Character Creation Challenge #15 Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition

For context, this post is part of the #CharacterCreationChallenge happening throughout January 2026.

It was originally set up by Tardis Captain and challenges folks in the TTRPG sphere to create a character each day for 31 days.

There’s a big old FAQ section which goes into detail about it in the link.

31 Day Character Creation Challenge Image by Tardis Captain (2025)

Day 15: Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition published Renegade Game Studios

The game blurb: Vampire: The Masquerade is the original and ultimate roleplaying game of personal and political horror. You are a vampire, struggling for survival, supremacy, and your own fading humanity — afraid of what you are capable of, and fearful of the inhuman conspiracies that surround you…

Ah VtM 5th Edition. One of the biggest roleplaying games in the TTRPG industries. So much lore and setting to pull from to create really intense cinematic scenes. And I like the ‘Three Rounds and Done!’ policy for combat.

If you are looking for a personal and political horror game, you can’t go wrong with Vampire. I always enjoy running it for folks (even if I am still not completely down with all the rules). If in doubt, vibe it out.

In terms of free resources, I think the QuickStart scenario ‘The Monsters’ is pretty good in getting people into playing (though your mileage may vary on that particular scenario’s ending). And the Storyteller’s Kit has some useful tibits for new storytellers and a lot of the information you can easily look up and read about on the official VTM wiki.

I can’t, in good faith, recommend the core rulebook as in its’ current layout. It is one of the most difficult to read books I own. So overwhelming with its many thin columns of dense blocks of text. Surrounded by so much white space. The art is great but I have to gear myself up to read a chapter or find a rule reference.

I feel like the VtM character creation process is not clear in the slightest. Like in Call of Cthulhu, players can get easily overwhelmed by choice paralysis and indecision. You definitely need to do some research when it comes to picking your clan, disciplines, advantages and flaws and, often, it feels like cramming for a history test you forgot about.

Seriously, I should just print out p. 136–7 for the character creation summary, along with the Summary sheet on p. 152–3, and just tape it to the cover of my own core book. Those pages are vital I think.

What I would recommend is using Demiplane for VtM character creation. Sure you have to buy the corebook on the Demiplane store to unlock the content (which might be frustrating when you already own the core book PDF) but it saves so much time/flipping between pages — genuinely the perfect for a group session 0. Just takes a little while to load.

Alternatively, I have used SchreckNet in the past (whilst referencing the Wiki or the Core books along side) and that has worked well (though the layout isn’t the nicest/easy on the eye).

Just to note — for ease, I am only using the core rules for this character creation and not any of the additional source books or the Players’ Guide.

Also putting a quick Content Warnings for this post: Definitely some mature horror themes and mentions of blood. violence and sex. Your mileage may vary!

Step 1. Core Concept

What was your character’s name in life? What did they do? Where and when were they Embraced? What is their name now? Where are they now? Write your character’s name on the Relationship Map.

Actually, the Clan pages have some good archetype concepts you can pull on to make a character. So I can come back to this and flesh it out a little bit but for now I am just going to pick up a few details regarding the character’s previous life.

Previous Name: Gilbert Fox (He/Him)

Embraced: 1920s / Birmingham UK

Name: Gil Luxford (He/Him)

Currently resides: On the outskirts of Birmingham, UK

Maybe consider doing a Peaky Blinders type of character for this challenge? Mmm…

Step 2. Clan and Sire

Pick your clan. Write your character’s sire on the Relationship Map along with relevant sect SPCs.

From the core book we have 9 classes to choose from:

• Brujah (Rebels)
• Gangrel (Beasts)
• Malkavians (Oracles)
• Nosferatu (Monstrosites)
• Toreador (Seducers)
• Tremere (Witches)
• Ventrue (Aristocrats)
• Caitiffs (Orphans)
• The Thin-Blooded

Anyone who knows me knows I love the Nosferatu (they are just little gross guys!) but going to challenge myself to do a different clan this time. I have also played a Toreador in the past so will steer away from that one too.

I am going to avoid Caitiffs (a customisable clan essentially) and Thin-blooded (because Gil was embraced over 100 years ago and is likely to be 10th or 11th generation/Ancillae).

