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Merits and flaws are divided into four categories: physical, mental, social and supernatural. The physical category describes merits or flaws that deal with a character's physical makeup or abilities, while the mental category addresses intellectual abilities or patterns of behavior. The social category comprises relationships and individual status in Kindred or mortal society, while supernatural merits and flaws concern the paranormal abilities of vampires and the way they interact with the physical world. 

Physical Back to top
Ambidextrous (1-pt Merit)
You have a high degree of off-hand dexterity, and you can perform tasks with the "wrong" hand at no penalty. You must still use the rules for taking multiple actions, but you do not suffer a difficulty penalty if, say, you use two weapons or are forced to use your off hand.

Eat Food (1-pt Merit)
You have the capacity to eat food and even savor its taste. While you cannot derive any nourishment from eating regular foods, this ability is useful for passing as mortal. Of course you can't digest what you eat, and there will be some point during the evening when you must force yourself to heave it back up.

Blush of Health (2-pt Merit)
You look more hale and healthy in appearance than other vampires, allowing you to blend with human society much more eaily. You still retain the color of a living mortal, and your skin feels only slightly cool to the touch. This Merit is unavailable to Cappadocians and Nosferatu

Efficient Digestion (3-pt Merit)
You are able to draw more than the usual amount of nourishment from blood. When feeding, you gain an additinal point to your blood pool for every two points of blood you consume. This Merit does not allow you to exceed your blood pool maximum.

Huge Size (4-pt Merit)
You are abnormally large in size, at least six-foot-ten and 300 pounds in weight. Aside from making extremely noticeable in public, this extra mass bestows an additional Bruised health level. Characters with this Merit may also gain bonuses to push objects, open barred doors, avoid being knocked down and so on.



Mental Back to top
Celestial Attunement (1-pt Merit)
You have an innate link to the passage of time and movement of celestial bodies. You can estimate the time until sunrise or sunset within a minute or two, and you can follow the phases of the moon in you hear. Those with some training in astrology and this Merit can even foretell certain astrological conjunctions without access to charts. You can accomplish any of these feats with only a minimum of concentration.

Common Sense (1-pt Merit)
You have significant amount of practical, everyday wisdom. Whenever the character is about to act in a way contrary to common sense, the Storyteller can make suggestions or warnings about the implications of said action. This is a very useful Merit to give to beginning players who are unfamiliar with the game.

Concentration (1-pt Merit)
You have the ability to focus your mind and shut out any distractions or annoyances. Characters with this Merit are unaffected by any penalties stemming from distracting circumstances (e.g., loud noises, haning upside down).

Eidetic Memory (2-pt Merit)
You remember what you see and hear with perfect detail. Documents, events and conversations, can be committed to memory with only minor concentration. Under stressful conditions involving numerous distractions, you must make a Perception + Alertness roll (difficulty 6) to summon enough concentration to absorb what your senses detect.

Light Sleeper (2-pt Merit)
You can awaken instantly at any sign of trouble or danger, and you can do so without any sleepiness or hesitation. You may ignore rules regarding how Road rating restricts the number of dice available during the day.



Social Back to top
Crusader (1-pt Merit)
You once donned the crusader's cross and successfully returned from the Holy Land, having done your duty to God, and those around you know it. You may well have joined the forces of Richard the Lion-Hearted and Philip Augustus in the Third Crusade, those of Andrew of Hungary in the Fifth, or those of Emperor Frederick in the Sixth. This accomplishment gives you special standing and repute among those knights, lords and ladies who never made the journey to Outrember. Jongleurs may request that you share stories that they may turn into fanciful tales, and others may ask your opinion about events in the Latin Kingdoms or Iberia.

Prestigious Sire (1-pt Merit)
Your sire has or had great status in her court or clan, and this has accorded you a certain amount of prestige. Although your sire may no longer have any dealings with you, the simple fact of your ancestry has marked you forever. This prestige might aid you greatly in dealings with your elders or other neonates, or it might engender jealousy or contempt.

Debt of Gratitude (1-3-pt Merit)
An elder owes you gratitude because of something either you or your sire did for her. The depth of gratitude the elder owes depends on how many points the player wishes to spend. One point might mean that the elder owes the character a favor; three points might mean that she owes the character her unlife.



Supernatural  Back to top
Inoffensive to Animals (1-2-pt Merit)
Unlike most Cainites, you do not cause hostile or even unsettled reactions in animals you encounter. Instead, the animals simply treat you like an ordinary human. For one point, you can avoid upsetting in a particular species. For two points, you can be inoffensive to all ordinary creatures (though those that are reowned for their affinity to the supernatural, such as black cats or owls, might still react unusually to your presence, at the Storyteller's discretion).

Medium (2-pt 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.

Arcane Resistance (2/4/5-pt Merit)
You have an inherent resistance to the rituals of one or more forms of magical rituals and practices, such as those used by the Tremere, Assamite sorcerers, Cappadocians or living wizards. For two points, you are resistant to a single form of magical practice (Assamite Sorcery, Koldunic Sorcery, Mortis, Setite Sorcery, Thaumaturgy or any one school of mortal magics). For four points, you are resistant to all magics of either the undying or mortal mages. For five points, you are resistant to them all. In any case, the difficulty of any appropriate magic directed at you, both malicious and beneficent, is two higher. This deals only with magics aimed specifically at you - a Mortis-born corpse-knight can still strike at you at no penalty, for example. Regardless of the nature of the resistance you take, you may never learn any form of magic (be it Thaumaturgy, Mortis or another).

Oracular Ability (3-pt 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 + Occult 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 again relative to the complexity of the omen.

Spirit Mentor (3-pt Merit)
You have a ghostly companion and guide. The identity and exact power of this spirit are up to the Storyteller, but it can be called upon in difficult situations for help and guidance.

Unbondable (3-pt Merit)
You are immune to the blood oath. Dominate, Presence and other forms of influence affect you just like any other vampire, however. Tremere may not take this Merit.

Lucky (3-pt 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.

True Love (4-pt Merit)
Like a character from a troubadour's song, 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 an age of darkness and despair. Whenever you suffer, the thought of your true love gives you the strength to persevere. This Merit grants you one automatic success on all Willpower rolls, which can be negated only by a botch die. This can be a great gift and also a hindrance, for your true love may require protection and occasionally rescue.

Nine Lives (5-pt Merit)
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 the 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.

Weak Aura  (2-pt Merit or Flaw)
Your personality and outlook have relatively little unintentional effect on the others. You may well be a master of Presence and other forms of manipulation, but that is all planned. Your road aura is very weak, manifesting only if you are a true exemplar or reprobate of your belief system. Your aura modifier is as follows:

Road Rating Aura Modifier

10-9	-1 difficulty
8-3	no modifier
2-1	+1 difficulty

This trait is a Merit if your starting Road trait is 4 or less, and a Flaw if it is 5 or more. The Storyteller may also rule that you do not cause unconsious Presence effects.

Potent Aura (3-pt Merit or Flaw)
The power of your own personality and outlook is such that it reaches out and affects others with disturbing ease. Others, be they mortals or vampires, get a powerful first impression of you that colors many of their interactions with you. Your road aura is significantly more powerful than that of other vampires of your outlook. Your aura modifier is as follows:

Road Rating Aura Modifier

10	-3 difficulty
9-8	-2 difficulty
7-6	-1 difficulty
5	no modifier
4-3	+1 difficulty
2	+2 difficulty
1	+3 difficulty

This trait is a Merit if your starting Road trait is 5 or more, and a Flaw if it is 4 or less.