[Character Creation] [VtR] nWoD Vampire Game

[OnlytheStrong]

Thanks for the kind words Graf.

Okay, I'm looking for alittle help here. I ran into a slight problem when I made my character. I am going for the experianced thief aspect. I may change his skills in Brawl over to Firearms, but I don't know. Basically, what I'm asking is for ideas on how to make him a better thief without forcing him to become a one dimensional character. Thanks in advance.

 

[Graf]

Re: Skyler

I like the concept. It's simple and evocative.

Some follow up questions
What is your virtue? Your vice?
Why does he dress like the fonz? (is it just his thing?)
Why beat up junkies? They're easy targets but they rarely have money. Is it a self-loathing thing? Is it just reflexive (i.e. he beats up people around him)?
(To a certain degree this is explained by saying he-does-lots-of-drugs-and-is-weird but even junkies usually have internal explanations for things).

How did you learn Kung-fu? Why?

With a strength of 4 (soon to be 5) you're pretty big. It's not included in your description but I assume that you worked out a lot. With a base die pool of 9 plus brass knuckles plus whatever Kung-fu does for you're going to be extremely good at beating the **** out of things. That has advantages, and has the potential to have serious disadvantages.

I'd like it if you saved one of your beginning merit points -for- Clan Status Nosferatu. To keep things fair people who participate in preludes won't get any more xp than people who do.
You could bank one point in blood potency and make up the difference in xp (so you'd be blood potency two relatively quickly after the game starts).

Skyler
And so was the rush. Now he's always eager to pop a new "blood bag", wether he feels the thirst comming on or not.

Does pop mean kill or beat up?
I feel obliged to warn you that repeatedly beating people up for fun is going to have extremely adverse effects on your humanity.
If you're a) superstrong b) high all the time you'll wind up killing people. As your humanity plunges you start to 1) go crazy (get derangements) 2) pick up unwanted attention from other vampires*.
(*=This applies a bit less to you if you're Nosferatu, why will become more clear as the game progresses. But it's not cart blanche immunity either.)

 

[Graf]

Re: Deigo

Thanks for the kind words Graf.

Okay, I'm looking for alittle help here. I ran into a slight problem when I made my character. I am going for the experianced thief aspect. I may change his skills in Brawl over to Firearms, but I don't know. Basically, what I'm asking is for ideas on how to make him a better thief without forcing him to become a one dimensional character. Thanks in advance.

It's a good question. I'm not sure that I have an easy answer. Personally Larceny 4 in a character 1) in his 20s 2) with no "training" or mentors suggests some kind of extreme natural skill.

Personally I'd be inclined to say that you are naturally gifted but a stay in prison, listening to war stories and hearing people's secrets is what really got you that last dot.

By the book (I think don't have it with me right now) you can already pick pockets, hotwire cars, break into security systems., etc.

Generally speaking the game forces people to prioritize (especially during character creation). I see that as being a feature. It seems to me like your character concept is 'naturally' specialized. You're a high-school dropout with a natural gift in an area who's already been through the prison system twice. It doesn't seem abnormal for you to be good as good as you are, per se.

As for being "a better thief" I can't think of anything off the top of my head that would enhance your thieving abilities (other than more/different specialties). There may be some sort of merit that would help but nothing really springs to mind.

"one dimensionality" is a feature of roleplaying. If you play Diego as someone with a life, with interests, then I think you'll be able to afford it.

Some follow up questions about Deigo
He seems to be following in his father's footsteps. Is that conscious? How does he feel about his father? (does he look down on him for not being as "good" as Diego is)
Going through prision is a life changing experience, be it three years or thirty. How did it affect Diego? Who does he know? With his skills maybe he was involved in a smuggling racket (cigarettes, drugs, whatever)?
Who are your contacts? (people you know from prison? friends of your dads? a guy you when to school with who's now a cop?)
A young guy with good skills who knows how not to push too much probably got invitations about getting involved in the business on the outside. How did he react?
Why the goth gear? Does he like the style even if he's not part of the scene? Does he like metallica or does the T-shirt have some sort of other significance?
You also have Kung-fu.... Maybe you studied together with Skyler (OK. It's unlikely, but it would make for a weird/interesting character connection).

