Social Flaws

Blacklisted
1 to 5 pt. Flaw Having crossed some Powers That Be, you’ve now been pariah-fied among some segment of the Masses. The results impact your employment potential, social standing, legal status, credit rating, background checks, rental possibilities, and other significant elements of existing in the everyday world.

Originally presented as an Adversarial Background for Cer­tification, this Flaw affects your regional, national, and perhaps international official status. The degree to which you’ve been professionally shunned depends upon the value of this Flaw:

1 point: Trivial – poor driving record, suspected shop­lifter, banned from a local union.

2 points: Minor – misdemeanor criminal record, sus­pended license.

3 points: Significant – disbarred lawyer, defrocked clergy, unpopular political affiliation, dishonorable military discharge.

4 points: Major – convicted felon, registered sex offender, government watch-list, revoked medical license.

5 points: Pariah – FBI’s most-wanted, suspected terrorist, convicted pedophile, declared legally incompetent or insane.

A four- or five-point Blacklisting will also wind up in the Technocracy’s supervision database – a very dangerous place for a mage to be! And although the Awakened don’t typically check in with mundane authorities before recruiting or making alliances with their own kind, a mage who’s had major problems with such authorities is likely to have problems with mages too… especially if such problems include offenses like terrorism or pedophilia, which certain mages take very, very poorly.

Blood Hunted
'''4 or 6pt. Flaw''' You have been made the target of a blood hunt, and for you to return to your home city is death. For four points, this Flaw means that only your home city is offlimits to you. For six, it means that the entire Camarilla is howling for your vitae.

This Flaw can only be taken by Camarilla vampires.

Botched Presentation
'''1pt. Flaw''' When your sire presented you to the Prince of the city, you flubbed it. Now you’re convinced His Majesty hates you (whether he does or not). You need to succeed on a Willpower roll (difficulty 7) just to stand in front of the Prince or one of his duly authorized representatives without running, blubbering, or otherwise making a fool of yourself.

This Flaw can only be taken by Camarilla vampires.

Bound
'''2pt. Flaw''' You are blood bound to another vampire. Your regnant may not necessarily treat you badly, but the fact remains that your will is not entirely your own. The knowledge gnaws at you, even as you find yourself lost in devotion to your vampiric master.

Sabbat vampires cannot take this Flaw.

Catspaw
'''2pt. Flaw''' You’ve done dirty work for someone high up in the city’s hierarchy in the past — the Sheriff, the Bishop, or even someone higher. However, instead of granting you favor, your deeds have made you an embarrassment or a liability. For the moment, your former employer’s concern is to keep you quiet. In the long term, it’s to get rid of you.

Vampire: '''4pt. Flaw''' One Clan in particular wants you dead. You have offended the entire Clan, from elders to neonates, and as a result every member of that bloodline wants your head on a plate. The effects of the Flaw may manifest as anything from very public snubs and insults to actual attempts on your unlife.

You are also at +2 difficulty on all Social rolls relating to members of the Clan in question.

Compulsive Speech
1 to 2 pt. Flaw Dude, please just shut up! But no, you just keep talking… and talking… and talking some more. This compulsion could come from a nervous social habit, a know-it-all personality, a sense of awkwardness in silence, or some other (potentially metaphysical) urge to fill up space with words. Worse still, those words often feature rude observations, sensitive information, and other stuff that’s best left unsaid. Day-um – did you just say what I think you just said? Yep. You did. Arg…

As far as this Flaw is concerned, the one-point version means you run at the mouth too much, while the two-point one (also known as Big Mouth) means you say the wrong things to the wrong people on a fairly regular basis, often to people who sit higher than you do on the proverbial totem pole, or who do not exactly have your best interests at heart. You can spend a Willpower point to keep your mouth shut for a scene or two; sooner or later, though, the words start flowing again…

Conflicting Loyalties
1 to 3 pt. Flaw Though deeply loyal (probably to the point of having the Merit: Loyalty – see p. 53), you’re facing a crisis of commit­ments: two or more of the parties you feel loyal to are at odds with one another, and you’re caught in the middle trying to support them all. Your best friend could be in trouble with the police force your father worked for; your lover may have betrayed the trust of your Convention; your Allies may have decided that your Mentor has to go. And so there you are – poised in an impossible situation, attempting to do the right thing for everyone involved.

The value of this Flaw, as always, depends upon the in­tensity of the conflict:

1 point: A minor crisis forces you to shuttle between loyalties while remaining true to all parties.

2 points: A significant clash leads you to mediate un­tenable situations with frustrating frequency.

3 points: Irreconcilable differences will eventually compel you to choose between loyalties, and that’s not a choice you’re sure you can make. Until that time, you’re fighting an apparently doomed campaign to support all sides without betraying anyone.

The nature of your loyalties, relationships, and disputes should, of course, be worked out when you take this Flaw. Your Storyteller will make sure to bring them into play often enough to keep you scrambling for the best solution to an apparently impossible dilemma.

Conniver
1 pt. Flaw As far as most folks who know you are concerned, you’re a perpetual knife in someone else’s back. That rep might not be accurate, but people expect treachery from you even if they’re wrong to think so.

Subtract one die from any non-magickal dice pool you employ when you’re trying to get other characters to trust you. This penalty does not extend to Arete dice pools when you’re casting Mind-Sphere magick (or any other Sphere’s magick, for that matter), but if you’re having to cast spells in order to be believed, then you’ve kinda just lived up to that reputation.

Construct
2 pt. Flaw You came from a lab, not from a womb. Perhaps you were grown in a Progenitor facility, woven from plants, shaped from the elements, or crafted from parts of dead bodies in some flesh-tinkerer’s workshop. Whatever your origins, you don’t truly fit in with natural-born humans. A combination of selfdoubt and social alienation – or perhaps a sense that you’re far better than your so-called peers – keeps you at arm’s length from the human social realm.

In game terms, this Flaw inflicts penalties on social rolls in many situations; the specifics depend upon your origins, attitude, and company, but they’ll impede your character in significant ways.

You don’t need to take this Flaw, incidentally, if your character is a construct. Those penalties reflect an artificial person who stands out in a crowd, not one who fits in comfortably with her world.

Cultural Other
1 to 5 pt. Flaw In the eyes of your society, you’re clearly divergent. Dis­reputable. Other. People suspect you of criminal, or at least unsavory, behavior; the authorities harass or detain you for little or no reason, and your loved ones probably “wish you could just be like normal people.” Granted, every mage is “other” to some degree. In your case, though, the othering threatens your life, liberty, and happiness.

Also known as Mistreated Minority, this Flaw reflects prejudice within your society. The amount of trouble it caus­es, and the frequency of said trouble, determines the value of your Flaw:

1 point: Folks around you tend to harass you in small but noticeable ways (acting uncommonly brusque, using slurs in your presence, taking uncomfortable liberties with your privacy, property or person, etc.) and seem to feel there’s nothing wrong with that at all. Other people might stand up for you, but more often than not they won’t.

2 points: As above, but now your family and other in­timate companions feel that you deserve to be avoided, shamed, insulted, and so forth because you are who or what you are.

3 points: Strangers feel free to shame, insult, avoid, and perhaps physically attack you on general principle. Authorities might intervene, but probably won’t do so unless major laws are broken… and maybe not even then.

4 points: Authorities discriminate against you too. Your house may be searched, your job may be terminated, you might be evicted, robbed or assaulted and very few people will care.

5 points: Merely living in this society is physically, socially, emotionally, and legally hazardous to your safety, your sanity, and possibly your life. You could be imprisoned, enslaved, tortured or killed with little-or-no response from the authorities.

Unlike the physical Flaw: Profiled Appearance, this discrimination isn’t based on physicality. A character with this Flaw cannot also take the Profiled Appearance Flaw; if your character stands out physically while also being discriminated against socially, simply take more points in this Flaw.

Nor is this Flaw tied to any particular creed, gender or ethnicity; while a Wiccan could be a Cultural Other in a town filled with fundamentalist Baptists, a fundamentalist Baptist could be a Cultural Other in a Wicca-based Horizon Realm. You could follow a “heretical” creed, belong to a “disreputable” subculture, identify as a sexual /gender /ethnic /religious “mi­nority,” hold an unpopular political opinion… anything that inspires others around you to treat you poorly and get away with it could be considered grounds for this Flaw.

That said, a character with this Flaw must indeed be treat­ed poorly; having folks call you out on an unpopular opinion, or criticize your behavior, is part of the human experience, whereas having cops shake you down merely for existing is an actual problem. In order to take this Flaw, your character must face actual discrimination and attack on a fairly regular and hazardous basis. No, being called names on the Internet does not count, although an intense bout of cyberbullying – that is, doxing, swatting, career destruction, and serious threats to life and sanity – might count as this Flaw, at the Storyteller’s discretion.

Because Cultural Other is tied to the character’s social surroundings, a radical change to those surroundings may mitigate or eliminate this Flaw. A polyamorous person may be discriminated against in one city, and welcomed with open arms (and open legs) in another; if that poly character remains in poly-friendly sur­roundings, then the player needs to buy off or replace this Flaw.

Similarly, your “otherness” must be either something that people know about, or something that they could find out about easily enough for that element of your life to become a big problem for you. A deeply hidden “otherness” is a Dark Secret until or unless it gets revealed.

To be clear: This Flaw in no way reflects judgment on the part of this game, its creators, or – one hopes! – your gaming group. It’s intended to reflect the ways in which mortal (and, often, Awakened) society tends to treat people who stand out from their cultural norms. Being who they are and what they do, mages often do stand out in ways that can be hazardous to their social and sometimes physical health – hello, Burning Times! However, if this Flaw seems redundant in your group, creates unwanted real-life tensions between your players, or gets abused by characters (or players) who are catching hell for acting like dicks, then feel free to ignore or discard this Flaw.

Dark Secret
1 pt. Flaw A skeleton or two is hanging rather precariously in your closet. If (let’s be honest – when) it slips out and clatters to the floor, your life will get even more difficult than it already is. Did you steal something precious that was in your trust? Or live on the streets for a while? Maybe you came from a family you would rather not discuss (see the Flaw: Family Issues, below), were involved with a criminal organization, Awakened into a rival faction, or had a child or lover you’re trying to forget about. In any case, you’ll be in trouble unless you manage to keep that dark secret hidden… a feat that, in a world where reading minds is damned near entry-level magick, can be difficult indeed.

Note: Although this Flaw is traditionally worth only one point, Dark Secrets with potentially deadly consequences might be worth more points, at the Storyteller’s discretion.

Debts
1 to 5 pt. Flaw Mages still need money in order to function in the human realm. And in your case, you’re kinda fucked financially. Student loans, credit-card debts, child-support payments, gambling losses, legal judgments, medical bills, car and /or mortgage payments… the ways in which a modern mage can get in over her head financially are as numerous as the parties who prosper from such debts. And then there’s the possibility of financial manipulation from Awakened sources – mages or Night-Folk who, intentionally or otherwise, are keeping you broke in order to assert their hold over you. Maybe you just suck at the whole paying-your-bills thing. For whatever reason, your income keeps going back out. You might indeed have the Background: Resources, but the money just doesn’t stay in your bank account for long.

