Backgrounds

List of Backgrounds

City Secrets

This background represents how well connected into the Nosferatu (or other comparable) information gathering system you are. It allows you access to certain rumor arenas and other information sources.
This taps into the underlying information feeds through animal spies, repositories collected by the Nosferatu, etc. It does not give access into every secretive arena - like the occult, the Camarilla, the Sabbat, or clans.

Fame

This stat determines your level of Fame in mortal society. This can be as much a curse as a blessing. In Los Angeles, the famous have a great deal of trouble staying out of the public eye. Each level of fame roughly corresponds to the following:

  1. You're known to a select subculture of Los Angeles.
  2. You're known throughout Los Angeles. Or you're known to a select subculture throughout California.
  3. You're known throughout California. Or you're known to a select subculture throughout the United States.
  4. You're known throughout the United States. Or you're known to a select subculture throughout the world.
  5. You're known throughout the world.

Herd

This stat describes the circle of mortal vessels upon whom you can regularly feed. These vessels cannot be relied upon for anything other than feeding. Each level of herd roughly corresponds as follows:

Level # of vessels
1 3 vessels
2 7 vessels
3 15 vessels
4 30 vessels
60 vessels

The effects of this background are coded into the +hunt system.
A character can move their herd (via +feedback/request), but they incur the following penalty for doing so: For 1 RL week per level of Herd, the Herd is unavailable (set to 0). The IC reasoning for this is, as anyone who has moved will tell you, moving takes a lot of time and effort.

Maskings

This stat represents additional discipline options:
Obfuscate 3 disguises that have been studied over long periods of time (decades), and can be adopted without spending a willpower point. Each level of Maskings is one additional disguise.
Presence 3a emotions that have been honed for projection. (One additional emotion per level). Note one level of Maskings is free with purchase of the Presence3a power.

Mentor

This stat describes one or more elders who look after you. Higher levels indicate greater support you can expect from your mentor(s). The elders who act as your mentor may not be player characters, typically they will be elders in other cities. Your mentors may also expect you to occasionally do favours for them.

Resources

This stat determines your material resources and standard of living. Resources levels may change if your circumstances do.
The Los Angeles area is known as a playground of the rich and famous. People who would be considered fabulously wealthy in other parts of America are merely "well-off" here. On the other hand, the cost of living is so high that those who could live quite comfortably in somewhere like Arizona are often occupied trying to make ends meet. Therefore, our Resources scale is somewhat different than White Wolf's. It can be presumed that a given dot rating here would be roughly equivalent to the next higher rating in published White Wolf material; for example, a character who might be considered Resources 5 in White Wolf terms would be Resources 4 here. Being "Poor" does not necessarily mean you live in slums, in fact you could have a tiny apartment in a decent part of town, trying to keep afloat between rent and student loans. There is some room for interpretation here, just in general please keep in mind that Resources 3 is plenty rich for your average vampire with hundreds of years of stock portfolio to draw upon, and anything higher than that will require immense justification. Refer to our scale on the following pages for more concrete guidelines:

The following presents a very general scale:

Resources Life-style
0 Destitute: You are either homeless, or barely making ends meet on minimum wage.
1 Poor: You make little money at all, enough to pay rent on a small apartment, or lease a house in an area with low property values. You may or may not own a car.
2 Comfortable: You have a nice apartment or are paying off a house. You still live paycheck to paycheck, but probably make between $40,000 and $100,000 per year.
3 Wealthy: You have a considerable amount of money, and don't worry about spending on the day to day requirements of life at all. You probably own several cars, including an SUV.
4 Rich: You are a multi-millionaire, own a very nice home or mansion in a good area (perhaps more than one), and have considerable assets that provide you with nearly every reasonable material need that you could have. Many movie stars, high-level Forbes 500 execs, and sports figures are at this level.
5 Filthy Rich: You are a multi-billionaire and can easily afford estates in Beverly Hills and Malibu. Your wealth is institutional, and those at the lower levels of Resources probably don't really understand the scope of your economic power. Top line movie stars, producers, and the heads of the very largest multi-national corporations are this rich. You want it? You can afford it: White tigers, personal jets, $3 million birthday parties. Please note that only a rare few PCs, if any, will have a Resources level this high.

Retainers

This stat determines how many mortal (possibly ghoul) followers you have who support you totally.
Though mortals can have loyal servants, retainers are typically the blood bound followers of a vampire. Such retainers are generally ghouls. The number of retainers is determined by the Retainer background. In this game, there are three different types of retainers: unstatted retainers, statted retainers, and played retainers. You control your character's statted and unstatted retainers, and they should be described fully in a +jnote, preferably with names.

Unstatted Retainers

The number of unstatted retainers available to a character is directly determined by their Retainer rank as follows:

Rank No.
1 1
2 3
3 5
4 9
5 15

Unstatted retainers can be used as puppets in room descriptions, and in poses. All unstatted retainers are considered to have a 2 for all contest purposes. They cannot expend willpower. As a default, they can only Brawl, Evade, and Grapple in combat. Their CBT/DMT is 2, and their HIGH damage is 1 while their LOW damage is 0. If your RETAINERS +jnote permits, unstatted ghouls can have a generic melee weapon or firearm with a CBT/DMT of 2, HIGH damage of 2, and LOW damage of 1. (See Combat.) Additionally, an unstatted retainer is incapacitated if it takes more than 2 levels of damage in any one scene and dies if it takes more than 4 levels of damage. If an unstatted retainer dies, it's assumed that it can be replaced rather easily, subject to IC social/legal consequences.

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Statted Retainers

Statted retainers are, well, retainers with stats. They are necessarily puppets. Each is permitted to go through the mortal Chargen process and can be ghouled, subject to IC social/legal consequence, of course. Each statted retainer is basically another character in its own right, but it does not earn experience points and cannot possess background traits of its own. Statted retainers can only gain exceptional (3+) abilities and stat increases beyond mortal Chargen basics and the ghouling process by way of their controlling character spending experience points.
A character can obtain a statted retainer by giving up permanent Retainer ranks. In doing this, the character gains 1 statted retainer for every 5 unstatted retainers he or she gives up. For example, a character has Retainers at rank 4, which entitles them to 9 unstatted retainers. If they give up Retainers 4 and lower it to Retainers 2, they will be losing 6 available unstatted retainers. In exchange, they can obtain 1 statted retainer. And yes, this means that one unstatted retainer is unreimbursed.
Statted retainers can possess Weapons and basically do whatever their stats allow. However, they are a non-renewable resource. If a statted retainer dies, it is not easily replaced.

Played Retainer

A character can have as many PC retainers as Staff approves or else obtains through roleplay. A player does not control the PC retainers of his or her character. A PC retainer is played solely by the player of the PC retainer. However, a PC retainer can earn its own experience points.

Rituals

This stat shows how many rituals you knew at character generation. It serves no purpose after character generation, and will be removed from your sheet when your character is approved. Rituals may not be purchased at a higher level than your Thaumaturgy. It grants a number of levels of rituals as noted below, eg Rituals 2 would allow you to learn 4 level 1 rituals, or 2 level 2 rituals, or some mixture:

Level # of Rituals known at CharGen
0 1
1 2
2 4
3 7
4 11
5 16 (you're dreaming)

Standing

This stat shows summarizes the territorial power your character is recognized to have. This statistic is subject to in-game mechanics and cannot be bought during CharGen.

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