KINDRED MERITS & FLAWS
TABLE OF CONTENTS
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Merits
Merits: General
Berserker (2 Merit)
The Beast is in you, but you know how to direct and make use of it. You have the capacity to frenzy at will, and are thus able to ignore your wound penalties. However, you must pay the consequences of your actions while in frenzy just as you normally would. Your chance of entering an unwilling frenzy is also unaffected.
Calm Heart (3 Merit)
You are naturally calm and do not easily fly off the handle. You receive two extra dice when attempting to resist a frenzy. Brujah may not take this Trait.
Eat Food (1 Merit)
You have the capacity to eat food and even savor its taste. While you cannot derive any nourishment from eating regular foods, this ability will serve you well in maintaining the Masquerade. Of course, you can't digest what you eat, and there will be some point during the evening when you must force yourself to heave it back up.
Efficient Digestion (3 Merit)
You are able to draw more than the usual amount of nourishment from blood. When feeding, you gain an additional point to your blood pool for every two points of blood you consume. This does not allow you to exceed your blood pool maximum.
Light Sleeper (2 Merit)
You can awaken instantly at any sign of trouble or danger, and do so without any sleepiness or hesitation. You may ignore rules regarding how Humanity/Path restricts the number of dice available during the day.
Misplaced Heart (2 Merit)
Your heart has actually moved within your body, though no more than two feet from its original position near the middle of your chest. Those who attempt to stake you find it very difficult to find the right location (which should be your most tightly guarded secret).
Prestigious Sire (1 Merit)
Your sire has or had great status in her sect or clan, and this has accorded you with a certain amount of prestige. Though your sire may no longer have any dealings with you, the simple fact of your ancestry has marked you forever. This prestige might aid you greatly in dealings with your elders or other neonates, or it might engender jealousy or contempt.
Merits: Brujah
Compassionate (4 Merit)
You have the moral character of the Brujah of old, the proud warrior-poets who did what they did because their hearts called to them. If you ever fail a Conscience (but not Conviction) roll, you may spend a point of Willpower and attempt the roll again, at a difficulty of 1 higher than the last. If you succeed on this roll, it counts as if you succeeded on the first. You may do this only once per Conscience roll; you must accept the results of the re-roll. If you botch this second roll, you lose one permanent point of Will power in addition to any consequences of the failed Conscience roll.
Fury's Focus (4 Merit)
Though you are no less susceptible to frenzy than your clan mates, you are able to - with effort and great will - control the direction in which your actions during frenzy go. This could come in handy, for example, if your lover is nearby when you go into frenzy. You'd be able to lash out on someone else and avoid harming them.
Merits: Gangrel
Gift of Proteus (1, 2 or 4 Merit)
This merit allows the Gangrel to "fine-tune" the shapes achieved by the Protean Discipline. The number of points spent determines the scope of the variation, which must be specific, approved by the Storyteller, and defined when the merit is chosen.
This merit allows a Gangrel to roll Fortitude and Stamina together to repel aggravated damage. This requires expenditure of one WP to activate.
Retractable Claws (2 Merit)
Allows a Gangrel to hide activated claws. Good for those meetings with the Prince.
Ruse of the Wolf’s Clothing (2 Merit)
In animal form only, the vampire still smells alive, even to the super sensitive nostrils of the lupines. This is essentially a “Baby Face” merit for altered forms, and may include other lifelike symptoms at the storytellers’ discretion as well as a defense against the werewolf gift Sense Wyrm. If this is the case, then the storyteller may well want to increase the cost of this merit.
Without a Trace (2 Merit)
You are virtually untraceable. Nature works to your advantage, masking your scent trail and eliminating your footprints. All normal methods of tracking fail every time someone attempts to track you, and even Lupines (garou) find it incredibly difficult to pick up your scent. While supernatural methods such as Auspex aren't complete failures, the difficulties of tracking are great and it isn't likely to pinpoint your exact location unless the practitioner of the discipline is extremely skilled and lucky (+2 Diff to tack the character) through any means.
Merits: Malkavian
Benevolent Blood (1 Merit)
Your blood still carries the Curse of Malkav, but its effects have been lessened just a little bit. Any ghouls you create suffer none of the usual deranging side effects of drinking Malkavian blood – they can be loaded to the gills with your blood and not come one step nearer to gaining a derangement. (They might still be driven insane by life with you, though, depending on how demanding your reality is.) Of course, any childer you Embrace will still gain a derangement after the Embrace as usual – although your vitae is easily diluted by mortal blood, the pure stuff carries the Curse as one would expect.
Deadened Nerves (4 Merit)
Whether it was a condition you held in life or an odd side effect of the embrace, your nervous system is missing a few connections. You have very little tactile sense, whether pleasure or pain. The downside of this is obvious: One of your senses is greatly impaired, which can keep you from noticing important warnings (a blade at your back, for instance – or in it.). You suffer a +3 difficulty to all tactile-related Perception rolls, and the Storyteller may call for a roll to notice even the blatantly obvious; you might not even notice that you’ve been shot if the bullet doesn’t knock you down outright.
However, your deadened nerves also protect you from pain, allowing you to ignore your wounds until your flesh is literally blasted from your bones. All penalties for sound levels are halved, rounding down; in other words, you suffer no penalty until you reach the Wounded level, where you deduct only one die from your dice pools, and even when Crippled you can still act at a mere two-die penalty.
Disembodied Mentor (5 Merit)
The voices in your head may tell you things, but by God, they’re useful things. You have a personal guide and advisor (bought as usual through the Background: Mentor) who exists largely in your own skull. He may have been a Malkavian who uploaded himself into the Network, or perhaps he’s an imaginary construct with access to the shared memories of the clan. Either way, it’s exceedingly hard for your enemies to cut you off from your mentor’s counsel, and it’s usually pretty easy to call on his advice when you need it. Unfortunately, this merit also has its drawbacks; your mentor can find you whenever he chooses and can be a real distraction when you’re trying to do something he finds irrelevant. You’re not freed from the obligations of your relationship, either; you find yourself running errands for your mentor just as often as any other pupil would, if not more so.
Immaculate Aura (1 Merit)
Whether because of your iron control or some fluke of chance, your aura does not give away your insanity. The aura doesn’t shift or swirl at all, even when you’re confused, frenzied, or in a psychotic fit.
Seeming Lucidity (3 Merit)
Though you are mad as a hatter, you conceal your insanity well - or perhaps your particular brand of madness simply does not lend itself to external perceptions. To others you appear lucid almost constantly, capable of making reasonable leaps of logic and sound decisions. Other kindred are more forgiving of the small quirks you outwardly display, and they are less likely to dismiss you as uselessly insane.
Spellbinder (1 Merit)
The outward physical expression of your madness is intriguing and enticing, awakening an interest even in those who suffer Ennui. This lends you a certain amount of sway over both humans and kindred when engaging them directly. The difficulty of all appropriate social rolls is decreased by one.
Merits: Nosferatu
Disgusting (2 Merit)
You have the ability to contort your body and face in all sorts of shocking and grotesque ways. You can drool blood, pop your eyes out to double their width, spontaneously grow and burst boils on your flesh, extend your tongue three feet out of your mouth, etc. In addition, you are an accomplished practitioner of the fine art of disgusting others, and take considerable pride in your ability to gross out anyone or anything. By concentrating for a turn and spending a Blood Point, you may will your body to do something vile, making a Wits and Intimidation roll (Difficulty of the opponent's Wits + Self Control). Each success on this roll subtracts one from the opponent's Dice Pool for any action taken next turn. (The opponent is so repulsed and horrified by your antics that concentration is broken.)
False Reflection (3 Merit)
When using Mask of a Thousand Faces, a Nosferatu with this Merit can create a false impression of his disguise on recording media. He can have his picture taken, show up on videotape and even record an imitation of the subject's voice. Nosferatu without this Merit cannot disguise themselves to machines using the Obfuscate Discipline.
Foul Blood (3 Merit)
The vitae flowing through your veins tastes truly awful. Anyone who bites or feeds from you must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 6) or spend the next turn choking, retching and gagging. Any idiot who actually tries to diablerize you must make three Willpower rolls (difficulty 9) to succeed. This makes blood bonds torturous, the Embrace becomes even more difficult, and ghouling is near impossible.
Gaping Maw (2 Merit)
You've got a nasty gash where your mouth should be. It can smile, it can frown, and most importantly, it can grin two or three inches wider than any human mouth can. An ordinary vampire can suck up to three blood points in a turn. You can drain up to four points a turn, provided you can latch your tooth-filled orifice around enough skin.
Lizard Limbs (1 Merit)
When your limbs are restrained or grappled, you may spend a Blood Point and make a Willpower roll (difficulty 8). If you succeed, you may "shed" a limb, leaving it in your opponent's grasp while you escape. The limbs may be regrown normally. If you shed enough limbs, you can escape nearly any bonds, though it is difficult to flee the scene of captivity when one has no legs.... Nosferatu with this Merit often use it for practical jokes (Let's shake on it...).
Long Fingers (1 Merit)
Your fingers are unnaturally long and spidery. You gain one extra die to Dice Pools involving digital coordination or grappling.
Oversized Fangs (1 Merit)
When you grew your fangs, you really grew 'em. Your fangs are enormous, snaggly things resembling cobra fangs or possibly even tusks. Your bite does one additional die of damage, and you may add one to your Intimidation Dice Pool.
Over-sized Mouth (1 Merit)
Your mouth is huge and you are able to open it to prodigious width. You may drink an additional two Blood Points from your victim each turn.
Patagia (4 Merit)
You have grown large flaps of skin under your arms, like those of a pterodactyl or flying squirrel. You may use these patagia to glide for short distances, provided there is an updraft or strong wind.
Piscine (1 Merit)
You are abnormally comfortable underwater and vastly prefer swimming to walking. You get a -1 difficulty on any Physical dice pool related to underwater movement.
Projectile Vomiting (2 Merit)
This talent is like the Eat Food Merit, but twice as versatile. Food comes in; food goes out very, very fast. A vampire with this ability can ingest, and possibly even taste, food and drink. He cannot pin any nutritional benefit from this ordinarily digestible matter, but he can store it for later use. When this need arises, the Nosferatu can not only disgorge his stored supply of food, but also aim it with a degree of precision. For the record, projectile vomiting in the Storyteller system usually requires a Stamina + Athletics roll; the difficulty is 8, and a victim can attempt to dodge this bolus of ejected victuals. Although this attack does not cause damage (save to one's pride), the type of food ejected may temporarily obscure a victim's vision, cause him to slip or merely force him to weep with shame at a Toreador's grand ball. Pity the poor vomit drenched Toreador....
Reptile Buddy (3 Merit)
Yes, those legends about albino alligators in the sewers really are true. You've been nursing a few of them with your vitae in the local spawning pool for years. Your careful breeding and vigilant training has produced a reptilian slave of exceptional intelligence. It has a mind as sharp as that as a five-year-old child and teeth as keen as butcher knives. The beast understands your native language perfectly and can even follow complex directions. Faster and deadlier than any human ghoul, it is a highly efficient killing machine fully capable of patrolling your domain with ruthless efficiency. Reptile buddies also love to play "fetch" with human limbs (whether attached or severed).
Ghouled Reptile Buddy Physical: Strength 6, Dexterity 2, Stamina 6 Social: Charisma 0, Manipulation 0, Appearance 0 Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 1, Wits 3 Disciplines: Fortitude 2, Potence 2 Blood Pool: 5 Willpower: 5 Attacks: Bite (7 dice), Tail Slap (6 dice)
Rugged Bad Looks (5 Merit)
Your face is hideous, but it could almost pass for that of a really ugly human. If you were to cover every other part of your body, you could shamble into mortal society looking only slightly suspicious. While you might have a hunchback, reptilian scales over parts of your flesh or a foul stench that never dissipate, you can actually walk among mortals - with extensive precautions - without automatically breaking the Masquerade. Other vampires give you no end of grief for not looking like a "real" Nosferatu. By the way, this is as "attractive" as a Nosferatu ever gets; no Merit will ever increase a Nosferatu's Appearance above zero.
Sleep Unseen (2 Merit)
You can use the Obfuscate Discipline to hide while you sleep during the day. Such prolonged use of this ability requires an extra blood point (or Blood Trait) to keep your body hidden for a full day. Of course, you must at least be hidden from sunlight, and vampires using the Auspex can still detect you, but mortals will ignore your very presence. This is a useful Merit for Nosferatu emissaries and travelers; many would perish without it.
Slimey (2 Merit)
Your skin secretes slime like that of a worm or mollusk. Opponents must score two more successes than normal to grapple you, and your difficulty to soak fire damage is reduced by one.
Swarm Attractor (2 Merit)
You must have at least one dot in Animalism to take this Merit. Your skin exudes a grease that attracts flies, gnats, bees, and other flying insects. While these insects normally buzz passively about you in a thick cloud, you may command them in a limited fashion. The bugs may travel up to 20 feet from you to sting and distract your foes. The swarm does no actual damage, but any being caught in the swarm must make a Willpower roll (Diff 7). If the roll fails, the victim loses two dice from her Dice Pool that turn; if it botches, she may take no action whatsoever.
Tough Hide (2 Merit)
Your skin is thick and leathery, resembling that of a pachyderm. You gain one extra die on your soak Dice Pool (though not to soak fire and sunlight).
Merits: Toreador
Blasé (3 Merit)
You are not easily impressed by others. You automatically resist all Presence powers. However, if the Kindred using Presence is far more powerful than yourself, the Storyteller might require you to spend a point of Willpower to resist.
Controllable Thirst (1 Merit)
Because Toreador spend so much time around mortals, resisting Frenzy caused by the smell, sight or taste of blood is easier for them. Whenever the Kindred makes a Frenzy roll over blood, reduce the difficulty by three.
Eye for Beauty (1 Merit)
The Kindred is a natural critic. Reduce difficulties for Art Appreciation by four.
"Gifted" (3 Merit)
The difficulty on all Creativity rolls and Artistic Expression rolls are reduced by three.
Greater Colors (3 Merit)
The vampire sees colors more distinctly and with greater definition. The world is far more colorful. Unfortunately, the vampire is more likely to become enraptured by colorful objects. Despite the drawback, when used in conjunction with Aura Perception, the vampire will discover far more information about her target. The difficulty for reading a target's aura is reduced to five. The player may ask the Storyteller one question about the target for every success, and the Storyteller must provide accurate information. This may be used only once per story on a particular target. Finally, all Artistic Expression difficulties involving color are reduced by one.
Mortal Double (2 Merit)
You have the services of someone alive who looks just like you. This person might be your actual twin. (Other explanations are possible: a long-lost brother, a master of disguise, a Progenitor clone, a victim of Vicissitude, etc.) However, unless he is made into a ghoul, he will continue to age normally. Eventually, he will no longer be your exact double. The double may move about freely during the day, aiding you in hiding your vampiric nature. The double must be fully aware of your personal life, including all your relationships and activities. He must also be a good actor.
Refined (2 Merit)
You a member of the elite. You are at home in high society and you never feel out of place around the "beautiful people." The difficulty on all Etiquette rolls involving high society is reduced by three. In addition, you are often invited to Toreador socials reserved for those of higher Toreador Prestige (or Camarilla Status) than yourself.
Merits: Ventrue
Credible (1 Merit)
You are capable of presenting your ideas in such a way that even the most far-fetched notion could seem sensible and logical. Those of lesser mental merit are likely to believe you without pause, and your equals and superiors find cause to consider your ideas. You can't necessarily pull the wool over anyone's eyes, nor can you make them believe something they know isn't true - but you can manipulate the facts and figures to strongly support your own suggestions.
Humble (1 Merit)
Something about your speech and demeanor influences other kindred to believe that you truly wish to serve your fellow vampire. You play the role of civil servant well, and though others may not always understand your plans, they are inclined to believe that you aim to benefit all. You are at a -1 difficulty on all appropriate Manipulation rolls. (i.e., convincing your elder that you should be the one to control her nightly business affairs are rolled at a -1 difficulty, though trying to talk a Toreador neonate into your bedroom isn't.)
Iron Stomach (7 Merit)
The taste of Ventrue is so refined that they can normally feed from only one class of mortal. With this merit, the Ventrue-in-question may temporarily ingest the blood of any other class as well, and even hold it for a brief time. If the character decides to feed from someone other than his pre-set class of mortals, he must first expend two Willpower points. As long as he wishes to keep the blood in his system, he must expend an additional Willpower point everywhere. Should he run out of Willpower or no longer wish to stomach the stuff, he vomits the blood back up immediately, and takes one unsoakable level of bashing damage in the process. This is considered a Supernatural merit.
Majesty (2 Merit)
Everything about you seems to be particularly noble: the way you walk, speak, and feel. You are at a -2 difficulty on all social rolls.
Noble (2 Merit)
You come from noble, aristocratic, or even royal stock, and the concepts of public life and Machiavellian politics have been familiar to you since birth. You have less trouble adapting to and understanding the social conventions of the Ventrue and the Camarilla. You are at a -1 difficulty on all appropriate social and political rolls. (i.e., negotiating with an elder is at a -1 difficulty, though trying to intimidate one of the Brujah most likely is not.)
Paragon (6 Merit)
The Embrace has awakened within you an aspect of personality that others find particularly compelling. You may select any one Background from the following group: Allies, Clan Prestige, Contacts, Fame, Herd, Influence, Mentor, Resources, Retainers, Sabbat Status or Status. Your maximum Trait score in that Background may exceed your normal generation limit by one. For example, a 10th-generation Kindred may take this Merit and enjoy the benefits of a Contacts Background of 6. You may take this Merit for only one Background, which may drop (and therefore rise again) at the Storyteller's discretion. Players should choose this Merit only for a Background that makes sense -- a Camarilla Archon is unlikely to have a Black Hand Membership Background of 7, for example.
Piercing Gaze (3 Merit)
Your gaze seems to be paralyzing. Whether it instills people with fear, love, or self-loathing, all Disciplines that require sight contact have their difficulties reduced by 3.
Proud Lineage (4 Merit)
Every new Ventrue to Ventrue introduction begins with a recitation of lineage, and when you recite yours all heads turn. Your proud line is well known within the clan, as are their numerous successes and victories throughout the ages. Whether your own deeds do your line justice, those of your clan who learn of your lineage are suitably impressed. You are granted consideration beyond your own years and accomplishments, as surely there was a reason you were chosen to join this venerable line of Ventrue.
Flaws
Flaws: General
Addiction (3 Flaw)
You suffer from an addiction to a substance, which must now be present in the blood you drink. This can be alcohol, nicotine, hard drugs or simply adrenaline. This substance always impairs you in some fashion (see "Poisons and Drugs," for particulars)
Allergic (1-3 Flaw)
You are allergic to some substance, in a manner not unlike mortal allergies. However, you do not get hives or sneeze, but are actually incapacitated by your reaction. If the substance was in the blood you drank, the reaction will be very strong, though touch alone is enough to disturb you. If it was in the blood, you will have five fewer dice on all your Dice Pools for 10 minutes - if you just touched it, the penalty is reduced to two dice. Choose from the list below or make up the substance to which you are allergic.
You have been a vampire for some time, and are unable (or unwilling) to keep up with the changing times. An Intelligence roll is needed whenever you have to deal with something from a later period than your own breathing days. If the roll is failed, total the net failures and use this total as a negative modifier to your attempts. Example: Osric, a fifth-century Goth by birth, has this Flaw and is attempting to deal with a computer. His Intelligence roll results in two net failures. Osric now has a two-dice penalty when determining the outcome of his attempt to make the infernal machine cooperate. Note that characters with this Flaw will generally have been vampires for longer than the 50 years suggested in Vampire, so Storytellers should decide whether or not to allow this Flaw in their chronicles.
Dark Secret (1 Flaw)
You have some sort of secret that, if uncovered, would be of immense embarrassment to you and would make you a pariah in the Kindred community. This can be anything from having murdered an elder to having once been a member of the Sabbat. While this secret weighs on you mind at all times, it will only surface in occasional stories Otherwise. It will begin to lose its impact. This needs to be decided prior to play and included in the character’s background.
Disease Carrier (4 Flaw)
Your blood carries a lethal and highly contagious disease. The disease can be anything from rabies to HIV, and Kindred who drink your blood have a 10 percent chance of becoming a carrier as well. You must spend an extra blood point each night on awakening, or you will begin manifesting symptoms of the disease (increased chance to frenzy for rabies, reduced soak rolls for HIV, etc).
Dulled Bite (2 Flaw)
For some reason your fangs never fully developed - they may not have manifested at all. When feeding, you need to find some other method of making the blood flow. Failing that, you must achieve double the normal number of successes in order to make your bite penetrate properly. A number of Caitiff and high generation vampires often manifest this Flaw.
Escaped Target (2 Flaw)
The flip side of Rival Sires, Escaped Target means that you had targeted a mortal for the Embrace, but someone else got there first. You cannot stand the humiliation of being cheated of your prize, and fly into a rage (+2 difficulty to avoid frenzy) whenever you see the one who got away. This hatred may lead you into other irrational behaviors, like Embracing enemies of the neonate, creating unauthorized childe or even trying to kill your rival. Furthermore, your petty and irrational behavior is well-known and quite noticeable, and as a result you are at +1 difficulty on all Charisma rolls until the situation is resolved.
Failure (2 Flaw)
You once held a title in the city, but failed catastrophically in your duties. Now you are branded incompetent, excluded from circles of power and responsibility and generally ostracized by those on their way up. Your exclusion may make you a target for recruitment by the Sabbat (or so the whispers run, making you even more distrusted). Conversely, the consequences of your error - a breach of the Masquerade, an unauthorized Embrace, a lawbreaker allowed to escape might come back to haunt you.
Flesh of the Corpse (5 Flaw)
Your flesh does not fully regenerate itself once it is damaged. While you are able to heal yourself to the point of regaining fully functionality, your skin still retains the cuts, tears, bullet holes, etc., which you have incurred. Depending on the nature of the damage, this Flaw will make social dealings exceedingly difficult.
Glowing Eyes (3 Flaw)
You have the stereotypical glowing eyes of vampire legend, which gives you a -1 difficulty on Intimidation rolls when you're dealing with mortals. However, the tradeoffs are many; you're a walking tear in the Masquerade and must constantly disguise your condition (no, contacts don’t cut it); the glow impairs your vision and puts you at a +1 difficulty on all sight-based rolls (including the use of ranged weapons); and the radiance emanating from your eye sockets makes it difficult to hide (+2 difficulty to Stealth rolls) in the dark.
Incomplete Understanding (1 Flaw)
The whole matter has been explained to you, but you're still not quite sure how this whole Camarilla/Masquerade thing works. Your imperfect understanding of the rules and regulations of your new existence means that sooner or later, you're going to make a mistake. It's only a matter of time.
Infectious Bite (2 Flaw)
You lack the enzymes that allow most Kindred to seal the wounds caused by their feeding. You may not automatically lick the wounds of your feeding closed. In fact, your bites have a one in five chance of becoming infected and causing mortal victims to become seriously ill. The precise nature of the infection is determined by the Storyteller or in the Character Background.
Infertile Vitae (5 Flaw)
During your Embrace, something went terribly wrong causing your blood to mutate under the stress of dying and rising again. All those you try to Embrace die. No matter what you do, you may not create any Childer. However, your blood can still be used for other vampiric needs, including making ghouls.
Masquerade Breaker (2 Flaw)
In your first nights as a member of the Kindred, you accidentally broke the Masquerade and were spotted doing so. Someone else covered for your mistake, but holds the favor over you. Now you exist in fear that your error will be revealed. In the meantime, your "savior" takes pitiless advantage of you.
Monstrous (3 Flaw)
Your physical form was twisted during the Embrace, and now reflects the Beast that rages inside you. Characters with this Flaw appear to be savage monsters and have Appearance ratings of zero. Even Nosferatu have difficulty interacting with such individuals.
Notoriety (3 Flaw)
You have a bad reputation among the Kindred of your chosen city. This may be your own reputation, or it may be derived from your sire. There is a two-dice penalty to all dice rolls for social dealings with the city's Kindred. A character with this Flaw may not take the Merit of Reputation, come from a variety of other sources, such as blackmail, bribes or threats you make it up. The pawn does not necessarily know that it is being controlled. This must be decided upon before play and needs to be included in the character’s background.
Open Wound (2 or 4 Flaw)
You have one or more wounds that refuse to heal, and which constantly drip blood. This slow leakage costs you an extra blood point per evening (marked off just before dawn), in addition to drawing attention to you. If the wound is visible, you are at +1 difficulty for all Social-based rolls. For 2 points, the Flaw is simply unsightly and has the basic effect mentioned above; for 4 points the seeping wound is serious or disfiguring and includes the effects of the Flaw Permanent Wound (Vampire, page 297).
Permanent Fangs (3 Flaw)
Your fangs do not retract, making it impossible for you to hide your true nature. While some mortals may think you've had your teeth filed or are wearing prosthetics, sooner or later you're going to run into someone who knows what you truly are. You are a constant threat to the Masquerade, and other Kindred may take steps to prevent a breach from ever occurring. You are also limited to an Appearance rating of 3 at most.
Permanent Wound (3 Flaw)
You suffered injuries during your Embrace which your transformation somehow failed to repair. At the beginning of each night, you rise from sleep at the Wounded health level. though this may be healed by spending blood points.
Prey Exclusion (1 Flaw)
You refuse to hunt a certain class of prey. You might refuse to feed upon drug dealers, or policemen, or accountants, or rich people - if you accidentally feed upon such an individual, you automatically frenzy and must make a roll to prevent Humanity loss (difficulty 7). Witnessing other Kindred feeding on the object of your exclusion might also provoke a frenzy, at the Storyteller's discretion. Ventrue, owing to the limitations imposed on their feeding by their clan weakness, may not take this Flaw. This needs be decided prior to play and be included in the character’s background.
Selective Digestion (2 Flaw)
You can digest only certain types of blood. You can choose whether you can drink only cold blood (the blood of a dead person), blood with the taste of fear (found in blood only in moments of terror), or blood with the taste of joy, or perhaps only certain types (A, O, etc.) of blood. This Flaw may not be taken by Ventrue characters, since they already have something like it through their clan weakness.
Short Fuse (2 Flaw)
You are easily angered. Difficulties to avoid frenzy are two greater. Brujah vampires cannot take this Flaw, as they already suffer from a similar malady.
Slow Healing (3 Flaw)
You have difficulty healing wounds. It requires two blood points to heal one health level of normal damage, and you heal one health level of aggravated damage every five days (plus the usual five blood points and Willpower expenditure).
Soft-Hearted (1 Flaw)
You cannot stand to watch others suffer. You avoid any situation that involves causing someone physical or emotional pain, unless you make a Willpower roll (difficulty 8). You must have a Humanity rating of 7 or above to take this Flaw.
Territorial (2 Flaw)
You are extremely territorial, staking out a particular area as your hunting ground and reacting aggressively to trespassers. If another vampire enters your territory uninvited, you must make a frenzy roll. If you fail, you immediately attack the interloper and continue attacking until the intruder is dead or has left your hunting grounds. You are reluctant to leave your territory except in desperate circumstances.
Thin Blood (4 Flaw)
The Curse of Caine runs weakly in your blood, while you suffer all the ill effects of vampirism, from the need for blood to taking aggravated damage from sunlight, you do not receive all the compensating supernatural powers. While you can expend blood points to heal your wounds, raise attributes, or fuel those disciplines that need them – all blood point costs are doubled. What’s more your vitae cannot create or sustain ghouls, create a blood bond. When you try to sire childer, the Embrace only has a 20% chance to succeed.
Thirst for Innocence (2 Flaw)
The sight of innocence - of any sort - arouses in you a terrible bloodlust. Roll Self-Control, or else frenzy and attack the source of your hunger.
Twisted Upbringing (1 Flaw)
Your sire was quite malevolent and taught you all the wrong things about Kindred society. All your beliefs about how vampires interact are wrong, and your faulty beliefs are likely to get you into a great deal of trouble. Over time, after any hard lessons, you can overcome this bad start (the Storyteller will tell you when). But until then, you will continue to believe what you were first told, no matter how others try to "trick" you into thinking otherwise.
Uppity (2 Flaw)
You are proud of your new status and Clan - so proud that you've shot your mouth off to other Kindred and made some enemies. Wiser vampires laugh at you and chalk your rudeness up to youth, but others regard you as arrogant and insulting. These enemies will take action to embarrass or harm you. Further more, you are at +2 difficulty on all Social rolls against any vampires you have alienated through your yammering - and you may not know who they are. At Storyteller discretion, you may also be required to make a Willpower roll (difficulty 6) to keep your mouth shut any time the opportunity presents itself for you to brag about your lineage, your Clan or your Status.
Flaws: Brujah
Obvious Predator (2 Flaw)
Either your face or your immediate disposition lets people know that you have nothing good in store for them. Mortals react poorly to people who exude such a blatant air of menace, and all your difficulties for Social rolls increase by two (with the exception of Intimidation-related rolls).
Uncontrollable (5 Flaw)
Rage and passion constantly war in the soul of a volatile Brujah. Perhaps you were ill-tempered before the Embrace, or perhaps your Brujah lineage awakened some latent fury. In any case, even more so than your clan mates, you are prone to frenzy. Difficulties to resist frenzy are always 10 for this character. Prepare for a short, hellish ride.
Pariah (4 Flaw)
The Brujah may be too focused on togetherness or brotherhood, but even this clan has its limits. You must have done something horribly treacherous toward the clan (or something unspeakable to a single, well-known clan mate); because you've encountered the wrath of most - if not all - Brujah within the domain. They hate you, despise you, and either ignore your presence or have set out to kill you.
Flaws: Gangrel
Animal Enmity (5 Flaw)
A species of animal refuses to answer to you or fraternize with you in any way. They may even attack you without provocation. Animalism is useless toward these species (i.e., canine, feline, rodent). Even if used by an ally Animalism will not effect their view of you.
Eyes of the Shark (3 Flaw)
No matter how humane you are when others look you in the eye they see you as an eating machine, emotionless and cruel. Whatever your Humanity, it is treated as a three when others make eye contact with you.
Forgotten of Proteus (7 Flaw)
You have fallen out of harmony or are simply cursed. You cannot ever possess the discipline of Protean or sense it's use.
Superstitious (2 Flaw)
The character has misconceptions about what he is. In the absence of a sire, he becomes what he believes himself to be. "Hollywood-it is," the belief that one has the powers and limitations of one of the several movie vampires, is the most common form. A more severe manifestation (possibly worth more points to the Storyteller) is a Gangrel who believes himself a Lupine.
Flaws: Malkavian
Incomprehensible (5 Flaw)
The change affected you worse than most, permanently damaging your perception of your own communication skills. Though you perceive yourself as speaking normally, you speak only in indecipherable babble and nonsensical words. Likewise, any attempt at written communication fails also - what appears to be legible, logical writing to you is nothing more than doodles and ungraspable scribbles. This utter inability to communicate through conventional means is often frustrating to all parties involved. Your Expression score may never rise above zero, though you may spend a point of willpower to temporarily overcome this flaw. You may never utter more than two or three logical words in a scene, however.
Infectious (3 Flaw)
Your bite transmits the madness of your clan. Whenever you feed from a mortal, the power of the Kiss holds them in place as normal. However, your mortal prey gains a temporary derangement for every three blood points you take from them; the madness lasts for a week or so. Malkavians with this flaw are often the ones you hear about infesting asylums; it’s the most low-key place for them to feed.
Stigmata (2/4 Flaw)
You constantly seep blood from phantom wounds; even though your flesh remains unbroken, you bleed. The bleeding is fairly slight, but is incessant, costing you an extra blood point each evening (marked off just before dawn). If you bleed from visible locations (such as the palms, a common place for stigmata), you are at +1 difficulty to all Social rolls, although certain vampires will probably take your reputation as a seer more seriously.
The 4 PT version of this Flaw indicates that you bleed from your eyesockets; this obviously makes it almost impossible to travel within human society unveiled, and very much disturbs other Cainites (the difficulty of all Social rolls is increased by +2 rather than +1). In addition, the constant bleeding interferes with your vision, adding one to the difficulty of all visual Perception rolls.
