Mental Flaws

Ability Deficit
5 pt. Flaw

For whatever reason, you have fallen short of your potential. Maybe you’re too young to have learned a lot about life (an excellent reason for a child-mage to have this Flaw); or you’ve led a sheltered existence, honing your Knowledges but lacking in Talents. You could be a construct who only recently left the lab, or too physically frail to have mastered much in the way of Talents or Skills. There’s certainly some story-based reason for your deficient Traits, and that cause will have other effects on the chronicle as well.

In game terms, this Flaw subtracts five points from one of your Ability categories (Talents, Skills, or Knowledges), and limits your starting Traits in that category to three dots or fewer even if /when you spend freebie points to raise them. (You may, of course, raise them after the chronicle has begun.) As noted above, this makes a good Flaw for Awakened kids, constructs, and other folks who haven’t been able to “be all that you can be” just yet.

Absent-Minded
3 pt. Flaw

Um… what was that thing you were trying to remember, again? Damn… This Flaw reflects a scatterbrained sense of memory and connection – nothing quite as dangerous as full Derangement (Mage 20, pp. 648-650), but a distressing and occasionally hazardous disconnection nonetheless.

System-wise, your Storyteller will often have you make Intelligence rolls to recall things like names, faces, mission details, and so forth.

Story-wise, you’re forever drawing blanks, mistaking people for other folks, scrambling data, leaving projects half-finished (or totally abandoned), forgetting to feed your familiar, and making potentially hazardous errors in judgment. Although you won’t forget vital things like your name, the elements of your magickal focus, or vital character Traits (Talents, Abilities, and Knowledges), other stuff slips your mind with frustrating regularity. And when that mind commands the powers of True Magick, such slips can have fatal consequences.

Amnesia
2 pt. Flaw

Mage:

Life before Awakening remains a mystery to you. Friends? Family? Mundane existence? Whoever and whatever they were, you cannot recall. This amnesia might be related to PTSD, fugue-state dissociative Derangement, brain-trauma, Quiet, Social Processing, psychic assault, Things Man Was Not Meant to Know, or other forms of identity disruption. Regardless of the reason, being a mage is all you can remember.

Vampire:

You are unable to remember anything about your past, yourself, or your family (whether mortal or vampiric), though your past might well come back to haunt you. Your origins and the circumstances behind your amnesia are for the Storyteller to determine, and she is encouraged to make it as interesting as possible.

Berserker/ Stress Atavism
4 pt. Merit or Flaw

Folks don’t like you when you’re angry. In combat, you become a veritable monster, destroying everything and everyone in sight. In certain ways, this is a blessing, in others, a curse – for although your dedication to slaughter has undeniable benefits, it’s also a distinct liability… especially if you belong to a group that prizes discipline rather than brutality. As both a Merit and a Flaw, this Trait has the same effects: under intense stress (combat, injury, disgrace, the death or crippling of a comrade, and so forth), the red haze kicks in. A failed Willpower roll (difficulty 8) leads to a berserk rampage. Your character gains three temporary Bruised health levels, ignores wound penalties, and adds two dice to her Strength and one die to her Stamina until every enemy within easy reach or sight is dead or incapacitated.

That’s the good part; the bad part is that everyone becomes your enemy. Allies, enemies, and bystanders alike all look like targets until the blood-trance fades. Magick and strategic thinking become impossible, and your character uses every weapon in her hands for maximum carnage. Unless someone knocks her unconscious, incapacitates or kills her, or simply leaves her alone for several minutes (during which time she destroys everything within reach), she remains stuck in kill mode.

Is this a Merit or a Flaw? That depends. If your character belongs to a group that prizes bloodlust and has the luxury of mass murder in the modern world (that is, she’s a shock-troop “cleaner” or an elite warrior for a wetwork organization), then it’s a Merit; if she belongs to a group that demands subtlety, control, and restraint, then it’s a definite Flaw. Either way, your character is the loosest of cannons – aimed in a convenient direction and then left alone to burn out or explode.

Bigot
3 pt. Flaw

You really fucking hate those people, whoever “those people” happen to be. Those people probably don’t like you either. Okay, maybe you don’t make your feelings obvious, but your conviction that those people are inferior troublemakers who are Everything Wrong with the World Goddammit comes through in your actions and decisions even if you say nothing of the kind out loud. Such prejudices determine your choice of friends and enemies, guide your beliefs, influence your politics, and tend to spill out at inconvenient times if you lose your temper.

You might end up changing your mind someday, but for the moment, bigotry is the lens through which you view your world… and especially for mages, that sort of thing means quite a bit to the world at large.

Despite the conventional (and not inaccurate) view of bigots as raging racists, sexists, and homophobes, supposedly liberal people can be bigots too; the worst kinds of bigots, in fact, are often self-righteous folks whose claims of open-mindedness get undercut by a quiet yet implacable prejudice against those people.

Older versions of this Flaw rated it at only two points; in the twenty-first century, however, bigotry is more likely to get you in trouble if and when it’s revealed, especially on the Internet or in mass media… unless, of course, you’re running for president, or otherwise speaking up for folks who share your views, in which case you become a saint to some people and a demon to others.

