Discord server available for assistance with character creation, or general discussion about the game.
https://discord.gg/zRhtybUCharacter creation: the basicsYou are a newly-embraced (turned) vampire. A Neonate. Young and reckless you are just growing into your powers. This game will involve all aspects of the vampire court from combat to the high society parties the vampires are so well known for. This game is an arbitrary mix of White Wolf's World of Darkness, Vampire the Masquerade and Vampire the Requiem, along with many of my own balances and fixes.
When creating a character sheet, you should use the following outline:
Name:
Player:
Bio:
Clan:
Attributes:
Physical
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 1
Stamina: 1
Social
Presence: 1
Manipulation: 1
Compusure: 1
Mental
Intelligence: 1
Wits: 1
Resolve: 1
Abilities
Talents
Athletics
Awareness
Dodge
Empathy
Intimidation
Intuition
Leadership
Subterfuge
Skills
Animal Ken
Crafts
Demolitions
Drive
Etiquette
Firearms
Melee
Persuasion
Stealth
Knowledges
Academics
Divination
Technology
Vampire politics/customs
Improvised weaponry
Medicine
Occult
Streetwise/survival
Disciplines: (See clan disciplines further down the page. These are specific to your clan.)
Health: (This is your stamina)
Willpower: (This is your composure + resolve)
Blood pool: 10
Inventory:
Be aware that all new characters start with $6,000
Getting attributes:Each attribute starts at 1.
Each new level of the attribute costs 5 times the level number you are going to.
Attribute from 1 to 2 costs 10 points
Attribute from 1 to 3 costs 25 points
Attribute from 1 to 4 costs 45 points
You are to prioritize physical, social and mental in any order you would like.
Into the first category, distribute 55 points. The second, 35 points and the third 20 points.
Getting abilities:Each new level of the ability costs 3 times the level number you are going to.
Ability from 0 to 2 costs 9
Ability from 0 to 3 costs 18
Ability from 0 to 4 costs 30
Ability from 0 to 5 costs 45
You are to prioritize talents, skills and knowledges in any order you would like.
Into the first category, distribute 60 points. The second, 30 points and the third 18 points.
If you would like a hand in understanding how the numbers total up, Aigre has helped out by making a small spreadsheet. Make a copy of this if you wish to use it.
https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Ql7FlquGHLez1Bh3_II7eyaJq9nGtU5rvzuX9ReWe6E/editGetting disciplines:Each clan has three disciplines available to them. See clans and disciplines further down the post for more information. You may distribute 3 levels amongst your disciplines.
How health works: Your starting health is equal to your stamina.
At -2 or lower you receive -1 dice to all rolls
At -4 you receive -2 dice to all rolls
At -5 you receive -3 dice to all rolls
At -6 you receive -4 dice to all rolls
At -7 you become unconscious
At -10 you enter torpor (Permanent unconsciousness where you can only be revived by drinking blood). If aggravated damage (such as fire or silver, or the bite of another vampire) takes you to -10 or lower, you die.
If your head is cut off, you also die.
How leveling up works:When leveling up, the costs are as follows:
Attributes cost 9 exp per level
Abilities cost 5 exp per level
Disciplines cost 7 exp per level
All these max at 5 for now.
At this stage I am limiting the clans available to the characters to a roughly physical class, roughly social, and roughly intellectual, as otherwise the sheer number of clans will have this game get out of hand very quickly, and because I don't want to implement things like changing forms into animals.
The Masquerade:Vampires have an accord with each other that none shall breach the masquerade. This means they do not reveal themselves to the mortal world. Breach of the masquerade can result in imprisonment, slavery or death, depending on what the local law is.
Clans:
Brujah - Fortitude, Potence, Celerity. Clan flaw: +2 difficulty to all rolls requiring anger management, including frenzy.
Ventrue - Dominate, Fortitude, Presence. Clan flaw: Ventrue have a picky taste in blood and must feed from a sort of person with a predisposed attribute. Eg. some will not feed from the poor. Failure to do so will not refill the blood pool.
Malkavian - Auspex, Obfuscate, Dementation. Clan flaw: Malkavians have one permanent derangement. This is one way in which they are crazy, be it depression, paranoia, or hearing voices.
Gangrel - City (Celerity, Obfuscate, Protean) and country (Animalism, Fortitude, Protean) vaiants
Clan flaw: One animalistic attribute whilst in human form. Be this a tail, eyes, wings, paws, ears or other. Speak to the GM about the effects this has on your character. In addition, one additional animalistic feature for each time the character frenzies. Obviously, these traits break the masquerade.