Tormented (4 Flaw)
You are perfectly aware that you are insane and suffer much anguish over this fact. You do not share your clan's so-called enlightened view of madness and loathe your own debilitating state. You are on a constant but futile search to cure yourself of your mental disease, an unreachable goal that nevertheless drives your existence. You exhibit every sign of self-loathing and likely harbor a great deal of enmity for your sire. This loathing may even extend to every child of Malkav.
Unpredictable (3 Flaw)
Sometimes your reactions surprise even you, and you can never be certain how you will respond to even the most familiar stimuli. You may suddenly find yourself too terrified to enter the haven you have slept in for years, or hopelessly enamored with a normally despised enemy. Once per game session, the storyteller should have you make a Wits + Empathy roll against a difficulty nine. Success indicates that your erratic nature remains dormant, while a failure indicates that your unpredictability will rear its head once more. A botch indicates that your reaction is so intense that you can do nothing but act on it immediately, regardless of all but the most immediate consequences (i.e., you will not attack someone that you believe can overcome you, but will not fail to attack someone simply because there might be other kinds of repercussions).
Wild-Eyed (1 Flaw)
One need only to look into your eyes to see that you are dangerously insane, and the effect is quite disturbing. All but the most stalwart mortals find themselves inclined to flee your presence immediately, and even kindred do not care to deal with you for long. The difficulty of all appropriate social rolls is increased by one (i.e. seduction rolls are more difficult, but intimidation rolls are not), and humans must spend a point of willpower to remain in your immediate vicinity.
Whispers on the Wind (2 Flaw)
You constantly hear hushed voices, as if a secretive choir hounded your every waking moment. These voices may whisper innocuous babble sometimes, unbearable horrors others. Whether these voices are real or simply your own overactive subconscious is a mystery, but the constant sound makes it difficult to focus on other things. You may never take the Concentration merit, and all difficulties to focus or pay attention are increased by two.
Flaws: Nosferatu
Anosmia (2 Flaw)
You have no sense of smell or taste. The vilest odors and flavors imaginable cannot affect you; in fact, you do not even recognize their presence. You cannot attempt a Perception roll that involves either of these senses. However, any supernatural attack involving horrific odors and tastes does not affect you. Granted, Nosferatu who have surrounded themselves with unseemly funk long enough become immune to just about any foul odor, but you simply do not recognize smells at all.
Blunt Teeth (1 Flaw)
Your teeth are huge and square, not sharp like those of most other Vampires. You must score one extra success to do damage with a bite, and once you have locked your teeth into your prey, you automatically cause the victim one additional Health Level of damage for every two Blood Points taken (you have to chew and chew and chew...).
Club Foot (1 Flaw)
One of your feet is gnarled and deformed. You move at only half normal speed.
Contagious (5 Flaw)
Dead bodies contain all sorts of infectious bacteria, fungi and spores. There's a reason coroners wear gloves when handling corpses. Thanks to a rather virulent version of Nosferatu's curse, a few doomed varieties of Nosferatu retain these infections after their Embrace. Contagious Nosferatu can never interact with mortals without the possibility of spreading sickness and disease. A mortal who touches a Contagious Nosferatu must make a Stamina roll (difficulty 9) or fall prey to illness for the next week. At the end of each week, the victim must make another roll; once he succeeds, he recovers from the illness. While this may seem like a rather crippling Flaw, it does force players to think of new ways of interacting with the human world (many of which are detailed in this chapter) . To maintain a sense of game balance, most other supernatural creatures have ways of dealing with the Contagious Sewer Rat's disease: Werewolves regenerate very quickly, mages can mystically remove the infection from themselves or other mages, wraiths just don 't give a damn because they're incorporeal, and so on.
Incoherent (5 Flaw)
You are incapable of human speech. Maybe your jaw has collapsed or you've been abandoned in the sewers for too long. Pointing, grunting, wheezing and wildly gesturing are all within your repertoire, but actually forming words is not. While a player portraying this character can describe what he is doing, the character can never utter a Word. The only exception to this is communicating with animals; you can express yourself to beasts with nonverbal language.
Necrophile (3 Flaw)
No, you don't have sex with the dead, but you certainly enjoy their company. You are obsessed with dead bodies and "invite" them over to your domain. Your haven is distastefully decorated with severed and mutilated body parts of all kinds. You talk to your dead friends, dance with them, make art out of them and entertain frequently. Some vampires of particularly refined temperament may need to overcome a Courage roll (difficulty 4) to enter a room where you've left your guests and their accouterments. Toreador go apeshit; Toreador antitribu applaud. For some reason, this Raw is very popular among Leatherfaces.
Parasitic Infestation (2 Flaw)
In many ways this Flaw is the negative counterpart to Swarm Attractor (above). Several species of hemovores - ticks, lice, mosquitoes, gnats, chiggers, leeches and the like - find your blood particularly tasty. These creatures crawl and hide among the creases and folds of your skin despite your best efforts to remove them. Particularly persistent are those vermin that drink from you three times and thus become enormous, bloated, Blood Bound ghouls. You may not command the vermin in any fashion; they are too intoxicated on your vitae to be of any use (though they do love you, for what it's worth). The parasites also drink from one to four of your Blood Points each night (roll a die, and divide by three, rounding up.) This forces you to hunt more often. Finally, the constant itching and irritation increase by one the difficulties of all your rolls to avoid frenzy.
Putrescent (4 Flaw)
After you received the Embrace, your body continued to decay. The mystic processes that inhibit a vampire's natural putrefaction has little effect on you. As a result, you constantly rot. Subtract one die when your character soaks damage. If you are jarred or hit violently, roll Stamina (difficulty 6). If you fail, one of your facial features or limbs falls off. If you botch, you also take a level of aggravated damage; once this wound is healed, the missing body parts will re-grow.
Stench (1 Flaw)
Few Nosferatu smell good, but you reach a new nadir of odiferousness. Even other Nosferatu are repulsed by your stink, and your Stealth Dice Pools are reduced by two against any creature that can smell, unless you are upwind.
Withered Leg (3 Flaw)
For whatever reason, one of your legs does not work as well as the other. You subtract three dice when attempting any action that involves movement, and you move at half normal speed.
Flaws: Toreador
Artistically Inept (3 Flaw)
You must work harder than most artists to accomplish great work. You are still capable of creating a masterpiece, but it is tougher for you than for someone else of equal training. All difficulties on Creativity rolls and Artistic Expression rolls are increased by two to a maximum of nine.
Poor Taste (1 Flaw)
You can never have the Art Appreciation skill. You are forever a Poseur, and you have no ability to judge a masterpiece from trash. In fact, if you had the choice, you would choose the trash.
Rival (1 Flaw)
You have an intense rivalry with another Kindred. You are always competing with this individual, either for fun or out of spite. In besting this individual, you go to extremes, and he behaves similarly towards you. Your rival occasionally gets the best of you, but you do the same to him.
Social Outcast (3 Flaw)
You have severed your ties to the Artistes and Poseurs. You no longer play their silly games. You will never rise in Clan Prestige, and you are the equivalent of an Anarch. However, the Anarchs will not accept you due to some past transgressions you have committed against them. You have no place in the world of the Damned.
Tortured Artist (1 Flaw)
You must suffer for your work. Your work is never good enough to suit you. You often suffer ennui for extended periods of time, preventing you from working steadily. In addition, you constantly find yourself in heartbreaking positions; perhaps you subconsciously lead yourself into those situations to acquire the experience you need for your work.
Vulgar (1 Flaw)
You will never fit into high society. You are crude, rude and socially unacceptable, forever a Philistine. You are treated as having one less level of Status when invitations to Toreador socials are prepared. You will never be fully accepted as a Toreador. Many will question your Sire and possibly ridicule him for choosing you.
Flaws: Ventrue
Anti-Ventrue (4 Flaw)
You're the exact opposite of a Ventrue - instead of being graceful, you are clumsy. Instead of being handsome and charming, you are bland, unappealing, and annoying. Other Ventrue will give you no end of grief for your lack of any Blue Blood qualities whatsoever, and you are at a +3 difficulty on all social rolls with other Ventrue who do not possess this flaw. You may never purchase Clan Prestige.
Crass (2 Flaw)
While you might be a savvy manipulator and accomplished powerbroker, you lack style and social grace. Your unrefined demeanor is something of a handicap, and often offends the delicate sensibilities of your more discerning associates. You are at a +1 difficulty on all appropriate social rolls.
Known Mercenary (1 Flaw)
The exploits of your past are well known in your city, and no one is ever going to believe that you follow the path of the civil servant. Whether you have an unselfish or altruistic bone in your body, none of those you must deal with believe you do - they're sure that if you're making a deal with them, they're probably getting the short end of the stick. They also believe that you only do anything about anything if it serves you, and nothing else matters in your plans. You are at a +1 difficulty on all appropriate Manipulation rolls, and rarely can convince anyone to trust you even a little.
Lost Lineage (2 Flaw)
Every new Ventrue to Ventrue introduction begins with a recitation of lineage - unfortunately, you don't know yours. Whether your sire never taught you, amnesia has taken the information from you, or another Ventrue has used Dominate to cause you to forget, you must always decline when asked to recite your lineage and admit you don't know. Your clan fellows have mixed reactions to this, though they are never good - some think you an impostor to the clan, others accuse you of being clanless or antitribu, some simply think you a cretin and refuse to have anything to do with you. You must work ten times as hard to gain even a modicum of respect from other Ventrue who know of your predicament, and sometimes are driven out of town before you get the chance to begin proving yourself.
Notorious Lineage (4 Flaw)
Every new Ventrue to Ventrue introduction begins with a recitation of lineage, and when you recite yours all heads turn - though it is only to get a good look at the scoundrel. The notoriety of your lineage is well known throughout your clan, and you must constantly suffer the social consequences of their failures and follies. Though you may be both competent and formidable, your peers and betters think you the latest addition to a line of misbegotten fools and would be unlikely to trust you with even their garbage. You must work twice as hard to gain even a small amount of consideration, and any ground you might gain will be lost at the first sign of even the smallest mistake.
Rarefied Taste (2 Flaw)
While all Ventrue suffer an extremely discerning palette, you suffer this hindrance more than most. Your chosen vessels are rarer than rare, and you must go to great lengths to ensure that you will be able to feed and maintain your strength. Perhaps you may only feed from victims of a very rare disease, or those with a particular genetic defect. Whatever the predilection, you must constantly work to maintain the presence and health of your source(s) of nourishment and hide the near-crippling flaw from your enemies.
Merits: General
Berserker (2 Merit)
The Beast is in you, but you know how to direct and make use of it. You have the capacity to frenzy at will, and are thus able to ignore your wound penalties. However, you must pay the consequences of your actions while in frenzy just as you normally would. Your chance of entering an unwilling frenzy is also unaffected.
Calm Heart (3 Merit)
You are naturally calm and do not easily fly off the handle. You receive two extra dice when attempting to resist a frenzy. Brujah may not take this Trait.
Eat Food (1 Merit)
You have the capacity to eat food and even savor its taste. While you cannot derive any nourishment from eating regular foods, this ability will serve you well in maintaining the Masquerade. Of course, you can't digest what you eat, and there will be some point during the evening when you must force yourself to heave it back up.
Efficient Digestion (3 Merit)
You are able to draw more than the usual amount of nourishment from blood. When feeding, you gain an additional point to your blood pool for every two points of blood you consume. This does not allow you to exceed your blood pool maximum.
Light Sleeper (2 Merit)
You can awaken instantly at any sign of trouble or danger, and do so without any sleepiness or hesitation. You may ignore rules regarding how Humanity/Path restricts the number of dice available during the day.
Misplaced Heart (2 Merit)
Your heart has actually moved within your body, though no more than two feet from its original position near the middle of your chest. Those who attempt to stake you find it very difficult to find the right location (which should be your most tightly guarded secret).
Prestigious Sire (1 Merit)
Your sire has or had great status in her sect or clan, and this has accorded you with a certain amount of prestige. Though your sire may no longer have any dealings with you, the simple fact of your ancestry has marked you forever. This prestige might aid you greatly in dealings with your elders or other neonates, or it might engender jealousy or contempt.
Merits: Brujah
Compassionate (4 Merit)
You have the moral character of the Brujah of old, the proud warrior-poets who did what they did because their hearts called to them. If you ever fail a Conscience (but not Conviction) roll, you may spend a point of Willpower and attempt the roll again, at a difficulty of 1 higher than the last. If you succeed on this roll, it counts as if you succeeded on the first. You may do this only once per Conscience roll; you must accept the results of the re-roll. If you botch this second roll, you lose one permanent point of Will power in addition to any consequences of the failed Conscience roll.
Fury's Focus (4 Merit)
Though you are no less susceptible to frenzy than your clan mates, you are able to - with effort and great will - control the direction in which your actions during frenzy go. This could come in handy, for example, if your lover is nearby when you go into frenzy. You'd be able to lash out on someone else and avoid harming them.
Merits: Gangrel
Gift of Proteus (1, 2 or 4 Merit)
This merit allows the Gangrel to "fine-tune" the shapes achieved by the Protean Discipline. The number of points spent determines the scope of the variation, which must be specific, approved by the Storyteller, and defined when the merit is chosen.
- 1 The character can vary the special effects The character may modify the incidental effects of a form Red Eyes might glow an eerie green instead of red.
- 2 The character may achieve a minor variation on a form. For instance, a player may determine the actual breed of wolf which her character may become.
- 4 The character may make a significant variation in one of the Protean shapes, (as long as it is still a shape traditionally associated with Vampires), such as becoming black cat instead of a wolf.
This merit allows a Gangrel to roll Fortitude and Stamina together to repel aggravated damage. This requires expenditure of one WP to activate.
Retractable Claws (2 Merit)
Allows a Gangrel to hide activated claws. Good for those meetings with the Prince.
Ruse of the Wolf’s Clothing (2 Merit)
In animal form only, the vampire still smells alive, even to the super sensitive nostrils of the lupines. This is essentially a “Baby Face” merit for altered forms, and may include other lifelike symptoms at the storytellers’ discretion as well as a defense against the werewolf gift Sense Wyrm. If this is the case, then the storyteller may well want to increase the cost of this merit.
Without a Trace (2 Merit)
You are virtually untraceable. Nature works to your advantage, masking your scent trail and eliminating your footprints. All normal methods of tracking fail every time someone attempts to track you, and even Lupines (garou) find it incredibly difficult to pick up your scent. While supernatural methods such as Auspex aren't complete failures, the difficulties of tracking are great and it isn't likely to pinpoint your exact location unless the practitioner of the discipline is extremely skilled and lucky (+2 Diff to tack the character) through any means.
Merits: Malkavian
Benevolent Blood (1 Merit)
Your blood still carries the Curse of Malkav, but its effects have been lessened just a little bit. Any ghouls you create suffer none of the usual deranging side effects of drinking Malkavian blood – they can be loaded to the gills with your blood and not come one step nearer to gaining a derangement. (They might still be driven insane by life with you, though, depending on how demanding your reality is.) Of course, any childer you Embrace will still gain a derangement after the Embrace as usual – although your vitae is easily diluted by mortal blood, the pure stuff carries the Curse as one would expect.
Deadened Nerves (4 Merit)
Whether it was a condition you held in life or an odd side effect of the embrace, your nervous system is missing a few connections. You have very little tactile sense, whether pleasure or pain. The downside of this is obvious: One of your senses is greatly impaired, which can keep you from noticing important warnings (a blade at your back, for instance – or in it.). You suffer a +3 difficulty to all tactile-related Perception rolls, and the Storyteller may call for a roll to notice even the blatantly obvious; you might not even notice that you’ve been shot if the bullet doesn’t knock you down outright.
However, your deadened nerves also protect you from pain, allowing you to ignore your wounds until your flesh is literally blasted from your bones. All penalties for sound levels are halved, rounding down; in other words, you suffer no penalty until you reach the Wounded level, where you deduct only one die from your dice pools, and even when Crippled you can still act at a mere two-die penalty.
Disembodied Mentor (5 Merit)
The voices in your head may tell you things, but by God, they’re useful things. You have a personal guide and advisor (bought as usual through the Background: Mentor) who exists largely in your own skull. He may have been a Malkavian who uploaded himself into the Network, or perhaps he’s an imaginary construct with access to the shared memories of the clan. Either way, it’s exceedingly hard for your enemies to cut you off from your mentor’s counsel, and it’s usually pretty easy to call on his advice when you need it. Unfortunately, this merit also has its drawbacks; your mentor can find you whenever he chooses and can be a real distraction when you’re trying to do something he finds irrelevant. You’re not freed from the obligations of your relationship, either; you find yourself running errands for your mentor just as often as any other pupil would, if not more so.
Immaculate Aura (1 Merit)
Whether because of your iron control or some fluke of chance, your aura does not give away your insanity. The aura doesn’t shift or swirl at all, even when you’re confused, frenzied, or in a psychotic fit.
Seeming Lucidity (3 Merit)
Though you are mad as a hatter, you conceal your insanity well - or perhaps your particular brand of madness simply does not lend itself to external perceptions. To others you appear lucid almost constantly, capable of making reasonable leaps of logic and sound decisions. Other kindred are more forgiving of the small quirks you outwardly display, and they are less likely to dismiss you as uselessly insane.
Spellbinder (1 Merit)
The outward physical expression of your madness is intriguing and enticing, awakening an interest even in those who suffer Ennui. This lends you a certain amount of sway over both humans and kindred when engaging them directly. The difficulty of all appropriate social rolls is decreased by one.
Merits: Nosferatu
Disgusting (2 Merit)
You have the ability to contort your body and face in all sorts of shocking and grotesque ways. You can drool blood, pop your eyes out to double their width, spontaneously grow and burst boils on your flesh, extend your tongue three feet out of your mouth, etc. In addition, you are an accomplished practitioner of the fine art of disgusting others, and take considerable pride in your ability to gross out anyone or anything. By concentrating for a turn and spending a Blood Point, you may will your body to do something vile, making a Wits and Intimidation roll (Difficulty of the opponent's Wits + Self Control). Each success on this roll subtracts one from the opponent's Dice Pool for any action taken next turn. (The opponent is so repulsed and horrified by your antics that concentration is broken.)
False Reflection (3 Merit)
When using Mask of a Thousand Faces, a Nosferatu with this Merit can create a false impression of his disguise on recording media. He can have his picture taken, show up on videotape and even record an imitation of the subject's voice. Nosferatu without this Merit cannot disguise themselves to machines using the Obfuscate Discipline.
Foul Blood (3 Merit)
The vitae flowing through your veins tastes truly awful. Anyone who bites or feeds from you must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 6) or spend the next turn choking, retching and gagging. Any idiot who actually tries to diablerize you must make three Willpower rolls (difficulty 9) to succeed. This makes blood bonds torturous, the Embrace becomes even more difficult, and ghouling is near impossible.
Gaping Maw (2 Merit)
You've got a nasty gash where your mouth should be. It can smile, it can frown, and most importantly, it can grin two or three inches wider than any human mouth can. An ordinary vampire can suck up to three blood points in a turn. You can drain up to four points a turn, provided you can latch your tooth-filled orifice around enough skin.
Lizard Limbs (1 Merit)
When your limbs are restrained or grappled, you may spend a Blood Point and make a Willpower roll (difficulty 8). If you succeed, you may "shed" a limb, leaving it in your opponent's grasp while you escape. The limbs may be regrown normally. If you shed enough limbs, you can escape nearly any bonds, though it is difficult to flee the scene of captivity when one has no legs.... Nosferatu with this Merit often use it for practical jokes (Let's shake on it...).
Long Fingers (1 Merit)
Your fingers are unnaturally long and spidery. You gain one extra die to Dice Pools involving digital coordination or grappling.
Oversized Fangs (1 Merit)
When you grew your fangs, you really grew 'em. Your fangs are enormous, snaggly things resembling cobra fangs or possibly even tusks. Your bite does one additional die of damage, and you may add one to your Intimidation Dice Pool.
Over-sized Mouth (1 Merit)
Your mouth is huge and you are able to open it to prodigious width. You may drink an additional two Blood Points from your victim each turn.
Patagia (4 Merit)
You have grown large flaps of skin under your arms, like those of a pterodactyl or flying squirrel. You may use these patagia to glide for short distances, provided there is an updraft or strong wind.
Piscine (1 Merit)
You are abnormally comfortable underwater and vastly prefer swimming to walking. You get a -1 difficulty on any Physical dice pool related to underwater movement.
Projectile Vomiting (2 Merit)
This talent is like the Eat Food Merit, but twice as versatile. Food comes in; food goes out very, very fast. A vampire with this ability can ingest, and possibly even taste, food and drink. He cannot pin any nutritional benefit from this ordinarily digestible matter, but he can store it for later use. When this need arises, the Nosferatu can not only disgorge his stored supply of food, but also aim it with a degree of precision. For the record, projectile vomiting in the Storyteller system usually requires a Stamina + Athletics roll; the difficulty is 8, and a victim can attempt to dodge this bolus of ejected victuals. Although this attack does not cause damage (save to one's pride), the type of food ejected may temporarily obscure a victim's vision, cause him to slip or merely force him to weep with shame at a Toreador's grand ball. Pity the poor vomit drenched Toreador....