It’s worth noting that bigots tend to have understandable reasons for their prejudices. Those reasons could stem from personal grievances, cultural bias, racial anxieties, scriptural proclamations, psychic trauma, gender clashes, philosophical paradigms, and – especially within Mage’s world – physical and metaphysical distinctions between “us” and “them.” Those reasons probably seem like bullshit to most people, but remain perfectly justified to the bigot in question.

It’s also worth noting that this Flaw should not in any way be taken as a license to abuse your fellow players. As with other ma­ture-audience subjects, a character’s prejudices might become a trigger for real-life tensions within the group, and should thus be handled carefully.

Chronic Depression
3 pt Flaw

Regardless of your external circumstances, you often feel drawn toward despair. Everything seems overwhelming, point­less, and at best a fucking joke at the world’s expense. That feeling pervades each aspect of your existence: your attitude, your physical health, your relationships, and even – especially! – your approach to magick and all its manifestations.

TL/DR: It really sucks to be you.

Often viewed as a purely psychological issue (“It’s all in your pretty little head…”), chronic depression tends to be linked to physiological Impediments, as in the Physical Flaw of that name. This Flaw can also reflect the psychic aftermath of Paradox backlashes, Quiet episodes, Things Man Was Not Meant to Know, Mind-Sphere attacks, and other forms of trauma (break­ups, violation, disaster, and the like), although trauma-induced depression is most often a manifestation of the Flaw: PTSD. Regardless of its origins, the psychological element of depression is inescapable.

The emotional weight of constant despair tends to sap physical vitality, which comes back around and inspires more depression. No wonder chronically depressed people have a hard time “living life to the fullest.” On some days, just getting out of bed without falling into a crying heap is a challenge.

Story-wise, this Flaw influences roleplaying and character descriptions as suggested above.

System-wise, it often requires you to make a Willpower roll when your depressed character needs to push himself beyond the depression.

A successful roll means that he acts without hindrance.

A failed one adds +2 to the difficulty of the primary task at hand, which could involve Attributes from the Physical (depression drains vitality), Social (undercuts relationships with other folks), or Mental (mental fuzz) categories, depending upon the situation.

A botched roll means that the depression takes over and drops him into a deep black pit of despair in which he’ll be stuck for hours or even days at a time.

You can spend a Willpower point to shove depression aside, avoiding this roll entirely. However, as anyone who understands the analogy of spoons can attest, sooner or later you run out of Willpower points. (For those who are not familiar with the analogy, it’s the idea that you have a limited number of spoons to use each day; every task demands that you give up one spoon, and so you soon run out of spoons).

The fact that people tend to get frustrated with your Black Cloud of Doom™ doesn’t exactly help matters much; hell, you’re more frustrated with that shit than anybody else is! So seriously – in all aspects of one’s life, Chronic Depres­siontown is not a fun place to be… not even for fans of the World of Darkness.

Compulsion
1 pt. Flaw

An almost reflexive mental tic drives you toward compul­sive, often subconscious, behaviors. In some cases, especially among mages, these behaviors manifest as ritualized activities: hand-washing, obsessive grooming, doing a task exactly the same way every time, and so forth.

Other compulsions inspire annoying habits (humming, making farty noises with your mouth, speaking out loud even when you don’t mean to, etc.), or potentially harmful activities like shoplifting, gambling, or hitting on everything that moves, which manifest when you’re under stress. (A seriously harmful compulsion could be considered a Derangement Flaw instead, as referenced below.)

Minor compulsions tend to get chalked up to the ra­tionalization, “That’s just what she’s like.” If you want your character to avoid a serious compulsion, however, you must spend a Willpower point in order to put off that behavior for a little while. However, once that little while is up (Storyteller’s discretion), your character is again compelled to perform that activity… unless you spend another Willpower point… to put it off again for a little while longer…

Conspicuous Consumption
'''4pt. Flaw'''

It is not enough for you to draw nourishment from the blood of mortals — you believe you must also consume your victim’s heart, liver, and other blood-rich tissue. Of course, this will necessitate the deaths of all of your victims (unless you are extremely creative), which might lead to numerous problems with maintaining Humanity (and a low profile).

Characters with this Flaw should additionally purchase the Eat Food Merit.

Curiosity
2 pt. Flaw

You simply can’t resist a good mystery! A nagging sense of curiosity drags you into all kinds of sticky situations. Given your abilities, you’ve got a decent chance at finding things out, too… which is not, especially in the World of Darkness, an especially healthy thing to do. Isn’t that just like a damn mage, anyway?

When confronted with an enticing clue or enigmatic cir­cumstance, make a Wits roll to avoid giving in to temptation. The difficulty for that roll depends upon the situation: a casual mystery (like, say, the identity of that intriguing girl behind the counter at Starbucks) would be difficulty 5, while resisting a more compelling sort of mystery (like the identity of the person who dropped off a dozen roses at your Chantry house) would be difficulty 9.

Once you’re on the trail, few things short of a deadly threat will make you stop… and said deadly threat might simply encourage you to dig even deeper.

Deep Sleeper
'''1pt. Flaw'''

When you sleep, it is very difficult for you to awaken. The difficulty of any roll to awaken during the day is increased by two.

Deranged
3 or 5 pt. Flaw

You suffer from a lasting form of mental illness. Although a successful Willpower roll (Storyteller’s option) might allow you to cope with the effects for a short time, this insanity lingers until and unless it can be cured… which also involves buying off the Flaw. An essential Flaw for Marauder characters (though it’s not exclusive to the Mad), this Trait gives you one of the Derangements described in the sidebar of that name.

A minor 3-point derangement reflects a troubling but manageable level of insanity; the 5-point level, meanwhile, represents an intensity of madness that makes your character a danger to herself and everyone nearby, if only because she’s a crazy person with the power of a mage.

Driving Goal
3 pt. Flaw

Even by Awakened standards, you possess (or are possessed by) a cause so intense that it drives every aspect of your life, up to and including your beliefs about, and approach to, magick and Ascension. This goal, sadly, is almost impossible to achieve on an individual basis: the collapse of the Technocracy, the return of the Old Ways, the fall of the industrialized era, and so forth. As a mage, you actually could gather enough influence to lead a larger movement that shifts Reality toward your goal. More likely, you will break yourself against that goal, as so many other mages have done before you… but hey, if a cause is as worth fighting for as yours is, then it’s worth whatever cost you must pay.

As a Flaw, this Driving Goal inspires roleplaying choic­es and informs your character’s focus, allegiance, magick, Path, Resonance, Seekings, Paradox backlashes, and pretty much everything else you can imagine. You can take short breaks from your crusade (usually by spending a Willpow­er point in order to take a different road for a while), but eventually this obsession brings you back to the goal you must pursue at all costs until you finally accomplish it or destroy yourself trying.

Extreme Kink
3 to 5 pt. Flaw

Everyone’s a little kinky; your needs are more, shall we say, exotic than a run-of-the-mill fetish. You might still adhere to the third part of the BDSM mantra safe, sane, and consensual, but your kink is neither safe nor sane by most people’s definition of those words. We’re not talking about tame bondage-and-spanking stuff – more like Fifty Shades of What the Fuck is Wrong with You? Unlike the old Flaw: Sadism /Masochism (which it replaces), this Flaw isn’t about the nature and specifics of your kink – it’s about how much trouble you can get into trying to satisfy your needs. A three-point kink can damage your health, reputation, and play partners; a four-point kink can seriously harm you (and whoever’s unfortunate enough to hook up with you), and a five-point kink can get you prison time or worse. (Gods help the people you choose to help you satisfy that kink…)

Certain mages are more prone to this Flaw than others, especially if they favor Left-Hand Path-type practices. For what ought to be obvious reasons, this is not an appropriate Flaw for all chronicles or players, and may well invoke safewords and blackouts from your Storyteller or companions.

Although this Flaw, like others of its kind, does not bear a judgment on our part, this sort of thing can offend and trigger other players, so don’t be a dick about it.

Feral Mind
3 pt. Flaw

More animal than human being, you lack the social graces and mental conditioning that most folks consider essential. Perhaps you’re a throwback, or wild-raised since childhood; or maybe you lost a part of yourself to animalistic shapechanging, suffer from a mental or psychological quirk, or simply renounce your humanity in favor of a more honest primal truth.

Regardless of its origins, this feral-mindedness limits your ability to function in human society. You prefer non-linguistic vocalizations and body language over cultured speech, and may lack the ability to “speak” in human terms at all. Your actions and reactions are animalistic too; you mark territory, snarl when annoyed, cower or lash out when threatened, feel no sense of so-called “modesty,” detest clothing, and smell musky even when you’ve just had a bath (which you rarely do under your own power). Such behaviors usually raise the difficulty of your social-interaction rolls by +3, although certain situations – like intimidation or seduction – may lower the difficulty by the same amount (-3).

This Flaw, however, isn’t simply a social drawback; you may not have more than three separate Language Merits, and you speak very little (and very simply) when you choose to speak at all. Your human developmental skills (speech, reading, math, socialization, etc.) hover at a child-like level despite your sharp instincts and innate primal cunning. Although your Mental Attributes (especially Perception and Wits) may be high, you probably won’t ever reach an adult level of human development; even if you do, the animal in you remains very close to the skin.

Flashbacks
Mage:

3 pt. Flaw

Sudden flashes of sensory trauma haunt you constantly. These might be legacies of psychoactive drug use, visions of a past or future incarnation, kickbacks from PTSD (see the Flaw of that name), echoes of Quiet, all-too-vivid memories, Things Man was Not Meant to Know… in short, they could be anything that floods your mind with bursts of unexpected impressions that overwhelm your current circumstances.

High-stress situations can trigger such hallucinations – and since mages essentially live in high-stress situations, this Flaw can be a fairly nasty one. The stress in question doesn’t have to be a bad experience, although it does tend to be the bad days that bring such things out in the worst way possible. You might see your loved one’s face start to melt in a moment of passion… or feel the branding irons that seared your flesh in a past life burn their way into your skin during an argument with your boss. Heavy traffic could become a roller coaster, and the exam you’re taking might morph into a living page of laughing cartoons. Flashbacks don’t have to make sense, and they often don’t. They can, however, blot out your true surroundings unless you successfully make a Willpower roll (difficulty 8) to shake them off.

Thankfully, flashbacks don’t often last long. By the time you realize that you’re not dodging HIT Marks in the ruins of Concordia, though, you may have driven off the road, punched your best friend, shat your pants, or run like a maniac through downtown Seattle without realizing that it was all in your head… this time, anyway.

