Archtypes
Architect
Your sense of purpose goes beyond your own needs; you try to create something
of lasting value for those who will come after you. People need many things,
and you gain satisfaction by providing whatever you can. You are the type of
person who makes an effort to build something of value: to found a town, create
a company or in some way leave a lasting legacy. Many American pioneers were
Architects by Nature.
- Regain Willpower whenever you create or establish something of importance
or lasting value.
Autocrat
You must have complete control of the situation, complete control over those
around you and as much control over fate as you possible can. Control is the
only thing you understand; it is what you worship. Authority is what you desire,
and it is what you gain when you have control. The more authority you have,
the more control you gain. One hand feeds the other. Others may consider you
domineering, but they just aren't up for the job - you are the only one who
can do it.
- Regain one point of Willpower whenever you achieve complete control over a
situation involving other individuals.
Autist
You hide your secrets from others. Even more importantly, you hide your true
self. Anyone who understands you can hurt you, so no one must ever see the real
you, or even come close. Give away as little of yourself as possible - adopt
a false personality if you like - but just make sure no one discovers the truth
about you. Knowledge is power, and those who know you can do anything they like
to you.
- Regain one Willpower point whenever another character confesses he is unable
to understand you, or whenever someone makes a false assumption about you that
gives you an advantage.
Avant-Garde
You must always be in the forefront - always the first with a piece of news,
a dance or fashion trend, or a discovery in the arts. Nothing pains you more
than hearing news secondhand, or someone else telling you about a hot new band.
New discoveries are your life, and you devote a great deal of time and effort
to keeping up with things. After all, if you're not in the forefront, you're
nowhere.
- Regain one Willpower point whenever you are first with a piece of news or
some other significant discovery.
Bon Vivant
Life is pointless, shallow and meaningless - so have as good a time as possible.
Rome may burn, but you shall drink wine and sing songs. A hedonist, sensualist,
sybarite and party animal, the words austere, self-denial and self-discipline
have no place in your life. You much prefer the concept of instant gratification.
Still, you don't mind a little hard work as long as a good time awaits you upon
completion. Most Bon Vivants have low Self-Control, for they so dearly love
excess.
- Regain Willpower whenever you have a truly good time and can fully express
your exultation (or perhaps even more points if you enjoy an especially fun
night).
Bravo
You are known as a bully, a ruffian and a tough, and delight in tormenting the
weak. Things must always go your way, and you do not tolerate those who cross
you. Power and might are all you respect; indeed, you heed only those who can
prove their power to you. You see nothing wrong with forcing your will upon
others. There is nothing you like better than to persecute, antagonize, heckle
and intimidate those for whom you have contempt and of them there are many.
The emotions of kindness and pity are not completely foreign to you, but you
hide from your own sense of weakness through cruelty to others. While most Bravos
despise the weak, a few become their protectors.
- Regain Willpower whenever you intimidate or physically force another person
to do what you wish.
Caregiver
You always try to help those around you, struggling to make a difference in
the needs and sorrows of the unfortunate. People around you depend on your stability
and strength to keep them steady and centered. You are the one people turn to
when they have a problem.
- Regain Willpower whenever you successfully protect or nurture someone else.
It can be as small as a smile of support or a shoulder to lean on at an appropriate
moment. You must help the other person in some way, though he need not acknowledge
it openly.
Cavalier
You are as bold, intrepid, valiant and fearless as you need to be to complete
your duty. You are the hero who tries to live up to glorious ideals and codes
of justice. By protecting that which is good, you seek to preserve the society
that made you what you are. If your Nature is Cavalier, and your Humanity ever
falls below four, you have to choose a new Nature. You probably hate Deviants,
though you may not always recognize them.
- Regain three Willpower points when you manage to accomplish a significant
task that positively affects the group to which you belong.
Child
You are still immature in personality and temperament: a kid who never grew
up. Though you can (hopefully) care for yourself, you prefer the security of
being watched over by others. Often you seek out someone to look out for you
- a caretaker of sorts. Some see you as a spoiled brat, while others see you
as an innocent cherub unaffected by the evils of the world. This is a very common
archetype for Kindred who were created when they were young and subsequently
matured mentally, but not emotionally.
- Regain Willpower whenever someone does something to help you with no apparent
gain for herself.
