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.

 

TALENTS
Talents are capabilities for which your character simply has a knack, regardless of training or instruction. The only way to improve these Traits is through direct experience, although pointers are occasionally useful. If you attempt an action involving a Talent that your character doesn't possess, you suffer no additional penalties (increased difficulty, for example); everyone has some degree of aptitude in these most instinctive of Traits.

 

ALERTNESS
Unlike the Perception Attribute, which represents your character's knack for recognizing specific clues, the Alertness Talent measures how sensitive he is to his physical surroundings. A character with high Alertness can take in every detail of a scene in an instant and use Perception to sift out the important ones. Alertness is different from Awareness in that the former makes your character sensitive to his physical surroundings. The latter makes him sensitive to his supernatural surroundings.

 

O Novice: "I think we're in trouble here."
O O Practiced: "These guys are pretty tough for a bunch of winos. We're in trouble."
O O O Competent: "Since when do bums have fur? We're in big trouble."
O O O O Expert: "These 'street people' have all got submachine guns under their coats. We're in really big trouble."
O O O O O Master: "I'm more worried about the pack of slavering wolves about to come up through the grate behind us. We're screwed."

Possessed by: Hunters, Detectives, The Paranoid, Security Personnel, Journalists
Specialties: A Specific Sense (Hearing, Smell, Taste, Sight, Touch), Concealed Items, Wilderness, Urban Areas

 

ATHLETICS
Athletics covers how well your character can run, jump, swim, hurl, pursue and flee. Naturally, it includes adeptness at sports, but not basic motor skills covered by Attributes alone (such as power lifting or sleight of hand). Additionally, Athletics doesn't intrude upon the realms of other Abilities such as Brawl or Dodge.

 

O Novice: Sunday-afternoon tennis lessons as a kid.
O O Practiced: High-school athlete.
O O O Competent: College-football hero.
O O O O Expert: Olympic hopeful.
O O O O O Master: The salary your skills could demand would outstrip the GNP of several developing nations.

Possessed by: Athletes, Outdoors Enthusiasts, Fitness Nuts, Kids
Specialties: Swimming, Climbing, Acrobatics, Dancing, Swinging

 

AWARENESS
Your character is able to see the world as she never could before, and not just as a result of being imbued – other hunters can see the truth, too. No, your character is able to notice unusual phenomena in her vicinity and perhaps even detect the presence of the supernatural - things that even her peers miss. A few successes might instil the sense of another presence in a room. A large number might allow your character to pinpoint the specific nature of a monster, provided she's encountered it before. This Talent extends to both animate and inanimate objects, and to phenomena that. may be invisible to the unenlightened.
Although you must still expend Conviction for your character to detect and recognize the supernatural, she doesn't necessarily need to use an edge to identify the exact nature of a creature - say a shapechanger or a bloodsucker. Rather, sufficient successes in an Awareness roll identify the creature at the Storyteller's discretion. Awareness may also allow your character to simply sense that her environment is supernaturally askew or tainted, without benefit of any concrete evidence.
Awareness is different from Alertness in that the former makes your character sensitive to his mystical surroundings. The latter makes him sensitive to his physical surroundings. Awareness and Intuition also differ in that Awareness imparts an inherent sense for the supernatural, whereas Intuition offers a simple sense for correct choices and possibilities, usually mundane rather than mystical.

 

O Novice: You instinctively mistrust some people, but you're not sure why.
O O Practiced: You've seen some things that no rational explanation could account for.
O O O Competent: You see the ethereal threads that enmesh the waking world.
O O O O Expert: You suspect that there are realms beyond your own, perhaps the homelands of the creatures you hunt.
O O O O O Master: You see so much of the unexplainable, you're worried that it might drive you mad. Maybe it already has.

Possessed by: Psychics, Gypsies, American Indians, Asylum Inmates
Specialties: Talismans, the Undead, Animals, Portents, Supernatural Powers, Auras

 

BRAWL
Conventional weapons never seem to be around when they're needed, or they fail at the most inopportune times. Some hunters believe that the most reliable way to inflict harm is the oldest way: tooth and nail. Points in Brawl can stem from formal training or simply painful experience, but the best fighters are the least inhibited when causing agony.

 

O Novice: You took a self-defence course at the YMCA.
O O Practiced: You played rugby in college.
O O O Competent: You're either a black belt with a little fighting experience or a seasoned street fighter.
O O O O Expert: People pick fights with you only once.
O O O O O Master: You pick up pointers from Enter the Dragon.

Possessed by: Police, Thugs, Slum-Dwellers, the Physically Abused, Military Personnel
Specialties: A Specific Martial Arts Form, Dirty Fighting, Wrestling, Throws

 

DODGE
Dodge is your character's capacity to get the hell out of the way. All manner of objects aimed at her can be dodged from bullets to fists to subway trains. This Talent also measures your character's ability to utilize adequate cover in a hurry.

 

O Novice: Duck and cover!
O O Practiced: You were always the last one out in dodge ball.
O O O Competent: You've weathered food fights without a speck.
O O O O Expert: You seem to instinctively know where a blow is aimed.
O O O O O Master: You are virtually untouchable.

Possessed by: Martial Artists, Boxers, Criminals, Action-Movie Heroes
Specialties: Firefights, Cover, Fistfights, Sidestepping

 

EMPATHY
Your character has a gift for sharing other people's emotions - and sometimes the motives they try to hide. This Talent can be a great asset during attempts to sense others' lies. No one is a lie detector, though. Depth of communication with a person and information your character has about a subject can augment her ability to scrutinize. Or they can skew your character's judgment horribly.

