Creating Your Character

Character creation in Coterie is a conversation between you, the other players, and the Storyteller. You're not just building a cool vampire, you're custom-tailoring a member of a Coterie with shared history, conflicting loyalties, and tangled relationships. It's good to have an idea of what kind of character you want to play before Session Zero, but pre-building them completely is not recommended because collaboration in this will improve everyone's experience. Make choices that create interesting problems and messy drama. That's what we're all here for, isn't it?

Step-by-Step Guide¶

1. Choose Your Age¶

Your age determines how long you've been undead and how much power you've accumulated. Younger vampires advance faster and cling to their Humanity more easily. Older ones have terrifying strength but struggle to remember why mortals even matter besides providing blood.

Age Brackets:

1. Thin-Blood
2. Fledgling
3. Neonate
4. Ancilla
5. Elder

What This Affects:

• Starting Blood Potency (maximum level of Discipline Powers you can access)
• Starting Humanity (how close you still are to mortal concerns)
• Advancement speed (younger vampires grow faster)
• How intense your Beast rampages are at maximum Hunger

2. Choose (or Eschew) Your Clan¶

Your Clan is your vampiric lineage — the curse passed down through your sire's blood. It shapes your Disciplines, your Bane, your Compulsion, and how other Kindred see you. Some Clans are respected. Others are reviled. All carry baggage. Select whichever Playbook seems the most fun!

What This Gives You:

• Access to 3 in-Clan Disciplines (choose 2 to start with)
• A unique Bane (your Playbook's specific curse)
• A Compulsion (urges that arise from your bloodline)
• 2 Perks (special abilities only your Playbook gets)
• XP triggers tied to your Playbook's themes

Available Clan Playbooks: Banu Haqim, Brujah, Gangrel, Hecata, Lasombra, Malkavian, The Ministry, Nosferatu, Ravnos, Salubri, Toreador, Tremere, Tzimisce, Ventrue

Available Clanless Playbooks: Caitiff, Daughter of Cacophony, Devorari, Gargoyle, Ghoul, Osirian, Thin-Blood

3. Choose Your Predator Type¶

Your Predator Type is how you hunt. It's the method you've developed to feed without getting caught, killed, or losing yourself entirely. It affects your Disciplines, gives you a Merit and a Flaw, and may saddle you with starting Debts.

What This Gives You:

• Which stat you roll when you Hunt (+Blood, +Shadow, +Wits, etc.)
• 1 bonus Discipline (sometimes outside your Clan's usual access)
• A Merit (mechanical/narrative advantage)
• A Flaw (complication or restriction)
• Sometimes starting Debts (obligations to NPCs or factions)

Available Types: Alleycat, Bagger, Blood Leech, Cleaver, Consensualist, Extortionist, Farmer, Graverobber, Grim Reaper, Montero, Organovore, Osiris, Roadside Killer, Pursuer, Sandman, Scene Queen, Siren, Tithe Collector, Tourist Hunter, Trapdoor

4. Establish Convictions¶

Convictions are your moral anchors, the rules you set for yourself to stay human. They're phrased as Always or Never statements: "Always protect children," "Never kill without cause," "Always keep my word." When you violate a Conviction, you mark a Stain and risk losing Humanity.

What You Need:

• 1–3 Convictions (more Convictions = more Touchstones but also more ways to fail)
• Each phrased as a clear, actionable principle
• Each one should be something you could violate under pressure

5. Identify Touchstones¶

Each Conviction needs a Touchstone; a specific mortal who embodies that principle and keeps you tethered to it. Touchstones are your connection to humanity, but they're also vulnerable. Lose them and your Conviction crumbles.

What You Need:

• 1 Touchstone per Conviction
• A name, relationship, and reason they matter to you
• Concrete details about their life (job, family, habits)

6. Determine Debts¶

Debts are favors owed and favors held. Some Predator Types give you starting Debts; obligations to NPCs who helped you survive, or leverage over people you've manipulated. Beyond that, you and the other players should establish Debts between your characters during Coterie creation.

What You Need:

• Any Debts from your Predator Type (if applicable)
• 1–2 Debts with other player characters (mix of owed and held)
• Clear fictional justification for each Debt

7. Decide on Disciplines¶

Disciplines are vampiric magic and abilities. Your Clan gives you access to 3 in-Clan Disciplines; you start with 2 of them at level 1. Your Predator Type gives you 1 additional Discipline (sometimes out-of-Clan). Each Discipline comes with a Discipline Perk that you get for free. Check out the table at the end of this section for further clarification. Clanless Playbooks start with slightly different Discipline access.

What You Get:

• Access to 2 of your 3 Clan Disciplines and their associated Discipline Perks
• Select a single level 1 Power from each Discipline you start with for free

What You Can't Do Yet:

• Access Discipline Powers of levels above your Blood Potency
• Learn Disciplines not listed on your Playbook (that costs extra XP later)

8. Starting XP¶

In Session Zero, every player character begins with a budget of Experience Points to spend on whatever they want before beginning play. Older Kindred are more experienced, younger ones less so. Think carefully about what you want to specialize in, because once XP is spent, it's gone until you earn more. Calculating your starting XP is straightforward. The formula is:

Your Blood Potency (minimum of 1, even for BP 0 characters) × 2 + any XP from taking on optional Folkloric Banes or Flaws

This means that players will have an average of 2–8 XP to spend before the Storyteller dims the lights and turns on the spooky tunes. Remember, you can only have a maximum of 10 XP at a time and Bane-stacking is an easy path to a swift Final Death. Choose wisely, Kindred. Or unwisely, if you prefer, but at least try to make other people think you know what you're doing. Starting XP does roll over if you don't/can't spend it all, so having some XP at the start of session 1 is okay. See the Advancement section for a catalog of what you can spend your XP on.

9. Finishing Touches¶

Now make your character real. Give them a name, an apparent age (how old they look, not how long they've been undead), a gender presentation or lack thereof, notable features, clothing style, mannerisms, and any other quirks you think would be interesting to play with. Describe what the Embrace cost them; who they left behind, what they lost, what they can never get back.

Final Details:

• Name: What do people call you? Did you used to be called something different?
• Apparent Age: How old do you look? You were frozen at the age you were Embraced.
• Presentation: Gender, pronouns, style, physical description.
• The Embrace: Who was your sire? Why were you chosen (or cursed)? What did you lose?

10. Create Your Coterie¶

Now comes the hard part: unliving with other vampires. You'll need to work as a group to get through this part. All the guidance you could need is in Coterie Creation in Part 4. Have fun out there, creature of the night!

Discipline Overview¶