How to write up a character

I was asked for a sample CS layout. Well since there are actual character sheets out there I recommend going by them, but I will post one of my own Mage characters from another game to give you a idea about a layout. You do not need to do it exactly like this but it is how I usually do it for PBP games.

Parth Quintin

Background:Parth was born into a standard Huston family. His father worked with computers, his mother was a stay at home mum. He had one sister Elsie and the family was middle class with enough money to live well. Parth did well in school, both academically, and in sports, he was a good swimmer and while the swim team was not quite as popular as the football team being an athlete still carried status. Parth had friends, girlfriends and in every way his childhood was a normal, standard American childhood, well normal in every was save one Parth's father was a vampire.

Parth never really spent much time thinking about it, his father did not go out during the day, but other than that he was like any other man save how cold he was and that he had some strange abilities that Parth seldom saw him use, and he did not eat. But Parth did not care, his dad just was this way Parth just accepted that and it never affected him during his childhood. When he got older he begun to notice that he had inherited some of his father's abilities, enough to account for his skills as an athlete, but even then Parth just considered it cool and never considered the implications.

The Quintin children grew up. Elise despite her father's wishes did not take higher education but married at 18 and begun her own family. Parth however stayed in school and got into a good collage where he studied to be a teacher. And still his life was pretty normal until he met Janice. Parth had been in two relationships already, but nothing could prepare him for how hard he fell for Janice, he instantly knew that this was the one, this was the girl he wanted to marry. Janice felt the same way about Parth and they begun to go steady, the only problem was that Janice was not exactly a normal human being, she was a mage and knowing a relationship with a sleeper would never work in the long run she had begun to lead Parth to his Awakening since they begun their relationship. And five months after Parth had competed collage and two months into his new job as math and gym teacher at West Huston High he Awakened.

At first it was just amazing. Parth took to magick like a fish to water, his active and intelligent mind found much joy and development in the new world he saw opened up before him. With Janice as his teacher Parth soon learned how he could use the trance like state that came when he pushed his body for all it was worth, how that altered state of consciousness could be used to alter reality. Parth learned to master the magick his Awakening had granted him, and after two years as an apprentice he was initiated into the Cult of Ecstasy.

Parth became a part of a Cabal, a member of a Chantry, and his life as a mage started as normal as his life on this planet had. But then six months after his initiation, the pain begun. Parth was at class teaching the first time it happened, pain like he could not describe tore through him and he collapsed screaming on the floor. Parth was rushed to the hospital but the doctors could not find anything wrong with him. Thinking it was Paradox Parth put the episode behind him, and did not really think that much about it, then it happened again. Pain that came from no part of his body but that was mind numbing in it's intercity wrecked him. This Time Parth and a very worried Janice went to a Verbena healer in their Cabal to figure out what was wrong. The young Verbena used every rote she knew, but she could not find anything physically wrong with Parth. And she agreed with the young man's first assessment that it had to be Paradox, though where he had managed to attract so much of it when he was always so careful was a mystery.

Parth was relived, if it was Paradox, that would eventually bleed of and the episodes would stop, but they did not stop, and in fact they came more and more frequently. Parth lived in fear of the next agonizing episode and in fear of what was wrong with him, no one seamed to be able to figure that out. Then one day his Chantry, The Golden Road, gave Parth the task of escorting a Cult of Ecstasy Master that was visiting from another Chantry, around the city. As the Master's affairs stretched on day turned into night and it was over 2 in the morning by the time they where on their way back to the Chantry. On a dark and empty stretch of road the car broke down and the two mages was forced to walk back to a diner not that far away to call a tow truck. The road was not lit and the Master, Ariella, was about to use her magick to give them some light, but Parth stopped her, there was no need for her to risk Paradox, he could see in the dark. Activating one of the gifts he had inherited from his father Parth begun to lead the way towards the roadside diner. The Master however, experienced with many of the denizens of the Supernatural took one look at Parth's eyes, now reflecting red, like the eyes of a cat and recognized that it could only be one thing, a vampiric Discipline. Ariella asked Parth straight up if he used vampire blood, and advised the young mage on how dangerous that was. Parth protested, he had never ingested vampire blood, he did however admit that his father was a vampire. Ariella was obviously quite shocked by this, she knew that the very weakest of vampires, the 15 generation was fertile, but that a offspring of such a creature should Awaken. Ariella had heard about that happening only two times before, and in both cases the Avatar of the unfortunate newly Awakened had died before a year had gone by.

What followed was a trip to Horizon where one of the Traditions best experts on Avatars examined Parth. She concluded that yes the young man's own body produced vampire blood and yes that blood poisoned his Avatar, the pain Parth had felt had come from his Avatar and the bad new was that there was no way to stop it. The expert, a Virtual Adept named Clementine could perhaps slow the poison down but she could not remove it. The only way to save Parth's Avatar would be for him to die, or the Avatar to be removed from his body. Parth lacked the courage to take either options and as a full member of the Traditions he could not be forced to. So Parth begun to take regular treatments with Clementine to try to prolong his Avatar's life and then wondered what he hell should he do now? Clementine had given him max five years before the Avatar was completely gone. Parth would doubtfully survive his Avatar by long. Instead of his whole life ahead of him, Parth now looked only at a few years.

