> For the complete documentation index, see [llms.txt](https://wiki.capetownvtm.com/llms.txt). Markdown versions of documentation pages are available by appending `.md` to page URLs; this page is available as [Markdown](https://wiki.capetownvtm.com/material-availability/advantages-and-flaws.md). # Advantages and Flaws ## Allowed Merits #### Looks

Beautiful •• (Core p.179)

You add one extra die to all appropriate Social dice pools.

Ingénue • (Players Guide p.118)

You look completely innocent and blameless, making others believe in your good intentions much easier. Add two dice to any rolls related to avoiding suspicion or deflect blame, at the Storyteller’s discretion.

Remarkable Feature • (Players Guide p.118)

You possess a rare, memorable feature such as a striking eye color, atypical pupils, or an unusual complexion, providing a two-dice bonus to social interactions with strangers. (The novelty quickly wears off.) Take a one-die penalty to disguise yourself.

Famous Face • (Live From the Succubus Club p.26)

You bear a passing or very close resemblance to someone very well known. Sometimes this works in your favor. Other times this results in “Charlize Theron bit that cop on the neck!” You gain two dice to social tests in circumstances where you can leverage your lookalike status, but suffer a two-dice penalty whenever you try to hide in a crowd or in other areas where you want to avoid recognition.

Stunning •••• (Core p.179)

You add two extra dice to all appropriate Social dice pools, as above.

Scene Kid • (Live From the Succubus Club p.26)

Every subculture has its trappings; you’re the unliving embodiment of its particular style. While it may not impress the masses, for those in the know, you look every inch the part. Add one die to all appropriate Social pools when dealing with that subculture.

Semblance of the Methuselah •-•• (Forbidden Religions pp.85-86)

Whether you’re aware of it or not, you have a striking resemblance to a methuselah of your line. Perhaps your own sire felt a strange attraction to your appearance that drove them to Embrace you for reasons they couldn’t quite explain, or it may be that the raw power of your ancestor’s blood physically shifted your looks to more closely match theirs upon your embrace. Upon taking this Merit, you may choose a specific methuselah of your clan from whom you are ultimately descended and whom you resemble. Alternatively, you may allow your Storyteller to choose and leave the nature of your similarity a mystery to you — for now, at least. Each dot in this Merit grants you one additional die on dice rolls to impress, intimidate, or attract the attention of those who recognize and fear or respect the progenitor whom you resemble. Each dot in this Merit may also add to your Status dots within your clan during official gatherings or ceremonies or within a cult that venerates the methuselah whom you resemble. If you are luckless enough to encounter the methuselah in question, each dot in this Merit also grants you one additional die to any social rolls when interacting with them, although depending on the ancient in question, it may anger them to see such similarity.

Up All Night ••, •••• (Blood-Stained Love p.151)

Not all Kindred resemble walking corpses as they lose themselves to the Beast. For purposes of the Blush of Life, eating or drinking, and sexual intercourse, treat your Humanity score as one point higher than it is (maximum 10), or two points higher if this merit was purchased for 4 dots. Nosferatu cannot select this merit, and Hecata can only select it as a two-dot merit. This merit doesn’t combine with others that treat your Humanity as higher: if you have multiple ways to treat your humanity as higher than it is, choose the most effective one in any situation.

#### Psychological

Soothed Beast • (Blood-Stained Love p.151)

Choose a storyteller character as your obsession. Once per session when in the presence of your obsession, you can choose to ignore one Bestial Failure or Messy Critical. If this character dies you immediately gain three Stains, but can choose a new obsession at the beginning of the next session.

False Love • (Blood-Stained Love p.151)

Choose a storyteller character as your obsession. When in their presence, treat your Humanity as one dot higher (max 10) for purposes of the Blush of Life, eating or drinking, and sexual intercourse. If this character dies you immediately gain three Stains, but can choose a new obsession at the beginning of the next session. This merit doesn’t combine with others that treat your Humanity as higher: if you have multiple ways to treat your humanity as higher than it is, choose the most effective one in any situation.

Penitence •-••••• (Forbidden Religions p.86)

In pain, you find absolution. By scourging yourself — lashing your skin with a whip, driving needles into your flesh, or some other self-abusive act — you reaffirm your faith. For each dot you possess in this Merit, you can scourge yourself once per session as part of a scene, suffering one point of Superficial Health damage and immediately healing one point of Superficial Willpower damage. Scourging usually takes an entire scene to complete.

Unholy Will ••,•••• (Forbidden Religions p.86)

Your will and soul are bulwarks against the power of True Faith (Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 222). You may have spent many nights upon holy ground or argued with clever, devout theologians until the intricacies of their faith are as familiar to you as the dead stillness in your chest. You might have even gone to great lengths to harden your mind against the burning ardor of true believers or cast yourself so deeply into the role of demonic foe through ritual personae that you are firm in your conviction that your purpose is to test such belief. One way or another, as angel or devil, the signs and forms of True Faith do not hold sway against you. At two dots, add one die to any dice pool when you resist or contest an individual with true Faith on matters of their faith, including their miraculous abilities. Furthermore, you suffer one fewer point of damage from holy sources that harness the power of True Faith, such as blessed weapons or sacred ceremonies. At four dots, add two dice and suffer two fewer points of damage. The four dot and two dot versions of this Merit do not stack.