Competitor
You are driven by the need to win at all costs. The thrill of victory is the
only thrill you recognize; it is the thing that drives you. You see life as
a contest and society as a dichotomy of winners and losers. You believe all
the macho business proverbs - "if you're not lead dog, the view never changes";
"there are no prizes for second place"; "eat or be eaten."
You try to turn every situation into a contest of some kind, and it is the only
way you can relate to anything. You are capable of cooperating with others,
but only by turning the group interactions into another contest: you must be
the leader, or the most productive, or the most indispensable, or the best liked
- anything, as long as it means you win in some way or another.
- Regain one Willpower point whenever you win a contest of any sort, formal
or informal. For truly impressive victories, the Storyteller may award more
points.
Confidant
You understand people and, more importantly, you like them. You are a facilitator
who listens and advises. People confess to you and in return you give them advice,
most of which is good (though sometimes your advice is more for your own benefit
than for that of the recipient). You are very interested in other people, and
who and what they are. Personalities fascinate you, as do the sickness and beauty
of human nature.
- You regain a point of Willpower whenever someone confides in you on a personal
and intimate level.
Conformist
You are a follower. Taking charge is just not your style. It is easy for you
to adapt, attune, adjust, comply and reconcile yourself to whatever new situation
you find yourself in. You flit to the brightest star, the person whom you feel
to be the best, throwing your lot in with her. It is both difficult and distasteful
for you to go against the flow or rebel. You hate inconsistency and instability,
and know that by supporting a strong leader, you help prevent chaos from occurring.
All stable groups need some kind of Conformist.
- Regain Willpower whenever your group (the brood) accomplishes something because
of your support and aid.
Conniver
What's the sense of working hard when you can get something for nothing? Why
drudge when, just by talking, you can get what you want? You always try to find
the easy way out, the fast track to success and wealth. Some people might call
what you do swindling or even outright theft, but you know that you only do
what everyone else does; you just do it better. Additionally, it's a game, and
you get great pleasure out of outwitting someone. Connivers play many roles,
so you may be a thief, a swindler, a street waif, an entrepreneur, a con man
or just a finagler.
- Regain Willpower whenever you are able to get your way by tricking another
person into doing as you wish.
Critic
Nothing in the world should be accepted without thorough scrutiny and examination.
Nothing is ever perfect, and the blemishes must be pointed out in order for
the good to be truly known. Your standards are high for everything, and you
insist on their being met. You encourage the same ideals in others, because
laxity and low standards reduce the quality of life for everyone. Others will
thank you later, once they discover the purity of your perspective. You seek
out and expose the imperfections in every person or thing you encounter. You
are never satisfied with anything that is less than perfect, unless it is within
yourself after all, you're not a perfectionist.
- Regain one Willpower point whenever you are able to discover a significant
imperfection that has escaped the attention of others.
Curmudgeon
You are an irascible, churlish person at heart, taking everything seriously
and finding little humor in life (though you may have a wickedly barbed wit).
Cynicism is your middle name; it is the tool with which you judge everything
in life. You have a very well-defined understanding of how things really work,
especially when they involve the circus of human endeavor. Long ago the foolish
actions of others ceased to surprise you.
- Regain Willpower whenever someone does something stupid, just like you predicted.
You must predict it either out loud to the other characters or in private to
the Storyteller.
Director
You despise chaos and disorder, and tend to take control and organize things
in order to suppress anarchy. You like to be in charge, live to organize and
habitually strive to make things work smoothly. You trust your own judgment
implicitly and tend to think of things in black-and-white terms: "This
won't work," "You're either for me or against me," "There
are two ways to do this - my way and the wrong way."
- Regain Willpower when you are allowed to lead a group and accomplish some
significant task.
Deviant
There are always people who don't fit in, and you are such a miscreant. Your
beliefs, motivations and sense of propriety are the complete antithesis of the
status quo. You are not so much an aimless rebel as an independent thinker who
does not belong in the society in which you were raised. You don't give a damn
about other people's morality, but you do adhere to your own strange code of
conduct. Deviants are typically irreverent, and some have truly bizarre tastes
and desires.
- Regain Willpower whenever you are able to thumb your nose at society and its
precepts without retaliation (most often vampiric society rather than mortal).
Fanatic
You are consumed by a cause; it is the primary force in your life, for good
or ill. Every ounce of blood and passion you possess is directed toward it;
in fact, you may feel very guilty about spending time on anything else. You
will let nothing stand in your way - nothing that you cannot overcome, in any
case. You and those around you may suffer, but your cause is everything - the
end justifies the means. Before the game begins, make sure you describe your
cause, and define how it may affect your behavior.
