Vampire Merits & Flaws

Vampire ONLY Merits

Cathartic Fury (2pt. Merit)
Forced to play the part of the civilized monster, you find solace and strength in periodic outbursts of rage. At the conclusion of any frenzy, roll Courage (difficulty 5). Each success restores one point of Willpower, up to your usual maximum. Vampires with this Merit still suffer degeneration for their frenzy if such anger violates the tenets of their road.

Celestial Attunement (1pt. Merit)
You have an innate link to the passage of time and the 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 your head. 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.

Enlightened (5pt. Merit)
You have detached yourself from the War of Princes and taken the first step on the bitter journey to Golconda. The difficulty of the Virtue rolls is two less than nromal. Characters must ascribe to the Virtues of Cosncience and Self-Control and have a Road rating of 8 or higher to purchase or retain this Merit. If you ever fail to meet these conditions, you lose your way and the benefits of enlightenment. Storytellers should feel free to inflict automatic degeneration on characters who abuse this Merit.

Flock (3pt. Merit)
You feel strong ties of kinship with a specific community of mortals. The difficulty to resist frenzy is always two less than normal where your flock is cnocerned, enabling you to better withstand the lure of their blood and forgive their trespasses. If you do succumb to frenzy, you may spend one Willpower point to recognize members of their flock as friends. As long as these individuals stay out of your way and do not directly provoke you, you may ignore them for the duration of the rampage. This Merit is often coupled with the Prey Exclusion Flaw. Storytellers should feel free to disallow any communities deemed unbalancing or two inclusive.

Focused Rage (1pt. Merit)
You have partially transcended the blood fury of your clan by focusing your Beast's anger. Select one frenzy condition from the chart on page 265 of Dark Ages: Vampire… When faced with that provocation, you automatically frenzy. You do not suffer the usual difficulty increase to other frenzy conditions, however. The Storyteller must approve the selected condition. Only Brujah and other vampires who suffer a similar frenzy difficulty increase may purchase this Merit.

Lion-Hearted (1pt. Merit)
In a moment of great crisis, you may call upon your honor and nobility to fortify your resolve. Once per story, you may spend a point of Willpower to substitute your Road rating for both your Self Control/Conviction and Courage for the scene. Characters who ascribe to roads that do not venerate heroism and valor may not purchase or retain this Merit, particularly those on the Road of Sin (although followers of the Via Adversarius may possess this Merit; see the Road of Sin for more information).

Meticulous Planner (2pt. Merit)
You are inhumanly through in your preparations, weighing contingencies and every course of action with cold, calculating precision. You may substitute Intelligence for Wits in any situation where your dedication may prevent you from being caught flat-footed or unprepared, and the Storyteller should occasionally give you advice as per the Common Sense merit.

Obsessive Savant (2pt. Merit)
You have a particular fixation that drives your existence, be it as esoteric as death or vampirism or as mundane as the tactics of chess. You must have one Specialty for an Ability (usually a Knowledge, though sometimes a Skill) that forms the core of your obsession. For rolls involving this specialty, you reduce the difficulty by three in addition to receiving the usual bonus die (minimum difficulty of 3). Your intensity discomforts those who do not share your obsession, adding +1 to the difficulty of most Social rolls with people who observe you indulging your hobby. Storytellers should feel free to veto any Obsessions that seem too powerful for their games.

Sanguine Lucidity (1pt. Merit)
In satiation you find sanity. Whenever your blood pool is completely full, you do not suffer the effects of any derangements. As a result, you often gorge in the futile hope that you can silence your inner demons forever. This Merit cannot suppress a Malkavian's core derangement, although it may alleviate additional madness. Sane characters may purchase this Merit, although they do not learn of their resistance unless they gain a derangement.

Unimpressed (5pt. Merit)
You have tight control over your emotions and a monstrous awareness of self. All rolls to affect you with Presence or otherwise magically tamper with your emotions add 2 to the difficulty. Only characters with Self-Control 4+ and Willpower 6+ may purchase or retain the benefits of this Merit.

Biscine (1pt. Merit)
You are unusually comfortable underwater and vastly prefer swimming to walking. You receive a -1 difficulty to all Physical dice pools related to underwater movement. This Merit is a particularly common among canal or harbor-dwelling broods of Nosferatu and the occasional aquatic Gangrel.

Bloat (1 to 5pt. Merit)
You can store more blood than your generation should allow. Every point invested in this Merit increases your maximum blood pool by one, although it does not increase the rate at which you can process or expend vitae. When you exceed your normal limits, your skin blushes red as though burned, or visibly bulges, giving you a grotesque visage (lose one die from all Appearance-based pools while in this state). Other Cainites (and beings with heightened senses) can smell the blood trying to squeeze past your pores with a successful Perception + Alertness roll (difficulty 7). This can incite frenzy in hungry vampires.

Blood Connoisseur (3pt. Merit)
With a single whiff or tasted drop, you can learn much about a given sample of blood. Your refined palette can even detect the presence of foreign substances or taint. Whenever you analyze a sample, roll Perception + Alertness (difficulty 6). Each success allows you to glean one fact about the blood, such as its potency, freshness, species or whethr it has been poisoned or contaminated with disease. If multiple successes are spent learning a single fact, additional details may be unveiled at Storyteller discretion. Note that this Merit does not confer preternatural awareness like the Rego Vitae power A Taste for Blood. Characters who have never tasted arsenic or Lupine blood cannot recognize either - although they may discern such samples as poisoned or non-human. In no case may characters discern supernatural properties like clan or generation. As always, the Storyteller determines what information a character may learn.

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

Controlled Thirst (1pt. Merit)
Regular time spent among mortals has dulled the hungers of your palette. You reduce the difficulty of any frenzy roll involving the sight, scent or taste of blood by one. You cannot frenzy from sensing blood if your blood pool is full; conversely, you lose your normal difficulty reduction if your blood pool is less than a quarter full (rounded down).

Eat Food (1pt. 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.

Efficient Digestion (3pt. Merit)
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 Merit does not allow you to exceed your blood pool maximum.

Feeding Tongue (1 to 6pt. Merit)
Your tongue extends to inhuman lengths as a bizarre instrument of feeding. It may be delicate and forked like a serpent's or a monstrous cartilaginous sipke, but the effect is the same. You can extend your tongue six inches per point invested in this Merit, and may drain blood or inflict aggravated damage without clinching your prey (as long as you are within range). Unlike traditional feeding, your tongue does not engender the pleasure of the Kiss. Such feeding is more like a giant mosquito pluging a dagger-sized needle into flesh and siphoning blood fast enough to collapse veins.

Foul Humors (3pt. Merit)
Your flesh and blood tastes bilious or outright putrescent. Anyone who bites or feeds from you must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 5 plus the number of health levels inflicted or blood points consumed). Those who fail spend the next turn choking, retching or gagging. Any fool who actually attempts to drink you dry (such as in preparation for diablerie) must make three consecutive Willpower rolls at difficulty 9 to succeed. If any of these checks fail, the feeding vampire spends the rest of the scene vomiting his entire blood pool in a fountain of tainted gore.

