Stuck for inspiration? Not sure what sort of character you want? Then have a look at the Sample Characters and see if that sparks your passion for anything. Once you have an idea for a character you want to create, move on up!
Pick one of the five schools of Magic to belong to. These schools go beyond defining what type of spells you can cast - they have their own communities with distinct culture and values, though the degree to which you subscribe to and participate in these traditions is up to you. You will be restricted to casting magic from this one school, so this is the most important choice you will make for your character.
Choose the fields of Magic within your school and non-magic Skills that you wish to specialise in.
You will have five points to spend across the five magic fields, five to spend in non-magic skills, and two to spend in either, and can put no more than three points into any skill at game start. How many points you place into a field will affect how strong you are with that type of magic or how good you are at that skill.
That's:
Choose a method of casting your Magic. This choice will not affect the type of magic you are able to use like your points from Step 2 do, but rather the speed and control of your magic. Whether you're a hot-tempered Pyromancer with an eye for explosions, or a contemplative scholar of the deepest magical arts, your casting can reflect this in play.
You now know what your character does, but who are they? Pick some Quirks and Flaws to go along with your magic and skills and help define what sort of a person your character is. You get one positive quirk for free, and can take up to three additional quirks, each of which must be balanced out by taking a flaw, allowing for a maximum of four quirks and three flaws.
There is no limit on the number of additional flaws you may take, but taking more than is necessary may lead to tragic (or hilarious) results, and caution is strongly advised.
Your character is pretty much ready. All they need now is a name, a public bio to tell other players who they are, and a backstory to give some context to how your character came to have their set of skills, magic powers, quirks and flaws, as well as their motivations for coming to the Covens and goals. It's also useful to know what your character's address is in the UK (if indeed they have one), in the unlikely event that something happens to where they live.
It should be noted that whatever you write in your backstory will not be allowed to advantage you in play unless you have taken the relevant quirks and flaws. For example, please don't write “Dirk owned a chain of potions supply stores across the UK and Ireland, and was adored by the Hydromancers for his double discount prices” and expect to gain favours and free potion ingredients unless you have taken the relevant quirks (Resources and Authority (+)). Your background is flavour, and as such should not attempt to affect your character's strengths and weaknesses.
Once you are happy, you should submit your character for approval to the GM team at gm@maleficarum.chaosdeathfish.com. For convenience, you might want to copy and paste this structure in to ensure that you don't miss anything:
Name:
School:
Faction (if any):
Magic Skill Levels:
Non-magic Skill Levels:
Casting Style:
Implement of Choice:
Quirks:
Flaws:
Current Location:
Background:
Public Bio: