Supernatrual Merits

Additional Discipline
'''5pt. Merit'''

You can take one additional Discipline (Storyteller discretion) as if it were a Clan Discipline. All costs to learn that Discipline are paid out as if it were native to your Clan.

A character cannot take this Merit more than once, and Caitiff vampires cannot take this Merit.

Ancestor Ally
1 pt. Merit

One of your ancestor spirits is particularly close to you. You have –2 to your difficulty to contact this ancestor via your Ancestors Background. Flesh out your special ancestor with a name, personality characteristics, significant abilities or powers, details about her life, and her reputation among Garou.

To purchase this Merit, you must have Ancestors as a Background.

Apostate
'''2pt. Merit'''

Since their inception, Nergali Baali have subverted members of other Clans into their own ranks. Known as Apostates, initiates are first drained completely by a Baali nest-master, who then extracts the still-beating heart from a mortal victim, fills it with his own blood, and buries it in a pool of gore within a Well of Sacrifice.

The initiate swims through the dismembered bodies and viscous re-mains to find and consume the heart. In this way, Nergali do not make a victim of those they Embrace; prospective members must claim it through strength of will.

Apostates replace any one in-Clan Discipline with Daimoinon, but in turn gain the Baali Clan weakness on top of their standard Clan weakness.

Apostates can still pass with relative ease for members of their former Clans, but any childe they Embrace is indistinguishable from a standard Baali. Further, such a childe shares none of the Clan Disciplines or weaknesses of their sire’s for-mer Clan, save those Disciplines that are innate to the Baali.

Apostates do not lose levels in the Discipline they choose to exchange for Daimoinon, but further levels in that Discipline are purchased at out-of-Clan costs.

Baali may not take this Merit.

Avatar Companion
7 pt. Merit

From lifetime to lifetime, you share a bit of your Avatar with a companion who follows you through incarnations, recalling more about their details than you do. Although he’s not as powerful as you are, and lacks the metaphysical prowess of the Merits: Twin Soul or Shattered Avatar, this companion knows a great deal about your reincarnated self… quite a bit more about it than then you do. This loyal (if not always agreeable) character literally follows you for life, typically ending his life when you do; in the meantime, he provides insights, advice, information about previous life­times, and whatever other forms of aid he can possibly offer. Like the Merit: Guardian Angel, the Avatar Companion is essentially a walking boost from your Storyteller, subject to her whims but acting in your best interests… for the most part, anyway.

Unless it’s purchased in addition to the Background: Allies, your companion isn’t anything special; he could be a person or animal, but not a vampire, a werebeast, or some other Night-Folk entity. Your Avatar Companion could also be a Ward, the focus of True Love, or perhaps an embodiment of a Manifest Avatar.

Treat him badly enough, and he might become an Enemy. As with all other character-based Traits, this companion has his own personality, desires, and so on. He may be loyal, but he’s not suicidal, and isn’t likely to be thrilled if the mage decides to abuse his loyalty!

Bardic Gift
2 pt. Merit

Blessed with uncanny inspiration, you create profoundly evocative artwork. Truth echoes through your words, blazes from your canvas, resonates in song, speaks silently in dance. Although artistic skill is, of course, important, this gift runs deeper than mere technique.

Art is your passion, your spirit, your Truth. And that Truth manifests itself in whatever arts you pursue, up to and including the Magickal Arts.

When making a roll with the Art Talent, reduce the difficulty by -2. Even when the attempt itself falls short of your expectations (that is, when you fail a roll), your creations feature an unmistak­able gleam of brilliance and a preternatural expression of Truth.

Although you’re not required (as a player) to employ artwork as part of your magickal focus, chances are good that your approach to magick does feature elements of painting, dance, music, and other manifestations of artistic expression.

Blessed by St. Gustav
'''4pt. Merit'''

Many Ventrue antitribu replace their traditional affinity for Presence with an aptitude for Auspex by means of the ignobilis ritus known as the Prayer to St. Gustav For your piety and devotion to the Sabbat cause, you have been especially blessed and have an affinity for both Disciplines.

System: This Merit is identical to Additional Discipline Merit found on V20, p. 494, except that it can only be used to add Auspex as a fourth in-Clan discipline.

Only Ventrue antitribu can take this Merit.

Brahmin
'''1pt. Merit'''

As a member of the Brahmin jati, you are a priest, artist, teacher, or other pillar of society. Perhaps you keep the lore of the Clan, or perhaps you act as an advisor to other Ravnos in need of wisdom. Once per session, if you fail an Academics or Expression roll, you may immediately reroll it.

You do not have to purchase this Merit to be a member of the Brahmin jati, but only members of the Brahmin jati may have this Merit.

Burning Aura
1 pt. Merit

To those who can sense it, your aura burns with amazing brilliance and clarity. Even folks who can’t actually perceive this bright corona of energy realize that you’re “different.” Entities that can read your aura react accordingly; some will treat you with uncommon respect, while others will view you as a nice meal.

The nature of your aura cannot be hidden easily (+2 to the difficulty of any attempt to do so), and while this is a dreadful disadvantage for, say, a Nephandus, people who prize forthright integrity may reduce their difficulties by -2 when they’re trying to make an impression that’s in accord with that vivid aura and affecting characters who can sense it.

Assuming that you employ these optional Traits, your Resonance and Synergy each get a vivid, one-dot boost from this Merit.

Celestial Affinity
3 pt. Merit

You get along especially well with a certain type of spirit entity. Depending upon your practice, you might relate well with nature spirits, High Umbral Courtiers, Digital Web en­tities, the Restless Dead, the Loa, angelic or demonic beings, and so forth.

When you’re dealing with entities within a single selected category, you reduce the difficulty of your summoning and negotiation rolls by -2. This bonus does not apply to attempts to bind or ward against such beings, as it’s based upon goodwill, not force. It does, however, apply to the Arete rolls when casting the summoning Effect (within the normal modifier limits, as usual), because the entities in question are more inclined to show up when you call upon them.

For three additional points per category, you may add another category of spirits, assuming that your practice favors an affinity for such spirits. (A BCD Void Engineer “ghost-buster,” for example, could not purchase an Affinity for ghosts, though a necromancer could certainly do so.) If you abuse this goodwill, as one might imagine, this bonus, and the Merit, both go away – and might wind up being replaced by a Flaw like Immortal Enemy if your mage behaves in an especially foolish manner.

Circumspect Avatar
2 pt. Merit

You’ve never seen your Avatar, and probably doubt that such a thing exists. Sure, you have a shadow, and a reflection, or maybe a little dog who’s followed you around since you were a kid and seems no older even though he should have died of old age years ago, but an Avatar? Nah – that’s a buncha New Age hippie crap! You have yet to encounter any such thing, you don’t go on “seekings” or whatever they’re called, and you get your metaphysical insights the same way any normal person does: through everyday events in the everyday world.

Essentially, this Merit grants a “silent” Avatar – one that, for whatever reason, does not hound or guide your character but merely drops hints, cues, and clues that the mage either figures out or doesn’t figure out on her own.

Seekings and Epiphanies take place in the physical realm, typically as puzzles and dilemmas that happen to be related to issues that the mage needs to sort through in order to advance to the next level of understanding. During such situations, the Avatar may indeed appear (possibly even manifest), but only as some apparently mundane person, creature or thing, not as an obviously paranormal entity. You could, for instance, get a call from your mother that sends you into an introspective mood which, in turn, leads you to figure out an important riddle from your past; Mom, of course, denies even having called you. Huh. So who could that call have been from, anyway? Or did you, perhaps, just imagine it after all?

Clear Sighted
5 pt. Merit

Even without employing your Arts, you have a preternat­ural gift for seeing things as they are, not as they appear to be. Illusions, disguises, cloaking spells, and other forms of trickery rarely deceive your eyes.

In game terms, you can make a Perception + Awareness roll to see through metaphysical deception powers: vampiric Disciplines, faerie cantrips, werecreature Gifts, Sphere-based illusions, and other powers that are based on deceiving a wit­nesses’ perceptions. This roll works only against powers that deceive the target’s perceptions, not against any other form of Gift, Discipline, cantrip, and so forth. (Vampiric Obfuscate, for example, but not Presence or Dominate.)

The difficulty for that roll is generally 5 + the highest Sphere Rank or other level involved in that power; a Forces 2 /Prime 2 illusion, then, would be difficulty 7, while a vampire’s Mask of a Thousand Faces (Obfuscate 3) would be difficulty 8. If a character could normally get a roll to see through the illusion, then your character subtracts -3 from her difficulty when trying to do so.

