Character Creation

Attributes Look at the Attributes at the top of your character sheet. Which one is your character best at? Color in four dots next to that Attribute. Which one are they worst at? Color in one dot next to that Attribute. Then pick four Attributes at three dots, and three Attributes at two dots. (Appearance is replaced with Composure, Perception is replaced with Resolve)

Now derive two more Traits from your Attributes as follows: Skills
 * Add three to your Stamina to derive your Health.
 * Add your Resolve to your Composure to derive your Willpower.

Professional Skills

You probably did best at what you had to do to earn a paycheck. You certainly got the most practice at it. Your profession gives you two Skills at three dots (•••) and two Skills at two dots (••). The words in parentheses represent specialties, which give a bonus to tests of that Skill in that specific area. Whenever you acquire your first dot in Academics, Science, Craft, or Performance, take a specialty in that Skill. Choose a professional specialty in one of your professional skills.

Life Event Skills

What major life events shaped you? Did you serve a tour in Iraq, go through an abusive relationship, win the lottery, or have kids? Did you get mugged and take up taekwondo? Whatever it was, it taught you something. Specifically, one event taught you a Skill at three dots (•••) and another one taught you a Skill at two dots (••).

Leisure Skills

What did your profession pay for or your events interrupt? Did you run a triathlon or go to EDM festivals every weekend? What you do for kicks also teaches you things. Take three leisure Skills at one dot (•) based on hobbies or other pastimes:

Extra Skills

Now go ahead and take those Skills you’ve had your eye on this whole time. Pick one of the options below:

Specialist: Take one more Skill at four dots (••••). If you like, you can change your professional specialty to a specialty of this Skill. You cannot move a free Specialty from Academics, Craft, Performance, or Science to a different Skill, however.

Generalist: Take two more Skills at two dots (••) and four more Skills at one dot (•). Ideally, come up with a plausible reason for why you have these new Skills, but don’t bog down or kill yourself trying to figure it out.

Add one free specialty

Convictions and Touchstones
Convictions are a person’s core values: a set of moral principles that fortifies their actions against the degeneration of the Beast. Create one to three Convictions central to your character in life. Convictions often begin with “never” or “always;” these are strong beliefs concerning something likely to come up in play. Killing, love, loyalty, core ideals, political principles, and religious codes: these make good Conviction fodder. The Storyteller must always approve your Convictions; in some troupes, all the players must agree on your Convictions. Think about where and how these Convictions became important to you. Did your family instill them? Did you adopt them at Sorbonne or from a lover? Perhaps your major life event from the Skills selection step produced one of them.

Touchstones

Now think about those around you and about whom of those you most love. If becoming a monster pushed them away, who would you risk everything to see again? Whose memory keeps you from tearing out a helpless throat? Those people are your Touchstones. Pick as many mortals as you have Convictions. These people literally define the best in humanity for you and serve as examples of these Convictions. They might be your wife and child, your best friend and your old sergeant, or your bartender and a beautiful girl you’ve watched from a distance but never approached. See the Touchstones section for more possibilities. Write down the names of your Touchstones on the Relationship Map next to your own character.

Then you died!
Blood Potency

The closer a vampire is to Caine, the higher the potential of their Blood, and the more powerful the arts they work with it. Beginning characters’ Blood Potency depends on their generation, as determined earlier: Record Your Humanity
 * 14th, 15th, or 16th generation: zero (thin-bloods)
 * 12th or 13th generation: one
 * 10th or 11th generation: two

Humanity defines how far your character has degenerated into monstrosity. A character with zero Humanity has completely succumbed to the Beast and can no longer be used as a player character. Your Humanity begins at 7. The Storyteller may allow characters in an all-fledgling chronicle to begin with Humanity 8.

Disciplines

After characters first become vampires, they gain various Disciplines, granted by the Blood. See the book for descriptions of the Disciplines and their associated powers. Pick two of the Disciplines associated with your clan, and take two dots in one and one dot in the other. If you are Caitiff, thus having no clan, pick any two Disciplines you like and take two dots in one and one dot in the other.

Thin-bloods and Disciplines

Thin-bloods cannot reliably use the Disciplines associated with thicker Blood. To compensate for this, they have developed their own art: Thin-Blood Alchemy. They also gain more from the Resonances of their victims. Since thin-bloods likely retain more connections to the mortal world, consider selecting Contacts, Influence, and other Mortal Advantages, or an additional Touchstone. Write any new figures from these Advantages on the Relationship Map. No thin-blood can buy Bonding, Mawla, Retainers, or Status during character creation. (A mixed coterie can buy them as a shared Background.)

Predator type

You, your sire, or your Blood determines how you hunt. Pick one of the Predator types. Each Predator type template adds a number of traits to your character, such as Disciplines, Advantages, Flaws, and other specifics to model or make easier your chosen method of taking prey. If a Predator type adds a specialty for which you lack the matching Skill, gain a dot in that Skill instead. Fresh bloodsuckers, like thin-bloods and many fledglings, do not select a Predator type as they are still figuring out this aspect of their nocturnal existence.

Advantages

We all have advantages and flaws that are hard to describe in terms of simple skills or abilities. It can be extreme social privilege or political pull, wealth, beauty, friends in low places, or the lack of those things. Advantages help define your character’s life further and come in handy even after death. Choose up to seven dots worth of Advantages from the Merits section and the Backgrounds section. You should keep a couple of things in mind during this step: First, these Advantages need to be relevant to your existence as a vampire since you’re paying to use them during the chronicle. If you pick your parish priest as an Ally, you’re either going to have to hide your true nature from them or come up with some reason they remain your friend even when you become a monster. Depending on the nature of your chronicle, the Storyteller may restrict your Advantages. The Storyteller may also decide that some Backgrounds should be mandatory or that the coterie needs to buy a haven together and reserve some points for that. If so, they might provide you with an extra dot or two. Really think about which Advantages produce the best story for your character. You must take at least two points of Flaws by the end of character creation. Add any new supporting cast from your Advantages to the Relationship Map.

Thin-Blood Merits and Flaws

No two thin-bloods are the same. The Camarilla hounds them partly for this very reason; not even their nature adheres to any rules. When creating a thin-blood character, choose one to three Thin-Blood Merits and an equal number of Thin-Blood Flaws. This Advantage represents the peculiarities of your specific character and the unique way in which the curse manifests in them.

Build your coterie

Every player now gets two Coterie dots. Working together, the players spend these dots and any leftover Advantage dots from previous stages building their coterie. Building the coterie together sparks story ideas, gives the players a sense of ownership over the chronicle, and helps keep everyone on the same page – at least at the beginning of the story. Use your Coterie dots to determine your hunting grounds: your Domain in the city. Use leftover Advantage and Coterie dots to buy shared Coterie Backgrounds. Record any new supporting cast members emerging from these steps on the Relationship Map.

Sea of time

This step depends on your coterie’s age, as determined earlier.

Fledglings or childer: If you're this young, you’re done! Run your preludes.

Neonates: Each player character gets 15 experience points to spend, representing their slow, subtle growth throughout the decades.

Ancillae: Each ancilla adds one dot in Blood Potency, gains two dots of Advantages, two dots of Flaws, and subtracts one dot from Humanity. They also get 35 experience points to spend.