Page 91 - Hunter - The Vigil

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C CHAPTER TWO: CHARACTER CREATION
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Expression. Contacts, Encyclopedic Knowledge and Medita- Those who prefer to revel in Hellfire Clubs find themselves

tive Mind are all common Merits. drawn to the Ashwood Abbey. Others find their family blood-

Concepts: Atheist author, deranged chemist, disgraced lines include more than just a big bank account…and may
parapsychologist, evolutionary biologist, forensic scientist, instead offer genetics that purportedly link them all the way
geologist, high-school science teacher, paleontologist, poly- back to the Devil Himself, making them irrefutable members
math, psychologist, religious physicist of the Lucifuge “lineage.”
Asset Skills: Investigation and Science Background: Many Socialites are the heirs to or own-
Professional Training: ers of vast fortunes and business empires. They go to the best
• • Lab assistant schools so they can take their name to greater heights. Others
Lab assistant
•• Research assistant are celebrities or the nouveau riche. While they often lack the
••• Scientist education opportunities afforded their old-money counter-
•••
Scientist
•••• Think-tank lead parts, they instead have had to earn their place in the news
•••••
Brainiac
••••• Brainiac and at charity events with their own skills — whether they’re
sportsmen or have built a company from the ground up.
Socialite Social Attributes are almost always primary. Of the three,
Presence and Manipulation are tied for the most important
You can’t do anything in this city without me knowing. Some
Attribute — some people work through force of personality,

influential people owe me favors, and there’s nothing you can do
while others prefer a more nuanced, targeted approach. Most
about that.
Socialites keep in shape, meaning they rarely neglect Physi-
Socialites are the movers and shakers of the social sphere.
cal Attributes. Wits is the most important Mental Attribute,
Most of them have a significant amount of cash that they’re

closely followed by Resolve. Most Socialites have at least one
not afraid to spend on gala dinners and charity events. Some
dot in Academics, Athletics, Drive, Empathy, Persuasion, Poli-
live in the eye of the media, often famous only because they’re
tics, Socialize and Subterfuge. Many pick up dots in skills that
in line for a large fortune — or just because they make good
interest them (as opposed to skills they need), potentially in-
tabloid fodder. Others live and breathe high society, with “low
cluding Animal Ken, Computer, Expression, Larceny, Occult
society” (read: the rest of the world) never knowing they ex-
and Streetwise. Socialites can and should spend many dots on
ist. Socialites may be sportsmen. They may run massive busi-

Social Merits, including Barfly, Fame, Resources, Retainer and
ness empires. They may be celebrities.
Striking Looks (often through plastic surgery). Other common
Their position in society brings many Socialites into
Merits include Common Sense and a number of Languages.

conflict with creatures that would control humans. Some
Concepts: abused heiress, business empire owner, charity
vampires talk people round to their point of view at society
queen, devout fashionista, Hollywood mogul, infamous cad,

dinners, then use their playthings for food. Hellfire Clubs and
media darling, shadowy CEO, soccer star, tech billionaire
insane cults recruit the rich and famous. A few Socialites pour
Asset Skills: Politics and Socialize
their money into strange scientific experiments with horrific

Professional Training:
(or miraculous) results. Some serial killers keep score by the
Bit Player
• • Bit Player
fortunes of those they kill, while other stalkers use black mag-
•• Known Face
ic to know every inch of their celebrity obsessions. All the
Socialite
•••
••• Socialite
money and fame in the world doesn’t save someone from the
•••• Life of the Party
darkness outside.
•••••
Household Name
••••• Household Name
If a Socialite survives an inciting incident, she can bring
her resources to bear. Rumors spread fast, and leaking the Soldier
right photographs to the right tabloids can work wonders. A
Socialite may also join — or bankroll — a group of hunters Some of the things I’ve seen still scare me. Kids with auto-
(think of the weapons or surveillance equipment her vast cof- matic weapons. Good friends shot dead for no reason. You don’t
fers can buy). A cell gives her the combination she needs: a scare me. You can’t scare me.
wide range of skilled people from computer experts to detec- A Soldier is no stranger to horror. The armed forces re-
tives to soldiers, and other people who suspect the truth about wire the parts of a recruit’s mind that tell her not to kill or
the world. She may use herself as a snare for a monster who stop her from losing her head during a gunfight. After train-

stalks high society, putting her life in the hands of her cell. ing, she’s shipped out to strange places where people she has
A celebrity who joins a strange organization brings the never met try to kill her. Bosnia. Iraq. Somalia.

media’s attention to every member of her group, even in the Some Soldiers see their first monster on the battlefield.

(likely) case that she doesn’t advertise her monster-hunting An enemy sucks the blood from a fresh corpse before tear-
activities. She needs a silver tongue to talk her way out of the ing through their squad. A swarm of creatures from below the
inevitable media storm, and to prepare for the next. Non-ce- sands works with one mind to destroy a base. A group of refu-
lebrities don’t have those problems. They can sit on the board gees uses strange magics to twist the minds of military admin-
of the Cheiron Group without anyone batting an eyelid. So- istration to end a war. Soldiers who witness the horrors of war
cialites who believe they make the world a better place are and the horrors of the World of Darkness often return home

drawn to the Loyalists of Thule or the Malleus Maleficarum. diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder, to fit back into

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