Step Ten: Finishing Touches
Step Ten: Finishing Touches
Once you have spent your initial XP, your character is complete. It is now time to write down your character’s derived qualities. These are items that come from other statistics on your sheet.
• Your character’s Generation determines her Blood pool and Blood per round.
• All characters start with nine health levels, in three tracks. You have three Healthy, three Injured, and three Incapacitated health levels.
• All characters begin with 6 permanent Willpower. Merits may alter your character’s Willpower, depending upon the situation. Be sure to make note of this and any other alterations to your character sheet based on merits and flaws.
Morality
Vampires constantly struggle against their monstrous natures. The internal conflict between human and Beast is a central theme of Vampire. A character’s Morality indicates how the vampire deals with the Beast’s predatory urges, demanding hunger, and quick-tempered rage. A character with a high Morality has a strong hold over her Beast, leashing the monster within by following a strict set of ethics.
A character’s Morality rating reflects her ability to adhere to a code of ethics, whether those ethics include Humanity’s innate distinctions between good and evil, or a Path of Enlightenment’s manufactured principles. A high Morality rating indicates that the character lives very strictly according to her ethics. This character is more emotionally stable, but risks losing ground to the Beast even with relatively trivial violations of that code.
A low Morality rating indicates that the character has often violated her ethical code, thus giving the Beast more power over her behavior. Such a character has become jaded, uncaring, and rarely feels remorse or regret for any vile behavior she may perform. Such characters only surrender further ground to their Beasts when they commit extreme violations of their ethical codes, but when they do, they are empowering an already strong and ravenous Beast. They risk losing control forever, and entering a state of permanent frenzy known as wassail.
Morality also determines how well your character manages problems associated with the bestial nature of vampires, such as staying awake during the day, rising from torpor, or dealing with mortals. A character with a high Humanity appears virtually indistinguishable from a mortal; she has a healthy flush to her skin, she blinks at normal intervals, and she feels cool to the touch rather than ice-cold. Humans do not instinctively mistrust them or notice their vampiric condition.
A character with a low Humanity rating is extremely pale, she has an obviously feral bearing, her autonomic functions (breathing and blinking) cease entirely, and her flesh is as cold as that of a corpse. Humans and other vampires instinctively feel nervous around such an individual, as the vampire’s predatory nature is very close to the surface.
Humanity
Most vampires adhere to the Morality that they were taught as a mortal. This Morality is called Humanity, and it reflects the common ethics and values of human culture. This Morality disapproves of killing, stealing, or harming others, and encourages kindness and unselfish behavior as its highest virtues. It is instinctive to the human condition and therefore easier to follow. All characters begin with 5 dots of Morality in Humanity. Players may purchase their Humanity up to 6; this level is referred to as “saintly,” (a very challenging rating to maintain). During character creation, players may sell morality for experience points, at the rate of 1 Morality for 2 exp, down to a minimum of 3 Morality - this is NOT considered a Flaw. Characters who regularly commit sins during play may lose Humanity. For more information on see: Humanity.
Paths of Enlightenment
A few vampires, those with extreme determination, have left Humanity to follow a Path of Enlightenment. Paths, called “Roads” in ancient times, are artificially created ethical codes that espouse a different set of virtues and sins. These paths are not instinctive to the human condition and require constant vigilance and dedication. It is easier for a character to fall from a Path of Enlightenment, as the character (and the player) must constantly adhere to a set of values that radically differ from standard human belief.
Paths of Enlightenment espouse utterly alien viewpoints and bear little resemblance to innate human values. Characters on a path have strange ethics about stealing, killing, or lying. They do not value kindness, compassion, or mercy, and they tend to disregard common courtesy and polite social interaction. Such values are meaningless and no longer guide the character’s behaviors.
Those vampires who successfully place themselves on a Path of Enlightenment are forever changed. Their values and personalities are radically shifted, and their actions, morals, and choices are now guided only by their paths. Such a vampire is barely recognizable as the person she was before she transferred to the Path of Enlightenment. Her new values wholly subsume the individual’s original personality and deepest beliefs. A player must purchase the appropriate merit in order for her character to follow an alternate Morality. Paths can be draining and difficult to play. They are best portrayed by experienced players, who are prepared to embody the alien and inhuman qualities of such a vampire.
Paths of Enlightenment are rare in some settings. Check with your Storyteller for more information about what is appropriate to her chronicle. For more information see: Alternate_Paths_of_Enlightenment
