Whereas Attributes are the natural potentials your character was born with, Abilities measure how he puts those potentials to use. Your character may have lightning-fast reflexes, but can he transfer that nimbleness to his car when it fishtails on an icy road? Even the smoothest charmer can look like a putz at a black-tie affair if he doesn't know the correct formalities. Attributes can improve through years of experience, training or study, while Abilities are much more flexible. When your character attempts to do anything, you usually roll a dice pool combining an Attribute and an appropriate Ability.
There are 36 Abilities separated evenly into three separate categories: Talents, Skills and Knowledges. Some Abilities (Expression, Crafts, Performance, Academics, Science) require you to choose a specialty, even if your character's rating is not 4 or higher. For example, a character with Performance may have a grounding in singing, dancing and acting from her off-Broadway experience - but her true talent (her specialty) lies in dramatic soliloquies
Paint a picture of your character's identity and past when choosing Abilities. The things a person knows or is able to do say a lot about her. Even a single dot in an Ability can reveal a fascinating aspect of her identity - especially when the Ability seems to clash with the
character's concept. A company CEO with points in Streetwise? Maybe he rose to prominence from his beginnings in the inner city and never lost touch with the old neighbourhood. Perhaps he's in the thrall of a brutal coke addiction and doesn't trust anyone else to arrange his fix. As long as you remain in the realm of plausibility, use your allotted points as a palette to create a memorable portrait.

 

KNOWLEDGES
Knowledges are solely the mind's domain and, as such, are generally paired with Mental Attributes. Although formal schooling is one way to pick up a Knowledge, there is seldom a better instructor than raw experience. Although some rolls involving general information may require only the Intelligence Attribute, most Knowledges are too specific for the populace at large to fake. Thus, if your character has no points in a given Knowledge, he can't make a roll involving it. If you don't have Medicine, you can't perform surgery.

 

ACADEMICS
This Knowledge covers your character's general grounding in the "humanities" such as history, philosophy, literature and art. It allows him to know any kind of general information in these areas without having to resort to research. You must always choose a specialty for this Knowledge, regardless of rating.
If your character wishes to draw upon a piece of information from his scholastic background, the Storyteller may ask you to make an Intelligence + Academics roll, difficulty contingent on the obscurity of the material. Knowing the ancient capitols of Europe might be a 5; understanding the mysteries surrounding Francisco Goya's final seclusion would rate an 8. The Storyteller may deem that anything with a difficulty higher than 8 must be researched. The exception to this is any information pertaining to your character's specialty, which can be rolled for no matter what the difficulty.

 

O Student: You watch a lot of Jeopardy.
O O College: You majored in something with little earning potential.
O O O Masters: Your articles appear in trade journals.
O O O O Doctorate: Tenured professor.
O O O O O Scholar: You are one of the leading authorities in your field.

Possessed by: Trivia Buffs, Instructors, Writers, Dilettantes
Specialties: Medieval Europe, the Catholic Church, South-east Asia, Modernist Writers, Zen Buddhism

 

BUREAUCRACY
Politics may get you a direct line to the governor, but he’s closely monitored and his favours can extend only so far. Bureaucracy gives your character a pipeline to the unseen little people beneath him, the ones who push the papers. This Knowledge can be very useful when he wants to bypass red tape, ensure something damaging gets “misfiled” or needs access to restricted information. This Knowledge also measures your character’s familiarity with the myriad gears of the government and represents his general organisational sense.

 

O Student: You keep a daily planner.
O O College: Minor functionary.
O O O Masters: You know who to go to for the right favours.
O O O O Doctorate: You can keep track of an impressive volume of paperwork.
O O O O O Scholar: You could push a bill through Congress.

Possessed by: Lawyers, Politicians, Bureaucrats, Journalists
Specialities: Forgery, Stalling Tactics, Bribery, System Bypassing, Police Paperwork, Negotiation

 

COMPUTER
This Knowledge represents a general grounding in all aspects of computer use, from day-to-day operation to programming. Multiple points in this Trait give your character the know-how to break into other computers or protect her own from intrusion. This Knowledge also imparts familiarity with computer components and lets you make simple repairs.

