Post by Magic Rob on Jun 8, 2011 21:15:33 GMT -8
So, I wrote this a few years back for vampire. I’ve given it a retool for the werewolf sphere and current house-rules. This was not written as a tool for twinkery, but rather a manner of getting the most bang for your buck. Ask and ye shall receive; you asked for it so here tis.
Lets begin, shall we?
The Character:
I know we've all had moments where we've been sitting at home reading a book or watching TV when inspiration hits us. We stand up and shout 'That's the greatest thing ever!' We rail against the heavens and try to claim the spark of awesome for our own. We've all been there. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The character creation process is a four stage growing process and missing any of these steps can be detrimental to the character.
** Step One: Inspiration!
This is the dream of the character, the idea, the concept, the rough fragment of mind he/she occupies in your mind. Most good characters begin their inspiration from an idea rather then an action. Rather then saying "I want to be the biggest combat whore in the game!", dream instead of a warrior.
Inspirations for characters don't need to be a long paper, or a written draft. In fact, the best inspirations can be summed up in one or two sentences. "Globally renowned hacker." "Stoic Club Owner." "Anachronistic knight." These are all fine examples that I've seen walk around game. It doesn't really matter if this is based on a character you've seen from other media or if it's whole cloth; inspiration can come from anywhere.
** Step Two: History
Now that you've got the general idea for the character, its time to fill out some history. There are many different schools of thought at this stage ranging from 'history? BOO!' to '12 pages just isn't enough!'. I'd like to take a moment and say that not every camp is correct and not every camp is wrong. Here are the steps that I take, modify as needed.
Starting with my inspiration, I fill out a vague time-line. A world renowned hacker probably wasn't born before the advent of electricity, and a modern anachronism is no fun either. Werewolf has some strange little nuances that causes it to have silly things that make people roll their eyes.
* Older isn't necessarily better. If you're playing some long forgotten emperor of Rome, you're going to need a lot of dots on your sheet, or suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous cliath for YEARS. Most ways of being uber old involve the umbra in some way. Almost every one of these has been done to death; tread carefully.
* Younger isn't necessarily better. Starting off old or young is just part of the concept and one that doesn't really matter. Do you want to play the faded elder with their quiet games? Do it. Do you want to play the spunky cub? Do it. Neither concept ON ITS OWN is better or worse then the other.
* Putting yourself in history. Using actual historic events as part of your timeline is an excellent tool, but don't fall for the mistake of making yourself crucial to that scene. If you want to play an elder from when Rome burned, do it; just don't write yourself as Nero and his damned fiddle. Want to use WWII as your timeline? Fine, just don't put yourself in charge of a concentration camp. Be a part of history without being in the history books.
* Actual Figures. Closely tied to the last point, I would advise you avoiding the ability to flip open a book and pointing to some picture and going "I'm that guy". It sounds funny, but your fellow gamers will roll their eyes at you. We all know that one guy that did it so awesome in that one game... but chances are there were lots of people that thought he was dumb too. Just make something original that's CLOSE to the dude you want to be.
* Minutia. Your history doesn't have to read like a history PAPER. You aren't graded on it, and you don't need to detail every aspect of your life. In most cases a timeline is sufficient, at least in the beginning.
So, those are some negative points... but what should a GOOD history have? Excellent question! A good history should have:
* Timelines. Don't be exhaustive with this, but plotting out WHERE your character was spending the MAJORITY of time during various time periods is a very powerful tool. If you were traveling all over Europe from 1983 to 2003, but your home was in London, write that down! You don't need more information then that, but a timeline is valuable, especially when it comes to:
* Character Ties. INCLUDE THEM. If you have two or three friends you really want to RP with, write a history common to them. Say you met up while on Safari. Or during your childhood. Or share a lineage. Whatever just write it down. People grumble about friends playing with friends, but jesus, isn't that the point? If you think Mr. Buttons has the greatest character in history, poke him for a character tie. He no doubt has a 'timeline' that he can point to and say "Well, I was in London from 1983 to 2003. Maybe you owe me a favor?"
* Flexibility. Having a timeline is an important thing, having character ties is an important thing, but don't allow yourself to become too detail based and too full with it. Just as with the above example, eventually someone is going to think you're awesome and want to walk into the city with a character tie to your shiny new PC. Leave plenty of places for your character and theirs to tie into each other.
