Post by Adrianna on Dec 5, 2009 1:51:50 GMT -4
What Dots Mean
Attributes
Physical Attributes:
Physical Attributes define the condition of a character's body. They indicate how strong, agile , and resilient a character is.
Vampires may use ingested blood yo supernaturally augment their Physical Attributes (and only their Physical)
Strength: strength is raw, brute power. It governs how much weight a character can lift, how much he can push and how hard he can hit. The Strength trait is added to a characters damage dice poll when he hits his opponent in hand to hand combat. This attribute is also used when a character tries to jump a distance.
0 -Poor -you can lift 40 LBS
00- Average: you can lift 100 LBS
000- Good : You can lift 250 LBS
0000- Exceptional : You can lift 400 LBS
00000 – Outstanding :you can lift 650 LBS and can crush skulls like grapes.
Dexterity: measures a characters physical prowess. It encompasses the characters speed, agility and overall quickness, as well as indicating the characters ability to manipulate objects with control and precision. Also covered under Dexterity are hand eye coordination, reflexes and bodily grace.
0- Poor :you are clumsy and awkward. You trip and stumble just walking across carpet
00- Average: You are no clod, but you're not a ballerina either
000- Good you posses some degree of athletic potential.
0000- Exceptional: you could be an acrobat if you wished
00000- Outstanding, your movements are liquid and hypnotic – almost supernatural
Stamina: Stamina is a state of both mind and body. It indicates the physical ability to withstand great strain over a long period of time. This trait reflects a character's health, toughness and resilience.
0- Poor: Your body tires easily, you bruise in a stiff wind
00- Average: You can take a punch.
000- Good: A day's hike without food or water isn't too much for you to bear.
0000- Exceptional: Whether it's a two-day forced march or sneering at the faces of your torturers, you're up to the task. You can run and perhaps win any marathon you choose.
00000- Outstanding: There's little that can tire you or force you to give up secrets. It'll take a lot more than torture or threats to weaken your resolve
Social Attributes
These traits delineate a characters appearance, charm and ability to interact with society. These traits are paramount in determining a character's first impressions, personal dynamics and relations with other individuals.
Charisma: is a character's ability to entice and please others through her personality. Charisma isn't really about good looks; rather, it's innate charm, personality and power of influence. Even ugly people can have high Charisma, and many great leaders possess a commanding presence without being beautiful or handsome. Characters with a high Charisma Trait generally serve as inspiration for their
fellows, exuding an air of trust and likability. Others depend on them regularly to provide motivation and encouragement, a great expectation indeed. In contrast, characters with low Charisma have poor social skills, no matter what form they wear. They do and say the wrong things, and they generally end up pissing off people who might otherwise be friends.
0 Poor: Making friends is harder for you than most.
00 Average: People think you're kind of friendly and fairly easy to get along with.
000 Good: You generally inspire others to trust you, even in tough circumstances.
0000 Exceptional: You draw in admirers like bees to honey. No one's ever a stranger for long.
00000 Outstanding: You've got tremendous leadership potential,and your mere presence stirs entire septs to extreme acts of reverence and duty.
Manipulation: This Trait has many nuances. It covers a character's ability to get others to bend to her whim, to spot when someone else is manipulating her and to hide her true motivations. In many ways, it also represents a character's honesty and frankness. On one hand, a character with a low Manipulation score will have more trouble getting others to see things her way or to do what she wants them to do. On the other hand, the same character will probably seem more honest because she doesn't have the ability to hide her true feelings. She may want badly to bluff, but her poker face sucks. A character with a high Manipulation score, however, can use guilt, blackmail or cleverly chosen arguments to control someone without that person becoming aware of it. Doing so often involves dishonest methods. Manipulation is used to trick, bluff, fast -talk and railroad another character.