 

O Student: You email your friends often.
O O College: You’re familiar with most applications and some data processing.
O O O Masters: You can design your own programs.
O O O O Doctorate: You innovate new horizons in silicon.
O O O O O Scholar: Gates, that hack!

Possessed by: Students, Programmers, Office Workers, Geeks, Engineers
Specialities: Hacking, Software Design, Security, Internet, Viruses, Data Retrieval

 

FINANCE
Your character has an eye for making money, whether it's through playing the stock market or appraising fenced items. She can size up the assets and liabilities of any venture and maximize the efficiency of operating costs. This Knowledge is not just for stuffed-shirts, though: Plenty of successful pimps and drug dealers possess know-how.

 

O Student: You watched your dad run his business.
O O College: You have some practical experience or a few years of business classes under your belt.
O O O Masters: You can evaluate the weak points of any failing business.
O O O O Doctorate: Your financial savvy would allow you to prosper on Wall Street.
O O O O O Scholar: Everything you touch turns to gold.

Possessed by: Executives, the Disgustingly Rich, Accountants, Smugglers, Entrepreneurs, the Self-Employed, Stock Brokers
Specialties: Stock Markets, Accounting, Appraisal, Business Management, Economic Trends

 

INVESTIGATION
This Ability combines learning in formal investigative procedure with plain common sense. A character skilled in Investigation is a whiz at forensics and following - as well as covering up - leads. Your character may also be familiar with historically clever ways to perform tasks such as killing people or hiding items.

 

O Student: Pulp novels
O O College: NYPD Blue
O O O Masters: Joe Friday
O O O O Doctorate: Philip Marlowe
O O O O O Scholar: Sherlock Holmes

Possessed by: Law Enforcement, Mystery Buffs, Criminals
Specialties: Shadowing, Forensics, Motives, Searching

 

LAW
Laws are a fact of life – as is breaking them, at least for hunters in an unsympathetic world. This Knowledge confers understanding of what your character can and cannot do, and what she can get away with. It gives her the know-how to file suit, avoid lawsuits and get herself out of jail (the legal way).

O Student: You know how to stand up to The Man.
O O College: A kid fresh out of law school or an experienced cop.
O O O Masters: A lawyer with a few years behind him.
O O O O Doctorate: You went straight from your school’s law review to a successful practice.
O O O O O Scholar: Your command of the law is exceeded only by your ability to utilise it.

Possessed by: Lawyers, Legislators, Law Enforcement, Criminals
Specialities: Civil Rights, Criminal Law, Police Procedure, Lawsuits, Trials, Loopholes, Corporate Law

 

LINGUISTICS
Your character possesses a command of more languages, ancient or modern, than just his native tongue. Not simply the capacity to understand additional languages, this Knowledge allows him to recognize accents, decipher word puzzles and perhaps get the gist of related vernaculars (Hindi and Rom, for example).
Linguistics is not required, nor does a "language choice" have to be declared to know, understand and use hunters' system of symbol communication; that capability comes intuitively to all hunters upon the imbuing. However, if certain symbols exist or develop that are known only by certain groups of hunters, perhaps by creed, a "language choice" might be dedicated to learn those exclusive icons. Your character could also need a willing teacher to master those symbols.

 

O Student: One extra language.
O O College: Two extra languages.
O O O Masters: Four extra languages.
O O O O Doctorate: Eight extra languages.
O O O O O Scholar: 16 extra languages.

Possessed by: Travelers, Scholars, Cryptologists, Diplomats
Specialties: Ciphers, Hieroglyphs, Slang, Polite Speech

 

MEDICINE
This Knowledge entails familiarity with the workings of the human body. Your character can diagnose and treat diseases, diagnose the seriousness of injury to himself and others, and administer first aid, among other things. He may also possess a working knowledge of hospital equipment, procedures and protocol.

