Question: I'm finally getting around to reading [*Night's Black Agents*](http://www.pelgranepress.com/?cat=153) and I love it. But in the section on building the vampires (NBA features modular, customizable vampires), I'm stuck on the base values for:

* Aberrance
* Health
* Hand-to-Hand

I see lots of text that says, essentially, *apply this modifier if this condition is true*. For example:

> 
> If he had long talons instead of claws, his swipe would do +1 damage...
> 
> 
> 

(which I know is about Damage, not any of the Basic Abilities)

But...where do the assumed starting values come from?

Answer: 
Basic damage modifiers for vampires are listed on page 125. Remember that damage in GUMSHOE is always d6+a modifier, so in the case of mr longtaloned vampire, he'd be hitting for 1d6 (a +0 modifier, as per the table). 

Base Aberrance and Health are really up to the Director. Aberrance less than 8 indicate a comparatively non-supernatural threat; 12+ opens up serious weirdness. It may help to think of Health in 5-point chunks (I know I do), with each 5-point chunk giving the creature enough Health to last one round of combat against committed foes (modulo supernatural defences). So, if I want my bruiser-type monstrosity to definitely last three rounds, give it 15 health. (That assumes that the monster's defeated at 0 Health, which is true for most bad guys but may not be true for vampires.)
If you skip ahead to some of the sample vampires, there is a quick calculator for these abilities based on the length of unlife (page 143; the writeup of a Linea Dracula leech). It looks like most vampires begin with about 10 Aberrance, and Health & combat abilities comparable to a PC.