0 Poor: Transparent; you have no poker face.
00 Average: Inconsistent; you fool some of the people, some of the time.
000 Good: Guileful; you have a few good lines and methods.
0000 Exceptional: Convincing; you play people and usually win.
00000 Outstanding: Conniving; you always get your way.
Appearance: The Appearance Attribute represents your character's overall attractiveness. It includes her physical beauty, her grace and those indefinable qualities that make a person appealing. This Trait has little to do with verbal expression or social smoothness, but it defines the first impression the character makes, even before she has opened her mouth. Though we would like to deny it, a person's physical appearance affects how others treat her. A beautiful character will not always get special considerations from everyone, of course. On the contrary, there may be some who abhor the beautiful people.
0 Poor: Ugly; you need a paper bag to get a date.
00 Average: Unimpressive; you blend with the wall.
000 Good: Attractive; you get second looks sometimes.
0000 Exceptional: Beautiful; you could work as a model.
00000 Outstanding: Exquisite; you stop traffic. People react to you with either insane jealousy or beatific awe.
Mental
The three Mental Attributes define your character's mind. The scores you choose for these Traits reveal your character's memory capacity, intelligence and alertness to details in her environment. If your character is a scientist, university professor, doctor, journalist, air-traffic controller, stand-up comedian or any oilier concept that requires quick mental acuity or high IQ, then you'll want to make the Mental Attributes your primary category.
This Trait expresses your character's ability to notice details in her environment. Sometimes, the character actively applies her perception, such as when she's searching for something specific. The majority of the time, however, it's an intuitive awareness that allows her to catch details via one
of her five senses. Although she may see, taste, smell, feel or hear something that others would overlook, it doesn't mean that she has the experience or knowledge to identify that thing.
A character's Perception score helps her find, spot or recognize things. This awareness includes spotting an ambush, noticing that lost keys are peeking out from behind the dresser, finding clues in piles of useless junk, hearing the hesitation in one's answer to your question and catching
secretive glances exchanged by two people who are hiding something
0 Poor: Inattentive; you don't pay much attention to what happens around you.
00 Average: Heedless; you catch the gist of your surroundings.
000 Good: Sensitive; you're aware of moods and textures.
0000 Exceptional: Alert; you have a keen awareness of your surroundings.
00000 Outstanding: Intuitive; you sense things most others never would.
Intelligence: The dots in a character's Intelligence Trait define what most people would classify as "smarts." This Attribute represents her facility for solving
problems, remembering facts, evaluating situations, reasoning and making leaps of logic. It expresses her innate ability, though it doesn't necessarily mean that she had years of education. A person can have a powerfully logical or deductive mind and still be a store clerk who didn't finish high school. Other factors play into a character's career choice, though any character with a college education or an intellectually demanding position should have that ability reflected in her Intelligence score.
This Trait deals with calculating skills and the character's memory threshold. It doesn't necessarily imply that the character has common sense, street smarts or wisdom. A very intelligent person could also be the one who trusts the shady character in the alley, who pulls out her wallet to
count her money in front of the crack house or who keeps misplacing her car keys. On the other hand, intelligent characters are the ones who come up with creative and thorough solutions to problems, who see situations from multiple sides and who learn quickly
0 Poor: Thick; you have trouble with child-proof lids (IQ 80).
00 Average: No dummy; you were a "C" student (IQ 100).
000 Good: Smart; you do the hard crosswords for fun (IQ 120).
0000 Exceptional: Brainy; your intellect leaves most others in the dust (IQ 140).
00000 Outstanding: Genius; you solve universal mysteries (IQ 160+).
Wits: Your character's Wits score represents her ability to think quickly, to react with expedience to critical situations and to creatively find solutions to immediate problems. This Attribute Trait reveals a character's level of adaptability to changing circumstances and her cleverness in extracting herself from difficult situations. Unlike the Intelligence Trait, it expresses a more immediate and pressing mental acuity. It's not about how much you know or could know, but rather about how quickly your mind reacts to surprises, ambushes, cutting comments and the unexpected in general.