Your clear sight also reduces your difficulty by -3 when you try to see through a disguise, a cloaking spell or device, or other attempts to conceal the truth from an onlooker. It does not, however, allow you to see through darkness, notice stealthing or invisible characters, or otherwise perceive something that you would not be able to see without this Merit; combining this Merit with the physical Merit: Acute Senses, however, could make you a formidably perceptive character.

Cloak of the Seasons
3 pt. Merit

Adverse weather does not bother you. Regardless of your clothing or lack thereof, you’re essentially immune to the effects of exposure to harsh climates. You still need to eat, drink, and breathe – this Merit won’t save you from starvation or suffocation – and climate-based obsta­cles (fog, high winds, snowdrifts, ice, etc.) hinder you as badly as they’ll hinder anybody else.

Aside from outright attacks by the elements, however, you remain untouched by extremes of temperature and climate. You might not always be comfortable, but you’ll survive.

Cold Read
'''3pt. Merit'''

Whenever you meet someone for the first time, you may spend a number of points of Willpower equal to your Perception. For each point spent, you may ask the Storyteller one question about the character.

The Storyteller must either answer truthfully or let you take the Willpower point back to you to avoid answering the question.

Connoisseur
'''2pt. Merit'''

Your study of the Auspex Discipline, combined with your rarified tastes, allows you powerful insights into the character of any whose blood you taste.

System: The character tastes another’s blood (potentially risking blood bond), and player rolls Perception + Empathy (difficulty 6 for mortals or 8 for Kindred). If the blood came from a mortal, each success allows him to learn one of the following: the mortal’s Nature, her Demeanor, any Derangements she may possess, whether she is blood bonded, and whether she carries any blood-borne diseases. If the vitae came from a vampire, he can learn all of the previous information, plus anything discoverable with the first level of the Path of Blood.

The Ventrue may taste the blood of a mortal who does not fit within his feeding restriction long enough to use this ability, but he must immediately spit it out afterwards.

Vampires that do not have Auspex dot 2 cannot take this Merit.

Critters
'''2pt. Merit'''

You’re excellent with animals — so much so that they constantly seek to befriend you. Wherever you go, the animals are happy to see you, and more often than not, happy to help you when you ask for their aid. You receive a bonus die on Social rolls to affect small animals. Further, animal companions who have had continual interaction with you see you as something of a pet, and occasionally bring you small useful things. Once per game session, animals will bring you a useful piece of information or a small item relevant to events.

This item might occasionally play into the individual Ravnos’ particular vice, as the animals quickly pick up on what pleases their friend.

Cyclic Magick
3 pt. Merit/Flaw

The strength or weakness of your Arts is tied to some periodic cycle – the phases of the moon, night or day, your menstrual periods, the rise and fall of the stock market, and so forth. At the peak of your cycle, your magick flows most easily; at its nadir, you find it challenging to work with your magick at all.

System-wise, this Trait is both a Merit and a Flaw, granting bonuses at one point in the cycle and penalties on its opposite point. At the highest point, you reduce your casting difficulties by -3 for one hour, while at the lowest point you increase them by +3 for one hour. On either end of that cycle, you subtract or add -1 /+1 to your casting difficulties for each hour on both sides – the surge and the ebb – of that cycle: -2 or + 2 for the two hours on each side of the peak or nadir, -1 or +1 on the two hours on the side of those two hours, and no modifiers during the rest of the time in between. If, for example, Victoria Ashley-Croft bani Flambeau has a peak at midnight and a low at noon, her player would receive a peak modifier of -3 difficulty at midnight, -2 difficulty at 11:00 PM and 1:00 AM, a -1 difficulty at 10:00 PM and 2:00 AM, and no modifiers otherwise, aside from the reverse modifiers (+3 at noon, +2 at 11:00 AM and 1:00 PM, and +1 at 10:00 AM and 2:00 PM) at the opposite end of that cycle.

Naturally, you’ll need to decide just what this cycle is when you select this Trait, and then determine what the highest and lowest points of that cycle would be.

This Merit must also be tied into your focus – intrinsically connected to the beliefs you hold and the practices you follow. Your choice of instruments is often tied to such cycles too; cycle-bound instruments include celestial alignments, crossroads and crossing-days, formulae and mathematics, group rites, money and wealth, music (peaks and lulls in a song, movements in a symphony, etc.), numbers and numerology, and offerings and sacrifices (“when the stars are right”). A stockbroker will be watching the peaks and ebbs on Wall Street, while a witch pays attention to the cycles of the moon or her blood. By observing your cycles, you’ll have a good idea about the best and worst times to use your Arts. And by observing you, your allies and enemies may be able to figure those things out too.

Danger Sense
3 pt. Merit

You’ve got a knack for knowing when something bad is about to happen. When you are in danger but not aware of it, the Storyteller should make a secret roll against your Perception + Alertness; the difficulty corresponds to the immediacy of the danger.

If the roll succeeds, you are given a sense of foreboding. Multiple successes may refine the feeling and give an indication of direction, distance, or nature of the threat.

Deathwalker
4 pt. Merit

The Underworld welcomes you. While most Umbral travelers are more or less barred from the Shadowlands and Low Umbra unless they possess special magicks (or have died), you can step sideways into the Dead Lands with a simple ap­plication of Spirit 3. When you do so, your aura assumes the pale tone of death, and you become essentially indistinguish­able from a ghost unless some knowledgeable entity makes a successful Perception + Occult roll (difficulty 7) to see you for what you really are. If the Avatar Storm is still raging in your chronicle, you can pass into the Low Umbra without suffering the Storm’s effects.

This sort of “gift” often leaves macabre traces on the mortals it favors. Hence, this Merit is well-suited for the Flaws: Echoes, Uncanny, and Primal Marks. Thanks to their innate ties to the Dead Lands, Deathwalkers, as a rule, view the Otherworlds through the Vidare Mortem, suffer from Morbidity Quiets, and tend to have a rather fatalistic view of life.

Deceptive Aura
'''1pt. Merit'''

Your aura is unnaturally bright and colorful for a vampire. You register as a mortal on all attempts to read your aura.

Distracting Aura
'''2pt. Merit'''

Reading an aura using Auspex requires the viewer to focus on recurring patterns and colors to detect a target’s emotional state. Because of the unique state of your psyche, your aura is even harder to read than most.

All uses of Aura Perception are at a +2 difficulty against you.

Dracon’s Temperament
'''3pt. Merit'''

You emulate the ideal of Azi Dahaka within and without, to levels visceral and abstract. Your psyche flows with the permutable nature of change. Like the protean Dracon, you are a whirlwind of temperaments. This is not multiple personalities. You are one identity shown through the prism of ever-shifting Natures. No anchor fetters your sense of self. You can be any you.

At the start of each story, you may choose one Personality Archetype to function as your Nature, spending the rest of the story perceiving the world through that perspective.

You also regain Willpower according to your new Nature and may be affected by other effects or Discipline powers as per your new Nature as well.

Dual Affiliation
7 pt. Merit

You’ve been initiated and trained in two different Awakened groups. Perhaps you were a Verbena who gravitated toward the Virtual Adepts, or a Man in Black who sought refuge among the Templars. Whatever your history and affiliations might be, you’re intimately familiar with both groups, have connections (not nec­essarily friends) in both groups, and may use and understand the practices, tools and beliefs (in short, the focus) of either group.

Rules-wise, your mage enjoys the benefits of each affilia­tion. If he’s a former Technocrat who went over to the mystic side, he can still use technomagick while transcending the usual Technocratic bans regarding Arete and focus. When raising a Sphere, your character gets to use the Affinity Sphere rate for one Sphere per group. His former associates probably don’t view him very favorably, though, unless he “cross-trained” within friendly groups, like a Dreamspeaker who went Ecstatic or a Hermetic who joined the Children of Knowledge.

Embraced without the Cup
'''1pt. Merit'''

For some reason you did not drink the blood of the elders when you were inducted into Clan Tremere. More dangerously, it may have had no effect on you. As a result, you are not bound to the Clan the way most Tremere are.

Should it be discovered, it will usually be corrected, but one might almost believe there was some purpose to this lapse, as the Tremere don’t make mistakes. Perhaps the Clan has a special task in mind for you, one where you might be forced to act against the Clan to maintain a cover….

Eyes of Shadow
'''1-4pt. Merit'''

There is something about your eyes that makes you look dark and dangerous. Making eye contact with you is like staring into the Abyss. It may not be obvious why, but anyone you talk to gets a chill when they meet your gaze. The difficulty for any Intimidation roll is reduced by the number of points in this Merit (to a minimum of 2).

Fae Blood
4 pt. Merit

Your veins pulse with the enigmatic blood of the fae. Although not a full changeling, you possess a distant tie to the Dreaming by way of your strange heritage. In Changeling: The Dreaming terms, you’re kinain: a mortal human related to their kind. Your Banality rating is low (no higher than 4, and often lower than that), and you remain permanently enchanted in the sense that you perceive, and are affected by, the changeling world.