Parth decided to do the best with what he had, he visited his family, spent time with his sister's kids, gave himself a few months to let the news sink in, and figure out what he wanted to do with the rest of his very short life. Parth tried not to, but he could not help but resent Janice. If she had not Awakned him, the poison would not be killing his Avatar and he would not be forced to choose between his own life, and the life of his soul. Parth knew it was not Janice's fault, but he could not stop the feelings of anger that boiled up inside of him and the relationship went sour. Parth had however from breaking up with Janice found what he wanted to do with his life. And he begun to work for that greater care should be taken before a sleeper was led to Awakening. Though his own situation was very rare, there was many that had their lives changed in unfortunate ways by the Awakening. Parth worked for greater understanding that somone should not be led to an Awakening just becouse the Traditions wanted a new mage, but that it should only be done when becoming a mage would really benefit the person in question.

The last months Parth have been traveling from Chantry to Chantry, telling his story, effectively being the horror example of how bad it can get if somone unsuited are Awakened. Parth's Cabal is worried about him, wishing for the young mage to come back to them so they can take care him him, give him a good few years before he die, but Parth can not do as they wish, if his to short life is to have meant anything, he will have to be able to make a differance in the time he have left. Rest he can do when he is dead.

Appearance: Parth is slightly below average hight, he is thin and muscular and look quite fit. He have short dark brown hair, fair skin and dark brown, sad eyes. He is often wrecked with pain, something that make him look tired. Parth likes to dress in jeans and sweaters but he looks quite smart in a formal event in a suit to. His hair is ruffed to look like he has always been out in the wind, and when he forget his plight for a moment he have a beautiful smile.

Personality: Parth is dedicated, intelligent and curious. But lately he have lost his way. He is desperate to find some mission, something, anything that can justify him not just setting his Avatar free. In truth he is not so sure Awakening pepole without knowing for sure it will be beneficial is wrong, for you can never know, but there have to be something for him to do, some reason for him to live. Parth live with intense fear of when his Avatar eventually dies, and with even greater guilt becouse he is dragging it down with him.

Paradigm: Parth's Paradigm is based on that the subconscious can reach powers and affect change the wake mind cannot. The subconscious can be reached and communicated with when the wake mind is kept busy. Parth do his magick by focusing on a desire or a wish and then swimming or with other kinds of sports running his body to exhaustion and entering a trance like state where his subconscious accepts his wish and desires and change reality with them.

Stats:

Name: Parth Quintin, Player: NPC, Nature: Conformist, Demeanor: Architect, Essence: Dynamic, Tradition: Cult of Ecstasy, Mentor: Janice Holm, Cabal: Windswept, Chantry: The Golden Road

Strength: 3, Dexterity: 3, Stamina: 2, Charisma: 2, Manipulation: 2, Appearance: 3, Intelligence: 4...curious, Wits: 3, Perception: 3

Athletics: 3, Swimming: 4...fast, Awareness: 2, Streetwise: 1, Intuition: 1, Brawl: 1, Dodge: 1, Expression: 1, Leadership: 2

Drive: 1, Etiquette: 1, Meditation: 3, Research: 2, Technology: 2, Survival: 1

Computer: 2, Occult: 2, Vampire Lore: 2, Mage Lore: 3, Enigmas: 1, Academics: 3, Science. 1, Medicine: 2, Law: 1, Cosmology: 1, Linguistics: 3 (Latin, French, Spanish, Japanese, English.)

Avatar: 3, Destiny: 2, Dream: 1, Mentor: 1, Allies: 2 (Clementine and Ariella)

Time: 1, Life: 2, Forces: 2, Prime: 1

Protean: 1, Celerity: 2

Arete: 2, Willpower: 6, Paradox: 2, Quintessence: 3

Resonance. Gloomy (Entropic 2 pt)

Flaws: Sphere Inept (Correspondence), Dark Fate, Dying Avatar

Merits: Vampire Companion (His Father)

Equipment: Room at the Chantry House, small second hand car, some books, a wardrobe, family pictures, pain medication, diary, pepper spray, some sports equipment.


Do your Paradigms better though, this character was for a crossover game so I did not want to overwhelm the other players. Anyway you do not need to do your characters just like this, but have a section for their background, one for their Paradigm, one for their appearance and one for their stats.

Here is a character sheet for Mage, an earlier edition yes but they are basically the same, just write of the stats you will be using.

http://www.silverspiral.org/images/stories/mage%20character%20sheet%20%28bitmap%29.png

Here are a character creation guide.

http://www.thesubnet.com/portal/wod/mtas/index.html

If you have M20 then use the character creation guidelines in that, if you have one of the three earlier edition use 2 ed if possible if not one of the other two, and if you do not own a Mage book use the guide above.

So:

Name:
Player:
Background:
Paradigm:
Appearance:
Belongings:
Notes:
Stats: