Page 63 - Hunter - The Vigil

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C CHAPTER TWO: CHARACTER CREATION
H
that his character supplemented his meager museum earnings Step Three: Skills
by selling Egyptian artifacts (including papyrus scrolls and jars
Next, Pat has to decide what Skills Kilcannon possesses.
with traces of millennia-old unguents and potions) under the
While his Mental Attributes are primary, Pat decides that the
table to representatives of the Ascending Ones. He chooses
curator’s time outdoors and any training he’s undergone since be-

the name Robert Kilcannon and figures that somewhere along
coming a hunter are sufficient to justify choosing Physical Skills

the line, something “bad” drew him away from the museum
as his primary category. He still wants to represent Kilcannon’s
and the smuggling and onto a hunter’s Vigil. Pat decides that
education and experience (and the new things he’s learned as a
Kilcannon’s family was murdered by some supernatural force.
hunter), so he makes Mental Kilcannon’s secondary Skill cat-

Pat files this as potential background and goes forward to the
egory, which leaves Social as tertiary for the surly Kilcannon.
next step in character creation.
Pat has 11 points to spend on Physical Skills. He figures

Step Two: Attributes Kilcannon’s experience with the supernatural that destroyed
Now that he has a basic character concept and a bit of his- his family and career is going to have left him wanting to be
tory for Kilcannon, Pat needs to begin building the character’s able to protect himself, so he spends three points in Brawl
statistics, starting with his Attributes. Since Kilcannon was a and two in Firearms. He also wants to be able to have Kil-

museum curator, Pat decides to make his Mental Attributes pri- cannon jump, climb, run and swim effectively in the field,
mary. He’ll have relied heavily on his knowledge and cunning, so he spends two points in Athletics. And, since he has a
both in the museum and as an artifact smuggler, and is likely to history with thievery, he spends two points in Larceny. This
continue to do so as a hunter. As a former anthropologist who’s leaves him with two points, which he spends on a point each
accustomed to life in rough areas and among rougher peoples, of Survival and Stealth. Since Kilcannon isn’t a super-strong
Pat chooses Physical as his character’s secondary Attributes. toe-to-toe brawler, the ability to sneak would be something
This leaves Social for Kilcannon’s tertiary category, which is he’d at least have begun to develop, as would his ability to
fine with Pat — he figures Kilcannon’s losses (whatever they survive in a variety of environments.

end up being) have left him bitter and diffi cult to deal with. Moving on to his secondary Skill category, Pat has seven
To represent Kilcannon’s background in anthropology points to spend on Mental Skills. Since the curator has con-

and academics, Pat puts two of his five points into Kilcannon’s tinued to hone his knowledge-gathering skills, Pat allots three
Intelligence, raising it to a 3. He figures that Kilcannon’s ex- dots to his Academics Skill and one to Science. He spends

perience in artifact smuggling and whatever additional train- two points in Investigation to represent not only the research
ing he’s received from the Ascending Ones has made him a process, but also Kilcannon’s ability to track down artifacts
pretty quick-witted chap, so he allocates two of the remaining and customers. This leaves him with one point to spend,
three dots into Kilcannon’s Wits, raising it to a 3 as well. This which he puts into Occult, representing Kilcannon’s new in-
leaves one last dot to add to Kilcannon’s Resolve. This makes terest (and hatred of) the supernatural.
it a 2 — he’s okay, but not exceptional at keeping his wits and Pat knows that his four points in Social skills aren’t going to
temper about him. go very far, so he ponders how best to spend them to represent
Next, Pat has four points to split between his Physical Kilcannon accurately. He gives Kilcannon a point of Streetwise

Attributes. Since Kilcannon has had to endure a lot of phys- to represent his ability to find buyers for his smuggled goods, and

ically challenging situations on site at digs in his past and a point of Persuasion to reflect his negotiating ability. He feels
would have to prove himself physical capable of enduring the that Kilcannon’s surly nature is worth a point of Intimidation and
travails of being a field agent in the Ascending Ones, Pat as- spends his last point on Subterfuge, because Kilcannon managed

signs two dots to his Stamina, which gives him 3 dots in it to pull off the double life of museum curator and relic smuggler for
total. He doesn’t see Kilcannon as being more than average a time before his family’s murder.
in Strength or Dexterity, so he divides the remaining points Step Four: Skill Specialties
up evenly, with one point in each of the two remaining At-
Now that Pat’s chosen his character’s Attributes and
tributes, making each a 2.
Skills, he gets to pick three Skill Specialties. To tie into both
Finally, Pat assigns his three points in Social Attributes.
Kilcannon’s history as a curator of antiquities and his interest
He decides that Kilcannon’s smuggling and work in the uni-
in the Ascending Ones, Pat chooses to give Kilcannon the
versity system (not to mention his ability to talk his way into
Academics Specialty of Anthropology. To represent his abil-
the Ascending Ones) merit an additional dot in Manipulation
ity to locate buyers for his stolen goods, Pat spends one point

— he’s learned how to connive and influence others. He spends
to give Kilcannon the Streetwise Specialty of Black Markets.
one point there, making it a 2 total. With Kilcannon’s generally
Additionally, as Kilcannon has no desire to be caught help-
surly attitude, Pat chooses not to add any additional dots to his
less, Pat assigns him the Brawl Specialty of Dirty Tricks —
Presence, leaving it at the 1 he began with; he’s below average
why play fair when lives (especially his own) are on the line?
in the kind of impression he makes on others. This leaves Pat
with two points left to add to Kilcannon’s Composure, which Step Five: Hunter Traits
raises it to a 3. Once you’ve lost your family to a supernatural
Now Pat’s ready to move on to the hunter-specific parts

monster and lived through it, Pat figures, it’s difficult to run

of creating his character. He’s been told the game will focus
into anything else that’s going to shake you too much.
on third-tier conspiracy characters, and he’s already decided
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