* Favors, and the pricks that use them. Don't have too many friends in the game yet? This is a common pitfall of new characters. How do you remedy that? Favors! Favors and more favors! Owing people stuff is instant backstory. Further, it causes other people to be interested in your history. This sparks conversation and wham-o! Suddenly you’re much cooler.
** Step Three: Profit... er... Progress-
So now you've got a shiny new concept (or freshly revamped one, at any rate), you've got yourself some cool history points and even a tie in or two so you know people at the start of game, SCORE! Now what? Now build a place for your character to go.
Lots of people will tell you that your sheet should reflect this, but I tell those people to cheese off. We haven't even started talking about your sheet yet. Figure out what you want out of this character and detail where you want them to go. Do you want political power? Personal territory? Alpha of your pack? Leader of the Garou nation? Having a ready list of character motivations will not only help where you take your character RP wise, but also gives you something to work for at game for those nights when the Bawn is boring and you don't know what to do.
For my own characters, I usually have a list of six. I have two that are sheet related, two that are interaction related, and two that are completely outlandish. When my character has attained all of their original goals, that character has won. If you get everything you wanted, you don't have to retire and start over; branch their original desires into something new and exciting.
Did you want territory and now you have it? Awesome! Maybe now you want... THEIR territory too.... Or maybe you want to build something within yours; a casino or labyrinth or hedge maze garden.
Did you want to acquire magical powers beyond your ken, and now you have shiny new Lore dots? Awesome! Maybe now you want rituals. Or to invent your own stuff. Or maybe you want to sell what you've got to the highest bidder.
Just because you got what you want doesn't mean you're satisfied. You're a soldier in a war that never ends. That probably runs against concept anyway. But I can't stress enough how important to a complete character motivations are.
** Step Four: The Sheet.
So this part is usually the most complicated, and is usually where most people begin. To them I say, how can you know what to put on your sheet without knowing where you've been? Believe me, whatever character you make will be a hundred times more gratifying if you start at the beginning and work your way forward rather then justifying with your history those 4dots of whatever.
Anyway. Here's the nitty-gritty, and a secret that many people won't tell you: Not all dots are created equal.
I know. The horror. I can hear you all thinking to yourself and wondering what I mean by that. What I mean is, there are two ways of building a character sheet: the good way and the bad way. Many people who know how to build a 'good' sheet are threatened by them and will poo-poo them at every chance they get. Things like 'bullet-shaped' and 'min-maxed' are thrown around causally. Most of the time when you hear someone bitching about a min-maxed sheet, it's a min-maxer bitching. Guys that show up to game for the story and flavor don't usually care about other people's sheets anyway… surprise-surprise.
So why would those who know how to make a good sheet want you to make a bad one? Why, for balance of course! (And it gives them a longer period of time to be more awesome then you)
I could at this point give you a compare/contrast of a character sheet, but instead I'll just build a sheet for you and tell you why I put points where. Remember, not all dots are created equal. But all XP is...
Lets begin.
* Starting Dots:
Starting Dots are some of the most powerful dots in the game. Bear in mind our house-rules prevent you from starting any number of 5’s in something, so these will be addressed separately.
When you're building your sheet, the first thing you usually address is you’re Attributes, so let’s start there as well. You are going to have a 7/5/3 break down no matter who you are, or what you want, so roll with it. Now, I might catch some flak for saying this, but all concepts are equally awesome in ECC. That's right, the broken to shit combat whore can still be owned by the broken to shit social build. THEY. ARE. THE. SAME.
To that end, the most efficient build in your Primary is a 4 4 2. This gives you two strong stats and an average. The other build is a 4 3 3, more round, but not as strong in the long run. Taking the 2 stat to a 3 costs you 8 XP (which would give a 4 4 3), but taking that 3 to a 4 is 12 (giving a 4 4 3). You just saved 4 XP. As far as 5’s go, if you put one into this category your breakdown goes best as a 5 4 1 breakdown, otherwise see above.
Your Secondary slot is given 5 dots. The most efficient build is a 4 3 1. The other options are a 3 3 2, or a 4 2 2. Again, looking at the XP costs, it would take 4 XP to raise your 1 to a 2 (giving a 4 3 2), 12 XP to raise your 3 to a 4 (giving a 4 3 2) or 8XP to raise your 2 to a 3 (giving a 4 3 2). You've saved between 4 and 8 XP.
