Decide on a concept and clan or bloodline for your character. Are they a Nosferatu hacker? A Gangrel street preacher? A Toreador sculptor? Or a homeless Caitiff? etc.
What is their nature and demeanor? Check out some archetypes and pick one for each. One's nature is their permenant dominant behavioral trait and will affect a character's ability to regain Willpower points, but a person's Demeanor can change at any given moment as the need arises, it's an attitude and has no effect upon the rules.
Attributes are raw capabilities and natural abilities. Firstly, prioritize your attribute groups. Is your character going to be relying on their physical, social or mental attributes? Does your character get by on their beauty but can't use a computer to save their life? Can their sharp mind take in the secrets of their surroundings at a moment's notice but when it comes to social graces they're considered offensive? Or will it come down to using your fists to solve a problem as it so often does, nevermind that all it might have taken was knowing which button to press?
The primary attribute group is your strongest suit, your secondary attribute group is an average suit whilst your tertiary attribute group is your weakest hand. Your character concept and clan might lean you towards one attribute group over another but the choice is yours.
Cainites start with one dot in each attribute, reflecting a basic capability of mortals (with the exception of the Nosferatu and the Samedi who are locked at zero dots in the appearance attribute). The player may distribute an additional 7 dots across their primary attribute group, 5 dots across their secondary attribute group, and 3 dots to their tertiary attribute group.
Abilities are divided into three categories: Talents, Skills, and Knowledges. Talents are intuitive abilities that are inherent or learned by honing raw aptitude. Skills are abilities learnt via rigorous training or determination. Knowledges are the result of book learning and the like; mental pursuits or studies learnt through schooling or research.
Like attributes, abilities are placed into primary, secondary, and tertiary choices by the player. The primary group recieves 13 dots to spend across its abilities, the secondary group recieves 9 dots to spend, and the tertiary group recieves 5 dots.
Important Note: Unlike attributes, abilities DO NOT begin with any dots preassigned. Furthermore, an ability is NOT ALLOWED to have more than 3 dots spent on it during this stage of character creation (you will have the opportunity to raise abilities further with freebie points later on).
Advantages are not prioritised like attributes or abilities, instead a set number of dots are assigned to be spent on each category. Additional dots can later be purchased with freebie points.
Each character begins with 3 dots to spend on disciplines. Alternatively, for Cainites more focused on their natures rather than on the world around them, a character can begin with 4 dots to spend on disciplines in lieu of taking any starting dots in backgrounds.
Disciplines purchased with advantage dots must only be one of the three clan-associated (or bloodline varient) disciplines; the only exception to this rule being Caitiff who may purchase any disciplines they choose. Disciplines purchased with freebie points have no restrictions.
A starting character has 5 dots worth of backgrounds, which can be distributed as the player chooses. Backgrounds aren't mandatory and should fit the character concept you choose any at all (remember you can claim an extra discipline dot instead if you prefer).
Next you must choose your character's virtues; these moral traits determine how well a Cainite can resist the Beast within themselves and the Hunger. A character's emotional responses are tied to these virtues, as well as their resistence to frenzy or ability to feel remorse. As a Cainite grows older, they will typically lose points in their virtues, becoming more callous.
There are three types of virtues. For Cainites focused upon retaining their humanity, their virtues are Conscience, which governs a character's sense of right and wrong; Self-Control, which determines one's ability to retain their composure or resist the Hunger; and Courage, which measures a character's bravery and ability to resist fire, sunlight etc. essentially anything a Cainite dreads. For those unconcerned about their humanity Conscience is replaced by Conviction and Self-Control by Instinct, with Courage remaining unchanged, however to abandon one's humanity is become a monster in the eyes of many.
Every character starts with 1 dot in Conscience and Self-Control, or 0 dots if they have Conviction and Instinct. The player must then distribute 7 dots between all three virtues as they choose. These virtues will play a determining role in a character's starting Humanity (or Path) and their Willpower levels, so spend carefully.
Calculate your character's Humanity rating = Conscience + Self-Control or Conviction + Instinct. Players can also increase their humanity with freebie points if they choose, as too low a score brings the Beast closer to the surface.
Next add your character's willpower, which is equal to your character's courage, initially. You can increase this with freebie points and it is one of the most important parts of gameplay, determining how many actions you can take in a day. It has a variety of uses and should not be overlooked lightly.
Calculate your character's blood pool by rolling a 10-sided die (/roll 1d10) on our Discord #dicerolls channel. This is the amount of blood points your character has in them when they first join.
At this stage the player can spend 15 freebie points as they see fit. Each dot has a variable freebie point cost based on the type of trait:
Attribute = 5 freebie points per dot.
Ability = 2 freebie points per dot.
Discipline = 7 freebie points per dot.
Background = 1 freebie point per dot.
Virtue = 2 freebie points per dot.
Humanity/Path = 2 freebie points per dot.
Willpower = 1 freebie point per dot.
Remember a player can purchase dots in any discipline they want regardless of clan, however some of the more unusual/extreme disciplines will require backstory justification as to how your character came by them.
Finally, players may optionally select merits and flaws for their character. Flaws give the player freebie points to spend and merits cost freebie points.