Character Creation

If you want the condensed version, go to the Chargen Cheat Sheet

For now, all character creation will be done on the Wiki. Eventually, we'll move to on-MUX chargen, but for now this is easiest while we figure things out.

Create a new character page by using the correct module at the top of the Current Characters page. Be sure the name you put in is the same as your MUX character object's name — the same name you use to log in. (In other words, don't include a last name or a nickname.)

Concept

While you don't have to tell us what your concept is, writing a sentence or two that defines what you're going for can help you anchor your ideas and answer questions as you go through character generation. Figure out who you're making as though they were a protagonist in a novel; it should imply some individuality, some skills and identity.

Just answer this question: Who do you want to play?

Attributes

These come into three categories: Mental, Physical, and Social. Each category has a Power, Finesse, and Resistance stat. Your Power stats are your oomph in that category. Your Finesse stats are your fine manipulation. And your Resistance stats are how much of a beating you can take, and are usually used to resist the effects of other peoples' actions.

Every character gets 1 free dot in each of the nine attributes:

Mental Physical Social
Power Intelligence Your smarts and capacity to know things Strength How STRONK you are Presence Fabulosity!
Finesse Wits How quick you are on your feet, mentally Dexterity Them fine motor skills Manipulation Please do this thing I want
Resistance Resolve How firm you are in your beliefs Stamina Take a beating and keep on… heating? Composure I can withstand your pitiful jibes.

You then decide what your character's priority is in these categories: does your character trend toward Physical / Mental / Social? Or what about Social / Mental / Physical? You will give your top category 5 points to split, 4 for your secondary category, and 3 for your tertiary.

Each attribute starts at 1. No attribute can be lowered past 1 or raised beyond 5 right now, and the 5th point costs 2 Attribute points during chargen.

An Attribute at 2 dots is considered average. 3 is above average, 4 is excellent, and 5 is world class. A single point in an attribute represents something substandard or your weakness.

Skills

Skills are more specialized abilities your character has learned. They're also 5 dots max but do not receive 1 free dot in her skills. They're grouped into Mental / Social / Physical as well. Choose your priorities once again. Your dot split in Skills is 11 / 7 / 4.

If your character attempts an action with no skill dots, she'll suffer a penalty. Even a single dot is a significant improvement over none. Two is professional, three is specialty, four and five represent enormous competency in their field. Like Attributes, the 5th point costs 2 Skill points during chargen.

Skills
Mental Physical Social
-3 Unskilled -1 Unskilled -1 Unskilled
Academics Higher education Athletics PARKOUR! Animal Ken Dr. Doolittle
Computer Technological familiarity Brawl Punchy things Empathy Understanding others
Crafts Making things Drive Zoom zoom Expression Getting a point across
Investigation Finding things Firearms Shooty things Intimidation Scary
Medicine Healing things Larceny Stealing things Persuasion Convincing argument
Occult Knowing spooky things Stealth Hide and seek Socialize Which salad fork?
Politics Politicking Survival Wilderness training Streetwise Cred among streetrats
Science Scientific training Weaponry Hurty things Subterfuge To lie or understand lies

Skill Specialties

You receive three Specialties to start with. Specialties refine your competency in a Skill. For example, you might have Firearms: Rifles, or Crafts: Painting.

As a rule of thumb, look to the things you expect to see your character do frequently and name them. Those are Specialties.

Next, you're going to want to pick a Template.

Mortal Template

Kinfolk Template

Garou Template

Advantages

Defense

Defense is based on the lower of your Dexterity or Wits, plus her Athletics. Defense may increase in Crinos, Hispo, and Lupus forms.

Health & Size

Health is based on Size + Stamina. Most characters are Size 5, unless they took the Giant or Small-Framed merits. Your health will change based on your form as well.

Willpower

Willpower represents your inner reserves. It measures Resolve + Composure.

Initiative

This is your character's ability to act quickly in a fight. It's Dexterity + Wits.

Speed

Your speed is equal to Size + Strength + Dexterity.

Virtue and Vice

Although in the vanilla version of the system, Garou take Blood and Bone, we've decided to simplify it so that everyone takes Virtues and Vices. We feel these are easier to understand and reduces unnecessary complexity, especially since the fight between Man and Beast is not the central conflict here.

Virtues and Vices are descriptions of your major personality traits, both good and bad. Mechanically, you regain Willpower by acting on your Virtue or Vice in a scene. Your Virtue should be something your character aspires to but finds difficult to act on or easy to ignore, and makes your character feel proud when they make the effort. Your Vice should be something that is the easy way out.

The following are some examples of Virtues and Vices, but please feel free to make your own!

Virtues
Archetype Description Regain Willpower when you…
Generous Gives to others, either via charity or friends. …are deprived of an important resource or put at risk because of generosity.
Harmless Prefers to do no damage to a living thing. …are put at risk due to your reluctance to cause harm.
Just Everyone gets what they deserve, and you'll make sure it happens. …set your own goals aside in order to make sure justice is done.
Loyal Loyalty is paramount. …refuse to act against the group's interests.
Vices
Archetype Description Regain Willpower when you…
Ambitious Wants advancement, rank etc past what they've earned. …jockey for position instead of pursuing a more useful activity.
Arrogant Defines self by being "better" than those around him, beyond justifiable pride. …lord your superiority over someone else.
Competitive You need to WIN! …indulge in a competition that distracts from other more pressing matters.
Greedy Hoards resources for himself. …take an advantage for yourself, denying it to another character.

Merits

You have 10 dots to spend in Merits! These provide you with extra things your character is good at, including supernatural powers for Mortals and Kinfolk, and Garou-specific boons. Note: There are some merits you can only take at Character Generation.

Alternatively, you can also spend 5 dots of your Merits for a Primal Urge dot. You can also exchange Merit dots 1-for-1 for dots in Rites.

Every character also receives one dot in Totem.

Starting XP

All characters start with 10 XP, which you may choose to spend immediately or may hold onto to spend later. Keep in mind that if you choose to wait, you will have to abide by the wait times to learn something new! You can see the XP costs and wait times at Advancement.

Background & History

We prefer a non-narrative background that we can skim. Bullet points are your friend. You're welcome to write more but separate it out into its own section. Instead answer the following questions:

  1. What do you want to accomplish with this character?
  2. How do you see this character's arc concluding?
  3. Does your character have any connections to PC characters? Any important relationships to note, like Allies, Contacts, or Mentors?
  4. What does your character do for a living? If not their occupation, what are their hobbies or passions?
  5. In the fight between Nature and Technology, where does your character lie?
  6. Has your character joined any factions? If so, what drew them there?
  7. What does your character care about above all?
  8. What does your character despise above all?

For Garou:

  1. At what age did your character have their First Change? What happened?
  2. Did your character have any meaningful contact with Garou before their First Change?
  3. Has your character ever broken the Litany?

For Mortals:

  1. How does your character feel about the supernatural?
  2. Has your character had any bad experiences with the supernatural?

Aspirations

Choose 3 Aspirations: 2 Short Term and 1 Long Term. These are goals for your character (or for you!) to accomplish while on the game. If you don't know just yet, don't worry too much: it's perfectly viable for your Long Term aspiration to be "learn the system" or your short term goal to be simply "get into trouble."

Every time you complete an Aspiration, you get a Beat.

On the MUSH

  • Set your physical description with @desc me=<description>
  • Set your short desc with &shortdesc me=<short desc>
  • Set your sex as @sex me=<sex>
  • Set your wikipage as &finger_wiki me=<url>
  • Type +apply
  • And done!
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