Zealotry •,••• (Forbidden Religions p.86)

The fire of your faith is an unstoppable bonfire, driving you to intense heights of zeal. You won’t let anything come between you and the fulfilment of your beliefs, no matter the cost to yourself or others. For each dot in this Merit, once per session after rolling a normal success on an action that corresponds to or aligns with one of your Convictions, you may choose to turn that normal success into a messy critical instead. In this way, you gain the usual benefits for a critical win on the roll in question along with the appropriate drawbacks for the mess you create in the process. Note that this does not yield additional successes, but only allows you to count the win as critical in a case where it matters.

#### Substance Use

High-Functioning Addict • (Core p.180)

You add one die to any one category of pool (specify when you choose which substance you use) when the last person you fed from was on your drug.

#### Bonding

Bonds of Fealty ••• (Gehenna War p.44)

**Prerequisite:** [Dominate](https://wiki.capetownvtm.com/material-availability/powers#dominate) Your powers of Dominate do not require a target’s eye contact so long as the target is blood bound to you. You still need to be able to communicate your instructions to them, though you do not need to be physically present.

Bond Resistance •-••• (Core p.181)

Your Blood rebels against control. Add one die to your dice pools to resist a Blood Bond per level you take of this Merit (maximum three).

Enduring Bond • (Gehenna War p.44)

Your bonds last longer than those of other Kindred. Complete and partial blood bonds only weaken every other month, not every month.

Short Bond •• (Core p.181)

Blood Bonds on you lose their Bond strength more rapidly than normal, decreasing at both the full moon and new moon (i.e., by two each month) if not reinforced.

Unbondable ••••• (Core p.181)

You cannot be Blood Bound. If you’re ever short of cash, you can probably sell your vitae to alchemists, too.

#### Feeding

Vessel Recognition • (Players Guide pp.118-119)

One easy way to piss off a Kindred is to feed off their kine. Kindred guard their herds jealously, and you’ve learned how to avoid them, being able to smell out which mortal belongs to a herd or is a particular Blood Doll. A win on a Resolve + Awareness test at Difficulty 2 lets you smell whether a mortal has been fed on recently. A critical win lets you sense if the feeding is recurring, likely making them part of someone’s herd.

Bloodhound • (Core p.182)

You can smell the Resonance of a human’s blood without tasting it. You still need to be within olfactory range of the person. Make a Resolve + Awareness test at Difficulty 3. Increase Difficulty for perfume or distance; lower it for more intimate contact.

Drive-thru • (Live From the Succubus Club p.25)

You’ve mastered the art of feeding while on the move, grabbing what you need before getting the hell outta there. Once per session, by adding +1 to the Difficulty, you can safely complete a hunt within minutes.

Iron Gullet ••• (Core p.182)

You can feed from cold blood, rancid blood, and fractionated plasma. None of these provide Resonances. Ventrue may not take this Merit.

#### Blood Ties

Consanguineous Influence •• (Gehenna War p.44)

Some find the powers of their Blood are more effective on those of the same bloodline. When you use a mental Discipline against a member of your own clan or a direct ancestor or descendant, you gain one bonus die to do so, or 2 bonus dice if the character is only one or two generations removed from you (e.g. your grandsire or grandchilde or closer).

Consanguineous Sense •• (Gehenna War p.44)

Your Blood calls out to your close relations, whether ancestors or descendants. You instinctively recognize those in your direct bloodline when you get within a few paces from them. A Resolve + Awareness test at Difficulty 3 lets you determine if a Kindred within about 3 meters of you shares your bloodline. You only learn that they share your bloodline, not the exact distance from your in terms of Generation.

Sins of the Fathers ••-••• (Gehenna War p.44)

After committing diablerie upon a direct descendant — or ancestor — you do not show any telltale signs of the crime. Powers such as Scry the Soul or A Taste for Blood do not detect your crime. As a three-dot Merit, this works when committing diablerie upon any member of your own clan. Caitiff and Duskborn cannot take this as a three-dot merit.

#### Mythic

Nuit Mode •• (Players Guide p.119)

Your body doesn’t automatically revert to the death-state each night, enabling you to keep things like new haircuts, tattoos, and other body modifications at your option. You are still able to return to your original death-state, though, and can mend any later modifications as if they were Aggravated damage. This Merit is available only to Kindred of Blood Potency 1 or lower. (If your Blood becomes more potent at any point, the Merit no longer grants any benefit, but if you drop back down to Blood Potency 1 it returns.)

Eat Food •• (Core p.182)

You can consume food without effort and might even enjoy it, though it gives no nourishment and must be expelled before resting for the day.

Ley Line Leech • (Live From the Succubus Club p.26)

Whether through divination, archaic maps, or gut instinct, you follow the ancient paths of power while traveling, thus benefiting from their mystical energy. After spending more than a few hours travelling to a different city or locale, your Blood becomes positively charged, negating the need for a Rouse Check when rising the following night.

Mystic of the Void •-•• (Tattered Facade p.100)

Choose one Oblivion Power you do not know with a level equal to or less than your current dots in Oblivion. You count as knowing that Power for the purpose of prerequisites to learning Oblivion Ceremonies. If you later learn a Power chosen for this Merit, you may select a new Power to replace it from among those you do not know. Hecata and Lasombra characters may select this merit at the two-dot level and choose three Oblivion Powers in lieu of one.

