Changeling: The Lost character help

[golentan]

So, I played a little OWoD and a lot of exalted, but I'm feeling kind of lost in Changeling character creation. I know that I want to play a Wizened Brewer of the Autumn Court, focused heavily on Goblin Fruits and weird, somewhat alchemical concoctions. The general idea is that he goes into the hedge and collects goblin fruits as exotic ingredients for the microbrewery he's running. The thing is I'm feeling kind of lost with what merits to give him, and what contracts would help. I know I want to give him the introductory Dream contract, and Eternal Autumn, and... *shrug*

And NWoD merits are leaving me confused. I'm not sure how many dots I should spend and on what: is New Identity good? Harvest(goblin fruit) seems like a solid choice, to be sure, but how much? Hollow seems really limited for what I can buy personally. I obviously need resources to have my brewery, but how much should I spend on them? And someone mentioned there's an Alchemy merit, but I haven't been able to find it anywhere.

I only have the NWoD corebook and the changeling book, but can borrow my friend's references if there are good contract/merit sources for the idea (I'm not sure what all they've got, but I can at least ask).

[Totally Guy]

What's the game going to be about? Did the GM give you a pitch?

[golentan]

The game is going to be about a freehold getting set up in our local area here, not much more info than that yet. It doesn't start for a month.

Part of my problem is that I'm pretty sure that I'm going to be the go to guy the other players will come to for dealing with the hedge (or at least making it safer than it is by default), and I'm just not seeing things that will be useful for that...

I'm not going to be a physical combatant. At all. I *might* get a gun, but I don't know how useful they are in changeling (are they good against any of the things that chomp on our tender half-human limbs?).

[comicshorse]

I'm not going to be a physical combatant. At all. I *might* get a gun, but I don't know how useful they are in changeling (are they good against any of the things that chomp on our tender half-human limbs?).

Guns are good against most things and if a gun won't stop it then there isn't much that will. However the Hedge has a bad effect on technology, the deeper you go the more pronounced this is. So the simpler the weapon the better, shotguns are good ( and give you 9 again)