Creation Walkthrough (Vampire)

The following is a brief guide of creating a Sabbat character for our game, using the Dark Ages: Vampire system and rules.

1) Concept: Pick a general concept of the character. This can be anything, and should be inventive. Is your character a noddist priest of Caine preaching the glory of the Damned and Treachery of the Founders? Is she a hellbent rebel intent on slaking her thirst for justice on the blood and souls of the Elders? Let us know.

2)Clan: Pick a vampiric 'family' to be embraced into. Beyond Tzimisce and Lasombra, most of the other clans have Antitribu. The exception is the Giovanni, who have replaced the Cappadocians at this time and are not playable as they are nonplayers in the Great Jyhad.

3) Attributes: All attributes begin at 1 to reflect basic human nature. The only exception is Appearance for Nosferatu Antitribu characters, which begin at 0 thanks to the Clan Curse. Assign priorities and dots. The number of dots per priority are as follows: Primary is seven dots. Secondary is five dots. Tertiary is four dots.

4) Abilities: Abilities are things learned through the experience gained through life. All abilities begin at zero. Like attributes, one must assign a priority between three categories. Primary receives thirteen dots to spend. Secondary gets nine. Tertiary only receives five dots to spend.

5) Disciplines: You receive four dots to spend amongst your disciplines. The Sabbat are much more open with the knowledge of their powers, so only two dots must be used on in-clan disciplines

6) Backgrounds: Spend five points on backgrounds of your choice. The Age background does not exist in the DAV system and thus is not permissable. Haven reflects a communal territory of your pack if applicable. You may take the points to be realized later when a pack is formed ICly. Otherwise a personal haven is free and no dots need be spent. It merely must fit into the budget of your resources level.

7) Virtues. Like attributes, all three Virtues begin at 1. All characters maintain the Courage virtue. Te other two are determined by which Road or Path your character follows so pay attention to that. You have seven dots to spread amongst all three virtues.

Road: In the Dark Ages, vampires across the world followed several different moral and spiritual beliefs. In Victorian times, the Kindred have abandoned the Roads in favor of Humanity and demonized their followers amongst the Sabbat. The score of one's Road, which reflects the dedication of one's character to her beliefs, is calculated by adding the scores of its two virtues. For our game, the following Roads and Paths are available:

Road of Humanity - Restricted to neonates and must be changed within six months.
Path of Divinity - a scandalous Path of the old Road of Heaven, the followers of this path believe the Kindred to be god's chosen.
Road of Sin (All Paths) - The Cainites are Damned. What is Sin but something mortals fear to do? We Cainites have no such qualms. These paths are popular amongst the Toreador Antitribu and the Serpents of the Light.
Road of the Beast (All Paths) - Monstrous creatures who follow the urges of their primal bloodthirsty natures. This road is followed mainly by Gangrel and Tzimisce of the time.
Road of Kings (All Paths) - Popular amongst the Ventrue Antitribu and the Lasombra, the Road of Kings are just that: a group of vampires dedicated to rulership and the power it brings.
Road of Night - This path is the baby of Archbishop Moncada of Madrid, Spain. The path is largely followed only amongst the Lasombra. It is a very religious path recognizing the nature of Kindred as Damned beings.
Road of Blood - The chosen morality of the Assamite Antitribu. This terrifying belief system is one of blood and war. It is a code of black justice with which the Assamites judge their brethren and follow when enacting their punishments.
Path of Metamorphosis - This alien morality is the purview of the Tzimisce. It preaches a message of change and evolution which they make manifest with the use of their terrible Vicissitudes discipline. Few outside the clan even understand this enigmatic path.

9) Willpower: A character's willpower at creation is determined by his starting courage. Note that using freebies to increase one's Courage rating DOES NOT also increase one's willpower.

10) Blood pool: A character's blood pool is determned by their Generation. The default generation of the times is 12 unless lowered by taking points of the Generation background. At this time, Generation for starting Sabbat characters MAY NOT be lowered further than 9th without prior ST approval.

11)Merits/Flaws: Most all of the merits and flaws found in the Dark Ages: Vampire book and supplements are permissable. If you're not sure, ask an ST. Merits are purchased with freebie points and flaws taken to add color to a sheet and character reward you with the listed number of freebie points they "cost".

12) FREEBIES: Freebie/Bonus points may be used at the end of the creation process to flesh out a sheet and add that extra dot here and there where needed. BE SURE to list where freebies were spent in the additional information section of the sheet if you want to be approved any time soon. Until JANUARY 31, 2013 you have 25 freebies to spend at creation in celebration of a new game and new year. After that point, the standard 15 freebies will be upheld. The Freebie costs are listed below:

Attributes - 5fp per dot
Abilities - 2fp per dot
Disciplines - 7fp per dot
Backgrounds - 1fp per dot
Virtues - 2fp per dot
Road - 2fp per dot
Willpower - 1fp per dot (may not exceed 8 at character creation)