Vampire:

'''6pt. Flaw'''

You managed to make it through the Creation Rites or other similarly traumatic experience, but not wholly intact. The most insignificant thing can throw you into a different mood or state of mind, and as such your behavior is extremely unpredictable

Because of your precarious emotional state, your Willpower fluctuates. At the beginning of each story, make a Willpower roll (you may not spend Willpower for an automatic success). If you succeed, you may participate in the story as normal. If you fail, however, your Willpower score is considered to be 1 for the duration of that session, and you only have one Willpower point to spend.

You may roll again at the beginning of the next session to see if you regain your Willpower.

Guilt-Wracked
'''4pt. Flaw'''

You simply cannot come to grips with the fact that you must drink blood to survive. You suffer horrible guilt over each time you feed (roll Conscience, difficulty 7, or else frenzy every time you feed — characters with the Conviction Virtue cannot take this Flaw) and try to avoid doing so as much as possible.

This means that you rarely have much blood in your system, leaving you vulnerable to both attacks and hunger-based frenzies.

Hatred
3 pt. Flaw

As with Bigot, above, you utterly despise some source of hatred. Maybe you loathe vampires, werebeasts, rich or homeless people, fae folk, spirits, dogs, trucks, machines, TV, lawyers, witches, cops, politicians… whatever it is that you hate, you hate it a lot, and will take advantage of any opportunity to hinder or harm the object of your hostility.

Like a bigot, you have what you consider to be a perfectly rational reason for hating whatever it is you despise. Other folks probably consider you crackers unless they share your point of view – in which case, they might become disciples instead. (See the Backgrounds: Allies, Backup, Cult, Influence and Retainers.)

As with a Driving Goal, this Flaw guides roleplaying choices, determines targets, and makes you seem rather obses­sive whenever the object of aversion comes into play. Because fear and hatred are so closely intertwined, chances are good that you’ve got a Short Fuse and /or a Phobia related to this Flaw. And if you also have Berserker /Stress Atavism or Beast Within, then you need to make a Willpower roll (difficulty 8) when confronted head-on with the thing you abhor, or else lose your proverbial shit in its general direction.

Obviously, this Flaw must be chosen carefully. If your char­acter tends to go thermonuclear at, say, the police on an ongoing basis, he is in for a very rough (and probably short) life indeed.

Hero Worship
1 pt. Flaw

You adore another character, to the point where that person can do no wrong as far as you’re concerned. Attempts to sway your opinion will just piss you off, shut you down, or drive you to heights (or depths) of absurd justification for whatever someone says about him. A common trait among folks in an Echo Chamber (see the Social Flaw of that name, pp. 66-67), this psychological blind spot can become annoying, even haz­ardous, if centered on the wrong person… like, say, a Syndicate Manager, a Nephandus, or certain presidential candidates!

If your hero tells you to do something, you’re inclined to obey, and must make a Willpower roll in order to refuse their desires. The difficulty for this roll depends upon the extremity of those desires; “Gimme a kiss,” would probably be difficulty 5, while “Go stab your best friend in the back for me” would be 9 or 10. If and when you’re confronted with proof of your hero’s weak­nesses, you are capable of seeing reason eventually – it’s just not easy to get you to think so clearly. Any social roll that’s aimed at getting you to discard your hero worship adds +2 to its difficulty unless the hero has recently done something very wrong… like, say, telling you to stab your best friend in the back for him!

Icy
2 pt. Flaw

You are one ice-cold bastard – an assassin, gangbanger, so­ciopath, or sadist who can commit atrocities without the slightest twitch. Although you’re not necessarily insane (see the Derange­ments in Mage 20, pp. 649-650), your callousness marks you as a creepy motherfucker. People avoid you unless they’ve got killing that needs doing… and then they step back and let you do your thing. Room 101 has positions for people like you (and so, despite their good-guy façade, do the Traditions and Disparate groups), but no one truly trusts you, and your soul is definitely in peril, with the Fallen only a step or two away from owning your cold ass.

Impatient
1 pt. Flaw

You’re driven to act now, not wait till later. In situations where other folks seem to just take for-freakin’-ever to get some­thing done, make a Willpower roll (difficulty 6) to restrain yourself from just running off to do it your own damn self! Yes, that difficulty may go up if… maybe when… you have to wait even longer than before. God, would the rest of the world would just get moving already?

Vampire: Every time you are forced to wait around instead of acting, a Self-Control roll is required to see if you go tearing off on your own instead.

Inappropriate
1 to 4 pt. Flaw

Wow – did you just go there? Yep, you did… and will go there again soon enough. Thanks to some quirk of personality, you tend to say and do things that other folks frown upon, typically at the least appropriate times. You make cooked-cat jokes in Asian restaurants, say what’s on your mind when it’s best to keep your mouth shut, and stumble over courtesy like it was a kiddie-gate you weren’t tall enough to avoid. This could involve activities too, like picking your nose in front of an elder or showing Martyrs to your 8-year-old niece. God damn it all, what were you thinking?

Minds do weird shit, and so this Flaw reflects a mental condition or psychological kink that drives the character toward embarrassing behaviors. Contrary to popular belief, this does not necessarily mean the character is Asperger’s /autistic, although it could compliment the physical Flaw: Impediment if that Flaw represents an autistic spectrum condition that manifests in especially inappropriate behavior. (An autistic character does not have to take this Flaw, as many folks on the spectrum do not behave this way.)