Heart of Bone (1 to 5pt. Merit)
Your heart is protected by a sheath of leather cartilage or warped bone. For every point invested in this Merit, you gain one extra soak die to resist staking attempts or other attacks intended to pierce the heart. These soak dice do not protect against other forms of damage.

Huge Size (4pt. Merit)
You are abnormally large in size, at least six-foot-ten and 300 pounds in weight. Aside from making you 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.

Immune to Disease (2pt. Merit)
You are preternaturally resistant to disease and may freely gorge on infected blood without risk of becoming a carrier. Only magical diseases can afflict you, and you gain an extra die to resist these unnatural maladies. Few Cainites with such resistance are aware of their gift.

Long Fingers (1pt. Merit)
Your fingers are hideously long and spidery, perhaps with extra joints, or rubbery like the tentacles of a squid. You gain one extra die on all rolls involving fine coordination or grappling.

Mark of Pure Blood (2pt. Merit)
You have a physical mark that emerged during your Embrace, akin to a birthmark. This mark is part of your lineage and helps establish credibility as an heir to power and reputation of your sire's line. Players should work with the Storyteller to define the mark, whether it is a particular tint of the eyes, an actual discolor of the skin or something more exotic. All such marks are within the bounds of natural possibility and/or easily concealed, ensuring that mortals do not automatically suspect your undead nature. While this Merit has no system per se, you are more difficult to impersonate and your mark may carry status with vampires who know its significance.

Maw (2pt. Merit)
Unlike other vampires, you have a distended maw filled with jagged, knifelike fangs. Your bite inflicts an extra die of damage, and you may drain one extra blood point each turn when feeding. Unfortunately, your teeth are obviously inhuman and cannot retract. Unless you keep your mouth closed, you suffer +2 difficulty on all Social rolls not involving Intimidation.

Patagia (4 or 7pt. Merit)
Leathery wings fold into your body like a bat or flying squirrel, hanging flaccidly like a tattered cloak when not in use unless hidden beneath bulky clothes. Although you cannot actually fly, you may glide for short distances at your normal walking speed with the aid of updrafts or strong winds. Characters with this Merit cannot have an Appearance rating greater than 2, and most suffer from the Monstrous Flaw. A few dedicated infernalists and seriously misshapen Gangrel occasionally manifest a more potent version of this Merit, conferring strong bat-like wings extending more than five yards from tip to tip. Characters with the seven-point version can fly at speeds of 20 miles per hour and perform aerial maneuvers with their Athletics, although they cannot carry objects heavier than half their own weight. Wings of this size can fold back like an elaborate cape, but they cannot be concealed without supernatural methods. Gargoyles cannot purchase any form of this Merit.

Retractable Wings (2pt. Merit)
A vampire with this Merit may take an action to extent or retract her wings. Retracted wings collapse and fold tightly against the body, allowing the character to move through tighter spaces and maneuver unencumbered. Only Gargoyles and other vampires with wings may purchase this Merit.

Supple Joints (1 or 3pt. Merit)
You are unusually lithe. For one point, you reduce the difficulty of all Dexterity rolls involving body flexibility by two (such as escaping restraints or contorting through tight spaces). For three points, you can bend most joints backward, dislocate others at will and perform feats of contortion impossible for a human body (such as turning your head to look straight back). You can escape most restraints and slither through small spaces automatically, although the Storyteller may require a roll for extreme feats.

Trained Scent (2pt. Merit)
You have an uncanny ability to smell blood that appeals to you or repulses you, even when it flows in the veins of your unsuspecting prey. This Merit only benefits Ventrue and other vampires with discerning hunger, such as through the Flaws Prey Exclusion or Selective Thirst. Sensing blood you feel strongly about requires a reflexive Perception + Alertness roll (difficulty 6), and you must actually be close enough to breathe the target's scent - usually within three yards. Picking a single target out of a crowd may require a second Wits + Alertness roll at a difficulty determined by a Storyteller.

Unmarred Face (2 to 6pt. Merit)
Even if your body is a leprous husk of pustules or a monstrous chimera of fused animals, your face remains eerily pristine. So long as your face is the only part of you that is visible, your effective Appearance rating is one dot for every two points invested in the Merit. Nosferatu characters with this Merit suffer worsened deformities in other parts of their bodies, gaining at least one physical Flaw for which they gain no points (as well as the undying scorn of their clanmates). Obviously, this Merit is useless (and not permissible) to characters without serious full-body deformity of some kind.

Warrens ( 3 pt):

It doesn't matter who is on your tail. You always know a place nearby where you can hole up and let the storm pass. At least for a little while. An abandoned crypt, a dockyard where a friend works, a basement in a pub. There is no end to your hidey holes and that is to your benefit.

Brainwashed (1 pt flaw)
Some sires, fearing apostasy from their childer, go to great lengths to force loyalty to the ideals of Alamut. During the childe's apprenticeship she is treated to intense psychological pressure to join the Path of Blood, but has not yet done so. She is on another Path, usually with a low Humanity, but may never spend experience to improve any Path other than the Path of Blood.

Control Freak (2 pt merit)
You neither need nor desire those around you to fawn over you or try to win your approval. In fact, yes-men annoy you with their weakness and pliability. That said, everyone better do what you command them to do. Now. Replace Presence with Dominate as an in-clan discipline.

Expert (5 point merit)
Your sire picked you because you were incredibly gifted in one field, such as Academics, Science, Survival, or Firearms. She was not mistaken. You are very simply the best at what you do, and the blood of Haqim you carry is happy to help. Choose any one ability at character creation and you may spend blood to increase that ability temporarily in the same manner as blood-buffing physical attributes. (V20, p.268) This merit is rare among any line other than Viziers, in whom it is nearly always tied to the Curse of Obsession. Prerequisite: at least three dots in the ability must be purchased.

Clear Sighted (6 point merit)

You can see through all levels of Kindred Obfuscate, Chimerstry and other related Disciplines or Gifts with a Perception + Alertness roll (difficulty of the opposing power's level + 3).

Nightsight (3pt Merit)
You can see in near total darkness. This odd gift may come from an arcane power, an affinity to darkness, or some faint relation to the catfolk. So long as some light source exisits, your vision remains acute. Really bad conditions might demand a Perc + Alert roll, but under most circumstances, you can see as well by night as you can by cloudy daylight. Bright lights, especially sudden ones, dazzle you for a turn or so, perhaps longer if the light is really blinding, otherwise, your sight is fairly normal, not enhanced.

Adopted Into Grace (1pt. Merit)
Despite her lineage, you have been accepted by local members of the High Clans as a noble, or at least worthy of respect. Unfortunately, your own clanmates see you as a pretentious toady. The difficulty of all Social rolls involving other Cainites, who know of your reputation increases or decreases by 1, depending on which class you are interacting with. Characters must have at least one dot of Status to purchase this Merit. The benefits of this Merit only extend as far as the character's reputation - seldom more than a single city.