I think I am going to go for Gangrel — something about having the inner beast and animals appeals to me for this character if I am thinking about going down a Peaky Blinders type of root. The Gangrel bio reads:

‘Clan Gangrel are outcasts, wanderers, rogues, and hunters. They make havens in the poorest parts of the city and feel no shame for doing so.

They claim few domains as their own but defer to no prince. If a feral enters a city, the prince will either accept it or have to fight the feral to get them to back down.

Gangrel Embrace from the ranks of survivors and fighters: leaders of prison crews and gangs, explorers (urban and otherwise), and any kine who sees the world as something to traverse instead of something to hide from. They care not for looks or title, but for accomplishment and reputation. A childe may be a challenge, but the clan follows rituals and initiations to ensure the fledgling is worth the time.

Success means a new, honored member of the clan. Failure means simply a forgettable reject or a pile of ash. Any mortal capable of projecting their will onto others, leading a group from disaster to success, or fighting impossible odds draws the clan’s attention.

This fact results in a symptom known as “too many chiefs,” when the clan consists of more leaders than followers. Customs encourage fights for dominance, but these rarely last until final death, as Gangrel elders advocate against taking competition for authority personally, instead encouraging a culture of healthy rivalry.’

This is the archetype I was considering:

‘Uncaged Jailbird: This Kindred spent most of their mortal life in prison or was once incarcerated for a severe crime. Such a past conveys a reputation and a jaded attitude toward authority leavened with a desperate taste for freedom and opportunity to exercise liberties formerly denied them.’

In terms of a sire — I am just going to put two names together from the characters in Peaky Blinders are go for: Polly Thorne (Shelby is way too obvious!)

Step 3. Attributes

Take one Attribute at 4; three Attributes at 3; four Attributes at 2; one Attribute at 1.

Health = Stamina + 3; Willpower = Composure + Resolve.

Have gone for:

Physical:

• Strength: 2
• Dexerity: 2
• Stamina: 3

Social:

• Charisma: 3
• Manipulation: 3
• Composure: 2

Mental:

• Intelligence: 2
• Wits: 4
• Resolve: 1

Health: 6

Willpower: 3

Step 4. Skills

Pick one Skill distribution.

Jack of all trades: One Skill at 3; eight Skills at 2; ten Skills at 1

Balanced: Three Skills at 3; five Skills at 2; seven Skills at 1

Specialist: One Skill at 4; three Skills at 3; three Skills at 2; three Skills at 1

Add free specialties to Academics, Craft, Performance, and Science Skills.

Take one more free specialty.

I always go for Balanced Skill Set for ease. I am going to do:

• Stealth: 3
• Insight: 3
• Awareness: 3
• Brawl: 2
• Firearms: 2
• Larency: 2
• Persuasion: 2
• Streetwise: 2
• Athletics: 1
• Drive: 1
• Animal Ken: 1
• Etiquette: 1
• Leadership: 1
• Finance: 1
• Technology: 1

Someone who has roots in the criminal underworld and knows the ins and outs. Useful to suss out the competition and who’s moving on who’s patch.

Almost forgot about specialities! Having a quick look through lets go:

• Academics: Architecture
• Craft: Painting
• Performance: Poetry (sensitive soul!)
• Science: Demolitions

Then one additional skill specialities:

• Larceny: Forgery

Step 5. Disciplines

Choose two of your clan Disciplines. Put two dots in one and one dot in the other.

Disciplines for Gangrel are:

• Animalism: A Gangrel can use Animalism to take on an animal companion, sometimes called a famulus. The animal companion can be used for hunting, spying, and attacking. Some Gangrel will turn pets on their owners, hound vagrants with packs of dogs, or lure strays to them for a quick feeding.
• Fortitude: As longtime bodyguards and soldiers for the other clans, the Gangrel have benefited hugely from Fortitude. The Discipline can give them a sense of fearlessness, as it allows them to hunt across harsh terrain and take bullets and knife blades without worry. The Gangrel who emphasize growth in Fortitude likely expects a lot of harm to come their way.
• Protean: Gangrel are known for their mastery of Protean, as few other clans possess its gifts. Straddling the line between vampirism and shapeshifting, the Discipline allows a Gangrel to take on the physical properties of another creature, or in other ways change their physical shape. Gangrel who feed as animals often consider this the truest, or at least the best, of kills.