As a default member of that eldritch fellowship, you also tend to get swept up in their odd intrigues, and know an uncomfortable amount about their hidden world.

As with the Merit: Faerie Affinity, this Merit is forbidden to technomancers of all kinds. Their Banality is too high to sustain this gift of the blood.

Faerie Affinity
2 pt. Merit

Fae beings like you. Drawn by an ineffable appeal, they seek you out and share secrets with you that few mortals even comprehend. System-wise, you lower the difficulty of your social rolls by -2 when you’re dealing with changelings and related entities; in return, changelings reduce their difficulty by -2 when they attempt – through whatever method – to obtain Glamour from you, or to enchant you so as to bring you into their ephemeral realm.

Story-wise, the Fae tend to favor you over other mortals, even when your temperaments would seem to be at odds with one another. A gruff Nocker, for example, normally has no use for frivolity… but in your case, you silly Cultist, he’ll make this one exception!

Technomancers, being considered “banal” in the eyes of the Fae, may not purchase this Merit. Even if they don’t be­long to the Technocratic Union, the presence of such mages is metaphysical poison to the Dreaming Ones.

False Reflection
'''3pt. Merit'''

Even when using their Obfuscate abilities, Nosferatu still show up in their true form when noticed by machines, such as cameras or video surveillance. With this ability, the Nosferatu can extend their power to recorded images and media. However, as with Mask of the Thousand Faces, the original image isn’t actually changed; it is just that people see it the way the Nosferatu wants it seen. Unfortunately, computers are not so easily fooled: if the image is used for facial recognition software (for instance), the computer will see the Nosferatu’s real face and fail to find a match.

The Nosferatu has best take care how this power is used, as it may wear off in time. Some archived photos have given librarians a nasty surprise, years after going into storage.

Fetish
5-7 pt. Merit

You own a fetish. You may have inherited this item, received it as a gift, or found it on your own.

You and your Storyteller should work together on constructing the item and establishing how it came into your possession.

Five points equals a Level One fetish, six points a Level Two fetish, and seven points a Level Three fetish.

If you do not have the Gnosis Merit, you may not be able to attune the Fetish to yourself or use it.

Fury’s Focus
'''3pt. Merit'''

Prerequisite: Path of Entelechy

Brujah who have devoted themselves to mastering their frenzies through the Path of Entelechy sometimes find tangible benefits resulting from their efforts. A Brujah with this Merit may briefly delay the full onset of frenzy.

System: The player spends a Willpower point at the onset of frenzy and then rolls the Brujah’s Entelechy rating. The difficulty is one higher than the original roll to resist frenzy.

The Brujah still frenzies, but the player controls her character’s actions for one turn per success. Furthermore, when the period of partial control ends and the Brujah loses control, the difficulty of any degeneration rolls triggered by sins committed during the frenzy are reduced by the number of successes rolled, to a minimum difficulty of 4.

Ghoul
5 pt. Merit

The blood of vampiric Kindred has made you something more than human. Willingly or otherwise, you have supped on a vampire’s blood, and although you’re probably not blood-bound to her service any longer (unless you are), that creature’s unnatural vitality has become your own. Trouble is, you need more vitae to sustain your uncanny abilities… and, as many mages have discovered, such blood is exceedingly addictive.

A ghouled character ages very slowly, gets one automatic success on any Strength-based roll, and inflicts one extra die of damage with all hand-to-hand, non-magickal attacks. If your chronicle employs Vampire: The Masquerade rules, your character also has a blood pool, one dot in Potence, and the potential to buy and employ Fortitude, Potence, and an ability from the initiating vampire’s clan.

That’s the good part; the bad parts involve the constant craving for more vitae, the loss of those supernatural bonuses after roughly a month without vampire blood, several dots in Resonance that reflect the corrupt nature of the undead, and the obvious drawbacks of hanging around with vampires just so you can drink their blood.

Gnosis
5-7 pt. Merit

More than any other blessing, the possession of Gnosis among Kin is a special mark of Gaia’s favor. It’s extremely rare for mortals to be so gifted.

Having Gnosis grants many privileges, such as the ability to learn a broader range of Gifts, use fetishes, and — if Embraced by a vampire — the chance to die with dignity and honor, rather than suffer unlife.

Kinfolk lucky enough to possess Gnosis recover it in the same manner as Garou.

Five points spent on the Merit grants one point of Gnosis; six points, two points of Gnosis; and seven points, three points of Gnosis.

Green Thumb
1 pt. Merit

Plants flourish from your touch. Although they don’t bloom and grow on contact (a wildly paranormal effect which was part of this Merit’s original form), they do attain a healthy boost when you work with them. Reduce the difficulty of all non-Arete rolls by -2, and reduce the difficulty of Arete rolls by -1, when you work with plants, trees, and other forms of vege­tation –algae, mold, fungus, seaweed, and the like.

Story-wise, your aura pulsates with green vitality, plant matter grows fast and robust in your presence, and your Resonance and Synergy reflect a powerful connection to the green world.

A common Merit among Verbena, Bata’a, and other primal mystics, this could also represent a strange acumen for vegetative biomass that certain technomancers enjoy.

Guardian Angel
6 pt. Merit

A powerful entity is watching over you, providing advice, assistance, and occasional protection when things get ugly. Such aid is beyond your control (perhaps even beyond your comprehension) and while this “angel” has certainly supported your best interests thus far, there could be a terrible price-tag attached to all this help. You think your angel is of the better sort, but seriously – have you read the lore about angels? Sweetness and light are not among their more noted characteristics.

From a Merit perspective, this Trait provides occasional help from the Storyteller. The nature of said help is entirely up to the Storyteller, although it should be beneficial in at least the short term. The help in question should also suit the nature of the mage and her paradigm, although that suitability might turn out to be rather ironic – an actual angel, for example, watching over an Infernalist mage, or a nature spirit protecting an avowed Technocrat.

The helpful party may be waiting for the mage to “see the light,” honoring an ancient vow to the mage’s ancestors, leading the protected party toward a new and unexpected Path, or perhaps setting him up for a final revelation that could be more terrible than the things the angel has been driving away.

From a Storyteller standpoint, we recommend playing up the mysterious and potentially frightening nature of this guardian “angel.” Legendary angels tend to be notoriously bloody in their work, and can scare the living hell of mortals even when their intentions are technically righteous. As a Storyteller, determine who is helping the mage out, and why; that information, of course, can be for you to know and your players to wonder about. Whenever the angel manifests, play up the implacable weirdness of such entities, couching their appearances in eerie symbolism and elemental phenomena (winds, fires, earthquakes, and so forth) whenever they appear.

Conversely, the angel could be an apparently mundane person or animal who just happens to unleash hell on the mage’s behalf. Even if the angel is exactly that – a messenger from the Biblical God – such messengers can be pretty frightening. Check out Ezekiel 1-10, Genesis 3, Revelations 4, and other awe-inspiring manifestations.

If the Powers That Be behind this guardian angel are more along the lines of Pagan gods or cosmic horrors, this unearthly Merit could unleash some rather scary things…

Hands of Daedalus
3 pt. Merit

You’ve got an innate gift for crafting machines and tech­nology. Such devices seem to come to life in your hands, fitting easily into place and functioning with incredible precision once you’ve worked with ‘em. Although this gift does not extend to the ins and outs of software technology, you can work on computer hardware (assuming that you know what you’re doing) as naturally as you can tune a ’58 Ford.

From a systems standpoint, any rolls you make to craft, repair, invent, or otherwise modify mechanical technologies are at -2 difficulty when you’ve got the opportunity to put those Hands of Daedalus to work. Tech-based magickal instruments and practices function, in your hands, as Personalized Instruments once you’ve had a chance to get familiar with them… and to have them get familiar with you.

Haven Affinity
'''3pt. Merit'''

You are the land. The land is you. The home soil calls to you. You give to it, and it gives to you. Your connection to the earth of your prime haven grants you an extra die to all dice pools when operating there. It also acts as a mystic beacon, allowing you to home in on its location with a standard Perception + Survival roll (difficulty 6), +1 difficulty when a state or country separates you; +2 if you’re halfway across the globe.

This applies only to your primary haven.

Healing Touch
'''1pt. Merit'''

Normally vampires can only seal the wounds they inflict from feeding by licking them. With but a touch, you can achieve the same effect, closing the puncture wounds left by drinking blood.

Hidden Diablerie
'''3pt. Merit'''

The tell-tale black streaks of diablerie do not manifest in your aura.