As a Flaw, these Debts represent a minimum amount of money you owe your creditors. The more you owe, the more this Flaw is worth:

1 point: Minimal debt (less than $10,000).

2 points: Moderate debt (less than $50,000).

3 points: Significant debt (over $50,000).

4 points: Crushing debt (over $100,000).

5 points: Overwhelming debt (over $500,000).

From the three-point level onward, your creditors will expend a fair amount (perhaps a great deal) of effort to collect those funds from you.

Certain creditors, like loan sharks, will start far lower than that. Tactics could range from round-the-clock phone calls and red-envelope letters to lawsuits, repossessions, threats, eviction, and physical violence. For folks with small and /or irregular incomes, the pressure from debt and debt-collection harassment can cause intense emotional and psychological distress… which, in turn, affects one’s ability to make money… which deepens the debt… which deepens the stress… in a desperate cycle that can lead to desperate acts.

Diabolical Mentor
2 pt. Flaw Your mentor wasn’t merely bad at his job – he turned out to be actively malevolent. That person could be an actual Nephandus, a demented Marauder, a ruthless wizard, a diehard “black hats and mirrorshades” type of Technocrat, an Infernalist sellsoul… maybe you don’t even know what your mentor really is, but it’s just plain bad. Obviously, this personage has fucked you up. Additionally, if you’ve uncovered things he would rath­er keep secret, that could lead to other Flaws as well: Enemy, Cursed, and worse…

Discredited
1 pt. Flaw In your chosen field, your name is mud. Perhaps you’re a scientist whose bizarre theories have cost him the respect of his peers… or an academic who wound up on the wrong side of departmental politics… or a journalist who stepped too far over the line of credibility.

Whatever it is you did (or are reputed to have done), your professional associates look down on you. Add +2 to the difficulty of your social and Background-based rolls when you’re trying to get those associates to take you seriously.

Although this is a common Flaw among the feud-happy Etherites, anyone who depends upon a professional reputation can be discredited in this fashion – professorial Hermetics, corporate-ladder Syndicate ops, White Tower agents, and other competitive-field mages can fall afoul of a bad rep too.

Disgrace to the Blood
'''3pt. Flaw''' Your sire regards the fact that he Embraced you to be a titanic mistake, and has let everyone know it. You are mocked at gatherings, taunted by your peers, and actively despised by the one who should be giving you guidance.

Any request or petition you make is likely to be looked down upon by friends of your sire, and your achievements are likely to be discounted.

Dogmatic
2 pt. Flaw Look, it’s great that you’ve got such strong spiritual con­victions… but do you have to be such a dick about them? This Flaw represents a religious, spiritual, and /or philosophical approach that defines your moral and magickal beliefs.

Trouble is, your beliefs don’t play well with others; rules-wise, you add +2 to the difficulty of all social rolls which involve dealing with people of differing beliefs. Even when you’re trying, dammit, to get along with those misguided heretics, folks can tell that you don’t approve. You sneer, you argue, you try to convert everyone around you to your way of thinking… you can’t help it, really – your convictions are just that formidable! After all, you do use them to change the world, so how could they possibly be wrong?

Double Agent
2 pt. Flaw You work both sides of a very spiky fence; one of these days, you’re gonna get stuck on it. Perhaps you’re a Syndicate spy in the Ecstatic Cult, or an Etherite working with Iteration X. In the days of the Disparate Alliance, you might belong to a Tradition while ferreting data to your true Craft. Eventually, this dangerous game will catch up with you. Make plans, establish contingencies, and try not to get yourself perished!

Obviously, this Flaw must be kept secret from the other characters in your group. For extra drama, try to keep it hidden from the other players, too…

Echo Chamber
4 pt. Flaw You surround yourself with groupthink. All opinions on important topics (politics, religion, magick, and so forth) must remain unified. No disagreements on such matters are permitted within this echo chamber, and anyone who bucks that decree is shown the door – often with great force – and shunned, probably vilified, afterward. Loyalty to the group is measured by the devotion each member shares with regards to the “truth” as your group understands it.

As a result, that “truth” soon gets distorted. Like an echo reverberating within a closed space, it verges into a distortion of the original source, growing wilder and more extreme until something has to give. Will that breaking point be you? Gods forbid…

Essentially a story-based Trait, this Flaw cuts your char­acter off from information that runs contrary to the group’s determined “truth.” Characters and data that disagree with that “truth” must be pushed aside, ignored, silenced, possibly attacked, maybe even destroyed “for the good of the group.” Because isolation breeds distortion, the Storyteller should gradually make “the truth” seem more extreme than it once had been. Anyone – especially a player character – who disagrees with “the truth” should be punished by the group; the more extreme the distortions become, the harsher the punishment becomes as well.

Eventually, the distorted “truth” will require distorted acts as well: assault, torture, murder, terrorism. At that point, any character who tries to step away will become the enemy too (possibly receiving the Flaw of that name) – shunned by former friends at the very least, probably disgraced socially, and potentially even attacked physically for being a traitor to the cause.

This Flaw reflects a social phenomenon that’s increasingly common in the twenty-first century, though it’s certainly not exclusive to our era: a social group committed to enforced orthodoxy and the removal of dissent. The group in question could be a religious or military order, a socio-political activist tribe, a corporate office, a think-tank, an art collective, a fan­nish subculture, a media outlet, mystic sect, or Political Action Committee – any social clique that holds “certain truths to be self-evident” and vital to that group’s existence could become an echo chamber. “Us” and “them” is a ruling principle, and if you’re not one of Us, then you’re one of Them.

Enemy
1 to 5 pt. Flaw Someone hates your guts and will do whatever he, she, it, or they can do in order to make your life unpleasant. Game-wise, the value of the Flaw determines the strength and hatred of that enemy; a single point reflects a minor grudge from some inconsequential party, and five points represent the deadly plans of some powerful entity or group.

Escaped Target
'''2pt. Flaw''' 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 childer, 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.

Esoteric Discourse / Technobabbler
1 pt. Flaw Your obsessive love of a specialized field inspires you to fill every waking hour with obscure jargon and obtuse metaphrase­ology. Most folks can’t understand half of what you say, and their incomprehension of such elementary terminology impels you to facilitate obligatory (if remedial) pedagogy. Oh, for fuck’s sake – just talk normal for a change!

In game terms, this Flaw imposes difficulty modifiers (+1 or +2) on social rolls, thanks to the character’s compulsive jar­gonization, hyperinitiated nomenclature, and condescending pedanticism. The Flaw’s first variation reflects arcane special­ization, the second reflects tech-based terminology, and other variations (Specious Legalese, Obtuse Academia, and so forth) could reflect similar fascinations with other fields. For people who actually understand you, however, the usual penalty might become a social bonus instead… at which point everyone else probably leaves the room and lets the experts talk amongst themselves.

Expendable
Mage: 3 pt. Flaw An upper-level member of your group wants you dead, and sticks you with missions that will probably get the job done sooner rather than later. You could be the lab assistant who keeps being told to send those big metal kites up into the thunderstorm, the apprentice who keeps getting sent off to obtain forbidden artifacts, or the Black Suit who keeps facing off against yet another goddamned werewolf pack while his dispatcher makes excuses for the lack of timely backup. Either way, you’re pretty screwed.

Worst of all, no one will openly admit that’s the case, and you may not even know who’s got it out for you, much less why they’re trying to get you perished.

Although this Flaw works best for Technocratic operatives (who remain subject to orders no matter who they might be), it suits any Awakened group that operates with a top-down hierarchy wherein high-ranking mages assign missions to low­er-ranking ones and expect those orders to be obeyed – say, the Templar Knights, the Order of Hermes, the Celestial Chorus, and so forth. It does not suit shamans, Ecstatics, or other mages who don’t give a flying fuck what their so-called superiors say.

Vampire: '''1pt. Flaw''' Someone in power doesn’t want you around. Maybe she wants territory you possess, or is jealous of the attention you’re getting from a prize mortal retainer — the details are irrelevant. What does matter is that she has the power to maneuver you into dangerous situations “for the good of the Sect,” and has no compunctions about doing so.

Failure
'''2pt. 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 Sect’s enemies (or so the whispers run, making you even more distrusted). Conversely, the consequences of your error might come back to haunt you.

Family Issues
1 to 3 pt. Flaw Many mages leave their families behind. You didn’t do that, although you may often wish you could. A flipside of the Merit: Family Support, this Flaw saddles you with a basket of goodies from Dysfunction Junction, family-style. You might have a meddling uncle, an abusive sibling, an alcoholic parent, or “simply” the leftovers from dealing with such peo­ple. You might have tried to escape them, but if so, someone in your family is still looking for you.

The family doesn’t have to still be part of your physical reality, but the mess they left behind if you managed to get away from them remains a part of your existence today.

As with Supportive Family, the clan in question could be blood relatives, an adopted family, or a family-of-choice you kinda wish you hadn’t chosen. The more points you have in this Flaw, the more your family issues interfere with your Awak­ened life. They could be mages themselves, though that’s not often the case. More likely, they’re folks who still look for you even in your Newlife, hangers-on who won’t leave you alone, sickly relations who need tending, kids or siblings (or even parents) who have constant troubles with the law… the possibilities are as endless as the real-life complications that a troubled family can bring. And no, you can’t just ditch out on ‘em even if you’ve already tried to do so.

If you could, they wouldn’t still be your problem, now would they?

Fifth Degree
5 pt. Flaw Whether you know it or not, you have outlived your use­fulness to the Technocratic Union. Your superiors have set you up to fall, and your date with Room 101 or a suicide mission waits right around the corner. Combine all the deficits of the Flaw: Rogue with the assurance that you’re only alive because someone would rather have you take out the bad guys when you go down in a blaze of glory than spend the resources necessary to take you down themselves.

You have one more chance to make good and stay alive. Step out of line again, and your fate will be the sort of thing that makes cyborgs cringe.

Former Prince
'''3pt. Flaw''' Once, you held near-absolute power in a city, but those nights are gone now. Perhaps you stepped down, perhaps you were deposed, or perhaps your city fell to the Sabbat; it matters little in your reduced state.

What does matter is that the Prince in the city where you now dwell is aware of your prior employment, and has concerns that you might be trying to make a comeback.

The machinery of the Camarilla in the city where you now make your home is subtly stacked against you, and if the Prince sees an opportunity to get rid of you, he just might take it.

This Flaw can only be taken by Camarilla vampires.

Gullible
2 pt. Flaw You believe everything folks tell you. You repost memes without checking their accuracy or source. You fall for cons and pranksters every single time. Seriously? How can a mage be so goddamned gullible? Beats me, but yeah – subtract three dice from every dice pool you roll (down to a minimum of one die) when you’re trying to penetrate falsehoods (lies, not stealth), or to fool people with your own bumbling attempts at deception.

Hit List
4 pt. Flaw A rival group wants you dead. You might be a Templar who’s made enemies among the Etherites, an Etherite who crossed the line with the New World Order, and so forth. Whatever happened, it’s personal and extends to the entire group. As with ”Clan Enmity”, this is a deadly business, far worse than the one-point Sect Enmity, above.

