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The character-creation system is designed around a few precepts. Keep these in mind while generating the persona you will assume in the game
Concept: Choose an overall concept of who the character is: what they've done, how they've lived, and what is unique about them. This concept may describe their profession, how they saw themseles, or what others felt about them.
Nature and Demeanor: Nature is the “true” personality of your character - who they are deep down. Demeanor is the personality your character presents to the world. More often than not, Nature and Demeanor are different, especially given the complex and mysterious nature of the mind.
Attributes: Prioritize the three categories: Physical, Social, Mental (6/4/3). Note that each Attribute starts with one dot before you add any. Assign a number of dots to each attribute. The Attribute maximum is 5 dots. (65 freebie points)
Abilities: Prioritize the three categories: Talents, Skills, Knowledges (11/7/4). Choose Talents, Skills, Knowledges. No Ability may be higher than 3 at this stage. (44 freebie points)
Advantages: Choose your Advantages. Backgrounds (5) (5 freebie points)
Willpower: Record starting Willpower (3). (3 freebie points)
Freebie Points: Spend Freebie Points (21) (21 freebie points) (138 freebie points total in character)
Attributes 5 per dot
Abilities 2 per dot (Maximum 5 dots)
Backgrounds 1 per dot
Willpower 1 per dot (Maximum 10 dots)
Merits and Flaws The player may take up to seven points of Flaws to gain more freebie points, and/or use freebie points to purchase Merits.
Characters with ratings of 4 or higher in Attributes or Abilities may choose specialties for those Traits. Specialties represent a particular focus and proficiency related to the character’s concept or profession. Some characters are especially good at particular applications of their Traits. For example, a mechanic might be particularly good with muscle cars, a sprinter may be swift-footed, a thief might excel at breaking and entering, a chauffer may be especially good at off-road maneuvers, or a brawler might be infamous as a dirty fighter. A player may declare a specialty as a guide to roleplaying even if the character does not have a rating of 4 or higher but it has no effect on rule mechanics.
A specialty is a particular subcategory or facet of an Attribute or Ability — thus, a character with a Strength 5 might choose to be especially adept in deadlifting, while a character with Performance 4 might be renowned for her singing. Most players select specialties simply to flesh out a character, but they can have some very real effects on the story as well. A specialty allows the player to count 10s on actions as two successes where the specialty directly applies to the action being attempted.
Players should clear any specialties with the Storyteller, who can veto any specialties that are too broad (such as “guns” for Firearms or “healing” for Medicine) or that focus solely on game mechanics (“dealing damage” for Strength or “soak rolls” for Stamina). The player and Storyteller should work together to express the character’s concept through specialties.
7/5/3 (75) 13/9/5 (54) 6 (42) 7 (7) 5 (5) 15 (15) 198 total freebies in a starting mage character without any merits or flaws