One of the things that has always bothered me about the Vampire source books is that they tend to intermingle a lot of fluff, prose-style exposition, and content with the rules of the system. This makes the rules exceedingly difficult to read through, skim, or otherwise follow, particularly those relating to character creation.
There are many articles on this topic that already exist, but I am going to take what I believe to be a slightly different approach to the subject, namely to provide more separation between these two aspects of character creation -- the mechanical and the expositional -- to reduce the tedium, drudgery, and frustration of completing your character sheet.
For the sake of brevity, this post will focus on Kindred characters in the Requiem setting. This character sheet in particular should meet the bare requirements; we will spend the remainder of this post filling it out field by field.
Two related points:
- We will not fill out the fields in the order in which they appear on the sheet, because explaining concepts in that order will not always make sense due to how they relate to each other.
- In each applicable section of this post, I will reference related page numbers, which are taken from the Vampire: The Requiem Second Edition (hereafter abbreviated as VtR 2E) rulebook except where otherwise noted. The remainder of this post assumes that you have a copy of this book or are able to find content from it online on your own.
Name
This is self-explanatory: a name for your character. It has no mechanical involvement beyond giving others something to call your character.
The source book does not really give any guidance to character names that I have been able to find. Perhaps your character keeps their human name, perhaps they choose a different one after their Embrace. Either way, so long as you have Storyteller approval, the sky is the limit on what name you may choose.
If you find yourself stuck, consider researching baby names. Sites dealing with them often go into their origins, meanings, and popularity as well.
Player
This is also self-explanatory: your own real life name goes here. This tells others who to return the character sheet to if you misplace it.
Chronicle
The chronicle is essentially a title for the Vampire game you are participating in using this character.
Unless you are playing in several Vampire games at once, or the Storyteller in your game gives you something to put in this field, you can safely leave it blank.
Clan
The rulebook covers clans on pages 13-28. It starts with a bit of fluff and then launches into individual clan descriptions without explaining what a clan is. The lexicon does not offer an explanation either, though it does reference the term in lexicon entries for individual clans.
Page 80 gives a very brief description before listing specific clans and related mechanical aspects.
A character’s clan is the lineage her sire Embraced her into.
In short, your character's clan is the extended family of vampires into which they are born; it is an affiliation inherited from and shared by your character's sire, or vampiric "parent."
Mechanically, your choice of clan affects your character in terms of discipline affinity and favored attributes, which are discussed in subsequent sections of this post.
Disciplines
Disciplines are defined in the lexicon on page 74 and detailed on pages 125-142.
Disciplines: The preternatural abilities and edges the Kindred possess, allowing them to vanish, turn into animals, and perform myriad other inhuman feats.
Per page 81, you have three points to spend in disciplines, two of which must be in a discipline for which your clan has an affinity. See page 82 for a listing of discipline affinities by clan.
If you need a quick reminder of which discipline is which, there are brief descriptions of individual disciplines on page 83.
Attributes
The rulebook covers attributes in detail on pages 163-164.
Attributes represent essentials traits that every character possesses by default. These serve as the foundation to most rolls in Vampire: The Requiem.
There are nine attributes divided into three categories: Mental, Physical, and Social. You must assign primary, secondary, and tertiary ranks to these categories for your character.
Each attribute has a base value of one. Within each category, you have a given number of points to distribute among the attributes in that category to increase them: five for the primary category, four for the secondary, and three for the tertiary.
You may also assign one additional point to either of the two favored attributes associated with your clan. These are listed in a table on page 80.
Example
If you have read the rulebook and are still having trouble with distributing your attributes points, take a look at the example below. Otherwise, feel free to skip to the next section.
Let us say that you choose Mental as your primary category, giving you five points to distribute in that category. You choose to place two points in Intelligence, two points in Wits, and one point in Resolve. Because each attribute has a base value of one, this results in a total of three points in Intelligence, three points in Wits, and two points in Resolve.
Now let us say that Social is your secondary category, giving you four points to distribute in that category. You choose to place one point in Presence, two points in Manipulation, and one point in Composure. This results in a total of two points in Presence, three points in Manipulation, and two points in Composure.
That leaves Physical as your tertiary category, giving you three points to distribute in that category. You choose to place one point in each of Strength, Dexterity, and Stamina, resulting in a total of two points in each.
You choose Mekhet as your clan, which has favored attributes of Intelligence and Wits. You choose to place your additional point in Intelligence, increasing it from three to four.
