Concept is everything.
When creating your character, every step of the process should be guided by your character concept. Some concepts are very plain and simple: “college student” or “fire-fighter” for example.
Others may be more esoteric and unusual: “regretful brawler” or “tortured soul".
Whatever your concept is, it should be the thread running through every step of your character. Everything should be held up against it and compared to it.
Some “odd” traits are acceptable as flavor or fancy. For example, the college student may have a knack for cooking, and the regretful brawler may also have worked as a veterinarian in the past.
This is fine, as it makes the character more unique and interesting. Nobody is a stereotype. However, such traits should be kept within reasonable levels, and should not dominate or overshadow the concept otherwise. Throughout this guideline, we will refer to these as Unrelated Traits.
Before submitting a character, please ask yourself a few basic questions:
Is my character going to be fun to play with?
Is my character going to be motivated to investigate and get involved with the game?
Does my character have any traits that will hinder me from interacting with the venue in a meaningful way?
A character that is actively disruptive to game-play as a whole should not be submitted. That does not mean avoiding conflict and even intra-character aggression, but your primary goal for the character should not be to instigate such situations.
Creeds:
As a general guideline, any regular creed is available for play, as are bystanders. Hermits and Wayward's create a vast array of complications, and thus are not sanctioned as regular characters. Over time, it is not inconceivable that a trusted player who has shown exceptional playing ability could be given such a character, and function as a partial player character.
To Imbue or not to Imbue:
You may desire to start out as a normal mortal first, and then be imbued in character. This is absolutely fine. However, it should be kept in mind that if your character is exposed to any supernatural knowledge or awareness, they will not be chosen by the patrons, and are thus ineligible for imbuing.
Minor encounters may be rationalized away, and later reflected by the Exposure background, however this means the character may not act upon the knowledge directly.
If you desire an In-game imbuing, please create your character using the Hunter rulebook, but leave out the virtues, edges and conviction steps. You should not select the virtues outlined in Vampire, or select a humanity rating, as these terms are meaningless in Hunter.
At your discretion, you may set aside some of your background points as well as up to 3 freebie points, to spend later on Hunter specific backgrounds and merits.
Attributes:
The average, every day person will have 4 attributes at 3, and 5 attributes at 2. In this context, a 3 is a strong suit of your character, while a 2 represents something where you are unremarkable.
By playing with the points, it is possible to start with 1's and 4's. A rating of 1 should indicate a serious deficiency of your character, while a 4 indicates something where you excel. Maybe you have an abundance of natural potential. These ratings should be tied to your concept or built into your story. A 4 should not exist as an Unrelated Trait.
At character creation, a rating of 5 is unlikely to be accepted. Such a rating represents the pinnacle of human achievement, and is not a good starting point. Such a character is likely exceptional in some other manner, that makes them an unlikely target for imbuing.
Abilities:
Your talents, skills and knowledge’s can be arranged in a vast variety of ways. The majority will be rated 1, 2 or 3.
A 3 indicates a professional level, or high competency in an area of expertise. Abilities your character exercises daily, or which are fundamental to the concept should receive a rating of 3. Most concepts are unlikely to warrant more than 3 or 4 of these. An Unrelated Trait should rarely be rated as a 3, unless it is a hobby or unimportant trait such as “cooking” or “star wars trivia"
A 2 indicates competency and capability in the area of expertise. Abilities that would be relevant to your concept, but not “core” should be considered for a rating of 2. Favoured hobbies and interests can also receive this rating.
A 1 indicates basic familiarity, or a crash course. The character can accomplish routine tasks, but will struggle with serious obstacles. Just about any ability could be taken at a 1, though unusual ones will require some justification.
A rating of 4 is unusual in several ways. The fourth dot must be purchased with freebie points. The character receives a speciality in the ability. An ability that is fundamental to the concept may be taken at such a rating, but concept is not a guarantee that such a rating will be approved. Your character should not posses more than a single rating of 4, and no ratings of 5.
Secondary abilities are treated as conventional abilities, but may be granted lower difficulties for specific rolls by the ST.
There is no inherent limit on combat abilities; however, ratings that do not match your concept are unlikely to be approved.
Backgrounds:
These follow the philosophy of abilities. Core traits to your concept may be given a 3, others should be 1's and 2's. A 4 is unlikely to be approved, unless it is intrinsic to your concept.
Creed-book backgrounds may be selected, for characters that exemplify those aspects, but should not be considered over a rating of 1, for a character of an alternate creed.
Merits and Flaws:
Each merit and flaw will be considered based on the characters concept. An occasional merit or flaw that is not strongly tied to the concept is acceptable, but should be minor.
Please do not take multiple flaws that render your character unable to operate in normal gameplay.
No merit or flaw will be considered crucial to a concept. You should not submit a character if the concept relies on having a specific merit or flaw approved, and will not, in your mind, function without it.
Other traits:
Except with exceptional justification, beginning characters should not start with additional Conviction points. Particularly amazing imbuing stories will be the main factor here.
Willpower ratings up to 6 are generally always acceptable. Concepts that truly warrant exceptional resolve will be considered for a rating of 7. Higher than that is unlikely to be approved for a beginning character.
Final concerns:
Multiple characters in the Hunter venue are not permitted.
XP/Request Guidelines:
Abilities:
While learning times tend to get fudged in the chat world (characters rarely seem to take years to go from 3-4), please think about what you are asking and what’s involved.
Example:
- 1- Brawl 1 might just be taking a few days to few week course (depending on intensity) self-defense court or weekly karate classes for a month.
- 2- Brawl 2 is a little more intensive, as it’s ‘college’ level. You might need two to three months of classes and some practice at home.
- 3- 3 is the ‘Masters’ level. If it were a degree, it’d take four years or more. While the length of time varies, the jump from 2 to 3 should be a project. We want an idea of how long you’ve been at it, who is teaching you and how you’re training. If its brawl, you’ll need to mention the dojo, your trainer there and the practice sessions at home, as well as the weekly fights you had with that silly Avenger or in that St ran scene.
- 4- In Athletics, 4 is Olympic level. Practically speaking, Olympic athletes train year round and for years. While we don’t make you train for six years on a chat, it –is- important that you put more into it, for a longer period of time. While we don’t require a book, explanations do need to be more detailed at and be able to be backed up by visible IC action.
- 5- More of everything. If you want to be the best there is, you need to put in the time, effort and then more. Many people never reach 4, let alone 5.
Obviously, some things make a difference when it comes to justification and learning times. Natural talent, as does who you’re training with, whether your pc had learned or started to learn these skills previously and so on. We’re not masochistic enough to try and develop official learning times, but I do ask that you stop and think about whether it’s really reasonable to become a black belt in a month.
For 3 and up: We do, for the most part, expect to see you doing, using and role-playing it IC as time and ability allows. If you want to raise a bunch of things to 4, but we never see you anywhere outside of the OOC Room, the answer is going to be no. Obviously, things like time zone, tours in Iraq, etc, will be taken into consideration, but otherwise… you need to be IC at least occasionally.
Attributes:
Raising these can be more or less complicated than abilities. While the premise is the same, some attributes are trickier to raise than others (Dexterity vs. Intelligence). Appearance in particular has natural limits that would have to be circumvented through surgical or supernatural means at the higher levels.
Backgrounds:
These are treated like abilities in that we need justification according to level and XP is spent. An ally might be gained through RP, while resources might require a raise/promotion or change of job. Patron will require good justification as to why the messengers begin to contact you more frequently.
Virtues:
Virtues are unique in that you don’t train for them, but raise them based on IC behavior, though XP is still spent.
Example:
An Avenger might acquire a dot or of vision by pondering and realizing that the Messengers imbued people with semi-consistent traits and powers (creeds) and that they have obviously didn’t intend for all monsters to die, if they made both Innocents and Avengers.
A martyr might come to the decision that they need to put down a beloved friend or family member in order that others will not suffer and to spare the monster the pain of what they’ve become.
A Visionary might begin to study each creed, document what he finds and develop theories on the connecting threads and how they apply to the hunt and its actual purpose.
“A rough guideline of expected behavior with Virtues"
1-3 The displays of Virtue can be (relatively) more minor and are the baby steps of the hunter’s finding themselves, feeling out their creeds and adjusting to the hunt. A hunter might gain a little in a few Virtues (a dot of Zeal, dot of Mercy, etc) or he might be strongly leaning in a particular direction.
4-6 There needs to be a definite pattern emerging and it needs to come through in scenes, whether they be St ran or general interaction. Requests will need to cite more than one example and point out how the Hunter is coming to strongly embody that Virtue.
7+ Derangement's hit at this stage, as the hunter becomes a more pure vessel of the Hunt and a stronger (and less sane) representative of his Creed and the Imbued in general. Hunters are this stage leaves more of normality and ‘humanity’ behind. They do not necessarily relate well to the clumsy, new and all too human newly Imbued or even humanity itself.
XP Costs Guidelines:
Attributes - Current x 4
Abilities - Current x 2
Willpower - Current x 1
Background - Current x 3
Conviction - Current x 2 (Temporary, Please see the Conviction Thread)