Your Tertiary slot is given 3. The most efficient build is a 4 1 1. Other options are a 3 2 1 or a 2 2 2. Looking once more at the XP, we find that taking your 1's to 2's costs you 8 xp (giving a 4 2 2). Bringing the other stats in line are significantly more expensive with 16 (4 2 2) or 20 (4 2 2). You've just saved between 8 and 12 xp.
Abilities are far more simple. Starting dots should only be used to buy a single dot, or a three in something. I'll only give one example here because it's tedious. Putting a single character point into a skill is ultimately worth 3 xp. Putting 2 is worth 5. And putting 3 is worth 9. Therefore, 1 creation point can equal 3xp, 2.5 xp or 3xp. You do the math on this one.
Since Gift’s aren’t tiered, this is pretty straightforward. Buy the 3 you want (keep em in-auspice/tribe/breed).
Backgrounds are the trickiest part of creation dots, because their values change. Fate and Totem cost 2 XP per dot regardless of level. That makes Backgrounds extremely valuable and hard to appraise. The best breakdown that I've found is a 4 1 combo. Remember, if you want Pure Breed, now's the time. Avoid buying Totems and Fate with your starting dots since they are significantly cheaper (and easier to get IC) with XP. The normal Ability rules also don't apply to Background dots since your creation dots can buy a 4 or 5. Further, you can’t buy Backgrounds once you are in game with XP (save the above examples), meaning you should definitely start with what you want. Fetishes, Totems, and Fate are easily attained in game, so it’s almost always better to start with Mentors, Allies, or other hard to get Backgrounds rather then trying for them after onset.
Power Stats are detailed at this point. Please reference the core book for what your starting Willpower is (based on Tribe), starting Rage from Auspice, and starting Gnosis from breed. More on this under Freebies.
* Merits and Flaws:
Some of the more seasoned players might be asking why I skipped Freebies. To them I say; I haven't skipped them, they're next. I usually go to the Merits and Flaws section of the game to see HOW MANY Freebies I'll end up with.
Remember, existing House Rules limit Flaws to 7pnts.
I could go on and on about what Merits and Flaws are valuable and which aren't. My experience with Merits/Flaws is that they are generally balanced within themselves. There are some notable exceptions (Nightmares for instance is NOT worth the single point it gives), but I leave these to the players to decide. Merits/Flaws aren't really the province of Cheese in werewolf, but more flavor. I will caution against spending your precious dots on something that can be expended or taken by outside forces (any of the Debt merits, for example).
But I digress. I strongly advise players to take less points in merits then they do in Flaws and ensure that anything you take fits the rest of the concept. Don't take flaws you don't intend to play, and don't waste your dots on merit's you'll forget about. Just take what you need and move on.
* Freebies:
Alright cats and kittens, Freebies are, bar none, the cheese-monkey's tool within ECC. There are a few simple rules that I abide by when using Freebies. I call it the rule of 3. If you're getting less then a Net of 3 xp per Freebie dot, DON'T SPEND THOSE FREEBIES.
I'll give you some examples by category.
Attributes:
Attributes cost 5 freebies for a single dot, no matter where it falls. That makes this an inefficient use of freebies. Taking a stat from 1 to 2 costs 4 xp. From 2 to 3 is 8. From 3 to 4 is 12. And from 4 to 5 costs 16xp. Thusly, the MOST efficient dot (buying the 5th with Freebies) is giving you a 3.2xp per freebie return. Now, since you only get 2 5’s, you should be careful here. The starting dots are better used for the 5, buying anything less then the final dot yields you less then 3 per dot. Don’t do it.
Abilities:
Abilities cost 3/2/4/6/8 to purchase with XP. Again, since you can't buy 5's with impartial wanton desire, I would strong advise you to only buy the 4th or 5th dot in an ability. And I'd only do that if it fits the concept. A 'power gamer' will drop a slew of freebies into skills to get melee 4 and brawl 4 and all that jazz, but these are inefficient use of dots since these skills can be found easily in game. It costs 2 freebies to raise an Ability, so buying the first dot of an ability with freebies is spending 2 freebies for 3 xp. The second dot is worse at 2 freebies for 2 xp. The third is only marginally better at 2 freebies for 4 xp. The only justifiable use of Freebies in the Ability category is to buy the 4th dot, as you are spending 2 freebies for 6 xp (or 3xp per freebie). The 5th dot costs you 8xp, or 4 freebies per dot (however, since you need to buy 4 dot to get the fifth, this is a 4 freebie commitment. Heavy. I don’t advise).