The quirk in question might come from a strange upbringing, psychic trauma, past lives acting out (“What? In MY day, this sort of thing was perfectly acceptable!”), alien cultural mores, social isolation, Avatar dickery, or any other mental stutter that screws with social-pattern recognition. A physical condition, like autism or Tourette’s syndrome, is more suited to the Impediment Flaw.

As with Impediment, the value of this Flaw depends upon the degree to which it causes problems for your character:

1 point: You occasionally say and do silly shit that causes small degrees of embarrassment to you and your friends. +1 difficulty to social rolls if and when you act out.

2 points: Your quirk inspires some pretty mortifying behavior on a fairly regular basis. +1 difficulty to many social rolls, even when you’re not acting out at the moment.

3 points: Dude, you need to STFD and STFU or you’re going to be in big trouble… again. +2 difficulty to all social rolls that aren’t related to making an ass of yourself.

4 points: You are a source of constant headaches to anyone who dares to identify as your friend. +2 difficulty to social rolls, plus a bad reputation among folks who’ve met or heard of you.

For obvious reasons, this Flaw could be a major-league trigger for certain players, especially if the inappropriate behav­ior includes bigotry and /or sexual misbehavior.

A player who decides to take this Flaw should discuss it with her Storyteller and fellow players… and if it becomes a source of real-life friction around the table, the Flaw should be discarded, or else played “offstage” rather than acted out in real time. IT SHOULD NEVER BE USED AS AN EXCUSE FOR REAL-LIFE DICK­ERY, EVER. (Was that clear enough?) This Flaw is intended as a “mature audiences” option that reflects the unfortunate effects of mental malfunctions and social maladjustments. If a player cannot employ this Flaw in a mature manner, then it should not be employed at all.

Inferiority Complex
1 pt. Flaw

Nope, you’re not worthy. Never have been, never will be. In situations requiring you to take charge or be personally responsible, all your difficulties are raised by one.

Intemperate
2 pt. Flaw

Everything you do, you do to excess. Oh, sure, you can (usually) resist the urge to be terminally stupid, but moderation isn’t part of your vocabulary. Having a drink? Why not have six? A hand of cards? Why not bet your next paycheck on the outcome? From expressing opinions to risking body and soul, you play chicken with life and expect the other guy to swerve. Folks expect this sort of thing from Ecstasy Cultists, but most Ecstatics actually have a better sense of their limits than you do.

Whenever you happen to be doing something that probably won’t result in criminal charges or immediate death, make a Willpower roll to resist the urge to go whole-hog. The difficulty for the roll depends on the likely consequences of excess; taking little risks means difficulty 8 or 9, while risks with life-threatening potential are easier to resist (difficulty 5 or 6)… though you’ve been known to go too far in that department, too!

Lifesaver
3 pt. Flaw

Life, to you, is a gift and miracle worth saving. As far as you’re concerned, even the most wretched people are worth another chance at redemption, and so you go out of your way to save lives and improve the lot of people (human and otherwise) who need a leg up in this world. More than a simple “code verses killing,” this Trait gives you a moral imperative to salvage lives, not just a reason to not end them.

In short, it makes you a big-hearted, generous person who deeply believes in the sanctity (whether you would use that religious term or not) of life. And that, in the World of Darkness, is a magnificent burden to bear.

Lunacy
'''2pt. Flaw'''

You are affected by the phases of the moon, increasing your chances to frenzy. Under the crescent moon, difficulties to avoid frenzy increase by one. Under the half or gibbous moon, difficulties rise by two. When the moon is full, difficulties increase by three.

Mental Lock
1 pt. Flaw

Somewhere in between impulse and action, things get stuck inside your head. Thoughts or images wind up caught in mental loops, and you occasionally find yourself tripping over words, getting stuck in patterns of speech, or repeating apparently uncontrollable activities (flapping your hands, shaking your head, rubbing your wrists, and so forth) which, under most circumstances, would be easy to stop or manage.

Sometimes known as perseveration or stimming (see the Merit: Hyperfocus), these mental tics often manifest from brain damage, emotional trauma, intense stress, and /or autism and other sensory-processing conditions. Conventionally and incorrectly called “nervous habits,” these mental quirks may be attempts to control your apparently chaotic surroundings by giving your brain something that feels like you can control it.

Problem is, you essentially have to shake yourself out of the locked pattern, concentrate on a new sensation in order to break the loop, invoke a sort of “ritualized” word or action that triggers a break in that loop, or employ some other method to break free of the mental lock. Until that point, you could find yourself stuttering even though you don’t have a speech impediment, feel “frozen” on words or thoughts you can’t easily articulate, lock into near-obsessive ruminations on nonsense phrases or perilous thoughts, get stuck doing the same thing over and over again, or otherwise wind up focused on an internal feedback cycle.

System-wise, the Storyteller will occasionally drop small but annoying quirks into your character’s ability to speak, suggest small, repetitious actions for your character to perform, and otherwise screw with your character’s capacity to move beyond a single nagging thought. To break those mental locks, you’ll need to roll your character’s Willpower against difficulty 7, spend a temporary point of Willpower, or else stand around “locked up” in mid-thought or action until you can break that irritating mental block through force of will or (after five turns) the simple passage of time.

