Merits

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== Mental ==
====Common Sense====
(• through ••••• )
Effect: Your character has an exceptionally sound and
rational mind. With a moment’s thought, she can weigh potential courses of action and outcomes. Once per chapter as an instant action, you may ask the Storyteller one of the following questions about a task at hand or course of action. Roll Wits+ Composure. If you succeed, the Storyteller must answer to the best of her ability. If you fail, you get no answer. With an exceptional success, you can ask an additional question. Taking multiple dots in this merit allows your character to perform this task multiple times per session.
• What is the worst choice?
• What do I stand to lose here? 
• What’s the safest choice? 
• Am I chasing a worthless lead?
====Danger Sense====
(• through ••••• )
Effect: Your character’s reflexes are honed to the point where nothing’s shocking. You gain a +X modifier on reflexive Wits + Composure rolls for your character to detect an impending ambush, where X is equal to your rating in this merit. The roll is contested against the ambusher's stealth/subterfuge rolls.
====Direction Sense====
(• through ••••• )
Effect: Your character has an innate sense of direction and is always aware of her location in space. She always knows which direction she faces and never suffers penalties to navigate or find her way. You can make a wits+survival roll reflexively at any time under preasure to determine which way is north ect. with your rating in this merit as a bonus to that roll.
====Eidetic Memory ====
(•)
Effect: Your character recalls events and details with pinpoint accuracy. You do not have to make rolls for your character to remember past experiences. While this merit represents photographic memory, it's of course mostly a meta-merit obligating the story-teller to help the player remember things about the game he might have forgotten, but also obligates the player to keep notes. 
Expert Knowledge 
(• through ••••• )
Effect: Choose a Skill. Due to an immersion in academia, pop culture, or obsession with a hobby, your character has collected limitless factoids about the topic, even if she has no dots in the Skill. You can make an Intelligence + Wits roll at any time  your character is dealing with her area of interest. On a successful roll, the Storyteller must give a relevant fact or detail about the issue at hand. Your character knows this fact, but you must explain within the scope of your character’s background why she knows it. For example, for Expert Knowledge: Medicine: “Do you remember that time on that show, when the doctor said it doesn’t manifest before puberty?”. Your rating in this merit determines how many times per session you can use this merit.
Eye for the Strange 
(• through ••••• )
Prerequisite: Resolve ••, Occult •
Effect: While your character does not necessarily possess a breadth of knowledge about the supernatural, she knows the otherworldly when she sees it. By perusing evidence she can determine whether something comes from natural or supernatural origin. Roll Intelligence + Composure. With a success, the Storyteller must tell you if the scene has a supernatural cause and provide one piece of found information that confirms the answer. With an exceptional success, she must give you a bit of supernatural folklore that suggests what type of creature caused the problem. If the problem was mundane, an exceptional success gives an ongoing +X (X=rating in this merit) to all rolls to investigate the event, due to her redoubled certaintyin its natural causation. Your rating in this merit determines how many times per session you can use this merit, how ever, you may always continue to follow up on the same supernatural occurance.
====Fast Reflexes====
(• to •••••)
Prerequisite: Wits ••• or Dexterity •••
Effect: Your character’s reflexes impress and astound; she’s always fast to react. +1 Initiative per dot.
====Good Time Management ====
(•)
Prerequisite: Academics •• or Science ••
Effect: Your character has vast experience managing complex tasks, keeping schedules, and meeting deadlines. When taking an extended action, halve the time required between rolls.
====Holistic Awareness====
(•)
Effect: Your character is skilled at non-traditional heal-ing methods. While scientific minds might scoff, she can provide basic medical care with natural means. She knows what herbs can stem an infection and what minerals will stave off a minor sickness. Unless your patient suffers wound penalties from lethal or aggravated wounds, you do not need traditional medical equipment to stabilize and treat injuries. With access to woodlands, a greenhouse, or other source of diverse flora, a Wits + Survival roll allows your character to gather all necessary supplies.
====Indomitable====
(• to •••••)
Prerequisite: Resolve •••
Your character possesses an iron will. The powers of the supernatural have little bearing on her behavior. She can stand up to a vampire’s mind control, a witch’s charms, or a ghost’s gifts of fright. Any time a  supernatural creature uses a power to influence your character’s thoughts or emotions, add X dice to the dice pool to contest it. If the roll is resisted, instead subtract X dice from the monster’s dice pool. Note that this only affects mental influence and manipulation from a supernatural origin. A vampire with a remarkable Manipulation + Persuasion score is just as likely to convince your character to do something using mundane tricks. X is equal to your rating in this merit.
====Interdisciplinary Specialty====
(•)
Prerequisite: Skill at ••• or higher with a Specialty
Effect: Choose a Specialty that your character possesses when you purchase this Merit. You can apply the +1 from that Specialty on any Skill with at least one dot, provided it’s justifiable within the scope of the fiction. For example, a doctor with a Medicine Specialty in Anatomy may be able to use it when targeting a specific body part with Weaponry, but could not with a general strike.
====Language====
(•)
Effect: Your character is skilled with an additional language beyond her native tongue. Choose a language each time you buy this Merit. Your character can speak, read, and write in that language.
====Meditative Mind====
(• to •••••)
Effect: Your character’s meditation is far more fulfillingthan for other characters. With the one-dot version of  this Merit, the character does not suffer environment penalties to meditation (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 51), even from wound penalties. With the two-dot version, when the character has successfully meditated, she gains a +X bonus on any Resolve + Composure rolls during the same day as she’s steeled herself against the things of the world that would shake her foundation. X is equal to rating in this merit. At the five-dot level, she only needs a single success to gain the benefits of meditation for the day, instead of the normal four.
====Multilingual====
(•)
Effect: Your character has a strong affinity for language acquisition. Each time you purchase this Merit, choose two languages. Your character can speak conversationally in those languages. With an Intelligence Academics roll, she may also read enough of the language to understand context. If you purchase the language Merit for either of these languages, replace the Multilingual language. For example, if you have multilingual (French, Italian), and purchase Language: Italian, you may choose to take Multilingual (French, Portuguese).
====Patient ====
(• to •••••)
Effect: Your character knows how to pace herself and take the time to do the job right the first time. When taking an extended action, you may make X additional rolls above what your Attribute + Skill would allow. X equal to rating in this merit.
====Professional Training====
(• to •••••) NO LONGER IN USE
Effect: Your character has extensive training in a particular profession, which offers distinct advantages in a handful of fields. When choosing this Merit, choose or create a Profession for your character (see the sidebar). Mark the two Asset Skills on your character sheet. The advantages of Professional Training relate directly to those Asset Skills. NOTE: Cannot be applied to combat skills. 
• Networking: At the first level of Professional 'Training, your character builds connections 'within her chosen field. Take two dots of 'Contacts relating to that field.
•• Continuing Education: With repeated efforts in 'her field of choice, your character tends toward 'greater successes. When making a roll with her 'Asset Skills, she benefits from the 9-again quality.
••• Breadth of Knowledge: Due to advancement 'in her field, she’s picked up a number of par'ticular bits of information and skill unique to 'her work. Choose a third Asset Skill and take 'two Specialties in your character’s Asset Skills.
•••• On the Job Training: With the resources 'at her disposal, your character has access to 'extensive educational tools and mentorship 'available. Take a Skill dot in an Asset Skill. 'Whenever you purchase a new Asset Skill dot, 'take a Beat.
••••• The Routine: With such extensive experience 'in her field, her Asset Skills have been honed 'to a fine edge and she’s almost guaranteed at 'least a marginal success. Before rolling, spend 'a Willpower point to apply the rote action 'quality to an Asset Skill. This allows you to 'reroll all the failed dice on the first roll.
====Professions====
Here is a list of the most common Professions, and their Asset Skills. Feel free to create your own to suit the needs of your characters and stories. Also, you may adapt the Asset Skills as fit. For example, your police officer might be more proficient with Politics and Intimidation than Politics and Streetwise, these are merely suggestions.
Profession	
Asset Skills
Academic	
Academics, Science
Artist	
Crafts, Expression
Athlete	
Athletics, Medicine
Cop	
Streetwise, Politics
Criminal	
Larceny, Streetwise
Detective	
Empathy, Investigation
Doctor	
Empathy, Medicine
Engineer	
Crafts, Science
Hacker	
Computer, Science
Hit Man	
Larceny, Stealth
Journalist	
Expression, Investigation
Occultist	
Investigation, Occult
Politician	
Politics, Subterfuge
Professional	
Academics, Persuasion
Religious Leader	
Academics, Occult
Scientist	
Investigation, Science
Socialite	
Politics, Socialize
Stuntman	
Athletics, Drive
Survivalist	
Animal Ken, Survival
Soldier	
athletics, Survival
Technician	
Crafts, Investigation
Thug	
Street wise, Intimidation
Vagrant	
Streetwise, Survival
Tolerance for Biology 
(•)
Prerequisite: Resolve •••
Effect: Most people turn away at the sight of blood, other bodily fluids, or exotic biology. Your character has seen enough that nothing turns her stomach. When other characters must resist shock or physical repulsion from the disgusting and morbid, your character stands her ground. You do not need to make Composure, Stamina, or Resolve rolls to withstand the biologically strange. This doesn’t mean she’s immune to fear; she’s just used to nature in all its nasty forms. Werewolves, Ghouls, Vampires and wolfblooded gain this merit automatically and need no record it on their sheets (a ghoul might want to, as they keep the merit even if they stop being ghouls). 
====Trained Observer====
(• to •••••)
Prerequisite: Wits ••• or Composure •••
Effect: Your character has spent years in the field, catching tiny details and digging for secrets. She might not have a better chance of finding things, but she has a better chance of finding important things. Any time you make a Perception roll (usually Wits + Composure) you may reduce penalties to your roll by your rating in this merit. Dot two let's you make all perception based rolls reflexively. Dot three allows you to benefit from the 9-again quality. With the four-dot version, you get 8-again, at dot 5 you can spend a willpower point to gain rote quality on the action.