Your final attributes table looks like this. Attribute names are abbreviated for viewability.
| Mental | Physical | Social | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Int. | ⚫⚫⚫⚫⚪ | Str. | ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪ | Pre. | ⚫⚫⚫⚪⚪ |
| Wits | ⚫⚫⚫⚪⚪ | Dex. | ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪ | Man. | ⚫⚫⚫⚪⚪ |
| Res. | ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪ | Sta. | ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪ | Com. | ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪ |
Skills
The rulebook briefly mentions skills on page 80 and 163 and goes into detail about specific skills on pages 164-167.
... Skills are trained abilities ...
Skills are often combined with associated abilities to form the dice pool (see pages 169-171) that you use to perform actions. For example, adding the Wits ability and the Investigation skill is a common way for your character to search for something in their surroundings.
Like abilities, skills are organized into Mental, Physical, and Social categories. Using the same ranks that you chose for abilities, you have eleven, seven, and four points to assign to skills in your primary, secondary, and tertiary categories respectively.
Unlike abilities, skills have no base rating; it is effectively zero. It is important to bear this in mind when choosing skills in which to place points: when rolling to use skills in which you have a zero rating (i.e. untrained), you take a penalty. For Mental skills, the penalty is -3 die; for Physical and Social skills, it is -1 die. This is noted on pages 164 and 170 as well as in the section for each skill category on the character sheet.
Example
If you have successfully distributed your skill points, skip to the next section. Otherwise, continue reading for an example.
You previously chose Mental as your primary category for attributes, which now gives you eleven points to spend on skills in that category. You distribute them like so.
| Academics | ⚫⚪⚪⚪⚪ | 1 |
| Computer | ⚫⚪⚪⚪⚪ | 1 |
| Crafts | ⚫⚪⚪⚪⚪ | 1 |
| Investigation | ⚫⚫⚫⚪⚪ | 3 |
| Medicine | ⚪⚪⚪⚪⚪ | 0 |
| Occult | ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪ | 2 |
| Politics | ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪ | 2 |
| Science | ⚫⚪⚪⚪⚪ | 1 |
| 11 |
Next is your secondary category, which is Social, now giving you seven points to spend.
| Animal Ken | ⚪⚪⚪⚪⚪ | 0 |
| Empathy | ⚪⚪⚪⚪⚪ | 0 |
| Expression | ⚫⚪⚪⚪⚪ | 1 |
| Intimidation | ⚪⚪⚪⚪⚪ | 0 |
| Persuasion | ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪ | 2 |
| Socialize | ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪ | 2 |
| Streetwise | ⚫⚪⚪⚪⚪ | 1 |
| Subterfuge | ⚫⚪⚪⚪⚪ | 1 |
| 7 |
Finally, your tertiary category is Physical, giving you four points to spend.
| Athletics | ⚫⚪⚪⚪⚪ | 1 |
| Brawl | ⚫⚫⚪⚪⚪ | 2 |
| Drive | ⚪⚪⚪⚪⚪ | 0 |
| Firearms | ⚪⚪⚪⚪⚪ | 0 |
| Larceny | ⚫⚪⚪⚪⚪ | 1 |
| Stealth | ⚪⚪⚪⚪⚪ | 0 |
| Survival | ⚪⚪⚪⚪⚪ | 0 |
| Weaponry | ⚪⚪⚪⚪⚪ | 0 |
| 4 |
Skill Specialties
Specialties are covered briefly on pages 80 and 169.
... Skill Specialties ... reflect a narrow focus and expertise in a given Skill.
You can choose up to three specialties, which are written on the blank line between the name of the skill they apply to and the rating for that skill on the character sheet.
Suggested specialties are listed in the rulebook sections for their associated skills on pages 164-168. There is also a handy table to look them up by skill, or another table for additional specialty ideas from Vampire: The Requiem First Edition (hereafter abbreviated as VtR 1E).
When you make a roll that includes a skill, if your chosen specialty applies to the roll, you add an additional die to your dice pool.
Humanity
New characters typically begin with a starting Humanity value of seven.
... to blend in with mortals, to walk among the flock, Kindred must maintain perspective and understanding of their former lives. The Humanity trait reflects this perspective.
For more information on Humanity and related topics like breaking points and detachment, see pages 106-108.
Covenant
The rulebook section on covenants starts on page 31. As with clans, it begins with a bit of fluff and then launches into describing individual covenants without explaining what a covenant is. You have to look on page 74 within the lexicon to get a straightforward definition.
covenant: A faction of Kindred who share certain political or theological beliefs.
In short, as your character's clan is the family they are born into, their covenant is the family they choose (or don't).
On page 80, you can find a brief explanation and listing of covenants. Once you have read that, you should be able to go back and read pages 31-49 with a better understanding of what it is that you are reading.