Hive-Minded
'''1 or 2pt. Merit'''

Your Animalism works on insects and other creepy-crawlies in addition to mammalian animals. If you select the two-point version of this merit, your Protean forms may take the form of an insectoid swarm rather than a single creature (though the swarm must be of a size equivalent to a wolf or a bat, as appropriate).

Lesser Mark of the Beast
'''4pt. Merit'''

Common to the Gangrel known as the Knights of Avalon, you are able to control how your Beast manifests more than others do. Whenever you would gain an animalistic feature, roll your current Willpower (difficulty 12 - Humanity rating, maximum 9). If successful, you manage to channel your humanity to avoid gaining an animalistic feature. However, your Beast is further from you, making you at +2 difficulty to rolls involving Animalism or Protean (or combo Disciplines involving those powers) for the rest of the evening. Vampires on a Path of Enlightenment lose all access to this Merit.

"Immortal"
5 or 7 pt. Merit

Thanks to some uncanny gift, you age slowly (if at all) and are extremely hard to kill.

This gift comes not from Sphere magick but from a metaphysical legacy or curse that transcends the fleeting nature of the flesh.

You’re not truly immortal, as death will probably claim you eventually; by normal standards, though, you exist outside of the usual range of human mortality.

This Merit features two levels:

5 points: You age very slowly – perhaps one year for every passing decade – and eventually recover (at the usual speed) from any injuries and illnesses that do not immediately kill you outright. A wasting disease or infection, for instance, won’t kill you (though you might wish it would), but a bullet in the heart would do so.

7 points: In addition to the slow-aging process, you’re also immune to death itself unless you meet your special doom (as described below) or have your body completely obliterated. Shooting won’t kill you, poison won’t kill you, starvation won’t kill you, but being incinerated or dissolved in acid would end your life for good. Otherwise, your wounds heal at the usual rate, eventually bringing you back from the dead… which, if you’ve been buried, embalmed, entombed, or otherwise trapped could be a very bad thing for you!

Regardless of the level of this Merit, you must have at least one special doom: an event that will kill your ass dead for good. This doom could involve decapitation, burning of your body, immersion in salt water, removal of the eternal revivification unit installed within your heart, and so forth. This doom must be determined before the chronicle begins, and if it ever befalls you… well, life was fun while it lasted, right?

This Merit goes well with Traits like the Background: Leg­end, the Supernatural Merits: Mark of Favor, Nephilim, Spark of Life, and Twin Souls, or the Supernatural Flaws: Phylactery and Primal Marks

It cannot be taken in addition to the Merit: Nine Lives and, for obvious reasons, this Merit might not be available to player characters within your chronicle at all.

Immune to Wyrm Emanations
6 pt. Merit

Gaia has blessed you with a powerful resistance to the poisons of the Wyrm. Although you still take damage from balefire, supernaturally-caused radiation, Wyrm elementals, or other forms of Wyrm toxins, you do not suffer any dice pool penalties from them.

Banes cannot possess you.

Inner Knight
5 pt. Merit

In your heart of hearts, you’re a hero. While your com­panions work toward their own selfish ends, you embody a higher purpose. This purpose guides you in uncanny ways that feel, at times, as if you’re being moved by a force greater than yourself – a noble force, naturally, but one that transcends even your personal Enlightenment. In dreams, you see yourself as a Warrior of Reason, a Champion of Truth. A paladin. A genius. A knight of everything that is worth defending.

Intended more for Technocratic operatives and skeptical technomancers than for mages who accept reincarnation as a metaphysical truth, this Merit grants you special gifts when it seems like all hope has been lost. These gifts allow you to…

access Traits you don’t possess, as per the Background: Dream (at a rating of 5) but without entering a trance;

add five temporary points to your Willpower Trait, to use during that “hope is lost” crisis;

…and perhaps recall things from a previous life that the character could not possibly have known – a language she does not know, an escape route in a place he’s never visited, a person they’ve never met before, and so forth.

These boosts last only through the current scene, but include a burst of vitalizing energy and a sense of your inner hero coming through to save the day again.

This isn’t the sort of thing you talk about, of course, especially not if you’re an agent of the Technocratic Union. The benefits, though, cannot be denied, even if their source is clearly… well, improbable, at best. And while this Merit was originally created for the sourcebook Guide to the Technocracy, any mage with a sense of higher purpose can take it.

Just remember that the biggest difference between a knight and a murderer is the side of his sword you happen to be on at the time.

Inoffensive to Animals
'''1pt. Merit'''

With rare exceptions, animals usually despise the Kindred. Some flee, others attack, but all dislike being in the presence of a vampire. You have no such problem. Animals may not enjoy being in your company, but they don’t actively flee from you.

Instrument of God
'''5pt. Merit'''

Your self-confidence comes not from a belief in your own abilities, but due to a direct manifesto from the Lord. You have a divine purpose and He works through you, even though your goals may seem anything but holy. Whether it is because of you powerful will or an actual connection to the divine, you gain three additional dice to resist the powers of True Faith when they are used against you.

Legendary Attributes
5 pt. Merit

Gifted with the strength of Shango or the beauty of Lucifer, you may exceed the human capacity for one Attribute Trait. That Trait is not automatically higher than usual (you still need to spend points to raise the favored Attribute), but you may purchase up to six dots in a given Attribute for your character, exceeding the usual limit of five dots.

Beyond that higher maximum, you also get one heroic capability that’s linked to that Attribute. The Shango-strength mage might always inflict at least one health level of damage with hand-to-hand blows, while the Luciferian seducer could score an automatic success whenever he tries to charm someone who ought to know better. These bonuses are always subject to Storyteller approval, however, and they don’t kick in until you reach six dots in the given Trait. Not even Lucifer, after all, possessed his full charm when he was just a little devil…

Lucky
'''3pt. Merit'''

You were born lucky — or else the Devil looks after his own. Either way, you may repeat any three failed rolls per story, including botches, but you may try only once per failed roll.

Magic Resistance
'''2pt. Merit'''

You have an inherent resistance to the rituals of the Tremere and the spells of the mages of other Clans. The difficulty of all such magic, both malicious and beneficent, is two higher when directed at you.

You may never learn magical Disciplines such as Thaumaturgy and Necromancy.

Manifest Avatar
3 pt. Merit

For most mages, the Avatar remains a mysterious figure, goading them from the sidelines and appearing primarily within a Seeking or during other moments of intense stress. For you, however, the Avatar is a vibrant presence in your life, as real to you as anyone else. Essentially a character in its own right, this manifested Avatar interacts with you on an almost daily basis. In certain situations, it might interact with other people, as manifestly real as any other person in your world.

The Manifest Avatar Merit embodies the Avatar as a full character under the Storyteller’s control.

On its own, this Merit reflects that Avatar as a person who only the associated mage can see, hear, and interact with on a physical level; in conjunction with the Background: Allies, however, the Avatar becomes a character that everyone can see, hear, and feel. In both cases, the Avatar may come and go as it pleases, bound only by the physical laws with which it chooses to be bound.

The physical Avatar’s shell can be injured or killed, but that in itself does not kill the Avatar – merely its body. For obvious reasons, that solid Avatar should have a guise that won’t be too vulgar or bizarre for the Consensus to endure – a cloaked, whispering figure, perhaps, but not a screeching, tentacled monstrosity. The manifested Avatar’s Traits depend upon the value of the Allies Background, as well as the physical form of that incarnation. An equine or lupine Avatar, for instance, will have different Traits than an Avatar that manifests as a crow, shadow, mirror, or child.

Your Avatar does not hang a sign around her neck that proclaims Avatar. In the first edition Cult of Ecstasy Tradition Book, for example, Cassie deals with a manifested Avatar named Aria who never reveals herself to be anything other than a wild child who looks disturbingly like an alternate-reality version of Cassie and knows things no one else should know about Cassie’s past, present, future, and inner self. Unless either the mage or the Avatar announces its true identity, other characters don’t usually think that your manifested Avatar is anything other than what it appears to be.

Mages or Night-Folk who can see auras or souls might catch on, but most other folks remain clueless.

An Avatar manifesting only for the mage can affect the material world only when no other characters or devices can see that entity, although it might appear to others as an online presence, a ghostly figure, as odd sounds, or through other phe­nomena.

An Allies-based Avatar remains as solid as it wants to be, lacking the powers of a human mage but possessed (literally) of the power to fade in and blink out as it desires. Again, the Manifested Avatar is a Storyteller character, with agendas and behavioral quirks that confound both the mage and his player.

Although that Avatar has its mage’s best interests at heart, it might play the role of a rival, lover, best friend, or nemesis… quite possibly all of them at once.

Mark of Favor
3 pt. Merit A godlike entity has claimed you as its own, and has stamped your features with evidence of that claim. You might have the bushy red hair and sly eyes of Reynard the Fox, the hearty temper and brawny build of Thor, the compassionate fury of the Christ in your eyes, or Legba’s lame leg and penchant for corncob pipes and tobacco. Folks who understand the lore of your associated god-form recognize this Mark of Favor, and even those who don’t know who you’re marked by realize that there’s something special about you.

An excellent companion to the Background: Legend, and already an element of the Background: Totem, this Trait provides a recognizable connection to a renowned god-form. Whether or not this actually is a sign of divine favor, of course, depends upon your Storyteller’s preferred theological metaphysics. As far as your character is concerned, it totally is. Note that such favor isn’t always a happy thing; mythology is full of people who shared dysfunctional relationships with divine parents and patrons!

When dealing with people who recognize the Mark and respect the deity that bestowed it, you subtract -2 from the dif­ficulty of related social rolls. Opponents of your divine patron consider you an enemy, and although intimidation-style rolls still receive the -2 reduction in difficulty, rolls that attempt to get on the good side of such people add +2 to the difficulty instead.

A Mark of Favor may, at the Storyteller’s discretion, bestow other miraculous talents, too. Strange things happen, and those things remain beyond the Marked character’s control. Someone chosen by the Virgin Mary could possess a minor healing touch, while the chosen of Thor has a literally shocking touch when he gets mad. Again, these powers exist completely at the Storyteller’s whim, and suit the flavor of the story, not the desires of the player.

Essentially, they’re miracles granted by your god, both given and taken in mysterious ways.

Medium
'''2pt. Merit'''

You possess the natural affinity to sense and hear spirits, ghosts, and shades. Though you cannot see them, you can sense them, speak to them and, through pleading or cajoling, draw them to your presence. You may call upon them for aid or advice, but there will always be a price.

Also, your difficulty is reduced by two for all Awareness rolls involving the spirits of the dead.

Moon-Bound
1 pt. Merit

You are more in tune with your auspice than most Garou. When Luna waxes in your auspice, you receive one extra die to each of your rolls. Correspondingly, when Luna wanes in your auspice, you receive one less die to every roll.

Mortuario
'''2 or 4pt. Merit'''

You died. Perhaps you were murdered, or simply had a car accident. Whatever the cause, you were gone. But your sire found you too useful, or couldn’t let you go. You were Embraced using the Ferryman’s Recall ritual.

The Embrace left you with the scars of your death, eternal tracework reminders of your trip to the other side. It also left you with the taut, pallid complexion of the dead. In addition to the traditional weakness of your Clan, you also suffer disfigurement from your time as a true corpse. While you are able to heal yourself just like any other vampire, the wounds do not heal cleanly. You retain the scars of every experience.

Depending on the nature of the damage, this can make social dealings exceedingly difficult, and may decrease your Appearance dots over time (even to 0). However, your time across the Shroud also gave you a natural feel for necromantic blood magic. The difficulties of all Necromancy rolls are reduced by two. This trait costs 4 points for characters who already have an appearance of 0 (such as Samedi and the Harbingers of Skulls), or 2 points for any other Kindred.

It is an incredibly rare condition even among the Giovanni, and essentially unknown outside the Clan. Giovanni with this Merit generally arouse the superstition of their Clan, and are treated with a definite wariness, particularly by Anziani. Characters with the Mortuario Merit may not also possess the Sanguine Incongruity Merit or similar flaws such as Monstrous.

Mute Devotion
'''1pt. Merit'''

Your Animalism carries an unusual side effect: it lingers in the minds of the beasts you speak with or control, lending them a certain resistance to others. When someone else attempts to command a creature you have previously controlled with Animalism, their difficulty levels are at +2.

Natural Channel
3 pt. Merit

You find crossing the Gauntlet easier than many of your fellow Garou. The difficulty for stepping sideways is one less for you.

Nephilim /Laham
7 pt. Merit

Long ago, it has been said, immortals walked the earth, siring offspring whose descendants still live among us now. The Hebrew Bible refers to them as nephilim, an ambiguous word that seems to be related to root words for “fallen,” “prisoners,” and “overseers.” Later transliterations refer to them as giants, monsters, watchers, and the fallen (or violent) ones. Were they gods? Angels? Demons? Not even the Awakened know for sure; you, however, have a bit of High Umbral essence within you, and this nephilim inher­itance – known sometimes by the demon-blooded name of laham – marks you as something more than merely human (Awakened or otherwise).

A living crossroads between the Astral Realm and the mortal world, you exist in a heightened state of spiritual essence. Your aura burns with unearthly intensity, and your presence frightens many Otherworldly denizens. Your connection to High Umbral entities might involve a distant relationship to primordial sires, or the far more recent ac­tivities of mortals and spirits who shared a distinctly carnal relationship. (“Mom, seriously – I need to know the truth about Dad”) Are you part-demon? Descended from an angel? Sired by an entity whose nature transcends mortal concepts like “good” and “evil”? You probably don’t even know, although events in your chronicle might reveal the truth whether you want to learn it or not.

System-wise, this Merit confers the following drawbacks and benefits:
 * As noted above, your aura blazes with inhuman clarity and brilliance.


 * Your temperament favors your Umbral ancestor, and you tend to act accordingly.


 * You must take at least three points’ worth of Physical Flaws to reflect the unstable nature of your physi­cal form and the surging metaphysical energies it contains. These Flaws do not count toward your total Flaw points, nor do you get points for taking those Flaws.


 * Those energies give you a Quintessence rating of 7, and those points automatically refresh up to that seven-point maximum each time you go to sleep, regardless of your Avatar rating.


 * If your chronicle employs the Resonance rules in Chapter Two, you begin play with three points in Resonance, not one. If not, you get three points’ worth of the Flaw: Echoes. Again, those phenomena reflect the tempera­ment of your Umbral ancestor.


 * You subtract -1 from the difficulties of your casting rolls when you cast Effects using the Mind Sphere, the Spirit Sphere, or both in relation to the High Umbra. If, for example, the demon-blooded laham mage Jenatrix wanted to read someone’s mind, her casting difficulty would be normal; if she wanted to project her astral self into the High Umbra, however, she’d reduce the difficulty by -1.


 * You can travel physically into the High Umbra by using a Mind 4 /Spirit 3 Effect.


 * When attempting to intimidate, command, or bargain with High Umbral entities, you add two dice to which­ever dice pool you happen to be using in that attempt. Despite your advantage, however, using your uncanny heritage as leverage will not exactly endear you to the entities in question. In such negotiations, it’s generally more constructive to use a carrot than a stick.


 * On a related note, you suffer a penalty of +2 to the dif­ficulty of your rolls to resist, soak or counter rituals cast by Hermetic High Ritual wizards or Awakened clerics from the Jewish, Muslim, and Christian denominations. These folks have spent millennia studying your kind, and be ye angel or be ye demon, they know how to deal with you more effectively than most mages do. (By rituals, we’re referring to extended-roll ceremonial magicks, not off-the-cuff spells. Your chances are as good as anybody else’s if a wizard tosses a lightning bolt at you; if he draws up a summoning circle, though, you’re kinda screwed.)


 * At the Storyteller’s option, you may also receive up to sev­en points in the Advantages described in Mage 20, p. 658 (and expanded further in the Mage 20 sourcebook Gods, Monsters & Familiar Strangers). Demon-blooded laham characters may, instead, take up to seven points in the demonic Investments described in the Mage: The Sorcerers Crusade sourcebook Infernalism: The Path of Screams or the Mage 20 supplement The Book of the Fallen. In either case, these additional and optional benefits get balanced out with a five-point Derangement Flaw of the Storyteller’s choice. Although the player might not know what sort of entity her character is descended from, the Storyteller ought to de­termine the character’s heritage, and then plant clues (dreams, visions, weird greetings from characters who seem to know more about the mage than she knows about herself…) throughout the story. He ought to feed roleplaying notes to the player, too: This Realm seems familiar even though you don’t recall having been here before, You can almost taste the evil in that girl’s soul, Man, you just wanna rip that dude’s throat out and you’re not sure why… The player, of course, can draw her own conclusions – conclusions that might not necessarily be accurate at all.

As with the Merit: “Immortal,” this Trait could be too powerful for player characters to take. Supporting characters, however, could be nephilim-descended, which would make for potent friends and memorable enemies.

Natural Shapeshifter
3 pt. Merit

Guided by an innate affinity for metamorphosis, you can change your shape more easily than most mages do. Such changes still demand the usual Life Sphere Ranks and Effects, but your difficulty for such rolls is reduced by -2 (the usual limits apply), and you don’t need to worry about losing yourself in the new form, as described in How Do You DO That?.

Such talents don’t necessarily link you to the Night-Folk, although this Merit fits in well with Fae Blood or Shapechanger Kin (and the Mental Flaw: Feral Mind.

The gift does not, however, affect your ability to change other people’s shapes in any way. Such talent works for you alone.

Nine Lives
6 pt. Merit

Oh, you lucky bastard! Somehow, you manage to cheat the Reaper with hair-raising regularity.

If a die roll would result in your character’s death, the person who made that roll must roll again. If the second roll allows your character to live, then you and /or your Storyteller mark off one of your nine “lives” and your character survives the thing that would otherwise have killed her.

If that roll fails, then one “life” gets marked off anyway and another roll is made.

The rolls continue until either the character survives or the lives get used up.

As the name suggests, however, this Merit lasts only nine times, tops. And if the final die roll still results in your character’s death… well, your luck was bound to run out sooner or later anyway.

Oracular Ability
'''3pt. Merit'''

You can see and interpret signs and omens. You are able to draw advice from these omens, for they provide hints of the future and warnings of the present.

When the Storyteller feels that you are in position to see an omen, you will be required to make a Perception + Awareness roll, with the difficulty relative to how well the omen is concealed. If successful, you may then roll Intelligence + Occult to interpret what you have seen; the difficulty is again relative to the complexity of the omen.

Parlor Trick
3 pt. Merit

You’ve honed a special trick – a simple, specific, non-com­bat application of your Arts – which you can perform without making a casting roll. Such tricks include things like conjuring a business card, stirring a pot without touching the spoon (or the pot), igniting your cigarette without lighters or a match, producing a small amount of light without mechanical contriv­ance, changing your hair color with a shake of your head, and so on. To a Sleeper, these tricks look like something a normal person could do with a mysterious bit of skill. You, of course, realize that the skill in question is not quite what they think it is.

Three important rules govern this Merit:
 * It cannot be a feat with direct damage-producing combat applications (though a “light your cigarette” trick could also work with a stream of flowing gasoline). No popping claws or conjuring firearms!


 * It must be a quick, simple action that a Sleeper witness could explain away as practiced sleight of hand.


 * These tricks are limited to things you could do with Sphere Ranks 1 to 3, apply to only one specific trick (con­juring a rose, say, not conjuring anything that’s roughly rose-sized), and you must have the Spheres necessary to perform the feat in the first place.

This Merit does not allow you to cast Effects above your normal abilities! Each trick costs three points, and must suit your character’s metaphysical focus. You can take this Merit up to three times, total. Obviously vulgar feats (making yourself disappear in broad daylight) are prohibited, although a clever use of circumstances could be included in your bag of tricks. This Merit is intended to give your character and chronicle a little extra flair. It should not be allowed as an end-around to skirt the rules, or as a secret weapon that he can use without consequences like Paradox. Under unfamiliar and /or hostile circumstances, like stirring someone else’s pot in someone else’s kitchen, this Parlor Trick might not work at all.

Powerful Ally
5 to 8 pt. Merit

You’ve got seriously badass friends – a vampire lord, a faerie noble, a werewolf pack, Umbrood courtiers, or other similarly magnificent entities. In most respects, this is the Supernatural Companion Merit but with a much higher power-level… a level which might be beyond the capacity of mages below the Master rank. And while the Storyteller determines who your friends are, what they can do, and what they want out of their relationship with you, the value of this Merit depends upon their relative benefit to you:

5 points: One buddy of considerable power and in­fluence within his community – a Prince of the City, a Garou elder, and so forth.

6 points: A small group of Supernatural Companions (five or so), or an especially powerful representative of his kind.

7 points: A larger group of Companions (around a dozen), or two or three powerful friends.

8 points: Over a dozen Companions, a handful of powerful friends, or one ally of near-godlike power.

Again, the Storyteller decides who these allies are, why they’re interested in your goodwill, and what the cost of their aid might be. You get nothing for nothing, after all, especially not when such beings are involved! For a commensurate level of enemies, see the Flaw: Immortal Enemy.

Promethean Clay
'''5pt. Merit'''

Your flesh ripples and molds itself to your preternatural will, almost before you consciously invoke the change. The difficulty to use any Vicissitude power on yourself is two less than normal, and you may activate Vicissitude powers reflexively at your full dice pool while taking other actions.

Powers that require multiple turns to activate still require the usual duration. The change simply occurs without conscious direction.

As a final benefit, you need no physical sculpting to use the first three levels of Vicissitude on yourself, as your flesh undulates and extrudes to its desired shape. Only characters with at least one dot of Vicissitude may purchase this Merit.

Prophetic Dreams
'''2pt. Merit'''

You have dreams during your daylight sleep. Dreams you remember. Sometimes, they even come true. Rather than regain a point of Willpower when you rest during the day, you may choose to have the Storyteller give your character a lucid dream featuring foreshadowing about upcoming events, characters, and situations.

Psychic Leech
'''5pt. Merit'''

At the cost of one Willpower point, you may feed on the Willpower of your victims from a distance. The con-sumed Willpower strengthens the potency of your own blood, effectively transforming it into temporary blood that dissipates at the end of the night.

These temporary blood points may be spent just like regular blood points, but cannot be lost due to damage or blood drain, do not affect hunger rolls for frenzy, and may not be used to create or sustain blood bonds or ghouls.

To activate this ability, the target must have at least one of your blood points in their system, and they must be engaged in eye contact with you.

Resistance
'''1pt. Merit'''

Your character cannot be blood bound by anyone who shares his mortal bloodline. That is, if you were born into the Giovanni family, you cannot be bound by anyone else who was born a Giovanni, though you can still be bound by, say, a Pisanob of the Giovanni Clan, or by Kindred of any other Clan. Similarly, a Dunsirn with Consanguineous Resistance could not be bound by others who were born into the mortal Dunsirn family, but could be bound by a Milliner of the Giovanni Clan.

The Giovanni are extremely suspicious of anyone known to manifest this quirk. Although this blood-borne aberration hasn’t been documented, a few savvy Giovanni have a rough idea of what it is and does. It’s generally associated with being a rebellious young smartass who needs to be put down.

This is not as unfair as it sounds; by the time a bond resistance is really obvious, it’s likely because a punishment isn’t working. A character who is discovered to have this trait probably earns her sire’s hostility at the very least.

Revenant Disciplines
'''3pt. Merit'''

The blood of your revenant family runs deep, deeper than the Embrace. The Disciplines that were innate to you as a ghoul have remained so as a Cainite. At character creation, select the ghoul family from which you hail. Instead of the Tzimisce’s standard complement of Animalism, Auspex, and Vicissitude, you draw from your three family Disciplines for your starting allocation (though you may buy other Disciplines with freebies, as normal).

You trade in the entire set of Tzimisce Clan Disciplines for the set of revenant family Disciplines, for the purposes of in-Clan Experience cost.

Sanguine Incongruity
'''5pt. Merit'''

Giovanni with this atavism are few and far between. Kindred possessing it do not bear the traditional Giovanni Clan weakness, the so-called Curse of Lamia; their Kiss causes no more damage than the blood loss itself. These vampires acquire a peculiar pallor upon their Embrace, however — they look like corpses, and no amount of blood ingestion can flush their features (as other vampires are able to do). Indeed, the bearer of this Merit more closely resembles the Clan’s Cappadocian ancestors, and they have a slightly unnerving air about them. As a result, all rolls involving a Social attribute (Charisma, Manipulation, or Appearance) are at +1 difficulty.

Giovanni with this Merit are afforded wide berth, as the Giovanni tend to be quite superstitious about it. Characters with the Sanguine Incongruity Merit may not also possess the Mortuario Merit.

Setite Initiate
'''5pt. Merit'''

You were Embraced into a Clan other than the Followers of Set. However, you have accepted the Setite religion, undergone the vetting process and rites, and have been formally inducted into the cult. You have access to Serpentis and Setite Blood Sorcery (though you pay out-of-Clan costs to learn the,). You may even study one of their Paths of Enlightenment.

It is important to note that “Setites” from other Clans or bloodlines are not treated as second-class citizens. You are no longer a dupe they can string along. Once you are in, you are a sibling of faith, which is a much more important distinction than blood.

An outsider accepting the Dark God is a joyous event, even to the most conservative elder. There are even rumors of non-Kindred supernatural beings joining the cult.

Shapechanger Kin
4 pt. Merit

Through a distant but noticeable quirk of lineage, you share a touch of the Changing Blood. In plain English, you’re related to one of the were-breeds: werewolves, werecats, were­crows, and so forth.