EOD
(• to •••••)
Prerequisite: Wits •••, Composure ••• and Crafts ••
Your character is trained specifically to disarm and to rig explosives. He can create bombs and other similar devices, as well as dismantle them, and determine the origins of them. A character doesn't need this merit to attempt to disarm or make a bomb, a crafting speciality in Explosives surfices, but with this merit, a character with two dots in crafts, even without the right speciality, will not suffer an unskilled dicepool and even gain a bonus equal to his dots in this merit. 
== Physical ==
====Ambidextrous ====
(•)
Effect: Your character does not suffer the –2 penalty forusing his off-hand in combat or to perform other actions. Available only at character creation. 
Stunt Driver
(•)
Prerequisite: Drive ••• 
Your character may take secondary actions while driving with no penalty, such as firing a gun.  
====Crack Driver====
(• to •••••)
Prerequisite: Drive •••
Effect: Your character’s an ace at the wheel and nothing shakes her concentration. So long as she’s not taking any actions other than driving (and keeping the car safe), add her rating in this merit to any rolls to drive. Any rolls to disable her vehicle suffer a penalty equal to her rating as well.
====Demolisher ====
(• to •••••)
Prerequisite: Strength ••• or Intelligence •••
Effect: Your character has an innate feel for the weak points in objects. When damaging an object, she ignores one point of the object’s Durability per dot in this Merit.
Armored Fighting
(• to •••••)
Prerequisite: Strength ••• or Stamina •••
Effect: For each dot possessed, you lower the penalties granted by armor by one. For instance, with just one dot in Armored Fighting the heavy Ballistic Vest (2/3*) no longer forces any penalties when worn.
====Double Jointed ====
(•)
Prerequisite: Dexterity •••
Effect: Your character might have been a contortionist or spent time practicing yoga. She can dislodge joints when need be. She automatically escapes from any mundane bonds without a roll. When grappled, subtract her Dexterity from any rolls to overpower her as long as she’s not taking any aggressive actions.
====Fleet of Foot ====
(• to •••••)
Prerequisite: Athletics ••
Effect: Your character is remarkably quick and runs far faster than her frame suggests. She gains +1 Speed per dot; anyone pursuing her suffers a –1 per dot to any foot chase rolls.
====Giant ====
(•)
Effect: Your character is massive. She’s well over six feet tall and crowds part when she approaches. She’s Size 7 and gains +1 Health. Available only at character creation. 
Drawback: Buying clothing is a nightmare. Fitting in small spaces is difficult at best. You're also naturally very heavy. 
====Toughness/Iron Stamina====
(• to •••••)
Prerequisite: Stamina ••• and Resolve •••
Effect: Your character’s body goes further than it rightfully should. Add the dots in this Merit to any rolls to resist disease, poison, deprivation, unconsciousness, or suffocation. Each dot eliminates a negative modifier (on a onefor-one basis) when resisting the effects of fatigue or injury. For example: a character with Toughness •• is able to ignore up to a –2 modifier brought on by fatigue. The Merit also counteracts the effects of wound penalties. So, if all of your character’s Health boxes are filled (which normally imposes a –3 penalty to his actions) and he has Iron Stamina •, those penalties are reduced to –2. This Merit cannot be used to gain positive modifiers for actions, only to cancel out negative ones. At dot four it let's you soak one point of bashing damage and the fifth dot also grants an extra health level. 
Quick Draw
(•)
Prerequisites: Wits •••, Firearms-, Athletics-, Brawl-, or Weaponry ••
Effect: Drawing or holstering a weapon is considered a reflexive action, and can be done any time her Defense applies. Only applies to fighting skills that you have at least 2 dots in. For instance, with this merit and two dots in athletics, but less than two dots in the other skills, your character may only use quickdraw on athletics-based weapons. If you have dirty fighting dot two, it applies to melee weapons, even if your weaponry is only at dot one. 
====Sleight of Hand ====
(•)
Prerequisite: Larceny •••
Effect: Your character can pick locks and pockets with out even thinking about it. She can take one Larceny based instant action reflexively in a given turn. As well, her Larceny actions go unnoticed unless someone is trying specifically to catch her.
====Small-Framed ====
(•)
Effect: Your character is diminutive. She’s not even five feet tall and it’s easy to walk into her without noticing. She’s Size 4 and thus has one fewer Health box. She gains +2 to any rolls to hide or go unnoticed. This bonus might apply anytime being smaller would be an advantage, such as crawling through smaller spaces. Available only at character creation. Drawback: In addition to the lower Health, your character might be overlooked or not taken seriously by some people.
== Social ==
====Allies====
(• to •••••)
Effect: Allies help your character. They might be friends, employees, associates, or people your character  has blackmailed. Each instance of this Merit represents one type of ally. This could be in an organization, a society, a clique, or an individual. Examples include the police, a secret society, crime, unions, local politics, and the academic community. Each purchase has its own rating. Your character might have Allies (Masons) ••, Allies (Carter Crime Family) •••, and Allies (Catholic Church) •. Each dot represents a layer of influence in the group. One dot would constitute small favors and passing influence. Three could offer considerable influence, such as the overlooking of a misdemeanor charge by the police. Five dots stretch the limits of the organization’s influence, as its leaders put their own influence on the line for the character. This could include things such as massive insider training or fouling up a felony investigation. No matter the request, it has to be something that organization could accomplish. The Storyteller assigns a rating between one and five to any favor asked. A character can ask for favors that add up to her Allies rating without penalty in one chapter. If she extends her influence beyond that, her player must roll Manipulation + Persuasion + Allies, with a penalty equal to the favor’s rating. If the roll is successful, the group does as requested. Failed or successful, the character loses a dot of Allies. This dot may return at the end of the chapter (see Sanctity of Merits, on p. 158.) On a dramatic failure, the organization resents her and seeks retribution. On an exceptional success, she doesn’t lose the dot. One additional favor a character can ask of her Allies is to block another character’s Allies, Contacts, Mentor, Retainer, or Status (if she knows the character possesses the relevant Merit). The rating is equal to the Merit dots blocked. As before, no roll is necessary unless the target’s Merit exceeds the character’s Allies. If the block succeeds, the character cannot use the Merit during the same chapter. 
====Anonymity ====
(• to •••••)
Prerequisites: Cannot have Fame.
Effect: Your character lives off the grid. This means purchases must be made with cash or falsified credit cards. She eschews identification. She avoids any official authoritative influence in her affairs. Any attempts to find her by paper trail suffer a –1 penalty per dot purchased in this Merit. Drawback: Your character cannot purchase the Fame Merit. This also may limit Status purchases, if the character cannot provide sufficient identification for the roles she wishes to take.
====Barfly ====
(•)
Prerequisite: Socialize ••
Effect: Your character is a natural in the bar environment and can procure an open invitation wherever she wishes. Whereas most characters would require rolls to blend into social functions they don’t belong in, she doesn’t; she belongs. Rolls to identify her as an outsider suffer her Socialize as a penalty. 
====Contacts ====
(• to •••••)
Effect: Contacts provide your character with information. Each dot in this Merit represents a sphere or organization with which the character can garner information. For example, a character with Contacts ••• might have Bloggers, Drug Dealers, and Financial Speculators for connections. Contacts do not provide services, only information. This may be face-to-face, email, by telephone, or even by séance in some strange instances. Garnering information via Contacts requires a Manipulation + Social Skill roll, depending on the method the character uses. This Merit can either be used generally, in which case only the field is necessary, or it can be personalized by identifying an individual within the field whom the character can call. If using the latter method, the Storyteller should give a bonus or penalty, dependent on how relevant the information is to that particular Contact, whether accessing the information is dangerous, and if the character has maintained good relations or done favors for the Contact. These modifiers should range from –3 to +3 in most cases. If successful, the Contact provides the information. One use of a Contact is to dig dirt on another character. A Contact can find another character’s Social Merits and any relevant Conditions (Embarrassing Secret is a prime example.) A character can have more than five Contacts, but the Merit’s rating is limited to five, for the purposes of Allies blocking.
====Fame ====
(• to •••••)
Effect: Your character is recognized within a certain sphere for a certain skill, or because of some past action, or just a stroke of luck. This can mean favors and attention, but it can also mean negative attention and scrutiny. When choosing the Merit, define what your character is known for. Each dot adds a die to any Social rolls among those who are impressed by your character’s celebrity. Drawback: Any rolls to find or identify the character enjoy a +1 bonus per dot of the Merit. If the character has Alternate Identity, she can mitigate this drawback. A character with Fame cannot have the Anonymity Merit.
Fast-Talking
(• to •••••, Style)
Prerequisites: Manipulation •••, Subterfuge ••
Your character talks circles around listeners. She speaks a mile a minute and often leaves her targets reeling, but nodding in agreement. 
* Always Be Closing (•): With the right leading phrases, your character can direct a mark to say what she wants, when she wants. This trips the mark into vulnerable positions. When a mark contests or resists your character’s Social interactions, apply a –1 to their Resolve or Composure. 
* Jargon (••): Your character confuses her mark using complex terminology. You may apply one relevant Specialty to any Social roll you make, even if the Specialty isn’t tied to the Skill in use. 
* Devil’s Advocacy (•••): Your character often poses arguments she doesn’t agree with in order to challenge a mark’s position and keep him from advancing discussion. You can reroll one failed Subterfuge roll per scene. 
* Salting (••••): Your character can position herself so a mark pursues a non-issue or something unimportant to her. When your character opens a Door using conversation (Persuasion, Subterfuge, Empathy, etc.) you may spend a Willpower point to immediately open another Door. 
* The Nigerian Scam (•••••): Your character can take advantage of her mark’s greed and zeal. When the mark does particularly well, it’s because your character was there to set him up and to subsequently tear him down. If a target regains Willpower from his Vice while your character is present, you may immediately roll Manipulation + Subterfuge to open a Door, regardless of the interval or impression level. 