0 Poor: Slow; you're an easy target.
00 Average: Paced; you figure things out eventually.
000 Good: Snappy; you often have just the right response.
0000 Exceptional: Sharp; you can handle almost anything.
00000 Outstanding: Instinctual; you don't even break a sweat in a gunfight.
Abilities
Talents: These Abilities represent the intuitive talents that your character possesses and has honed over the years. Your character has developed certain instinctual abilities through the course of her job, education or lifestyle. These abilities come to her naturally, and she usually doesn't have to choose consciously to invoke them, though she may employ them quite insightfully in certain situations. Talents result from her other studies, and they are side effects of how she lives her life. Her experiences and personality dictate which of them she possesses. For example, an ex-ganger will be more alert to his surroundings than a débutante from the social set, merely because the ex-ganger has always had to watch his back. Unlike Skills and Knowledges, you take no penalty to your Attribute dice pool if your character attempts an action that involves a Talent. Talents merely stem from developments of the character's natural Attributes in concert with special tricks, traits and instincts
Skills: Skills include those things your character has learned through training and practice. Usually, they involve some sort of physical interaction with a tool or the use of a learned method. These Traits require a conscious effort and practice to improve. If your character attempts an action involving a Skill in which she has no points, then your Storyteller may allow you to roll with a dice pool made up of the appropriate Attribute alone, but she increases the difficulty number by one
Knowledges: Knowledge Traits represent your character's areas of scholastic and mental expertise. Most often, they require your character to have studied the topic involved actively, and for this reason, they are described in collegiate terms. Although most of them require formal training, your character may have learned them through self-study and reading. You should clarify with your Storyteller if such is the case, because your character may have the benefit of the information without the prestige of a degree. In the case of Medicine, for example, she may know how to set bones, but she may not have the certification to practice medicine legally. Your Storyteller may cap how many dots you can purchase in an area of Knowledge without pursuing a formal education. If you have no dots in a Knowledge Trait, you cannot even attempt a roll involving it without direct Storyteller permission. If your character
doesn't speak Russian, for instance, she can't fumble her way through a conversation with just her wits
0Novice:
00 Practiced:
000 Competent:
0000 Expert:
00000 Master:
Attributes
Physical Attributes:
Physical Attributes define the condition of a character's body. They indicate how strong, agile , and resilient a character is.
Vampires may use ingested blood yo supernaturally augment their Physical Attributes (and only their Physical)
Strength: strength is raw, brute power. It governs how much weight a character can lift, how much he can push and how hard he can hit. The Strength trait is added to a characters damage dice poll when he hits his opponent in hand to hand combat. This attribute is also used when a character tries to jump a distance.
0 -Poor -you can lift 40 LBS
00- Average: you can lift 100 LBS
000- Good : You can lift 250 LBS
0000- Exceptional : You can lift 400 LBS
00000 – Outstanding :you can lift 650 LBS and can crush skulls like grapes.
Dexterity: measures a characters physical prowess. It encompasses the characters speed, agility and overall quickness, as well as indicating the characters ability to manipulate objects with control and precision. Also covered under Dexterity are hand eye coordination, reflexes and bodily grace.
0- Poor :you are clumsy and awkward. You trip and stumble just walking across carpet
00- Average: You are no clod, but you're not a ballerina either
000- Good you posses some degree of athletic potential.
0000- Exceptional: you could be an acrobat if you wished
00000- Outstanding, your movements are liquid and hypnotic – almost supernatural
Stamina: Stamina is a state of both mind and body. It indicates the physical ability to withstand great strain over a long period of time. This trait reflects a character's health, toughness and resilience.
0- Poor: Your body tires easily, you bruise in a stiff wind
00- Average: You can take a punch.
000- Good: A day's hike without food or water isn't too much for you to bear.
0000- Exceptional: Whether it's a two-day forced march or sneering at the faces of your torturers, you're up to the task. You can run and perhaps win any marathon you choose.
00000- Outstanding: There's little that can tire you or force you to give up secrets. It'll take a lot more than torture or threats to weaken your resolve
Social Attributes
These traits delineate a characters appearance, charm and ability to interact with society. These traits are paramount in determining a character's first impressions, personal dynamics and relations with other individuals.
