Merits

Physical Merits

Acute Sense (•)

Effect: One of your senses is exceptionally sharp, be it sight, hearing, smell, touch, or taste. All perception tasks involved with this sense gain one dice. This Merit can be combined with the Discipline of Auspex to produce superhuman sensory acuity.

Ambidextrous (••)

Effect: You are equally talented in both your right and left hands, this gives you an interesting little tidbit to annoy people with at parties. Mechanically your character does not suffer the –2 penalty for using his off-hand to perform other actions requiring precision.

Catlike Balance (•••)

Effect: You possess an innately perfect sense of balance. Characters with this Merit gain two dice to all balance-related rolls (e.g., Dexterity + Athletics to walk along a narrow ledge) and these rolls have the 9-again property.

Crack Driver (•• or •••)

Prerequisite: Drive •••

Effect: Your character’s an ace at the wheel and nothing shakes her concentration. So long as she’s not taking any actions other than driving (and keeping the car safe), add her Composure to any rolls to drive. Any rolls to disable her vehicle suffer a penalty equal to her Composure as well. With the three-dot version, she may take a Drive action reflexively once per turn.

Demolisher (• to •••)

Prerequisite: Strength ••• or Intelligence •••

Effect: Your character has an innate feel for the weak points in objects. When damaging an object, she ignores one point of the object’s Durability per dot in this Merit.

Double Jointed (•••)

Prerequisite: Dexterity •••

Effect: Your character might have been a contortionist or spent time practicing yoga. She can dislodge joints when need be. She automatically escapes from any mundane bonds without a roll.

Enchanting Voice (••)

Effect: There is something about your voice that others cannot ignore. When you command, they are cowed. When you seduce, they swoon. Whether thundering, soothing, persuading, or simply talking, your voice commands attention. All rolls involving the use of the voice to persuade, charm, or command gain one dice. This merit can only be purchased at character creation.

Fleet of Foot (• to •••)

Prerequisite: Athletics ••

Effect: Your character is remarkably quick and runs far faster than her frame suggests. She gains +1 Speed per dot; anyone pursuing her suffers a –1 per dot to any foot chase rolls.

Friendly Face (•)

Effect: You have a face that reminds everyone of someone, to the point where strangers are inclined to be well inclined toward you because of it. The effect doesn’t fade even if you explain the “mistake,” leaving you with +2 dice and the 9-again quality on all appropriate Social-based rolls (yes for Seduction, no for Intimidation, for example) when a stranger is involved. This Merit only functions on a first meeting. This merit can only be purchased at character creation.

Giant (•••)

Effect: Your character is massive. She’s well over six feet tall and crowds part when she approaches. She’s Size 6 and gains +1 Health. Available only at character creation.

Drawback: Buying clothing is a nightmare. Fitting in small spaces is difficult at best.

Intimidating Visage (• to ••)

You look either large or scary, something about you makes people piss themselves just by glancing in your direction. Anytime you'd make a social roll to frighten someone physically or verbally you gain your dots in this merit as bonus dice.

Drawback: It is harder for your character to avoid notice in public. Witnesses to any criminal acts are much more likely to remember your character’s appearance, and easily recognize her in a lineup. Your character is also likely to receive a great degree of unwanted attention in some situations.

Parkour (• to ••••• , Style)

Prerequisites: Dexterity •••, Athletics ••

Effect: Your character is a trained and proficient free-runner. Free-running is the art of moving fluidly through urban environments with complex leaps, bounds, running tricks, and vaulting. This is the type of sport popularized in modern action films, where characters are unhindered by fences, walls, construction equipment, cars, or anything else the city puts in their ways.

Flow (•): Your character reacts instinctively to any obstacles with leaps, jumps, and scaling techniques. When in a foot chase, subtract your Parkour from the successes needed to pursue or evade. Ignore environmental penalties to Athletics rolls equal to your Parkour rating.

Cat Leap (••): Your character falls with outstanding grace. When using a Dexterity + Athletics roll to mitigate damage from falling, your character gains one automatic success. Additionally, add your Parkour rating to the threshold of damage that can be removed through this roll. Parkour will not mitigate damage from a terminal velocity fall.

Wall Run (•••): When climbing, your character can run upward for some distance before having to traditionally climb. Without rolling, your character scaled 10 feet + five feet per dot of Athletics as an instant action, rather than the normal 10 feet.

Expert Traceur (••••): Parkour has become second nature for your character. By spending a Willpower point, you may designate one Athletics roll to run, jump, or climb as a rote action (reroll all failed dice once). On any turn you use this ability, you may not apply your character’s Defense to oncoming attacks.

Freeflow (•••••): Your character’s Parkour is now muscle memory. She can move without thinking in a zen like state. The character must successfully meditate in order to establish Freeflow. Once established, your character is capable of taking Athletics actions reflexively once per turn. By spending a point of Willpower on an Athletics roll in a foot chase, gain three successes instead of three dice.

Quick Draw (•)

Prerequisites: Wits •••, a Specialty in the weapon or fighting style chosen

Effect: Choose a Specialty in Weaponry or Firearms when you purchase this Merit. Your character has trained enough in that weapon or style that pulling the weapon is her first reflex. Drawing or holstering that weapon is considered a reflexive action, and can be done any time her Defense applies.

Sleight of Hand (••)

Prerequisite: Larceny •••

Effect: Your character can pick locks and pockets with out even thinking about it. She can take one Larceny-based instant action reflexively in a given turn. As well, her Larceny actions go unnoticed unless someone is trying specifically to catch her.

Small-Framed (•)

Effect: Your character is diminutive. She’s not even five feet tall and it’s easy to walk into her without noticing. She’s Size 4 and thus has one fewer Health box. She gains +2 to any rolls to hide or go unnoticed. This bonus might apply any time being smaller would be an advantage, such as crawling through smaller spaces. Available only at character creation.

Drawback: In addition to the lower Health, your character might be overlooked or not taken seriously by some people.

Striking Looks (•• to ••••)

Effect: Your character is exceptionally attractive by modern standards; heads turn and conversations stop when she enters a room. You gain your striking looks dots on all Presence or Manipulation rolls when she attempts to use her looks to entertain, persuade, distract or deceive others.

Drawback: The more attractive your character is, the harder it is for her to avoid notice in public. Witnesses to any criminal acts are much more likely to remember your character’s appearance, and easily recognize her in a lineup. Your character is also likely to receive a great degree of unwanted attention in social situations.

•• Head turning

•••• One of the most attractive in the world

Strong Back (•)

Prerequisites: Strength ••

Effect: Your character gains a +1 modifier to actions involving lifting, carrying, or pushing heavy weights. She can lift and carry much more weight than her build and body type suggests.