====Fixer ====
(• to •••••)
Prerequisite: Contacts equal to merit rating, Wits •••
Effect: Your character is somebody that knows people. She can not only get in touch with the right people to do a job, but she can get them at the best possible prices. When hiring a service (see p.234 of god machine chronicle rules update), reduce the Availability score of the service by one dot per dot in this merit. 
====Hobbyist Clique====
(• to •••••)
Prerequisite: Membership in a clique. All members must possess this Merit and the chosen Skill at ••+
Effect: Your character is part of a group of hobbyists thatspecialize in one area, as represented by a Skill. It may be a book club, a coven, a political party, or any other interest. When the group’s support is available, you benefit from the 9-again quality on rolls involving the group’s chosen Skill. As well, the clique offers X additional dice on any extended actions involving that Skill, where X is the rating of this merit. Drawback: This Merit requires upkeep. You must attend at least monthly, informal meetings to maintain the benefits of Hobbyist Clique.
====Inspiring ====
(•)
Prerequisite: Presence •••
Effect: Your character’s passion inspires those around her to greatness. With a few words, she can redouble a group’s confidence or move them to action. Make a Presence + Expression roll. A small clique of listeners levies a –1 penalty, a small crowd a –2, and a large crowd a –3. Listeners gain the Inspired Condition. The character may not use this Merit on herself. 
====Iron Will ====
(•)
Prerequisite: Resolve ••••
Effect: Your character’s resolve is unwavering. When spending Willpower to contest or resist in a Social interaction, you may substitute your character’s Resolve for the usual Willpower bonus. If the roll is contested, roll with 8-again.
Mentor 
(• to •••••)
Effect: This Merit gives your character a teacher that provides advice and guidance. He acts on your character’s behalf, often in the background and sometimes without your character’s knowledge. While Mentors can be highly competent, they almost always want something in return for their services. The dot rating determines the Mentor’s capabilities, and to what extent he’ll aid your character. When establishing a Mentor, determine what the Mentor wants from your character. This should be personally important to him and it should reflect on the dot rating chosen. A one-dot Mentor might be incapable of dealing with modern society and want to live vicariously through your character. This might mean coming to him and telling stories of her exploits. A five-dot Mentor would want something astronomical, such as an oath to procure an ancient, cursed artifact that may or may not exist, in order to prevent a prophesized death. Choose three Skills the Mentor possesses. You can substitute Resources for one of these Skills. Once per session,the character may ask her Mentor for a favor. The favor must involve one of those Skills or be within the scope of his Resources. The Mentor commits to the favor (often asking fora commensurate favor in return); and if a roll is required, the Mentor is automatically considered to have successes equal tohis dot rating. Alternately, the player may ask the Storyteller to have the Mentor act on her character’s behalf, without her character knowing or initiating the request.
====Resources ====
(• to •••••)
Effect: This Merit reflects your character’s disposable income. She might live in an upscale condo, but if her income is tied up in the mortgage and child support payments, she might have little money to throw around. Characters are assumed to have basic necessities without Resources. The dot rating determines the relative amount of disposable funding the character has available, depending on your particular chronicle’s setting. The same amount of money means completely different things in a game set in Silicon Valley compared to one set in the Detroit slums. One dot is a little spending money here and there. Two is a comfortable, middle class wage. Three is a nicer, upper middle class life. Four is moderately wealthy. Five is filthy rich. Every item has an Availability rating. Once per chapter, your character can procure an item at her Resources level or lower without issue. An item one Availability level above her Resources reduces her effective Resources by one dot for a full month, since she has to rapidly liquidate funds. She can procure items two Availability level below her Resources without limit (within reason). Forexample, a character with Resources •••• can procure as many Availability •• disposable cellphones as she needs. 
====Pusher====
(•)
Prerequisite: Persuasion ••
Effect: Your character tempts and bribes as second nature. Any time a mark in a Social interaction accepts her soft leverage (see p. 193), open a Door as if you’d satisfied his Vice as well as moving the impression up on the chart. 
====Retainer ====
(• to •••••)
Effect: Your character has an assistant, sycophant, servant, or follower on whom she can rely. Establish who this companion is and how he was acquired. It may be as simple as a paycheck. He might owe your character his life. However it happened, your character has a hold on him. A Retainer is more reliable than a Mentor and more loyal than an Ally. On the other hand, a Retainer is a lone person, less capable and influential than the broader Merits. The Merit’s dot rating determines the relative competency of the Retainer. A one-dot Retainer is barely able to do anything of use, such as a pet that knows one useful trick or a homeless old man that does minor errands for food. A three-dot Retainer is a professional in their field, someone capable in his line of work. A five-dot is one of the best in her class. If a Retainer needs to make a roll, if it’s within her field, double the dot rating and use it as a dice pool. For anything else, use the dot rating as a dice pool. This Merit can be purchased multiple times to represent multiple Retainers.
====Small Unit Tactics ====
(•)
Prerequisites: Presence •••
Effect: Your character is a proficient leader on the field. She can organize efforts and bark orders to remarkable effect. Once per scene, when making a coordinated action that was planned in advance, spend a point of Willpower and an instant action. A number of characters equal to your character’s Presence can benefit from the +3 bonus from the Willpower expenditure.
====Staff ====
(• to •••••)
Effect: Your character has a crew of workers or assistants at her disposal. They may be housekeepers, designers, research assistants, animators, cheap thugs, or whatever else makes sense. For every dot in this Merit, choose one type of assistant, and one Skill. At any reasonable time, her staff can take actions using that Skill. These actions automatically garner a single success. While not useful in contested actions, this guarantees success on minor, mundane activities. Note that you may have employees without requiring the Staff Merit. Staff simply adds a mechanical advantage for those groups.
====Status ====
(• to •••••)
Effect: Your character has standing, membership, authority, control over, or respect from a group or organization. This may reflect official standing or informal respect. No matter the source, your character enjoys certain privileges within that structure. Each instance of this Merit reflects standing in a different group or organization. Your character may have Status (The Luck Gang) •••, Status (Drag Racing Circuit) ••, and Status (Police) •. Each affords its own unique benefits. As you increase dot ratings, your character rises in prominence in the relevant group. Status only allows advantages within the confines of the group reflected in the Merit. Status (Organized Crime) won’t help if your character wants an official concealed carry firearms permit, for example. Status provides a number of advantages. First, your character can apply her Status to any Social roll with those over which she has authority or sway. Second, she has access to group facilities, resources, and funding. Dependent on the group, this could be limited by red tape and requisitioning processes. It’s also dependent on the resources the particular group has available. Third, she has pull. If your character knows another character’s Mentor, Resources, Retainer, Contacts, or Allies, she can block their usage. Once per chapter, she can stop a single Merit from being used if it’s of a lower dot rating than her Status and if it makes sense for her organization to obstruct that type of person’s behavior. In our Organized Crime example, if your character knows that the chief of police has Contacts (Criminal Informant), you may opt to block usage by threatening the informant into silence. Drawback: Status requires upkeep and often regular duties. If these duties are not upheld, Status may be lost. The dots will not be accessible until the character re-establishes her standing. In our Organized Crime example, your character may be expected to pay protection money, offer tribute to a higher authority, or undertake felonious activities. 
====Striking Looks ====
(• or •••••)
Effect: Your character is stunning, alarming, commanding, repulsing, threatening, charming, or otherwise worthy of attention. Determine how your character looks and how people react to that. Every dot in this merit costs only 2 exp, but stacks as normal, and all add a speciality in the form of an adjective to a relevant skill, allowing you the occasional bonus from your looks to certain tasks. It could be; Intimidation: Imposing or Persuasion: Seductive. Note that, instead of taking new specialities, you can simply make the same speciality better by stacking the bonuses. You may only take 5 ranks in this merit. Drawback: Attention is a double-edged sword. Any rolls to spot, notice, or remember your character gain the same die bonus as your total rating in this merit. Sometimes, your character will draw unwanted attention in social situations. This could cause further complications.
====Sympathetic ====
(•)
Effect: Your character is very good at letting others getclose. This gives him an edge in getting what he wants. At the beginning of a Social maneuvering attempt, you may choose to accept a Condition such as Leveraged, Swooning or Vulnerable in order to immediately eliminate two of the subject’s Doors. 
====Taste====
(•)
Prerequisite: Crafts 2 and a Specialty in Crafts or Expression 
Effect: Your character has refined tastes and can identify minor details in fashion, food, architecture, and other forms of artistry and craftsmanship. Not only does this give an eye for detail, it makes her a center of attention in critical circles. She can appraise items within her area of expertise. With a Wits + Skill roll, depending on the creation in question (Expression for poetry, Crafts for architecture, for example), your character can pick out obscure details about the item that other, less discerning minds would not. For each success, ask one of the following questions, or take a +1 bonus to any Social rolls pertaining to groups interested in the art assessed for the remainder of the scene. 
• What is the hidden meaning in this?
• What was the creator feeling during its creation?
• What’s its weakest point?
• What other witness is most moved by this piece?
• How should one best appreciate this piece?
====New Identity====
(• to •••••)
This merit can be bought several times at various ratings, representing that the character has established himself to some degree under a new identity. Dot 1 represents nothing more than pretending to be someone else, albeit a pre-established cover identity, being able to do so so convincingly that you do not need to roll subterfuge. Dot to adds a fake ID of some sort to that, where as dot 3 adds a more, but still fake documentations, but enough to pass fully as the person you're pretending to be, as long as no one checks up on the validity of your fake documents. Dot 4 is still considered a fake identity and is still illegal, but it is so well established that your fake documents will be backed up everywhere. Only an actual attempt to investigate in dephtwill threaten your identity, for instance if your character actually ever went to the college that your papers say that he graduated from. The dot 5 variant is so thorough that it practically is impossible to find out that your character isn't who he says he is, and at this point, the merit stops serving it's function as your character has effectively replaced his old identity with a new one. For that same reason, the dot 5 variant may not be purchased at character creation, instead, if the character has undergone such change of identity, instead just include it in the background. The dot 4 variant definately requires access to government systems and extensive resarch, only intelligence agencies and law enforcement agencies have acess to these kind of resources. The dot 5 variant requires one to go that extra step, perhaps even killing someone and his entire family and pass it off as a car accident, only to take the identity of one of them. 