Social rolls when dealing with members of this group add +2 to their difficulty – if you get a chance to make such rolls at all. Whether or not the enemy group actively attacks you on sight, its members will go out of their way to make your life solitary, unpleasant, nasty, brutish, and short.

Hunted
'''4pt. Flaw''' You are pursued by a fanatical witch-hunter who believes (perhaps correctly) that you are a danger to humanity. All those with whom you associate, be they mortal or Kindred, may be hunted as well.

Hunted Like a Dog
'''3pt. Flaw''' Another Sect or group of vampires has decided that you’re a target for extermination, and pursues you relentlessly.

On the bright side, the enemies of your enemy may well wish to help you out, potentially garnering you allies.

Incomplete Understanding
'''1pt. Flaw''' The whole matter has been explained to you, but you’re still not quite sure how things in your Sect work. 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….

Infamous Sire
'''1pt. Flaw''' Your sire was, and perhaps still is, distrusted and disliked by many of the city’s Kindred. As a result, you are distrusted and disliked as well.

Infamy
1 to 5 pt. Flaw You’ve made a bad name for yourself among the Masses. Like the Background: Fame, this Flaw represents a degree of recognition; in your case, though, that’s not a good thing… especially not when you want to keep your life as a mage a secret from the Sleepers.

Once again, the weight of the Flaw determines its value:

1 point: Certain people within a region or subculture recognize and dislike you. (Examples: the local drunk, Vox Day.)

2 points: Your notoriety was wide once, but has faded to occasional recognition and disdain (H.R. Clinton, M.C. Hammer).

3 points: You’re famous, but many people do not like you (Kanye West, Nickelback).

4 points: The authorities don’t like you either (Roosh V, Jared Fogle).

5 points: You’re a household name, and that name is shit (O.J. Simpson, Charles Manson).

Especially in the age of social media and intelligence net­works, this sort of infamy can be a very bad thing. Obviously, some folks adore you, if only because the rest of the world hates you. On the whole, however, your reputation among the Masses is more bad than good, and folks go out of their way to give you a hard time. As with other bad reputations, you may not have actually done anything wrong; then again, there might be reasons that folks hate your guts.

Insane /Infamous Mentor
1 pt. Flaw The mage who taught you the ropes is dangerously tangled up in them. Maybe she’s out of her head (though probably not a Marauder… yet); or he’s got an awful rep that has splattered all over you. That person could be angry at you for some reason (good or otherwise), or live downstream on Shit Creek, with a nasty habit of dragging you along for the ride. This Flaw makes an excellent addition to the Background: Mentor, and has a way of fouling up your relationships with other mages as well as your bond with the mentor herself.

Laughingstock
'''5pt. Flaw''' Somehow you’ve drawn the scorn of the local Harpies, who make you their favorite target. You are at a +2 difficulty on all Social rolls in Elysium and a +1 anywhere else in the city. In addition, you are at +2 difficulty to use Intimidation or any Dominate powers on anyone who has heard the stories mocking you.

This Flaw can only be taken by Camarilla vampires.

Loathsome Regnant
'''4pt. Flaw''' Not only are you blood bound, but you are also in thrall to a vampire who mistreats you hideously. Perhaps you are publicly abused or humiliated; perhaps your master forces you to commit unspeakable acts for him. In any case, existence under the bond is a neverending nightmare, with your regnant serving to conduct the symphony of malice.

Sabbat vampires cannot take this Flaw.

Masquerade Breaker
'''2pt. Flaw''' In your first nights as a vampire, 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.

This Flaw can only be taken by vampires in Sects or Clans that respect the Masquerade.

Mistaken Identity
1 pt. Flaw You’re not who folks think you are, but that doesn’t stop them from thinking that you are that person. For some reason – similar features, related habits, a bureaucratic fuck-up that linked their data to you, or maybe some far more insidious connection – confusion follows you around. This situation is awkward at best, and can get downright dangerous if that not-you person is wanted for serious crimes…

Mr. Red Tape
4 pt. Flaw Bureaucracy hates you. Any official complication that could go wrong will go wrong if you’re the one who’s dealing with the authorities. Essentially the opposite of the Merit: Master of Red Tape, this Flaw adds + 2 to the difficulty of any roll you make when trying to get something done through an established system, and throws stupid mistakes and delays into the works whenever you’ve got to work with any sort of bureaucracy.

Naïve
1 pt. Flaw Surely, the world can’t be that dark… can it? (Spoiler: Yes, yes it can.) Oblivious to the depths of misery around you, you retain an intrinsic faith in the best possible outcome. And while this sort of optimism can provide the foundation for literally world-changing beliefs, it can also blind you to the realities you face.

When making a roll that could detect another character’s bad intentions or malignant nature, add +2 to the difficulty of your roll.

Story-wise, you have a hard time believing that the terrible things you see around you could really be as bad as they seem, and may perhaps lack empathy for other people’s pain (+2 to the difficulty of Empathy-based rolls, at the Storyteller’s option) because you recognize so little about pain yourself.

Narc
3 pt. Flaw Cursed with the rep of an informer, you’re on the outs with your would-be associates. As with other reputation-based Flaws, this shunning may be based on mistakes and rumors; in this case, though, it’s probably at least somewhat accurate. Known spies and spymasters, intelligence officers, witnesses against their fellow mages, members of groups that are assigned to investigation and justice (like House Quaesitor or the Ivory Tower), and other real or assumed snitches generally catch such reputations by default.

