Quick Characters

Traits

  • Rather than having a full character sheet, Quick Characters use the simplified mechanics described below.

Essence, Willpower, Join Battle, and Health Track

  • Each QC stat block begins by listing a Quick Character’s Essence rating, Willpower, Join Battle dice pool, and Health Track. These are determined as follows:
    • Essence: The Storyteller simply assigns what seems like an appropriate value. Mortals are Essence 1, as are the newest of Exalted and the weakest of spirits and Wyld denizens. Most supernatural beings possess Essence 2-3. Essence 4 or 5 indicates that a being is very experienced, puissant, and mighty in its command of supernatural forces—it’s the hallmark of accomplished, centuries-old Exalts, demons of higher Circles, and the great potentates of the Wyld. Essence 6+ is exceptionally rare, denoting the mightiest of spirits, the most terrible prodigies of the Wyld, and Exalts who have spent countless lifetimes focusing their Essence— such beings probably shouldn’t be Quick Characters.
    • Willpower: This value denotes the amount of Willpower the QC has available to spend when it encounters the players’ characters. The Willpower chart on page 170 explains the commonality of different Willpower ratings; the Storyteller simply picks something that seems typical for the QC. QCs should rarely have Willpower in the 8-10 range—even if their Willpower rating ought to be 10, it’s unlikely that they’ll be completely rested and relaxed at the time they meet the players’ characters.
    • Join Battle: This describes the QC’s Join Battle dice pool. It’s determined according to the normal methods for determining dice pools (see below).
    • Essence Pool(s), if any: If the QC has an Essence pool, it’s determined here, according to the chart in the relevant section (p. 509 for spirits, p. 534 for Fair Folk, p. 540 for Exalts).
    • Health Track: This section describes the size and makeup of the QC’s Health Track. Most beings have seven Health Levels (-0/-1/-1/-2/-2/Incapacitated); some small creatures have fewer, while larger beasts (as well as many supernatural beings) might have more.

Dice Pools
QCs don’t have Attributes or Abilities listed. Instead, their description lists their dice pools for particular actions that they’re expected to engage in.
These include any bonuses a character would receive from equipment, specialties, and Merits. A QC’s dice pools can cover broad or specific actions, ranging from “Archery” and “Combat movement” to “Seduction” or “Climbing.”
In general, QCs will only have pools listed for actions likely to be germane to their role as stock characters. A burglar’s QC description, then, might list his dice pools for breaking and entering, stealth, desperate knife-fighting, and running away, but would not bother to describe the character’s prowess (or lack thereof ) with oratory, bureaucratic know-how, or field medicine—they’re just not important things to know about a burglar who’s only going
to show up for one scene to try to steal something
In order to settle on a dice pool for a QC, consult the table below and pick a number that looks right. Don’t worry too much about precise bonuses from things like weapons and specialties—if the QC is using good equipment or is specialized for a task, just feel free to nudge him toward the upper end of a given dice pool range.
They’re Quick Characters, not Precise Characters. If it becomes necessary to declare a QC’s dice pool for some action not listed, it’s generally safe to default to 3 dice.

Dice Pool Description
1-2 The QC is untrained or otherwise deficient in this area. He has a good chance of failing even low-difficulty actions, and will be easily overcome by players’ characters with even a moderate investment in that area. This rating is intended to highlight a character’s lack of capacity with something of importance to their function as QCs.
3-6 The QC is skilled in this area, with competence to rival well-trained mortals or the heroic prowess of the Exalted. He is almost certain to succeed on low-difficulty actions, and is a fair challenge for players’ characters who are moderately to significantly invested in that area. This is the range most QCs will probably fall into for most actions
7-10 The QC is exceptional. Mortals with this level of skill are rare, true masters of their art—even Exalts will rarely have this degree of competence in more than a few areas. He has a fair chance of success even at high difficulty actions, and is a match for highly-invested specialists. This is the rating of skilled veterans (at the low end) and of elite masters (at the high end), such as the Brides of Ahlat on the field of battle or a Guild factor during financial negotiation.
11-14 This level of competence is the absolute maximum of what can be achieved through a combination of skill, specialization, and equipment. A QC with this dice pool is likely to defeat even specialized player characters if they’re not equally optimized or using magic—the Storyteller should be cautious in using

