Wraiths

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Nuova Malattia is a Vampire the Masquerade chronicle first and foremost. However, given the close links between the Giovanni and wraiths, having an understanding of how wraiths work, what they can do and what they want will help with better understanding the Necromancy discipline and its finer points, as well as setting up the possibility for a player to continue playing the game as a wraith should their ghoul or vampire meet their end.

Wraith Character Creation

Step One: Choose concept, Nature, and Demeanor.

Step Two: Select Attributes. Prioritize three categories: Physical/Social/Mental into Primary (7 points), secondary (5 points), and tertiary (3 points). Each Attribute starts with one free dot.

Step Three: Select Abilities. Prioritize three categories: Talents/skills/Knowledges into Primary (13 points), secondary (9 points), and tertiary (5 points). No Ability can be higher than 3 dots at this stage. Replace Animal Ken with Meditation. Replace Computer with Law.

Step Four: Select Advantages. Choose Arcanoi (5 pts) no Arcanoi can be higher than 3 points at this stage. Backgrounds (7 points), Passions (10 points), and Fetters (10 points).

Step Five: Finishing Touches. Record beginning Pathos (5 + Memoriam) and beginning Willpower (5). Spend freebies.

Freebie Point Cost
Attribute - 5 pts/dot
Arcanoi - 5 pts/dot
Willpower - 2 pts/dot
Abilities - 2 pts/dot
Passions - 2 pts/dot
Backgrounds - 1 pt/dot
Fetters - 1 pt/dot
Pathos - 1 pt/2 dots

Step Six: Shadow Creation.

Shadow Creation

Step One: Archetype. Choose a Shadow Archetype.

Step Two: Angst. Roll a number of dice equal to Wraith's Willpower, difficulty 6. Result is Shadow's Permanent Angst.

Step Three: Dark Passions. Select Dark Passions (7).

Step 4: Freebie Points. Spend Freebie points (10).

Freebie Cost

Dark Passion - 1 pt/dot
Temporary Angst - 2 pt/dot
Thorns - Special cost per Thorn

What is a wraith?
A wraith is a person who died and left something unfinished, something important enough to keep them from moving on to their final reward.
Wraiths are guided by their Passions. These passions are part goal, part emotion. For example a wraith might have the Passion "Protect my children (Love)". By pursuing their passions or being in the presence of powerful expressions of emotion related to one of their passions, they harvest Pathos.
Wraiths are bound to the lands of the living (the Skinlands) via Fetters. A fetter might be an object, location, or even person. When a wraith slumbers inside their Fetter, they recover their damaged Corpus. A wraith without fetters cannot enter the Skinlands, instead sinking deeper into the Underworld.
Pathos is the Wraith equivalent of Vitae, and is made up of pure emotional energy. Wraiths do not drain Pathos from people, rather when a wraith experiences a passion they generate Pathos. Wraiths use Pathos to heal damage, travel the Underworld, power their Arcanoi (Wraith Disciplines) or power Artifacts.
Corpus is a wraith's health. They don't suffer health penalties as mortals or physical beings do, and losing their last dot of Corpus does not necessarily destroy the wraith.
Every wraith has a Shadow. The Shadow is the wraith's worst impulses and cruelties, self-destructive tendensies and dark desires, the things they were taught to supress when alive - and it has become self-aware and given a voice in the wraith's head. The Shadow knows the wraith's every secret - the Shadow is the wraith after all - and uses that knowledge to try and drive the wraith to Oblivion.

What do wraiths want?
Wraiths want to Transcend. By resolving their Passions and Fetters, and making peace with their death, the wraith can move on to their final reward, leaving the Underworld forever.
Wraiths want to protect their loved ones and the Fetters. Wraiths have a hard time interacting with their Skinlands, and find that there are a multitude of threats to their earthly connections, from mortals to other wraiths looking to harm them.
Wraiths want to defeat their enemies. Wraiths have many enemies, from people in the Skinlands who harmed them in life, to rival wraiths who want to stop them from achieving their goals. The Heirarchy have laws forbidding wraiths from interacting with the living, the Renegades defy the Heirarchy's tyranny, Heretics apply mortal religious beliefs to the realities of the Underworld, often earning the enimity of Heirarch and Renegade alike. On top of this, each wraith has their own worst enemy in their own head, where the shadow tries to drag them down into Oblivion, reshaping the wraith into a murderous Spectre. Wraiths need allies in their struggles, simply to endure. The rare ones even thrive.

What do wraiths do?
Wraiths haunt the living, harvesting Pathos, protecting Fetters and Relics.
Wraiths conspire with fellow wraiths in Circles, seeking strength in numbers against the horrors of the Underworld and the threats of the Skinlands.
Wraiths ally with necromancers, trading services. A wraith might spy for the necromancer, and in return the necromancer protects their haunt from being demolished. Unlucky wraiths find themselves at risk of being enslaved by the necromancer, while the necromancer is at risk of having an eternal enemy they cannot see or touch.