Reptile Buddy (3 Merit)
Yes, those legends about albino alligators in the sewers really are true. You've been nursing a few of them with your vitae in the local spawning pool for years. Your careful breeding and vigilant training has produced a reptilian slave of exceptional intelligence. It has a mind as sharp as that as a five-year-old child and teeth as keen as butcher knives. The beast understands your native language perfectly and can even follow complex directions. Faster and deadlier than any human ghoul, it is a highly efficient killing machine fully capable of patrolling your domain with ruthless efficiency. Reptile buddies also love to play "fetch" with human limbs (whether attached or severed).
Ghouled Reptile Buddy Physical: Strength 6, Dexterity 2, Stamina 6 Social: Charisma 0, Manipulation 0, Appearance 0 Mental: Perception 3, Intelligence 1, Wits 3 Disciplines: Fortitude 2, Potence 2 Blood Pool: 5 Willpower: 5 Attacks: Bite (7 dice), Tail Slap (6 dice)
Rugged Bad Looks (5 Merit)
Your face is hideous, but it could almost pass for that of a really ugly human. If you were to cover every other part of your body, you could shamble into mortal society looking only slightly suspicious. While you might have a hunchback, reptilian scales over parts of your flesh or a foul stench that never dissipate, you can actually walk among mortals - with extensive precautions - without automatically breaking the Masquerade. Other vampires give you no end of grief for not looking like a "real" Nosferatu. By the way, this is as "attractive" as a Nosferatu ever gets; no Merit will ever increase a Nosferatu's Appearance above zero.
Sleep Unseen (2 Merit)
You can use the Obfuscate Discipline to hide while you sleep during the day. Such prolonged use of this ability requires an extra blood point (or Blood Trait) to keep your body hidden for a full day. Of course, you must at least be hidden from sunlight, and vampires using the Auspex can still detect you, but mortals will ignore your very presence. This is a useful Merit for Nosferatu emissaries and travelers; many would perish without it.
Slimey (2 Merit)
Your skin secretes slime like that of a worm or mollusk. Opponents must score two more successes than normal to grapple you, and your difficulty to soak fire damage is reduced by one.
Swarm Attractor (2 Merit)
You must have at least one dot in Animalism to take this Merit. Your skin exudes a grease that attracts flies, gnats, bees, and other flying insects. While these insects normally buzz passively about you in a thick cloud, you may command them in a limited fashion. The bugs may travel up to 20 feet from you to sting and distract your foes. The swarm does no actual damage, but any being caught in the swarm must make a Willpower roll (Diff 7). If the roll fails, the victim loses two dice from her Dice Pool that turn; if it botches, she may take no action whatsoever.
Tough Hide (2 Merit)
Your skin is thick and leathery, resembling that of a pachyderm. You gain one extra die on your soak Dice Pool (though not to soak fire and sunlight).
Merits: Toreador
Blasé (3 Merit)
You are not easily impressed by others. You automatically resist all Presence powers. However, if the Kindred using Presence is far more powerful than yourself, the Storyteller might require you to spend a point of Willpower to resist.
Controllable Thirst (1 Merit)
Because Toreador spend so much time around mortals, resisting Frenzy caused by the smell, sight or taste of blood is easier for them. Whenever the Kindred makes a Frenzy roll over blood, reduce the difficulty by three.
Eye for Beauty (1 Merit)
The Kindred is a natural critic. Reduce difficulties for Art Appreciation by four.
"Gifted" (3 Merit)
The difficulty on all Creativity rolls and Artistic Expression rolls are reduced by three.
Greater Colors (3 Merit)
The vampire sees colors more distinctly and with greater definition. The world is far more colorful. Unfortunately, the vampire is more likely to become enraptured by colorful objects. Despite the drawback, when used in conjunction with Aura Perception, the vampire will discover far more information about her target. The difficulty for reading a target's aura is reduced to five. The player may ask the Storyteller one question about the target for every success, and the Storyteller must provide accurate information. This may be used only once per story on a particular target. Finally, all Artistic Expression difficulties involving color are reduced by one.
Mortal Double (2 Merit)
You have the services of someone alive who looks just like you. This person might be your actual twin. (Other explanations are possible: a long-lost brother, a master of disguise, a Progenitor clone, a victim of Vicissitude, etc.) However, unless he is made into a ghoul, he will continue to age normally. Eventually, he will no longer be your exact double. The double may move about freely during the day, aiding you in hiding your vampiric nature. The double must be fully aware of your personal life, including all your relationships and activities. He must also be a good actor.
Refined (2 Merit)
You a member of the elite. You are at home in high society and you never feel out of place around the "beautiful people." The difficulty on all Etiquette rolls involving high society is reduced by three. In addition, you are often invited to Toreador socials reserved for those of higher Toreador Prestige (or Camarilla Status) than yourself.
Merits: Ventrue
Credible (1 Merit)
You are capable of presenting your ideas in such a way that even the most far-fetched notion could seem sensible and logical. Those of lesser mental merit are likely to believe you without pause, and your equals and superiors find cause to consider your ideas. You can't necessarily pull the wool over anyone's eyes, nor can you make them believe something they know isn't true - but you can manipulate the facts and figures to strongly support your own suggestions.
Humble (1 Merit)
Something about your speech and demeanor influences other kindred to believe that you truly wish to serve your fellow vampire. You play the role of civil servant well, and though others may not always understand your plans, they are inclined to believe that you aim to benefit all. You are at a -1 difficulty on all appropriate Manipulation rolls. (i.e., convincing your elder that you should be the one to control her nightly business affairs are rolled at a -1 difficulty, though trying to talk a Toreador neonate into your bedroom isn't.)
Iron Stomach (7 Merit)
The taste of Ventrue is so refined that they can normally feed from only one class of mortal. With this merit, the Ventrue-in-question may temporarily ingest the blood of any other class as well, and even hold it for a brief time. If the character decides to feed from someone other than his pre-set class of mortals, he must first expend two Willpower points. As long as he wishes to keep the blood in his system, he must expend an additional Willpower point everywhere. Should he run out of Willpower or no longer wish to stomach the stuff, he vomits the blood back up immediately, and takes one unsoakable level of bashing damage in the process. This is considered a Supernatural merit.
Majesty (2 Merit)
Everything about you seems to be particularly noble: the way you walk, speak, and feel. You are at a -2 difficulty on all social rolls.
Noble (2 Merit)
You come from noble, aristocratic, or even royal stock, and the concepts of public life and Machiavellian politics have been familiar to you since birth. You have less trouble adapting to and understanding the social conventions of the Ventrue and the Camarilla. You are at a -1 difficulty on all appropriate social and political rolls. (i.e., negotiating with an elder is at a -1 difficulty, though trying to intimidate one of the Brujah most likely is not.)
Paragon (6 Merit)
The Embrace has awakened within you an aspect of personality that others find particularly compelling. You may select any one Background from the following group: Allies, Clan Prestige, Contacts, Fame, Herd, Influence, Mentor, Resources, Retainers, Sabbat Status or Status. Your maximum Trait score in that Background may exceed your normal generation limit by one. For example, a 10th-generation Kindred may take this Merit and enjoy the benefits of a Contacts Background of 6. You may take this Merit for only one Background, which may drop (and therefore rise again) at the Storyteller's discretion. Players should choose this Merit only for a Background that makes sense -- a Camarilla Archon is unlikely to have a Black Hand Membership Background of 7, for example.
Piercing Gaze (3 Merit)
Your gaze seems to be paralyzing. Whether it instills people with fear, love, or self-loathing, all Disciplines that require sight contact have their difficulties reduced by 3.
Proud Lineage (4 Merit)
Every new Ventrue to Ventrue introduction begins with a recitation of lineage, and when you recite yours all heads turn. Your proud line is well known within the clan, as are their numerous successes and victories throughout the ages. Whether your own deeds do your line justice, those of your clan who learn of your lineage are suitably impressed. You are granted consideration beyond your own years and accomplishments, as surely there was a reason you were chosen to join this venerable line of Ventrue.
Flaws
Flaws: General
Addiction (3 Flaw)
You suffer from an addiction to a substance, which must now be present in the blood you drink. This can be alcohol, nicotine, hard drugs or simply adrenaline. This substance always impairs you in some fashion (see "Poisons and Drugs," for particulars)
Allergic (1-3 Flaw)
You are allergic to some substance, in a manner not unlike mortal allergies. However, you do not get hives or sneeze, but are actually incapacitated by your reaction. If the substance was in the blood you drank, the reaction will be very strong, though touch alone is enough to disturb you. If it was in the blood, you will have five fewer dice on all your Dice Pools for 10 minutes - if you just touched it, the penalty is reduced to two dice. Choose from the list below or make up the substance to which you are allergic.
- Plastic: 1
- Alcohol: 2
- Illegal Drugs: 2
- Medical Drugs: 3
- Metal: 3
You have been a vampire for some time, and are unable (or unwilling) to keep up with the changing times. An Intelligence roll is needed whenever you have to deal with something from a later period than your own breathing days. If the roll is failed, total the net failures and use this total as a negative modifier to your attempts. Example: Osric, a fifth-century Goth by birth, has this Flaw and is attempting to deal with a computer. His Intelligence roll results in two net failures. Osric now has a two-dice penalty when determining the outcome of his attempt to make the infernal machine cooperate. Note that characters with this Flaw will generally have been vampires for longer than the 50 years suggested in Vampire, so Storytellers should decide whether or not to allow this Flaw in their chronicles.
Dark Secret (1 Flaw)
You have some sort of secret that, if uncovered, would be of immense embarrassment to you and would make you a pariah in the Kindred community. This can be anything from having murdered an elder to having once been a member of the Sabbat. While this secret weighs on you mind at all times, it will only surface in occasional stories Otherwise. It will begin to lose its impact. This needs to be decided prior to play and included in the character’s background.
Disease Carrier (4 Flaw)
Your blood carries a lethal and highly contagious disease. The disease can be anything from rabies to HIV, and Kindred who drink your blood have a 10 percent chance of becoming a carrier as well. You must spend an extra blood point each night on awakening, or you will begin manifesting symptoms of the disease (increased chance to frenzy for rabies, reduced soak rolls for HIV, etc).
Dulled Bite (2 Flaw)
For some reason your fangs never fully developed - they may not have manifested at all. When feeding, you need to find some other method of making the blood flow. Failing that, you must achieve double the normal number of successes in order to make your bite penetrate properly. A number of Caitiff and high generation vampires often manifest this Flaw.
Escaped Target (2 Flaw)
The flip side of Rival Sires, Escaped Target means that you had targeted a mortal for the Embrace, but someone else got there first. You cannot stand the humiliation of being cheated of your prize, and fly into a rage (+2 difficulty to avoid frenzy) whenever you see the one who got away. This hatred may lead you into other irrational behaviors, like Embracing enemies of the neonate, creating unauthorized childe or even trying to kill your rival. Furthermore, your petty and irrational behavior is well-known and quite noticeable, and as a result you are at +1 difficulty on all Charisma rolls until the situation is resolved.