Combat Actions
The dice pools for combat actions (such as “Sword attack” or “Unarmed attack”) are determined the same way as the dice pools for any other QC actions (don’t bother altering dice pools for withering and decisive attacks).
However, these actions will also list a damage rating, which acts as the base damage of withering attacks. Damage is determined according to the weapon used, with the chart
below provided for quick reference:

Mortal Weapons Damage Artifact Weapons Damage
Light +7 Light +10
Medium +9 Medium +12
Heavy +11 Heavy +14

Weapons have access to whatever tags are appropriate (see chapter 10). Add 1-5 to the weapon’s damage value to reflect the character’s Strength, and you have a QC’s combat actions. If an attack has an Overwhelming value higher than 1, this should also be noted. Thus, a hulking street tough might have Unarmed Attack 5 (Damage 11) to reflect his moderate fighting skill, considerable strength, and the fact that unarmed attacks do light damage.
Finally, a QC’s Combat Actions will list his Parry and Evasion ratings and his Soak/Hardness. The two Defense ratings, Parry and Evasion, are like dice pools in that they reflect a character’s general martial prowess, and are chosen by the Storyteller eyeballing and consulting the following chart:

Parry/Evasion Description
0-1 The QC is an unskilled combatant who may be relying on armor and nothing else to protect him.
2-3 Violence is part of how the QC gets along in the world. This is the rating of bandits, militia, thugs, low-rent mercenaries, and Exalts who don’t focus on martial prowess.
4-5 The QC is a seasoned fighter, such as a veteran soldier, a duelist, a high-priced bodyguard, a gladiatorial champion, or an Exalt who can carry himself well in battle.
6-7 The QC is a world-class fighter with an excellent weapon or shield. This is the Defense value of the Ream’s elite troops, the Brides of Ahlat, and the mightiest warriors among the Chosen.

Soak/Hardness is determined by selecting the appropriate values off the following list, and then adding 1-5 to Soak to reflect the character’s Stamina.

Mortal Armor Soak Artifact Armor Soak Hardness
Light 3 Light 5 4
Medium 5 Medium 8 7
Heavy 7 Heavy 11 10

Powers
Finally, should a QC have any Charms, spells, or other miscellaneous powers, these will be listed here. QCs appearing in this book and in supplements will usually list all necessary mechanics in the power itself, and may simplify the mechanics of certain Charms for the sake of making the QC easier to run. For example, if a Solar Charm adds the Exalt’s Stamina in automatic successes to a certain kind of action, the QC power may simply say “Add three
automatic successes.” It’s about in the right ballpark for the QC in question, and it lets the Storyteller get the action resolved faster—making sure all the modifiers line up perfectly isn’t that vital. Writing powers for your own QCs is a matter of either eyeballing existing written Charms, powers, etc., or grabbing published powers and plugging in reasonable numbers. If
a spell, for example, requires you to roll (Wits + Occult) and there’s no indication of what the QC’s Wits or Occult ratings are, just plug in a dice pool that makes sense.
Specific areas of this chapter will give further guidelines on what sorts of powers are appropriate for various QCs.

This is the general format for a QC power:
Name (cost, type, duration, any relevant Keywords):
Rules.
For example, Dragon-Graced Weapon (3m, supplemental, instant):
Wreaths daiklave in flames, adding +5 raw damage to withering attacks, or +1 damage die to a decisive attack.

Finally, some QCs, such as Exalts, are able to spend Essence to raise their dice pools or static values. The cost to do so and the motes necessary will be listed after the dice pool in question. Later sections of this chapter will describe how different sorts of supernatural beings can raise their dice pools.

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