This Trait measures your mean physical strength--your ability to lift, carry loads and cause physical harm. A person with a high Strength rating is usually larger than someone with a lower rating. Of course, there are always exceptions. Strength is used when you attempt to lift, carry, push, heave or break something. In melee combat, your Strength Trait is added t o your damage Dice Pool. Strength is also used when you attempt to make any sort of jump or leap.

This Trait measures your general physical prowess--speed, quickness and agility. It indicates the capacity for moving precisely and manipulating objects with accuracy and grace. Dexterity includes hand-eye coordination , fine motor manipulation, reaction speed, reflexes and bodily grace.

This Trait measures general health and resistance to pain; it indicates how long you can exert yourself and how much physical punishment you can sustain. Stamina is your staying power, both physically and mentally, and one of its most import ant elements is the will to live.

This Trait describes your attractiveness and force of presence. You do not necessarily need beauty to have a high Presence; you only need looks that somehow attract others to you. Presence encompasses not just actual physical looks, but poise, animation and expressiveness. It is a measure of how interesting and attractive you seem to others.

Presence is often used by the Storyteller to judge roughly how others react to you upon a first meeting. Thus, it can affect all other Social rolls you make involving that person (in some cases, your rating determines the maximum number of successes from a Social action that can actually be applied, making it impossible for an ugly person to achieve anything beyond minimal success).

This Trait measures your aptitude for active self-expression, such as wh en you want to get someone else to do something. It is important when you attempt to influence or manipulate another person directly. You use Manipulation to trick, fool, bluff, outmaneuver and out-talk another. While you may be effective at manipulating people whom you have just met, those who know you are rarely fooled.

If you fail a Manipulation action, and the target realizes what you were trying to do (you botch, for instance), she may well be angered. People are manipulated all the time, and usually ignore it. If the fact is brought to their attention, however, it can be very disturbing. Manipulation can net great results, but is risky to perform openly. Characters with high Manipulation ratings are not overly trusted by those who know them best.

This Trait measures your aptitude for keeping your feelings in check. You use Composure to win others over to you emotionally and get them to trust you. This Trait reflects a person who can keep a straight face when doing something riduclous or not break under pressure.

This Trait is does not include common sense and street savvy; these facets of the character are portrayed by the player. However, low Intelligence can indicate a character who lacks the capacity to understand complicated thoughts and learns very slowly--he might see things only in black-and-white terms and can't understand that things are really shades of gray.

Characters with high Intelligence, on the other hand, are sophisticated thinkers capable of evaluating many different levels of an argument or problem. They have discerning judgment and are well able to separate truth from lies, at least when they have time to think things over. Intelligence caters to carefully reasoned judgments rather than snap decisions (which are the purview of Wits).

This Trait, when low, means the player is occasionally unable to take appropriate actions because of surprise. A low Wits rating can indicate that you are more easily tricked and fooled than most people, for you are a gullible and unsophisticated student of human (and vampire) nature. If you have high Wits, you are able to react quickly to new situations and are seldom caught off guard by sudden changes in events. Whatever else happens, you are able to keep your Wits about you.

This Trait indicates your ability to resist mental plying and resist tourture and questions. It also is a measure of how well you can put up with disappointment, frustration, and battle weariness.