Sanguine Sands
Mortals
The common use of mortal is as the antithesis to immortal. An immortal is someone who will, at least, never die of natural causes. At other times immortality includes invincibility to weapons and/or diseases. Mortals are normal humans, who are in mortal peril of all these things; age, disease and physical trauma.
In the Classic World of Darkness, however, the designation is commonly attributed to non-supernaturals, even when some supernatural groups are not immortal as such. The question is usually raised when discussing the imbued or mages, since they are closest to normal humans in a physical sense.
Character Creation
Step One: Concept and Identity
Start off your character with a single question: Who are you? A cyberneticist? A desperate runaway? A corporate shark? This brainstormed image gives you a basic foundation for that character’s identity.
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.
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 office mates.
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, it’s a good idea to identify your priorities ahead of time.
Prioritize the three categories: Talents, Skills, Knowledges (11/7/4).
Step Four: Advantages
Choose Backgrounds (5). Mortals may select from Allies, Contacts, Equipment, Favors, Mentor, Pure Breed, Renown and Resources. See below for details and restrictions.
Optional: Merits and Flaws are optional advantages/disadvantages. Purchase Merits with freebie points; Flaws selected add to the Freebie Point pool, up to a maximum of seven points.
Virtues (Self-control, conscience, courage) 7
Step Five: Finishing Touches
Willpower
Base Willpower = Courage rating. It can be raised with Freebies.
Humanity
Base humanity = 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 21 of these points to spend, although taking Flaw Traits might give you a few more points to work with. 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
Willpower 1 per dot
Merit cost as per Merit
Flaw bonus as per Flaw (Max. Total: 7)
First Numina 7 per dot
Second Numina 14 per dot
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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 Secondary Abilities ONLY!! at a one to one cost.
What is considered a detailed character history is a moderately descriptive story of your life from mortal years to present.