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If I give a character a condition on character creation due to a past experience with the supernatural, should I make them roll integrity (fairly horrific circumstance)? Should I give them any bonus points of any kind since they are starting with a handicap? update given some of the responses, I realize I may not have said that I'm the Storyteller for this game.

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The answer suggested by the rules is "no, you shouldn't."

The God-Machine Chronicle has this to say. (page 180)

Conditions add an additional layer of consequence and reward to certain actions in the World of Darkness. They’re not traits a player can buy or choose for her character. They’re conditional; the context and the gameplay apply them and they remain only until certain resolution criteria are met. These resolutions are determined by the effect that causes the Condition or the terms of the Condition itself.

What you're describing is choosing a condition for a character, and so discouraged (a harsher person might say "not allowed") by the game. Even if it were permissible by the rules, the Condition will only last until it is resolved, at which point the player will receive a Beat. Giving additional starting points — which can be as many as several experiences — for an explicitly temporary condition seems out of line to me.

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  • \$\begingroup\$ "choosing a condition for a character, and so discouraged by the game." I'm not sure I see that, the ST is the only person who chooses conditions for characters (or rather as always it's their call). I can see the point about how later they'd get a reward, so why give them one earlier. \$\endgroup\$ Jun 30, 2014 at 14:36
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As character creation in nWoD is all about player choice (no rolls, 5 point stats at chargen are permitted, etc) I would definitely not ask the character to do something so random as roll for degeneration before the game starts. oWoD had a mechanic whereby you could sacrifice degeneration for experience points, however I believe the intention of Flaws (nWoD Core, pg. 217) is to replace both this and oWoD Flaws. If the character wishes to have suffered some ill-effect from that occasion, have them take an appropriate degeneration-like Flaw and roleplay it rather than taking an actual degeneration hit. You can also try to adapt the oWoD degeneration for XP mechanic. Either way, I would not punish my players by taking something away without their input just because they had an interesting backstory.

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I would say that an integrity roll might be called for depending upon the specifics of the past experience, as would any bonuses. It really ties back to the fact that WoD is a story, and if part of your story is your character was hunted by a pack of werewolves for something they did accidentally, and they feel guilty about it, say accidentally killing a child of the pack thinking it's a normal wolf terrorizing the countryside only to find out it was a child, I would definitely give the character a roll for integrity, but no bonuses. Another situation might be that the character had a run in with a vampire and ended up killing it in a blind rage after seeing his family's broken corpses at its feet. I would do both a roll for integrity, and if the roll is a success, I would give bonuses towards all fights against vampires as they evoke your repressed memories and invoke a deadly rage in you.

So in answer, it all depends on the specifics, so have fun with it.

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