-You regain Willpower whenever you accomplish an act which furthers your cause.
Gallant
You are as flamboyant as you are amoral; some see you as a rogue, a Don Juan,
a rake, a paramour or just a lounge lizard - but you see yourself as all of
the above. A consummate actor who loves to make as big a show of things as possible,
nothing attracts your attention more than an appreciative audience. You love
people and you love to impress them even more. Though you may indeed be a superior
lover, you enjoy the chase almost as much as you enjoy the act. Gallants vary
widely in temperament and ambition, holding in common little more than their
love of attention.
- Regain Willpower whenever you manage to dazzle or impress another person.
The Storyteller is always the judge, even when characters are involved.
Honest-Abe
You have a moderate temperament, and refrain at all cost from telling lies and
stealing from others. You were brought up to live honestly and openly, and to
be good to others - you have lived your life (and unlife) by these simple truths
ever since. You are not a dogmatist and do not insist that others live as you
do, nor have you constructed a complicated set of rules for yourself. You are
flexible in your behavior, but always carefully evaluate your actions against
your beliefs.
-You regain five points of Willpower if your honesty harms you or your friends
in some way, but later turns out to help you. In other words, your honesty turns
out to have been the proper way to do things, even from a pragmatic point of
view.
Jester
You are the fool, idiot, quipster, clown or comic, forever making fun of both
yourself and others. You constantly seek the humor in any situation, and strive
always to battle the tides of depression inside yourself. You hate sorrow and
pain, and constantly try to take others' minds off the dark side of life. Sometimes
you'll do nearly anything to forget pain exists. Your particular brand of humor
might not always impress your friends, but it makes you feel better. Some Jesters
manage to escape pain and are truly happy, but most never find release.
- Regain Willpower when you raise the spirits of those around you through the
device of humor, especially when you are able to escape your own pain in the
process.
Jobsworth
You are dedicated to the unbroken routine of your existence, and refuse to do
anything that compromises your routine and established practices. No matter
how urgent or deserving an individual case may be, the preservation of established
practices and routines is more important. Individual decisions and considerations
are fallible, whereas routines and established procedures are the distilled
wisdom of years or decades of decision-making. Routines are what separate order
from chaos. Make an exception once, and it sets a dangerous precedent; make
an exception twice, and the door to anarchy is opened.
-Regain a Willpower point each time you are able to preserve your routine, and
each time you avoid reevaluating anything or making a decision about a situation
based on its individual merits. At the Storyteller's option, more points may
be awarded for truly impressive feats of generalization.
Judge
As a facilitator, moderator, arbitrator, conciliator and peacemaker, you always
seek to make things better. You pride yourself on your rationality, your judgment
and your ability to deduce a reasonable explanation when given the facts. You
struggle to promote truth, but you understand how difficult it is to ascertain.
You respect justice, for that is the way in which truth can reign. In your view,
people are resources, albeit ones that are most difficult to manage and employ.
You hate dissension and arguments, and shy away from dogmatism. Sometimes Judges
make good leaders, though a lack of vision can sometimes cause them to maintain
the status quo instead of searching for a better way.
- Regain Willpower when you are able to successfully separate the truth from
a web of lies or can convince disputing individuals to agree with your judgments.
Loner
You are the type of person who is always alone, even in the midst of a crowd.
You are the wanderer, hunter and lone wolf. Though others might think of you
as lonely, forsaken, isolated or remote, in truth you prefer your own company
to that of others. There are many different reasons why this might be so: you
don't understand people, you understand people too well, people dislike you,
people like you too much, or you are simply lost in your own thoughts. Your
reasons are your own.
- When you manage to accomplish some significant task on your own, without the
aid of others, yet which still aids the group in some way, you regain Willpower
based on the significance of the achievement.
Manipulator
You have always been fascinated by others. Why do people behave as they do?
What thoughts and emotions affect their actions? The cognitive processes that
influence the choices people make intrigue you. Sometimes just asking people
questions about their actions can yield important information, but often people
do not truly understand their own motivations and concerns. In these cases,
it is far easier to set up situations -experiments, if you will - to see how
people behave. You attempt to manipulate these situations for your personal
advantage, in order to discover more information about your chosen subjects.
Some might call these experiments cruel, but to you it is mere scientific necessity.