System-wise, this Flaw adds +1 to the difficulty of social rolls when dealing with people who fear you might be spying on them; story-wise, such people could be feeding you misinformation, stonewalling you, or plotting to take you out when the moment to do so seems right.

New Arrival
'''1pt. Flaw''' You’ve just arrived in your new city of residence, and don’t know anyone in the place. Existing factions may try to recruit or eliminate you, while vampires in positions of authority size you up and take your measure.

Meanwhile, your ignorance of the city’s current events, history, and politics (not to mention the personality quirks of the vampires already in place) may cause you to make a serious blunder.

New Kid
1 pt. Flaw Mage: You’ve just recently Awakened, and you still have some­thing to prove. Your peers don’t think much of you just yet, and although you’ve got allies who consider you worth their time, their investment in your goodwill is minimal. Add +2 to the difficulty of your social rolls with more experienced mages until you’ve earned the right (and the experience) to buy off this Flaw.

On the good side, however, you’re likely to be popular with certain companions, although – as “new meat” in a social scene often discovers – that’s not always the kind of attention you’ll want.

Vampire: You’re the latest in the city to be Embraced or have yet to prove yourself to your Sect, and everyone knows it. That automatically puts you at the bottom of the social totem pole. Other neonates take every opportunity to demonstrate your inferiority, or rival packs constantly test your worthiness to the Sabbat.

Even if someone else is added to the ranks of the unliving, you’re still regarded as something as a bit of a geek by your peers — a distinction that can have dangerous consequences if bullets start flying.

All Social-related rolls are at +1 difficulty when you are dealing with other neonates. (Ancillae and elders lump you in with all the other neonates under their general disdain.)

Notoriety
3 pt. Flaw Thanks to this inverse of the Merit: Prestige, you’re saddled with a bad reputation among your fellow mages. System-wise, this Flaw adds +2 to the difficulties of all social rolls within your faction (Traditions, Crafts, Technocracy, etc.), and pre­disposes pretty much everyone outside your closest friends to think the worst of you.

Rumors dog your steps, and whispers precede your appearance. Whether or not the stories are true, you’ve been linked to some disgrace, and will be shunned and probably punished accordingly if you haven’t been punished already.

You might be able to shuck this bad rep eventually, but it’s gonna be a pretty rough road until you do.

Oathbreaker
'''4pt. Flaw''' Once you swore fealty to a lord or organization, or made a binding contract. You’ve broken that promise and everyone knows about it. Now it’s near impossible to earn the trust of others.

The difficulty of Social rolls to convince someone of your trustworthiness is increased by three, and even members of your coterie may have reservations about you.

Offline
1 or 3 pt. Flaw You hate the goddamned Internet. As far as you’re con­cerned, it’s a complicated waste of time. You loathe social networking, lack a webpage, refuse to Twitter, and don’t really even know (or care) how to Google stuff. Anyone who wants to contact you can damned well write a letter, use a telephone, or just leave you the hell alone! (Damn kids, get off my digital lawn…)

While this Flaw is worth only one point in cultures where the Internet is an occasional (and often privileged) indulgence, it’s a three-point Flaw in cultures where Internet access and participation are major elements of most people’s social lives. Those cultural divides are more tied to generational and eco­nomic divides than they are to ethnic or geographical ones. A poor, elderly, or simply old-fashioned New Yorker might not really care about net access, so long as she can still stay in contact with her friends and family; a college student in Rio, however, would be at a pretty significant disadvantage if he chose to avoid the Internet. And yeah – twenty-first-century mages use the Internet too, even if they don’t visit the Digital Web. Online presence isn’t just for Virtual Adepts anymore!

Old Flame
2 pt. Flaw A former love of your life now works for the enemy. Worse, she knows your weak spots, and can still call on you “for old times’ sake.” Unless you succeed on a contested Manipulation + Expression roll against your former friend, you cannot act against him unless the situation becomes life-threatening.

Outsider
2 pt. Flaw Because of rumors (true or not), an ill-done deed, poor decision, or some other character flaw, you have a poor reputation among Kinfolk and Garou. They don’t necessarily hurt you, but they let you know you aren’t welcome in their camps or homes. Make all Social rolls involving interaction with werewolves and Kin at +2 difficulty.

Overextended
'''4pt. Flaw''' You’ve got your fingers in too many pies, and people are starting to notice. You have too many ghouls, too many retainers, or too much influence, which means that a lot of people have a vested interest in trimming back your operations. These enemies take every opportunity to reduce your power and influence, and if that means lying, cheating, or killing, so be it.

Furthermore, your enemies block every attempt you make to move into new areas of control. You’re boxed in, and the box is getting smaller.

Probationary Member
4 pt. Flaw Mage: Having recently defected from a rival group or faction, you’re on probation with the current group. Peers expect you to turn on them, and certain folks have probably decided to throw you under the bus on general principle. Your continued membership (possibly even your survival) depends upon doing everything right and nothing wrong… and just how often do things really go that well in the real world, anyway?

Vampire: You are a defector. You turned traitor to the Camarilla, Sabbat, or other Sect, and you still have much to prove before you are accepted by the Kindred you have defected to. Other vampires treat you with distrust and even hostility, and your reputation might even sully those whom you regularly associate with.

Recruitment Target
'''1pt. Flaw''' Someone in one of your Sect’s enemy organizations wants you, and they want you bad. Every effort is being made to recruit you, willing or no, and the press gangs usually show up at the worst possible time.

Red List
'''7pt. Flaw''' You are either being considered for or are already on the dreaded Red List, the registry of those vampires the Camarilla most wants extinguished. Any Camarilla vampire will either attack you on sight or, more likely, call in for a great deal of help.

Rival House
1 to 5 pt. Flaw

You belong to a Chantry (or Construct, or whatever) that has a longstanding animosity with another such organization. This could be a rival Hermetic Chantry, a temple whose members consider you to be heretics, a hostile street gang, an opposing martial arts order, a coven that has declared a witch-war against your group, a Construct that has marked you all for death, and so on. This antagonism is mutual, too, and you’re expected to act accordingly. Mediation remains unlikely, and things could get worse before they get better… if improved relations are even possible.

Obviously, such hostility is personal, with deep roots in the backstory of your chronicle and its characters. Groups of mages don’t generally pursue mass grudges without serious reasons to do so! The Flaw’s value depends upon the power of that other stronghold and the level to which they hate members of your own.

1 point: A minor rivalry with an associated Chantry of equal or lesser power in relation to your own. For the most part, the antagonism involves pranks, competition, minor sabotage, and occasional “friendly” brawls.

2 points: A significant rivalry (serious fights and slanders, major sabotage) with a Chantry of similar power, or a minor rivalry with a Chantry so powerful they don’t consider yours to be a true threat.

3 points: Deadly antagonism between roughly equal Chantries.

4 points: A significant rivalry between your Chantry and one that’s powerful enough to inflict serious damage upon your own.

5 points: Deadly hatred from a Chantry that could level yours if they really wanted to… and they probably do.

From the three-point version onward, it’s pretty unlikely that the rivalry can be resolved without a shared enemy or some significant interference from an even more powerful third party. It might not be resolvable even then. This Flaw requires the Background: Chantry /Construct, but any character with such associations can take it – the Flaw is not restricted to mages from the Traditions and Technocracy. Your rivalry might cross factions, too; a Hermetic House might hold a longstanding enmity with a Progenitor lab. It can also exist within a single group (two rival Etherite collectives), or between two related groups that do not belong to the same faction; alchemist sects, for example, have been arguing over the name Solificati for centuries, with no end in sight!

Rival Sires
'''2pt. Flaw''' The flip side of Escaped Target, two vampires wanted to gift you with the Embrace. One succeeded, one failed — and she’s not happy about that failure.

You, your actual sire, or both of you have become the target of the failed suitor’s ire. Regardless, your persecutor is at +2 difficulty to refrain from frenzy in your presence. In addition, she may well be working actively to discredit or destroy you.

Rivalry
3 to 5 pt. Flaw An associate of yours has it out for you, and while this rival cannot openly move against you (probably because of an external authority she doesn’t want to risk annoying, or social pressures that she can’t avoid), she’ll make your life as difficult as she can under the circumstances. Rumors, sabotage, exposed scandals, and perennial traps are just a few of your rival’s weapons against you. And while you can dance around most of them, a few still manage to hit their mark.

The value of this Flaw depends, as usual, on the amount of trouble this rivalry causes for you:

3 points: Someone of a lower or equal degree of power and influence wants to complicate your life.

4 points: A rival of greater power and influence throws obstacles in your path whenever possible.

5 points: A far more powerful rival is seriously dedicated to keeping you miserable… possibly even to making you dead.

Why does this person hate you? It could be a “simply business” sort of situation, like the rivalry between Syndicate executives or Hermetic Adepts. There may be a romantic tangle or family history involved, or perhaps an academic dispute, as is often found among members of the Etherite Tradition or Progenitor lab-groups. Chances are, this person doesn’t actually want you dead – just disgraced or removed from further consideration. Fatal rivalries do arise, however… and as Doissetep’s implosion proved long ago, such things can get really ugly when mages are involved.

Rogue
4 pt. Flaw The loosest of cannons, you’re gonna do whatever you damn well please, and to hell with any and all consequences! You might still belong to a group, but your membership is more a matter of habit or convenience than of loyalty.

Alternately, you may have gone your way and now exist in a nebulous state between fondly remembered comrade and total outlaw.

Certain Backgrounds (Requisitions and Secret Weapon) are forbidden to you now, and others (Allies, Backup, Chantry, Resources, and potentially many more) are hard to access – perhaps even impossible to access – if their connection to you depends upon your allegiance to a group. Former peers consider you a liability, and the main reason no one has taken you out yet is because nobody’s gotten around to doing so successfully.

For Technocratic operatives, this Flaw is a slow-motion death sentence; for other mages, it could involve similar threats to longevity, although many Crafts (aside from the Templars, Wu Lung, and Hippolytoi) and most Traditions (aside from the Chakravanti, Akashayana, and Order of Hermes) take a more liberal approach to rogue members. Either way, your relationships with former allies are strained at best (+3 to the difficulty of most social rolls involving their goodwill), and you’re on rather hostile terms with your so-called (or former) superiors. Some mages manage to live for quite a while in this state of mutual antagonism. Most, however, do not.

Rotten Liar
3 pt. Flaw Man, you suck at lying! You could not tell a credible un­truth if your life depended on it… which it might, so this can be sort of a problem for you. It may be that you’re just too honest for your own good, or cursed to speak the truth as you know it, regardless of the cost or your intentions; then again, you might just stammer your way through attempted deceptions, telegraphing your lies through body language and vocal tone.

Whatever the reason, add +2 to the difficulty of any die roll you make when you’re trying to deceive another character. Yes, this penalty extends to magickal deceptions too, like illusions or mind control. Honesty might not always be the best policy among the Awakened, but for you it’s generally the best option.