You can choose to remain unaffiliated and be one of the Unaligned, Kindred who are independent from and claim no membership in any covenant. However, in addition to adding richness and depth to your character and their goals and purpose, your covenant choice can also affect your character mechanically by limiting your choice of merits, which are discussed in the next section.
Merits
Merits are mentioned on page 81 and detailed on pages 109-124.
... Merits represent... an out-of-character resource, a function of the character creation and advancement mechanics... while Merits may represent temporary facets of your character, Merit points continue to exist. At the end of any chapter where your character has lost Merits, you can replace them with another Merit.
You get 10 points to spend in merits. Be certain that you meet the prerequisites when you choose a merit, which can include covenant or clan status or ratings or lack thereof in attributes, disciplines, or other merits.
One merit you may want to consider taking is the Touchstone merit, which can help to preserve your Humanity. You can read more about touchstones on pages 87-89.
Mask and Dirge
Check with your Storyteller to see if you need to fill these fields out. In practice, I personally do not find that they come into play often. However, whether they do or not depends on what sort of Vampire game you are in and what kind of Storyteller you have.
In short, a mask is a persona that your character portrays publicly, especially with humans, while a dirge is the persona that represents who your character really is, particularly with fellow Kindred.
The related rulebook section you will likely reference most often on pages 84-87 details the concepts and associated stock archetypes. If you would prefer a more abridged version of this information, look at the bottom of page 80 and the top of page 81.
In particular, your mask and dirge come into play if the Storyteller chooses to have you perform feeding scenes without dice. This practice is detailed on pages 96-97. Other uses for masks and dirges are detailed from the perspective of the Storyteller on page 273.
Concept
Like mask and dirge, this has more of an expositional use than a mechanical one: your concept is a short but distinctive description of your character that serves as a guide for how to play them. You can find more information on page 79.
It helps to have chosen a covenant or at least to be familiar with them before choosing a concept, as the rulebook section on each covenant includes a list of concept examples that are consistent with that covenant. For the related page for each covenant, see the table below.
| Clan | Page |
|---|---|
| Carthian Movement | 34 |
| Circle of the Crone | 37 |
| Invictus | 40 |
| Lancea et Sanctum | 43 |
| Ordo Dracul | 46 |
| VII | 49 |
Aspirations
Aspirations are individualized personal goals for your character.
In addition to being helpful to both you and the Storyteller in determining motivations your character, aspirations are used for character advancement. They are described in the "Character Concept" section on page 79 (which also provides a few ideas for specific aspirations to take) and in the "Aspirations" section on page 274.
You must choose and maintain three aspirations, which should have a focused scope and be objectively attainable.
When you fulfill an aspiration, it must be replaced with a new one, so if you have ideas for more than three aspirations, it's a good idea to record them.
Health and Size
Per the "Others" section at the bottom of page 81, Health is a sum of three other values.
Health is equal to your character’s Size + Stamina + Resilience.
As noted in the same section, and in the bottom right-hand corner of the character sheet, Size for an adult human-sized Kindred is five.
Stamina is the value of your Stamina attribute.
Resilience is your rank in the Resilience discipline if you've taken it, or zero if you haven't.
Example
In the example in the Attributes section of this post, Stamina is given a value of two.
Let us assume that you did not take the Resilience discipline, so it effectively has a value of zero for the purpose of calculating health.
Adding these to your Size of five, the sum for your total Health would be seven.
Willpower
Willpower is described on page 170. Per pages 81-82, Willpower is the sum of the Resolve and Composure attributes.
Using the selected attribute ranks from the Attributes section of this post, Resolve and Composure each have a rank of two, yielding a Willpower rank of four.
Blood Potency
Per the section on Blood Potency on page 89, all vampires begin with a Blood Potency rank of one.
In game terms, a higher Blood Potency score allows a vampire to store more Vitae, spend more Vitae in a turn, and develop his Attribute and Skill traits to superhuman levels.
Vitae
Starting Vitae is detailed on page 95. In short, it is the lower of two possible values:
- the result of rolling a single 10-sided die plus your rank in the Feeding Grounds merit (see page 112) if you have it; or
- the maximum possible Vitae for your Blood Potency (10 for Blood Potency rank one, per page 90).
For example, if you were to roll a 10 on a 10-sided die and have a rank of one or more in the Feeding Grounds merit, you would still only have a starting Vitae of 10, the maximum Vitae for your Blood Potency.
Alternatively, if you rolled a six and had no rank in the Feeding Grounds merit, your starting Vitae would be six.