Strong Lungs (•••)

Prerequisite: Athletics •••

Effect: Your character is practiced at holding his breath for long periods of time. He might be a pearl diver or escape artist, capable of staying underwater without aid for longer than most people believe is possible. When determining how long your character can hold his breath, add two to Stamina when referencing the Holding Breath chart. For example, if your character’s Stamina is 2, he can hold his breath for four minutes before you need to make a roll.

Social Merits

Allies(• to •••••)

Effect: Allies help your character. They might be friends, employees, associates, or people your character has blackmailed. Each instance of this Merit represents one type of ally. This could be in an organization, a society, a clique, or an individual. Examples include the police, a secret society, crime, unions, local politics, and the academic community. Each purchase has its own rating. Your character might have Allies (Masons) ••, Allies (Carter Crime Family) •••, and Allies (Catholic Church) •. Each dot represents a layer of influence in the group. One dot would constitute small favors and passing influence. Three could offer considerable influence, such as the overlooking of a misdemeanor charge by the police. Five dots stretch the limits of the organization’s influence, as its leaders put their own influence on the line for the character. This could include things such as massive insider training or fouling up a felony investigation. No matter the request, it has to be something that organization could accomplish. The Storyteller assigns a rating between one and five to any favor asked. A character can ask for favors that add up to her Allies rating without penalty in one chapter. If she extends her influence beyond that, her player must roll Manipulation + Persuasion + Allies, with a penalty equal to the favor’s rating. If the roll is successful, the group does as requested. Failed or successful, the character loses a dot of Allies. On a dramatic failure, the organization resents her and seeks retribution. On an exceptional success, she doesn’t lose the dot.

Alternate Identity (• ,•• , or •••)

Effect: Your character has established an alternate identity. The level of this Merit determines the amount of scrutiny it can withstand. At one dot, the identity is superficial and unofficial. For example, your character uses an alias with a simple costume and adopts an accent. She hasn’t established the necessary paperwork to even approach a bureaucratic background check, let alone pass. At two dots, she’s supported her identity with paperwork and identification. It’s not liable to stand up to extensive research, but it’ll turn away private investigators and internet hobbyists. At three dots, the identity can pass thorough inspection. The identity has been deeply entrenched in relevant databases, with subtle flourishes and details to make it seem real even to trained professionals. The Merit also reflects time the character has spent honing the persona. At one or two dots, she gains a +1 to all Subterfuge rolls to defend the identity. At three dots, she gains +2. This Merit can be purchased multiple times. Each time representing an additional identity.

Anonymity (• to •••••)

Prerequisites: Cannot have Fame.

Effect: Your character lives off the grid. This means purchases must be made with cash or falsified credit cards. She eschews identification. She avoids any official authoritative influence in her affairs. Any attempts to find her by paper trail suffer a –1 penalty per dot purchased in this Merit.

Drawback: Your character cannot purchase the Fame Merit. This also may limit Status purchases, if the character cannot provide sufficient identification for the roles she wishes to take.

Barfly (•••)

Prerequisite: Socialize ••

Effect: Your character is a natural in the bar environment, the life of the party, and can procure an open invitation wherever she wishes. Whereas most characters would require rolls to blend into social functions they don’t belong in, she doesn’t; she belongs. Rolls to identify her as an outsider suffer her Socialize as a penalty and she gains the 9-again quality on all socialize rolls made schmooze people in large social functions.

Boon (• to •••••)

Effect: Someone owes you a favor. The vampire in your debt might be the lowliest neonate in the city or might be the Prince herself; it all depends on how many points the Merit costs. You only have that single favor owed you (unless you take the Merit multiple times), so using it properly is of paramount importance. Depending on status and other factors, the vampire who owes you a favor may well resent his debt, and might go out of his way to “settle” it early — even going so far as to create situations from which he must “rescue” you and thus clear the slate. This merit is only taken at character creation to represent newly made characters entering the game with pre-existing Boons. Once in play characters do not have to purchase this merit to represent boons they gained.

Broken Bond (••••)

Effect: You were once blood-bound but have secretly slipped the leash, and you are free to act as you will once more. Your regnant has no idea that you are not in fact bound, and continues to treat you as if you were. At Storyteller discretion, the experience of having been bound once may render you immune to ever being enthralled again.

Clan Friendship (••)

Effect: One particular Clan (not your own) has a special liking for you. You might have done the Clan as a whole a favor at some point, or perhaps you’re just a loud voice in support of their aims. Of course, the reaction your cozy relationship with another Clan is likely to draw from your own Clan leaders is an entirely different can of worms.

Code of Honor (•••)

Effect: You have a personal code of ethics to which you adhere. The specifics of this code must be worked out with the Storyteller prior to play, and the character must follow it strictly. Characters with this Merit gain one additional dice to all resolve or composure rolls, or passive resistances based on resolve or composure when acting in accordance with their code (e.g., defending the helpless) or when attempting to avoid situations that might force them to violate their code.

Contacts (• to •••••)

Effect: Contacts provide your character with information. Each dot in this Merit represents a sphere or organization with which the character can garner information. For example, a character with Contacts ••• might have Bloggers, Drug Dealers, and Financial Speculators for connections. Contacts do not provide services, only information. This may be face-to-face, email, by telephone, or even by séance in some strange instances. A character can have more than five dots in Contacts.

Deputy (••)

Effect: You’re part of the squad the local Sheriff calls on when he needs some muscle or aid in investigations. As a result, you get in on action that others miss entirely, score points with those in power, and occasionally get a chance to act outside of the law. How far outside the law you can go depends on circumstance and how much the vampire you report to likes you.

Elysium Regular (•)

Effect: You spend an unusual amount of time in Elysium. You see and are seen to such an extent that all of the movers and shakers of Elysium at least know who you are. Extended time spent in Elysium also gives you extended opportunities to interact with the Harpies and other Kindred of that stature — and they’ll know your name when you approach them. This Merit is generally taken by vampires that respect and attend Elysium on a regular basis.

Fame (• to •••)

Effect: Your character is recognized within a certain sphere for a certain skill, or because of some past action, or just a stroke of luck. This can mean favors and attention, but it can also mean negative attention and scrutiny. When choosing the Merit, define what your character is known for. As a rule of thumb, one dot means local recognition or reputation within a confined subculture. Two dots means regional recognition by a wide swath of people. Three dots means worldwide recognition to anyone who might have been exposed to the source of the fame. Each dot adds a die to any Social rolls among those who are impressed by your character’s celebrity.

Drawback: Any rolls to find or identify the character enjoy a +1 bonus per dot of the Merit. If the character has Alternate Identity, she can mitigate this drawback. A character with Fame cannot have the Anonymity Merit.

Former Ghoul (•)

Effect: You were introduced to the Blood long before you were made Kindred. Your long experience as a ghoul gives you insight into and comfort with vampiric society. Mechanically you gain +2 dice on all Social rolls made against neonates who haven’t been properly or completely educated by their sires yet.

Friend of the Underground (•••)

While you’re not a Nosferatu, you know your way around the sewers, tunnels, ducts, subway tubes, and other subterranean passages of your hometown. The local Nosferatu (and any other creatures dwelling down in the muck) may not actually like you, but they’re not inclined to kill you on sight when they see you in their territory.

Harmless (••)

Effect: Everyone in the city knows you, and knows that you’re no threat to their plans. While that sort of estimation may seem insulting, it’s also what’s kept you from being killed. No one considers you worth their time to deal with, and that low opinion keeps you safe. If you start acting in a way that demonstrates that you are no longer harmless, others’ reactions to you will likely change as a result

Haven (• to •••••)

Effect: Haven is where kindred stay. Haven implies more than a home, but a secure hide away. Haven has 3 statistics, Size, Security, and Location. Each is rated from one to five. A character can have multiple havens.

Herd (• to •••••)

Effect: Herd represents groups of mortals who you can reliably feed upon with little effort. Your herd ows you little loyalty, they are not contacts, allies or retainers, rather this merit usually represents either people you can quietly get away with feeding on discreetly and reliably, or a group of kiss addicted mortals you have who are not much use for anything other than feeding and likely represent a drain on your resources.

• Indicates 3 vessels.

•• Indicates 7.

••• Indicates 15.

•••• Indicates 30.

••••• Indicates 60.

Hobbyist Clique (••)

Prerequisite: Membership in a clique. All members must possess this Merit and the chosen Skill at ••+

Effect: Your character is part of a group of hobbyists that specialize in one area, as represented by a Skill. It may be a book club, a coven, a political party, or any other interest. When the group’s support is available, you benefit from the 9-again quality on rolls involving the group’s chosen Skill. As well, the clique offers two additional dice on any extended actions involving that Skill.

Drawback: This Merit requires upkeep. You must attend at least monthly, informal meetings to maintain the benefits of Hobbyist Clique.

Inspiring (••••)

Prerequisite: Presence •••

Effect: Your character’s passion inspires those around her to greatness. With a few words, she can redouble a group’s confidence or move them to action. Make a Presence + Persuasion roll. A small clique of listeners levies a –1 penalty, a small crowd a –2, and a large crowd a –3. Listeners may get an exceptional success on their next roll with only three successes instead of five and if they do they gain a point of Willpower. The character may not use this Merit on herself.

Lawman’s Friend (••)

Effect: For whatever reason (maybe your winning smile or perhaps just your superb groveling technique), the local Sheriff in charge of discipline likes you. He’s inclined to overlook your minor trespasses and let you in on things you’re not supposed to know about. He even gives you warnings about occasional crackdowns and times when the higher-ups aren’t feeling generous. Of course, abusing this connection might well turn a friendly vampire into an enemy — and the

change might not be apparent until it’s too late.

Mentor (• to •••••)

Effect: This Merit gives your character a teacher that provides advice and guidance. He acts on your character’s behalf, often in the background and sometimes without your character’s knowledge. While Mentors can be highly competent, they almost always want something in return for their services. The dot rating determines the Mentor’s capabilities, and to what extent he’ll aid your character.

Mole (•••)

Effect: You have an informer buried in one of your your enemies entourages who funnels you all sorts of information as to what her peers are up to. What you do with the information is up to you, but abusing the knowledge might be a good way to get your informer found out.

Natural Leader (•••)

Prerequisite: Presence •••

Effect: You are gifted with a certain magnetism to which others naturally defer. You receive two extra dice when making rolls where you command or lead others.

Prestigious Sire (••)

Effect: Your sire has or had great status in her Sect or Clan, and this has afforded you a certain amount of prestige. Though your sire may no longer have any dealings with you, the simple fact of your ancestry has marked you forever. This prestige might aid you greatly in dealings with other vampires, or it might engender jealousy or contempt.

Primogen Friendship (••••)

Effect: The ruling vampires of the city value you and your opinions. You are called in to consult on decisions, and your recommendations carry great weight. Your position may not be an official one, but it’s powerful nonetheless.

Property (• to •••••+)

Effect: This merit represents property that you or a loyal retainer directly own in a legal, temporal fashion rather than a kindred fashion. The number of dots in this merit represents a combination of the size, location, and how nice the property is. If the property is also a business, how successful it is also affects the amount of dots the property is worth. This merit can be taken multiple times to represent multiple properties. Example of how property would work will be below in a scenario of a club.

• Would be a warehouse you put a DJ both in

•• Would be a nicer building with few customers

••• Would be Average nightclub with average amount of customers in a semi-nice commercial district

•••• Would be either: A classy expensive club lounge in a high rise that caters to the rich OR a really busy dance club that's always packed on the right days as soon as the sun goes down and is in a busy part of the city

••••• Would be a big important tourist trap place, like those clubs that get famous outside of the city there in and people come from far around to go to it. Like to the point were the club is a facet of the city.

Protégé (•)

Effect: Your sire watched you for some time before Embracing you, and spoke glowingly of you to acquaintances. These vampires may be inclined to look favorably on you by dint of your sire’s recommendation.

Rep (• to •••••)

Effect: Your fame has exceeded the bounds of your Sect. Everyone knows who you are, what you’ve done and what you’re supposed to have done (which might not be the same thing). The publicity can be good or bad; what matters is that everybody knows your name. Whether individuals outside of your immediate social circle know enough to match your face to your name is a different matter.

Resources (• to •••••)

Effect: This Merit reflects your character’s disposable income. She might live in an upscale condo, but if her income is tied up in the mortgage and child support payments, she might have little money to throw around. Characters are assumed to have basic necessities without Resources. The dot rating determines the relative amount of disposable funding the character has available, depending on your particular chronicle’s setting. The same amount of money means completely different things in a game set in Silicon Valley compared to one set in the Detroit slums.

• Is a little spending money here and there.

•• Is a comfortable, middle class wage.

••• Is a nicer, upper middle class life.

•••• Is wealthy.

••••• Is filthy rich.

Every item has an Availability rating. Once per chapter, your character can procure an item at her Resources level without issue. An item one Availability level above her Resources reduces her effective Resources by one, since she has to rapidly liquidate funds. She can procure items that are an Availability level below her Resources without limit (within reason). For example, a character with Resources ••• can procure as many Availability •• disposable cellphones as she needs.

Retainer (• to •••••)

Effect: Your character has an assistant, sycophant, servant, or follower on whom she can rely. Establish who this companion is and how he was acquired. It may be as simple as a paycheck. He might owe your character his life. However it happened, your character has a hold on him. A Retainer is more reliable than a Mentor and more loyal than an Ally. On the other hand, a Retainer is a lone person, less capable and influential than the broader Merits.

The Merit’s dot rating determines the relative competency of the Retainer.

• Retainer is barely able to do anything of use, such as a pet that knows one useful trick or a homeless old man that does minor errands for food.

••• Retainer is a professional in their field, someone capable in his line of work.

••••• Retainer is one of the best in her class.

1 Dot Retainer: Probably don't even bother giving a sheet to.

2 Dot Retainer: Standard character creation. Exception Attributes for them are 5 / 3 / 1. Their skill pools are 12 / 8 / 4. Free merits 7. No freebi points.

3 Dot Retainer: Standard character creation. Exception is attributes for them are 6 / 4 / 2

4 Dot Retainer: Standard character creation. Exception is attributes for them are 6 / 4 / 2 + 30 XP

5 Dot Retainer: Standard character creation. Exception is attributes for them are 6 / 4 / 2 + 70 XP

This Merit can be purchased multiple times to represent multiple Retainers.

Rising Star (•••)

Effect: You’re one of the up-and-comers in the city. Everyone wants to know you and be your friend, even as those in power groom you for positions of greater responsibility.

Sabbat Survivor (••)

Effect: You’ve lived through at least one Sabbat attack or attempted recruitment. Your experience helps you anticipate situations where you might potentially be endangered by the Sabbat once again. You gain +2 dice on all Perception rolls when it comes to Sabbat-based matters. This Merit is generally taken by groups in conflict with the Sabbat, and comes into play most frequently as a means of avoiding ambushes.

Sanctity (•••••)

Prerequisite: Presence ••• Manipulation ••• Intelligence •••

Effect: This Merit is sometimes called the halo effect; everyone considers you pure and innocent, though not necessarily naïve. You have a saint-like quality that is hard to pinpoint but cannot be denied. You are trusted, even if you are not trustworthy. At the Storyteller’s discretion, you tend to receive lesser punishments for wrongdoing, and you are liked by most. Only available at character creation.

Scholar of Enemies (•••)

Effect: You have taken the time to learn about and specialize in one particular enemy of your Sect. You are aware of at least some of the group’s customs, strategies, abilities, and long-term goals, and can put that knowledge to good use. You gain one dice and the 9-again quality for all non-combat rolls pertaining specifically to the subject of your specialization. On the other hand, you you lose one dice and lose the 10-again quality when it comes to dealing with other enemies, simply because you’re so thoroughly focused on your field.

Scholar of Others (•••)

Effect: This Merit functions identically to Scholar of Enemies, except that it applies to a group that is not necessarily inimical to your Sect.

Small Unit Tactics (••)

Prerequisites: Presence •••

Effect: Your character is a proficient leader on the field. She can organize efforts and bark orders to remarkable effect. Once per scene, when making a coordinated action that was planned in advance, spend a point of Willpower and an instant action. A number of characters equal to your character’s Presence can benefit from the +3 bonus from the Willpower expenditure.

Staff (• to •••••)

Effect: Your character has a crew of workers or assistants at her disposal. They may be housekeepers, designers, research assistants, animators, cheap thugs, or whatever else makes sense. For every dot in this Merit, choose one type of assistant, and one Skill. At any reasonable time, her staff can take actions using that Skill. These actions automatically garner a single success. While not useful in contested actions, this guarantees success on minor, mundane activities.

Status (• to •••••)

Effect: Your character has standing, membership, authority, control over, or respect from a group or organization. This may reflect official standing or informal respect. No matter the source, your character enjoys certain privileges within that structure. Each instance of this Merit reflects standing in a different group or organization. Your character may have Status (New Orleans Camarilla) •••, Status (Drag Racing Circuit) ••, and Status (Brujah) •. Each affords its own unique benefits. As you increase dot ratings, your character rises in prominence in the relevant group. Status only allows advantages within the confines of the group reflected in the Merit. Status (Organized Crime) won’t help if your character wants an official concealed carry firearms permit, for example. Status provides a number of advantages. First, your character can apply her Status to any Social roll with those over which she has authority or sway. Second, she has access to group facilities, resources, and funding. Dependent on the group, this could be limited by red tape and requisitioning processes. It’s also dependent on the resources the particular group has available.

Taste (•)

Prerequisite: Crafts •• or Expression •• and a artistic Specialty in Crafts or Expression

Effect: Your character has refined tastes and can identify minor details in fashion, food, architecture, and other forms of artistry and craftsmanship. Not only does this give an eye for detail, it makes her a center of attention in critical circles. She can appraise items within her area of expertise. With a Wits + Skill roll, depending on the creation in question (Expression for poetry, Crafts for architecture, for example), your character can pick out obscure details about the item that other, less discerning minds would not. For each success, ask one of the following questions, or take a +1 bonus to any Social rolls pertaining to groups interested in the art assessed for the remainder of the scene.

• What is the hidden meaning in this?

• What was the creator feeling during its creation?

• What’s its weakest point?

• What other witness is most moved by this piece?

• How should one best appreciate this piece?

True Friend (•••)

Effect: Your character has a true friend. While that friend may have specific functions covered by other Merits (Allies, Contacts, Retainer, Mentor, et cetera), True Friend represents a deeper, truly trusting relationship that cannot be breached. Unless your character does something egregious to cause it, her True Friend will not betray her. Any rolls to influence a True Friend against your character suffer a five-die penalty. In addition, once per story your character can regain one spent Willpower by having a meaningful interaction with her True Friend.

True Love (••••)

Effect: 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. Whenever you suffer, the thought of your true love gives you the strength to persevere. This Merit grants you two bonus dice on all resolve rolls or passive resolve resistances. Additionally, once per story you can recover one willpower point by having a meaningful interaction with your true love.

Useful Knowledge (•)

Effect: You have expertise in a specific field that makes your conversation intriguing to an older Kindred. So long as your knowledge holds the other vampire’s attention, he has a vested interest in keeping you around. Then again, once he’s pumped you for every iota of information you possess, that patronage may suddenly vanish. (Note: This Merit should be played like a 1-dot Mentor with a specific interest. However, unlike a Mentor, Useful Knowledge does not imply a permanent relationship.)

Fighting Merits

Armed Defense (• to ••••• ; Style)

Prerequisites: Dexterity •••, Weaponry ••, Weaponry Dodge

Effect: You’re able to use a weapon to stop people who are trying to kill you. Often deployed by police officers using riot shields or ASP batons, it’s just as effective with a chair leg.

Cover the Angles (•): Whenever you take a Dodge action, reduce the Defense penalties for multiple attackers by 1. You can apply your full Defense against the first two attacks, suffer a –1 penalty against the third, and so on.

Weak Spot (••): You swing against your opponent’s arm rather than his own weapon. Use this ability when defending against an armed attacker. If your Defense when dodging reduces his attack pool to 0, he’s disarmed.

Press the Advantage (•••): You create an opening with a block and lash out with a fist or foot. When you’re taking a Dodge action, if you reduce the attacker’s dice pool to 0, you can make an unarmed attack against that opponent at a −2 penalty. Your opponent applies Defense as normal.

Drawback: Spend a point of Willpower to make the attack. You can only make one attack per turn in this way.

Iron Guard (••••): You and your weapon are one. At the start of each turn, you can choose to reduce your weapon bonus (down to a minimum of 0) to increase your Defense by a like amount. If you take a Dodge action, add your full weapon bonus to your Defense after doubling your pool.

Riposte (•••••): Anyone dumb enough to come near you is liable to get hurt. When you take a Dodge action, if you reduce the attacker’s dice pool to 0 or if the attack misses you, you deal lethal damage equal to your weapons damage bonus to your attacker.

Drawback: You must spend a point of Willpower to deal the damage.

Brawling Dodge (•)

Prerequisite: Strength •• and Brawl •

Effect: Whenever your character performs a dodge, you can choose to add his Brawl Skill dots to his Defense instead of doubling his Defense. He essentially draws on his training in blocking and evading attacks rather than relying on his raw ability alone. While this might provide little benefit to a brawling novice, it can give the advanced fighter an edge. Brawling Dodge applies against incoming Brawl- and Weaponry-based attacks, against thrown-weapon attacks, and against Firearms attacks made within close-combat range. Your character can move up to his Speed and perform a Brawling Dodge maneuver in a turn. A character can possess both the Brawling Dodge and Weaponry Dodge Merits, but only one can be used per turn.

Cheap Shot (••)

Prerequisites: Street Fighting •••, Subterfuge ••

Effect: Your character is a master at the bait and switch. She can look off in an odd direction and prompt her opponent to do the same, or she might step on someone’s toes to distract them. Either way, she fights dirty. Make a Dexterity + Subterfuge roll as a reflexive action. The opponent’s player contests with Wits + Composure. If you score more successes, the opponent loses his Defense for the next turn. Each time a character uses this maneuver in a scene, it levies a cumulative –2 penalty to further uses since the opposition gets used to the tricks.

Choke Hold (••••)

Prerequisites: Brawl ••

Effect: If you can get your hands on someone, it’s over. When grappling, you can use the Choke move.

• Choke: If you rolled more successes than twice the victim’s Stamina, he’s unconscious for (six – Stamina) minutes. You must first have succeeded at a Hold move. If you don’t score enough successes at first, you can Choke your opponent on future turns and total your successes.

Close Quarters Combat (• to ••••• ; Style)

Prerequisites: Wits •••, Athletics ••, Brawl •••

Effect: You know that hitting someone in the face is an easy way to break the little bones in your hand. To that end, you've perfected the art of using the environment to hurt people.

Firing Lines (•): In some situations, your best option is a tactical retreat — especially if you've inadvertently brought a knife to a gunfight. You can run for cover as a reaction to a ranged attack instead of dropping prone. You give up your action for the turn but can get to any cover that’s within twice your Speed.

Hard Surfaces (••): Bouncing someone’s head off a urinal, computer monitor, or a brick wall is a handy way to increase the amount of hurt inflicted while not breaking the

aforementioned hand bones. When you’re grappling someone, you can bounce them off a hard surface with a Damage move. You deal lethal damage and immediately end the grapple.

Armored Coffin (•••): The problem with protection is simple: the very things that protect you can be turned against you. That holds true for body armor just as much as anything else. Sure, it blocks bullets and knives, but get in a clinch and you might as well be wearing a straight-jacket. When you grapple an opponent, add their general armor rating to your dice pool. When you use a Damage move, ignore your opponent’s armor. This technique can’t be used in conjunction with Hard Surfaces.

Prep Work (••••): If you've got a second to look around, you could catch someone by surprise almost any where. When launching a surprise attack, your Dexterity + Stealth roll becomes a rote action.

Drawback: You can’t use this Merit to set up sniper attacks — your ambush must use Brawl or Weaponry.

Turnabout (•••••): If you’re caught short in a fight, your opponent’s weapon suits you just fine. When you attempt to Disarm your opponent, step the results up one level — on a failure, your opponent drops the weapon. On a success, you take possession of your opponent’s weapon. On an exceptional success, you've got the weapon and your

opponent takes two points of bashing damage.

Firefight (Style, • to ••• )

Prerequisites: Composure •••, Dexterity •••, Athletics ••, Firearms ••

Effect: Your character is comfortable with a gun. She’s been trained in stressful situations and knows how to keep herself from being shot while shooting at her opponents. This Style is about moving, strafing, and taking shots when you get them. It’s not a series of precision techniques; it’s using a gun practically in a real-world situation.

Shoot First (•): In a firefight, the person who gets shot first is usually the loser. Your character has trained herself to fire first in an altercation. If her gun is drawn, add her Firearms score to her Initiative. If she has Quick Draw, she can use Shoot First to draw and fire with increased Initiative in the first turn of combat.

Suppressive Fire (••): Sometimes, the purpose of a shot is to distract, not necessarily to hit. Your character is trained to fire off a handful of rounds with the intent to startle opponents and force impulse reactions. When using the Covering Fire maneuver, her opponents cannot benefit from aiming against her. She can apply her Defense against incoming Firearms attacks in addition to any cover bonuses. As well, her training allows her to use Covering Fire with a semi-automatic weapon.

Secondary Target (•••): Sometimes shooting an opponent behind cover is all but impossible. A bullet can knock objects off balance, however, or cause ricochets. By using Secondary Target, your character opts to not hit her target but instead strike them with any collateral objects that might be nearby. She causes bashing damage instead of lethal, but ignores all cover penalties to the roll. The weapon’s damage rating does not add to the damage in this case.

Grappling (Style, • to ••• )

Prerequisites: Stamina •••, Strength ••, Athletics ••, Brawl ••

Effect: Your character has trained in wrestling or one of many grappling martial arts.

Sprawl (•): Your character can adjust her weight to defend herself in a grapple. Your opponent subtracts one additional dice from their Strength + Brawl pool on the opposed grapple check.

