Page 79 - Hunter - The Vigil

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C CHAPTER TWO: CHARACTER CREATION
H
Concepts: fencing student, high-school football star, little- NSA agent. He might be a security guard at a major conglom-
league coach, marathon veteran, Olympic sprinter, target marksman erate, or he could belong to the Secret Service and protect
Asset Skills: Athletics and Medicine politicians. Some aren’t technically police any longer, but still
Professional Training: have that “nose” for the job even if they work in a warehouse
• • Local Coach or are collecting disability somewhere.
Coach
Local
•• Bush League Task Force: VALKYRIE makes use of Cops fairly often:
•••
••• Minor League Cops know how to work a beat, know how to be loyal to their
Minor League
•••• Pro own brotherhood, know how to handle a weapon. Cops have
•••••
••••• Sports Star/Olympian a certain blue-collar quality, too, and often end up as members
Sports Star/Olympian
of the Union. Catholic Cops are glad to bring the hammer
Cop down on witches with the Malleus Maleficarum, while more

surveillance-oriented officers sometimes end up serving in
The law is the law. I don’t care if you dig up bodies. I don’t
cells with Network Zero hunters.
care if you drink blood. You’re under arrest.
Background: A rookie must pass through a police acad-
Cops join the force for any number of reasons. Most ac-
emy before being assigned to a precinct. There he learns the
tually want to help their community, though a few believe
Skills he will need to uphold the law. Only after he starts
the community owes them something for the privilege. Some
cruising the streets does he learn what he needs to protect his
pick up the gun and badge because their fathers did it, their
community. Most Cops don’t go through college before the
grandfathers did it, and so forth; it’s a whole legacy.
academy, though some join the force later in life. Once he’s
Most times, Cops deal with human crime — theft, as-

had his first year on the streets, he picks up the police officer’s
sault, drugs and murders. Some Cops get cases with…differ-
instincts that are so vital to the role.
ent aspects. Whether they’re first on the scene or they’ve got

Cops normally have Physical Attributes primary. Wits
a rep for handling the weird shit, some come into contact
and Composure both go a long way, covering Perception
with the hidden underworld. They are the ones who uncover
rolls and the quick thinking needed to evaluate a situation

the remains of human sacrifices, the ones who discover a nest

on the fly. After their academy training, most Cops possess
of twisted beasts breeding and feeding beneath a meth lab. A
at least one dot in Athletics, Academics (Law), Firearms, In-
Cop is on the front line, uncovering things that people don’t
vestigation, Intimidation, Medicine, Stealth and Weaponry.
want to see. It’s up to her whether she gives chase with baton

Depending on their field, these may be backed up with other
drawn or pulls her piece and brings bullets into the equation.
Skills — K-9 units require Animal Ken, while SWAT offi cers
She has to weigh up every situation she meets in the blink of
have higher than average Firearms, and narcs rely on Persua-
an eye. Occasionally the situation’s so weird that she doesn’t
sion and Subterfuge. Common Merits include Allies (Part-
know what to do. If she’s lucky, she’ll make the right choice.
ner), Danger Sense, and combat Merits such as Disarm and
If she doesn’t, both the Cop and her partner are dead.
Weaponry Dodge.
Maybe not immediately. Maybe she screws up, tries to give
Concepts: Crooked arm of the law, deep-cover agent,
chase after a creature that fades into mist, or tries shooting a
grizzled beat-cop, K-9 officer, mall rent-a-cop, military police-

slasher that shrugs off bullets like one shrugs off drops of rain.
man, old-guard sergeant, SWAT offi cer, traffi c cop
If she makes the right choice, she’ll live. If she’s very lucky,
Asset Skills: Streetwise and Firearms
she’ll save more lives than just her own. Of course, nobody
Professional Training:
else in her precinct will believe her. Maybe her partner will
Rookie
• • Rookie
join her on the Vigil, which can be a blessing. But maybe he
•• Beat Cop
doesn’t. Maybe when the moment of truth hit, she acted and
cer
•••
••• Officer
Offi

he didn’t. Survivor guilt is a terrible thing between friends.
•••• Sergeant
For all that she can track down monsters in her day
•••••
••••• Captain
Captain
job, a Cop still has real criminals to catch — the drug deal-
ers, rapists and murderers who prey on their city. She has to Criminal
work the night shift to catch monsters, something that works
much easier if she has a cell backing her up. They provide If you keep leaning on me, Slick Jimmy’s going to get word. Then
backup in the same way her precinct does when she’s on duty. a wrecking bar’s going to have words with your kneecaps, right?
Hunter groups don’t have SWAT teams — except Task Force: The only thing that ties Criminals together is that they make
VALKYRIE — but other members can back her up in a fi ght. their living by breaking the law. Con artists, drug dealers, cat bur-
Still others can work the scene to find out what really hap- glars, muggers and leg-breakers are all Criminals. Some treat their

pened. If she makes sergeant, she doubtless knows what she’s role as “just another job,” while others throw themselves into their
doing working with a team, and can offer valuable leadership work with obsessive gusto, eventually coming to the notice of well-
advice. Of course, if one member of her cell has dealings on connected people. A few regret the choices they’ve made so far,
the wrong side of the law, the tension of keeping that secret but can’t go straight until they pay off their “debts.” Some just do
can drive a wedge between members of the cell. it for the thrill of stealing shit and breaking bones.
Note that “Cop” doesn’t necessarily mean the hunter be- Generally, Criminals have nothing to do with organized
longs to the actual police force. He could be an FBI, CIA or crime — at least, not directly. A student who grows and sells
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