Unless a really good way of handling chargen comes up that we can agree upon, the following is official chargen rules for this game, A Dance in Twilight.

Name, Essence, Nature, etc work as normal. feel free to come up with your own Nature's and Demeanors. I consider Demeanors to be somewhat unnecessary to label but still a good roleplay guide.

Attributes: 8/6/4.

Abilities: this one area i have gone back and forth on. I have decided to go with 37 points in one big pool. I find the distinction between Talents, Skills and Knowledges to be somewhat pointless for chargen.  The Professional Skills/Expert Knowledges/Hobby Talents optional rule page 277 is active. The Well-Skilled Craftsman optional rule page 279 is also in use. For chargen purposes, after you hit 4 dots in a relevant Ability, you can spend 1 freebie/bonus point to get another specialty as listed on page 279. This should help show your experience.

I also consider Martial Arts and Brawl to be basically the same skill. Brawl does not exist.
The Minimum Abilities optional rule page 274 is NOT automatically enforced, but if your ability related focus is low for a big effect, you might take penalties to your Arete roll/s. YOU MAY BUY ABILITIES UP TO 5 DOTS BEFORE FREEBIES!

Everyman dots: After the idea was brought up in another thread I have decided to make the following official:  Everybody will get 5 "pseudo dots" to apply where they wish, long as it makes sense for your character. These can't be used beyond 1 dot in an Ability. To actually purchase the second dot in one of these selected Abilities, you have to buy the first dot as well, to reflect more actual training. For most characters, this would often be put into stuff like various driving stuff, computers, cooking, etc.

Backgrounds: 12 dots. Differential Backgrounds page 302 are allowed. Pooling Backgrounds is encouraged when it makes sense. Backgrounds over 5 dots, where they exist, are allowed, but very rare. Ex-Technocrats can have Enhancement background if appropriate. Other characters can take Enhancement, but it really has to fit the character's story and might call for additional flaws depending on source. I am allowing the more detailed wonder rules in Book of Secrets, but players are allowed to buy a normal Wonder via the normal background if they don't want to deal with the extra complexity. I am also allowing the Chole background from Sorcerer Revised.

Arete: 4. this cannot be increased at chargen.

Willpower: Permanent Willpower starts at 7.

Resonance and Synergy only exist as fluff.

Spheres: 12 dots. no more than one Sphere starting off with 4 dots.

Freebie/bonus Points: 25

Merits/Flaws: Our starting point is M20 Core and Book of Secrets. Feel free to propose more Merits and Flaws or slight alterations. Max number of points in Merits or Flaws is 10 each. Keep in mind that certain flaws will have likely been eliminated from a character with the right dots. Like bad eyesight if you have life 3 or higher (yes I know life 2 can fix it).


SORCERERS!

As above with the following exceptions:

As with the Mages, you are a card carrying member of one of the Traditions or Disparates depending on game, however recently. Keep in mind for backgrounds and Merit/Flaws that some groups treat their "hedge mages" relatively poorly at times.

With potential adjustment we are using Sorcerer Revised. If your character has a conflict between Sorcerer Revised and M20, see me. I allow custom Paths and Psionics, with a preference for using an existing one as a starting point.

While sorcerers are definitely weaker in some ways, they are effectively immune to Paradox. However, a bad casting roll is a bad casting roll. I am also thinking about making some of the willpower costs less harsh for some paths.

Path and/or Psychic Paths: 14 dots. I allow Hedge Magic paths to go to the listed 6 dots, but only one for starting. Psychic and Path magics can both be purchased by the same character with no extra cost, at chargen or later on (by the rules in Sorc Revised it is suggested to make going from one to the other to be more expensive. I am ignoring this).


FOR ALL CHARACTERS: I will allow exactly *1* Kinfolk Mage/Sorcerer. Expect family/Fera complications.

Ghoul Mages/Sorcerers are allowed. Expect complications and blood bond. Also, Mages in particular could have potentially bad things in regards to Vitae and Magic sometimes.

Fae Blooded/Enchanted Mages/Sorcerers: As stated elsewhere, Changelings don't exist in the way oWoD players are used to. You are more than welcome to have a Fae related character, but it will most likely be from an interaction with an actual Fae or related being. If you want Fae powers, your best bet is Merits and Flavored backgrounds. The Fae are beings of mystery, even to mages.



EDIT #1: as per messages below and a question by randomkitty; All characters get 5 free languages known at game start, but can purchase the language merit to get TWO more languages per merit point spent. for characters with a good reason not to have some or any of these extra free languages (subject to GM/ST approval) you can trade in those free languages in for more freebie/bonus points on a one for one conversion rate.
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:37, Wed 03 Apr 2019.

Is that one sphere at 4 including spending freebie points?

Oops. No you can buy that one up for 4 with normal starting pool. You CAN spend freebie on it, but not required.

For any familiars, I am gonna allow the use Forged by Dragon's Fire for familiar creation. this is optional. we can co create familiars with abilities not listed there or just wholecloth.

Are we using the languages as merits or are we using the older language as ability? I know a lot of people house rule it back and wanted to check.

thank you i completely overlooked that. seeing as how a few characters are far along but others are still forming, i will make this a simple houserule and will update the initial post. i was not the biggest fan of how they handled the language skill, but i don't like them as a true merit either independently, it can really hinder some concepts i think. so, i will make a simple pool of points for this available to all characters. this pool will be inherently flexible in flavor. all of your are experienced mages of one sort or another, and are likely to have learned a few extra languages (not necessarily human ones, though Fera ones are pretty hard to learn) along the way. i am NOT tying this to an already existing stat, like intelligence. with extensive mind magic, many languages can be programmed/memorized into a person, thought intelligence helps. and plenty of not so smart people can learn multiple languages with effort. so i am gonna say everybody has a pool of 5 extra languages they can know at game start. if you want more languages, simply purchase them as the language merit but each purchase will get you two languages instead.

IF THIS DOESN'T FIT YOUR CONCEPT, you can simply use those extra language slots to convert to more freebie/bonus points on a one for one basis. however please see me for approval of this first. this game will be starting in an extremely multilingual region of the world. some of the earliest experiments with written language happened in the middle east and that nations they traded with (namely egypt and indus valley). knowing multiple languages can really help you get around this part of the world. not to mention conversing with some of the oldest vampires active, ancient djinn, and various other extradimensional critters, or reading old ruinious scripts. one of the best ways around all of this is a character who overly relies on mind magic to get by or magic items.

another reason to know multiple languages as an advanced mage is that a lot of other mages in some groups will judge you a lot on what you know, namely a lot of hermetics, certain kinds of etherites, odd groups of pagan mages, etc.