Vampire V5 Character creation cheat sheet
A checklist you can run during creation. At-the-table reference for Vampire: The Masquerade 5th Edition.
VtM V5 character creation: choose a Clan, distribute Attributes and Skills, select Disciplines, and define your Predator Type.
Creation steps
- 1. Concept: who were you in life? What kind of vampire are you now?
- 2. Choose a Clan (defines Disciplines, Bane, and Compulsion).
- 3. Distribute Attributes: one at 4, three at 3, four at 2, one at 1 (across Physical/Social/Mental).
- 4. Distribute Skills via a template: Jack of All Trades (1×3, 8×2, 10×1), Balanced (3×3, 5×2, 7×1), or Specialist (1×4, 3×3, 3×2, 3×1).
- 5. Choose Predator Type (how you feed: defines bonus skills, Disciplines, and starting Hunger).
- 6. Select Discipline powers (3 dots total, within your clan's Discipline list, max 2 in any one).
- 7. Advantages: choose Merits, Flaws, and Loresheets (balanced: flaws grant extra points).
- 8. Set Hunger (usually starts at 1), Blood Potency (1 for neonates), and Humanity (7).
- 9. Touchstones: 1-3 mortals who anchor your Humanity.
Key limits
- Attribute max at creation
- 4
- Skill max at creation
- 4
- Starting Discipline dots
- 3 (from your Clan list, max 2 in one)
- Blood Potency
- 1 (neonates)
- Starting Humanity
- 7
Common mistakes
- Disciplines must come from your Clan list at creation (out-of-clan requires a teacher later).
- Predator Type is mechanical, not just flavor: it grants free dots in specific skills and Disciplines.
- Touchstones are required, not optional: losing all Touchstones accelerates Humanity loss.
- Thin-bloods follow a separate creation process with different rules.