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Character Creation

Step One: Character Concept
What is your Character?  In Wraith the character is everything it's very important to know your character inside and out.   It's also what makes Wraith the hardest game to play in the World of Darkness.

Nature and Demeanour:
These are standard for any white wolf game. They can be found in almost any Revised or Second Ed World of Darkness Book.
Life: 
What one phrase sums up your character's life to you? Who where you in life what did you do with the time you lived? What phrase describes your existence before death the best?
Death:
That word sums up how your character died.  Did you died in your sick bed? Where you strangled on your way home? how did you die, in one word.
Regret:
What phrase sums up why you still cling to the lands of the living? Why are you still here? What unfinished business causes you to linger?
Faction:
The dead have themselves broken into factions, what group did your character join after their death?   what side of the fence are you one?

Step Two: Select Attributes
The same in all White Wolf Revised game and can be found in any core book.

Step Three: Select Abilities
Standards in most White Wolf Games, Easy to find in any Second or Third Edition Core Rule Book.

Step Four: Select Advantages

Arcanos (5 points): Power possessed by the Wraiths.

Argos: The Arcanos of travel, allowing its users to safely navigate the Tempest. It allows its users to navigate perfectly, to fly and even teleport. Castigate: The practice of Castigation allows a wraith's shadow to be battled back into submission. Its practioners are welcomed throughout the Underworld. Embody: It allows a wraith to breach the Shroud and once again walk in the Quick Lands. The act of pulling oneself through the Shroud eventually causes the wraith to gain a dappled colouration. Fatalism: The clues to our past and future are all there - if you know where to look... Fatalism allows a wraith to examine the weave of Fate's tapestry and foretell the future, as well as seeing events long gone. Inhabit: The Arcanos of the Artificers, inhabit allows a wraith to pour his physical essence into any inanimate object, allowing the creation of everything from spectral crossbows to shadow computers. Also useful in the process of soulforging.  Keening: Keening is the ultimate expression of an artist's wish to inspire emotion in an audience. By either song, dance or other art form a wraith can literally impose an emotion on the witness. The source of legends of Banshees and other groaning spirits. Lifeweb: Everything is connected to everything else, Lifeweb allows you to feel the connections other have with things such as fetters. Moliate: Plasm, the very soul stuff of wraiths, is easily malleable to the practitioners of this strange art.  Outrage: Outrage allows a wraith to manifest physical energy across the Shroud, allowing tables etc to be thrown arround, without the danger of physically manifesting a form. Pandemonium: Ever noticed how the air suddenly chills for no reason. How the clock sometimes seems to strike thirteen? This is the work of those who practise this Arcanoi. Such is their power that they can tap into the essence of chaos and project it across the Shroud. To say that they control Chaos would be wrong however, instead they can merely unleash it. Phantasm: The ability to manipulate a mortal's dream. Once used as part of the greatest drama productions. Puppeteer: Able to re-enter the skinlands by 'riding' a mortal host Usary: All things have a cost. Whether it be in blood or a wraith's life energy.  Bartering in Pathos and Corpus, even selling the souls of the Quick themselves.

Backgrounds (7 points): here are listed the backgrounds you can take as a Wraith.  Extra information is provided on none standard backgrounds.

