Character Creation Challenge 2024 - 21: Ayla [Vampire: The Masquerade 5e]

 Fourth Vampire: The Masquerade 5e Character

I wasn't sure I would make more, but let's complete a coterie then...


1. Core Concept

The weakest of all possible ideas for a character - one that is different from the others in the coterie. There's a Gangrel (mostly physical), Brujah (mostly physical) and a Tremere (mostly brains). So a socialite would be nice. Some kind of clubber, a rich man's son or daughter who spends all the cash on social life and status. And only wants the nice things (which includes people). And tried to catch the wrong person one time...

Do female, call the character Ayla. I guess this will be another stereotype. I'm horrible at stereotypes in Vampire it seems...


2. Clan and Sire

 Clan Toreador, Aisha the Sire.


3. Attributes

One attribute starts at 4, three at 3, four at 2 and one at 1. The social attributes are the ones I typically see as the Toreador sphere. As the idea of checking Disciplines for what Attributes are going to get used for the Tremere paid off, I will do the same here. Toreador has access to Auspex, Celerity and Presence. Presence is the one that will have the focus, and the two stats it uses is Charisma and Manipulation. So nothing strange going on there.

  • Strength: *
  • Dexterity: **
  • Stamina: **
  • Charisma: ****
  • Manipulation: ***
  • Composure: ***
  • Intelligence: **
  • Wits: **
  • Resolve: ***
  • Health: 5
  • Willpower: 6
  • Humanity: 7


4. Skills

Gut narrative picking. "Professional" in this context is being rich and not doing much besides doing social things, keeping up with family and friends and networks, some of which counts as work technically but it's not that different from spare time activities.

  • Etiquette *** [Professional]
  • Persuasion (Negotiation) *** [Professional]
  • Insight ** [Professional]
  • Subterfuge ** [Professional]
  • Academics (Philosophy) ** [Life Event]
  • Finance *** [Life Event]
  • Athletics * [Leisure]
  • Politics * [Leisure]
  • Performance (Dance) * [Leisure]
  • Awareness **
  • Technology **
  • Leadership *
  • Intimidation *
  • Investigation *
  • Drive *


5. Disciplines

One 2 dot, one 1 dot.

  • Presence ** (Awe, Lingering Kiss)
  • Celerity * (Rapid Reflexes)
     


6. Predator

Sire. Just for more stereotype.

  •  Add speciality: Persuasion (Seduction)
  • Gain * in Presence (Which gives the Entrancement power)
  • Gain Merit: Looks (Beautiful) **
  • Gain Flaw: Enemy (Spurned Lover) *

 

7. Advantages

7 Merits, 2 Flaws.

  • Merit: Resources ****
  • Merit: Haven **
  • Merit Haven (Luxury) *
  • Flaw: Stalker *
  • Flaw: Prey Exlusion (Children) *
     


8. Convictions and Touchstones

Convictions

  • You can change the world by smiling at the right time
  • The only useful people are the ones that does what I say

Touchstones

  • The dancer at Ayla's favorite nightclub, whose mysterious smile changes her mood and her friends all the time.
  • One of her friends from Uni that does everything Ayla wants, because she would not be in the social circle otherwise.


9. Sea of Time

Neonate, so gets 15 XP.

  • 12 XP buys Subterfuge ***
  • 3 XP buys Firearms *


Character Summary

Ayla, Neonate Toreador of the Camarilla Sect

Attributes

  • Strength: *
  • Dexterity: **
  • Stamina: **
  • Charisma: ****
  • Manipulation: ***
  • Composure: ***
  • Intelligence: **
  • Wits: **
  • Resolve: ***
  • Health: 5
  • Willpower: 6
  • Humanity: 7

Skills

  • Etiquette *** [Professional]
  • Persuasion (Negotiation, Seduction) *** [Professional]
  • Insight ** [Professional]
  • Subterfuge *** [Professional]
  • Academics (Philosophy) ** [Life Event]
  • Finance *** [Life Event]
  • Athletics * [Leisure]
  • Politics * [Leisure]
  • Performance (Dance) * [Leisure]
  • Awareness **
  • Technology **
  • Leadership *
  • Intimidation *
  • Investigation *
  • Drive *
  • Firearms *

Disciplines

  • Presence *** (Awe, Lingering Kiss, Entrancement)
  • Celerity * (Rapid Reflexes)

Traits

  • Predator: Siren
  • Merit: Resources ****
  • Merit: Haven **
  • Merit Haven (Luxury) *
  • Merit: Looks (Beautiful) **
  • Flaw: Enemy (Spurned Lover) *
  • Flaw: Stalker *
  • Flaw: Prey Exlusion (Children) *
  • Conviction: You can change the world by smiling at the right time
  • Conviction: The only useful people are the ones that does what I say
  • Touchstone: The dancer at Ayla's favorite nightclub, whose mysterious smile changes her mood and her friends all the time.
  • Touchstone: One of her friends from Uni that does everything Ayla wants, because she would not be in the social circle otherwise.