-Regain Willpower whenever you manage to set up an incident or situation that
allows you to gain new insight into your subject's psyche.
Martyr
All possess the martyr instinct, but few act upon it. Even fewer live the life
of a Martyr, but you are such a one. Your desire for self-sacrifice stems either
from a low self-esteem, a feeling of a lack of control, or a profoundly developed
sense of love. You are able to endure long-lasting and severe suffering because
of your beliefs and ideals. At worst, a Martyr expects sympathy and attention
because of his or her suffering, and may even feign or exaggerate pain or deprivation.
At best, a Martyr will choose to suffer injury or even the Final Death rather
than renounce his religion, beliefs, principles, cause or friends.
- Regain Willpower when you sacrifice yourself in a real and immediate way for
your beliefs or another individual.
Masochist
You like to push the boundaries and try to see how much you can take - how much
pain you can tolerate before you collapse. You gain a certain satisfaction from
suffering humiliation, depravation and even mutilation, especially when you
are the cause of your pain and have some control over it. You know that your
need is somewhat perverse, but you know you aren't crazy. This is just the way
you are.
-Regain two points of Willpower whenever you suffer in a new way.
Mediator
The world is full of people who want things; sometimes people want the exact
same thing. Some people have what other people want and would be willing to
talk about working out a deal, but just don't know how to start. These people
often have immense trouble finding and communicating with each other. That is
where you come in. You are dedicated to mediating between people - fulfilling
needs, smoothing over disputes, and generally helping people talk to one another.
You are the diplomat, the middle child, the perpetual person in the middle.
-Regain one point of Willpower whenever you are able to act as a go-between
between two individuals or groups, and regain another point if you taring things
to a satisfactory conclusion. The Storyteller may award more points for particularly
outstanding mediation.
Optimist
"Everything always turns out for the best." That is the motto of your
life, and you know if you can just stay cheerful and stop worrying, your problems
will never be with you forever. Some call you a fool, but even they have to
admit you're happier than they are. Certainly you'll encounter difficulties
from time to time, but there's no sense in worrying yourself to death in advance.
Don't worry, be happy, and have a nice day.
-Regain a Willpower point whenever things turn out for the best, just like you
said they would. You must predict such an outcome, either out loud to the other
characters or to yourself (tell the Storyteller).
Pedagogue
You've been a few places, seen a few things, and picked up a thing or two along
the way - and you like to tell everyone about what you've learned. Teaching
is your avocation, if not necessarily your profession. In your time you've seen
inexperience and ignorance lead to all kinds of misery and misfortune, and it
pains you too much to stand by and watch this occur. You are dedicated to passing
on what you have learned for the benefit of others - not only skills and knowledge,
but also the less tangible assets of wisdom and experience. If given the chance
you can lecture others for hours.
-Regain one Willpower point whenever you see (or discover) that someone has
benefited by something you taught or showed her.
Penitent
You are unworthy. You are sinful. You are base, vile and lacking in virtue.
You have no right to exist and are utterly beyond redemption. Either because
of a low self-image or because of a spectacular trauma in your past, you feel
compelled to spend your life making up for what you are, what you lack or what
you have done. You owe it to Creation at large to offer repentance for the crime
of your existence. You struggle nightly to make amends for your weakness, and
your nightly dream is to be able, at last, to overcome it. But you know you
are weak and beyond hope.
-Regain one Willpower point whenever you are able to do a good deed for someone
to whom ( in reality or in your imagination) you have been an inconvenience,
annoyance or danger. For particularly outstanding acts of penitence or recompense,
the Storyteller may award two or even three points.
Perfectionist
You can't stand imperfection, not in others and certainly not in yourself. Neither
can you tolerate those who do not do everything they can to do their best, to
make everything neat and proper and right in their lives. Though you may be
strict with others, it is with yourself that you are most critical - everything
must always be in its place, and you must always do the best and be the best.
-Regain a point of Willpower whenever you accomplish something flawlessly, without
a single mistake, falter, wound, hesitation, confusion, hindrance or obstruction.
Plotter
Everything you do is planned. Very little springs from you spontaneously. Your
plans are often long and involved, sometimes extending beyond the lives of the
mortals involved in them. Details must be exact, for you believe any deviation
could bring ruin. You try to plan everything in your life; each thing you do
must accomplish something in the greater scheme. Deviation from routine, however,
is bothersome, not traumatic. You are organized, not deranged. You tend to be
neat and precise in everything you do.