Nightmares
Mages: 1 or 3 pt. Flaw

Night, for you, is a long parade of imagined horrors. Al­most every time you reach Dreamland, the inhabitants drag you through hell until you finally manage to escape back to the waking world. Your nightmares could come from psychic trauma, abuse, brain damage, Quiet, Paradox, Social Processing, encounters with Things Man Was Not Meant to Know, or other things that mess with your head. Whatever their source, these nocturnal hellrides affect your waking life as well.

Story-wise, these constant nightmares play havoc with your character’s mood, sleep, and long-term sanity. (For examples, see the Prelude for Mage 20.) At the three-point level, these nightmares force the player to make a Willpower roll, difficulty 7, each time her character wakes up from sleep; a failed roll subtracts one die from all of her dice pools that day. (Yes, previously published versions of this Flaw inflict that penalty on any character with the 1 pt. Nightmares Flaw. A full-die penalty on all rolls for a day, however, seems out of proportion with a one-point Flaw, and so this book introduces a three-point variation on the Trait. Storytellers may decide to use the older version of this Flaw for consistency’s sake.)

This Flaw makes an especially ugly companion to the Background: Demesne. In this case, the nightmares twist the Dream Realm into a perpetual hor­rorshow. Attempts to alter the dreamscape are at difficulty 7 (for the one-point Flaw) or 9 (for the three-point Flaw), and the dreamscape will remain unpleasant, if bearably so, no matter what the dreamer does to affect it. Those same difficulties apply to a character who wants to change the dreams by using the Talent: Lucid Dreaming; change is possible, then, but far from easy.

Vampire:

'''1pt. Flaw'''

You experience horrendous nightmares every time you sleep, and memories of them haunt you during your waking hours.

Upon awakening, you must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 7) or lose a die on all actions for that night. A botched Willpower roll indicates that, even when awake, you still believe that you are locked in a nightmare.

Obsession
2 pt. Flaw

An all-consuming interest of yours tends to overshadow whatever passes, in your mind, for common sense. If you love Star Wars, then you’ve seen all the movies many times over, own tons of merchandise, and spend inordinate amounts of time arguing about SW trivia. Is Tarot your obsession? Then you’ve got dozens (if not hundreds) of decks, research every potential element of Tarot significance, and drive your friends crazy with constant offers of readings and advice.

You can’t have just one or two cats – you’re the local Crazy Cat Person who drops half a paycheck on food, litter, and veterinary bills. This obsession probably won’t get you killed or anything (unless you’re crazy enough to get obsessive about werecritters or similarly fatal topics), but it consumes vast amounts of time, attention, and cash.

When faced with an opportunity to pursue your obsession down unexplored avenues, or if that obsession interferes with important things like relationships, work or both, you may need to make a Willpower roll (difficulty 6) to suppress the urge. And if the obsession involves something that’s compulsive by nature – gambling, for example – the Willpower roll could involve a difficulty of 8 or maybe higher before you can shake off your compulsion and focus on something else.

OCPD
3 pt. Flaw

Mages tend to be kinda obsessive by nature. You, however, feel compelled to follow stringent personal rituals, maintain an obsessive sense of order, work yourself to the point of exhaustion (and beyond), organize every possible element of your life and space, employ compulsive behaviors without realizing that you’re doing so, and otherwise lose track of time, things, and people unless they fall into the sphere of your obsessive-compulsive personality disorder.

An especially common Flaw among technomancers, sci­entists, ritual magi, religious devotees, autistic people, military personnel, artists, executives, and other folks whose philosophies and pursuits demand continual attention, OCPD could also result from various forms of psychic trauma, brain damage, spiritual epiphanies, cultural or professional perfectionism, and metaphysical dedication. As a rule, a person’s behaviors grow more compulsive when he’s under stress. After all, when it seems like your world’s spinning out of control, it becomes all the more important to establish control over whatever elements you can control.

When this Flaw is chosen, you’ll need to define which compulsions your character has, and figure out the triggers that make those compulsions more obvious. System-wise, you’ll often have to make Willpower rolls in order to shake off the need to organize and obsess over the object of your attentions. The difficulty, of course, depends upon the situation and the character’s level of stress at the time; the more challenging the circumstances, the more obsessive the compulsions.

Overconfident
1 pt. Flaw

You’re the best there is at what you do. If other folks disagree, then that’s their problem, not yours! Nothing is beyond your reach, and so you almost never back down from a challenge, no matter how absurdly outmatched you appear to be at the time. If things go poorly, of course, you can always blame someone else. After all, it’s clearly not your fault!

Phobia
Mage: 2 or 3 pt. Flaw

Irrational terror grips you whenever you face the subject of your Phobia: crowds, heights, Black Suits, and so forth. Such terror probably stems from psychic trauma, Social Processing, or some other incident that carved its niche within your mind. Although mages pride themselves upon their strength of will, everybody’s got their weaknesses; this primal fear is one of yours.

The subject of your Phobia must be defined at the time this Flaw is selected. Anytime you’re confronted with that situation, make a Willpower roll or else flee that fearsome situation. Even if you do succeed, you’ll need to roll at least three successes in order to approach the object of your fears and deal with it head-on. The Storyteller bases the difficulty of that roll upon the circumstances of the encounter. An unexpected brush with a normal wolf spider would rate a difficulty of 6 or 7 for an arachnophobe, while being dropped into a pit full of titanic wolf spiders would be, shall we say, somewhat higher. (Difficulty 9 or 10, you poor bastard.)