Speed
Speed is covered on page 169. It is the sum of your Size and your Strength and Dexterity attributes.
Using the ranks from the Attributes section of this post as an example, Strength and Dexterity both have a rank of two. Adding these to your Size of five results in a Speed rank of nine.
Defense
According to pages 81 and 82, Defense is the sum of the lower of your Dexterity and Wits attribute ranks and your Athletics skill rank.
What the rulebook makes less obvious, and what is pointed out in the bottom right corner of the character sheet, is that this sum should also include your rank in the Celerity discipline; see page 130.
Add the vampire’s dots in Celerity to her Defense...
Let us assume, as in the earlier Attributes section of this post, that you have chosen Mekhet as your clan, which has Celerity as one of its disciplines (see page 22). As such, let us also assume that you have taken a single point in Celerity.
Let us use the Dexterity rank of two and the Athletics rank of one from the earlier Attributes and Skills sections of this post. Adding those together with your Celerity rank, you have a resulting Defense rank of four.
Armor
Armor is explained on pages 180-181.
Though it’s rare to find Kindred wearing armor, police officers and other law enforcement agencies rely on it.
Typically, you will use zero as your armor rank.
If you intend on using armor, you will need a sufficient rank in either Resources or a Social merit (e.g. Allies) to provision armor.
Initiative Modifier
Initiative is used in combat to determine who goes first. It's explained on page 176.
As noted on the bottom right of the character sheet, the Initiative Modifier is the sum of your ranks in the Dexterity and Composure attributes.
Taking the ranks from the earlier Attributes section as an example, Dexterity and Composure each have a rank of two. Together, they yield an Initiative Modifier of four.
Beats and Experiences
You will have neither of these to start, as they represent an accumulation of experience that new characters generally do not have, so you may leave them blank.
In short, both of these measure your character's advancement through gameplay. Five beats convert to one experience, which in turn can be used to purchase increases in the various attributes, merits, skills, disciplines, etc.
A summary of when and how beats and experiences are earned and how they may be spent appears on page 83.
Bloodline
Use of bloodlines is optional and determined at the discretion of your Storyteller. Otherwise, it's safe to leave this field blank.
Bloodlines are defined by the lexicon on page 74 and covered in detail on page 98.
bloodline: A group of vampires that splits off from a parent clan to form a distinct lineage of its own. Some bloodlines do not differ from the parent clan in significant ways, while others claim different powers or weaknesses.
Bloodlines act as an extension of sorts of your character's clan. Your character may inherit your sire's bloodline or, as they progress, may inherit a bloodline from other vampires within their clan or even form their own bloodline.
Unfortunately, the VtR 2E rulebook only covers bloodlines in passing. In order to make use of them, you have to refer to additional supplements. If you happen to have a copy of VtR 1E, it has a related appendix on page 234.
Banes
Banes are generally not applicable to new characters, at least not right away, so you can likely leave this section blank for now. Still, it's not a bad thing to be aware of as you get further into the game.
When reaching a breaking point, the character faces potential detachment: the loss of a Humanity dot... When losing Humanity, a character can take a bane and a Beat. If he does so, he becomes unable to lose Humanity from that particular breaking point again.
A character can have up to three banes, chosen either from a sample list like the one on page 108, or created by the player.
Beyond the Sheet
Pages 282-287 provide some prompts to help you fill in your character's background. If you need more help, here are some additional prompts I've found useful.
- What was your character's life like before their Embrace? Did any parts of it -- people, places, possessions, hobbies, interests, etc. -- remain active after their Embrace?
- What were the circumstances of your character's Embrace? What was the experience like for them? Did they realize what was happening, or were they Embraced against their will?
- Does your character know who their sire is? If so, what are they like? What is your character's relationship with them like? Why did their sire decide to Embrace them?
- How has your character adjusted to becoming a vampire? How has being Embraced added to or changed their life on a personal level?
- Are there any significant people in your character's life other than their sire? (e.g. family, friends, lovers, or colleagues from their human life; touchstones; relations of their sire; clan or covenant members; or political allies or enemies)
- Where does your character live now? What places do they frequent? What or who do they depend on to keep them safe during the day? Do they have a source of blood?
Fin
While it may seem intimidating, the process of creating a new character can be a lot of fun, and it encourages personal investment in your character's development. I hope that, having read this post, you will now find this aspect of playing Vampire: The Requiem easier and more enjoyable for you. In any case, I'd love to hear your thoughts about this post in the comments!
In the future, I plan to write another post on how to advance a Kindred character once you've finished creating them and begin playing with them. Stay tuned!
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