Werewolf: The Forsaken - Blank It

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Chapter II: Character
tributes. A quick refresher from the World of Darkness
Rulebook shows what the nine basic Attributes are used
for and what capacities the various numerical ratings represent.
It’s then up to Jack to prioritize the three general
Attribute categories as best suits his character.
With only a moment’s deliberation, Jack chooses the
Physical category as primary, which gives him five dots
to spend on Physical Attributes. He sees his character
as a tough, somewhat intimidating figure who spends a
good deal of his time working out and keeping in shape.
The character does so not because he is especially health
conscious or vain, but because he considers good health
and physical conditioning essential to his job. (He also
hopes to meet people with at least one common interest
at his local gym.) The first thing Jack does is add one dot
to each Physical Attribute right out of the gate. Combined
with the one free dot that every character gets in each Attribute,
Jack’s character has a baseline rating of 2 in each
Physical Attribute, representing the human average. He
then adds one of his remaining two dots to Strength and
the other to Stamina, representing slightly above-average
capacities in each. When all is said and done, Jack’s character
has Strength 3, Dexterity 2 and Stamina 3.
Next he chooses the Mental category as his secondary
priority. Doing so gives him four dots to spend, in addition
to the single free dot in each Attribute that every character
receives. Again he spends his first three dots bumping
each Attribute up to the average rating of 2, which leaves
him with one dot remaining. He spends that dot into
Wits, putting him slightly above the average rating in that
Attribute. The way he sees it, his character has received
some training to respond quickly and decisively in tense,
low-grade emergency situations, and the above-average
rating gives him a decent ability to do so. That said, his
character has Intelligence 2, Wits 3 and Resolve 2.
By process of elimination, Jack’s character’s Social
Attributes become his tertiary priority, leaving him three
dots to divide among them. He starts with one free dot
in each Attribute, then adds the remaining three evenly
to each Attribute to give him average ratings across the
board. Jack figures those ratings represent his character’s
subtle withdrawal from the community now that his college
friends have moved away. As a result, Jack’s character
has a Presence, Manipulation and Composure of 2 each.
STEP THREE: SKILLS
After the Attribute step, Jack assigns priorities and
dots to his character’s Skills. The Skill categories are
broken down by Mental, Physical and Social like the
Attributes are, but Jack chooses not to prioritize them in
entirely the same way. He sets his Physical Skills as his
primary category as he did with his Attributes, but he
sets his Social Skills ahead of his Mental Skills. He figures
that college and his job have taught his character a
little more about relating to people and interacting with
them than they have about more scholarly, academic
concerns. As a result, Jack has 11 dots to spend on his
character’s Physical Skills, seven to spend on his Social
Skills and four to spend on his Mental Skills.
Assigning his Physical Skill dots, Jack gives his character
two dots in Athletics to reflect the good shape he keeps
himself in and his natural physical talents. He then picks up
a dot of Stealth and two dots of Survival, reasoning that the
character enjoyed fairly regular hunting and camping trips
with his family and friends throughout primary school. He’s
hardly been hunting at all since college started, however,
which is why the scores aren’t any higher. Next, he gives
himself two dots of Drive and a single dot of Firearms, representing
the basic training he received in those activities
upon being hired by the campus police. He rounds out his
Physical Skills by putting three dots into Brawl, representing
both the self-defense training he received through his
job and his own natural flair for it.
Next, Jack has seven dots to spend on his Social Skills,
and he spends his first two into Intimidation. The score
comes not only from his size and inherent predatory nature
as one of the Uratha, but from the added effect that being
armed and in uniform tends to lend him. To this, he adds a
dot of Expression, a dot of Persuasion and a dot of Subterfuge,
all representing what moderate training he’s been given in
how to deal with people who are drunk, drugged, frightened,
angry or otherwise agitated and get them to do what
he’s telling them to. Finally, he adds two dots of Streetwise,
reasoning that a successful, moderately intelligent campus
police officer couldn’t help but have picked up a capacity for
it in the normal course of his duty. Jack consciously chooses,
however, to leave the Empathy and Socialize Skills at 0 in
order to reflect how hard the character is finding it to relate
to his human peers since his First Change.
Finally, Jack has four dots to spend on his character’s
Mental Skills. He spends one into Computer, one into
Investigation and one into Medicine, all representing
introductory courses the character was given during his
training with the campus police. His last dot goes into
Occult to reflect the lessons the character has begun to
learn about the supernatural world since his recent First
Change. Jack isn’t thrilled with having so few dots to
spend in this category, but he knows that with so few dots
on the sheet, he’ll have an easier time buying up any Mental
Skills he needs later with experience points.
STEP FOUR: SKILL SPECIALTIES
Once his character’s Skills are laid out, Jack then has
three Specialties to apply to them. He adds his first to his
Medicine Skill in the form of First Aid. He’s no doctor or
EMT, but he knows how to treat and stabilize an injured
person (including himself, naturally) until someone better
trained comes along to help. He puts his second Specialty
in his Brawl Skill in the form of Grappling, reasoning that
most of his self-defense training focused on infighting and
takedowns. His Intimidation Skill receives his third Specialty,
which Jack lists simply as On Duty. When Michelle
asks for a clarification, Jack explains that his character
feels more confident when he’s in uniform and on the job,