- You regain three points of Willpower when one of your plots comes to fruition
in the exact manner you planned.
Poltroon
Meeting trouble(or anything else) head-on is the tactic of fools and optimists.
The sensible way to deal with trouble is to deny it a target. While some people
might accuse you of sticking your head in the sand, they do have to admit that
it has remained on your shoulders for quite some time, and looks like it will
continue to do so indefinitely. You never confront what you can evade, and never
face anything unless there is no other option. Courage is not high on your list
of virtues, but then the line between courage and folly is virtually nonexistent
to your eyes.
-Regain one point of Willpower whenever you are able to avoid a problem or situation
without dealing with it.
Praise-Seeker
You self-worth is based entirely on the opinions of others. You crave approval
and praise, and will go to extreme lengths to get such - even risking yourself
and things you love. Unlike the Sycophant, you do not think of protection, and
you have no thought of using others' good opinions to your own advantage - you
simply crave praise and approval for their own sake, so you can feel good about
yourself.
-Regain one Willpower point whenever another character offers unprompted praise,
admiration or appreciation. If the appreciation is truly great, and/or the other
character is powerful or particularly admired, the Storyteller may award extra
points.
Rebel
You are a malcontent, iconoclast and free-thinking recalcitrant. You are so
independent-minded and free-willed that you are unwilling to join any particular
cause or movement. You are just yourself and only desire the freedom to be yourself.
You do not make a good follower and aren't usually a very good leader either
(unless your followers are willing to go wherever you lead). You tend to be
insubordinate to authority to the point of stupidity.
- Regain Willpower whenever your rebellion against the status quo turns out
to be for the best.
Survivor
No matter what, you always manage to survive. You can endure, pull through,
recover from, outlast and outlive nearly any circumstance. When the going gets
tough, you get going. You never say die, and never give up - never. Nothing
angers you as much as a person who doesn't struggle to make things better, or
who surrenders to the nameless forces of the universe.
- Regain Willpower whenever you survive a difficult situation through your own
cunning and perseverance.
Sycophant
In the grand scheme of things, you are small and weak and unfit for survival.
Your best hope is to find someone who is more powerful than you are and persuade
her to take care of you. In return you will serve, admire and follow her. You
will do anything she says, unless it puts you in great risk. In any type of
uncertain situation, you will attach yourself to the strongest-seeming person,
siding with her, performing various barely necessary services and generally
trying to ingratiate yourself. Thereby you hope to earn some kind of protection.
There is no limit to the depths to which you will lower yourself in order to
be accepted, and you have no pride.
-Regain one Willpower point whenever a stronger character to whom you have attached
yourself acts in your defense, be it siding with you in an argument or protecting
you from physical harm.
Thrill-Seeker
You live for that moment of danger when the adrenalin kicks in and you feel
truly alive. Skydiving, bungee jumping and leaping across roofs on a dare are
all just par for the course. As a junkie is addicted to his particular brand
of poison, you are addicted to danger. Unlike most, you go out of your way to
place yourself in dangerous situations that test the limits of your abilities.
You train and work to be as ready as you can for these situations, and then
you seek them out. This is what sets you apart from the teeming masses of paranoid
dullards who shuffle around, hiding from their own shadows.
-Regain a point of Willpower whenever you accomplish a particularly daring feat
or overcome a nearly impossible situation in which you deliberately placed yourself.
Traditionalist
You are an orthodox, conservative and extremely traditional individual. What
was good enough for you when you were young is good enough for you now. You
almost never change. In general you are opposed to change for the sake of change
- what point is there in that? You may be seen by some as a miser, a reactionary
or simply an old fogy. You strive to always preserve the status quo.
- Regain Willpower whenever you are able to protect the status quo and prevent
change.
Visionary
There are very few who are brave or strong or imaginative enough to look beyond
the suffocating embrace of society and mundane thought and see something more.
Society treats such people with both respect and contempt - for it is the Visionary
who perverts as well guides society into the future. You may be a spiritualist,
shaman, New Ager, mystic, philosopher or inventor, but whatever you are, you
are always looking for something more. You see beyond the bounds of conventional
imagination and create new possibilities. Though you might have your head in
the clouds and are often of an impractical bent, you are filled with new ideas
and perceptions.
- Regain Willpower whenever you are able to convince others to believe in your
dreams and follow the course of action outlined by your vision of the future.