Characters are built with standard V5 rules, adjusted for Athens in 1242 CE. Storytellers should feel free to adjust any of this.
Characters are built with standard V5 rules, adjusted for Athens in 1242 CE. Storytellers should feel free to adjust any of this.
Age, Embrace Year, Generation & Blood Potency
Characters in this era are closer to Caine in time, so starting Generation and Blood Potency run higher than a modern-nights V5 game. Age category is tied to how recently your character was Embraced, relative to the chronicle's start year of 1242 CE:
XP budgets match the standard V5 corebook Ancilla-mode defaults — this chronicle isn't using the Dark Ages sourcebook's own Sea of Time XP table, and isn't using eras or In Memoriam-style time jumps. One coterie, one starting point: 1242 CE.
Roads, not just Humanity
Every character still has a Humanity rating, but many Cainites of this era walk a Road instead — an alternate morality track with its own texture and social fabric. Roads are represented as Loresheets (see Loresheets) and are available in addition to your one starting Loresheet.
Skill Swaps
A few standard V5 skills don't fit 1242 CE cleanly:
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Science → Warfare. Represents large-scale martial knowledge instead.
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Drive stays, but represents carriages, ships, and horses.
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Firearms → Archery.
Chronicle Tenets
Before diving into character creation, consider setting Chronicle Tenets with your coterie — lines your characters could cross as the Stories unfold. A few starting options (mix, match, or write your own):
Athenian
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Never harm Classical Greek artwork or culture.
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Never damage or endanger the Athenian people as a whole.
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Never let outside politics supersede local vampiric concerns.
Conspiracy
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Never betray the trust of the coterie.
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Never put clan or sect above the coterie.
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Acquire status and power at any cost.
Touchstones
Given how long these characters may exist across the Chronicle, expect Touchstones to be replaced periodically, often by someone similar. You don't need to track the specific mortal's name so much as the kind of person your character keeps choosing — when one inevitably dies, you gain a new one without necessarily needing to play out the loss each time.
See also: Player Options for Clan, Predator Type, and Coterie Type choices, and Character Backstory Builder for backstory prompts.