Gifts:
Another common pitfall of the power-gamer is to buy Gifts with their Freebies. While this can give them a small advantage right out the gate, other uses of freebies are far more efficient. It costs 7 freebies to get a Gift. A Gift normally costs 3 or 5 xp per Gift. This math is terrible. Don’t do this. Ever.
Power Stats:
While we're on the subject, freebies interact with power stats in a very special (and awesome) manner. Your starting Willpower is going to be your Tribe (most of the Tribes at ECC rock a 3-4 by book standards). Now you can spend 2 freebies into willpower at char gen. This costs two freebies. Buying Willpower with xp (aside from a massively difficult story) costs the previous rating in XP (so going from 4 to 5 costs 4 xp and 5 to 6 costs 5). That means that starting with a 6 WP on char-gen costs 2 freebies for 9 xp (or 4.5 xp per dot!).
Gnosis costs 2 freebies per dot. House rules allow you to buy 2 at creation with freebies. Homids start with a 1, meaning that you will be spending 4 freebies for getting 3 Gnosis. XP costs for Gnosis is 2 times previous, so that second dot costs 2 the 3rd costs 4xp, so 4 freebies get you 6 xp or 1.5xp per freebie. Shitty, shitty math. Metis start with a 3, so the 4th and 5th dot costs 4 freebies and give you 14xp or 2.3xp per freebie. Again, not good math. Lupus start play with a Gnosis of 5, so the 6th and 7th dot would cost you 4 freebies and give you 22 xp. That’s 5.5xp per freebie, absolutely stellar math.
Rage is pretty much identical to Willpower. The math on this changes slightly in that Ragabash start with a 1, meaning the math is very bad. Theurges start with a 2, only slightly better math. If you aren’t a Philidox, Galliard or Ahroun, rage is a bad investment at this stage. However, it should be noted that a high Rage has many limitations including how spirits and humans interact with you. Purchase if it fits your concept, but really, give it sound consideration first.
Backgrounds:
Alright. Every character I've had in ECC who was awesome or became awesome had a metric ton of Background dots. Why? Because they are awesome, that's why. First off, the difference between a well connected social character and a social character is huge. When you have the ear of a Legend somewhere (represented by Background dots), you are a force to be reckoned with no matter what else is on your sheet. Backgrounds represent everything from who you know to what you have to how well you can control it.
In relation to Freebies, they're 1 for 1, meaning 1 freebie will get you 1 background of any level. My experience with Backgrounds is there isn't a bad one. They're all worth having. The same rules apply with Freebies as they do with creation dots: avoid Totem and Fame at this stage. Both are powerful Backgrounds, don't avoid them forever, just buy them with XP down the road. Particularly powerful backgrounds include Allies, Mentor, Pure Breed and Ancestor. Why? Because Pure Breed can't be purchased after character gen, and Allies and Mentors are huge NPCs with a vested interest in your survival. Ancestors is just cheesy.
You can't buy the 5th dot in something at this point, but it's well worth your time to get a few backgrounds to 4. Spending 4 freebies on a background at this stage will save you lots of time down the road. They're all good, buy a few.
* The First Month:
Why is the first month included in my character creation process? Excellent question. There's a little known house rule that states you can put XP on your sheet during your first month without story, as a part of your history. This is devastatingly powerful. Assuming that you haven't been sitting on 50 XP from your last character, this is still going to be somewhere between 8 and 12xp (potentially as much as 70 or more if you had a good bit saved up and have an Event in your first month).
Normally this XP is used to round out your sheet or buy things that you should have gotten but totally spaced on (Lore is a good use of this XP, for example). Other good uses are the 5th dots in things you REALLY want. Buying melee 3 with creation dots, melee 4 with freebies, and melee 5 with starting month's XP is a solid plan. I will, a this stage, again advise you to look around and spend this XP in a place that will be hard to buy later. How many guys will you meet in your first month with Melee 5? At least a few. How many will you meet that can raise your Mentor from 4 to 5? Zippo. Sure spending your first month's XP on Gifts sounds like a bang-up idea, but it is my humble advise that you beef up their relevant pools with this fluid XP rather then squander it on a minor but immediate benefit. Low level gifts are very easy to come by, sometimes its better to buy them after onset.