Nosferatu - Animalism, Obfuscate (Plus choice of Dominate or Potence). Clan flaw: Nosferatu are inherently ugly, to the point of masquerade breaking. Though they may change their appearance with Obfuscate level three they are still very ugly, regardless of the outward appearance they take.
Toreador - Auspex, Celerity, Presence. Clan flaw: Toreador are prisoners of artistic vision, becoming immobilized with fascination at any artistic work, or artistic inspiration. Toreador will stand in awe of the source of their fascination, completely immobilized in spite of any outward danger. Requires a willpower roll to break the fascination, which can only be completed after one turn of entrancement.
The blood pool, filled with blood points. Each player starts with a blood pool of 10, this must be refilled by feeding on humans. Taking 10 from one human will kill them, and doing so regularly can become dangerous, as one becomes a serial killer (This may breach the masquerade). Only one blood point can be spent per turn.
New vampires will start with three levels to distribute among any of their clan's disciplines.
Fortitude (No roll required): Each point of fortitude soaks one point of damage in attacks against the character upon spending a blood point. This power requires no roll for success and occurs for each and every attack against the vampire that turn.
Potence (No roll required): The player may spend a blood point to add twice their potence level to their strength for the current turn.
Celerity (Roll Celerity level): The player may spend a blood point in the CURRENT turn to roll dice equal to their celerity level, then take an extra action in the NEXT turn for each success. When using celerity, players cannot also activate Celerity, meaning this can only be active every second turn.
Dominate (Manipulation + Intimidation): Being a social/intellectual discipline, this has levels which can be activated with a blood point per power used
Level one: You can give a one word command that must be obeyed
Level two: By holding the victim in your gaze, you are able to implant false thoughts
Level three: You may rewrite a memory of the target.
Level four: Over time, the target may be made a slave to no will but your own. This may be done without a blood bond
Level five: You may transfer your mind into a mortal body and control their will.
Presence (Presence + Persuasion): Spend a blood point for any of the below
Level one: The victim(s) have an extremely strong attraction to the user, and enjoy their company. They will remember this attraction upon future encounters. Works in AoE.
Level two: The victim (Singular) is placed into unimaginable terror. They may run or be frozen in place, and they will remember this and fear the user upon the next encounter.
Level three: The victim obsessively wishes to please the user, this occupies most thoughts.
Level four: The user can compel someone to come to them immediately from anywhere. This is limited by physical distance, the victim may require time to get there.
Level five: The user appears as a figure of absolute power and authority in the mind of the victims. Use is AoE.
Auspex (Wits + Divination): Spend a blood point for any of the following
Level one: Heighten one of the five senses to superhuman levels. This may be used to perceive ghosts.
Level two: You perceive the aura of a person. This may be used to tell their emotions and perceive when they are lying.
Level three: Learn some of the history of an object from touching it. Can be used on dead tissue, does not work on living organisms as the history is too complex.
Level four: Probe minds for information. Can also be used to send telepathic messages or plant a thought in a mind that may not belong to them.
Level five: The user may leave their body to roam the world in an astral form. They may use their other abilities whilst in this state but may not physically influence the world around them and cannot be seen except for their aura.
Bonus: Vampires with a certain level of Auspex may use it to see through obfuscate of an equivalent level without spending blood points (This occurs naturally). This may only be used with a roll of wits + awareness vs the obfuscator’s manipulation + subterfuge
Obfuscate (Composure + Subterfuge): Spend a blood point for each of the following
Level one: Remain hidden so long as you do not move
Level two: Remain hidden to others so long as you do not attract attention to yourself
Level three: Change your appearance, mannerisms and voice to mimic someone else.
Level four: Vanish completely from right in front of someone
Level five: Your powers may be used over a group of up to ten people, or to cover a vehicle.
Dementation (Manipulation + Empathy): Spend a blood point for any of the following
Level one: Dull or amplify emotions, increasing or decreasing the difficulty of frenzy, terror or other emotion related rolls.
Level two: Inflict maddening visions upon the victim
Level three: Gain insights through patterns that to others may seem random. The GM will give you a random piece of useful information upon success.
Level four: Suppress part of the victim's mind, making them confused, enraged or catatonic
Level five: Give someone five temporary derangements, making them utterly insane
Derangements will be implemented upon personal discussion with the GM. If you want more information, feel free to PM me. Any discussed derangements will be implemented and placed in a derangement section in this post.