Persistent Blush ••• (Live From the Succubus Club p.26)

Your dead flesh is uniquely receptive to the Blood when it’s time to imitate life. Your lifelike demeanor and biological responses last much longer than your peers, and you can walk among mortals for nights at a time without extra effort. A single activation of Blush of Life persists for one week.

Cold Dead Hunger ••• (Forbidden Religions p.87)

When hungry, your Beast is a weak and quiescent thing; it still urges you towards self-indulgent atrocity but is easier to quell. Perhaps you starved it through meditation or self-denial, or girded yourself in rites of black sorcery and red transgression; perhaps it’s just the way you are, and you have no explanation for the cold, dead hunger that nestles in your bosom. Add two dice to your rolls to resist Hunger frenzy.

Pack Diablerie •• (Forbidden Religions p.87)

Your thirst for the corrupt essence of other vampires is horrifically intense. If you attempt to consume a victim via diablerie alongside other partners, you are always the one who has the opportunity to consume the full “soul” unless you choose otherwise or one of your partners also has this Merit (in which case, the diablerists gain nothing unless all but one are destroyed or voluntarily relinquish the claim, at which point the victor gains the benefit). Additionally, when you help another to consume the full soul and if they are successful, then you also gain 5 experience points to spend on raising Blood Potency or Disciplines known to the victim, as if you yourself had committed diablerie and achieved one success on the Humanity + Blood Potency roll. You can use these experience points in concert with personal experience but must spend them immediately. Duskborn vampires who engage in pack diablerie can spend experience on purchasing dots in the victim’s Disciplines and Blood Potency, their generation remains unaltered.

Shifts in the Blood •••• (Cults of the Blood Gods p.202)

The Hecata have long been interested in the malleability of the Blood, and how their favored Disciplines in these nights differ from those of their ancestors and their ancestors before them. While they speculate it may be due to the formation of the Hecata and destruction of many Giovanni elders in recent years, Necromancers still guess at why some Giovanni favor forceful Disciplines and the *nasyon san an* prioritize subterfuge. Why the ability for heightened senses is the power so often lost, even the most accomplished Necromancers cannot say. When you purchase this merit, your character's bloodline replacement Discipline counts as a fourth in-clan Discipline. Giovanni have access to Dominate, *nasyon san an* have access to Obfuscate, Lamiae have access to Potence, and Nagaraja have access to Dominate.

#### Miscellaneous

Side Hustler ••• (Players Guide pp.119-120)

Folks on the fringes constantly have to grind to keep the little that they have. Juggling a million tasks, favors, and debts has become second nature to them. Once per session you can get your hands on an item, a piece of information, or access to an event as if you had two dots in the appropriate Resources, Contacts or Influence Background. (Items obtained with Resources likely have to be returned intact.) Often this requires you to spend part of the night calling in markers and pressing your informal network.

Check the Trunk • (Players Guide p.119)

Mercenaries and gig workers have to keep their tools of the trade close at hand. They never know what their next job might require, but they do their best to keep a supply of useful tools close at hand. Caitiff, Ravnos, Anarchs, and even some mortals especially benefit from this Merit. You have easy access to an armory or cache of tools and hardware. None of these items can exceed a value available to a character with Resources 2. Common items found in a cache could include a sawed-off shotgun, rusty bolt cutters, half a roll of duct tape, homemade stakes, half empty squeeze bottles of lighter fluid, and whatever else the Storyteller allows. Take an additional two dots in Preparedness pools (Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 410) for items within this Resource band. Losing your car, haven, or other storage space may interrupt this Merit until you build up a new stash.

Untouchable ••••• (Players Guide p.120)

The powers that be are very reluctant to punish you for even the most egregious crimes. Perhaps you’re the secret power behind the throne, or you hold some damning blackmail over the local Baron, or you’re the secret childe of a Justicar or other political potentate. Once per story you can escape all official punishment for a crime that would otherwise see you destroyed or cast out of your sect, though you may be privately reprimanded or face consequences through unofficial channels. The Court or Council often ignores your lesser crimes as well, but lower-level Kindred may take it upon themselves to step to you for your perceived transgressions and flaunted impunity.

Tempered Will ••• (Players Guide p.120)

Your stubborn spirit didn’t die during your Embrace, and you find yourself knowing when people are trying to force you to do something against your will. You are always aware of when someone is using Dominate and Presence against you. Once per session, when resisting Dominate or Presence, you may add two additional dice to your resistance pool. Only someone with no dots in either Dominate or Presence can take this Merit. (If you acquire the Disciplines afterward, or temporarily as with thin-bloods, the Merit no longer grants any benefit while you possess them.)

Linguistics •-••••• (Core p.179)

Each dot in Linguistics allows the character to fluently speak, write, and read one additional language besides those two default languages. Characters who are local to South Africa may take an additional language for free. Characters that are local may take an additional language for free, regardless of if they possess this Merit or not.

## Allowed Backgrounds #### Allies

Allies •-•••• (Core pp.184-185)

Allies are mortals who support and help you: family, friends, or even a mortal organization that owes you some loyalty. Although Allies usually aid you willingly, without coaxing or coercion, they are not always available to offer assistance; they have their own concerns and can do only so much for the sake of your relationship. Usually, Allies appear about once per story. Allies will not use Reliability.