Charisma: is a character's ability to entice and please others through her personality. Charisma isn't really about good looks; rather, it's innate charm, personality and power of influence. Even ugly people can have high Charisma, and many great leaders possess a commanding presence without being beautiful or handsome. Characters with a high Charisma Trait generally serve as inspiration for their
fellows, exuding an air of trust and likability. Others depend on them regularly to provide motivation and encouragement, a great expectation indeed. In contrast, characters with low Charisma have poor social skills, no matter what form they wear. They do and say the wrong things, and they generally end up pissing off people who might otherwise be friends.
0 Poor: Making friends is harder for you than most.
00 Average: People think you're kind of friendly and fairly easy to get along with.
000 Good: You generally inspire others to trust you, even in tough circumstances.
0000 Exceptional: You draw in admirers like bees to honey. No one's ever a stranger for long.
00000 Outstanding: You've got tremendous leadership potential,and your mere presence stirs entire septs to extreme acts of reverence and duty.
Manipulation: This Trait has many nuances. It covers a character's ability to get others to bend to her whim, to spot when someone else is manipulating her and to hide her true motivations. In many ways, it also represents a character's honesty and frankness. On one hand, a character with a low Manipulation score will have more trouble getting others to see things her way or to do what she wants them to do. On the other hand, the same character will probably seem more honest because she doesn't have the ability to hide her true feelings. She may want badly to bluff, but her poker face sucks. A character with a high Manipulation score, however, can use guilt, blackmail or cleverly chosen arguments to control someone without that person becoming aware of it. Doing so often involves dishonest methods. Manipulation is used to trick, bluff, fast -talk and railroad another character.
0 Poor: Transparent; you have no poker face.
00 Average: Inconsistent; you fool some of the people, some of the time.
000 Good: Guileful; you have a few good lines and methods.
0000 Exceptional: Convincing; you play people and usually win.
00000 Outstanding: Conniving; you always get your way.
Appearance: The Appearance Attribute represents your character's overall attractiveness. It includes her physical beauty, her grace and those indefinable qualities that make a person appealing. This Trait has little to do with verbal expression or social smoothness, but it defines the first impression the character makes, even before she has opened her mouth. Though we would like to deny it, a person's physical appearance affects how others treat her. A beautiful character will not always get special considerations from everyone, of course. On the contrary, there may be some who abhor the beautiful people.
0 Poor: Ugly; you need a paper bag to get a date.
00 Average: Unimpressive; you blend with the wall.
000 Good: Attractive; you get second looks sometimes.
0000 Exceptional: Beautiful; you could work as a model.
00000 Outstanding: Exquisite; you stop traffic. People react to you with either insane jealousy or beatific awe.
Mental
The three Mental Attributes define your character's mind. The scores you choose for these Traits reveal your character's memory capacity, intelligence and alertness to details in her environment. If your character is a scientist, university professor, doctor, journalist, air-traffic controller, stand-up comedian or any oilier concept that requires quick mental acuity or high IQ, then you'll want to make the Mental Attributes your primary category.
This Trait expresses your character's ability to notice details in her environment. Sometimes, the character actively applies her perception, such as when she's searching for something specific. The majority of the time, however, it's an intuitive awareness that allows her to catch details via one
of her five senses. Although she may see, taste, smell, feel or hear something that others would overlook, it doesn't mean that she has the experience or knowledge to identify that thing.