Protean (Stamina + Animal Ken): Spend a blood point on one of the following
Level One: The vampire sees, hears and smells with their beast. Heightened sight, hearing and smell all occur at once, however this is very obvious as the eyes, nose and ears become that of the beast. This is a breach of the masquerade if viewed by a human.
Level Two: Morph part of the body into an animalistic weapon. May be tail, claws, or snout and teeth. Only one instance of level two may be active at a time. Costs one blood point every four turns. The vampire may only change their form back by refusing to spend that blood point, meaning this ability may break the masquerade easily. The damage provided by this ability is always aggravated damage and is equal to Str + 4.
Level Three: Meld one’s own form into the earth to hide and/or rest. This occurs instantly. City gangrel may only meld into concrete surfaces, where country gangrel may only meld into earthen surfaces.
Level Four: Transform into your combat or noncombat animal form. Your combat form will have appropriate combat bonuses predetermined by the GM upon character creation. Your noncombat form will also be predetermined and may have such bonuses as enhanced vision in eagles etc. It is recommended that your noncombat form blend into the environment. A snowy owl will not be an appropriate choice in a desert environment, as you will not blend in very well. Protean transformations do not carry clothes or equipment, however some Gangrels do have special harnesses made for carrying equipment. Level four costs two blood points to activate and two blood points to slip back out of, changing back to human. You may spend these blood points on the same turn as though you were not restricted to one blood point per turn. Damage dealt by this form is aggravated.
Level Five: The vampire takes on the form of mist. They may slip under doors or anywhere that air may travel. Sunlight is not as damaging in this form. The mist is not blown about by winds and the vampire can move at the pace of a brisk walk. This form costs one blood point to enter and has no cost for returning to normal.
Animalism (Manipulation + Animal Ken)
Level One: Speak telepathically with an animal whose eyes you meet. Vampires with animalism 1 may blood bond animals.
Level Two: Summon animals of a particular type to you. You may choose the type at time of use. You may issue a one word command to the collective of animals.
Level Three: Soothe a creature, making them docile, and even help pull vampires from frenzy by calming their beast. This ability also works on humans.
Level Four: Possess the body of an animal. Costs one blood point every four combat turns, or when out of combat one blood point every ten minutes.
Level Five: When about to frenzy send your Beast into another person. Auspex level 4 or higher may roll Auspex level to see if they notice this.
In situations where the vampire becomes angry, scared, faces a large threat, is insulted or faces fire (an inherent fear for vampires due to the aggravated damage it deals) a frenzy check occurs. This is a willpower check to determine whether they will go into an uncontrollable state of fight or flight where their actions may not be their own. This will be a composure + resolve check. In addition, blood/feeding frenzies can occur in situations of exposure to an excess of blood.
During frenzy a vampire ignores all negatives to dice rolls that would occur due to low health,
A vampire in frenzy may only use melee attacks
A vampire trying to dominate, presence, dementate or otherwise control the thoughts or actions of a frenzied vampire has +2 difficulty to associated rolls.
A vampire must act accordingly to the kind of frenzy invoked. The character is not in control of their own actions, the 'beast' within is instead in control. This will occur until the stimulus causing the frenzy has been fled from, killed, fed from or removed from the vicinity for a period of time, as appropriate to the sort of frenzy involved.
Social rolls: some examplesNote that for some of these you will be pitted against defensive rolls by the target
Credibility in telling the truth: Composure + persuasion
Credibility in telling lies: Manipulation + Subterfuge
Interrogation: Manipulation + Intimidation, target rolls defensively their willpower
Speechmaking: Presence + Leadership
Seduction: Presence + Intuition, target rolls Wits + Intuition defensively. If the player succeeds they must then roll Manipulation + Persuasion, target rolls Composure + Awareness defensively. If the player is successful, seduction may occur depending on environment and surroundings.
Providing comfort: Composure + empathy
Telling If someone is lying: Manipulation + Intuition
Impressing a noble vampire at court: Presence + Ettiquite OR Vampire politics (depending on context)
Stabilising a bleeding character: Wits + Medicine
Performing rudimentary surgery: Inteligence + Medicine
Sourcing a weapon when none are available: Intelligence + Improvised Weaponry
Knowing how not to piss the Prince off: Intelligence + Vampire Politics/Customs
Starting a campfire: Wits + Survival/Streetwise
Hacking a computer: Wits + Technology
Divining information about the future: Resolve + Divination
Setting up a trap: Resolve + Crafts
A target may be attacked by rolling the appropriate dice to the attack. You may attack only once per turn.
To fire a firearm: Dex + Firearms
For melee attacking: Str + Melee
For use of improvised weapons, Dex OR Strength may be used depending on the sort of weapon.
Improvised weapons: Dex/Str + Improvised Weapons
A success for the attacker is generally any roll 6 or above.
The target then may dodge by rolling Dex + Dodge to a difficulty of 6 for Melee or 9 for Firearm damage (Though this may drop to 7 if the target is able to dive behind cover)
The attack hits if the attacker gets more successes than the defender. If the number of successes is the same, defender wins.
Critical hits occur when the attacker rolls more 10s than the defender does dodge successes.
Melee damage works by adding your melee weapon’s modifier to your strength value. Eg. If a knife is +3, and your strength is 2, it will do 5 damage. If you are simply using your fists, this will be your raw strength value in damage.
Firearms will always deal the ‘damage’ stat of the firearm in damage.
Armour must be taken into consideration as well. See the armour explanation.
Weapons have weight categories. The order of shot is as follows:
Fists > Knives > Pistols > Light > Medium > Heavy > Huge
So if someone with an assault rifle posts that they are shooting the thing, then someone on the same turn posts that they are shooting the thing with a pistol, the pistol will still shoot first, regardless of post order.
If you dedicate an entire turn to aiming an attack (either melee or ranged), but do not actually make the attack, you are allowed to make an intelligence roll. For every success you score, you get two extra dice for that attack, if you make it next turn. You must be free to act to do this; you can't aim carefully at somebody while you're being shot at, or watched carefully by a guard.
Burst fire increases the difficulty of your attack rolls by +2, but for every extra success you score above your target's dodge roll, you hit with another bullet--up to three maximum.
Automatic fire is much the same, except difficulty is increased by +4, and you can hit up to ten times.
Regardless of how many times you hit, you expend three rounds burst firing, and ten rounds auto firing.
At long range, you can take an extra +2 or +4 difficulty depending on how far you are, or have -4 difficulty at very close range (~15 feet or closer). Be careful though; at that range, an opponent might be able to close to melee where your gun becomes mostly ineffective.
When auto-firing at an enemy or group of enemies near cover, you suppress them, forcing them to roll Resolve. If they don't get at least one success, they hide in cover instead of taking whatever action they were intending to. If you just want to make sure that they keep their heads down rather than try to damage them, you can fire more bullets; for every ten extra bullets you fire, the difficulty of success increases by one. Fire thirty bullets, they need to roll higher than seven at least once. Keep in mind that most guns don't have more than thirty rounds, plus you can't fire and reload in the same turn.
So now you know how to shoot and hopefully the basics of how to avoid getting shot, but eventually it will happen, due to luck if nothing else. Armour can help with that.
Armour generally has four statistics; Armour, Health, Coverage, and Penalty.
The first is what'll save your life, and it is directly subtracted from the damage you take. If you get hit by a bullet that does 6 damage, and you're wearing a vest that has 4 Armour, you only take 2 damage. That damage still exists, though--every point of damage that is absorbed by the armour lowers the Armour's health, and once the armour runs out of health, it stops protecting you, however it continues to apply its penalty. Even full heavy body armour can eventually be defeated by many pistol shots, or a long burst from a submachine gun.
Penalty is the main downside of armour. While wearing armour, your dexterity is constantly lowered by this amount, minus your stamina. It's much harder to dodge and fight when wearing heavy armour, especially if it encumbers your legs, though again, Stamina can help to mitigate this. This is the reason most armour has Coverage--that simply states whether an armour protects your whole body, or just your torso. In the former case, the armour will always mitigate damage (excepting critical hits, which ignore armour), but if the armour only protects your torso, it has a 50/50 chance of blocking shots. Most bullet resistant armour comes in the form of vests, because full body armour is very heavy.
An alternative (or supplement) to armour is using a ballistic shield. Shields are just as reliable as full coverage armour as long as you're facing your foe, and are lighter, but deprive you of the use of one arm.
Most normal people can only wield a pistol one handed--if you have three strength, you can wield submachine guns too, and those powerful beings with five strength can wield outright assault rifles in tandem with a shield.
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Topic: Kindred, The Next Generation: a VtM/R based game - Accepting 1-2 more characters (Read 7323 times)