Abilities

Abilities represent learned or practiced capacities — training, education, and experience. They differ from Attributes (innate potential) in that characters can have 0 dots in an Ability.

Zero-dot rules:

• Talents: No penalty for lacking dots. Roll the relevant Attribute at standard difficulty.
• Skills: +1 difficulty without any dots. You can attempt it; you’re just bad at it.
• Knowledges: Cannot attempt at all without at least 1 dot (Storyteller discretion for exceptions).

Specialties: At 4+ dots in any Ability, choose a specialty. When the specialty applies, each 10 rolled counts as 2 successes.

Cap at creation: No Ability may exceed 3 dots during character creation without spending freebie points (2 pts per dot above 3, up to max 5).

Talents

Talents are intuitive and instinctive. You don’t need formal training to use them — natural aptitude covers it.

Alertness

Passive and active attention to your immediate surroundings. Hearing footsteps, noticing the wrong car parked outside, catching the flicker of movement in your peripheral vision. Distinguished from Investigation (which is deliberate searching) by being reactive rather than active.

Common pools: Perception + Alertness (notice threats), Wits + Alertness (react in time)

Athletics

Running, jumping, climbing, throwing, swimming, and general physical exertion outside combat. Also covers gymnastics and acrobatics. Does not cover weapon use (that’s Melee or Firearms) or the raw power of exertion (that’s Strength).

Common pools: Dexterity + Athletics (jumping, climbing), Strength + Athletics (throwing)

Awareness

The ability to sense supernatural phenomena — a feeling that something is wrong, that the person across from you is not what they appear, that a room has seen violence. Not the same as Alertness (physical senses) or Auspex (disciplined supernatural perception). Awareness is the gut sense.

Common pools: Perception + Awareness (sense the uncanny)

Brawl

Unarmed combat: punching, kicking, wrestling, grappling. Also covers the use of fang in a clinch. Does not cover weapon use.

Common pools: Dexterity + Brawl (attack), Strength + Brawl (grapple)

Empathy

Reading people — their emotional states, their motivations, their lies, the gap between what they say and what they mean. Empathy is intuitive social perception, not manipulation. It tells you the truth about someone; what you do with it is another matter.

Common pools: Perception + Empathy (read motives), Charisma + Empathy (connect genuinely)

Expression

Communication with creative or emotional force — writing, oratory, music, body language, acting. Covers any situation where the goal is to move, convince, or affect through craft. Different from Performance (which is technical execution) in being about raw communicative power.

Common pools: Charisma + Expression (orate, inspire), Intelligence + Expression (craft persuasive writing)

Intimidation

Making others afraid — through threats, presence, implications, or display of capability. Covers both subtle (the implied threat) and explicit (the direct menace) variants. Does not require size or physical threat; cold calculation can be more frightening than bluster.

Common pools: Manipulation + Intimidation (subtle menace), Strength + Intimidation (physical threat)

Leadership

Inspiring, directing, and organizing others. Getting people to follow willingly, not through fear or manipulation but through trust and vision. Covers everything from managing a team to commanding respect from a crowd.

Common pools: Charisma + Leadership (inspire), Manipulation + Leadership (direct covertly)

Streetwise

Understanding and navigating the informal social order — the street, the underworld, the criminal ecosystem. Who to go to for what. What questions signal danger. How to find things that aren’t advertised. Covers both information-gathering (where do I find a fence?) and survival (how do I not get rolled in this neighborhood?).

Common pools: Wits + Streetwise (read the street), Charisma + Streetwise (make underworld contacts)

Subterfuge

The deliberate art of deception — lying, misdirection, concealment, presenting a false face. Covers both active deception (constructing a lie) and passive deception (maintaining a cover). Also covers detecting these things in others when used with Perception.

Common pools: Manipulation + Subterfuge (lie, manipulate), Perception + Subterfuge (detect lies)

Skills

Skills are learned capacities — you need some training to use them competently, and the absence of training imposes a +1 difficulty penalty.

Animal Ken

Understanding, handling, and communicating with animals. Calming frightened animals, reading animal behavior, training animals to obey. Required for some Animalism Discipline effects.

Common pools: Manipulation + Animal Ken (command animals), Perception + Animal Ken (read animal behavior)

Crafts

Creating and repairing physical objects. The specific craft (carpentry, painting, metalwork, tailoring) defines the specialty but the underlying Skill covers the principle of making things with your hands.

Common pools: Dexterity + Crafts (precise work), Strength + Crafts (heavy physical construction)

Drive

Operating vehicles under standard and high-stress conditions. In 1990: cars, motorcycles, trucks, boats. Covers both casual driving and high-speed pursuit/evasion.

Common pools: Dexterity + Drive (precision driving), Wits + Drive (evasion, pursuit judgment)

Etiquette

Social protocols, formal conduct, navigating hierarchical social environments. Not just manners — understanding what is expected, what will be interpreted as insult, what signals status and respect. Critical for Elysium and court settings.

Common pools: Manipulation + Etiquette (navigate court politics), Charisma + Etiquette (make the right impression)

Firearms

Using ranged weapons — handguns, rifles, shotguns. Covers operation, maintenance, aiming under pressure, and drawing/holstering. Does not cover throwing (Athletics) or heavy weapons.

Common pools: Dexterity + Firearms (attack), Perception + Firearms (range estimation, tactical assessment)

Larceny

Locks, security systems, pickpocketing, breaking and entering. The practical skills of theft. Also covers hotwiring cars, slipping out of restraints, and identifying security vulnerabilities.

Common pools: Dexterity + Larceny (pickpocket, fine manipulation), Intelligence + Larceny (plan a heist, identify weaknesses)

Melee

Armed close combat — knives, clubs, swords, improvised weapons. Covers fighting technique, weapon maintenance, and recognizing the capabilities of an opponent’s weapon.

Common pools: Dexterity + Melee (attack), Strength + Melee (power strikes)

Performance

Technical mastery in a performative art — music, dance, acting, singing. Covers the craft of performance as opposed to its expressive impact (that’s Expression). A performer with high Performance and low Expression is technically skilled but emotionally uninvolving.

Common pools: Dexterity + Performance (physical precision in dance/instrument), Charisma + Performance (engaging an audience)

Stealth

Moving without being detected — covering your scent, minimizing sound, using shadows, maintaining cover. Also covers following targets without being noticed and setting up ambushes.

Common pools: Dexterity + Stealth (move silently), Wits + Stealth (choose cover positions)

Survival

Operating in hostile environments without support infrastructure — tracking prey, finding shelter, navigating without landmarks, identifying hazards. For Kindred, this often means navigating dangerous urban territories rather than wilderness.

Common pools: Wits + Survival (navigate, identify danger), Stamina + Survival (endure hardship)

Knowledges

Knowledges are studied, accumulated capacities. You cannot attempt most Knowledge rolls without at least 1 dot.

Academics

Formal education in history, literature, philosophy, and the humanities. Covers research methodology, critical analysis, and the accumulated canon of human scholarship. Higher dots indicate deep expertise in specific fields.

Common pools: Intelligence + Academics (research, recall), Wits + Academics (apply knowledge under pressure)

Computer

Using and understanding computer systems — in 1990, this means mainframes, early PCs, bulletin board systems, and basic programming. Covers operation, investigation, and rudimentary intrusion.

Common pools: Intelligence + Computer (programming, analysis), Wits + Computer (fast system navigation)

Finance

Understanding money — accounting, investment, business structures, how wealth moves and where it hides. Covers both legitimate finance and its criminal mirror. Critical for running Kindred operations with mortal funding.

Common pools: Intelligence + Finance (analysis, money movement), Manipulation + Finance (exploit financial leverage)

Investigation

The deliberate, methodical search for information — examining crime scenes, researching backgrounds, following information trails, interviewing witnesses. Distinct from Alertness (reactive) and Awareness (supernatural gut sense) in being conscious and systematic.

Common pools: Intelligence + Investigation (research, analyze evidence), Perception + Investigation (examine physical scenes)

Law

Knowledge of legal systems, criminal and civil. What is and isn’t admissible. How to exploit or navigate the legal system. How law enforcement operates. Covers both the letter of the law and its practical application.

Common pools: Intelligence + Law (legal analysis), Manipulation + Law (exploit technicalities)

Medicine

Knowledge of human physiology, injury, illness, and treatment. For vampires: understanding of how the mortal body functions is also knowledge of how to damage or feed from it efficiently. Covers first aid through surgery.

Common pools: Intelligence + Medicine (diagnose, treat), Dexterity + Medicine (surgical precision)

Occult

Knowledge of supernatural phenomena, secret traditions, esoteric lore, and the hidden world. For vampires, this covers Kindred history, Discipline theory, the nature of other supernaturals, and the mythologies that encode real information. The occult underground is a real information economy.

Common pools: Intelligence + Occult (lore recall, theory), Perception + Occult (recognize supernatural phenomena)

Politics

Understanding political systems — how power is allocated, exercised, and contested. For Kindred: both mortal politics and the Camarilla’s internal structure. Who owes what to whom, how to move through bureaucracy, what alliances are stable.

Common pools: Intelligence + Politics (read the political situation), Manipulation + Politics (exploit political leverage)

Science

Natural sciences — chemistry, biology, physics, mathematics. At higher levels, specialized expertise (forensic chemistry, neuroscience). More practically useful for Kindred than it might appear — understanding the biology of blood has applications.

Common pools: Intelligence + Science (analysis, deduction), Dexterity + Science (laboratory work)

Technology

Practical application of mechanical and electronic systems — not just computers (Computer Knowledge) but machinery, vehicles, electronics, weapons modifications. Understanding how things work mechanically and how to exploit or repair them.

Common pools: Intelligence + Technology (understand systems), Dexterity + Technology (repair, modify)