#### Contacts

Contacts •-••• (Core pp.185-186)

A Contact is someone in an excellent position to get information. They might be a police dispatcher, rather than a homicide lieutenant, or a congressional staffer, rather than a senator. Information brokers, gossip columnists, underworld fixers, and reporters make excellent Contacts.

#### Fame

Fame •-••••• (Core pp.186-187)

Each level of Fame subtracts one from the Difficulty of Social tests against your fans and from many hunting tests, depending on your predation strategy – you have less trouble attracting prey. In some circumstances, the Storyteller may allow you to use Fame in a Social test dice pool instead of another Trait, especially to get into an otherwise exclusive venue or event. “Do you know who I am?” doesn’t work everywhere, but it does work.

Enduring Fame • (Live From the Succubus Club p.25)

**Prerequisite:** [Fame •••+](#fame-core-pp.186-187) As an immensely beloved figure before your Embrace, you’ve learned that the benefits — and drawbacks — of stardom remain after death. When you lose points of Fame during a story, they return to full value at the start of the next story with no effort necessary.

Influencer • (Live From the Succubus Club p.25)

**Prerequisite:** [Fame ••+](#fame-core-pp.186-187) People don’t just love you — they take your word as gospel. You write social media posts that make or break businesses, and even high-ranking officials who should know better listen to you. Once per story, with the Storyteller’s approval, you have the equivalent of an Influence rating equal to your Fame minus one towards a single fan or a field related to your stardom.

#### Influence

Influence •-••••• (Core pp.187-188)

Influence applies most within one group or region of your city. Groups can be large, even diffuse: organized crime, media, religion, the police, city government, etc. The Storyteller may require you to use Influence in place of a Trait in some dice pools, particularly Social tests attempting to sway minor bureaucrats or the equivalent in your group. This Background helps you have an “abandoned” building demolished (or preserved), not start global wars.

#### Herd

Herd •-••••• (Core pp.189-190)

#### Mask

Mask •-•• (Core p.190)

Cobbler • (Core p.191)

Zeroed • (Core p.191)

#### Mawla

Mawla •-••••• (Core pp.192-193)

#### Resources

Resources •-••••• (Core p.193)

#### Retainers

Retainers •-••• (Core p.194)

#### Status

Status •-••••• (Core p.194)

City Secrets • (Players Guide p.118)

You have somehow acquired a damning secret about the city’s Kindred power structure, perhaps specifically about someone in it. Decide the exact nature of the information with the Storyteller. If the secret refers only to mortal business (“the Mayor is secretly fucking a Russian Mafiya soldier”), it’s just a way to explain your Influence. A few power players in the city know you have this information, or strongly suspect it. Hopefully, you’ve made arrangements for the secret to get out upon your mysterious disappearance. You could sell this information for a high price, but its truest value is protection: those who want it to stay secret have some interest in keeping you happy. Of course, if you push your luck, they may decide keeping you quiet forever takes higher priority. This Background resembles Influence more than Status in some circumstances; the Storyteller should determine when or if it adds to a Social pool, or possibly a Research or Insight test. You can take this Background a maximum of three times, with a different secret each time.

## Allowed Flaws #### Adversary

Shameful Childe • (In Memoriam p.20)

You did the thing other Kindred have trauma from — you created a childe and left them to fend for themselves. Perhaps you didn’t know until it was too late, perhaps you lost control and were too ashamed to face the music. Either way, now they’re out there somewhere, and sooner or later, they’ll come back to confront you.

Touchstone Embraced By Your Enemies •• (In Memoriam p.20)

This former Touchstone of yours didn’t simply die or change as a person — they were Embraced. Now they run with your enemies. This Adversary is a single neonate, but they have allies, and the mere confrontation with what they’ve become carries a risk of Stains.

#### Archaic

Grief Phobia • (In Memoriam p.21)

The traumatic loss of a Touchstone saddled you with a permanent phobia for something that reminds you of them, the way you lost them, or the Conviction they used to embody to you. You lose one die in all tests made while in the presence of your phobic stimulus (determine what this is when you take the Flaw). Examples could include a genre of music, a certain smell, or the Touchstone’s family members. You can take this Flaw once for each lost Touchstone in your past.

Old Tricks • (In Memoriam p.21)

You’ve never mastered the modern age: all your specialties must be Archaic specialties.

#### Diablerie

Blatant Diablerist • (Gehenna War p.45)

The telltale signs of diablerie are always noticeable to those who have the ability to sense it. Discipline Powers or Merits that reveal past evidence of diablerie, such as Scry the Soul (Auspex 3) or A Taste for Blood (Blood Sorcery 1)always reveal diablerie, even if the test would otherwise fail or fail to reveal other information. You can only take this Flaw at character creation if your character has a history of having committed diablerie at least once.

Inherited Bane •• (Gehenna War p.45)

You gain another clan’s bane in addition to your own. Tremere may select this Flaw to gain the Salubri clan bane (Vampire Players Guide, p. 47) without having committed Diablerie.

#### Looks

Ugly • (Core p.179)

You lose one die from all relevant Social dice pools.