Failure (2 Flaw)
You once held a title in the city, but failed catastrophically in your duties. Now you are branded incompetent, excluded from circles of power and responsibility and generally ostracized by those on their way up. Your exclusion may make you a target for recruitment by the Sabbat (or so the whispers run, making you even more distrusted). Conversely, the consequences of your error - a breach of the Masquerade, an unauthorized Embrace, a lawbreaker allowed to escape might come back to haunt you.
Flesh of the Corpse (5 Flaw)
Your flesh does not fully regenerate itself once it is damaged. While you are able to heal yourself to the point of regaining fully functionality, your skin still retains the cuts, tears, bullet holes, etc., which you have incurred. Depending on the nature of the damage, this Flaw will make social dealings exceedingly difficult.
Glowing Eyes (3 Flaw)
You have the stereotypical glowing eyes of vampire legend, which gives you a -1 difficulty on Intimidation rolls when you're dealing with mortals. However, the tradeoffs are many; you're a walking tear in the Masquerade and must constantly disguise your condition (no, contacts don’t cut it); the glow impairs your vision and puts you at a +1 difficulty on all sight-based rolls (including the use of ranged weapons); and the radiance emanating from your eye sockets makes it difficult to hide (+2 difficulty to Stealth rolls) in the dark.
Incomplete Understanding (1 Flaw)
The whole matter has been explained to you, but you're still not quite sure how this whole Camarilla/Masquerade thing works. Your imperfect understanding of the rules and regulations of your new existence means that sooner or later, you're going to make a mistake. It's only a matter of time.
Infectious Bite (2 Flaw)
You lack the enzymes that allow most Kindred to seal the wounds caused by their feeding. You may not automatically lick the wounds of your feeding closed. In fact, your bites have a one in five chance of becoming infected and causing mortal victims to become seriously ill. The precise nature of the infection is determined by the Storyteller or in the Character Background.
Infertile Vitae (5 Flaw)
During your Embrace, something went terribly wrong causing your blood to mutate under the stress of dying and rising again. All those you try to Embrace die. No matter what you do, you may not create any Childer. However, your blood can still be used for other vampiric needs, including making ghouls.
Masquerade Breaker (2 Flaw)
In your first nights as a member of the Kindred, you accidentally broke the Masquerade and were spotted doing so. Someone else covered for your mistake, but holds the favor over you. Now you exist in fear that your error will be revealed. In the meantime, your "savior" takes pitiless advantage of you.
Monstrous (3 Flaw)
Your physical form was twisted during the Embrace, and now reflects the Beast that rages inside you. Characters with this Flaw appear to be savage monsters and have Appearance ratings of zero. Even Nosferatu have difficulty interacting with such individuals.
Notoriety (3 Flaw)
You have a bad reputation among the Kindred of your chosen city. This may be your own reputation, or it may be derived from your sire. There is a two-dice penalty to all dice rolls for social dealings with the city's Kindred. A character with this Flaw may not take the Merit of Reputation, come from a variety of other sources, such as blackmail, bribes or threats you make it up. The pawn does not necessarily know that it is being controlled. This must be decided upon before play and needs to be included in the character’s background.
Open Wound (2 or 4 Flaw)
You have one or more wounds that refuse to heal, and which constantly drip blood. This slow leakage costs you an extra blood point per evening (marked off just before dawn), in addition to drawing attention to you. If the wound is visible, you are at +1 difficulty for all Social-based rolls. For 2 points, the Flaw is simply unsightly and has the basic effect mentioned above; for 4 points the seeping wound is serious or disfiguring and includes the effects of the Flaw Permanent Wound (Vampire, page 297).
Permanent Fangs (3 Flaw)
Your fangs do not retract, making it impossible for you to hide your true nature. While some mortals may think you've had your teeth filed or are wearing prosthetics, sooner or later you're going to run into someone who knows what you truly are. You are a constant threat to the Masquerade, and other Kindred may take steps to prevent a breach from ever occurring. You are also limited to an Appearance rating of 3 at most.
Permanent Wound (3 Flaw)
You suffered injuries during your Embrace which your transformation somehow failed to repair. At the beginning of each night, you rise from sleep at the Wounded health level. though this may be healed by spending blood points.
Prey Exclusion (1 Flaw)
You refuse to hunt a certain class of prey. You might refuse to feed upon drug dealers, or policemen, or accountants, or rich people - if you accidentally feed upon such an individual, you automatically frenzy and must make a roll to prevent Humanity loss (difficulty 7). Witnessing other Kindred feeding on the object of your exclusion might also provoke a frenzy, at the Storyteller's discretion. Ventrue, owing to the limitations imposed on their feeding by their clan weakness, may not take this Flaw. This needs be decided prior to play and be included in the character’s background.
Selective Digestion (2 Flaw)
You can digest only certain types of blood. You can choose whether you can drink only cold blood (the blood of a dead person), blood with the taste of fear (found in blood only in moments of terror), or blood with the taste of joy, or perhaps only certain types (A, O, etc.) of blood. This Flaw may not be taken by Ventrue characters, since they already have something like it through their clan weakness.
Short Fuse (2 Flaw)
You are easily angered. Difficulties to avoid frenzy are two greater. Brujah vampires cannot take this Flaw, as they already suffer from a similar malady.
Slow Healing (3 Flaw)
You have difficulty healing wounds. It requires two blood points to heal one health level of normal damage, and you heal one health level of aggravated damage every five days (plus the usual five blood points and Willpower expenditure).
Soft-Hearted (1 Flaw)
You cannot stand to watch others suffer. You avoid any situation that involves causing someone physical or emotional pain, unless you make a Willpower roll (difficulty 8). You must have a Humanity rating of 7 or above to take this Flaw.
Territorial (2 Flaw)
You are extremely territorial, staking out a particular area as your hunting ground and reacting aggressively to trespassers. If another vampire enters your territory uninvited, you must make a frenzy roll. If you fail, you immediately attack the interloper and continue attacking until the intruder is dead or has left your hunting grounds. You are reluctant to leave your territory except in desperate circumstances.
Thin Blood (4 Flaw)
The Curse of Caine runs weakly in your blood, while you suffer all the ill effects of vampirism, from the need for blood to taking aggravated damage from sunlight, you do not receive all the compensating supernatural powers. While you can expend blood points to heal your wounds, raise attributes, or fuel those disciplines that need them – all blood point costs are doubled. What’s more your vitae cannot create or sustain ghouls, create a blood bond. When you try to sire childer, the Embrace only has a 20% chance to succeed.
Thirst for Innocence (2 Flaw)
The sight of innocence - of any sort - arouses in you a terrible bloodlust. Roll Self-Control, or else frenzy and attack the source of your hunger.
Twisted Upbringing (1 Flaw)
Your sire was quite malevolent and taught you all the wrong things about Kindred society. All your beliefs about how vampires interact are wrong, and your faulty beliefs are likely to get you into a great deal of trouble. Over time, after any hard lessons, you can overcome this bad start (the Storyteller will tell you when). But until then, you will continue to believe what you were first told, no matter how others try to "trick" you into thinking otherwise.
Uppity (2 Flaw)
You are proud of your new status and Clan - so proud that you've shot your mouth off to other Kindred and made some enemies. Wiser vampires laugh at you and chalk your rudeness up to youth, but others regard you as arrogant and insulting. These enemies will take action to embarrass or harm you. Further more, you are at +2 difficulty on all Social rolls against any vampires you have alienated through your yammering - and you may not know who they are. At Storyteller discretion, you may also be required to make a Willpower roll (difficulty 6) to keep your mouth shut any time the opportunity presents itself for you to brag about your lineage, your Clan or your Status.
Flaws: Brujah
Obvious Predator (2 Flaw)
Either your face or your immediate disposition lets people know that you have nothing good in store for them. Mortals react poorly to people who exude such a blatant air of menace, and all your difficulties for Social rolls increase by two (with the exception of Intimidation-related rolls).
Uncontrollable (5 Flaw)
Rage and passion constantly war in the soul of a volatile Brujah. Perhaps you were ill-tempered before the Embrace, or perhaps your Brujah lineage awakened some latent fury. In any case, even more so than your clan mates, you are prone to frenzy. Difficulties to resist frenzy are always 10 for this character. Prepare for a short, hellish ride.
Pariah (4 Flaw)
The Brujah may be too focused on togetherness or brotherhood, but even this clan has its limits. You must have done something horribly treacherous toward the clan (or something unspeakable to a single, well-known clan mate); because you've encountered the wrath of most - if not all - Brujah within the domain. They hate you, despise you, and either ignore your presence or have set out to kill you.
Flaws: Gangrel
Animal Enmity (5 Flaw)
A species of animal refuses to answer to you or fraternize with you in any way. They may even attack you without provocation. Animalism is useless toward these species (i.e., canine, feline, rodent). Even if used by an ally Animalism will not effect their view of you.
Eyes of the Shark (3 Flaw)
No matter how humane you are when others look you in the eye they see you as an eating machine, emotionless and cruel. Whatever your Humanity, it is treated as a three when others make eye contact with you.
Forgotten of Proteus (7 Flaw)
You have fallen out of harmony or are simply cursed. You cannot ever possess the discipline of Protean or sense it's use.
Superstitious (2 Flaw)
The character has misconceptions about what he is. In the absence of a sire, he becomes what he believes himself to be. "Hollywood-it is," the belief that one has the powers and limitations of one of the several movie vampires, is the most common form. A more severe manifestation (possibly worth more points to the Storyteller) is a Gangrel who believes himself a Lupine.
Flaws: Malkavian
Incomprehensible (5 Flaw)
The change affected you worse than most, permanently damaging your perception of your own communication skills. Though you perceive yourself as speaking normally, you speak only in indecipherable babble and nonsensical words. Likewise, any attempt at written communication fails also - what appears to be legible, logical writing to you is nothing more than doodles and ungraspable scribbles. This utter inability to communicate through conventional means is often frustrating to all parties involved. Your Expression score may never rise above zero, though you may spend a point of willpower to temporarily overcome this flaw. You may never utter more than two or three logical words in a scene, however.
Infectious (3 Flaw)
Your bite transmits the madness of your clan. Whenever you feed from a mortal, the power of the Kiss holds them in place as normal. However, your mortal prey gains a temporary derangement for every three blood points you take from them; the madness lasts for a week or so. Malkavians with this flaw are often the ones you hear about infesting asylums; it’s the most low-key place for them to feed.
Stigmata (2/4 Flaw)
You constantly seep blood from phantom wounds; even though your flesh remains unbroken, you bleed. The bleeding is fairly slight, but is incessant, costing you an extra blood point each evening (marked off just before dawn). If you bleed from visible locations (such as the palms, a common place for stigmata), you are at +1 difficulty to all Social rolls, although certain vampires will probably take your reputation as a seer more seriously.