Alternate Identity (1 to 5pt. Merit)
You have established a false persona that stands up to scrutiny and investigation. The quality and detail of this face depends on the number of points invested in the Merit. For one point, your identity is new or intended for casual use only. At two points, it takes determined effort to reveal your ruse. For three points, your false name is known in several cities. At four points, your identity is widely known and respected. For five points, you can even deceive the most paranoid elders. Although the difficulty of any Investigation to determine your true identity equals your Alternate Identity rating +5, it is up to you to actively maintain your persona. Characters with more than one false face must purchase this Merit multiple times.

Crusader (1pt. 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 Outremer. 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.

Debt of Gratitude (1 to 3pt. 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.

Former Ghoul (3pt. Merit)
You spent a number of years as a ghoul prior to receiving the Embrace. As such, you have a better understanding of Cainite society and the powers of the Blood. The difficulty of all rolls to recall such information is 2 less than normal. In addition, you may purchase Potence with your starting Discipline dots, although it is not considered a Clan Discipline unless that is normally the case.

Former Magus (1pt. Merit or Flaw)
In life you were a mage, able to reshape creation with the force of your will. That power is lost to you now, replaced with the curse of Caine. Yet you have not sundered all ties to your former Fellowship. If this trait is a Merit, a few of your mystical associates still talk to you. They probably won't give you access to their libraries or let you into their sanctums, but they pass along information from time to time and exchange favors when it suits them. If this trait is a Flaw, your former associates view you as a liability. They might not actively hunt you (unless you also take the Enemy flaw), but they regard you as a monster and traitor and treat you accordingly. This trait is extremely rare outside Clan Tremere.

Harmless (1pt. Merit)
You are well known to the Cainites of your city as ineffectual and useless. While this estimation may seem insulting, it also keeps you safe. No one considers you a threat, and so no one feels the need to dispose of you. If you start acting in a way that demonstrates you are competant and no longer harmless, others' reactions to you will swiftly change.

Master of Protocol (1pt. Merit)
Your sire or another mentor has laboriously tutored you in most forms of etiquette, even customs outside your own culture and time. You likely know the proper greeting for a Roman senator or the appropriate bow for a caliph as easily as the titles of address within your own kingdom. As such, you may learn as many Etiquette specialties as your Intelligence + Etiquette, and you receive a –1 difficulty to any Etiquette roll involving those specialties.

Network (1 to 5pt. Merit)
You have an impressive web of contacts and agents that extends beyond a single city. Better still, they serve you skillfully and subtly beneath the notice of the High Clans, making you far more formidable than you appear. Your Network reaches one extra city per point invested in this Merit. Upon arriving anywhere in the bounds of your Network, you gain access to your full rating in Allies, Contacts, Herd and Retainers at the rate of one dot per night (although obviously any Retainers thus gained are not initially ghouls, whether or not the Retainers in your home city are). You may also communicate with agents in other cities via correspondence, although they can only serve the role of Contacts. This Merit is most common among Followers of Set and Nosferatu.

Prestigious Sire (1pt. 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. The prestige might aid you greatly in dealings with your elders or other neonates, or it might engender jealousy or contempt.

Pretender to the Blood (1pt. Merit)
You have successfully passed yourself off as a member of the High Clans, at last locally. As such, you receive acceptance from the aristocracy and suffer none of the stigma associated with your actual ancestry. You can expect terrible retribution if your ruse is discovered.

Scarred (1pt. Merit)
Whether a result of battle wounds or religious practices, your body is heavily adorned with scars. These scars do not interfere with your movement or sensation, nor are they ugly enough to reduce your Appearance. However, anyone who beholds you recognizes you as someone intimately familiar with pain and violence. You reduce the difficulties of all Intimidation rolls by two. As a rule, town drunks are less inclined to quarrel with you and most individuals will assume you know how to fight (whether or not you actually do). This Merit can also reflect branding, tattooing or other rarer markings at Storyteller discretion.

Secrets (1 to 5pt. Merit)
You know something important — probably something you shouldn’t know. You may use this secret for blackmail or simply file it away for use in some future night. The rating of this Merit determines the importance and detail of this secret. A one-point Secret may be the confirmed existence of a spy from a rival vampire court (without knowing the spy’s identity). Five points means you know the spy is none other than the prince himself, or rather, a fleshcrafted doppelganger created by the Tzimisce to destabilize the court in preparation for their invasion. The player should work with the Storyteller to determine the secret, or simply trust the Storyteller to select a secret appropriate to the story. As always, the Storyteller should feel free to disallow secrets that are not appropriate to his games. Note that this Merit can also reflect clan Secrets, such as the resting place of a torpid elder or a particular koldunic ritual known to a select bloodline.

Unbroken Lineage (1 or 2pt. Merit)
You can perfectly recite your lineage back to your Antediluvian progenitor. If this Merit is worth only one point, noble Cainites accept your recitation and treat you more favorably as a true keeper of the Traditions. If this Merit is worth two points, your bloodline has sufficient prestige to warrant an extra dot of Status that remains as long as none of your direct ancestors rejects you. Even if you err and lose face, you always have at least one dot of Status from your birthright.

Well-Known (Variable Cost Merit)
Word of your exploits and lineage has spread through the society of the Damned. As a result, your Status applies in a number of additional cities equal to the points invested in this Merit. Should you fail in some task or lose favor with your Prince, however, word of that disgrace will spread just as quickly. Fame is ever fickle. Characters must have at least one dot of Status to purchase this Merit.

Animal Affinity (2pt. Merit)
You feel ties of kinship with a particular animal species. Such creature are not discomforted by your presence and generally like you (-1 difficulty to all pertinent Animal Ken rolls). In addition, Gangrel characters with this Merit only gain animal features associated with their "totem" animal.

Arcane (1 to 5pt. Merit)
You are mystically unknowable, shrouded from notice and record by the vagaries of circumstance and disinterest. Those who see you seldom care enough to remember you later. For every point invested in this Merit, subtract one die from any dice pool used to search for you actively (typically Perception and/or Investigation). Being anonymous isn’t the same as being invisible, however, and Arcane does not aid in Stealth rolls or other active attempts to hide. Characters with Influence or Status may not purchase Arcane or vice versa, and Arcane can also prove a detriment to other Backgrounds. Mentors may well lose interest in an Arcane pupil, for example. This Merit is less common among the status-conscience members of the High Clans than among the Low, though a disproportionate number of True Brujah possess it (which leads some to wonder how many Sages truly exist). It is thought that meddling with time can make time itself forget the meddler.

Arcane Resistance (2, 4 or 5pt. 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).

Blazing Demise (1pt. Merit)
If you suffer Final Death, your body will instantly erupt into consuming fire. This spontaneous combustion sets flammable objects alight and inflicts three dice of aggravated damage on anything within a foot of your demise. As a result, you leave no evidence for witch hunters and may enact petty vengeance on your murderer from beyond the grave.

Discipline Prodigy (5pt. Merit)
You are especially skilled in the use of one of your clan Disciplines. The difficulty to use any level of this Discipline is reduced by 1, although this Merit can never reduce the difficulty of any roll below 4. Characters may purchase this Merit only once and gain no benefit when using Discipline techniques. Prodigies of Koldunic Sorcery or other forms of blood sorcery reduce the difficulty of all paths and rituals. Prodigies of Obtenebration also find Abyss rituals easier.

Gifts of the Beast (Variable Cost Merit)
Your Beast has a terrible awareness and power all its own that emerges when its wrath or fear overtakes you. You may select additional Traits that manifest only during frenzy or Rötschreck, as approved by the Storyteller. Such Beast Traits cost two fewer bonus points than normal, to a minimum cost of 1, and must be instinctive or physical in nature. In the case of Disciplines, only physical Disciplines are permitted (Celerity, Fortitude or Potence), even if they are not normally associated with your clan. Beast Traits are cumulative with normal traits, although they cannot exceed generational limits. Additional Beast Traits may not be gained or increased with experience. For example, the Toreador Justinius is normally quiet and reserved. When his slumbering Beast awakens, however, its speed and killing prowess possess him. He gains an additional dot of Celerity and Dexterity and three dots of Brawl. The total cost of the Merit is 10 bonus points (7 – 2 for the Celerity, 5 – 2 for the Dexterity, and 2 – 2, minimum 1 for each dot of Brawl).

Guardian Angel (6pt. Merit)
Some supernatural force watches over you and protects you from harm. You have no idea who or what it is or why it watches over you - in fact, you may not even know your guardian exists at all. However, in times of great need, peculiar circumstances defend you from harm. You have no control over this Merit and your protector cannot save you from your own recklessness. The Storyteller should decide why you are being watched and by what, keeping in mind your road and background. An actual angel is unlikely to intervene on behalf of an adherent to the Road of Sin, although a devilish thaumaturge might well have a demon or other malevolent entity looking out for him.

Hidden Amaranth (3pt. Merit)
Should you commit the foul sin of Amaranth, your halo will not betray your crime. This Merit cannot shroud a diablerist's aura of unease, nor can it protect against the divinations of blood sorcery. Assamites of the warrior caste cannot take this Merit.

Inoffensive to Animals (1 or 2pt. 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 a particular species. For two points, you can be inoffensive to all ordinary creatures (though those that are renowned for their affinity to the supernatural, such as black cats or owls, might still react unusually to your presence, at the Storyteller's discretion).

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.

Nine Lives (6pt. 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 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.

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 + 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.

Personal Aura (2pt. Merit)
You do not project the aura associated with your road. Instead, your aura reflects some deeper aspect of your Nature or personality. You may choose the aura associated with any road or design your own (subject to Storyteller approval), calculating your aura modifier according to your permanent Willpower.

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 you is 2 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.

Pure Blood (5pt. Merit)
The Curse of Caine runs strongly in your veins. You may spend one more blood point per turn than your generation should permit. You look especially pale and drawn under Soulsight and yet oddly flushed with abundant health.

Sanctifying Kiss (2pt. Merit)
Your lips have a particular crimson luster like roses or fine wine. Whenever you kiss someone, you leave traces of sweet vitae behind. This secretion is not sufficient to create a ghoul or sire progeny, although you may surreptitiously administer the blood oath if you kiss on the mouth or touch your lips to an open cut. It requires a Perception + Alertness roll (difficulty 8) to notice the slight taste of your blood.

Sleep Unseen (2pt. Merit)
By spending a blood point, you can unconsciously maintain your Obfuscate Discipline during the day. Observers will ignore your sleeping form according to the power used, making you all but undetectable to mortals and vampires without Auspex. Characters without Obfuscate may purchase this Merit, representing an innate capacity that manifests if they ever learn the Discipline.

Sweet Blood (1pt. Merit)
Your vitae tastes like the finest wine, sweet and heady without the slightest trace of salt or metallic tang. As such, you may hide your blood in a chalice or feed ghouls without betraying the true nature of their draught.

Vampire ONLY Flaws

Atrophied Heart (4pt. Flaw)
You have grown cold and aloof, emotionally detached from the ever-changing world around you. You certainly understand good and evil as philosophical concepts, but morality is no longer something you feel with any passion. As a result, you add 2 to the difficulty of any degeneration check and pay double the usual experience to raise Compassion/Conviction or Road. True Brujah may not purchase this Flaw.

Deep Sleeper (1pt. Flaw)
When you sleep, it is very difficult for you to awaken. The difficulty of any die roll to awaken during the day increases by two.

Degenerate (Variable Cost Flaw)
You have already begun your descent into the jaws of the Beast. Reduce your starting Road rating by one dot per point awarded by this Flaw. Characters may not begin play with a lower Road rating than their Conscience/Conviction.

Deranged (2pt. Flaw)
Either a pre-existing condition or trauma of damnation has sown madness in you. You begin play with a serious derangement that dogs you in your undying existence (see the side bar for a list of possible afflictions). It is possible for you to get over this madness in play (a long and arduous task). Malkavians may take this Flaw to represent an additional derangement beyond the one endemic to their blood.

Enraptured by Beauty (3pt. Flaw)
Your preternatural senses and aesthetics find beauty supernaturally enthralling. Whenever you encounter music, art or even a pretty face that appeals to your tastes, you fall into trancelike reverie until the object leaves your senses or the scene ends. You may not even break away to defend yourself, though an attack permits a new roll to resist. Characters with this Flaw may avoid or break free of rapture with a Self-Control or Instinct roll (difficulty 6). Toreador may not purchase this Flaw.

Fierce Bigot (2pt. Flaw)
You hold particular hatred or disdain for a specific class or community of mortals, most likely the common rabble of serfs and servants. You make all frenzy checks at +2 difficulty around such individuals and always attack them first if you do succumb to frenzy.

Flesh Eater (4pt. Flaw)
It is not enough for you to draw nourishment from the blood of mortals - you believe you must also consume your victim's heart, liver and other blood-rich tissue. Of course, this will necessitate the deaths of all your victims (unless you are extremely creative), which might lead to numerous problems with the herd and with your own conscience (and road). Characters with this Flaw must additionally purchase the Eat Food Merit.

Moon Mad (2pt. Flaw)
Your temper waxes and wanes with the phases of the moon. Under the crescent moon, difficulties to avoid frenzy increase by one. This difficulty modifier rises to two under a half or gibbous moon, and three under a full moon. There is no difficulty modifier during the new moon.

Noble Arrogance (1pt. Flaw)
You have never known an existence other than privilege and wealth, either in life or undeath. You fervently believe in your innate superiority over mere mortals and the riffraff of the Low Clans, perhaps too much. You cannot believe that your inferiors could ever pose a real threat. As such, you are prone to underestimating adversaries of lesser station and your haughty bearing adds 2 to the difficulty of all Social rolls to interact with those you perceive as beneath you. Characters must have at least two dots of Status to purchase this Flaw.

Poor Taste (1pt. Flaw)
Your aesthetic runs counter to that of society, or perhaps you really are simply a tasteless cretin with pretensions of class. In either case, you add 1 to the difficulty of Social rolls involving mainstream artists or critics. Intimidation rolls suffer also with this penalty — you are graceless even at the art of fear.

Prey Exclusion (1pt. Flaw)
You refuse to hunt a certain class of prey. You might refuse to feed upon peasants, women, priests or poets. If you accidentally feed upon such an individual, you automatically frenzy and must make a roll to prevent a Road loss (difficulty 7). Witnessing other Cainites feeding on the object of your exclusion might also provoke a frenzy, at the Storyteller's discretion. Ventrue may take this Flaw to represent an additional, self-imposed prey limitation beyond that imposed by their clan weakness.

Religious Prohibition (2 or 4pt. Flaw)
You have retained your faith through the Embrace, and you suffer because your beleifs prohibit drinking the blood you need to survive. You may have lived as a believer in Islam or Judaism (both of which explicitly ban blood-drinking) or even as one of the strictly vegetarian Cathar perfecti. As even animal blood is a forbidden substance to you, your conscience pricks whenever you feed. In the two-point version of this Flaw, you voluntarily restrict your feeding to animals or blood that has been drained by a ritual butcher. At four points, you refuse to feed unless it is an immediate necessity (blood pool is three or less), and even then, you may fall victim to depression and self-loathing for several nights after the forbidden act. Most vampires with Flaw are on the Road of Heaven, and they might also have the Outspoken Pagan/Heretic Flaw.

Selective Thirst (4pt. Flaw)
Your aristocratic palette prefers the taste of a particular “vintage” of mortal blood, even to the point of spurning all other flavors. You may favor the delicate nectar of youthful virgins, the robust draught of the Norse or the touch of piety in a priest’s veins. Whatever your tastes, you may drink only from mortals who meet your criteria. All other blood tastes foul and rancid to you, and you will immediately vomit it like mortal food even in the throes of frenzy. Even your exacting sensibilities find Cainite blood sweet to the taste, no matter its source. Ventrue may not purchase this Flaw.

Suicidal Beast (6pt. Flaw)
Some part of your withered soul recognizes your damnation. Perhaps your Beast repents its hunger, or your self-destructive impulse overrides its instincts. Whenever you are in a position to check for Rotschreck, roll Courage as normal. However, failure does not lead to the Red Fear. Instead you seek out the source of danger and embrace destruction - seizing a torch by the flames or dashing into the sunlight. It is possible for characters with this Flaw to develop "normal" survival instincts in play, but never easy.

Territorial (2pt. Flaw)
You are extremely territorial, staking out a particular area as your domain and reacting aggressively to trespassers. If another vampire enters your territory uninvited, you must make a frenzy roll. If you fail, you immediately attack the interloper and continue attacking until the intruder is dead or has left your hunting grounds. You are reluctant to leave your domain except in desperate circumstances. It is possible (but not common) to take this Flaw without taking the Domain Background, in which case your absolute claim to territory is not at all recognized by other vampires.

Vengeful (2pt. Flaw)
You have a score to settle, incurred either during your mortals days or after the Embrace. You are obsessed with taking your revenge on an individual or group, and it is your overriding priority in any situation in which you encounter the object of your revenge. You may temporarily resist your need for vengeance by spending a Willpower point.

Wanderlust (4pt. Flaw)
Like Caine himself, you are cursed to wander the Earth, never finding succor or rest until God Himself grants it to you. You may only sleep three consecutive days in the same one-mile area. If you surpass this limit, each successive day leads to cumulative halving of all dice pools (to a minimum score of 1 in any pool). You do not suffer this agitation in torpor. Gangrel of the Anda bloodline cannot purchase this Flaw.

13th Generation (2pt. Flaw)
Your sire was one of the 12th generation, long thought unable to sire. The fact that you rose from the dead may even have come as a shock to him, and it certainly concerns any elders who put stock in a prophecy (in other words, most of them). You may be a clanless Caitiff or may carry your sire's clan, but you are likely seen as something less than proper among the High Clans. Thirtheenth-generation vampires must at least take the Cannot Embrace Flaw, but almost all suffer from Weak Blood.

Bloodrot (3pt. Flaw)
You are afflicted with an insidious form of decay that blackens your skin and veins with mold as it slowly devours your unliving flesh. You may not have an Appearance rating higher than 1 and you suffer three dice of unsoakable lethal damage upon arising each night at dusk. Although your disease is not contagious, your mildewed visage makes other Cainites uneasy and inflicts the same Social penalties as Leprosy in civilized company unless you take great pains to cover yourself. This Flaw is worth only one point to Nosferatu and other monstrous vampires.

Face of the Beast (2pt. Flaw)
The Beast Within emerges in times of hunger or stress, twisting your visage into a monstrous caricature of human form. Your Appearance rating can never exceed your current blood pool. In addition, you must roll Self-Control (difficulty 6) whenever you are subject to stress. This is in addition to any checks for frenzy. If you fail, your Appearance drops to zero for the rest of the scene. Characters with this Flaw who follow Instinct automatically assume their bestial visage if provoked, as do those who actually succumb to frenzy.

Flesh of the Corpse (5pt. Flaw)
Your flesh does not fully regenerate itself once it is damaged. While you are able to heal yourself to the point of regaining full functionality, your skin still retains the cuts, tears and wounds you have incurred. Depending on the nature of the damage, this Flaw will make social dealings exceedingly difficult.

Infested (4 or 7pt. Flaw)
Foul creatures live on or inside you; possibilities include worms, maggots, lice, ticks, mosquitos or something stranger, like bloodsucking fungus. Alternately, a cloud of buzzing flies or other insects perpetually follows you around. Truly wretched souls may even suffer both versions of this Flaw for seven points, with flying insects crawling in and out of their orifices at inopportune moments. If you play host to haemovores, roll one die when you awaken at dusk. Divide the result by 3, rounding up, and subtract that many blood points from your pool. This blood loss cannot drive you into torpor; the worst that can happen is that you awaken in hunger frenzy. In addition, the constant itching makes you irritable, adding +1 to the difficulty of all Self-Control rolls. If you trail clouds of flies, the insects subtract one die from most Social rolls. Additionally, their constant buzzing announces your presence, adding +2 to the difficulty of all Stealth attempts.

Leper (2 or 3pt. Flaw)
Before you were Embraced, you suffered from leprosy or a skin disease that might be easily confused with leprosy. Your Appearance may be no higher than 2, and your flesh is marred by rashes, pale patches, festering sores, scars and so on. Your skin disease, whatever it actually is, is obvious to any who look upon you. Mortal authorities refuse you entry to any city, and you are treated with fear and revulsion. You may be compelled to dress in a specific manner and even carry castanets or other devices to announce your coming. In the three-point version, your condition is still contagious. Although it cannot have any further effects on your unliving form, you may transmit it to those upon whom you feed. This Flaw is worth only one point to Nosferatu, and then only if your disease is contagious.

Mask of Everyman (3pt. Flaw or 2pt. Merit)
You have no face to call your own. Every sunset you awaken with a new visage, an amalgamation drawn from memory and imagination. Your attractiveness and outward sex remain constant, but your apparent ethnicity and features are utterly protean. You can use Malleable Visage and a looking glass or other reflective surface to reconstruct your true face from memory, but this requires at least three successes at difficulty 8 to make you recognizable and five successes for a flawless copy. Characters must have at least one dot of Vicissitude to purchase this Trait. Although this Trait is normally a Flaw for vampires concerned with maintaining recognition and reputation, it may be a Merit for fiends on the run from vengeful sires or witch hunters.

Monstrous (3pt. Flaw)
Your physical form was twisted during the Embrace, and it now reflects the Beast that rages inside you. Characters with the Flaw appear to be savage or disgusting monsters, and they have Appearance ratings of 0. Nosferatu may not take this Flaw ass it is already their clan weakness.

Permanent Wound (3pt. Flaw)
You suffered injuries during your Embrace that your transformation somehow failed to repair. At the beginning of each night, you rise from sleep at the Wounded health level, although you may not heal this nagging damage by spending blood points.

Poor Digestion (5pt. Flaw)
Generations of royal inbreeding and minimal activity in life have left you inform in undeath… Your frail constitution has greater difficulty drawing nourishment from human or animal blood, requiring you to drink two blood points for every one added to your blood pool. Cainite blood still affords full nourishment, which may well lead you to the forbidden hunger of the Amaranth.

Ragged Bite (2pt. Flaw)
Unlike most other Cainites, you lack the ability to lick the wounds of your feeding closed. Instead, you leave raw puncture wounds in the flesh of your prey. These wounds also have a one-in-five chance of becoming diseased. The Storyteller determines the precise nature of the infection.

Slow Healing (3pt. Flaw)
You have difficulty healing wounds. It requires two blood points to heal one health level of normal damage, and you heal one health level of normal damage, and you heal one health level of aggravated damage every five days (plus the usual five blood points and Willpower expenditure).

Smell of the Grave (1pt. Flaw)
You exude an odor of dampness and newly turned earth, which no amount of scents or perfumes will cover. Mortals in your immediate presence become uncomfortable, so the difficulties of most Social rolls to affect mortals increase by one. Characters on the Road of Humanity with this Flaw subtract one from their aura rating (so a +1 becomes a 0, a -1 becomes a -2, etc.).

Stench (2pt. Flaw)
Even for a society skeptical of bathing, you stink. No one willingly stands downwind of you, and even Nosferatu find you revolting. You lose two dice from most Social and Stealth rolls unless you are standing several yards downwind of your target. In addition, anyone within a yard of you must reflexively roll Stamina at difficulty 6 (or 8 for individuals with a heightened sense of small). Those who fail lose one die from all actions due to overwhelming nausea until they withdraw from your immediate presence.

Unblinking Vigil (1pt. Flaw)
Your eyes do not close - ever. Perhaps you stared too deeply into the Abyss or fleshcrafted away your eyelids for better alertness. Your quirk probably makes astute observers uncomfortable (+1 to the difficulty of friendly social interactions with anyone whose player makes a successful Perception + Alertness roll at difficulty 8 to notice).

Visage of Death (2pt. Flaw)
You bear the stamp of death on your face and pallor, revealing the truth of your undead state for all to see. You cannot mimic the "flush of life" that other cainites may evince, and your corpse like mien adds one to the difficulty of all Social rolls not based on Intimidation. Cappadocians may not purchase this Flaw.

Apostate (2pt. Flaw)
You have publicly recanted one of the vampiric roads in order to step onto your current one. Changing roads is not uncommon in the early years unlife, but you have done so in an especially spectacular way - perhaps accusing your former faith of being false or ridiculously former teachers. You carry the stigma of a traitor among your former fellow travelers, while your new co-religionists still wonder if you are truly committed to their faith. You must work twice as hard to receive half the recognition of others.

Blood Hunted (2 or 4pt. Flaw)
You have been made the target of a blood hunt. Should you return to your home city, you risk immediate destruction. For two points, this Flaw only applies to your home city. For four, the hunt extends anywhere your prince has allies. Hunts of such magnitude are only called against the most heinous criminals among the Damned.

Botched Presentation (2pt. Flaw)
When you were presented to the prince of the city, you breached protocol or embarrassed yourself in some spectacular fashion. Your error may have been forgiven - or not, depending on other Flaws - but you are convinced that Her Majesty hates you. You must roll Willpower (difficulty 7) to stand in front of the prince or her designated representative without running, sniveling or otherwise acting like a fool.

Dark Secret (1pt. Flaw)
You have some sort of secret that, if uncovered be of immense embarrassment to you and would make you a pariah in the local Cainite community. This could be anything from having murdered an elder to being a secret member of the Cainite Heresy.

Disgrace to the Blood (2pt. Flaw)
You were Embraced into the nobility of a High Clan. You were given power and prestige befitting your birthright — and you failed. You are now considered among the rabble of the Low Clans, when you are considered at all. You may eventually return to grace, but redemption won’t be easy. You must work twice as hard to atone for your prior failure. Obviously, you may not begin play with any Status.

Enemy (1 to 5pt. Flaw)
You have an enemy, or perhaps a group of enemies, who seek to harm you. The power of the enemy depends upon how many points the player wishes to spend. (Five points indicate the wrath of a Methusulah, arch-magus or other potent supernatural foe.)

Former Cat's-Paw (2pt. Flaw)
You have done dirty work for an important Cainite in the past - maybe an elder or even a prince. However, instead of granting you favor, your patron now sees you as a liability to her interests. For the moment, your former employer is content to keep you quiet with veiled threats. If you continue to make a nuisance of yourself, however, she will use more drastic measures to silence you.

Infamous Sire (1pt. Flaw)
Your sire was, and perhaps still is, distrusted and disliked by many of the local Cainites. As a result, you are distrusted and disliked as well. The stigma follows you even if you repudiate your sire. One cannot escape one's blood.

Oathbreaker (4pt. Flaw)
You are a known defector. You turned traitor to your former liege and you still have much to prove before you are accepted by the Cainites you have defected to. Elders, ancillae, and even neonates treat you with distrust and even hostility, and your reputation might even sully those whom you regularly associate with.

Prestigious Rival (1 to 5pt. Flaw)
Your success has earned you the enmity of another noble Cainite. Your rival may outright hate you for some real or imagined grievance or simply enjoy the challenge of bringing you low. Treat this adversary as an Enemy (Dark Ages: Vampire p. 306), save that she has equal status among the Damned and never moves against you openly. As such, you cannot strike her directly without risking the wrath of your prince. This Flaw is worth a number of points equal to the Status rating of the character purchasing it. Characters without Status may not purchase this Flaw.

Scapegoat (4pt. Flaw)
Whenever anything goes wrong, you are the first suspect. Actual guilt is irrelevant; you are the local Cainite whipping boy and everyone knows it. You cannot ever gain the Status background unless you somehow change your reputation - and that will be a Herculean feat. Even if you move to another city, your tainted reputation follows you.

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

Uncouth (1pt. Flaw)
Even for a peasant or foreigner, you have extremely poor manners and an equally tarnished reputation. Depending on your Charisma, other lower-class individuals may spit as you pass or laugh at your bawdy humor, but aristocrats and Cainites of the High Clans are not amused. When interacting with your betters, you cannot have more dice in a Social pool than twice your Status Background. The Storyteller may waive this limit if crudeness serves your intent (such as Intimidation attempts). This Flaw should be roleplayed constantly.

Animate Shadow (3pt. Flaw)
Your shadow has a bizarre unlife of its own, reaching out with claws to grasp the shadows of those around you in a parody of feeding or billowing to a demonic mien when frenzy threatens to overtake you. Some Lasombra believe this curse afflicts only those who delve too deeply into the mysticism of the Abyss; others attribute it to infernal pacts, the wrath of God or a shameful lack of self-control. Regardless, you lose two dice from all Social rolls with other Lasombra who know of your problem. This Flaw occasionally manifests among vampires who do not belong to the Clan of Shadows, but such accursed individuals invariably disappear under mysterious circumstances, perhaps swallowed by their own alien darkness.

Beast in the Mirror (1 or 2pt. Flaw)
Whenever you stare into a reflective surface, you see your Beast leering back at you. If this horror is visible to you alone, this Flaw is worth only one point. If mirrors betray your monstrous nature to everyone, this Flaw is worth two points. even at the one-point intensity, magi and other gifted souls may occasionally glimpse your true nature for a moment. Even ordinary mortals can sense there is something faintly wrong with you, adding +1 to the difficulty of most Social rolls if they have ever seen your reflection.

Blood Madness (2 or 4pt. Flaw)
The curse that the infernal Baali bloodline laid upon the Assamite warrior caste has fallen on your head, and you are plagued with an unending hunger for the blood of other Cainites. Whenever you taste Cainite blood, you must make a Self-Control roll (difficulty 8) or you fall into a hunger frenzy in which you will do anything to gorge upon as much blood as physically possible. If you follow a road that teaches Instinct, you are instantly lost to this frenzy. No roll is possible, and the Flaw is worth four points. You often find yourself thinking of other Cainites - even Children of Haqim - as potential vessels rather than equals. This Flaw is mainly found among the Assamite warrior caste. It is much rarer among sorcerers and viziers, only affecting those who have partaken of warrior vitae or who spend the majority of their time associating with warriors. It is almost (but not wholly) unknown among the other clans.

Bound to the Earth (4pt. Flaw)
You feel a deep mystical connection with the earth and must rest amid two or more handfuls of soil from a place of personal significance. The dirt may come from your homeland or your empty grave, as befits your attachment. Every day of rest that you forgo such contact cumulatively halves all dice pools until all actions use a single die. This Flaw occasionally manifests among blood sorcerers as a result of botched magic, tying a vampire to a grave he violated for a ritual component or the tainted soil of Kupala’s domain. Tzimisce may not purchase this Flaw.

Can't Cross Running Water (4pt. Flaw)
You cannot cross running water without suffering physical pain and riling up the Beast. In order to cross any body of water that is two feet wide or more and not completely stagnant, you must roll Courage (difficulty 6-8, depending on the size of the body of water). Failure means you refuse to cross, while a botch throws you into Rotschreck. Success allows you to cross, but not without pain. You take one level of unsoakable bashing damage per turn of the crossing. If you actually wade into the water instead of using a bridge, the damage is aggravated.

Cannot Embrace (2pt. Flaw)
Either due to your high generation or because of some other factor, you cannot pass on the Curse of Caine to another. No matter how much of your vitae you feed to a freshly drained mortal, she does not rise as one of the undying. It's altogether possible for a character not to know that she can't Embrace until the moment of truth, when a potential childe lies dead at her feet. This Flaw is common among the 12th generation. In fact, until recently, most thought that no 12th generation vampire could sire. You can still create ghouls and blood oaths as normal.

Cast No Reflection (1pt. Flaw)
You actually cast no reflection. This can have a very detrimental effect trying to pass as a human. Vampires of Clan Lasombra automatically have this Flaw at no point benefit (and you may be mistaken for one of them if you possess it).

Darksight (2pt. Merit or Flaw)
At will, you may invert the meaning of light and dark to your eyes. This requires a turn of concentration and a successful Perception + Alertness roll (difficulty 7). With Darksight active, you may view pitch-black darkness as though it were brightly and uniformly lit, while torches cast a radiance that obscures perception in the manner that darkness interferes with normal senses. The significance of colors likewise inverts, lending a surreal hue to the world without interfering with your ability to separate hues. All penalties for partial darkness instead apply to weak illumination, and the absolute emptiness of sunlight and similarly bright radiance blinds you (and burns you, in the case of sunlight). The Merit does not allow you to see through mystical shadows, such as those produced by Obtenebration. As a Flaw, your Darksight is permanent; you will never again view the universe through any semblance of human vision.

Demon-hounded (1 to 4pt. Flaw)
A demon from below has taken a special interest in you. It appears to you occasionally, using threats, bribes or honeyed words to win you to its cause. Sometimes it just asks you to perform innocuous favors. Sometimes it asks you to become its eternal servant. Sometimes it offers favors or information without any apparent catch. In any case, it is not your interests it serves, but those of its diabolical masters. For some reason, the demon sees you as an especially useful tool for ensnaring the mortal souls it craves, and although it may occasionally provide you with a short-term benefit, you are disposable to it. At some point in the chronicle, it is likely to try to dispose of you in some decidedly uncomfortable fashion. The details of the demon and its personality are largely up to the Storyteller, but the point level determines some generalities. A minor demon (1pt. Flaw) may be an annoying imp, incapable of doing anything more than distracting you, thieving small items and pleading for souls. Its plans are unimpressive, but they can be frustrating. A greater creature (4pt. Flaw) is your physical equal, and it can concoct horribly devious plans to make you its slave.

Eerie Presence (2pt. Flaw)
Mortals have an unconscious awareness of your undead nature, which makes them anxious and ill at east in your presence. Because of this, difficulties of all die rolls relating to social interaction with mortals are increased by two.

False Amaranth (3pt. Flaw)
Your halo always shows the blackened marks of Amaranth, even if you have never committed diablerie. Perhaps your sire was a habitual diablerist, or perhaps in the throes of frenzy, you almost committed the foul act yourself. Assamites of the warrior caste cannot take this flaw.

Grip of the Damned (4pt. Flaw)
There is no ecstasy in your Embrace - only terror and pain. Mortals upon whom you feed struggle and shriek all the while as you attempt to feed, requiring you to grapple with them for as long as you wish to take their blood. Depending on the vampire's road and rating, this may cause a degeneration roll, at the discretion of the Storyteller.