Stench • (Players Guide p.120)

Your breath and body odor are supernaturally foul, redolent of open graves and rotting flesh. Even Nosferatu object to your stink. You can take minor steps to minimize the stench, such as splashing on plenty of cologne, but that causes other problems. Lose one die from seduction and similar Social dice pools, and lose two dice from Stealth pools against opponents who can smell, unless you are upwind.

Transparent • (Players Guide p.120)

For whatever reason, you aren’t a good liar, and it shows. You either have a terrible poker face or your parents instilled in you a strong urge to be truthful even when it hurts. Lose one die from any pools requiring Subterfuge. You cannot gain dots in Subterfuge.

Unblinking Visage • (Gehenna War p.45)

Your dead body has forgotten the basics: blinking, breathing, and automatic reflexes You count your Humanity as two levels lower (To a minimum of zero) for the purpose of Blush of Life and similar life-mimicking activities, such as mortal intercourse or food consumption.

Repulsive •• (Core p.179)

You lose two dice from all relevant Social dice pools.

#### Substance Use

Addiction • (Core p.180)

Lose one dice from all pools when the last person you fed from was not on your drug, except pools for actions that will immediately obtain your drug.

Hopeless Addiction •• (Core p.179)

Lose two dice from all pools when the last person you fed from was not on your drug, except pools for actions that will immediately obtain your drug.

#### Bonding

Bond Junkie • (Core p.181)

The Bond feels sweeter to you once it happens. Subtract one die from your dice pools to act against a Blood Bond.

Bondslave •• (Core p.180)

You bond instantly with the taste of another’s vitae; only one drink of blood binds you, not three. Either you begin as your sire’s thrall, or consult with the Storyteller to come up with a reason that first bond has broken.

Long Bond • (Core p.181)

Blood Bonds on you lose their Bond strength more slowly than normal, decreasing by one for each three months without being reinforced.

#### Feeding

Vein Tapper • (Players Guide p.120)

You find the act of feeding extremely personal and cannot take blood from mortals while being observed. This means you often feed from the unaware and go out of your way to find (or create) drugged or unconscious victims.

Outdated Preference •• (In Memoriam p.21)

This Flaw resembles the Ventrue Clan Bane, except your preferred mortal has become almost impossible to come by. Examples include castrato singers, quaalude addicts, footmen, phrenologists, milkmen, Redcoats, and wet nurses. You either have to capture and force mortals to fit with your preference, or you always spend 1 Willpower to feed.

Methuselah's Thirst • (Core p.181)

Your Hunger can only be fully slaked by the blood of supernatural creatures. (Alchemists may be able to thicken the Blood of thin-bloods enough to sate you.) Otherwise, it constantly remains at a minimum of 1. (Or higher, depending on Blood Potency (see p. 215).

Resonance Mimic •• (Live From the Succubus Club p.25)

The vessels you feed from have a habit of sticking around with you. You don’t just pick up the Resonances in their blood, you’re absorbing parts of their memories, personality, or maybe even their very soul. After you feed on a mortal of any Resonance at a Fleeting Temperament or higher, you experience vivid and distracting visions of your victim’s memories during the next scene, which inflicts a two-dice penalty to a test of the Storyteller’s choice. Killing someone through feeding has an additional effect: the victim’s personality and memories persist in your mind and might take over your body for a scene when your Willpower is Incapacitated. This effect lasts until your Willpower is fully restored or the end of the story.

Resonance Sensitivity • (Live From the Succubus Club p.25)

You’re sensitive to the secret flavors of blood, and one of them really messes with your head. Pick one Resonance, excepting Animal and Void. When you feed on a vessel with that Resonance at an Intense or higher Temperament, your Storyteller creates a unique Compulsion (Vampire, p. 208) based on that Resonance that must be carried out before the end of the story. This Compulsion persists even if you feed from a vessel with a different Resonance or the same Resonance with a lesser Temperament later in the story. If it isn’t resolved at the end of the story, these suppressed emotions are released in a messy, potentially violent way of the Storyteller’s choosing. You may select this Flaw again to be sensitive to an additional Resonance.

Sloppy Feeder •• (Live From the Succubus Club p.25)

Wherever you go, a telltale pattern of attacks follows, as your feeding style leaves much to be desired. If caught feeding by the authorities, they’ll have sufficient evidence to connect you to a series of assaults (and probably murders), as well as leaking your location to Second Inquisition assets.

#### Mythic

Starving Decay •• (Players Guide p.120)

Your undead body is constantly on the verge of reverting to a corpse and only staving off Hunger keeps you from decaying. At any point in which your Hunger is 3 or higher your body shrivels and decays, incurring a two-dice penalty to physical tests as well as social interactions with mortals, not to mention risking the Masquerade.

Twice-Cursed •• (Players Guide p.121)

You are cursed with additional Bane, making you labor under additional weight borne out of your clan founder’s flawed nature. Take your clan’s variant Bane (see p. 56) in addition to your regular Bane. The Storyteller can prohibit this Flaw if the second Bane would cause problems for, or lack impact in, the chronicle.

Corpse Flesh ••• (Live From the Succubus Club p.26)

Your body is truly and irrevocably dead, rendering you unable to use Blush of Life.

Resistant Blush • (Live From the Succubus Club p.26)

Your dead flesh accepts the Blood in every way save for the pretense of mortality. Blush of Life doesn’t come as naturally to you as your peers, and sometimes it won’t work without further effort. When you make a Rouse Check to activate the Blush of Life, roll twice and take the lowest result.