== Narative Merits ==
==== Combat training ====
Combat training allows you to add the "Combat" Skill to your MAV or RAV roll, with a given weapon/technique you are using in combat at the given time. 
==== Infantry Training ====
Your training as an infantryman, and the level thereof, is represented by this merit. The merit grants you increased survivability in textbook military situations, and if you're good enough, also in unexpected situations. Military operations are far from the way they are depicted in most computer games. The individual "skill level" of each combatant has limited effect on the over-all battle. The important thing is that everyone lives up to a certain standard, can function together as a unit and that everyone has the necessary equipment to do their jobs. 
===== • The Unit =====
With this level of training, you have extremely limited training. You can move and follow and infantry unit, and fight when they fight as long as they're using fairly mundane tactics, but you cannot use advanced equipment or do any jobs that require special skills. Even if you have these special skills from some other context, you can't apply them to combat. 
===== •• Focus =====
You have one specific set of skills you're trained to use in combat. Maybe you know how to dress wounds in the heat of battle, suppress enemies with an LMG, drive a unit tactically through a war-zone, dismantle bombs or point out targets to a mortar crew, all in the heat of battle. You're still not a versatile enough fighter, that you can seamlessly float from function to function. 
===== ••• Heavy Duty =====
You've clocked months in the field, practicing combat drills. You might not have the necessary skills to do all jobs in your unit, but everything you're competent enough to do, you've had a go at, so you can easily transition from job to job in your unit, as it becomes necessary. 
===== •••• Specialist =====
You've specialized in doing things other people can't, in military function. As long as you have the skills to support it, you can perform maneuvers that require advanced training to pull off, that wouldn't commonly be seen outside of a combat situation, or deviates strongly from regular text book operations. Examples could be extremely close-quarter combat, insertion with vehicles, directly into the action, extreme stealth operations, insertion by semi-diving or rappelling, sky-dive insertions and so on. 
===== ••••• Bad Company =====
Your level of training is out of this world. If working with others who have the same level of training as you (enough to form at least a fire-team), the 3-1 rule no longer applies in combat. 
=== Social Encounters ===
Social Encounters in the narrative system are meant to be role played out. A character may still have social skills reflecting their social capabilities, but these are "awarded" by the GM, who determines the character's capabilities in regards to how the player acts in the game. Social Merits sometimes allows a character to "cheat" in social situations and actually handle things by dice-roll. 
===== Black-tie Society =====
You're gifted at mingling and shaking hands. When you're at a gathering, it takes you very limited time to figure out, who is important to you, and then you're only a few dice rolls away from leaving them with a good impression having met. Use of this ability costs 1 willpower. 
===== Driving bargain =====
You pull aside whoever you're negotiating with, and quickly hash out a deal. You can spend willpower to ensure that the deal is in your favor, if you succeed on a dice roll. If you don't feel like spending willpower, you can still roll your dice pool, but you're no longer guaranteed that you get a good deal if you succeed, only that a deal happens in the first place. 
===== Bar-fly =====
You know people who know people, and if you don't, you still know how to get in. If a place is even partially open to people without keycards, you can get it with a successful socalize+presence roll. Or spend a willpower to bypass the roll. 
=== Other Challenges ===
Typically adhering to expert knowledge in some areas or a general aptitude for certain things. This allows a character certain advantages with other challenges that aren't social encounters or combat, but may still need some sort of system settling.
==== Academic ====
Pick an academic subject you excel at. The Academics skill represents a degree or affinity for book-learning and ability to work with academical subjects, not actual knowledge. The skill can be used as a sort of "encyclopedic knowledge" trait, in regard to all academical subjects in general. As an example, let's say Bob has 3 academics, but doesn't have this merit. Bob is a bit of a bookworm, so he reads a lot of academia and knows academical work-processes. Bob can effectively look up laws, and knows how to figure out his rights. He could probably even draft a simple contract, but Bob isn't a lawyer, and simple mistakes can cost a person dearly in a court room. Bob doesn't know enough about Law to do proper casework. Note: This merit naturally also works for science. 
===== • Undergraduate =====
You have a fairly broad field of knowledge on a limited subject (Law, Linguistics, Architecture ect.), but still not enough to properly work with it. The ST will allow you to assist on rolls that others (with a higher rating in this) are making. Your knowledge might still allow you to notice things, or know things, that others wouldn't. 
===== •• Bachelor =====
You're a professional now, at least in some parts of the world, but you still can't work independently and your work isn't specialized enough to actually be of much help. With the assistance of someone else, you can be the primary actor on a roll. You can also, of course, still assist others. You can also function as a part of a larger team. 
===== ••• Master =====
You've specialized in a certain field of study. Buying this merit again at dot 1 allows you to take a second specialty within your field. Unless you've selected an already very limited field of academia, you must narrow your field down quite a bit. For instance, if you're a historian, you must now choose what kind of history you've specialized in, an example could be Ancient History. You can work independently with this one subject, but only with mundane or normal subjects or through normal and mundane methods. 
===== •••• Doctor =====
You must specialize within your specialty. If you're a historian, and you choose ancient history as a specialty, now you must specialize even further. As you might get the impression of, at this level, it becomes rather boring and uninteresting, and maybe too specific to ever really use for a character in a role playing game, but the option exists. Because of your narrow field of study, when working specifically with this, you can work outside the norm, figure out new methods and so forth. 
===== ••••• Einstein =====
Sometimes, some academical nut comes up with an idea that lads to an entirely new subject (field of study) coming up within their chosen academia. You're one of these nuts. Your understanding of your chosen field of academia is so complete, you can consider yourself a "Master" of all aspects of it, and in turn you may make up your own field of study. 
==== Scientist ====
Scientist perfectly mirrors Academic, but for the science skill or for the Medicine Skill. Again, the science skill represents a broad, but basic knowledge of science, and can be used as a sort of "encyclopedic knowledge" tap for science in general, but doesn't represent any knowledge of utilizing the scientific methods to work with, where as however, this merit does. 
==== Artisan (NOT IN USE AFTER RECENT SHEET CHANGES) ====
You're a craftsman or an artisan. The Craft skill represents a general "usefulness" of a character, and how good a character is at improvising with tools or jury-rigging things. It isn't an actual representation of a character's professional training. This merit is, how ever. You must choose a subject (Auto-mechanic, Chef, carpenter ect.).
===== • Assistant =====
Junior versions of most artisan- and craftsmen educations exist, so people can quickly get into employment. These short educations leave the practitioner with little more than the knowledge and skill of a mere apprentice, but it's enough to be an assistant. The ST will allow you to assist on rolls that others (with a higher rating in this) are making. Your knowledge might still allow you to notice things, or know things, that others wouldn't.
===== •• Journeyman =====
You're a professional now, though pretty green as it is. You can work on solo-tasks on your own (you can't build a house alone, but you might be able to fix a window). You can be the primary actor in an assisted roll, and as such, function as part of a larger team.
===== ••• Master =====
Your expert knowledge allows you to garner assistance, even from people without technical knowledge. You're probably used to teaching apprentices by now, and you've become excellent at instructing others. If you spend a point of willpower, you can a number of people, equal to your resolve, assist you in a roll, using their crafts skill, even if they don't have any dots in this merit.
===== •••• Specialist =====
You can choose a specific thing to specialize in, within your field. When working with these things, your craftsmanship is of such excellent quality that it shames the quality of a non-specialist trying to imitate your work. Examples could be "Bastard Swords" for a sword smith, or double-barreled shotguns for a gunsmith. Things you craft have better qualities. Naturally, depending on what you actually craft, these qualities differ. Worst case scenario is, that you simply do your work faster.
===== ••••• Renown =====
You're one of those master craftsmen who's work becomes famous long after your death. Your craftsmanship is so superior that the signature you typically place in your work are priceless on their own. Same as specialist, but better.
==== Profession ====
Some professions are poorly expressed by the choices above or below in merits, or for that matter by the available skills. The Profession merit is here to remedy that. Profession rolls are typically normal skill rolls (could sometimes be academics, and sometimes be science, in case of an engineer). Without this merit, you cannot attempt professional work. The merit doesn't give any special abilities, but simply allows professional work with things, with a much better yield than improvised attempts. 
==== Sportsman ====
Replace the name of "Sportsman" with what ever sport you actually choose to be proficient in. You character can, for narrative reasons, be good at any given sport - though this merit can also actually be useful, and be used to buy movement styles. Each dot reduces the penalties for difficult conditions, when attempting to move in unusual terrain. 
Sample movement styles:
 Parkour (covers basic acrobatics and scaling objects), Spelunking (should also cover climbing), Swimming (covers diving too), Pilot Craft (insert name of craft) and Zero-G Movement. 
==== Artist ====
Expression refers to a general aptitude for improvised expression through alternative means, such as dancing, holding a speech, singing or playing music in general. It doesn't represent professional training as such. A character can only attempt "amateurish" attempts with expressions alone, but needs this merit to do more professional attempts. Artist follows the advancement of Sportsman.
== Supernatural ==
Aura Reading 
(•)
Effect: Your character has the psychic ability to perceive auras; the ephemeral halos of energy that surround all living things. This allows her to perceive a subject’s emotional state, and potentially any supernatural nature. The colors of an aura show a person’s general disposition, and the ebbs, flows, tone, and other oddities reveal other influences. Note that your character may not know what she’s looking at when seeing something odd in an aura. For example, she may not know that a pale aura means she’s seeing a vampire, unless she’s confirmed other vampiric auras in the past. To activate Aura Reading, spend a point of Willpower and roll Wits + Empathy – the subject’s Composure. Perceiving an aura takes an uninterrupted moment of staring, which could look suspicious even to the unaware. For every success, ask the subject’s player one of the following questions. Alternatively, take +1 on Social rolls against the character during the same scene, due to the understanding of their emotional state.
• What’s your character’s most prominent emotion?
• Is your character telling the truth?
• What is your character’s attention most focused on right now?
• Is your character going to attack?
• What emotion is your character trying most to hide?
• Is your character supernatural or otherwise not human?
Determine how your character perceives auras. Maybe she sees different hues as different emotions. Perhaps she hears whispers in the back of her mind, reflecting subtle truths in her subject. Drawback: Because of your character’s sensitivity to the supernatural, she sometimes appears to know “a little too much.” No more than once per chapter, when first meeting a supernatural creature the Storyteller can roll Wits + Occult for the creature, penalized by your character’s Composure. If successful, they get a strange feeling that your character is aware of their nature. They’re not forced to behave in any particular way, but it could cause complications.
Biokinesis 
(• to •••••)
Effect: Your character has the ability to psychically alter her biological material. By spending a Willpower point and concentrating for a full minute, she can shift her Physical Attributes. She can shift one dot per dot in this Merit. This shift lasts for one hour. This cannot raise an Attribute higher than five dots. In addition, the character heals quickly. Halve all healing times.
Clairvoyance 
(•)
Effect: Your character can project her senses to another location. She sees, hears, smells, and otherwise experiences the other place as if she were there. This ability requires a point of Willpower to activate, successful meditation, and a Wits + Occult roll. Suggested Modifiers: Has an object important to the place (+1), never been there (–3), scrying for a person and not a place (–3), scrying for non-specific location (–4), spent significant time there (+2), touching someone with a strong connection to the place (+1) Drawback: When choosing this ability, determine how your character is able to scry. It may be through a crystal ball, through a drug-induced trance, with esoteric computer models, or any other method. She cannot scry without that tool or methodology. 
Medium 
(•) 
Prerequisite: Empathy ••
Effect: Your character hears the words and moans of the dead. If she takes the time to parse their words, she can interact with them verbally. Your character has more than just a knack for knowing when ephemeral beings are lurking nearby — she can reach out and make contact with them. By conducting a ritual, meditating, or otherwise preparing to commune with the unseen and succeeding at a Wits + Occult roll, she temporarily increases the relevant Condition one step along the progression from nothing to Anchor, Resonance or Infrastructure, to Open, and finally to Controlled (see p. 223 for more on Conditions as they relate to spirits). The effect lasts until she spends a Willpower point, but if an Influence has been used to progress the Condition further, doing so only reduces it by one step. Drawback: Speaking with ghosts can be a blessing, but your character cannot turn the sense off, any more than she can turn off her hearing. The character hears the words of the dead any time they’re present. Once per game session, usually in a time of extreme stress, the Storyteller may deliver a disturbing message to your character from the other side. You must succeed in a Resolve + Composure roll or gain the Shaken or Spooked Condition. 
Mind of a Madman 
(•)
Prerequisite: Empathy •••
Effect: Your character gets deep into the skin of problems. If she’s investigating a crime or other phenomenon, she can put herself in the mind of the culprit. This often helps with the case. However, it takes her to a dark place internally. Once she’s made the choice to sink into the culprit’s mindset (which usually involves intense meditation or perusal of the culprit’s crimes), she gains 8-again on all rolls to investigate, pursue, and stop the culprit. But once per night, while she sleeps, she dreams about the culprit’s crimes and theoretical future crimes. This is intensely traumatic and it drives her further on the hunt. If she spends the day without pursuing the culprit, make a breaking point roll as if she’d committed the crime herself. She can resist the dreams and the breaking points by avoiding sleep, but she’s subject to  normal deprivation effect. Until the culprit’s captured, any of her own breaking point rolls from things she’s done suffer a –1 penalty. 
Omen Sensitivity
(•)
Effect: Your character sees signs and patterns in everything. From the way the leaves fall to the spray of antifreeze when her radiator pops, to the ratios of circumference on the shell she picked up on the sidewalk: everything has meaning. With some consideration, she can interpret these meanings. This would be far better if she could turn it off. Everything is important. Everything could mean the end of the world, the deaths of her friends, or other tragedies. If she misses an omen, it might be the wrong one. Once per game session, you can make a Wits + Occult roll for your character to interpret an omen in her surroundings. For every success, ask the Storyteller a yes/no question about your character’s life, her surroundings, a task at hand, or the world at large. The Storyteller must answer these questions truthfully.  Drawback: Her ability becomes an obsession. Each time she reads a portent, she gains the Obsession or Spooked Condition. 
Psychokinesis 
(• to •••••)
Effect: Your character has a psychic ability to manipulate the forces of the universe. Every type of Psychokinetic is different. For example, your character might have Pyrokinesis, Cryokinesis, or Electrokinesis, the control of fire, cold, or electricity respectively. This is not an exhaustive list. She  can intensify, shape, and douse her particular area of ability. With the three-dot version, some of the given force must be present for her to manipulate. With the five-dot version, she can manifest it from nothingness. Spend a point of Willpower to activate Psychokinesis and roll Resolve + Occult. Each success allows a degree of manipulation: choose one of the following options below. If you intend to cause harm with the roll, subtract the victim’s Resolve from the Resolve + Occult roll. If characters should  be harmed without a direct attack — if they run through a patch of flame for example — the one-dot version of the Merit causes one lethal damage and the five-dot version causes five. The Storyteller may rule that larger manifestations cause more, if the situation calls for it.
• Increase or decrease the Size of the manifestation by one.
• Move the manifestation a number of yards equal to your character’s Willpower dots times X (X is your rating in this merit).
• Shape the force into a specific form. This may require an Intelligence + Crafts roll to form into a detailed orintricate shape.
• Attack a victim with the force. Allocate any number of the rolled successes to cause harm.
• Use the force creatively. This is up to the situation and the force in question. For example, an Electrokinetic may use her ability to power an electronic device briefly or jumpstart a stalled automobile.
• Manifest her force. This only works with the five-dot version. It manifests a Size 1 patch of the force. It may spread or be enlarged with further successes.
Drawback: Whenever your character depletes her last Willpower point, the Storyteller can call on her abilities to manifest spontaneously. Resist this with a Resolve + Composure roll, with a –2 penalty if her chosen force is prominently featured nearby. For example, the penalty applies if a Pyrokinetic is locked in a factory with a hot forge. This tends to happen during wildly inconvenient moments and in ways that tend to cause more trouble than they solve. With these wild manifestations, use of Psychokinesis does not cost Willpower.
Psychometry 
(•)
Effect: Psychometry is the psychic ability to read impressions left on physical objects. Your character can feel the emotional resonance left on an item or can perceive important events tied to a location with this ability. The ability automatically hones in on the most emotionally intense moment tied to the item. Spend a Willpower point to activate Psychometry. The successes scored on a Wits + Occult roll determine the clarity of the visions. For each success, you may ask a single yes/no question of the Storyteller, or one of the following questions. For questions pertaining to specific characters, if your character hasn’t met the persons in question, the Storyteller may simply describe them. 
• What’s the strongest emotion here?
• Who remembers this moment the most?
• Am I missing something in this scene?
• Where was this object during the event?
• What breaking point caused the event? 
Suggested Modifiers: Character has read impressions from this item before (–2), important event happened more than one day ago (–1), more than one week ago (–2), more than one month ago (–3), more than one year ago (–5), item was used in a violent crime (+2), item is only vaguely tied to the event (–2), spirits pertaining to the event are nearby (+3) Drawback: Once per chapter, the Storyteller can force a Psychometry vision any time an important place is visited or an important item is touched. This doesn’t require a roll or Willpower point to activate. The Storyteller can give any information pertaining to the event in question. The Storyteller can also impose one Condition relevant to the event.
Telekinesis 
(• to •••••)
Effect: Your character has a psychic ability to manipulate the physical world with her mind. This means lifting, pushing, and pulling objects. Fine manipulation is beyond the scope of Telekinesis. By spending a Willpower point, she can activate Telekinesis for the scene. Her dots in this Merit determine her mind’s effective Strength for the purpose of lifting and otherwise influencing her environment. A telekinetic can use her abilities to cause harm by lashing out at threats. Each “attack” costs a point of Willpower. The dice pool to attack is Telekinesis + Occult, penalized by the opponent’s Stamina. The attack causes bashing damage. Alternatively, it can be used to grapple, with the Merit dots representing the Strength score of the psychic. Any overpowering maneuvers require additional Willpower points. Drawback: Any time your character suffers injury or intense stimuli, the Storyteller may call for a Resolve + Composure roll to resist activating telekinesis at an inopportune time. If the Storyteller calls for this roll and it fails, the character activates Telekinesis in a quick, impressive display of the power. That use of Telekinesis is free. The player can choose to automatically fail the Resolve + Composure roll and take a Beat. 
Telepathy (• or ••)
Effect: Your character can hear surface thoughts and read minds. With the two-dot version of this Merit, she can broadcast simple messages to others’ minds. She hears these thoughts as if they were spoken, which means they can sometimes be distracting. She could only hear thoughts at the range she could hear normal conversation, regardless of any ambient noise (so a telepath could hear the thoughts of someone next to her at a loud concert, even though she couldn’t actually hear the subject talk, but could not hear the thoughts of someone a football field away under quiet conditions). Spend a point of Willpower to activate Telepathy and roll Wits + Empathy, minus the subject’s Resolve if the subject is unwilling. If successful, the subject’s player must tell you the foremost thought on the character’s mind. Additional successes allow you to ask the subject’s player additional questions from the following list. The questions can be asked any time within the same scene. With the two-dot version, every success offers a single phrase the subject hears as if your character said it. As before, these phrases can be communicated at any time during the same scene. 
• What does your character want right now?
• What does your character fear most right now?
• What is your character hiding?
• What does your character want mine to do?
• What does your character know about [relevant topic at hand]?
• What turns your character on right now?
• What’s something shameful or embarrassing about your character?
Drawback: Sometimes, your character hears things she probably shouldn’t. Once per chapter, the Storyteller can give your character a message of terrible things to come. Perhaps she overhears the mad internal ramblings of a cultist in a crowd. Maybe she hears a plot to hijack a plane. Maybe, just maybe, she hears the incoherent thoughts of the God-Machine. These heard thoughts never just occur. They always happen when your character has something else, something important, something pressing going on. When this happens, the Storyteller gives you a Condition such as Spooked or Shaken. 
Unseen Sense 
(•)
Effect: Your character has a “sixth sense” for a type of supernatural creature, chosen when you buy the Merit. For example, you may choose Unseen Sense: Vampires, or Unseen Sense: Fairies. The sense manifests differently for everyone. A character’s hair stands on end, she becomes physically ill, or perhaps she has a cold chill. Regardless, she knows that something isn’t right when she is in the immediate proximity of the appropriate supernatural being. Once per chapter, the player can accept the Spooked Condition (p. 183) in exchange for which the character can pinpoint where the feeling is coming from. If the target is using a power that specifically cloaks it's supernatural nature, however, this does not work (though the Condition remains until resolved as usual). Note: If the character takes “God-Machine” as the focus for this Merit, that character can also see through Concealment Infrastructure (seeing the gears when no one else can, for instance). 
Difficult to Ride 
(• to •••••)
Prerequisite:Composure and Resolve •••
Effect:Your character is remarkably resistant to being Urged, Ridden or Possessed by spirits or ghosts. The character adds +1 dice per dot in this merit to all contested rolls against spirits’ attempts to affect her in that way (or with other forms of mental control), or adds two to her Resistance traits (if subtracted from a spirit’s roll). Whether this is because of a hardening experience in her past or some hereditary predisposition depends on the story. The character can decide to lower her guard and ignore her added resistance. 
Drawback: Many spirits are angered by strong resistance and eager to get revenge. Others just want to eliminate such people so they never spawn more. Ei-ther way, your character becomes a target once her resistance becomes clear.
Easy Ride 
(•)
Prerequisite: Resolve •••
Effect:Your character knows how to relax and let a spirit or ghost possess her. She forgoes any contesting roll or Resistance trait, and the possession takes place as long as the spirit rolls a single success. Possessing spirits gain full, penalty-free control over the character’s faculties immediately, without any muss or fuss. She remains aware of what is going on during the possession and has a couple of extra options. She may allow the spirit to continue controlling her body for longer than a scene, if she likes. Or, if displeased as the possession progresses, she may try to eject the spirit. She and the spirit make the normal contested roll they would normally have made during the original possession. Success on the spirit’s part allows it to remain for the rest of the scene, and ties must be rerolled the next turn. The character may only try this once per scene.
Drawback: As a well-trod soul, the character suffers a –2 dice penalty to any contesting rolls or Resistance traits applied to prevent (or end, as above) a possession. She also earns a reputation as “easy” among local spirits, who may seek her out when they need a quick body for something, even if she’s not likely to go willingly.
Hollow Soul 
(•)
Prerequisites: Easy Ride 
Effect: Your character can be possessed even by spirits that cannot normally use the Possession Numen. All the spirit needs to do is fetter to the character, and then it can possess him for a scene with a contested Power + Finesse versus Resolve + Composure roll. The character can serve as a mouthpiece for spirits too weak to normally interact with the material world on a meaningful level, but also gets sought out by more powerful spirits who would prefer to abuse the character’s ability.
Locus-Drinker
(•)
Prerequisites: Mortal, sleepwalker or wolf-blooded
Effect:Your character can draw Essence from a locus, an ability normally reserved for spirits, were-wolves and some mages. This requires a Morality roll that the character can only attempt once per day. Each success allows the character to draw out one point of Essence, and each point requires one minute of meditative effort. The character still has no abil-ity to store that Essence within himself or use it for any means, but he can channel it to objects or creatures that can (such as spirits or the Cup of Life fetish, see p. 120). If the character somehow has the ability to use Essence, he may bend this Essence to that use immediately (but still cannot store it). 
Drawback: Posses-sion of this Merit makes the character a threat to some (endangering their supplies of Essence) and a resource to others (poten-tially doubling their daily Essence acquisition). If the character isn’t careful with his ability, others may try to eliminate him or use him as a tool. 
Pleasing Aura 
(•)
Effect:Strange things happen around your character. This is because, for whatever reason, spirits like his pres-ence. The character might have an emotional resonance that is universally enjoyable for denizens of the Shadow Realm, or maybe they just like your style. The bad news is that spirits tend to flock around the character, making him one of those people who is always in the “right place at the right time” with respect to otherworldly events. The good news is that, as a general rule, the spirits don’t mean the character ill. Unless they get territorial or jealous. The character gains a +1 bonus to Persuasion and Socialize rolls to affect spirits. 
Residual Spirit Energy 
(•)
Prerequisites:Mortal (non-supernatural)
Effect: Your character releases spirit energy — Es-sence — into the world when her blood spills. And spirits can sense it. No one has ever been able to explain why to the character’s satisfaction, but it’s true. Because Essence is such a valuable resource to spirits, the character has some measure of influence over them. She can bribe them for information or favors, and all it takes is a splash of blood. Each point of lethal damage the character suffers frees one point of Essence into the air, as long as the injury actually causes blood loss. For the next several turns before the Essence dissipates, any spirit nearby may take an action to consume the Essence.
Drawback: While most spirits would rather preserve a renewable source of Essence, not all are so careful. Some might try to slaughter her all at once when they really, really need the Essence. Others notice her as a resource of their enemies and might decide to make a surgical strike against them (but at her). In short, the character becomes a target or potential possession to those spirits who don’t want to barter with her.
Saintly 
(•)
Effect: Spirit’s do not like your character’s presence. She might make spirits uncomfortable because of her extraordinary faith (per the Merit’s name) or maybe she has a less earthly reason for disturbing them. A mighty spirit might have blessed or cursed her when she was young, or declared her off-limits to others for inscrutable reasons. Either way, she has a little influence on them, and they don’t like her. She gains a +1 to Intimidate rolls against spirits, and to attempts to abjure or exorcise them from places or human hosts (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, pp. 213–124). They may also be unwilling to harm her or disrupt her life.
Drawback: Some spirits are not unwilling to harm her, and may even see it as a challenge — after all, she has a level of notoriety. She suffers a –1 die penalty to all Expression, Persuasion and Socialize rolls against spirits. A given spirit may be unwilling to involve itself with her at all, which could cause complications.
Shadow Contacts
(• to •••••)
Effect: Your character knows a place where she can ask questions and get information. She has reasonably free access to this place — which may be the urinal in a ca-thedral, a dank cave in a national park, the manhole that a murderer used to dispose of bodies or nearly anything else — and can occasionally go there to get answers. She does not know what entity she asks. For each answer the Shadow Contact provides, it asks a price. This price often has some tangential relation to the nature of the question, but may well not. The more urgent or esoteric the question, the stranger and more disturbing the price. Frivolous questions are discouraged by incommensurately outrageous demands. If the character asks whether and why her creepy neighbor is stealing locks of her hair, the voice may request a Barbie doll hanged in a noose made from a young girl’s hair. Asking whether she should change her hairstyle, the entity may demand all the hair shaved from three young girls. The character only pays the price if the Shadow Contact has the answer. The Storyteller (who likely knows just who or what the Shadow Contact is) may simply decide, or he may roll the character’s rating in the Merit to determine either way.
Drawback: If the character receives an answer from the Shadow Contact, she mustpay the price or make the contact reluctant to speak with her. Each time the character fails to give the Shadow Contact its dues, her rating in the Merit drops by one dot. She may purchase greater trust with proper roleplaying and experience points. This will often involve meeting the reneged-upon deal, with interest. If the rating drops below three dots, the contact refuses to speak with her any longer. She must purchase the Merit anew from zero dots, which represents finding a new mysterious font of information — no easy task. Note that the Merit degrades only if the Shadow Contact decides that her payment is officially past due. Clever characters may be able to delay the entity for some time.
Shadowless Chambers 
(• to •••••)
Effect:Your character owns or can take refuge in a location that spirits have trouble finding. Maybe the location has no reflection in the Shadow Realm or has a peculiar resonance that confounds spirits. The location may have a bad reputation in the spirit world, in a way similar to the worst streets in a mortal city. Whatever the cause, spirits rarely go there and rarely think to go there. The character may hide there with reasonable surety that denizens of the Shadow Realm will not find him. Each dot in this Merit applies a –1 die penalty on spirits’ attempts to track the character to that location or reason out where he might be hiding.
Drawback: This Merit is fragile. When a spirit does manage to find the character in the marked location, word begins to spread. The location’s reputation diminishes, or the presence of a spirit alters the resonance that once kept them away. Each such event reduces the Merit’s rating by one. On the other hand, when something bad does happen to the spirit there — the character manages to discorporate it, or the resonance infects the spirit — such events serve as excellent reason to increase this Merit with experience points.
Spirit Ear
(• to •••••)
Prerequisites:Wits ••• or Composure •••
Effect:Your character has a knack for understanding spirits. Perhaps one whispered to his mother as she was pregnant or sang him to sleep (and nightmares) as an in-fant. Today, even though their alien minds speak human tongues only poorly, the character always understands exactly what the spirit meant to say. This is by no means a conscious process of translation, and the character has no means of more effectively communicating to spirits, just understanding their words. On a mechanical level, the character gains +1 die bonus per dot in this merit to use the Empathy Skill on spirits and to use the Subterfuge Skill to detect their lies. The character also ignores penalties based on poor understanding of the spirit’s words. The character may attempt to assemble a rough idea of what a spirit is saying in that tongue with a Wits + Empathy roll at a –3 dice penalty. Other penalties may apply, especially if the speech is hard to hear or the spirit is deliberately being vague or opaque. 
Vampire: The Requiem
Following Merits are vampire specific. 
Coterie/Territory/Ect. merits
While these merits can be purchased by single vampires, they're often practical for group purchases, or even necessary. 
Altar 
(•••)
Prerequisites: Circle of the Crone Status •
Effect: Your character is attuned to a mystical, bloody altar. She may have crafted it herself, or a covenmate may have designed it. In the presence of the altar, Acolytes may use the teamwork rules  (see p. 173) when using Crúac rituals. However, double the time necessary to make the roll, and determine the time per roll by the lowest Crúac dots of the collective group. This allows vampires uninitiated in the secrets of Crúac to participate in rituals. Characters do not need dots in Crúac to act as supporting performers with the Altar Merit, but double the time between rolls if any participants have no Crúac dots whatsoever. Drawback: Unlike most Merits, three or more characters must purchase this Merit to gain its benefits. Each character contributes a single Merit dot to the total cost. Additional characters may purchase dots in the Altar, but to use the teamwork advantages, they must contribute. 
Feeding Grounds 
(• to •••••)
Effect: Your character has fertile feeding grounds, whether officially granted or not. Dots in this Merit represent the ease of hunting in that territory. Add the dot rating to any hunting rolls, and to starting Vitae rolls  (see p. 95). In addition, add the dot rating to any predatory aura conflicts on her territory. Drawback: Territory doesn’t maintain itself. Trespassers must not go uncontested, or your hold on the area falters.
Haven 
(• to •••••)
Prerequisite: Safe Place •
Effect: A good haven is not only safe from the sun, but also familiar and comforting. The dot rating reflects your character’s affinity for his home and its defenses against the sun’s intrusion. A low rating might mean an unreliable apartment with boarded windows. A high rating may mean an ancestral home with no windows and an extensive system of vaults. Add your Haven dots to any Humanity rolls to notice danger while sleeping, and any Stamina + Resolve rolls to remain awake. As well, add it to any Kindred senses (see p. 90) rolls within. Drawback: Losing a Haven is a breaking point at Humanity 8, minus its dot rating. A Haven must be tied to a Safe Place Merit (see p. 123). Like a Safe Place, a coterie may share a Haven Merit. Each member that wishes to benefit must invest Merit dots in both the Safe Place and the Haven.
Herd 
(• to •••••)
Effect: Your character cultivates cliques of mortals willing and eager for the Kiss. Each week, you can draw on a number of Vitae equal to twice the Merit’s dot rating. This requires no roll, only a quick interlude. Taking more than that amount requires normal hunting rolls. Drawback: Addicts need their fix. Sometimes, they demand attention. If neglected, they’ll withdraw. Your character must have at least minor interactions with her Herd before they’ll give blood freely. 
 
Vampire Merits
Vampire merits are merits that only a vampire can purchase, and they are intended for use of that vampire alone. 
Acute Senses 
(•)
Effect: The vampire can see, smell, and hear at twice the distance and with twice the accuracy of an average, healthy mortal. The vampire’s senses of taste and touch are also twice as sensitive as those of the same hypothetical person. The vampire can perfectly identify any sensory stimulus she has experienced before; for example, the smell of a lover’s sweat, the texture of a rare abric, or the sound of an individual’s scream. Add her Blood Potency to any roll to use her senses. This includes any rolls to remember and identify sensory details. Drawback: Her senses sometimes overwhelm her. Any time you roll an exceptional success on a roll relating to her senses, she gains the Obsession Condition for the stimulus, but instead of being Persistent, it lasts for a number of nights equal to your successes.  
Anointed 
(•)
Prerequisites: Lancea et Sanctum Status •
Effect: Not all Sanctified are members of the clergy. Most are lay members. Those anointed under the damnation of Longinus wield his word like a firebrand. Once per chapter, roll Presence + Expression when preaching to a crowd. A small clique of listeners levies a –1 die penalty, a small crowd a –2, and a large crowd a –3. Listeners gain the Raptured Condition (see p. 305). Drawback: The character may not use this Merit on herself. 
Atrocious (•)
Prerequisites: Cannot have the Cutthroat or Enticing Merits
Effect: Your character’s monstrous Beast dominates her personality. Her threats always ring true. Her very gaze inspires anger and fear. Any rolls to invoke the monstrous Beast gain the 8-again quality. Drawback: Your character does not get the 10-again quality on any rolls to invoke or resist the seductive or competitive Beasts.
Attaché 
(•)
Prerequisites: Invictus Status •
Effect: Normally, Retainers  (see p. 123) serve a couple of functions, represented by dice pools. They don’t normally allow a character to access other things represented by Social Merits. However, Invictus vampires with this Merit have Retainers of a more thoroughly loyal breed. Each Retainer gains any combination of the following Merit dots equal to the vampire’s Invictus Status: Contacts, Resources, or Safe Place. Drawback: While the Invictus may access these Merits, it must be done through an intermediary. So it might take a bit of time, or require a bit of red tape navigation to access. At very least it will require a few inconvenient phone calls. 
Bloodhound 
(•)
Prerequisites: Wits •••
Effect: Your character can discern the intricacies of blood by smelling it, as if he had tasted it. When using his Kindred senses to detect blood, to track by blood, or to pick out the details of blood, he only needs to smell a blood source.
Cacophony Savvy (• to •••)
Prerequisite: City Status •
Effect: You have your finger on the pulse of the Kindred underground. You’re adept with the codes and cants that allow Kindred culture to flourish despite the Masquerade. Each level of Cacophony Savvy builds on the previous. This Merit assumes the character can read and deliver Cacophony messages.Drawback: The Cacophony is not a spectator sport. You can’t just consume; you must create. If your character does not regularly contribute news and gossip to the Cacophony, she falls out of touch. To become an active part of the Cacophony again, she must add something of value.
Gettin’ Up (•): 
Your character can read the signs when she sees them. With an Intelligence + Streetwise roll, she can identify the intended message. She can identify further details, including the messenger’s clan, covenant, favored herd, and city of origin by taking a –1 die penalty for every detail she wishes to discern. Additional details come at Storyteller discretion. If the area surveyed is part of someone’s Feeding Grounds Merit, you can add their dot rating to your roll, and discern things the owner didn’t mean to communicate. For example, particularly pale junkies in the neighborhood might suggest that the owner feeds from addicts. 
Backpacker (••): 
Your character is privy to all the personal ads, magazine codes, tracts, and tagging locations to find the latest Kindred news. Any time new Kindred come to town, your character knows their favored feeding grounds and their common aliases within a week. Using Gettin’ Up, she can discern more personal information about them from the grapevine.
Wearing a Hat (•••):
Your character embodies honor among thieves. She’s a highly respected part of the Cacophony, and as a result, nothing happens without her knowledge. She’s a hub of local culture, and the first line of defense against vampire hunters by extension. Once per chapter, roll Wits + Politics. For each success, you can ask the Storyteller one of the following questions about the current state of affairs: 
• Who is on the way up?
• Who is on the way out? 
• Where in the city is the Masquerade thinnest?
• What mortal is closest to uncovering Kindred?
• Where’s the best feeding in town?
When acting on the answer, consider all rolls exceptional successes on three successes instead of five.
Carthian Pull 
(•)
Prerequisite: Carthian Status •
Effect: Carthians know people. Being the covenant arguably most in touch with humanity, they tend to have the most numerous connections. Membership in the Movement can mean leveraging those connections. Each month, you can access a number of dots of the Allies, Contacts, Haven, and Herd Merits equal to your Carthian Status. Drawback: These Merits are not yours. They’re very temporary, very superficial. You don’t get a house from Haven dots; you get crash space for a couple days. Each use is a favor, and the Movement expects members to repay their favors.
Claws of the Unholy 
(•)
Prerequisite: Protean ••••
Effect: A Gangrel’s claws are deadly and bestial; yours are downright unnatural. The vampire allows the Beast out of its cage and lets it punish all those around her. When wielding claws borne of Unnatural Aspect while in frenzy, this Merit takes effect. The weapon modifier for the claws becomes +0 aggravated. These claws ignore all armor not generated by Resilience. Drawback: You may only use Claws of the Unholy while in frenzy or riding the wave. Once purchased, this modification is not optional; the character manifests Claws of the Unholy any time she’s frenzied. 
Close Family 
(•)
Effect: Your character feels blood sympathy more keenly than most of her kind. Add +1 to all blood sympathy bonuses, and apply the 8-again quality to all blood sympathy rolls. As well, treat all relations as one step closer for the purposes of sympathy distances. Drawback: When you feel sympathy, you feel it hard. Any time you succeed on a blood sympathy roll, your character loses the ability to spend Willpower for bonus dice for the remainder of the scene, due to the distraction. 
Cutthroat 
(•)
Prerequisites: Cannot have the Atrocious or Enticing Merits
Effect: Your character’s competitive Beast flows in her every action. Her smug bearing forces a desire to dominate or submit. Any rolls to invoke the competitive Beast gain the 8-again quality. Drawback: Your character does not get the 10-again quality on any rolls to invoke or resist the monstrous or seductive Beasts.
Distinguished Palate 
(•)
Effect: Your character can discern the subtle nuances in blood and Vitae. Consider any Taste of Blood roll (see p. 91) an exceptional success with only a single success. Drawback: When taking this Merit, choose a preferred feature in a vessel that comprises no more than one-tenth of the population. This may be a hair color, a blood type, or even a drug in his system. When feeding from any other mortal source, ignore the first point of Vitae ingested in a given scene, as nothing sates your character like her preferred meal.