In Play

Play like she owns the world, that she owns because she is charming. Playing someone like that if you don't have the charisma yourself can be somewhat hard, or acting like you are used to everyone wanting what you want. So it would be a bit interesting I suppose? Being a snob that only wants the expensive or really pretty stuff is easy. Being miffed when the Vampire elders bosses you around also easy. So I am somewhat intrigued about playing this one.

For mechanical development, it's a bit hard to think about in this game. Increasing all the social stuff and Presence is the obvious choice, but the amount of XP needed to do anything is so huge so would need a LOT of session to get anywhere. So maybe some combat stuff.


Opinions

After 4 V5 characters in this challenge, I've learned a fair bit just like with RQG.

The "core" of the system, the attribute+skill rolls are both easy and fun to do for the character and do in play. Everything else feels like a massive bloat, some of it needlessly complicated even. Willpower, Humanity, Hunger, Tenets, Touchstones, all the flaws and merits, and all of them have different ways to track. And heal.

This is similiar to RQG. The core being easy, with systems bloat that gets put on top. But the RQG book does a better job (it's flawed instead of deeply flawed) of laying it out, and the bloat adds to the character, helps you create a soul. Here you have a nice to place to hang out, have more cash on hand, are pretty and stuff like that. 

I do not like the Conviction/Touchstone system and would change it to something else.

I do not like the Discipline system and would either go back to more old ways of them being more passive, and have some special powers come from play (rewards).

I do not like the Flaw/Merit system and would either just drop it or replace with something simpler like a table of "packages" that you could roll on or pick from.

The book also screams for layout/editing. This is the worst RPG book I have read when it comes to organizing. While the OSE books are perfection there, it's even more glaring when I go back to trying to find things in this one or do anything that requires the book besides just reading. And from what I hear, the splats are somehow worse.


Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Walking into the fog

This blog was made to have somewhere to put up characters for the challenge set up by TardisCaptain for january 2022, creating 31 characters for the 31 days of january. Link:  http://tardiscaptain.com/2021/11/19/2022-character-creation-challenge/  After looking at some entries into last year's challenge, it inspired me to want to create characters on paper instead of putting them on notepad or some kind of web service thingie. Sadly I can't sketch, or I would have tried to make a rough sketch of them too. I've not really been a player in game for something like 5 years now, I mostly GM. So this is going to be a bit of a change of pace.  My first thought is to make some "rival adventuring parties" for the systems I GM, and a character for systems I would like to play in games I do not GM. With the very typical backlog of games for someone who has been in the hobby since the 90s, I need to spend some time in december sorting out games and character sheets. Or I mi...
Read more

Character Creation Challenge 2024 - 9: Evren [Vampire: The Masquerade 5e]

 Second Vampire: The Masquerade 5e Character With the character I made to serve as a stand in character for someone that might show up to the Vampire campaign I am going to run this year out of the way, it's time to make some random stuff I could consider playing myself. 1. Core Concept  So one of the things I want to do going forward, is to set more and more of the quasi-real world settings in Constantinople/Istanbul and Ur. Since Vampire is a modern day game, it would be Istanbul. I have no chronicle planned and it's been a while since I read up on modern day Istanbul so I am VERY ignorant of details of what the current city is like. And as Vampire also often deals with darker things and gets all muddled up in politics muddled with the supernatural, this is not so easy to start with blind. Easy to turn to stereotypes. I am going to call the character Evren, whose Sire is Evrim. Big fan of the football club Galatasaray, and social life mostly revolving around matches and hang...
Read more

Character Creation Challenge 2023 - 1: Törn [Mörk Borg]

 I am now 17 days late to the party, instead of being an eager beaver. So time to grind out some Mörk Borg characters! Will go through the classes in order, and finish with a classless. Starting with the first one in the core book: The Fanged Deserter. Character Summary   Törn [Fanged Deserter]   Stats Agility +0 [DR 14 for tests instead of 12] Presence +0 Strength +1 Toughness -2 Hit points: 8 Omens: 2 Bite Attack   Equipment Bow Light Armor (Fur) Silver: 30 Waterskin Food: 1 Donkey Bear Trap Lard Class equipment: Old Sigûrd's Sling.   Characteristics  Earliest Memories: Following an army in eastern Wästland. Terrible Traits: Cruel, Cowardly. Broken Bodies: Staring, manic eyes. Bad habit: You stutter when lying. Troubling Tales: You think waving trees are whispering.You talk to, scream at, attack trees. "This is an odd one" will just be every Mörk Borg character, and as such will be a given going forward. Very easy to play like a madman outside combat, an...
Read more