Takedown (••): Your character can take an opponent to the ground rapidly. With a normal roll, you may choose to render an opponent prone instead of establishing a grapple. You may also choose to cause bashing damage equal to the successes rolled.

Joint Lock (•••): Once in a grapple, your character can administer joint locks and other immobilizing tactics. Any attempt to overpower your character causes the other character a point of bashing damage. In addition, any successful overpowering maneuvers your character uses cause 1L damage in addition to their normal effects.

Heavy Weapons (Style, • to ••••• )

Prerequisites: Stamina •••, Strength •••, Athletics ••, Weaponry ••

Effect: Your character is trained with heavy weapons that require strength, wide range, and follow-through more than direct speed and accuracy. This Style may be used with

two-handed weapons such as a claymore, a chainsaw, a pike, or an uprooted street sign.

Sure Strike (•): Your character doesn’t always hit the hardest or the most frequently, but you guarantee a deadly strike when you do hit. You can reflexively remove three dice from any attack dice pool (to a minimum of zero) to add one to your character’s weapon damage rating for the turn. These dice must be removed after calculating any penalties from the environment or the opponent’s Defense.

Threat Range (••): Your character’s weapon is immense and keeps opponents at bay. If you opt not to move or Dodge during your turn, any character moving into your character’s proximity suffers 1L damage and a penalty to their Defense equal to your character’s one less than your weapon damage rating. This penalty only lasts for one turn. This cannot be used in a turn the character is Dodging.

Bring the Pain (•••): Your character’s strikes stun and incapacitate as well as causing massive trauma to the body. Sacrifice your character’s Defense to use Bring the Pain. Make a standard attack roll. Any damage you score with Bring the Pain counts as a penalty to all actions the victim takes during their next turn. So, if you cause 4L damage, the opponent is at –4 on their next attack.

Warding Stance (••••): Your character holds her weapon in such a way as to make attacks much harder. If her weapon’s drawn, spend a point of Willpower reflexively to add her weapon’s damage rating as defense for the turn.

Rending (•••••): Your character’s cuts leave crippling, permanent wounds. By spending a Willpower point before making an attack roll, her successful attacks cause one point of aggravated damage in addition to her weapon’s damage rating. This Willpower point does not add to the attack roll.

Improvised Weaponry (• to ••• ; Style)

Prerequisites: Wits •••, Weaponry •

Effect: Most people don’t walk around armed. While someone pulling a knife or a gun can cool a hostile situation down, it can also cause things to boil over — an argument that wouldn’t be more than harsh words suddenly ends up with three people in the morgue. If you’re on the receiving end of someone pulling a knife, it helps to have something in your own hand. You’re good at making do with what you've got. Sometimes, you’re lucky — if you’re in a bar, you’ve got a lot of glass bottles, maybe a pool cue to play with. But you've got something almost like a sixth sense for weaponry and can find one almost anywhere.

Always Armed (•): You can always get your hands on something dangerous, and you’ve an instinctive understanding of how to put it to good — and deadly — use. At the start of your turn, make a reflexive Wits + Weaponry roll to grab an object suitable for use as a weapon in pretty much any environment. (The player is encouraged to work with the Storyteller to determine an appropriate item — a large, jagged rock in the wilderness, for example, or a heavy glass ashtray with one sharp, broken edge in a dive bar.) Regardless of what you pick up, the weapon has a +0 weapon modifier, −1 initiative penalty, Size 1, Durability 2, and Structure 4. On an exceptional success, increase the weapon modifier and Size by 1, but the initiative penalty increases to −2. Whatever you grab doesn’t suffer the normal −1 penalty for wielding an improvised weapon (see p. 205).

In Harm’s Way (••): You've got a knack for putting your weapon in the way of an oncoming attack, no matter how small or inappropriate for blocking it might be. While wielding an improvised weapon acquired with Always Armed, you can treat the Structure of your weapon as general armor against a single Brawl or Weaponry attack. Any damage you take inflicts an equal amount of damage to the improvised weapon, bypassing Durability. You can use the weapon to attack later in the same turn, but can only use this ability when applying your Defense to an attack.

Breaking Point (•••): One sure way to win a fight is to hit the other guy so hard that he doesn’t get back up, even if that means losing a weapon in the process. When making

an all-out attack with an improvised weapon acquired with Always Armed, you can reduce the weapon’s Structure by any amount down to zero. Every two points of Structure spent in this way adds +1 to the weapon modifier for that one single attack. Declare any Structure loss before making the attack; this Structure is reduced even if the attack does no damage. If the weapon is reduced to zero Structure, it is automatically destroyed after the attack. You can use this technique in conjunction with In Harm’s Way, allowing you to parry an attack made on a higher Initiative and then go on the offensive, provided that the weapon wasn't destroyed.

Iron Skin (••• or ••••• )

Prerequisites: Martial Arts •• or Street Fighting ••, Stamina •••

Effect: Through rigorous conditioning or extensive scarring, your character has grown resistant to harm. She can shrug off shots that would topple bigger fighters. She knows how to take a strike and can even move into a hit from a weapon to minimize harm.

She gains armor against bashing attacks; one point of armor with •••, and two points of armor with •••••

By spending a point of Willpower when hit, she can downgrade lethal damage from a successful attack into bashing. Downgrade one point of lethal damage at •••, two points of lethal with •••••.

Note: Iron Skin only functions against attacks that would normally deal bashing to mortals, not attacks that have been downgraded to bashing because of armor or something supernatural. If the downgrade ability is during the same turn Fortitude is active iron skin triggers first, negating its usefulness.

Light Weapons (Style, • to ••••• )

Prerequisites: Wits •••, Dexterity •••, Athletics ••, Weaponry ••

Effect: Your character is trained with small hand-to-hand weapons that favor finesse over raw power. These maneuvers may only be used with one-handed weapons that have a dam damage rating of 2 or less.

Rapidity (•): Your character moves with swiftness to find just the right spot to strike. You can sacrifice your character’s weapon damage rating to add her Weaponry score to her Initiative for the turn. The weapon becomes a 0 damage weapon for the turn.

Thrust (••): Your character knows when to defend herself and when to move in for the kill. At any time, you can sacrifice points of Defense one-for-one to add to attack pools. This cannot happen if you've already used Defense in the same turn. If you use this maneuver, you may not sacrifice your full Defense for any other reason. For example, you cannot use Thrust with an all-out attack. The bonus dice cannot exceed your total dots in Light Weapons Style.

Feint (•••): With a flourish in one direction, your character can distract an opponent for a cleaner, more effective follow-up strike. For example, if you Feint with three successes, the attack causes no damage. However, your next attack ignores three points of Defense, and causes three extra dice of damage. Auto-successes do not count on feint rolls and the die or penalty benefits from feint can never exceed your dots in Light Weapons Style.

Flurry (••••): Your character moves quickly enough to stab opponents with numerous pricks and swipes in the blink of an eye. As long as your character has her Defense available to her (it’s not been sacrificed for another maneuver or denied from surprise, for example), any character coming into her immediate proximity takes one point of lethal damage. This damage continues once per turn as long as the enemy stays within range and occurs on the enemy’s turn. This can affect multiple opponents but cannot be used in a turn where the character is Dodging.

Vital Shot (•••••): Your character can use her smaller weapon to get past an opponent’s defenses and hit where it hurts most. Sacrifice your character’s Defense for the turn to use this maneuver. If the attack roll succeeds, the attack causes one point of aggravated damage in addition to the damage rating of the weapon.

Marksmanship (Style, • to •••• )

Prerequisites: Composure •••, Resolve •••, Firearms ••

Effect: When prepared and aimed, a gun is an ideal killing machine. Your character has trained to take advantage of the greatest features of any gun. This Style is often used with rifles, but it can be used with any type of firearm. Because of the discipline and patience required for Marksmanship, your character cannot use her Defense in any turn in which she uses one of these maneuvers. These maneuvers may only be used after aiming for at least one turn.

Through the Crosshairs (•): Your character is a competent sniper, able to sit in position and steel her wits. Usually, the maximum bonus from aiming is three dice. With Through the Crosshairs, it’s equal to her Composure + Firearms.

Precision Shot (••): With this level of training, your character knows how to effectively disable a victim instead of focusing on the kill. When attacking a specified target, you may reduce your weapon’s damage rating one-for-one to ignore penalties for shooting a specified target. For example, if you’re using a sniper rifle (4 damage

weapon), and attacking an arm (–2 to hit), you could choose to use 3 damage reduce that to –1, or 2 damage to eliminate the penalty entirely.

A Shot Rings Out (•••): A master sniper, your character has no worries or lack of confidence. She can fire into a crowd and strike a specific target without penalty. If she misses, it’s because her shot goes wide. She will never hit an unintended target.

Ghost (••••): Your character has trained to shoot unseen and vanish without a trace. Her Firearms score acts as a penalty on any roll to notice her vantage point, or any

Investigation or Perception roll to investigate the area from which she shot.

Martial Arts (Style, • to ••••• )

Prerequisites: Resolve •••, Dexterity •••, Athletics ••, Brawl ••

Effect: Your character is trained in one or more formal martial arts styles. This may have come from a personal mentor, a dojo, or a self-defense class. It may have been for

exercise, protection, show, or tradition. These maneuvers may only be used unarmed.

Focused Attack (•): Your character has trained extensively in striking specific parts of an opponent’s body. Reduce penalties for hitting specific targets by one. Additionally, you may ignore one point of armor on any opponent.

Defensive Strike (••): Your character excels in defending herself while finding the best time to strike. You can add one or two points to your character’s Defense. For each Defense point you take, subtract a die from any attacks you make. This can only be used in a turn in which your character intends to attack. It cannot be used with a Dodge.

Whirlwind Strike (•••): When engaged, your character becomes a storm of threatening kicks and punches; nothing close is safe. As long as your character has her Defense avail able to her and is not Dodging, any character coming into arm’s reach takes 1B damage. This damage continues once per turn as long as the enemy stays within range and occurs on the enemy’s turn. If you spend a point of Willpower, this damage becomes 2B until your next turn.

The Hand as Weapon (••••): With this degree of training, your character’s limbs are hardened to cause massive trauma. Her unarmed strikes cause lethal damage.

The Touch of Death (•••••): Your character’s mastery has brought with it the daunting power of causing lethal injury with a touch. If she chooses, her unarmed strikes count as weapons with 2 damage rating.

Police Tactics (Style, • to ••• )

Prerequisites: Brawl ••, Weaponry •

Effect: Your character is trained in restraint techniques often used by law enforcement officers. This may reflect formal training or lessons from a skilled practitioner.

Compliance Hold (•): Gain a +2 bonus to overpowering rolls to disarm or immobilize an opponent.

Weapon Retention (••): Opponents attempting to disarm your character or turn her weapon against her must exceed your character’s Weaponry score in successes.

Speed Cuff (•••): Against an immobilized opponent, your character may apply handcuffs, cable ties, or similar restraints as a reflexive action.

Quick Maneuver (••• )

Prerequisites: Brawl •••

Effect: You can immediately preform the Control Weapon, Drop Prone, Hold, Take Cover, or Throw maneuvers on the very turn that you initiate a grapple weather or not you get an exceptional success. If you gain an exceptional success, you still gain the benefit of yet another maneuver.

Slippery Fish (•• )

Prerequisites: Brawl •••, Dexterity •••

Effect: Your character is a wriggler and hard to hold down. After a grapple has been initiated you can decide to switch the relevant statistic of the opposed grapple roll from Strength to Dexterity for both parties involved. This means that both parties roll Dexterity + Brawl minus your opponents dexterity. However when you attempt this and if you succeed the only maneuver you can preform is to break free.

Street Fighting (Style, • to ••••• )

Prerequisites: Stamina •••, Composure •••, Brawl ••, Streetwise ••

Effect: Your character learned to fight on the mean streets. She may have had some degree of formal training, but the methodology came from the real world in dangerous circumstances. Street Fighting isn’t about form and grace. It’s about staying alive. These maneuvers may only be used unarmed.

Duck and Weave (•): Your character has been beaten all to hell more than a few times. Now she dodges on instinct, not on skill. You can reflexively take a one-die penalty to any actions this turn in order to use the higher of her Wits and Dexterity to calculate Defense. If you've already made a roll without penalty this turn, you cannot use Duck and Weave.

Knocking the Wind Out (••): Shots to the center mass can shake an opponent, and your character knows this well. When your character makes a successful unarmed attack, the opponent suffers a –1 to his next roll.

Kick ‘Em While They’re Down (•••): The best enemy is one on the ground. Your character topples opponents and keeps them down. Any time your successes on an attack roll exceed an opponent’s Stamina, you may choose to inflict the Knocked Down condition. Additionally, any time your character is close enough to strike when an opponent attempts to get up from a prone position, she can reflexively cause 2B damage.

One-Two Punch (••••): Your character hits fast and follows through with every hit. Whenever she makes a successful attack, you can spend a point of Willpower to cause two extra points of bashing damage.