Sect Enmity
1 pt. Flaw Mage groups tend to have issues with each other by their very nature. You, however, have managed to piss off an entire sect of mages within your larger group. You could be a Verbena witch who hacked off the Hermetic House Flambeau (yipe), a Black Suit on the wrong side of the Friends of Courage, or a Red Spear who trash-talked the Ghost Wheel Society and lived to regret it. Although your enemies won’t try to kill you – you are theoretically on the same side, after all – they really don’t like your face, or much else about you.

Generally, the members of the sect in question will have as little to do with you as they can, and won’t be terribly coop­erative if they must deal with you at all. Social dice rolls you make while dealing with members from this group add +2 to the difficulty.

You cannot, obviously belong to this sect when you first take this Flaw, although you could conceivably smooth things over, buy off the Flaw, and join that group later.

A player may buy this Flaw multiple times to reflect poor relationships with several different sects. Storytellers are advised to create several reoccurring characters from the rival sect, in order to give this Flaw some teeth. For a more severe version of this Flaw, see Hit List.

Sire’s Resentment
'''1pt. Flaw''' Your sire dislikes you and wishes you ill. Given the smallest opportunity, she will actively seek to do you harm. Your sire’s allies also work against you, and many elders may resent you.

Sleeping with the Enemy
3 pt. Flaw A paramour of yours belongs to an enemy group – Awakened antagonists, perhaps, or maybe one of the Night-Folk. This isn’t simply a matter of rivalry; if you’re discovered, you’re both probably gonna die. Still, love (or lust) is a powerful force, and so you and your loved one live out one of those Romeo and Juliet situations.

Just remember, though: Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, not a romance, and things are likely to go the same way for you.

Special Responsibility
1 pt. Flaw You and your big mouth! Shortly after you joined your current group, you stepped up and assumed a duty to that group. Doing so earned you some points with the leadership, but that duty comes at great cost to you. This responsibility weighs on you to a significant degree, consuming time, energy, and social, emotional and perhaps monetary resources you’d rather devote to other things.

Obviously, you need to define what you’re doing for whom, and what you need to do in the course of doing it. Although it’s (probably) not dangerous in life-threatening ways, this Flaw demands constant attention. Until you buy off the Flaw, you really can’t skip out on your responsibilities.

Sympathizer
'''1pt. Flaw''' You have publicly expressed sympathy for some of the goals and policies of the enemies of your Sect. Your outspoken views on the subject have made you suspect in the eyes of the city’s hierarchy, and you may be suspected of (or arrested for) treason.

Troublemaker
2 pt. Flaw Pretty much the inverse of the Merit: Sanctity (p. 57); you project an impression of guilt even when you haven’t done anything wrong. Folks blame you for pretty much everything, and the authorities go harder on you than they might if you didn’t seem like such a noxious little turd! You come across like a natural-born sinner regardless of how you behave. Gee, if you’re gonna get punished no matter what you do, maybe you ought to at least have some fun before the whip comes down.

Twisted Apprenticeship
1 pt. Flaw Someone taught you all the wrong things. For whatever reason, the mentor who introduced you to the Awakened realm did a terrible job, and now you reap the benefits. They may have told you lies about other groups, filled your head with nonsense about the nature of magick (though in all honesty, pretty much everyone does that), or simply behaved like a raging shmuck and left you with the payoff. Now folks blame you for things you did not do (or you did out of ignorance), and the mentor’s bad rep and worse teachings hang about you like a god-slaying stink. You’ll probably recover eventually, but your Awakened career got off to a wretched start.

Uppity
'''2pt. Flaw''' You are proud of your new status in the Sect — 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 find you arrogant and insulting. These enemies will take action to embarrass or harm you. Furthermore, 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 pack, your Clan, or your status.

Vulgar
'''1pt. Flaw''' Tact is a foreign concept to you, and you’re famous for being abrasive and generally unpleasant. Rolls involving social graces or delicate situations suffer +1 difficulty.

Ward
3 pt. Flaw Mages rarely move through life alone. And when certain companions – lovers, children, partners, parents, close friends, even employers – depend upon you, that lack of loneliness can become a liability.

This Flaw represents a character, or a group of characters, who require constant attention on your part. Your life is a hazard to them, and their needs often provide hazards for you as well. Wards tend to get in trouble, require rescuing, and go digging into aspects of your life you’d prefer they left alone. Is it love that binds you to your ward? Duty? An oath? Family obligations? A job like bodyguarding, teaching or medicine? Regardless of the reason, each ward is an essential part of your life. Their life is your priority.

Although Ward characters may have a useful skill or two, such folks are unAwakened people, not mages, Night-Folk, familiars, or other powerful entities. That said, you could take a Ward Flaw to reflect a special bond with a Retainer, a Cult member, or one of your Spies. Merits like Supportive Family or True Love (and Flaws like Family Issues) go well with the Ward Trait. Wards don’t have to be human, either – your dog, your cat, your horse… an animal who depends upon you could be a ward as well.

You can take this Flaw more than once, to reflect several dependent characters. Yeah, there are reasons that mages tend to avoid having big families!

Obviously, each ward is a Storyteller character, with all the agendas and complications that situation entails. This person might not count as a Sleeper witness with regards to your magick… but if you’ve been keeping that person in the dark with regards to your true life and nature, they could still count as a witness for at least their first experience with your sort of “reality.”

Witch-Hunted
4 pt. Flaw The Masses want you dead. You’ve been exposed for what you are and can do, and so various unAwakened parties have decided to take you out like the abomination you’ve become. These hunters could be law-enforcement authorities, religious groups, fanatical sects, furious mobs, imbued hunters, pawns of the Night-Folk… whoever they might be, these people offer a significant threat to your existence, possessing the power to end you and the dedication to back it up. Your Arts alone cannot stop them, and a painful showdown (or three) is sadly inevitable.