Definitely keen to focus on the Protean discipline as that sounds pretty grim and fun so will put 2 dots in that.

I am not keen on harming animals or having an animal companion really so will put my last dot in Fortitude.

When it comes to learning Disciplines (not super obvious from the character creation summary pages btw), ‘Every time a character gains a dot in a Discipline they choose one power from among the listed, either from their new Discipline level or below. Vampire characters normally have an equal number of dots and powers in a Discipline — no more, no less.’

So, for Protean I can learn 2 powers (2 Level 1 OR 1 Level and Level 2) and 1 power from Fortitude (Level 1)

I am choosing:

Protean:

Level 1: Weight of the feather: ‘The vampire can reduce their effective mass and density, making themselves almost weightless. This allows them to avoid triggering pressure sensors as well as avoiding major damage from falls, collisions, or being thrown. The power cannot be used for longer leaps, as the vampire’s strength is proportionally reduced.

Cost: Free

Dice Pools: Wits + Survival

System: If the vampire has time to prepare, no roll is required. As a reaction, such as during a sudden fall, activating the power requires a Wits + Survival roll at Difficulty 3.

As long as the power is in effect, the vampire is immune to damage rom falls, collisions, and being thrown. The user also avoids triggering devices that rely on pressure, at the Storyteller’s discretion.

Duration: As long as desired

Level 2: Feral weapons: ‘The vampire can extend their natural weapons to monstrous proportions. This usually takes the form of fingernails extending into wicked talons but can also come in other forms such as fangs elongating into veritable daggers, as from a gigantic serpent.’

Cost: One Rouse Check

System: No skill roll is needed to activate this power. When activated, the vampire adds a +2 modifier to their Brawl damage, and causes Aggravated Health damage to mortals. Superficial damage inflicted from Feral Weapons is not halved.

Duration: One scene

Fortitude

Level 1: Unswayable mind: ‘The user gains a mystical ability to resist any attempts to sway them through mundane charms, coercion, and wiles. Some exhibit Unswayable Mind as zen-like calm, others as supernatural stubbornness.’

Cost: Free

System: The user adds their dots in Fortitude as extra dice in any roll made to resist coercion, intimidation, seduction, or any other attempt to sway the user’s mind against their will. This power also works against supernatural abilities such as Dominate and Presence.

Duration: Passive

Yeahhhh now we are talking! Gil can take care of himself and you won’t change his mind about it!

It doesn’t mention when I should note down The Gangrel’s Bane so will do that now.

‘Gangrel relate to their Beast much as other Kindred relate to the Gangrel: suspicious partnership. In frenzy, Gangrel gain one or more animal features: a physical trait, a smell, or a behavioral tic. These features last for one more night afterward, lingering like a hangover following debauchery.

Each feature reduces one Attribute by 1 point — the Storyteller may decide that a forked tongue or bearlike musk reduces Charisma, while batlike ears reduce Resolve (“all those distracting sounds”).

If nothing immediately occurs to you, the feature reduces Intelligence or Manipulation.

The number of features a Gangrel manifests equals their Bane Severity.

If your character Rides the Wave of their frenzy (see p. 219) you can choose only one feature to manifest, thus taking only one penalty to their Attributes’

Step 6. Predator

Pick your Predator type (p. 175) and apply it:

Add one of the listed specialties.

Add one dot to a listed Discipline.

Apply any associated Advantages or Flaws.

Here we have 10 Predator types which determines story wise how Gil will feed:

• Alleycat
• Bagger
• Blood Leech
• Cleaver
• Consensualist
• Farmer
• Osiris
• Sandman
• Scene Queen
• Siren

Ah some good ones here. I think I am going to push myself a little bit out of my comfort zone and go for Siren:

‘You feed almost exclusively during or while feigning sex, and you rely on your Disciplines, seduction skills, or the unquenchable appetites of others to conceal your carnivorous nature.

You have mastered the art of the onenight stand or move through the sex-club scene like a dark star. You think of yourself as a sexy beast, but in your darkest moments, you fear that you’re at best a problematic lover, at worst a habitual sex offender.

A former lover who escaped destruction might be your Touchstone or your stalker.

(If so, add them to the Relationship Map.) Maybe in life you were a pick-up artist, movie producer, author, a glorious slutty kinkster — or a virgin who intends to make up for lost time post-mortem.’

• Add a specialty: Persuasion (Seduction) or Subterfuge (Seduction)
• Gain one dot of Fortitude or Presence
• Gain the Looks Merit: (••) Beautiful
• Gain the Enemy Flaw: (•) A spurned lover or jealous partner

Alright — I am going to take speciality for Persuasion (as I don’t have any dice already in Subterfuge).

I am going to get 1 dot in the Presence discipline for sure, the ability to attract, sway, and control emotions.

Let’s choose our Presence discipline power now before I forget:

Level 1: Daunt: ‘Instead of attracting people, the vampire uses Presence to repel. With this power the user appears threatening and exudes an aura of menace powerful enough to make most mortals avoid their attention and even vampires think twice about acting against them.

Cost: Free

System: Add the user’s Presence rating to any Intimidation rolls. Attacking the user requires a Resolve + Composure roll at Difficulty 2. Vampires cannot use Awe and Daunt simultaneously.

Duration: One scene or until intentionally ended’

Then note down Beautiful (**You add one extra die to all appropriate Social dice pools) and Enemy: Spurned Lover** (who is 100% Polly Thorne, Gil’s Sire!)

Step 7. Advantages

Spend 7 points on Advantages, and take 2 points of Flaws in addition to the ones gained from your Predator type.

This part always takes ages as the core book has a weird way of listing these advantages (also called merits?) and flaws under general categories rather than in just alphabetical order. And some of the flaws are put before advantages and it’s just not super clear what’s supposed to happen here.

Especially as some of these are helpful mechanisms and some are more “resources” for roleplay!

Anyway, I went through and picked the following:

Advantages:

• • Bloodhound: You can smell the Resonance of a human’s blood without tasting it. You still need to be within olfactory range of the person. Make a Resolve + Awareness test at Difficulty 3. Increase Difficulty for perfume ordistance; lower it for more intimate contact.
• •• Contact: One Contact who can do or get something useful for you (Resources 2). Examples: small-time gun dealer, veterinarian.
• •••• Powerful: Without a good reason to do otherwise, functionaries and foot soldiers obey.

I can imagine Gil being a literal shark in the water when he is out at night. Hunting for food in the night club, hosting parties and doing deals in the backroom of various pubs. Do not cross him otherwise you will lose more than just your hand!

If I was doing a relationship map, I would add the contact to it. Their name is Jason Brook, a local insurance scammer and confidante. Gil remembers his mother (sweet lady) and looks after James as if he was his own son or brother.

Flaws:

• (•) Living in the Past. You haven’t grasped the modern mindset, or you just don’t want to. You have one or more seriously outdated Convictions, e.g. “The Pope’s word is law,” “Women are delicate flowers,” “Lower classes exist only to serve,” or “Burn your enemies’ baggage.” These archaic moralities maintain your Humanity but are odious to many; you lose one die from Social test dice pools involving such archaic beliefs except with vampires your age and older, who may admire your steadfast virtue.
• (•) Stigmata. You begin to bleed from open wounds on your hands, feet, and forehead when you reach Hunger 4. This attracts attention, leaves traces, and may penalize some dice pools at the Storyteller’s discretion.

Gil is an old man at heart. Hates technology even though he can use it. Too many apps. Too many two factor authentication requirements. Too many bright loud notifications. Doesn’t get trends…what the hell is a Labubu?

And I always think Stigmata flaw with vampires are always interesting — just that image of them covered in blood due to their high level of hunger? Woah.

Step 8. Convictions and Touchstones

Select one to three Convictions. (p. 172)

Create an equal number of Touchstones (p. 173), each connected to one Conviction and add them to the Relationship Map. Set your Humanity to 7.

So I cheated a little bit here and picked some of the examples given on the page. I kinda wish there was more or maybe fill in the blanks. Maybe a questionnaire like how you create story tags from Themebooks in Legend in the Mist.