Allies Artifact: Commonly fuelled by Pathos, Artifacts have a certain functions or powers that aid the wraith who carry them. Any wraith who chooses the Artifact background must create in conjunction with the Storyteller, a story explaining reasonably where she obtained the Artifact and why she was allowed to keep it.   (1) A seemingly insignificant Artifact. (2) A minor Artifact such as a Moliated Torch. (3) An Artifact of some purpose like a sword of Stygion steel. (4) A Major and unique Artifact, a gun that doesn't need relic bullets. (5) One of the most powerful of object, the envy of all other wraiths. Contact Eidolon: Eidolon is a measure of spiritual fortitude.   It is an indication of special potential in a particular wraith resist the temptations, assaults and insults of the Shadow.While this does notr nessarily suggest that a wraith is objectively good or even moral, it does reveal a wholesome resitance to the manipulations of the Shadow. Each point of Eidolon represent an extra die per session a player can add to any roll resisting some intent, plot or ploy of her Shadow, including thorns.  A player may use one, some or all of his Eidolon dice in any roll but may not use more then his total Eidolon rating per session.   (1) You can sometimes second guess your shadow. (2) There are days when you are firmly in control. (3) Spiritually tough; your shadow must work hard to influence you. (4)  You see through all your shadows ploys (5) Your shadow must choose its moments carefully or waste all its efforts. Haunt: A Wraith's home and personal sanctuary. The haunt is more resistant to the storms of the tempest, the gauntlet rating is lower in a haunt and Arcanoi rolls easier. a haunt can be owned by several Wraiths pooling the haunt background.   (1) A small domicile, perhaps a closet of phone booth. (2) A Haunt large enough for you to survive in but hardly luxurious. (3) A fair-sized Haunt which can accommodate you and several guests comfortably. (4) An opulent Haunt, ample accommodations for up to four Wraiths. Alternatively a special Haunt, such as a mobile or well-defended Haunt. (5) A majestic Haunt in good repair, perhaps the haunted mansion on the hill. No doubt this Haunt is the envy of many and powerful wraith not blessed with such a home themselves. Legacy: A thing you created that you left behind, a mark left by you upon the world, maybe a painting of yours hangs in a gallery, maybe you planted a thousand trees or a building you designed. Once per story a Wraith can try and gain focus and comfort from her legacy. to do so the Wraith must travel to the site of her legacy or some important place associated with it in the case of intangible legacies.  the Wraith rolls a number of dice equal to her background difficulty 7.  the number of success represents the number of levels of damage a Wraith can heal.   normal damage is healed instantly, while aggravated damage takes approximately one hour of attendance upon the legacy per Corpus point healed.   (1) A painting of you hangs somewhere on a wall of some obscure gallery. (2) You funded a building on a college campus. (3) You re-seeded a devastated forest area through  people pass every day. (4) You designed the Eiffel Tower or the Statue of Liberty. (5) An important idea in modern life is attributed to you. perhaps you founded a religious or a political movement. Mentor: I know mentor is a standard background, but I don't particularly base points on how powerful your mentor is but on how useful they are to you.   for example your mentor might be Charon if you never see him he's not very useful.  Once per session a wraith may roll her mentor difficulty 7 a success mean the wraith gains the needed mentors help, a failure means the mentor is unable to help and a botch indicates the mentor will require aid themselves. Memoriam: The measure of how many people remember you and hold your memory alive.  These people can aid you in death by giving you extra Pathos. Memoriam allows the wraith access to extra Pathos. By invoking the feelings that the living have for her., once per session a wraith may roll her Memoriam rating (difficulty 8), with each success granting one point of Pathos. If a botch is rolled one of the Memoriam is permanently lost, as the inevitable process of the forgetfulness and myth obscures memories of the wraith.   (1) One person remembers you. Maybe that is enough. (2)  A handful of people remember you on occasion. (3)  Your family and a few others remember you and some things you did together. (4)  A community, organization or company has you on it's roll of honour or curses your name. (5)  you have legendary status for an entire nation, or more. this level of recognition is far easier to achieve in a negative light then a positive one. Notoriety: How well known you are amongst the restless dead. This background can in fact be a blessing and a curse.   (1) You have made some impression. (2) Perhaps your haunt is visited regularly. (3) your name has traveled father then you have. (4) Every Wraith in the Shadowlands recognizes your name (but not necessarily your face.) (5) For whatever reason, you cannot escape being recognized everywhere you go. Relic: An object that had enough emotion poured into it to cross over the shroud after it was destroyed.  the relic can be something many people have pour an emotion into .I.E. The Twin Towers, or something a individual has poured emotion into, a wedding band or a beloved book. Characters who take this background can purchase it more then once with each purchase  representing one relic of the appropriate level.   (1) A seemingly insignificant relic, like keys to a treasured car. (2) A minor relic, perhaps a small work of art. (3) A relic with some usefulness, a telescope or a knife. (4) A major relic with moving parts. often powered by Pathos. (5) A huge or invaluable relic, a sophisticated device or famous object. Status: Your status in the factions of the restless dead,   weather you be a ranking member of the Hierarchy's Army, a Priest among Heretics, or a ranking member of the guilds.  A character may have rank in multiple factions, if they do this background must be taken more then once.   (1)  An initiate of some kind. you are most likely responsible for unpleasant duties, but are at least recognised as part of the group. (2) After demonstrating your devotion to the group, you have been chosen for a position of some responsibility. (3) You are in the murky middle ranks.  not low enough to be pushed around or high enough to do the pushing, this is a dangerous to be, but has many rewards. (4)  This level of Status represents the level of management and privilege.  You can access the resources of the group and are trusted by it's leaders. (5)  Player characters are unlikely to ever rise higher then this. Having gained significant power respect, you are a leader.

Passions (10 points): 
What fuels a Wraith character. a Character's passions are the emotions that keeps them attached to the lands of the living.   A Passions has the emotion and then the action attacked to the emotion.  then the amount of points you place in it.
Love: to help my best friend get a boyfriend who loves her. (3 points)

the Points attached to your Passion indicates how powerful the emotion is.  Since there are 1 billion ways for Wraith to roll their passions, these are the rules the story teller has made up to keep them easy.

System for Gaining Pathos: the closer the emotion to your original feeling the easier it is to acquire Pathos.  Here is a chart that I will generally be using. Similar Emotion. The emotion is Similar but not the same. Difficulty 9 Weak Emotion  The emotion is the same but weakly felt. Difficulty 8 Same Emotion  The emotion being felt is same as your own and intense. Difficulty 7 Same Emotion Similar Action. the emotion is the same and the action is similar, they are helping if you're action is to help, or protecting if your action is to protect. Difficulty 6 Same Emotion Very Close Action. The emotion is the same and and so is the context. mostly.. for example you want to protect a brother they are protecting a family member like their mother. Difficulty 5 Same Emotion Same Action The emotion is the same and they are doing the exact same action you wrote down. Protecting their Brother, helping their best friend etc. Difficulty 4

You roll a number of dice equal to the points you put in your passion. the difficulty is set by how close to your passion the emotion you are "feeding" on is see chart above.  with a +1 tot he difficultly a wraith can gain Pathos from another Wraith.  + 3 diff to gain pathos from an emotion you are feeling. You can put 1 to 5 a points in passions. For a page that helps give good ideas for passions go here.

Fetters (10 Points):
Physical things that tie you to your former existence. A Fetter is a person, place or thing that has special importance to you, and will continue to anchor you to the Shadowlands until either it is destroyed by outside forces or it looses its meaning to you.
You have 10 points to assign to fetters, which can have ratings from 1 to 5. the more important the fetter the higher the rating and vice versa.  Fetters can have mystery to them - you may not remember why they are so important to you, you might have to quest for the answer to why a fetter holds significance for you.

You can regain Corpus by slumbering in a Fetter.  you must spend 8 hours in your fetter then you may roll Stamina  diff in the fetter you are slumbering in.  You regain a number of Corpus levels equal to your success.  Normal damage is fix instantly, aggravated damage takes an hour per corpus level and the player must spend 3 points of Pathos per level of Aggravated damage.

Step Five: Finishing Touches
Record Beginning Pathos (5 + Memoriam) and beginning Willpower (5)

Spend Freebies (15)