Well, those are my pennies for character creation. As you can see from the above, this isn't a method that gives you unlimited starting power, but rather is a way of creating a character that is GOOD at something, still has places to go, and knows why he wants to go there. Your mileage may vary, of course, but these are the steps I go through when drafting a new sheet.
-HSTRob.
Lets begin, shall we?
The Character:
I know we've all had moments where we've been sitting at home reading a book or watching TV when inspiration hits us. We stand up and shout 'That's the greatest thing ever!' We rail against the heavens and try to claim the spark of awesome for our own. We've all been there. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. The character creation process is a four stage growing process and missing any of these steps can be detrimental to the character.
** Step One: Inspiration!
This is the dream of the character, the idea, the concept, the rough fragment of mind he/she occupies in your mind. Most good characters begin their inspiration from an idea rather then an action. Rather then saying "I want to be the biggest combat whore in the game!", dream instead of a warrior.
Inspirations for characters don't need to be a long paper, or a written draft. In fact, the best inspirations can be summed up in one or two sentences. "Globally renowned hacker." "Stoic Club Owner." "Anachronistic knight." These are all fine examples that I've seen walk around game. It doesn't really matter if this is based on a character you've seen from other media or if it's whole cloth; inspiration can come from anywhere.
** Step Two: History
Now that you've got the general idea for the character, its time to fill out some history. There are many different schools of thought at this stage ranging from 'history? BOO!' to '12 pages just isn't enough!'. I'd like to take a moment and say that not every camp is correct and not every camp is wrong. Here are the steps that I take, modify as needed.
Starting with my inspiration, I fill out a vague time-line. A world renowned hacker probably wasn't born before the advent of electricity, and a modern anachronism is no fun either. Werewolf has some strange little nuances that causes it to have silly things that make people roll their eyes.
* Older isn't necessarily better. If you're playing some long forgotten emperor of Rome, you're going to need a lot of dots on your sheet, or suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous cliath for YEARS. Most ways of being uber old involve the umbra in some way. Almost every one of these has been done to death; tread carefully.
* Younger isn't necessarily better. Starting off old or young is just part of the concept and one that doesn't really matter. Do you want to play the faded elder with their quiet games? Do it. Do you want to play the spunky cub? Do it. Neither concept ON ITS OWN is better or worse then the other.
* Putting yourself in history. Using actual historic events as part of your timeline is an excellent tool, but don't fall for the mistake of making yourself crucial to that scene. If you want to play an elder from when Rome burned, do it; just don't write yourself as Nero and his damned fiddle. Want to use WWII as your timeline? Fine, just don't put yourself in charge of a concentration camp. Be a part of history without being in the history books.
* Actual Figures. Closely tied to the last point, I would advise you avoiding the ability to flip open a book and pointing to some picture and going "I'm that guy". It sounds funny, but your fellow gamers will roll their eyes at you. We all know that one guy that did it so awesome in that one game... but chances are there were lots of people that thought he was dumb too. Just make something original that's CLOSE to the dude you want to be.
* Minutia. Your history doesn't have to read like a history PAPER. You aren't graded on it, and you don't need to detail every aspect of your life. In most cases a timeline is sufficient, at least in the beginning.
So, those are some negative points... but what should a GOOD history have? Excellent question! A good history should have:
* Timelines. Don't be exhaustive with this, but plotting out WHERE your character was spending the MAJORITY of time during various time periods is a very powerful tool. If you were traveling all over Europe from 1983 to 2003, but your home was in London, write that down! You don't need more information then that, but a timeline is valuable, especially when it comes to:
* Character Ties. INCLUDE THEM. If you have two or three friends you really want to RP with, write a history common to them. Say you met up while on Safari. Or during your childhood. Or share a lineage. Whatever just write it down. People grumble about friends playing with friends, but jesus, isn't that the point? If you think Mr. Buttons has the greatest character in history, poke him for a character tie. He no doubt has a 'timeline' that he can point to and say "Well, I was in London from 1983 to 2003. Maybe you owe me a favor?"
* Flexibility. Having a timeline is an important thing, having character ties is an important thing, but don't allow yourself to become too detail based and too full with it. Just as with the above example, eventually someone is going to think you're awesome and want to walk into the city with a character tie to your shiny new PC. Leave plenty of places for your character and theirs to tie into each other.
* Favors, and the pricks that use them. Don't have too many friends in the game yet? This is a common pitfall of new characters. How do you remedy that? Favors! Favors and more favors! Owing people stuff is instant backstory. Further, it causes other people to be interested in your history. This sparks conversation and wham-o! Suddenly you’re much cooler.