This gift does not grant you their powers or Gnosis, but you probably know a few secrets (in game terms, Lore Knowledge) about your kin. You remain immune to the primal-fear Delirium that affects most people in a werecreature’s presence (not that mages suffer from it anyway); can travel in the Otherworlds longer than most mortals manage, without suffering the Disconnection and Acclimation side-effects of such travel; and possibly enjoy some goodwill from your feral family, so long as you haven’t done anything to piss them off.

Their enemies, however, are your enemies, which makes this an extremely double-edged Merit.

Shattered Avatar
5 pt. Merit

Your Avatar has been broken into pieces by some past-life trauma. As a result, the part within you is incomplete… but that situation can be rectified. If and when you locate the missing pieces of your Avatar, you could make that inner spirit stronger. In gamespeak, this Merit allows you to increase your Avatar Background after character creation – a thing that cannot, ordinarily, be done.

As with Twin Souls, above, this Merit provides plenty of dramatic story hooks. The missing pieces of your Avatar might be incarnated in other people; trapped in spiritual prisons (Paradox Realms, demonic hells, soul-snares, enchanted gems, and so forth); embedded in a tree in a garden that’s warded by five dragons, and so on. The quest for your soul-fragments can be an epic part of your chron­icle, with puzzles, twists, reversals, betrayals, and battles for which your soul is literally the prize. This sort of thing might be hard to reconcile with your beliefs if, for example, you happen to be a Technocrat. Still, until you unite the missing bits of your Avatar, there’ll be an essential part of you that feels incomplete.

The Storyteller should determine exactly what it was that shattered your Avatar, and what you need to do in order to reunite the various bits into one spirit again. Whether or not she shares that information with you is up to her – it might be something you’ll discover over the course of the game. With each piece restored, you add one dot to your Avatar Background rating, unless that Avatar was embodied in another mage; in that case, his Avatar rating gets added to your own if you manage to kill him… and if he kills you first, then your Avatar gets added to his own. (There can, apparently, be only one.)

No matter how many pieces are involved, however, the Avatar Background maxes out at 5 dots. Although this Merit allows you to raise your Trait’s rating, it does not allow you to raise it above that level.

Silver Tolerance
7 pt. Merit

You are blessed with an extremely unusual tolerance toward silver. You may soak silver damage in any form at difficulty 8, although this does not change the type of damage that silver does.

Sleep Unseen
'''2pt. Merit'''

The power of Obfuscate usually requires you to concentrate at least a little. However, you are able to lock the power on, allowing you to sleep while remaining hidden. To do so requires the expenditure of another blood point, but it will last throughout the day’s rest.

Those with Auspex can still attempt to detect you, but mortals will be unaware of your sanctuary. This can be a useful trick for Kindred who like to travel.

Slowed Degeneration
'''5pt. Merit'''

Your Humanity is strong and can more easily withstand the Beast’s assaults. You gain two additional dice on any Conscience roll. This degree of moral resilience allows a well-behaved vampire to lose Humanity at a much slower rate than would otherwise be possible.

Only vampires following Humanity may take this Merit, and the Merit is lost forever in the event that the vampire takes up another Path of Enlightenment.

Spark of Life
5 pt. Merit

Blessed with great vitality, you heal injuries with heroic speed and ease. Your own injuries from lethal damage heal as if they were bashing damage, and aggravated damage heals as if it were one level higher than it is. (Wounded-level damage, for instance, would heal at the Injured-level rate.) Bashing damage, regardless of its extent, heals within an hour.

If you’re trying to heal someone else, you subtract -2 from the difficul­ty of the roll, even if that roll involves casting a Life Sphere healing Effect. As long as you remain in physical touch with the injured party, that character uses your healing rate as her own. Your touch also soothes minor pains – muscle spasms, headaches, and so forth – within a minute or two.

Beyond its healing pow­ers, this rush of life-energy simply feels good, too. Your aura shines with bright vitality, and our Reso­nance reflects your strong connection to the primal life-force. On the inevita­ble downside, vampires find your blood delicious – twice as potent as normal human vitae (worth double the usual blood points, for players of Vampire: The Masquerade) – and unspeakably refreshing.

Spawning Pool
'''1-3pt. Merit'''

You have a spawning pool of your own (or possibly donate heavily to the Clan’s main pool). Creating such a pool takes time, and requires regular infusions of blood, at least six blood points a week for a year.

The Merit grants its level as a dice pool bonus to the Nosferatu’s use of Animalism in their home city, but only with animals considered vermin, such as rats and cockroaches. Essentially the bonus is only available for creatures that might conceivably drink regularly from the tainted blood.

Once established, the spawning pool requires twice its level in blood points each week to it. Without proper maintenance, its level will drop by one. It can be rebuilt by maintaining it at the new level and adding four additional blood points each week for six months.

The Merit cannot be improved above its initial level, as this also represents the convenience of its location and the variety of creatures that might find it.

Sphere Natural
6 pt. Merit

For a single element of magick – the Sphere of your choice – you enjoy an innate proficiency. The powers of that Sphere come to you more easily than usual, and you advance faster in that field of knowledge than you do in other Spheres. System-wise, you pay 70% of the usual experience cost, rounded up, when advancing in that Sphere. Naturally, such advancement costs even less when you’re raising your Affinity Sphere.

The Mage 20 version of this Merit costs more than the ver­sion presented in previous editions because the cost of improving Spheres with experience has gone down, and so the benefits involved in this Merit have gone up. You may select this Merit only once, for a single Sphere, and that Sphere should have some intrinsic connection to your mage’s concept, backstory, and magickal focus. This is, after all, an Art that comes naturally to you, and so that predisposition should come through in many different aspects of your character’s personality.

Spirit Magnet
Werewolf:

1 pt. Merit

You naturally attract the attention of the spirits whenever you cross the Gauntlet into the Umbra. Most of the time, the Umbral inhabitants are simply curious, gathering around you to see who you are and what you’re doing in their “neck of the woods.” Occasionally you attract more than you bargained for — Banes are also likely to come calling. None of the spirits who collect in your vicinity are under your command unless you use a Gift that allows you to command them or influence them in some way.

Mage:

3 to 7 pt. Merit or Flaw

Ephemeral entities flock to your presence. The essence of who you are – benign or malignant – draws spirits to you, and they, in turn, affect the essence of who you are. For the most part, these entities cluster around you in the Penumbra, invisible to mortal perceptions; whenever you cross the Gauntlet, though (either with your perceptions or with your body), they’re waiting for you there. Spirits that can manifest physical forms may come across the Gauntlet to visit you, and those that cannot take on physical bodies still energize the spiritual atmosphere in your vicinity. Whether or not this is a good thing for you depends upon whether you select this Trait as a Merit or a Flaw:

The Merit form of Spirit Magnet draws generally benev­olent spirits – Naturae, Lunes, totem and animal entities of the gentler variety, and so on. These spirits protect you from malignant entities, warn you of impending danger, offer advice, help you out when you visit the Otherworlds, and generally make your life easier. Folks who can sense those spirits (mediums, shamans, med­icine-folk, werecreatures, etc.) tend to favor you; after all, if the better sorts of spirits like you, then you must be someone worth knowing.

The Flaw version represents the presence of malevo­lent spirits – Banes, demons, and other nasty Umbral beasts. Summoned by curses or spiritual corruption, these entities seek to tempt you, poison you, feed off your vitality, and otherwise turn your life into a self-contained Hell On Wheels. Spirit-sensitive folk will avoid you unless they’re into that sort of thing, and werewolves will consider you to be “of the Wyrm” (whatever the hell that means), if only because of the company you keep. Although you might not consider yourself a bad person at heart, your spiritual compan­ions say otherwise!

The value of this Merit of Flaw is, as always, based on how helpful or troublesome the spirits can be, how powerful they are, and how many of them you have to deal with when they appear.

3 points: Minor entities occasionally offer aid or hindrance.

4 points: Minor entities show up frequently, or in small numbers.

5 points: Minor entities surround you often, whether you want them to or not, and more potent ones have taken interest in your existence.

6 points: You have the interest of one or two entities of significance, and plenty of minor ones pay great attention to you.

7 points: You’re never alone, even when you probably wish you could be.

This spiritual companionship could be directly opposed to your true nature. A really awful person might attract be­nevolent entities who want to save her, while a veritable St. Anthony could be plagued with demons intent on fucking up his soul. Even so, such constant presence does have an effect on your overall health. Mind, body, and spirit are interwoven whether we want to recognize that or not, and a mortal who attracts Otherworldly entities has got something unusual going on under the skin.

Spirit Mentor
'''3pt. Merit'''

You have a ghostly companion and guide. The identity and exact powers of this spirit are up to the Storyteller, but it can be called upon in difficult situations for help and guidance.