The 4 PT version of this Flaw indicates that you bleed from your eyesockets; this obviously makes it almost impossible to travel within human society unveiled, and very much disturbs other Cainites (the difficulty of all Social rolls is increased by +2 rather than +1). In addition, the constant bleeding interferes with your vision, adding one to the difficulty of all visual Perception rolls.
Tormented (4 Flaw)
You are perfectly aware that you are insane and suffer much anguish over this fact. You do not share your clan's so-called enlightened view of madness and loathe your own debilitating state. You are on a constant but futile search to cure yourself of your mental disease, an unreachable goal that nevertheless drives your existence. You exhibit every sign of self-loathing and likely harbor a great deal of enmity for your sire. This loathing may even extend to every child of Malkav.
Unpredictable (3 Flaw)
Sometimes your reactions surprise even you, and you can never be certain how you will respond to even the most familiar stimuli. You may suddenly find yourself too terrified to enter the haven you have slept in for years, or hopelessly enamored with a normally despised enemy. Once per game session, the storyteller should have you make a Wits + Empathy roll against a difficulty nine. Success indicates that your erratic nature remains dormant, while a failure indicates that your unpredictability will rear its head once more. A botch indicates that your reaction is so intense that you can do nothing but act on it immediately, regardless of all but the most immediate consequences (i.e., you will not attack someone that you believe can overcome you, but will not fail to attack someone simply because there might be other kinds of repercussions).
Wild-Eyed (1 Flaw)
One need only to look into your eyes to see that you are dangerously insane, and the effect is quite disturbing. All but the most stalwart mortals find themselves inclined to flee your presence immediately, and even kindred do not care to deal with you for long. The difficulty of all appropriate social rolls is increased by one (i.e. seduction rolls are more difficult, but intimidation rolls are not), and humans must spend a point of willpower to remain in your immediate vicinity.
Whispers on the Wind (2 Flaw)
You constantly hear hushed voices, as if a secretive choir hounded your every waking moment. These voices may whisper innocuous babble sometimes, unbearable horrors others. Whether these voices are real or simply your own overactive subconscious is a mystery, but the constant sound makes it difficult to focus on other things. You may never take the Concentration merit, and all difficulties to focus or pay attention are increased by two.
Flaws: Nosferatu
Anosmia (2 Flaw)
You have no sense of smell or taste. The vilest odors and flavors imaginable cannot affect you; in fact, you do not even recognize their presence. You cannot attempt a Perception roll that involves either of these senses. However, any supernatural attack involving horrific odors and tastes does not affect you. Granted, Nosferatu who have surrounded themselves with unseemly funk long enough become immune to just about any foul odor, but you simply do not recognize smells at all.
Blunt Teeth (1 Flaw)
Your teeth are huge and square, not sharp like those of most other Vampires. You must score one extra success to do damage with a bite, and once you have locked your teeth into your prey, you automatically cause the victim one additional Health Level of damage for every two Blood Points taken (you have to chew and chew and chew...).
Club Foot (1 Flaw)
One of your feet is gnarled and deformed. You move at only half normal speed.
Contagious (5 Flaw)
Dead bodies contain all sorts of infectious bacteria, fungi and spores. There's a reason coroners wear gloves when handling corpses. Thanks to a rather virulent version of Nosferatu's curse, a few doomed varieties of Nosferatu retain these infections after their Embrace. Contagious Nosferatu can never interact with mortals without the possibility of spreading sickness and disease. A mortal who touches a Contagious Nosferatu must make a Stamina roll (difficulty 9) or fall prey to illness for the next week. At the end of each week, the victim must make another roll; once he succeeds, he recovers from the illness. While this may seem like a rather crippling Flaw, it does force players to think of new ways of interacting with the human world (many of which are detailed in this chapter) . To maintain a sense of game balance, most other supernatural creatures have ways of dealing with the Contagious Sewer Rat's disease: Werewolves regenerate very quickly, mages can mystically remove the infection from themselves or other mages, wraiths just don 't give a damn because they're incorporeal, and so on.
Incoherent (5 Flaw)
You are incapable of human speech. Maybe your jaw has collapsed or you've been abandoned in the sewers for too long. Pointing, grunting, wheezing and wildly gesturing are all within your repertoire, but actually forming words is not. While a player portraying this character can describe what he is doing, the character can never utter a Word. The only exception to this is communicating with animals; you can express yourself to beasts with nonverbal language.
Necrophile (3 Flaw)
No, you don't have sex with the dead, but you certainly enjoy their company. You are obsessed with dead bodies and "invite" them over to your domain. Your haven is distastefully decorated with severed and mutilated body parts of all kinds. You talk to your dead friends, dance with them, make art out of them and entertain frequently. Some vampires of particularly refined temperament may need to overcome a Courage roll (difficulty 4) to enter a room where you've left your guests and their accouterments. Toreador go apeshit; Toreador antitribu applaud. For some reason, this Raw is very popular among Leatherfaces.
Parasitic Infestation (2 Flaw)
In many ways this Flaw is the negative counterpart to Swarm Attractor (above). Several species of hemovores - ticks, lice, mosquitoes, gnats, chiggers, leeches and the like - find your blood particularly tasty. These creatures crawl and hide among the creases and folds of your skin despite your best efforts to remove them. Particularly persistent are those vermin that drink from you three times and thus become enormous, bloated, Blood Bound ghouls. You may not command the vermin in any fashion; they are too intoxicated on your vitae to be of any use (though they do love you, for what it's worth). The parasites also drink from one to four of your Blood Points each night (roll a die, and divide by three, rounding up.) This forces you to hunt more often. Finally, the constant itching and irritation increase by one the difficulties of all your rolls to avoid frenzy.
Putrescent (4 Flaw)
After you received the Embrace, your body continued to decay. The mystic processes that inhibit a vampire's natural putrefaction has little effect on you. As a result, you constantly rot. Subtract one die when your character soaks damage. If you are jarred or hit violently, roll Stamina (difficulty 6). If you fail, one of your facial features or limbs falls off. If you botch, you also take a level of aggravated damage; once this wound is healed, the missing body parts will re-grow.
Stench (1 Flaw)
Few Nosferatu smell good, but you reach a new nadir of odiferousness. Even other Nosferatu are repulsed by your stink, and your Stealth Dice Pools are reduced by two against any creature that can smell, unless you are upwind.
Withered Leg (3 Flaw)
For whatever reason, one of your legs does not work as well as the other. You subtract three dice when attempting any action that involves movement, and you move at half normal speed.
Flaws: Toreador
Artistically Inept (3 Flaw)
You must work harder than most artists to accomplish great work. You are still capable of creating a masterpiece, but it is tougher for you than for someone else of equal training. All difficulties on Creativity rolls and Artistic Expression rolls are increased by two to a maximum of nine.
Poor Taste (1 Flaw)
You can never have the Art Appreciation skill. You are forever a Poseur, and you have no ability to judge a masterpiece from trash. In fact, if you had the choice, you would choose the trash.
Rival (1 Flaw)
You have an intense rivalry with another Kindred. You are always competing with this individual, either for fun or out of spite. In besting this individual, you go to extremes, and he behaves similarly towards you. Your rival occasionally gets the best of you, but you do the same to him.
Social Outcast (3 Flaw)
You have severed your ties to the Artistes and Poseurs. You no longer play their silly games. You will never rise in Clan Prestige, and you are the equivalent of an Anarch. However, the Anarchs will not accept you due to some past transgressions you have committed against them. You have no place in the world of the Damned.
Tortured Artist (1 Flaw)
You must suffer for your work. Your work is never good enough to suit you. You often suffer ennui for extended periods of time, preventing you from working steadily. In addition, you constantly find yourself in heartbreaking positions; perhaps you subconsciously lead yourself into those situations to acquire the experience you need for your work.
Vulgar (1 Flaw)
You will never fit into high society. You are crude, rude and socially unacceptable, forever a Philistine. You are treated as having one less level of Status when invitations to Toreador socials are prepared. You will never be fully accepted as a Toreador. Many will question your Sire and possibly ridicule him for choosing you.
Flaws: Ventrue
Anti-Ventrue (4 Flaw)
You're the exact opposite of a Ventrue - instead of being graceful, you are clumsy. Instead of being handsome and charming, you are bland, unappealing, and annoying. Other Ventrue will give you no end of grief for your lack of any Blue Blood qualities whatsoever, and you are at a +3 difficulty on all social rolls with other Ventrue who do not possess this flaw. You may never purchase Clan Prestige.
Crass (2 Flaw)
While you might be a savvy manipulator and accomplished powerbroker, you lack style and social grace. Your unrefined demeanor is something of a handicap, and often offends the delicate sensibilities of your more discerning associates. You are at a +1 difficulty on all appropriate social rolls.
Known Mercenary (1 Flaw)
The exploits of your past are well known in your city, and no one is ever going to believe that you follow the path of the civil servant. Whether you have an unselfish or altruistic bone in your body, none of those you must deal with believe you do - they're sure that if you're making a deal with them, they're probably getting the short end of the stick. They also believe that you only do anything about anything if it serves you, and nothing else matters in your plans. You are at a +1 difficulty on all appropriate Manipulation rolls, and rarely can convince anyone to trust you even a little.
Lost Lineage (2 Flaw)
Every new Ventrue to Ventrue introduction begins with a recitation of lineage - unfortunately, you don't know yours. Whether your sire never taught you, amnesia has taken the information from you, or another Ventrue has used Dominate to cause you to forget, you must always decline when asked to recite your lineage and admit you don't know. Your clan fellows have mixed reactions to this, though they are never good - some think you an impostor to the clan, others accuse you of being clanless or antitribu, some simply think you a cretin and refuse to have anything to do with you. You must work ten times as hard to gain even a modicum of respect from other Ventrue who know of your predicament, and sometimes are driven out of town before you get the chance to begin proving yourself.
Notorious Lineage (4 Flaw)
Every new Ventrue to Ventrue introduction begins with a recitation of lineage, and when you recite yours all heads turn - though it is only to get a good look at the scoundrel. The notoriety of your lineage is well known throughout your clan, and you must constantly suffer the social consequences of their failures and follies. Though you may be both competent and formidable, your peers and betters think you the latest addition to a line of misbegotten fools and would be unlikely to trust you with even their garbage. You must work twice as hard to gain even a small amount of consideration, and any ground you might gain will be lost at the first sign of even the smallest mistake.
Rarefied Taste (2 Flaw)
While all Ventrue suffer an extremely discerning palette, you suffer this hindrance more than most. Your chosen vessels are rarer than rare, and you must go to great lengths to ensure that you will be able to feed and maintain your strength. Perhaps you may only feed from victims of a very rare disease, or those with a particular genetic defect. Whatever the predilection, you must constantly work to maintain the presence and health of your source(s) of nourishment and hide the near-crippling flaw from your enemies.