Hand of Hades (5pt. Flaw)
You exude the spiritual blight of death. Insects die if they fly too near you, while most small plants shrivel and die within a foot of your presence. Even large trees take on blight in the places you touch. Larger animals, including humans, suffer one level of lethal damage for every hour they spend in close proximity to you. Such damage has no outward sign, manifesting as inexplicable weakness. This nepenthe also sets mortals and even vampires ill at ease, adding 1 to the difficulty of all Social rolls not involving Intimidation. Unlike the Flaw Touch of Frost (Dark Ages: Vampire p. 309), you really do leave a swath of desiccated grass and leaves as you pass. Cappadocians may take this Flaw in place of their normal clan curse, in which case they receive only two points and suffer their usual social difficulties, but may vainly show a “flush of life” if they so desire. Cappadocians who take this Flaw in addition to their clan curse receive the usual number of bonus points and cumulatively sum their Social penalties, adding +2 to the difficulty of all Social rolls not involving Intimidation.

Harbinger of the Abyss (5pt. Flaw)
You are a conduit to the ultimate darkness that lies Beyond. Lights dim in your presence and shadows rustle at the edge of vision in dire anticipation of your blasphemy. Small fires extinguish when you draw close and the chill of the Void is in your touch. Your player must roll your Obtenebration rating against the soak difficulty of any mundane flame within two yards of you. This roll is reflexive and mandatory, and success extinguishes the flame. This dimming is in addition to suffering the effects of Touch of Frost and Eerie Presence (Dark Ages: Vampire pp. 308–9). The Flaw conveys one benefit: Your unnatural radiance reduces the difficulty of all Intimidation rolls by 3, to a minimum difficulty of 4. Characters must have at least one dot of Obtenebration to purchase this Flaw.

Initiate to the Road (1pt. Flaw)
You are a newcomer to your chosen road of enlightenment and have yet to face your first moment of truth upon it. Although you understand the road's tenets and teachings on an intellectual level, you haven't put them to the test against the Beast, so you cannot claim the mantle of a true adherent. This may be the result of having only been recently Embraced or having just changed roads, in which case the Apostate Flaw may be appropriate. You do not have the aura tied to your road, and you face a +1 difficulty penalty in resisting frenzy and Rotschreck, but you do have an easier time changing roads if you wish to do so.

Killed by Staking (2 or 5pt. Flaw)
Like vampires of legend, a wooden stake through your heart can destroy you outright. This Flaw is worth two points if a stake must be carved from a specific type of wood, such as ash or rowan to inflict Final Death. If any wooden stake can kill you, this Flaw is worth five points. Vampires with this Flaw do not know of their vulnerability (obviously).

Light-Sensitive (5pt. Flaw)
You are even more sensitive to sunlight than other vampires are. Sunlight causes double normal damage, and the light of the moon can cause lethal damage in a manner similar to the sun, though it must shine directly upon your skin. Followers of Set and Lasombra, who are already light-sensitive due to clan weakness, may take this Flaw to represent especially acute sensitivity. They double the augmented damage that the sun causes to a member of their clan.

Mystical Aura (2pt. Flaw)
You radiate unnatural power. Perhaps you were a magus in life, unwisely fed from one of the Fair Folk or studied the twisted sorcery of the Tremere. All attempts to sense magic on and around you are at -2 difficulty. Your halo always shows the shimmer of magic use to Soulsight and similar powers, provided that the observer at least one success. Assamites of the sorcerer caste cannot take this Flaw.

Potent Aura (3pt. 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. This trait is a Merit if your starting Road trait is 5 or more, and a Flaw is it is 4 or less. 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

Repulsed by Garlic (1pt. Flaw)
You cannot abide garlic, and the smallest whiff of its scent drives you from a room unless you make a successful Willpower roll (difficulty based on the strength of the odor).

Repulsive to Animals (2pt. Flaw)
With this Flaw, every natural animal you encounter is automatically and severely upset by her presence. This is much more severe than the unease that almost all Cainites cause in animals: Creatures panic and flee, and some rare few attack. You cannot calm the creatures down with Animal Ken. It requires either use of Animalism or a taste of vampire blood (which makes the creature a ghoul) to settle the beast down.

Restricted Diet (2pt. Flaw)
Unlike other Cainites, you derive no nourishment from the stale blood of animals. Only the blood of mortals and other vampires can sustain your unlife. This Flaw eventually manifests in most vampires as they age, a prelude to the cannibalistic Thirst of Caine.

Soul Eater (4pt. Flaw)
Your Beast hungers for more than blood. Whenever you feed, you steal one Willpower point from your victim for every three blood points taken. Unfortunately, your parasitic soul cannot replenish itself by any other means. You cannot regain Willpower by fulfilling your Nature, resting or any other natural method. Worse still, you must spend one Willpower point each night upon awakening or lose a dot of permanent Willpower. If your permanent Willpower ever drops to zero, you suffer from Final Death, your body crumbling away to ash as your parasitic soul feeds upon itself. Characters with this Flaw do not have to spend Willpower in torpor.

Thirst of Caine (7pt. Flaw)
By age or some infirmity of your own blood, you derive no nourishment from the blood of animals or mortals. Though you do not immediately vomit such a meal, living blood tastes bland and provides no benefit. Only the vitae of other Cainites can sustain you. The sole advantage to such hunger is that you find no allure in human blood and thus no longer perceive humans as food. As such, the sight, scent or taste of human blood will never drive you into frenzy. If you are not extremely careful, however, your thirst will inevitably lead you to blood oaths and the forbidden draught of the Amaranth.

Touch of Frost (1pt. Flaw)
Plants wither as you approach and die at your touch. Your touch leaches heat from living beings, as though you are made of ice. As you walk through a forest or across a field, you do not leave a huge swath of death, however. Instead, you leave behind small patches of dead leaves and withered or rotting foliage. Someone tracking you through the wilderness gains a -2 difficulty bonus to do so because of these marks.

Uncanny (1 to 5pt. Flaw)
The very opposite of Arcane, you are too strange or disturbing to forget. You may have distinguishing features or a mystical aura, but the effect is the same: Anyone trying to locate you through Investigation receives one extra die per point invested in this Flaw. Fortunately, Uncanny does not interfere with active Stealth attempts. However, you always stand out from a crowd and cannot hide through anonymity. Even characters with Obfuscate must contend with their noticeable mien, although extra successes on Obfuscate rolls can temporarily cancel Uncanny dice on a one-for-one basis.

Weak Aura (2pt. Merit or Flaw)
Your personality and outlook have relatively little unintentional effect on 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

Weak Blood (5pt. Flaw)
Your blood carries only a fraction of the power that is the unholy legacy of Caine. You may be a member of the despised 13th generation, a Caitiff or suffering from some other affliction, but your vitae does a poor job of powering your unliving form. All blood point costs are doubled (e.g. using blood-related Disciplines or healing damage), and you can never learn a Discipline above four dots. It also takes six drinks for a thrall to become oathbound to you, and you are incapable of creating ghouls or progeny. You cannot take the Cannot Embrace Flaw, which is already incorporated into Weak Blood.