• Always keep your sworn word
• None may control me
• Keep it in the family

Again — I was thinking how would I embody Thomas Shelby in this setting and feel that family (found, by blood or otherwise) is super important here.

With that in mind, I now need to make up some Touchstones i.e. some NPCs for the Storyteller to use against me (in addition to the Enemy: Spurned Lover thought I had earlier). There’s some examples here including:

• A human who looks exactly like someone you loved in life.
• A human related to someone you killed very early in your unlife: someone you swore you didn’t have to kill because you aren’t a monster, not really
• Someone you have come to recognize as a rare decent person even in your eyes: a volunteer at the animal shelter, a priest, a nurse, a social worker, a nice old lady in the neighborhood
• Someone who represents something you once held dear in life and still cling to: a soldier, a baseball player, a musician or artist, clergy from your faith
• Someone who guards, symbolizes, or protects a thing you value: the doorman of the building you used to live in, the cop on your old beat, a crusading reporter, the single mom living in your childhood home, the caretaker who sweeps your gravesite.

Let’s go for a member of the clergy for the ‘always keep your sworn word’ — I think Gil is pretty religious and never goes back on his word. Loyal to a fault. He goes to religious reading sessions around the town, different places of worship to learn more. He admires a local vicar named Josephine Myers who runs a LGBT+ friendly organisation and outreach programme.

Next, we will have Isaac Mead, for ‘none may control me’! A local politician who has been clamping down on various business deals (thankfully none of Gil’s!) in an attempt to ‘get rid of corruption’. Isaac refuses to stand down in the face of lobbyists trying to bribe him and Gil admires this — a man who will not be swayed by others easily and will make up his own mind.

Then (of course), let’s have a descendant — Rachael Fox, for **‘**Keep it in the family’. Gil never realised he had a descendent until recently and is utterly besotted with her — he does everything in his power to keep her safe and make sure she is well cared for (she is in her 40s — single cat mom life!)

Step 9. Sea of Time

Together with the Storyteller and other players, decide if your coterie are:

Childer: Embraced within the last 15 years:

14th, 15th, or 16th Generation (thin-bloods): Blood Potency 0

12th or 13th Generation: Blood Potency 1

Neonates: Embraced between 1940 and a decade ago

12th or 13th Generation: Blood Potency 1

Each player spends 15 experience points

Ancillae: Embraced between 1780 and 1940

10th or 11th Generation: Blood Potency 2

Each player adds 2 points of Advantages

Each player adds 2 points of Flaws

Each player subtracts 1 Humanity

Each player spends 35 experience points.

So, like I said at the beginning, we are going Ancillae for Gil due to the time in which he was embraced. So let’s note down the following and make some quick choices:

• Blood Potency: 2
• Advantages: Haven •• (Good size, security, or privacy. Examples: a single family home or row house, wolf enclosure at the zoo, branch sewer tunnel)
• Flaws: (••) Known Blankbody. (Your biometrics, name, history, known associates, and aliases appear in several intelligence agency databases, flagged as a potential terrorist. Any inquisitor can read between the lines and recognize you as a vampire.)
• Humanity: 6

Now we just have 35 experience points to use up (p. 137 for a table on what we can do).

I think, for ease, I am just gonna bump some basic Attributes:

• Bump Strength to 3 dots = 15 XP
• Bump Stamina to 4 dots = 20 XP (which in turn will bump up my health by one dot to 7)

I think that is everything (bar Coterie making which again is group creation!). Also haven’t filled in Desire and Ambition as I do feel those would be discussed in a longer Session 0.

Here’s the final character sheet for Gil Luxford (formally Gil Fox).

This is probably about the 6th or 7th time I have had a go at building a character for Vampire and I STILL have no idea if I have done it all right! Then again, this game is very vibes heavy so possibly could play it off on vibes alone!

If you enjoy my ramblings on this post (or any of these posts), feel free to drop a comment or share to other likeminded souls (or whatever it is people do on blogs these days).

Also — will plug the old Ko-Fi because heck why not. Any donation there goes straight back into buy more TTRPGs for me to read/run.

Cheers m’dears! See you next time for Wanderhome!

Fiona Howat is TTRPG Actual Play Performer, Podcaster, Improviser and Voiceover Artist. Find out more about her various projects here.