** Step Three: Profit... er... Progress-
So now you've got a shiny new concept (or freshly revamped one, at any rate), you've got yourself some cool history points and even a tie in or two so you know people at the start of game, SCORE! Now what? Now build a place for your character to go.
Lots of people will tell you that your sheet should reflect this, but I tell those people to cheese off. We haven't even started talking about your sheet yet. Figure out what you want out of this character and detail where you want them to go. Do you want political power? Personal territory? Alpha of your pack? Leader of the Garou nation? Having a ready list of character motivations will not only help where you take your character RP wise, but also gives you something to work for at game for those nights when the Bawn is boring and you don't know what to do.
For my own characters, I usually have a list of six. I have two that are sheet related, two that are interaction related, and two that are completely outlandish. When my character has attained all of their original goals, that character has won. If you get everything you wanted, you don't have to retire and start over; branch their original desires into something new and exciting.
Did you want territory and now you have it? Awesome! Maybe now you want... THEIR territory too.... Or maybe you want to build something within yours; a casino or labyrinth or hedge maze garden.
Did you want to acquire magical powers beyond your ken, and now you have shiny new Lore dots? Awesome! Maybe now you want rituals. Or to invent your own stuff. Or maybe you want to sell what you've got to the highest bidder.
Just because you got what you want doesn't mean you're satisfied. You're a soldier in a war that never ends. That probably runs against concept anyway. But I can't stress enough how important to a complete character motivations are.
** Step Four: The Sheet.
So this part is usually the most complicated, and is usually where most people begin. To them I say, how can you know what to put on your sheet without knowing where you've been? Believe me, whatever character you make will be a hundred times more gratifying if you start at the beginning and work your way forward rather then justifying with your history those 4dots of whatever.
Anyway. Here's the nitty-gritty, and a secret that many people won't tell you: Not all dots are created equal.
I know. The horror. I can hear you all thinking to yourself and wondering what I mean by that. What I mean is, there are two ways of building a character sheet: the good way and the bad way. Many people who know how to build a 'good' sheet are threatened by them and will poo-poo them at every chance they get. Things like 'bullet-shaped' and 'min-maxed' are thrown around causally. Most of the time when you hear someone bitching about a min-maxed sheet, it's a min-maxer bitching. Guys that show up to game for the story and flavor don't usually care about other people's sheets anyway… surprise-surprise.
So why would those who know how to make a good sheet want you to make a bad one? Why, for balance of course! (And it gives them a longer period of time to be more awesome then you)
I could at this point give you a compare/contrast of a character sheet, but instead I'll just build a sheet for you and tell you why I put points where. Remember, not all dots are created equal. But all XP is...
Lets begin.
* Starting Dots:
Starting Dots are some of the most powerful dots in the game. Bear in mind our house-rules prevent you from starting any number of 5’s in something, so these will be addressed separately.
When you're building your sheet, the first thing you usually address is you’re Attributes, so let’s start there as well. You are going to have a 7/5/3 break down no matter who you are, or what you want, so roll with it. Now, I might catch some flak for saying this, but all concepts are equally awesome in ECC. That's right, the broken to shit combat whore can still be owned by the broken to shit social build. THEY. ARE. THE. SAME.
To that end, the most efficient build in your Primary is a 4 4 2. This gives you two strong stats and an average. The other build is a 4 3 3, more round, but not as strong in the long run. Taking the 2 stat to a 3 costs you 8 XP (which would give a 4 4 3), but taking that 3 to a 4 is 12 (giving a 4 4 3). You just saved 4 XP. As far as 5’s go, if you put one into this category your breakdown goes best as a 5 4 1 breakdown, otherwise see above.
Your Secondary slot is given 5 dots. The most efficient build is a 4 3 1. The other options are a 3 3 2, or a 4 2 2. Again, looking at the XP costs, it would take 4 XP to raise your 1 to a 2 (giving a 4 3 2), 12 XP to raise your 3 to a 4 (giving a 4 3 2) or 8XP to raise your 2 to a 3 (giving a 4 3 2). You've saved between 4 and 8 XP.
Your Tertiary slot is given 3. The most efficient build is a 4 1 1. Other options are a 3 2 1 or a 2 2 2. Looking once more at the XP, we find that taking your 1's to 2's costs you 8 xp (giving a 4 2 2). Bringing the other stats in line are significantly more expensive with 16 (4 2 2) or 20 (4 2 2). You've just saved between 8 and 12 xp.