Last-Ditch Effort (•••••): In a street fight, every second could be the one that kills you. A proficient street fighter is a remarkable survivalist. She bites, headbutts, trips: whatever it takes to prevent that last hit. Any time a character with this level of Street Fighting is about to take a hit or an overpowering maneuver when she’s already suffering wound penalties, she can reflexively spend a Willpower point and sacrifice her Defense for the turn to make an attack against her would-be assailant. This can occur even if she’s already acted in a turn, so long as she’s not already spent Willpower. Resolve this attack before the opponent’s action.

Unarmed Defense (• to ••••• ; Style)

Prerequisites: Dexterity •••, Brawl ••, Brawling Dodge

Effect: You’re better at stopping people from hurting you than you are at hurting other people. Maybe you practice a martial art that redirects an opponent’s blows, or else you’re just very good at not being where your opponent wants you to be.

Like a Book (•): You can read your opponents and know where they’re likely to strike. When facing an unarmed opponent and not Dodging, increase your Defense by half your Brawl (round down).

Studied Style (••): You focus on reading one opponent, avoiding his attacks, and frustrating him. Attacks from that opponent do not reduce your Defense. If your Defense reduces his attack pool to 0, his further attacks against you lose the 10-again quality.

Redirect (•••): When you’re being attacked by multiple opponents, you can direct their blows against one another. When you Dodge, if your Defense roll reduces an attack’s successes to 0, your attacker rolls the same attack against another attacker of your choice.

Drawback: You may only redirect one attack in a turn. You cannot redirect an attack against the same attacker.

Joint Strike (••••): You wait until the last possible second then lash out at your opponent’s elbow or wrist as he attacks, hoping to cripple his limbs. Roll Strength + Brawl in stead of Defense. If you score more successes than your attacker, you deal one point of bashing damage per extra success, and inflict either the Arm Wrack or Leg Wrack condition.

Drawback: Spend a point of Willpower to use this maneuver.

Like the Breeze (•••••): You step to one side as your opponent attacks and give her enough of a push to send her flying past you. When dodging, if your Defense reduces an opponent’s attack successes to 0, you can knock them down.

Drawback: You must declare that you’re using this maneuver at the start of the turn before taking any other attacks.

Weaponry Disarm (•••)

Prerequisite: Dexterity ••• and Weaponry ••

Effect: When attempting to disarm someone you can use your weaponry dots in place of your brawl dots so long as you are armed.

Weaponry Dodge (•)

Prerequisite: Strength •• and Weaponry •

Effect: Whenever your character performs a dodge, you can choose to add his Weaponry Skill dots to his Defense instead of doubling his Defense. He essentially draws on his training in parrying and evading attacks rather than relying on his raw ability alone. While this might provide little benefit to a fencing novice, it can give the advanced fighter an edge. Weaponry Dodge applies against incoming Brawl and Weaponry-based attacks, against thrown-weapon attacks, and against Firearms attacks made within close-combat range. Your character can move up to his Speed and perform a Weaponry Dodge maneuver in a turn. A character can possess both the Brawling Dodge and Weaponry Dodge Merits, but only one can be used per turn.

Supernatural Merits

8th Generation (•••••)

Prerequisite: Generation •••••, 9th Generation, Mentor •••

Effect: You are of the 8th Generation.

9th Generation (•••••)

Prerequisite: Generation •••••, Mentor •••

Effect: You are of the 9th generation.

Additional Discipline (•••••)

Effect: You can take one additional Discipline (Storyteller's 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. Available only at character creation

Deceptive Aura (••••)

Effect: Your aura is unnaturally bright and colorful for a vampire. You register as a mortal on all attempts to read your aura. Can only be taken at character creation.

Blush of Health (••••)

Effect: You look more hale and healthy in appearance than other vampires, allowing you to blend with human society much more easily. At all times and without cost you still retain the color of a somewhat pale living mortal, and your skin feels warm to the touch rather than cold. If you activate counterfeit life to warm your body it adds onto this effect even more so than other vampires, you flush like you were hale, healthy and had just worked out while you become pleasantly toasty in temperature, like someone just out of a hot bath or after a jog.

Eat Food (•)

Effect: You have the capacity to eat food and even savor its taste. While you cannot derive any nourishment from eating regular foods, this ability will serve you well in pretending to be human. Of course, you can’t digest what you eat, and there will be some point during the evening when you have to heave it back up.

Early Riser (••••)

Effect: No one can explain it, but you seem to have the ability to work on less rest than your fellow vampires. You always seem to be the first to rise and the last to go to bed even if you’re been out until dawn. Your Humanity or Path score is considered to be 10 for purposes of deciding when you rise each evening. Can only be taken at character creation.

Efficient Digestion (•••••)

Effect: You are able to draw more than the usual amount of nourishment from blood. When feeding, you gain an additional point to your blood pool for every two points of blood you consume. This does not allow you to exceed your blood pool maximum. Available only at character creation.

Generation (••, •••, or •••••)

Prerequisite: None for Generation ••, Mentor • for Generation •••, and Mentor •• for Generation •••••

Effect: All characters start as 13th generation vampires. Two dots of this merit lowers your generation to 12th, three lowers your generation to 11th, and five lowers your generation to 10th.

Healing Touch (•)

Effect: 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. Can only be taken at character creation.

Inoffensive to Animals (•)

Effect: 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. Additionally if you have Animalism this merit becomes even stronger, certain animals (mostly predators) not only do not flee from you, but they actively enjoy your presence and find it soothing. Many Gangrel have this merit and pass it amongst their clan.

Light Sleeper (••••)

Effect: You can awaken instantly at any sign of trouble or danger, and do so without any sleepiness or hesitation. You may ignore rules regarding how Humanity or your morality Path restricts the number of dice available during the day. Can only be taken at character creation.

Lucky (•••)

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

Medium (••••)

Effect: 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. This merit can only be taken at character creation.

Nine Lives (••••••)

Effect: Fate has granted you the opportunity to come as close to Final Death as anyone can get and still survive. When a roll occurs that would result in your death, the roll is made again. If the next roll succeeds, then you live — and one of your nine lives is used up. If that subsequent roll fails, then another reroll is made, until either a successful roll occurs or your nine lives are used up. The Storyteller should keep careful count of how many lives the character has remaining. This merit can only be taken at character creation.

Oracular Ability (••••)

Effect: 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 Wits + Occult roll. 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. This merit can only be taken at character creation, it is considered one dot cheaper for Malkavians.

Spirit Mentor (••••)

Effect: 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. This merit can only be taken at character creation.

True Faith (•••••••)

Effect: 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 to all resolve or composure rolls as well as adds one to passive resistances based on resolve or composure. 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.