Note: Making a Mage character is done according to the rules found in the Mage: the Ascension 3rd Edition core book. Here are the rules that apply to each section.

Character Creation Restrictions
In order to try and keep the characters in a somewhat early stage at character creation, no players are allowed to raise any stat above 3 before the freebie point stage. I realize that this is in line with the standard White Wolf rules, but the next part is my alteration. During freebie points and merits & flaws, the only stats that may be raised above 3 are Attributes and Backgrounds. All other stats are limited to a max of 3 dots through the entire character creation period.

Stories vary in power, and thus the players within the plot - the PC's - must also vary in strength. In the case of a low-power game (of which I am very fond, both as a player and a Storyteller), you may sometimes need to restrict some aspects of character creation. Mages, even starting ones, can be pretty powerful. In the time that I've been running, I've heard a lot of disgruntled mumbles specifically dedicated to backgrounds. You can often maximize a background or two (especially Resources) and make up for any limitations that result from being a fairly young PC.

Note: Characters coming from Free Forum Chronicles will be required to start a fresh character sheet according to White-Wolf stats. No points will be carried over from your Free Forum game.

Concept:
The Concept is quite important, so give it some thought before you move on. Stay away from obvious combat oriented concepts.

Select Tradition, Essence, Nature and Demeanor.

Attributes:
Attributes: 7 | 5 | 3

Abilities:
Abilities: 13 | 9 | 5
No ability above 3 at this point, but you can raise it using Freebies later.

Backgrounds:
Backgrounds: 7

These Traits describe advantages of birth (or rebirth), circumstance and opportunity: material possessions, social networks and the like. Backgrounds are external, not internal Traits, and you should always rationalize how you came to posses them, as well as what they represent. Who are your contacts? Why do your allies support you? Where did you meet your retainers? How exactly do you make enough money to justify your four dots in Resources? If you've put enough detail into your character concept, selecting appropriate Backgrounds should be easy.

Although it's uncommon to make roll involving Background Traits, the Storytellers might have you do so to see if you can obtain information, goods or favors. For example, you might have to roll Wits + Resources to keep your stock options healthy, or Manipulation + Contacts to wheedle that extra favor from your smuggler "associate".

Finishing Touches:
Record Arete (1).
Record Willpower (5).
Record Quintessence (equal to Avatar background).
Select Spheres (5, plus Tradition specialty).
Select Resonance Traits: Dynamic, Entropic, and Static.

Merits & Flaws:
Only 7 points can be spent in Merits and Flaws.
No additional Freebie points can be gained from Merits & Flaws.
Restricted Merits & Flaws: None at given time.

Merits and Flaws are optional Traits that the Storyteller may choose to include, or prohibit, in his/her chronicle. Properly used, Merits and Flaws help players create and individualize their characters. Merits are special abilities or advantages that are rare or unique in the general Kindred population, while Flaws are liabilities or disadvantages that pose challenges to a character's nightly existence. These Traits can provide player characters with added depth and personality, but the Storytellers should be careful to ensure that any Traits chosen will not adversely influence the course of the chronicle or give one character an unfair advantage over the rest.

History:
History is as important as always and since you will only have a handful character its recommended that you spend some extra time on it. Not only does a great background earn you more freebies, it also define your character and give the staff something to work with during the games. Your history should explain who you are, what yhas formed you to that person and an explenation of all the odds and quirks that makes up your character.

Freebie Points:
This method allows you even more flexibility of the development of you character. The value of all the dots that would appear on a character sheet, can be located on page 104 of your Vampire: the Masquerade core book. You, as the player of your character are allowed to distribute the 15 points where ever you desire. Remember that disciplines purchased with freebie points need not come from the character's clan disciplines (although purchase of some disciplines may require explanation about how he/she acquired them).

Adjusting the Cost:
White-Wolf allows us, the Storytelling Staff, to alter the costs for specific traits. Though after much consideration and hours of conversation, we have decided not to allow this into our setting of Cairo. We feel that what White-Wolf has listed in the chart in your Mage: the Ascension 3rd Edition core book, is more than fair for the development of characters.

Adjusting the Total:
Once again, White-Wolf allows us the chance to alter the starting total of freebie points. During our consideration of adjusting the cost of each freebie, we brought this up as well. We have also disagreed with this as well, and feel that the current stats for character development are more than suitable.

Botching Initiative
When a player rolls a '1' for initiative, they then roll a second time. If the second roll comes up as anything other than a '1', they simply add 1 to their initiative rating and go during that phase. However, if the player rolls a second '1' then they have botched their initiative. This results in that player doing nothing for that round. They can perform simple reflexives, soak damage, etc. They may not, however, dodge, use disciplines, speak (IC), or move.

Note: Players are people, no matter how hard they try to get into character. Often times there are things they don't wish to say to the group aloud.

After reading the rules section, it's obvious that I tend to find lots of ways to limit the progress of my characters. So I felt that I needed a way to focus their learning to compensate. I looked to the Trinity system for inspiration. A character in Trinity can buy multiple specialties in both abilities and attributes (to a maximum of three), whereas in the World of Darkness, you earn a specialty when you reach 4 dots in something. I decided then that rather than letting the characters get more powerful, I would try to let them get more specialized.

Specialties
Some character are especially good at particular applications of their Traits. For example, a painter might be particularly good at portraits, a baseball player might be adept at catching fly ball, and a brawler might be infamous for his/her low blows. To represent this, characters with scores of 4 or higher in Attributes and Abilities may choose specialties for those Traits.

A specialty is a particular subcategory of an Attribute or Ability - thus, a character with a Strength 5 might choose to be especially adept in "dead lifting," while a character with Investigation 4 might be a whiz at "ballistics". Whenever a player makes a die roll involving an activity in which his/her character has specialized, she may take any die that comes up "10", tally the success normally, then re-roll that die in attempt to accumulate extra successes. If the re-rolled die also comes up "10", he/she may continue to roll for still further successes. This process continues until no further "10s" are rolled.

Multiple Specializations
In order to develop laterally and to enhance their abilities without becoming all-powerful, characters can specialize in specific skills and abilities.

As per the standard rules, when a character reaches 4 dots in an ability or attribute, he may choose a specialization for that attribute or ability. For example, with 4 dots in firearms, the character may specialize in handguns. From that point on, the player may re-roll 10's to acquire additional successes on any roll involving that quality or specialization. But with all the time in the world, couldn't a vampire learn not only to specialize in handguns, but also rifles?

Thus, I bastardized the multiple specialization rules from Trinity. Upon reaching the 4th dot in an attribute or ability, a character earns a free specialization, as expected. If the player wishes the character to broaden their talents, they may later spend experience to buy a second specialization. If again the player wishes that the character become even more knowledgeable, more experience may be spent to buy a third specialization, but only after buying a fifth dot in that ability. No more specializations may be purchased beyond 3. This may be done in both attributes and abilities to a maximum of 3 specializations per attribute or ability.

I like skills, no kidding, I really like skills. There aren't nearly enough skills, talents, or knowledges on the character sheet so as a result, I'm a big fan of secondary skills (as offered in the Players Guide for 2nd Edition or the Storytellers Companion in Revised Edition). Unfortunately, both sources only give rules for buying secondary skills at character creation so I had to come up with my own system for buying them with experience, because I think (for example) anyone can learn Area Knowledge after they've been in a city for a while. I offer this option mostly because people are not aware of Secondary Skills at the time that they are creating their characters.