#### Supernatural

Two Masters • (Blood-Stained Love p.151)

You can be Blood Bound to two individuals at the same time. This may cause no end of trouble if your character is prone to drinking the Blood of other Kindred for recreational reasons. The Storyteller should disallow this Flaw if Blood Bonds are unlikely to be an issue for the player character.

#### Miscellaneous

Illiterate •• (Core p.179)

You cannot read or write. Your Academics and Science Skills are capped at 1, and you can have no specialty in them incorporating modern knowledge.

Knowledge Hungry • (Players Guide p.121)

You always feared that you wouldn’t have the time to learn everything you wanted about what’s truly important. Well, that’s one problem solved. The time to learn is not always now, though — you regretfully put a bookmark in your studies and attend to more life-threatening matters. At character creation, pick a topic that your character hungers to study. When your character comes across books, tutorial videos, college seminars, or other methods of learning about their chosen subject, make a Willpower roll at Difficulty 3 to resist chasing their obsession.

Risk-Taker • (Players Guide p.121)

You’re one of those people who feel compelled to take every chance to experience life at its fullest. When confronted with a chance to indulge a risky temptation you haven’t done before (such as snorting a new drug, imbibing vampire blood, or taking a Kindred lover), you suffer a two-dice penalty to all actions until you either partake of the new experience or the scene ends. This Flaw doesn’t compel you to do something suicidal ... but you may not always accurately predict the full consequences of your actions.

Weak-Willed •• (Players Guide p.121)

You struggle to assert your own personality when confronted with the will of another. You may not necessarily be submissive; perhaps you feel more confident when following another person’s lead. You might be part of a vampire’s entourage or Herd, but you aren’t necessarily loyal to that vampire. Take a one-die penalty to Social pools against your leader or superior. Even when you’re aware of an attempt to sway you mentally or emotionally (such as with Dominate or Presence), you may not use the active resistance systems to avoid those effects.

#### Psychological

Horrible Scars of Penitence • (Forbidden Religions p.86)

Your devotion is writ large on your flesh in a mass of awful welts, the scarified marks of your faith, or the evidence of other tools of self-mortification emblazoned on your body. You are extremely distinctive in this respect, and anyone who looks at you can immediately recognize the signs of faith taken to an extreme — even if you cease to perform such physical acts of penitence. This Flaw is equivalent to the Repulsive Flaw (see Vampire: The Masquerade, p. 179), but only when you’re among vampires and mortals not from within your cult.

Groveling Worm •• (Forbidden Religions p.86)

You don’t get affirmation from scourging your own flesh; rather, your utter self-loathing and abject terror of offending some higher power demands that you perform such acts regularly just to function at all. You must find the time in a session to scourge yourself once per session, suffering two points of Superficial Health damage, or else you will suffer a point of Aggravated Willpower damage at the beginning of the next session. Characters with the Penitence Merit cannot take this Flaw.

Beacon of Profanity • (Forbidden Religions p.86)

The dark power within you leaks out. Mortals with any amount of True Faith can sense your presence, not just those with True Faith 3 or higher.

Crisis of Faith • (Forbidden Religions p.86)

You are terrified of losing control, especially to the Beast that threatens to make a mockery of your faith. Whenever your actions result in a bestial failure, you suffer one point of superficial Willpower damage in addition to any other effects from the roll.

#### Contagion

Disease Vector • (Forbidden Religions p.86)

The corrupt life energy of your vitae is fertile ground for the festering sicknesses of the kine. Whenever you feed from a sick mortal, you always contract that sickness and will pass it on to your next vessel.

Plaguebringer •-•• (Forbidden Religions p.87)

You have a disease in your vitae that you cannot expunge and that manifests its symptoms on your body despite your undead state; even totally flushing all the blood from your body and drinking afresh does not rid you of it. It seems to well up from your corrupt soul. At one dot, the disease is minor but expresses visible traces such as a rash, sores, coughing or sneezing, or oozing mucus. At two dots, the disease is potentially severe if you leave it untreated, although it is not necessarily fatal. Furthermore, it does not need to leave visible symptoms upon you. In either case, mortal victims of your bite who are susceptible to the disease will contract it. The dice penalties stemming from this Flaw are situational, and more narrative penalties — such as having a sickly herd or weaker victims dying from subsequent illness — are advised.

#### Allies #### Contacts #### Fame #### Influence #### Herd #### Mask #### Mawla

Secret Master • (Gehenna War p.45)

**Prerequisite:** [Mawla **•**+](#mawla-core-pp.192-193) Your Mawla has a hold over you, and once per story requires you to do a minor task (equivalent to a minor boon) which cannot become public. If you fail to complete this task, next story it increases from the equivalent of a minor boon to a major boon. If the task is still left unresolved, this flaw is forfeited and should be replaced by 2 or more combined dots of other flaws, such as Shunned or an Adversary.

#### Resources #### Retainers #### Status

Mortal Pretender • (Live From the Succubus Club p.26)

While all right-minded Kindred do their best to blend in with mankind, you go above and beyond to the point where you might have decided to lead a mortal life despite your new diet. It unsettles your undead peers. You suffer a two-dice penalty for all Social tests involving vampires specifically dedicated to upholding the Masquerade, such as Vehme coteries, Sheriffs and their Hounds, Archons and Justicars.