 

O Student: You worked as a lifeguard for a summer.
O O College: Premed student or paramedic
O O O Masters: You took the Hippocratic Oath.
O O O O Doctorate: Surgeon
O O O O O Scholar: You have the potential to be one of the great names in modern medicine.

Possessed by: Medical Staff, Paramedics, Lifeguards, Parents, Survivalists
Specialties: Natural Remedies, First Aid, Diseases, Poison, Pharmaceuticals, Prevention

 

OCCULT
This Knowledge gives your character access to centuries worth of rumour, hearsay and dark myth. It's up to him to separate mere speculation from hard facts. If he can, this Trait bolsters his fight with a wealth of insight. High levels of Occult provide your character with scattered
insights into worlds beyond human comprehension - and the creatures that draw upon them. Intelligence + Occult can be rolled to know information about the world's monsters in general, but scarce or rare information - at least in human circles - has a high difficulty.

 

O Student: A subscriber to The Weekly World News
O O College: You've read some very scary books and found a ring of truth in them.
O O O Masters: There's something else out there, and you have your own educated guesses.
O O O O Doctorate: You know various legends about monsters, their strengths and their weaknesses.
O O O O O Scholar: You are the Sir James Frazer of the new century.

Possessed by: Wiccans, the Superstitious, Animists, Fortune Tellers
Specialties: Curses, Folklore, Rituals, Infernalism, Hidden Worlds, White Magic

 

POLITICS
Your character possesses a familiarity with political workings on a number of levels. He knows who to go to for certain favours, how they got their positions, and who answers to whom.
Politics differs from Bureaucracy in that the former grants your character some access to the powers-that-be themselves, whether local, national or international, depending on rating and specialty. Bureaucracy deals with the little people who keep the political machine running, but who don't possess much personal power.

 

O Novice: You march in protests.
O O Practiced: You've had a few run-ins with The System.
O O O Competent: Your "contributions" go to all the right places.
O O O O Expert: You're able to spin gold from tangled political webs.
O O O O O Master: Your number is scribbled somewhere in the Oval Office.

Possessed by: Politicians, Lawyers, Night-Creatures, Activists, Lobbyists
Specialties: City, State, Federal, Bribery, Radical

 

RESEARCH
Your character may not have all the information in the world, but he knows places that damn near do. Research is a measure of how well your character finds his way around a storehouse of knowledge, be it a library, archive or the Internet. More than just the know-how to dig up material in one place, this Trait indicates the capability to perform inter-library searches and access restricted archives.
Research differs from Academics in that information must be sought with the former. It might simply be known with the latter.

 

O Student: You can find the best porn on the web.
O O College: You're aware that Dewey Decimal isn't related to Huey or Louie.
O O O Masters: You not only know where to look, you know the best libraries in which to look.
O O O O Doctorate: After many years in such surroundings, you've come to think of archives as your second home.
O O O O O Scholar: If someone wrote it, you can find it.

Possessed by: Writers, Librarians, Archivists, Bureaucrats, Students, Researchers
Specialties: Specific Topic, Internet, Rare Book Collections, Genealogies, Government Archives, Police Documents

 

SCIENCE
Your character possesses a general knowledge of the physical sciences such as chemistry, biology, physics and geology, on both a practical and theoretical level. You must specialize in one field, but your character retains a basic knowledge of the others. This Knowledge also
gives her the capacity to run experiments and analyse scientific data.

 

O Student: You stayed awake in third-period Chemistry.
O O College: You did your undergrad thesis on something unpronounceable.
O O O Masters: You could work in a research company.
O O O O Doctorate: Your papers are frequently seen in respectable journals.
O O O O O Scholar: One of the leading minds of your time

Possessed by: Scientists, Drug Manufacturers, Engineers, Students, Instructors
Specialties: Chemistry, Physics, Astronomy, Biology, Geology, Archaeology