This Flaw has a three-point variation when applied to vam­pires and werekin; mages, however, are not subject to uncanny frenzies the way such creatures are, and so the Flaw is worth only two points to a mage or other non-frenzying character. As an optional rule, the Storyteller may allow a character with the Berserker Merit or the Stress Atavism or Beast Within Flaws (pp. 53 and 92) to take this Flaw for three points, with the character freaking out and destroying everything in her way as she tries to escape if and when the Willpower roll is failed.

Vampire:

'''2pt. Flaw'''

You have an overpowering fear of something. Spiders, snakes, crowds, and heights are examples of common phobias. You must make a Courage roll every time you encounter the object of your fear. The difficulty of the roll is determined by the Storyteller. If you fail the roll, you must retreat from the object.

Prey Exclusion
'''1pt. Flaw'''

You refuse to hunt a certain class of prey. You might refuse to feed on drug dealers, policemen, accountants, or rich people — if you accidentally feed upon such an individual, you automatically frenzy and must make a roll to prevent Humanity or Path 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 already imposed on their feeding by their Clan weakness, may not take this Flaw.

PTSD
2 to 5 pt. Flaw

Awful experiences have given you a hair-trigger response to certain situations. Anxiety, aversions, phobias, sudden rage… whatever the symptoms might be, this post-traumatic stress disorder acts as a protective shield against further harm.

Unlike a derangement, this Flaw doesn’t induce delusions – your character remains lucid enough. Still, her fears kick in at difficult, sometimes unpredictable, times, undermining every attempt at whatever passes for a normal life in the Awakened world.

As usual, the different levels of this Flaw manifest in various levels of severity:

2 points: Your PTSD conjures occasional nightmares and anxieties under certain rare circumstances (confronting ghosts, dealing with demons, entering the wilderness, and so forth).

3 points: The trauma triggers phobias or other strong reactions to more common situations (dealing with elders, facing financial difficulty, etc.).

4 points: Reactions become more extreme – near-panic, powerful aversion, rapid mood swings – and provocations become more common (gunshots, confrontations, raised voices, etc.).

5 points: Your PTSD kicks off major reactions – fightor- flight panic, vivid flashbacks, moments of stark terror, incapacitating catatonia – in fairly common situations (sex, arguments, financial transactions, etc.). Even without the specific stimulus, you suffer from nightmares, social anxieties, fear of common things, and other circumstances that could evoke the traumatic event(s).

Sadly common in the World of Darkness, PTSD reflects deep-seated pain caused by things that a person might not even recall. Combat, torture, accidents, poverty, sexual violation, domestic violence, parental abuse… anything that can destroy a person’s sense of safety might cause PTSD.

Despite its sometimes extreme nature, PTSD is a perfectly rational response to harm. Because of that, it can be difficult to treat successfully, even with advanced psychiatry or Mindbased magicks. In most cases, a person suffering from PTSD simply learns to live with the symptoms and avoid the triggers that can set off a reaction.

Rose-Colored Glasses
2 pt. Flaw

Known sardonically as Rose-Colored Mirrorshades among Technocracy operatives, this Flaw reflects a rather delusional loyalty to your faction of choice. Essentially, your team can do no wrong as far as you’re concerned. Their cause is just, their paradigm unshakable, their deeds necessary under the circumstances, no matter how extreme those deeds might be.

Your character views almost anything the group does in its most favorable light… which, considering how awful Awakened groups can be, means that you’re choosing to overlook a great deal.

Confronted with inconvenient truths, you can get downright irrational, abusive, or even fanatical. If you’re ever confronted with truths you cannot deny, avoid, or slander away, the shock could devastate you for years to come – very possibly driving you into the arms of a diametrically opposed faction for which you’ll hold a similar sort of loyalty.

Short Fuse
2 pt. Flaw

Anger management is not your strong suit. When some­thing or someone pisses you off (which happens with distressing regularity), you must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 6) or else deal with that shit gloves-off style. You probably won’t use deadly (or vulgar) force too recklessly, as you’re not long for this world if you do. Your infamous temper, however, can have severe long-term effects on your popularity, health, and status among your peers and superiors… which is itself a lethal proposition among members of the Technocratic Union and other groups that pride themselves on self-control.

For a more extreme version of this Trait, see the Super­natural Flaw: Beast Within.

Vampire: Difficulties to avoid frenzy are two greater. Brujah vampires cannot take this Flaw, as they already suffer from a similar weakness.

Shy
'''1pt. Flaw'''

You are distinctly ill at ease when dealing with people and try to avoid social situations whenever possible.

Difficulties for all rolls involving social interaction with strangers are increased by two. If the character becomes the center of attention in a large group, difficulties are increased by three.

Soft-Hearted
1 pt. Flaw

You hate to witness suffering. Sadly, the World of Darkness is filled with pain, and so you often find yourself either avoiding potentially traumatic situations or trying to ease suffering even when that puts you in the line of fire too.

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).

Vampire:

You must have a Humanity rating of 7 or above to take this Flaw — vampires on Paths of Enlightenment can only take this Flaw with Storyteller approval.