Stormwarden/ Quantum Voyager
'''3 or 5pt. Merit'''

Despite the fury of the Avatar Storm, some people remain immune. With this Merit (known as Quantum Voyager for Technocratic characters), you possess that precious rare immunity – the ability to reach through and travel beyond the Gauntlet without suffering the effects of the Storm.

For 3 points, your character can pass without harm through the Gauntlet.

For 5 points, she can take everyone and everything she touches and desires to protect. Correspondence-based touching protects a warded character as well as a physical touch, but a person that the mage does not want to protect will suffer the usual Avatar Storm effects even if he happens to be touching her at the time.

Obviously, this Merit doesn’t apply if the Avatar Storm never happened in your chronicle. This protection does not in any way protect against Disembodiment or other potential hazards of the Otherworlds. Under the Mage Revised metaplot, Stormwardens are incredibly rare – almost legendary – and fiercely hoarded by the Awakened groups.

Supernatural Companion
3 pt. Merit

You’ve got a friend among the Night-Folk: a vampire, a changeling, a werebeast, a ghost, or some other entity who exists outside the Sleeping Masses. This friend isn’t quite as reliable as an Ally Background character, but can aid you if need be. That door swings both ways, of course; your companion will also call on you from time to time, and not always on the most convenient occasions!

Folks (and Night-Folks) probably frown upon this friend­ship. Werewolves, for example, aren’t fond of you Caern-robbing mage-types! That’s especially true if you’re a Technocrat who’s buddy-buddy with one of those damned Reality Deviants, or a Tradition mage who pals around with a bloodsucking fiend. Yeah, this friendship is worth the trouble, but it can really be a hassle at times. Whoever and whatever this friend might be, the Storyteller creates and controls the character in question… with all the strange priorities, conflicting needs, and secret agendas that situation suggests.

The High Price
'''3pt. Merit'''

The burden of acquiring truth or power always comes at a high price. None know that more than these Baali, who sacrifice a part of their own soul in aspiration of greatness.

Their physical body is wracked with weakness and pain, capping any Physical Attributes at four dots and costing 1 Willpower point every evening when they rise. In exchange for this tribute, the Baali receive +2 dice to any Discipline-related checks.

Totemic Change
'''5pt. Merit'''

Your Protean forms are flexible; you may choose a different animal form each time you change shape. The form you choose each time must follow all the conventions and rules of standard Protean animal shapes; you simply may choose to appear as a different animal each time you take Beast Form.

True Faith
'''7pt. Merit'''

You have a deep-seated faith in and love for God, or whatever name you choose to call the Almighty. You begin the game with one point of True Faith; this Trait adds one die per point to all Willpower and Virtue rolls.

Vampire: You must have a Humanity of 9 or higher to choose this Merit, and if you lose even a single point, all your Faith points are lost and may be regained only when the lost Humanity is recovered. Individuals with True Faith are capable of performing magical acts akin to miracles, but the exact nature of those acts are up to the Storyteller.

Mage: Strong belief is essential for a mage. You, however, hold stronger beliefs than usual. Possessing convictions in a greater outside power, you can channel that power for miraculous feats that go beyond mere magick.

True Love
'''4pt. Merit'''

Whenever you suffer, the thought of your true love gives you the strength to persevere. This it grants you one automatic success on all Willpower rolls, which can be negated only by a botch die.

This can be a great gift but also a hindrance, for your true love may require protection and occasionally rescue.

Vampire: You have discovered, perhaps too late, a true love. He or she is mortal, but is the center of your existence, and inspires you to keep going in a world of darkness and despair.

Werewolf: You have a true love — a Kinfolk, human, wolf, or perhaps even another Garou. Simply the knowledge that this individual exists provides joy and strength to you even in the darkest hour. The Wyrm may be winning, the battle may be endless, but you know there is something beyond the esoteric to keep fighting for. When you are suffering, the thought of your true love gives you strength.

Also, the power of your love may be strong enough to protect you from other supernatural forces (at the Storyteller’s discretion).

True Love between Garou (even if it is not acted upon) may be seen as near-enough to a breach of the Litany to cause scorn or even scandal if it is suspected by others, making it appropriate justification for a Dark Secret Flaw as well.

Twin Souls
4 pt. Merit

To you, the term soulmate is literally true. Your Avatar has a twin that has been embodied within another mortal body.

That other person (typically a human being, but potentially an animal) shares your Nature and Essence, and possibly your Demeanor as well. Even so, your “twin” can be a very different person – different gender, different ethnicity, different culture, and again possibly even a “higher” animal like a wolf, bear, hawk, bison, and so forth. That person might live on the other side of the world, and may not even know that you exist.

If soul-twins meet in person, though, both feel an unmistakable connection to one another. This connection, however, might not necessarily translate to goodwill. Blood-siblings often clash, and soulmates can clash as well.

If that twin is also a mage (many twin Avatars are not yet Awakened), then both mages have the same Avatar rating. You can both share Quintessence and cast spells together if you happen to be physically touching (or, in the Umbra, ephemerally touching). In this case, the character with the highest Arete rating and Sphere Ranks is the one whose Traits get used to cast those Effects. Both mages, when they’re within arm’s reach, also get an amount of bonus Quintessence points that’s equal to their Avatar rating; if Ryan Summers and his twin Sylvia Jane have three dots in Avatar, they each get an additional three points of Quintessence when they’re close enough to touch one another. For details about collaborative spellcasting, see Acting in Concert in Mage 20, pp. 542-543. Shared souls, however, also share equally in any Paradox gathered by their magicks, with each twin separately getting the full amount of Paradox. If Ryan and Sylvia cast an Effect that earns 10 points of Paradox, then both Ryan and Sylvia get 10 Paradox points each.

Whether or not your twin is a mage, you can use magick to keep track of them once you’ve met your twin. A single dot of Correspondence will let you know where your soulmate is, a single dot in Life will let you know their current state of health, and a single dot in Mind allows you to share thoughts with one another.

A twin’s death, however, is a shattering event; if your twin dies, you must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 8) or else suffer the psychic shock of Things Man Was Not Meant to Know. Until that twin’s Avatar reincarnates (which might not happen in your own lifetime), and is met in person once again, you cannot use the shared powers you had once enjoyed.

As with other character-based Traits, your twin is not a walking Merit, but a character in their own right. Both twins could be roleplayed by different players in the same group, and probably should not be played by the same player. The quest to find a soulmate, a bitter dispute between soulmates, two soul­mates on opposing factions of the Ascension War – such stories could provide the foundation for pivotal events and themes in your chronicle.

This Merit goes well with the Background: Allies, the Merit: True Love, and the Flaws: Enemy, Sleeping with the Enemy, and Ward. Because of the already-Awakened natures of the Night-Folk, however, a soul-twin cannot be a vampire, werecreature, changeling, or other paranormal entity.

Umbral Affinity
4 pt. Merit

Something in your background grants you an innate affinity for the Otherworlds. Perhaps you have some distant relation to shapeshifter blood, or a Pagan heritage that links you to the oldest of Old Ways. Whatever the source might be, you can travel further and longer in the Otherworlds than most mortal humans can manage.

Game-wise, your character suffers no ill effects from first- and second-degree Acclimation, and all other stages affect her at one stage less than usual. Beyond that, the character does not need to worry about Disembodiment until six full moon-cycles (roughly six months) have passed.

In general, the character feels at home in most strange Umbral Realms, and she might be recognized as a natural traveler who has an innate right to be there.

Unaging
2 pt. Merit

The years seem to pass you by. Time moves on, but you remain essentially the same physical age as you were when this Merit stopped your aging process. Maybe you discovered the Fountain of Youth, upgraded yourself to perpetual stability, assumed an odd relationship with the time stream, or entered an uncanny bargain that preserved your current age.

And so, although you continue to accumulate the scars, experience, and perspective of age, your body maintains a consistent state of chronological development.

Note that this is not the same thing as immortality – injuries and sickness can kill you just as surely as they’ll kill any other person. Age-based decrepitude, however, is not something you’ll have to worry about.

Unbondable
'''5pt. Merit'''

You are immune to being blood bound.

Tremere cannot take this Merit.

Unmarked Antitribu
'''2 or 5pt. Merit'''

While you are part of the Sabbat and a traitor to House and Clan Tremere, somehow you remain unmarked by the antitribu curse. You are not easily recognized as a renegade Tremere, and the magic that burned so many of your brethren cannot target you. Further, other Sabbat members cannot judge you at a glance.

Those of the Telyavelic bloodline can purchase this Merit at 2 points, while other Tremere pay 5 points.

Without a Trace
'''2pt. Merit'''

When in the wilderness, the earth fills in your footprints. You leave no noticeable traces, not even a scent.

Normal attempts at tracking automatically fail. Supernatural attempts are done with a +2 difficulty.