Abilities are far more simple. Starting dots should only be used to buy a single dot, or a three in something. I'll only give one example here because it's tedious. Putting a single character point into a skill is ultimately worth 3 xp. Putting 2 is worth 5. And putting 3 is worth 9. Therefore, 1 creation point can equal 3xp, 2.5 xp or 3xp. You do the math on this one.
Since Gift’s aren’t tiered, this is pretty straightforward. Buy the 3 you want (keep em in-auspice/tribe/breed).
Backgrounds are the trickiest part of creation dots, because their values change. Fate and Totem cost 2 XP per dot regardless of level. That makes Backgrounds extremely valuable and hard to appraise. The best breakdown that I've found is a 4 1 combo. Remember, if you want Pure Breed, now's the time. Avoid buying Totems and Fate with your starting dots since they are significantly cheaper (and easier to get IC) with XP. The normal Ability rules also don't apply to Background dots since your creation dots can buy a 4 or 5. Further, you can’t buy Backgrounds once you are in game with XP (save the above examples), meaning you should definitely start with what you want. Fetishes, Totems, and Fate are easily attained in game, so it’s almost always better to start with Mentors, Allies, or other hard to get Backgrounds rather then trying for them after onset.
Power Stats are detailed at this point. Please reference the core book for what your starting Willpower is (based on Tribe), starting Rage from Auspice, and starting Gnosis from breed. More on this under Freebies.
* Merits and Flaws:
Some of the more seasoned players might be asking why I skipped Freebies. To them I say; I haven't skipped them, they're next. I usually go to the Merits and Flaws section of the game to see HOW MANY Freebies I'll end up with.
Remember, existing House Rules limit Flaws to 7pnts.
I could go on and on about what Merits and Flaws are valuable and which aren't. My experience with Merits/Flaws is that they are generally balanced within themselves. There are some notable exceptions (Nightmares for instance is NOT worth the single point it gives), but I leave these to the players to decide. Merits/Flaws aren't really the province of Cheese in werewolf, but more flavor. I will caution against spending your precious dots on something that can be expended or taken by outside forces (any of the Debt merits, for example).
But I digress. I strongly advise players to take less points in merits then they do in Flaws and ensure that anything you take fits the rest of the concept. Don't take flaws you don't intend to play, and don't waste your dots on merit's you'll forget about. Just take what you need and move on.
* Freebies:
Alright cats and kittens, Freebies are, bar none, the cheese-monkey's tool within ECC. There are a few simple rules that I abide by when using Freebies. I call it the rule of 3. If you're getting less then a Net of 3 xp per Freebie dot, DON'T SPEND THOSE FREEBIES.
I'll give you some examples by category.
Attributes:
Attributes cost 5 freebies for a single dot, no matter where it falls. That makes this an inefficient use of freebies. Taking a stat from 1 to 2 costs 4 xp. From 2 to 3 is 8. From 3 to 4 is 12. And from 4 to 5 costs 16xp. Thusly, the MOST efficient dot (buying the 5th with Freebies) is giving you a 3.2xp per freebie return. Now, since you only get 2 5’s, you should be careful here. The starting dots are better used for the 5, buying anything less then the final dot yields you less then 3 per dot. Don’t do it.
Abilities:
Abilities cost 3/2/4/6/8 to purchase with XP. Again, since you can't buy 5's with impartial wanton desire, I would strong advise you to only buy the 4th or 5th dot in an ability. And I'd only do that if it fits the concept. A 'power gamer' will drop a slew of freebies into skills to get melee 4 and brawl 4 and all that jazz, but these are inefficient use of dots since these skills can be found easily in game. It costs 2 freebies to raise an Ability, so buying the first dot of an ability with freebies is spending 2 freebies for 3 xp. The second dot is worse at 2 freebies for 2 xp. The third is only marginally better at 2 freebies for 4 xp. The only justifiable use of Freebies in the Ability category is to buy the 4th dot, as you are spending 2 freebies for 6 xp (or 3xp per freebie). The 5th dot costs you 8xp, or 4 freebies per dot (however, since you need to buy 4 dot to get the fifth, this is a 4 freebie commitment. Heavy. I don’t advise).