## Ingrained Discipline Flaws To acquire an Ingrained Discipline Flaw, a character should have at least three levels in one Discipline, and have the Storyteller’s consent. These Flaws have no associated dot value. When a character acquires an Ingrained Discipline Flaw, three ranks’ worth of new powers in that Discipline become available to purchase with Experience points. The cost for new powers is calculated as if bought at the appropriate level for the first time. New powers purchased do not affect the overall Discipline rating. Characters are typically limited to Flaws related to their Clan Disciplines (Caitiff experience no such limitation), but Storytellers may waive this restriction if it makes sense for the character. Characters may only take one Ingrained Discipline Flaw.

Ingrained Animalism Flaw: Untamed (Tattered Facade p.108)

Such a tight relationship with the Beast comes at a cost, as it refuses to be leashed. Failing to Ride the Wave during Frenzy inflicts two Stains. Convictions cannot mitigate these Stains.

Ingrained Auspex Flaw: Daymares (Tattered Facade p.108)

While rarely recalling more than an acute sense of terror, the vampire’s daylight rest becomes plagued by horrifying visions, causing them to sweat blood. When awakening for the night, make two Rouse Checks instead of the usual one.

Ingrained Blood Sorcery Flaw: Sanguinary Animism (Tattered Facade p.109)

The sorcerer has become so attuned to reading the vagaries of blood that during feeding, the flood of information and voices from the victim cannot be avoided, even persisting beyond the hunt. For any scene following a feeding, the vampire loses two dice from all Social and Mental pools due to the distraction.

Ingrained Celerity Flaw: Breakdown (Tattered Facade p.109)

The vampire’s physiology runs at the same pace as the vampire, burning blood and energy at equal volumes. Whenever the vampire fails a Rouse Check when activating a Celerity power, they sustain a point of Aggravated Health damage, and their body withers and ages before their very eyes.

Ingrained Dominate Flaw: Blunt (Tattered Facade p.109)

The strain of enforcing their will upon others erodes something critical in the mind of the dominator, making mundane social interactions fraught. Vampires with this Flaw cannot spend Willpower to reroll a Social test.

Ingrained Fortitude Flaw: Scar Tissue (Tattered Facade p.109)

This Flaw impairs the vampire’s ability to maintain the appearance of health following an injury. While rousing the Blood restores Health as normal, the physical appearance of any injuries sustained remains until they rest for the day. This can easily result in Masquerade breaches if not carefully managed.

Ingrained Obfuscate Flaw: Faded (Tattered Facade p.109)

The vampire spends so much time hiding from others that they have begun to forget who they truly are. This lack of conviction weakens their moral fortitude and makes them second-guess decisions. When making Remorse tests, the vampire rolls one fewer die (the one-die minimum still applies).

Ingrained Oblivion Flaw: Monstrous (Tattered Facade p.109)

The forces of Oblivion sap away at the vampire’s connection to even their sham life. Treat the vampire’s Humanity rating as if it were three levels lower for such things as Blush of Life, Social dice pools, physical appearance, etc. If this takes the rating below one, they gain the Repulsive Flaw — perhaps they appear as a rotting corpse, their shadow constantly taunts them, or reflections reveals only inner darkness. This Flaw does not affect daytime dice pools or how many Remorse dice they roll.

Ingrained Potence Flaw: Killer Instinct (Tattered Facade p.109)

When the blood’s up, the echo of the Beast is never far away, and the unholy strength of Potence only serves to feed it. If the character fails a Rouse Check when activating a Potence power, they must immediately test for Fury Frenzy as if physically provoked.

Ingrained Presence Flaw: Egomaniac (Tattered Facade p.109)

Having had others consistently fawn over you has stroked your ego to the point where you can’t tolerate a world without you at its center. Whenever a Presence power generates a messy critical or fails to sway your target, you must make a Fury Frenzy test at Difficulty 2.

Ingrained Protean Flaw: Stasis (Tattered Facade p.109)

The vampire’s static nature rebels against the forces of change. If the vampire fails a Rouse Check while activating a Protean power, when they revert to their normal form the change is incomplete — dulled and useless claws persist, a foot remains stuck in the soil, or the fleshcrafter finds their skin attached to their subject. Unfinished transformations never provide any benefit. The vampire must remove the affected area (sustaining one Aggravated damage) or wait for it to revert (un)naturally during day-sleep.

## Ghoul Merits and Flaws These Merits and Flaws are available for Retainer ghouls. ### Merits

Blood Empathy •• (Players Guide p.141)

You share a closer bond to your domitor than most ghouls, able to sense their emotional and psychological state, even when not physically in their presence. An astute ghoul can “feel” if their current domitor is in peril or requires their presence immediately, but it does not allow for direct telepathic communication. You feel Blood Empathy at a distance of one mile or less from your domitor, and the domitor to whom you feel Blood Empathy is the one whose blood you have most recently consumed. Note that this does not require a Blood Bond, though the effect feels stronger if one is present.

Unseemly Aura •• (Players Guide p.141)

The Blood did something strange to you. Whereas your aura was once vibrant and full of the flush of mortal-adjacent life, it has become muted and indistinguishable from that of a Kindred. While it may lead others to overestimate you, it could also lead to some awkward situations later down the line.