 

[WarShrike]

I'll work the answers into my story and appearence where applicable.
As for the other stuff...

And so was the rush. Now he's always eager to pop a new "blood bag", wether he feels the thirst comming on or not.

It means to sink his teeth into a human, and guzzle down. Though not neccessarily killing (unless it's an enemy). He's a blood junkie always on the lookout for his next fix. He won't kill a human without good cause. It's not in his best intrests to wipe out his food supply (that's his view, he could care less what other vamps think).

Changed Merits to save one for Clan Status Nosferatu.

I'm not sure what the Merits and Vice/Virtue do. I'm not finding descriptions. For Merits, i went with whatever seemed best for barehanded style fighting. For Vice, i was thinking Gluttony, IF it means what i think it does, as in the quote above.

As for the links that wont work, it's those listed as PDFs, which is wierd, cuz i got Adobe installed, and got alot of PDFs. All the others work fine.

 

[OnlytheStrong]

The Kung Fu thing will disappear soon. I can't seem to explain it properly as I was hoping to. He will probably go with a firearm, as I honestly can't see him as a "slug it out" type. I was struck by how similar he turned out to his father as well. It was purely on accident to me. I will add to his personality and background the answers to your questions; but to be short about it I will also answer them here.

Diego never meant to follow his father's way of life. He was simply trying to help feed his sisters and help out his mother. It's sort of how he can justify his stealing from places. He refrains from stealing from people, which is something his father did.

Diego doesn't really care about his father one way or the other. He kind of resents that the man left his family (even though he was actually taken), but understands that he cannot hate the man for that. He is sort of cold about it.

Diego actually managed to stay out of serious trouble in prison. He did get to know some of the gangs pretty well, and managed to become "friends" with a couple of guards. He managed to make an agreement while in prison, his protection for him running supplies. This is how he managed to have ties with the black market and the drug world. He doesn't use drugs or even smoke, which the local gangs seemed to like.

The inmates and even the guards turned out to be a valuable source of information. The jail gangs have their own "cells" on the outside, which is both great for information and dangerous. (Plot twist? lol) He never got contacted about becoming a part of the gangs, and he was glad of it. He figured they saw him as more of a "free cell" which he was fine with. It also gave him alittle bit of power to either accept or deny the gang's proposals.

Diego's inmate contacts taught him some of the finer aspects of his life. By that I mean that they taught him tricks he never would of thought of by himself (like how to unlock his own cell).

The goth gear is part of his "blend in by sticking out" thoughts. It's proven helpful to him before, as most people who spot him tend to focus on his clothes before looking at his face. (Metallica shirt just because I like them and their shirts )

 

[OnlytheStrong]

Warstrike.....

Vices and Virtues are ways to allow a person to recover spent Willpower. They do have a tendancy to put a person into danger though. Their descriptions are alittle different than what I would of assumed they would be just from their names.

To use your vice, Gluttony (and mine to) as an example, it can be used as a vice for anyone who over indulges on anything. Gluttony for my character, is his need to steal. The vices seem to overlap some for me, but maybe I just view things different. I think the vices and virtues are on page 100 of the WoD core book. If not, then it's close to there lol.

 

[Graf]

It means to sink his teeth into a human, and guzzle down. Though not neccessarily killing (unless it's an enemy). He's a blood junkie always on the lookout for his next fix. He won't kill a human without good cause. It's not in his best intrests to wipe out his food supply (that's his view, he could care less what other vamps think).

Ok. Something like that is extremely reasonable.
It's also worth pointing out that whenever you drink from someone on drugs you get their high.

Changed Merits to save one for Clan Status Nosferatu.

For Merits, i went with whatever seemed best for barehanded style fighting.

