Advantages&Flaws

<yambe:breadcrumb>Main_Page|Main Page</yambe:breadcrumb>

Backgrounds

Advantages	Flaws
Allies	Enemies
Contacts
Fame	Infamy - Dark Secret
Influence	Despised - Disliked
Haven	Haven Flaws
Herd	Obvious Predator
Mask	Known Blankbody - Known Corpse
Mawla	Adversary
Resources	Destitude
Retainers	Stalkers
Status	Shunned - Suspect

Merits

Merits describe advantages and gifts inherent to the character: Physical, Mental, and Social. Although something could happen in the course of play to change them – especially once weird inexplicable magic gets unleashed – characters’ Merits remain fairly constant over the course of the story.

===Linguistics===  Every player character has perfect fluency in their birth language and (except perhaps for a charming Hungarian accent) in the dominant language of the chronicle setting. For example, a Lebanese vampire in a Mexico City-set chronicle can speak and read Arabic (or Aramaic, if they are a very old Lebanese vampire) and Spanish. Kindly Storytellers might allow vampires whose birth tongue matches that of the setting to take a second language anyway.

Each dot in Linguistics allows the character to fluently speak, write, and read one additional language besides those two default languages.

Don’t get hung up on the changes in language over the centuries; assume that English remains English from Anglo-Saxon times to now, for instance, for the purposes of this rule, although reading centuries-old documents or chanting in a strange dialect may impose additional Difficulty to Academics or Occult tests.

■ Flaw: (••) Illiterate. You cannot read or write. Your Academics and Science Skills are capped at 1, and you can have no specialty in them incorporating modern knowledge.

Looks

Not all vampires look like actors on the CW network. Some of them look even better. And some, of course, look far worse. These modifiers only apply when you can be seen. The Storyteller rules whether these modifiers apply during Social combats on a conflict-by-conflict (or even pool-by-pool) basis.

■ Flaw: (••) Repulsive. You lose two dice from all relevant Social dice pools.
■ Flaw: (•) Ugly. You lose one die from all relevant Social dice pools.

Advantage
•• Beautiful: You add one extra die to all appropriate Social dice pools.
•••• Stunning: You add two extra dice to all appropriate Social dice pools, as above.

Substance Use

You have an addiction to a substance besides blood. Kindred with this Merit or Flaw seek blood containing that substance, drinking from users. Addiction to a specific sort of blood or refusing to drink blood containing a given substance both count as Prey Exclusion (p. 181). See p. 310 for effects of specific substances in consumed blood; these remain in effect regardless of the specific Merit or Flaw taken.

Remember to specify the substance you use.

■ Flaw: (••) Hopeless Addiction. Lose two dice from all pools when the last person you fed from was not on your drug, except pools for actions that will immediately obtain your drug.

■ Flaw: (•) Addiction. Lose one dice from all pools when the last person you fed from was not on your drug, except pools for actions that will immediately obtain your drug.

Advantage • High-Functioning Addict: You add one die to any one category of pool (specify when you choose which substance you use) when the last person you fed from was on your drug.

Archaic

Only ancillae or older vampires may take either of these Flaws.

■ Flaw: (••) Archaic. You haven’t been able to adapt to the present, or you have been long in torpor. You cannot use computers or cell phones, and your Technology rating is permanently 0. The Storyteller may penalize other dice pools involving very modern technology by one die.

■ Flaw: (•) Living in the Past. You haven’t grasped the modern mindset, or you just don’t want to. You have one or more seriously outdated Convictions, e.g. “The Pope’s word is law,” “Women are delicate flowers,” “Lower classes exist only to serve,” or “Burn your enemies’ baggage.” These archaic moralities maintain your Humanity but are odious to many; you lose one die from Social test dice pools involving such archaic beliefs except with vampires your age and older, who may admire your steadfast virtue.

Bonding

Not all vampires respond to the Blood Bond equally. Some fall under the sway of a regnant with rapturous ease; others resist with every fiber of their being. You can combine these Merits and Flaws; a character might be a two-dot Bond Junkie with Short Bond, for example. For more on Blood Bonds, see p. 233.

■ Flaw: (••) Bondslave. You bond instantly with the taste of another’s vitae; only one drink of blood binds you, not three. Either you begin as your sire’s thrall, or consult with the Storyteller to come up with a reason that first bond has broken. Possibly your sire has been staked or in another city for more than six months?

■ Flaw: (•) Bond Junkie. The Bond feels sweeter to you once it happens. Subtract one die from your dice pools to act against a Blood Bond.

■ Flaw: (•) Long Bond. Blood Bonds on you lose their Bond strength more slowly than normal, decreasing by one for each three months without being reinforced.

Advantage
• Bond Resistance: Your Blood rebels against control. Add one die to your dice pools to resist a Blood Bond per level you take of this Merit (maximum three).
•• Short Bond: Blood Bonds on you lose their Bond strength more rapidly than normal, decreasing at both the full moon and new moon (i.e., by two each month) if not reinforced.
••••• Unbondable: You cannot be Blood Bound. If you’re ever short of cash, you can probably sell your vitae to alchemists, too.