### Flaws

Baneful Blood •-•• (Players Guide pp.141-142)*

Due to some mysterious property of the Blood, you experience the bane of your first domitor’s clan to a degree. Your first domitor, the Kindred whose blood you tasted in order to become a ghoul, must be of Clan Lasombra, Malkavian, Ministry, Nosferatu, Ravnos, Salubri, or Toreador. Even if your domitor changes, the bane you experience does not. You experience the domitor’s bane at one level for each dot in this Flaw.

Crone's Curse •• (Players Guide p.142)

When you partook of your domitor’s vitae, you aged rapidly. You appear at least a decade older than you are. In addition, your health has suffered, and you have one fewer box on your Health tracker than you otherwise would. The Embrace negates this Flaw, unless the Storyteller rules otherwise (because the problem was you all along, not your domitor’s Blood).

Distressing Fangs • (Players Guide p.142)

The Blood, in addition to giving you increased healing, physical prowess, and use of some minor Disciplines, also gave you sharpened teeth. But they’re strange, stunted, and unsettling to those who can discern them, causing mortals to think you’re part of some questionable subculture (ahem). You lose one die on Social pools involving mortals because your fangs make them uneasy.

## Banned ### Backgrounds ### Merits

Archaic, Custodian Of History • (In Memoriam pp.20-21)

An elder has confided his version of a lost age to you before being called to the Gehenna War, destroyed in a FIRSTLIGHT paramilitary strike, or consumed by a Sabbat pack on the home front of the Eternal Struggle. You get tacit permission to refer to, use, read up on, and form your character’s opinion on one of the most important periods or characters in Vampire lore, granting +1 die to all relevant Skill tests pertaining to your subject. Possible subjects include:\ ▪ The Book of Nod and the First Cities (Noddist lore is still seen as heretical by many ancillae)\ ▪ The First Inquisition, including the Anarch\ Revolt and the Convention of Thorns\ ▪ Constantinople and the Trinity\ ▪ The Revelations of the Dark Mother (heretical to most)\ ▪ Antiquity and the War of Carthage

Mythic, Luck of the Devil •••• (Players Guide p.119)

You owe another Kindred (or two others) two minor boons. The debt-holder wields more power and influence than you within vampire society, though not necessarily within your sect. They receive a one-die bonus in Social combat against you while they hold your marker. They may call in either of these debts at any time, but practically they do so when you really really don’t want to (or absolutely can’t) pay them off. However, if you do manage to successfully pay off both debts, you don’t need to take another Flaw to “balance” your character. The creditor still likes to lord it over you, though, and retains the one-die bonus. You can absolutely take this Flaw alongside one or more Minor Boons (Vampire: The Masquerade, pp. 193 and 315) at character creation. You cannot take this Flaw owing another player’s character the boons in question. For more a more detailed breakdown of Prestation Debts and Boons as Backgrounds, see Boons and Debts, p. 115.

Mythic, Object of Power •-••• (In Memoriam p.21)

Over the course of your travels, you’ve gotten your hands on a rare but powerful item. • A set of uncommonly lucky dice. You may reroll a single die once per story, excluding Hunger dice.\ •• Grimoire. It’s empty until you fill it, but it grants you a +1 die bonus to all Level 1 Ritual tests.\ ••• Golden eye amulet that protects you against threats. You get a free Premonition warning once per session when someone is about to cause you harm, even if you don’t have that power.

### Flaws

Banned From... •-••• (In Memoriam p.21)

At some point in your illustrious past, you got yourself barred from a city ruled by Kindred who still won’t welcome you. • A small city like Salzburg, Tromsø, Napier, or Portland.\ •• A mid-sized city like Ljubljana, Malaga, Sacramento, or Venice.\ ••• A large city like Paris, Rio de Janeiro, Tokyo,Atlanta, or Cairo. Getting in anyway is possible, of course, but there’ll be all kinds of trouble. Storytellers should note that this city should be relevant to the chronicle at some point.

Cursed Object • (In Memoriam p.21)

Something you own wants you dead. Once per session, at a time determined by the Storyteller, you must reroll a successful test, risking failure instead.

Prestation Debts • (Players Guide p.121)

Living in the Past • Archaic (Core p.180)

You haven’t grasped the modern mindset, or you just don’t want to. You have one or more seriously outdated Convictions, e.g. “The Pope’s word is law,” “Women are delicate flowers,” “Lower classes exist only to serve,” or “Burn your enemies’ baggage.” These archaic moralities maintain your Humanity but are odious to many; you lose one die from Social test dice pools involving such archaic beliefs except with vampires your age and older, who may admire your steadfast virtue.

Archaic •• Archaic (Core p.180)

You haven’t been able to adapt to the present, or you have been long in torpor. You cannot use computers or cell phones, and your Technology rating is permanently 0. The Storyteller may penalize other dice pools involving very modern technology by one die.

Stake Bait •• Mythic (Core p.183)

You meet Final Death when staked through the heart, rather than entering torpor.

Land Locked • Mythic (Live From the Succubus Club p.26)

You cannot leave the land, and any journey over air or sea enrages your Beast to the point of madness. You must make a Fear Frenzy test (Difficulty 3) to board a boat or plane.