Fair enough. There are a lot of different fighting merits, I don't know what they all do. My image of the kung-fu merit as that it's more like kung-fu martial arts from movies. There's some kind of picture near the kung-fu merit that's like a comic book with one guy doing this fancy kick and then the other guy leaping from a crouch to knee him in the face (which sounds more like Muay Thai but anyway)
In my opinion taking a merit like that means you've studied. Probably at very serious dojo (or gym or whatever) with a teacher who took it very seriously.
It's easy to write into a background.

For Vice, i was thinking Gluttony, IF it means what i think it does, as in the quote above.

It does and it would work extremely well in the context of your character.

I'm not sure what the Merits and Vice/Virtue do.

Fair enough. I'll post about Vice/Virtue below.

Merits = Feats.
The staged ones (i.e. where you can take multiple dots) generally give you a staged bonus. So striking looks ** gives you a +1 to (certain) social rolls and striking looks **** gives you +2.

Fighting Merits are the exception. They're staged (i.e. you can take multiple ranks) but they're really more like Disciplines in that each one unlocks a new fighting technique you can use. (Which sounds like a video game I suppose but...)

As for the links that wont work, it's those listed as PDFs, which is wierd, cuz i got Adobe installed, and got alot of PDFs. All the others work fine.

OK. It's the same as the HTML link next to it.

 

[Graf]

Virtues and Vices

BIt of an explanation so I don't have to do too much detailed work.

Basically they're a roleplaying tool to encourage characterization. If your character acts out their vice you get a willpower point. You can do this once a night (I think).

Virtues are similar except that if you manage to fulfill the requirements you get all your willpower points back (i.e. if you have 5 will power and you're down to one point you get 4 points).
(I need to double check, to my recollection Virtues are a bit tougher to hit. If your virtue is Hope it's not enough to just "act hopeful" and get your willpower points back. You have to do something; usually something that would put your character at a disadvantage.)

 

[Graf]

Willpower Points

Willpower is like action points in Eberron.

You have Willpower dots and points.
Your dots are the maximum willpower you have have.
Your points fluctuate. You can spend them to do stuff (see below).

It can be used to
*Enhance a roll (before it's made; you get three extra dice to roll -- certain rolls can't be affected by willpower)
*Add two dots temporarily to resist certain social or mental pressures (note: this is because you're not "rolling to resist", your resistance pool is just applied against your opponents pool -- reducing the number of dice they have available).
*Power certain powers (a lot of powerful discipline are "powered" by willpower points)
*Fulfill certain requirements (i.e. making a ghoul costs a willpower point, and another point each month that you keep feeding them; making a vampire costs a willpower dot)
Do other stuff (in certain circumstances you can spend points, or rarely, dots, to represent some kind of tremendous effort of will; including temporarily shaking off the effects of certain Majesty powers)

 

[Graf]

Merits

This isn't a complete list.

* Allies - Influence within an organization, such as police, government, etc.
* Barfly
* Contacts
* Brawling Dodge (you get defense+brawl instead of defx2 when dodging; doesn't work against guns)
* Boxing - Fighting Style
- Body Blow - if you do damage >=opponent's size they're stunned
-- Duck and Weave - use higher of dex/wits for def vs brawling attacks
--- Combination Blows - two attacks against one opponent; 2nd at -1 (lose defense)
* City Status
* Danger Sense
* Direction Sense
* Disarm
* Encyclopedic Knowledge
* Fame
* Fast Reflexes
* Fighting Finesse
* Haven
* Inspiring
* Iron Stanima
* Kung-Fu - Fighting Style
-Focused Attack - penalty to hit called shots (brawl only) reduced by one
--Iron Skin - armor 1 vs brawling attacks only
--- Defensive Attack - maneuver: lets you take +2 def -2 attack
* Language
* Meditative Mind
* Mentor
* Resources
* Striking Looks
* Stunt Driver
* Unseen Sense (mortals only)