Gifts:
Another common pitfall of the power-gamer is to buy Gifts with their Freebies. While this can give them a small advantage right out the gate, other uses of freebies are far more efficient. It costs 7 freebies to get a Gift. A Gift normally costs 3 or 5 xp per Gift. This math is terrible. Don’t do this. Ever.
Power Stats:
While we're on the subject, freebies interact with power stats in a very special (and awesome) manner. Your starting Willpower is going to be your Tribe (most of the Tribes at ECC rock a 3-4 by book standards). Now you can spend 2 freebies into willpower at char gen. This costs two freebies. Buying Willpower with xp (aside from a massively difficult story) costs the previous rating in XP (so going from 4 to 5 costs 4 xp and 5 to 6 costs 5). That means that starting with a 6 WP on char-gen costs 2 freebies for 9 xp (or 4.5 xp per dot!).
Gnosis costs 2 freebies per dot. House rules allow you to buy 2 at creation with freebies. Homids start with a 1, meaning that you will be spending 4 freebies for getting 3 Gnosis. XP costs for Gnosis is 2 times previous, so that second dot costs 2 the 3rd costs 4xp, so 4 freebies get you 6 xp or 1.5xp per freebie. Shitty, shitty math. Metis start with a 3, so the 4th and 5th dot costs 4 freebies and give you 14xp or 2.3xp per freebie. Again, not good math. Lupus start play with a Gnosis of 5, so the 6th and 7th dot would cost you 4 freebies and give you 22 xp. That’s 5.5xp per freebie, absolutely stellar math.
Rage is pretty much identical to Willpower. The math on this changes slightly in that Ragabash start with a 1, meaning the math is very bad. Theurges start with a 2, only slightly better math. If you aren’t a Philidox, Galliard or Ahroun, rage is a bad investment at this stage. However, it should be noted that a high Rage has many limitations including how spirits and humans interact with you. Purchase if it fits your concept, but really, give it sound consideration first.
Backgrounds:
Alright. Every character I've had in ECC who was awesome or became awesome had a metric ton of Background dots. Why? Because they are awesome, that's why. First off, the difference between a well connected social character and a social character is huge. When you have the ear of a Legend somewhere (represented by Background dots), you are a force to be reckoned with no matter what else is on your sheet. Backgrounds represent everything from who you know to what you have to how well you can control it.
In relation to Freebies, they're 1 for 1, meaning 1 freebie will get you 1 background of any level. My experience with Backgrounds is there isn't a bad one. They're all worth having. The same rules apply with Freebies as they do with creation dots: avoid Totem and Fame at this stage. Both are powerful Backgrounds, don't avoid them forever, just buy them with XP down the road. Particularly powerful backgrounds include Allies, Mentor, Pure Breed and Ancestor. Why? Because Pure Breed can't be purchased after character gen, and Allies and Mentors are huge NPCs with a vested interest in your survival. Ancestors is just cheesy.
You can't buy the 5th dot in something at this point, but it's well worth your time to get a few backgrounds to 4. Spending 4 freebies on a background at this stage will save you lots of time down the road. They're all good, buy a few.
* The First Month:
Why is the first month included in my character creation process? Excellent question. There's a little known house rule that states you can put XP on your sheet during your first month without story, as a part of your history. This is devastatingly powerful. Assuming that you haven't been sitting on 50 XP from your last character, this is still going to be somewhere between 8 and 12xp (potentially as much as 70 or more if you had a good bit saved up and have an Event in your first month).
Normally this XP is used to round out your sheet or buy things that you should have gotten but totally spaced on (Lore is a good use of this XP, for example). Other good uses are the 5th dots in things you REALLY want. Buying melee 3 with creation dots, melee 4 with freebies, and melee 5 with starting month's XP is a solid plan. I will, a this stage, again advise you to look around and spend this XP in a place that will be hard to buy later. How many guys will you meet in your first month with Melee 5? At least a few. How many will you meet that can raise your Mentor from 4 to 5? Zippo. Sure spending your first month's XP on Gifts sounds like a bang-up idea, but it is my humble advise that you beef up their relevant pools with this fluid XP rather then squander it on a minor but immediate benefit. Low level gifts are very easy to come by, sometimes its better to buy them after onset.
Well, those are my pennies for character creation. As you can see from the above, this isn't a method that gives you unlimited starting power, but rather is a way of creating a character that is GOOD at something, still has places to go, and knows why he wants to go there. Your mileage may vary, of course, but these are the steps I go through when drafting a new sheet.
-HSTRob.
