WoD: A Close Look At The Retainer Merit
Aug. 16th, 2005 07:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
fiat_knoxI recently came across a posting on the White Wolf Vampire forum, asking about "combat Retainers." This is my response to that post.
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Retainer 1 is a barely-alive moron, a child or a semi-autonomous golem or automaton. The ghoul Tim Michaels, The Abuser, from Ghouls, barely qualifies as a 1 point Retainer, because in spite of his supernatural nature, he's nonetheless a completely useless moron.
Retainer 2 is just about every normal person you're going to meet (assume all Attributes at 2, all relevant Skills at 2, no more than 5 points of Social Merits). Street-level non-combatant contacts such as the Blood Doll are at this level of Retainer.
Retainer 3 is a bit more edgy; that's the level of the monster hunter, the Gangbanger and the ordinary police officer. Here, three or four traits are 3. (They could also have a few Social Merits at useful levels, possibly one or two interesting Physical and/or Mental ones, too).
Retainer 4 is a very edgy character: this is your SWAT officer sort of level. Traits have a handful of fours, some threes. Generally irreplaceable.
Also, at this stage, a Retainer could be chosen with access to skill sets and Merits unavailable to civilians, such as helicopter pilot / Stunt Driver, or might be competent supernatural servitor or associate characters such as Gangbanger or even competent Blood Doll ghouls.
Retainer 5 is the purview of fully supernatural creatures such as Khaibit, Lupines, mages and others, as well as exceptionally competent mundane people (e.g. a Sleepwalker consor for a mage who'd otherwise be a Retainer 4 due to their broad trait spread). Better than the 4 point Retainer, they could either have a broader range of traits with fours and threes, or one or two fives.
Thing is, it's not so much the capabilities of the Retainer, it's the uses your character puts that Retainer to. A Retainer who assists the character to dress and behave appropriately at a black tie function, for example, could be invaluable because of exceptional Intelligence and Socialise (knowing what to wear and say and do is Intelligence + Socialise), even if that Retainer is only a couple of points.
Similarly, a Retainer who has amassed a huge network of Contacts, Allies, Staff etc., is going to be highly invaluable to the character, even if the Retainer never fires a shot in anger. He becomes your majordomo, of sorts, managing those Social Merits your character either never bothered with at chargen, or can't be directly seen being involved with, e.g. your character might have Status (Police), but your Retainer has Contacts (Street). You don't want to be seen cruising around in your marked cop car at night picking up hookers, do you?
(The Staff Merit is found in Ghouls).
Some things you ought to avoid with your Retainer:
(i) Never let the Retainer outshine your character at what your character does best. If your character and Retainer are CSIs (Investigation Skill), you don't let your Retainer come over like Grissom and leave your character stranded like Greg Sanders. Your Retainer can assist you with their dice pools (see the Teamwork rules), but your character's the star turn, not your renfield.
(ii) Don't just use your Retainer as your character's "second action" in a combat turn. They have so much more to offer than being autonomous muscle in fight scenes. Think "Jeeves and Wooster," not "Batman and Robin."
(iii) Make each Retainer unique, and give them something which sets them apart from you in one field. For example, you could have a gay male Retainer whom you ghouled because he is a really good fashion coach, and his knowledge of interior decor is second to none (for example, decorating your Haven to look like it's the abode of a real mortal).
(iv) Give your Retainer a life. Make them characters unto themselves, separate from your PC characters and possessed of slightly different motivations. Your Retainer might want to help you set up the amateur forensics lab in the lockup, but he can't help you tonight because he's got this hot date ...
Things like that could spice up your Retainer, and make the Merit far more useful than merely having along someone to tote the ammo.
Retainer 1 is a barely-alive moron, a child or a semi-autonomous golem or automaton. The ghoul Tim Michaels, The Abuser, from Ghouls, barely qualifies as a 1 point Retainer, because in spite of his supernatural nature, he's nonetheless a completely useless moron.
Retainer 2 is just about every normal person you're going to meet (assume all Attributes at 2, all relevant Skills at 2, no more than 5 points of Social Merits). Street-level non-combatant contacts such as the Blood Doll are at this level of Retainer.
Retainer 3 is a bit more edgy; that's the level of the monster hunter, the Gangbanger and the ordinary police officer. Here, three or four traits are 3. (They could also have a few Social Merits at useful levels, possibly one or two interesting Physical and/or Mental ones, too).
Retainer 4 is a very edgy character: this is your SWAT officer sort of level. Traits have a handful of fours, some threes. Generally irreplaceable.
Also, at this stage, a Retainer could be chosen with access to skill sets and Merits unavailable to civilians, such as helicopter pilot / Stunt Driver, or might be competent supernatural servitor or associate characters such as Gangbanger or even competent Blood Doll ghouls.
Retainer 5 is the purview of fully supernatural creatures such as Khaibit, Lupines, mages and others, as well as exceptionally competent mundane people (e.g. a Sleepwalker consor for a mage who'd otherwise be a Retainer 4 due to their broad trait spread). Better than the 4 point Retainer, they could either have a broader range of traits with fours and threes, or one or two fives.
Thing is, it's not so much the capabilities of the Retainer, it's the uses your character puts that Retainer to. A Retainer who assists the character to dress and behave appropriately at a black tie function, for example, could be invaluable because of exceptional Intelligence and Socialise (knowing what to wear and say and do is Intelligence + Socialise), even if that Retainer is only a couple of points.
Similarly, a Retainer who has amassed a huge network of Contacts, Allies, Staff etc., is going to be highly invaluable to the character, even if the Retainer never fires a shot in anger. He becomes your majordomo, of sorts, managing those Social Merits your character either never bothered with at chargen, or can't be directly seen being involved with, e.g. your character might have Status (Police), but your Retainer has Contacts (Street). You don't want to be seen cruising around in your marked cop car at night picking up hookers, do you?
(The Staff Merit is found in Ghouls).
Some things you ought to avoid with your Retainer:
(i) Never let the Retainer outshine your character at what your character does best. If your character and Retainer are CSIs (Investigation Skill), you don't let your Retainer come over like Grissom and leave your character stranded like Greg Sanders. Your Retainer can assist you with their dice pools (see the Teamwork rules), but your character's the star turn, not your renfield.
(ii) Don't just use your Retainer as your character's "second action" in a combat turn. They have so much more to offer than being autonomous muscle in fight scenes. Think "Jeeves and Wooster," not "Batman and Robin."
(iii) Make each Retainer unique, and give them something which sets them apart from you in one field. For example, you could have a gay male Retainer whom you ghouled because he is a really good fashion coach, and his knowledge of interior decor is second to none (for example, decorating your Haven to look like it's the abode of a real mortal).
(iv) Give your Retainer a life. Make them characters unto themselves, separate from your PC characters and possessed of slightly different motivations. Your Retainer might want to help you set up the amateur forensics lab in the lockup, but he can't help you tonight because he's got this hot date ...
Things like that could spice up your Retainer, and make the Merit far more useful than merely having along someone to tote the ammo.