A character's Perception score helps her find, spot or recognize things. This awareness includes spotting an ambush, noticing that lost keys are peeking out from behind the dresser, finding clues in piles of useless junk, hearing the hesitation in one's answer to your question and catching
secretive glances exchanged by two people who are hiding something
0 Poor: Inattentive; you don't pay much attention to what happens around you.
00 Average: Heedless; you catch the gist of your surroundings.
000 Good: Sensitive; you're aware of moods and textures.
0000 Exceptional: Alert; you have a keen awareness of your surroundings.
00000 Outstanding: Intuitive; you sense things most others never would.
Intelligence: The dots in a character's Intelligence Trait define what most people would classify as "smarts." This Attribute represents her facility for solving
problems, remembering facts, evaluating situations, reasoning and making leaps of logic. It expresses her innate ability, though it doesn't necessarily mean that she had years of education. A person can have a powerfully logical or deductive mind and still be a store clerk who didn't finish high school. Other factors play into a character's career choice, though any character with a college education or an intellectually demanding position should have that ability reflected in her Intelligence score.
This Trait deals with calculating skills and the character's memory threshold. It doesn't necessarily imply that the character has common sense, street smarts or wisdom. A very intelligent person could also be the one who trusts the shady character in the alley, who pulls out her wallet to
count her money in front of the crack house or who keeps misplacing her car keys. On the other hand, intelligent characters are the ones who come up with creative and thorough solutions to problems, who see situations from multiple sides and who learn quickly
0 Poor: Thick; you have trouble with child-proof lids (IQ 80).
00 Average: No dummy; you were a "C" student (IQ 100).
000 Good: Smart; you do the hard crosswords for fun (IQ 120).
0000 Exceptional: Brainy; your intellect leaves most others in the dust (IQ 140).
00000 Outstanding: Genius; you solve universal mysteries (IQ 160+).
Wits: Your character's Wits score represents her ability to think quickly, to react with expedience to critical situations and to creatively find solutions to immediate problems. This Attribute Trait reveals a character's level of adaptability to changing circumstances and her cleverness in extracting herself from difficult situations. Unlike the Intelligence Trait, it expresses a more immediate and pressing mental acuity. It's not about how much you know or could know, but rather about how quickly your mind reacts to surprises, ambushes, cutting comments and the unexpected in general.
0 Poor: Slow; you're an easy target.
00 Average: Paced; you figure things out eventually.
000 Good: Snappy; you often have just the right response.
0000 Exceptional: Sharp; you can handle almost anything.
00000 Outstanding: Instinctual; you don't even break a sweat in a gunfight.
Abilities
Talents: These Abilities represent the intuitive talents that your character possesses and has honed over the years. Your character has developed certain instinctual abilities through the course of her job, education or lifestyle. These abilities come to her naturally, and she usually doesn't have to choose consciously to invoke them, though she may employ them quite insightfully in certain situations. Talents result from her other studies, and they are side effects of how she lives her life. Her experiences and personality dictate which of them she possesses. For example, an ex-ganger will be more alert to his surroundings than a débutante from the social set, merely because the ex-ganger has always had to watch his back. Unlike Skills and Knowledges, you take no penalty to your Attribute dice pool if your character attempts an action that involves a Talent. Talents merely stem from developments of the character's natural Attributes in concert with special tricks, traits and instincts
Skills: Skills include those things your character has learned through training and practice. Usually, they involve some sort of physical interaction with a tool or the use of a learned method. These Traits require a conscious effort and practice to improve. If your character attempts an action involving a Skill in which she has no points, then your Storyteller may allow you to roll with a dice pool made up of the appropriate Attribute alone, but she increases the difficulty number by one
Knowledges: Knowledge Traits represent your character's areas of scholastic and mental expertise. Most often, they require your character to have studied the topic involved actively, and for this reason, they are described in collegiate terms. Although most of them require formal training, your character may have learned them through self-study and reading. You should clarify with your Storyteller if such is the case, because your character may have the benefit of the information without the prestige of a degree. In the case of Medicine, for example, she may know how to set bones, but she may not have the certification to practice medicine legally. Your Storyteller may cap how many dots you can purchase in an area of Knowledge without pursuing a formal education. If you have no dots in a Knowledge Trait, you cannot even attempt a roll involving it without direct Storyteller permission. If your character
doesn't speak Russian, for instance, she can't fumble her way through a conversation with just her wits
0Novice:
00 Practiced:
000 Competent:
0000 Expert:
00000 Master: