A measure of your character’s physical power, Strength determines how much damage she inflicts with hand-tohand weapons, how much weight she can carry, and how much she can withstand before collapsing. Strength is useful to people who do a lot of heavy lifting or anybody likely to enter hand-to-hand combat—in BtVS, the latter is pretty much the norm. Characters apt to have a high Strength include athletes, manual workers, and soldiers. A low strength indicates either small size and body weight (cough—Snyder—cough), or just a lack of exercise.

The Strength Table shows how much a character of any given Strength can lift without much effort. Higher weights can be raised (assume a maximum lifting weight—for brief periods—equal to double the Lifting Capacity), but a nail might be broken or a spleen ruptured in the process.

Dexterity indicates your character’s physical coordination and agility. It helps with any task that requires motor control and precision, from performing card tricks to shaking booty to feeding knuckle sandwiches (Dexterity helps to land the punch; Strength determines how much it hurts the punchee). If you want to do cartwheels—or try those kewl moves you saw in The Matrix—you’d better have a high Dexterity (and some help from the script).

This Attribute shows how physically hardy or healthy your character is. Constitution is important when it comes to resisting disease, damage, and fatigue. It is also used (along with Strength) to determine how much of a pounding your Cast Member can take and still keep ticking. Constitution also comes into play with skills that involve endurance, like swimming and long-distance running. Constitution is useful for people in strenuous and dangerous jobs (firefighting, Slaying, being a Slayer’s friend).

Brains good. This mental Attribute determines your character’s ability to learn, correlate and memorize information. The higher her Intelligence, the easier it is for her to employ “scholastic” skills. Also, this Attribute is used to understand and interpret information. Note that intelligence and education are two separate things; you can be brilliant but illiterate. Education is covered by your character’s skills, which determine what she has learned in her life. Watchers and other intellectual types tend to have a high Intelligence level.

When a vamp you’ve never seen before tries to suck your blood, Perception might help you spot her before she strikes. This mental Attribute governs the five senses of the character and is important for wannabe detectives (to spot those important clues), people with enemies (to see or hear them coming), and mystical or psychic types (to detect “disturbances in the Force”).

This Attribute measures your character’s mental strength and self-control, and her ability to resist fear, intimidation, and temptation. If you don’t want to run away screaming like a little girl the first time a vamp flashes its fangs at you, Willpower is your friend. Any supernatural ability that tries to control or influence victims is resisted by Willpower. It can also be used to intimidate and dominate others through sheer force of will.