Speech Impediment
'''1pt. Flaw'''

You have a stammer or other speech impediment that hampers verbal communication. The difficulties of all die rolls involving verbal communication are increased by two.

This Flaw must be roleplayed whenever possible.

Stereotype
'''2pt. Flaw'''

You buy heavily into all of the vampire stories you’ve read and heard. You wear a cape or body glitter, speak with an accent, and otherwise act in a cartoonish fashion.

Such behavior is embarrassing in the extreme to other Kindred, who are likely to ostracize or mock you (+2 difficulty to Social rolls with other vampires who don’t share your habits). You also stand out to hunters.

Stress Atavism
4 pt. Merit or Flaw

Folks don’t like you when you’re angry. In combat, you become a veritable monster, destroying everything and everyone in sight. In certain ways, this is a blessing, in others, a curse – for although your dedication to slaughter has undeniable benefits, it’s also a distinct liability… especially if you belong to a group that prizes discipline rather than brutality.

As both a Merit and a Flaw, this Trait has the same effects: under intense stress (combat, injury, disgrace, the death or crippling of a comrade, and so forth), the red haze kicks in.

A failed Willpower roll (difficulty 8) leads to a berserk rampage. Your character gains three temporary Bruised health levels, ignores wound penalties, and adds two dice to her Strength and one die to her Stamina until every enemy within easy reach or sight is dead or incapacitated.

That’s the good part; the bad part is that everyone becomes your enemy. Allies, enemies, and bystanders alike all look like targets until the blood-trance fades. Magick and strategic thinking become impossible, and your character uses every weapon in her hands for maximum carnage. Unless someone knocks her unconscious, incapacitates or kills her, or simply leaves her alone for several minutes (during which time she destroys everything within reach), she remains stuck in kill mode.

Is this a Merit or a Flaw? That depends. If your character belongs to a group that prizes bloodlust and has the luxury of mass murder in the modern world (that is, she’s a shock-troop “cleaner” or an elite warrior for a wetwork organization), then it’s a Merit; if she belongs to a group that demands subtlety, control, and restraint, then it’s a definite Flaw. Either way, your character is the loosest of cannons – aimed in a convenient direction and then left alone to burn out or explode.

Territorial
'''2pt. 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.

Thirst for Innocence
'''2pt. Flaw'''

The sight of innocence — of any sort — arouses in you a terrible bloodlust. Roll Self-Control or Instincts, or else frenzy and attack the source of your hunger.

Ulterior Motive
2 pt. Flaw

Something other than love and respect for your Garou relatives and Kinfolk guides your actions. This “something” may be as simple as greed or a lust for vengeance; you could also be a traitor working for an outside agency. Whatever the case, this ulterior motive holds your ultimate loyalty.

Should someone suspect things aren’t as they seem, you could be in big trouble. This Flaw makes a good complement for the Flaw: Dark Secret.

Unconvinced
'''1pt. Flaw'''

You fail to see the need for the core ideologies of your Sect or Clan, and have gone on record as saying so. Taking your stand has made you suspect in the eyes of your superiors, and may have attracted the attention of your enemies as well.

Vanilla
1 pt. Flaw

Oh my gods, you’re such an innocent! In a world filled with sex magick and power plays, you’re the little lamb who’s strayed far away from home. Jokes get past you, clues escape you, and references to anything rawer than a Disney flick go straight over your head. Maybe you grew up in a secluded place with overprotective parents; or you could be in denial about the things you see all around you because life can’t possibly be that twisted… can it? Regardless, hold firm to your innocence. Once it’s gone, it ain’t never coming back again!

Vengeful
'''2pt. Flaw'''

You have a score to settle, incurred either during your mortal days or after the Embrace. You are obsessed with taking your revenge on an individual or group, and it is your overriding priority in any situation where you encounter the object of your revenge.

You may temporarily resist your need for vengeance by pending a Willpower point.

Victim of the Masquerade
'''2pt. Flaw'''

The Camarilla’s propaganda machine did too good a job on you. Even after your Embrace you refused to believe you were a vampire.

You remain convinced that there is some logical explanation for your condition, and spend as much time as you can searching for it. You also have problems feeding, and may insist on trying to eat regular food. None of these habits makes you particularly pleasant company for other Kindred.

This Flaw must be roleplayed at all times, and is generally taken by Camarilla vampires.

Weak-Willed
'''3pt. Flaw'''

You are highly susceptible to Dominate and intimidation by others; Dominate attempts automatically affect you unless the Discipline wielder is of higher Generation, and your difficulties to resist Social abilities such as Intimidation or Leadership, as well as mind-altering spells or magic, are increased by two.

Your Willpower Trait may never rise above 4.

Whimsy
1 pt. Flaw

You get silly under stress. It’s an avoidance tactic, and while such behavior can be endearing in small doses, your whimsical streak can get kinda annoying after a while, especially for folks who have to deal with you pulling out hand puppets in the middle of an argument or tossing grapes down your covenmate’s cleavage when she’s trying to have a serious conversation with you. In especially stressful situations, you might need to make a Willpower roll (difficulty 6) to not clown around. Hey, you can’t help it, right, if you’re trying to lighten the mood? Jeeze, why does magick have to be so damned serious…?