ratings, but doing so is pretty expensive, so choose your attributes with the idea that your character will be stuck with them for a little while once the chronicle begins.
Step Three: Abilities (11/7/4)
In the same vein, the Ability Traits represent your character’s Talents (innate aptitudes, honed by exercise), Skills (abilities gained from training and practice), and Knowledges (intellectual pursuits backed up with experience). Like Attributes, these Traits have points allocated into primary, secondary, and tertiary groups. Your primary Abilities get an initial 11 points, with 7 points given out for secondary Abilities and 4 points left over for tertiary Abilities. Freebie points can raise the initial ratings… which is a good thing, considering how fast those points can go out the door. Unlike attributes, Abilities start with a base rating of zero.
When placing those initial points, there’s another limitation: You can’t place more than three dots into a single Ability. Later, during Step Five, you might drop a few freebie points into a three-dot Ability in order to raise its rating by another dot or two. To start with, though, you can give your character ratings between 1 and 3 in the various Abilities. Considering just how many Abilities there are in Mage 20, it’s a good idea to identify your priorities ahead of time.
Step Four: Advantages
Virtues (Self-control, conscience, courage) 9
Step Five: Finishing Touches
Willpower
Base Willpower = Courage rating. It can be raised with Freebies.
Humanity
Base humnity = Conscience + Self Control. It can be raised with Freebies.
Step Six: Freebie Points
Finally, there are freebie points – that handful of points that allows you to raise or purchase other Traits. A beginning character gets 15 of these points to spend, although taking Flaw Traits (see sidebar) might give you a few more points to work with. Malcolm’s player, as we’d mentioned, put most of his points into Arete. Where you choose to put them is your own call.
Freebie Points Trait Cost
Attribute 5 per dot
Ability 2 per dot
Virtues 2 Per dot
Background 1 per dot
Humanity 1 per dot
Blood Affinities 3 per dot
Blood Purity 4 per dot (Max. Total: 3)
Willpower 1 per dot
Merit cost as per Merit
Flaw bonus as per Flaw (Max. Total: 7)
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A LITTLE SOMETHING EXTRA
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There is a 10 point bonus to Freebie points given for a detailed character history. That can be used to place in Backgrounds and Specializations ONLY!! at a one to one cost.
What is considered a detailed character history is a moderately descriptive story of your character's major life events to present. A couple paragraphs of summary is more than adequate.