People have the inherent capacity to act, behave and think. We can perform actions and have intuitive talents such as running, theorizing and persuading others. So does your character. His basic, fundamental capabilities are represented with Attributes, which are the foundation of all the acts that he performs. These traits are classified into three categories — Mental, Physical and Social — and are rolled to determine how well your character accomplishes efforts in the game.

Mental Attributes suggest how insightful, clever and determined your character is. They are Intelligence, Wits and Resolve. Physical Attributes indicate how strong, graceful and enduring your character is. They are Strength, Dexterity and Stamina. Social Attributes determine how imposing, magnetic and dignified your character is. They are Presence, Manipulation and Composure. The Attributes of ordinary people are rated from 1 to 5. It’s possible for someone to have more dots, but these individuals are typically beyond the human ken, partially or fully a part of the mysterious supernatural world. Perhaps they’re touched by spirits or born to a legacy of service to unseen beings.

Your character, even as a mortal human, automatically starts with one dot in each Attribute. These dots are already filled in on your character sheet. When your character performs an action, the Attribute most appropriate to the effort is referenced. If he tries to remember what he read during library research last week, you look to his Intelligence dots. If he tries to jump a chasm, you check his Strength. If he tries to make a good first impression on a group of people, you apply his Presence score.

Your character’s dots are usually rolled as part of a dice pool. Attributes are sometimes combined and rolled to see if an action can be accomplished, but they are more often combined with Skills. The Storyteller will tell you what Attributes are applicable to your character’s actions, and what rolls you can make. In general, the three classes of Attributes are used based on the circumstances. One of each of the Mental, Physical and Social traits has bearing on a different kind of action, as outlined in the boxed text.

Power is the degree of effect that your character has on others and his surroundings. The higher his score, the smarter, more potent or more imposing he is. Intelligence, Strength and Presence therefore apply when your character seeks to force himself on his environment.

Finesse is a measure of your character’s capacity to interact with the world and influence others. The higher his score, the craftier, more delicate and more influential he is. Wits, Dexterity and Manipulation have bearing when your character tries to anticipate and react to his environment, and to coordinate others.

Resistance indicates how well your character copes with influences from both without and within that might affect him adversely. The higher his score the more staunch, sturdy or dignified he is. Resolve, Stamina and Composure apply when your character responds to coercion, injury and influence. Resolve tests his ability to resist efforts to direct his mind, Stamina helps him shrug off physical trauma, and Composure helps him recover from horrifying experiences or social tension and still maintain control.

Thus, you don’t usually check Strength when your character is challenged in a social situation, because brute force doesn’t apply where Composure (social recovery) is concerned. Similarly, Dexterity doesn’t typically have bearing when interpreting a foreign language. That act calls upon the power of the mind and is the purview of Intelligence.

Attribute Dots

Attributes are rated 1 to 5 for ordinary people, and each score suggests the degree of your character’s raw capability in that area.

Dots Talent

• Poor. Unexercised, unpracticed or inept.

•• Average. The result of occasional effort or application.

••• Good. Regular practice or effort, or naturally talented.

•••• Exceptional. Frequently applied, tested and honed, or naturally gifted.

••••• Outstanding. The peak of normal human capability. Continuously exercised or naturally blessed.

Normally, it’s not possible for a character to have zero dots in an Attribute. That suggests the absolute vacancy of any capability in the trait in question. Now, a person could be physically, mentally or socially disabled or crippled. Those conditions are reflected with Flaws (see p. 217), however, not through zero-rated Attributes.

Just about the only instance in which an Attribute can be reduced to zero (and usually temporarily) is by supernatural means. A spell, curse or affliction is imposed on your character that eliminates all of the dots in his trait. In these cases, no roll can be made at all whenever the Attribute in question would normally be called for. So, if your character is afflicted with total loss of bodily control (zero Dexterity), you make no rolls for any situation that calls for Dexterity in a dice pool, even if he has dots in a pertinent Skill or has access to tools that would be helpful. Your character can’t even hope to aim a gun or direct his movements. In essence, the action fails outright.

When creating your character, you must prioritize his capability with the Attribute categories. His Mental, Physical and Social traits must be given primary, secondary and tertiary emphasis. If you want your character to be active and hardy, Physical traits might be primary. If his ability to react to and deal with people is nearly but not quite as important, Social Attributes could be secondary. That leaves Mental traits as tertiary. He’s not the sharpest tack in the box, or life just hasn’t demanded that he exercise his cognitive potential.

You get to allocate five dots among your character’s primary Attributes. You assign four dots among his secondary Attributes. And you get three dots to divvy up among his tertiary traits. The dots available to each category can be distributed among its three Attributes as evenly or unevenly as you like. So, you might decide to apply three dots to your character’s Strength, one to his Dexterity and one to his Stamina. That’s all five of his primary class allocated. Two of your four Social dots might go to each of Manipulation and Composure. And, you might assign one of each of your three Mental dots to Intelligence, Wits and Resolve.

Remember that the fifth dot in any Attribute costs two of the dots you have to spend at character creation. Each Attribute also gets one free dot automatically before you start assigning anything.