 

O Novice: You watch a lot of talk shows.
O O Practiced: People come to you for support.
O O O Competent: Your insight into others' feelings is uncanny .
O O O O Expert: People's faces tell you what they really want.
O O O O O Master: You read people like most folks read grocery-store labels.

Possessed by: Actors, Psychologists, Investigators, Bodyguards, Parents, Social Workers, Seducers
Specialties: Motives, Emotions, Personalities, Confidence

 

EXPRESSION
Your character's opinions capture peoples' interests, regardless of whether such opinions are misinformed, biased or even meaningless. He's able convey his points clearly, or shroud them in clever subtlety - whatever works best for his purposes. Expression allows your character to reach people through any medium: visual, auditory or otherwise. Characters with high Expression are often skilled storytellers or gifted writers.

 

O Novice: You were the best Joseph the church Christmas pageant ever had.
O O Practiced: Your conversational skills are enviable.
O O O Competent: You could write for a living.
O O O O Expert: Your words might be discussed and lauded by millions.
O O O O O Master: You have a gift that could guide the thinking of a generation, if applied properly.

Possessed by: Actors, Politicians, Writers, Teachers, Revolutionaries, Editorialists
Specialties: Acting, Poetry, Speeches, Letters, Fiction, Debates

 

INTIMIDATION
Your character has the ability to control others through fear. The power may stem from something as intangible as force of personality or from something as real as white-hot steel and manacles. Your character knows the best approach for each situation and may have no qualms about using it.

 

O Novice: Obnoxious jock
O O Practiced: Effective bouncer
O O O Competent: All the men call you "Sir."
O O O O Expert: You can discourage muggers with a frown.
O O O O O Master: You can cow gangsters with a laugh.

Possessed by: Law Enforcement, Military Personnel, Gangsters, Executives, Security
Specialties: Veiled Threats, Air of Authority, Torture, Fear Inspiration

 

INTUITION
Unbelievers call it "unconscious logic." True believers call it a "sixth sense." Although they can never explain why, some people always seem to be great guessers, whether on exams, with significant others or in the stock market. Your character is one of those people. He's escaped more than one predicament by relying on nothing more than gut feeling.
Storytellers may use these "gut feelings" to help players further a story. Whereas Awareness imparts an inherent sense for the supernatural, Intuition offers a simple sense for correct choices and possibilities, usually mundane rather than mystical.

 

O Novice: Multiple-choice exams are a breeze.
O O Practiced: You've come to trust that little voice in your head that says, "Buy," "Sell!"
O O O Competent: You're often prepared for unpleasant situations thanks to your "bad feelings."
O O O O Expert: Your knack for knowing without knowledge is uncanny.
O O O O O Master: You would've been condemned to death in old Salem.

Possessed by: Stock Brokers, Gamblers, Fortune Tellers, Mothers, Entrepreneurs, Investigators, Bodyguards
Specialties: Insight, Gambling, Bad Feelings, Inspirational Flashes, Hidden Motives

 

LEADERSHIP
Your character has the ability to motivate people through force of personality. You may lead by example, fear, excellent planning skills or simply through sheer confidence. Regardless of how your character does it, he seldom needs to deceive people into following him. This Talent is often paired with Charisma rather than Manipulation.

 

O Novice: Class vice president
O O Practiced: Scout leader
O O O Competent: CEO
O O O O Expert: State senator
O O O O O Master: You could be the next leader of the free world

Possessed by: Politicians, Royalty, Executives, Military Officers, Police, Popular Kids
Specialties: Commands, Planning, Oratory, Friendliness, Experience

 

STREETWISE
The streets prove bountiful to those who speak the vernacular or carry the coin of the realm. Your character is able to blend in with the local scene, locate contraband, pick up gossip and stay out of trouble - most of the time. Customs change from city to city; she may be at a disadvantage outside her home town.

 

O Novice: You're not an instant target for muggers and panhandlers.
O O Practiced: You've got a rep.
O O O Competent: You are tolerated and accepted - if not loved - by the gangs.
O O O O Expert: You find it easy to tap the pulse of the city.
O O O O O Master: You are the pulse of the city.

Possessed by: Gangbangers, Homeless People, Cops, Reporters, Criminals
Specialties: A Specific Metropolis, Fencing, Smuggling, Communication, Rumours, Gangs

 

SUBTERFUGE
This Talent represents your character's capacity to lie, get away with it and sense when others lie. Your character is able to conceal his own motives, read other people's, then play upon them to his own ends. Not only is he skilled at telling others what they want to hear, he has few reservations about doing so. Characters talented in Subterfuge are masters of intrigue and seduction; they're often slipperier than the lies they tell.

 

O Novice: You get away with lies people would have believed anyway.
O O Practiced: You juggled multiple girlfriends or boyfriends (or both) at college.
O O O Competent: You could make a living from lying.
O O O O Expert: Polygraph machines whimper in your presence .
O O O O O Master: "We find the defendant, Jeffrey Dahmer, not guilty."

Possessed by: Lawyers, Politicians, Con Men, Televangelists, Hustlers, Teenagers
Specialties: Seduction, Feigned Innocence, Alibis, Fast-Talking