Dream Visions 
(•)
Prerequisites: Must be Mekhet
Effect: Your character’s Mekhet blood touches on a level of universal interconnectedness that her mind cannot truly grasp. However, sometimes it gives her fleeting glimpses of insight and intuition. During the day, she dreams of what’s to come in vague symbols. Once per night, when she meets someone new or visits a new place, make a Blood Potency roll. If successful, ask one question to the Storyteller or the character’s player. The question must fit with a yes/no/maybe answer. The answer reflects the last day’s dreams. Drawback: This Merit may only be used once per person (and only on first meeting), and once per night. So, if she meets multiple new people, you must choose who the dreams were of. 
Dynasty Membership 
(• to •••)
Prerequisite: Clan Status •
Effect: Your character claims membership to a long-standing dynasty of Kindred. Her clan and city know her family’s exploits, and they often precede her. Each level of this Merit builds on the earlier abilities. Drawback: You must make your association known to take advantage of this Merit. Within certain crowds, throwing around a lineage could be more trouble than it’s worth. The dynasty must have at least three members.
New Kid (•): 
You’re recognized within the dynasty, but not in an influential position. Once per chapter, you may add the Clan Status of the dynasty’s most senior member to a Social dice pool instead of your own. 
Exemplar (••): 
You’re afforded sway and respect within the dynasty. Against any who would respect or fear your dynasty, you may ignore the first Door in any Social engagement.
Patriarch/Matriarch (•••): 
You’re acknowledged as a head of your dynasty. Once per chapter, you may make a demand of a dynasty member. They gain the Tasked Condition. If they fulfill the demand, gain a Beat. The task must be something that would take a full night’s work, or put the recipient in danger.
Enticing 
(•)
Prerequisites: Cannot have the Atrocious or Cutthroat Merits
Effect: Your character’s seductive Beast oozes with ease and confidence. Her smoky looks tantalize the imagination. Every movement of her hands makes promises. Any rolls to invoke the seductive Beast gain the 8-again quality. Drawback: Your character does not get the 10-again quality on any rolls to invoke or resist the monstrous or competitive Beasts.
Friends in High Places 
(•)
Prerequisites: Invictus Status •
Effect: The Invictus have their fingers in a lot of pies…but any one vampire only has so many fingers. So the vampires of the First Estate do not just leverage their personal connections — they leverage each other’s. An Invictus member can always do a little horse trading. Each month, your character can automatically open a number of Doors equal to her status dots. The person being persuaded must be acting on behalf of an organization. You could persuade the fire chief not to investigate a series of arsons at your rival’s havens, but couldn’t convince him to give you a personal loan. Drawback: The influence the character drew upon must come from a specific Invictus member…and your character now owes him a favor.
Honey Trap 
(•)
Effect:  Your character’s blood not only bonds, but it invigorates. When a vampire tastes your character’s Vitae, she regains a point of Willpower. If this results in a new bond, or steps up an existing bond, she also takes a Beat.
Invested 
(•)
Prerequisite: Invictus Status •
Effect: In the Invictus, you get out what you put in. Through doing favors and making herself noticed, your character has gotten back plenty. Divide dots equal to your Invictus status in the Herd, Mentor, Resources, and Retainers Merits. You may distribute them as you like. These dots can be added to existing Merit dots, or added upon later. If she loses dots of Status, the dots granted by this Merit go away as well. Drawback: These advantages came from the covenant. They’re not only known, but they’re a matter of covenant scrutiny. Rivals may call whether your character deserves them into question.
Kiss of the Succubus 
(•)
Prerequisite: Must be Daeva
Effect: All Kindred can evoke lustful, passionate reactions with a bite. The Daeva’s bite is downright addicting. Her Kiss causes the Addicted Condition in mortals as well as the Swooning Condition (for Addicted, see p. 301; for Swooning, see p. 306). Drawback: This gift is a double-edged sword. On one hand, it keeps blood dolls coming back. On the other, they won’t stay away. 
Lineage 
(•)
Prerequisite: Clan Status •
Effect: You come from strong stock. Your sire’s well known, and his influence bleeds onto your interactions. Once per chapter, this Merit can represent a single dot of one of the following Merits: Allies, Contacts, Mentor, Resources, or Status. The Merit must be one your sire may have possessed. Drawback: Calling on your sire’s reputation taxes his social capital. He may ask for repayment for using his name.
Lorekeeper 
(•)
Prerequisites: Lancea et Sanctum Status •
Effect: The Spear is tasked with the acquisition and maintenance of history and mystical secrets. Most devoted members of the covenant establish and maintain libraries. Since most of this knowledge has to pass through mortal hands, the Sanctum also tends to attract those, likeminded, who wish to surround themselves with ancient secrets. When a member of the Lancea et Sanctum with this Merit buys the Library Merit (see p. 121), she also receives dots in the Retainers and Herd Merits, divided however she chooses. Drawback: The Retainers and Herd afforded by this Merit are drawn in by the lure of forbidden knowledge. To maintain these advantages, the vampire must be willing to let slip at least some of that information to her mortal retinue. Unfortunately, sometimes mortal librarians aren’t quite as zealous about defending their secrets. 
The Mother-Daughter Bond 
(•)
Prerequisites: Circle of the Crone Status •
Effect: The Circle exists through tribulation and mentorship. Without tight-knit bonds, the Circle would never have survived its tumultuous early years. When a member of the Circle with this Merit purchases the Mentor Merit, that Mentor is protected by the True Friend Merit (see p. 124). The vampire does not have to purchase True Friend to take this advantage. Drawback: Strong bonds go both ways. The mentor is likely to have stronger requirements than most teachers, and will require a substantial amount of the vampire’s time. More importantly, she’ll demand loyalty, if not monogamy. 
Night Doctor Surgery 
(•)
Prerequisite: Carthian Status ••
Effect: Carthians have adapted a bit of real-world surgery and a little body horror into a series of morbid reconstruction techniques to help injured Kindred heal. Night Doctor Surgery helps bones reset, and speeds the knitting of flesh. With an hour of treatment, roll Intelligence + Medicine. Each success converts one point of lethal damage to bashing. Alternatively, three successes can convert one point of aggravated damage to lethal damage. Failure means the wounds remain; dramatic failure upgrades three points of bashing to lethal, or two lethal to aggravated. With Storyteller discretion, this Merit and Willpower expenditure may be used over time to make changes to facial appearance. Drawback: Knowledge of Night Doctor Surgery affords a great responsibility. If your identity is known, the Movement will call on your services frequently. For this reason, most Night Doctors use pseudonyms (usually a letter, like Doctor H), performing their services while masked. You cannot perform Night Doctor Surgery on yourself. You may only make one attempt to treat a given injury.
Speaker for the Silent 
(•)
Prerequisite: Dynasty Membership •, Invictus Status •
Effect: Any Kindred may be part of a dynastic house, but the Invictus take dynasty membership very seriously. Some members receive training to channel the minds of torpid dynasty members. With this Merit, the character can choose to act as a medium for a torpid elder’s consciousness. While possessed, the Speaker is aware of what occurs around him, but the torpid Kindred has control of his body, and can speak through him. The torpid Kindred retains no access to her Disciplines while possessing a Speaker. At any time, the Speaker can spend a point of Willpower to eject the torpid mind. The torpid Kindred can relinquish her control at will.
Pack Alpha 
(•)
Prerequisite: Must be Gangrel
Effect: You’re pack-minded. Your blood draws to blood. You may designate a coterie of Kindred and ghouls as your pack. Every Gangrel has a different method for the designation. Some anoint with blood. Some have hazing rituals. When the pack takes teamwork actions, the supporting characters gain the 8-again quality on their rolls. The anchor character does not, but still adds dice equal to the others’ successes. Removing a pack member must be done by force. You must cause lethal damage in one of their last three Health boxes, then exile them from your presence for at least a week. Drawback: When a member of your pack defies you, you must make an example of them or lose a point of Willpower. 
Unnatural Affinity 
(• to •••••)
Effect: Your character can take nourishment from the blood of some of the stranger creatures of the World of Darkness. Each dot of this Merit allows your character to gain sustenance from one type of supernatural creature. This may mean werewolves, ghosts, mummies, zombies, or stranger things still. This blood counts as Kindred Vitae for the purposes of feeding restrictions. Drawback: This advantage does not inherently mean the character is (more) able to feed from the chosen subject. For example, ghosts exist in an ethereal state, and don’t have physical blood. Werewolves are notoriously difficult to feed from for more practical reasons that often end in Final Death. If you take this Merit, work with your Storyteller to determine how your character might feed from these monsters. 
Swarm Form 
(•)
Prerequisite: Protean •••
Effect: When taking the Beast’s Skin, some Gangrel can instead become a swarm of small creatures: Size 0 or Size 1 animals. The character may perceive through any of the senses of any individual creature in the swarm, but the swarm acts as a single entity.The swarm may spread over five yards or meters per dot of Blood Potency. Creatures beyond that range die and rapidly decompose. The swarm moves at the vampire’s Speed, modified for the creatures’ Size, in any logical direction. The swarm limits visibility and hearing, and causes panic in all those present. Everyone within the swarm’s area suffers the persistent Distracted Condition (see p.302) until they get away. With Storyteller discretion, a swarm may have other features suited to the swarm animal. For example, rats should be better at biting through barricades. The swarm resists most harm. Roll attacks against the swarm as normal, but after factoring armor and other modifiers, the swarm only takes one point of damage of the appropriate type at most, or two points of damage with an exceptional success. Fire, sunlight, explosions, and other large-scale threats cause normal harm to the swarm, which is affected by banes as normal. To attack those within her swarm, roll Strength + Brawl, ignoring Defense. Divide the damage however you wish among those inside. Apply a victim’s armor to the damage normally. The damage is lethal (bashing to Kindred). Alternately, a success may instead allow the vampire to take one Vitae from a victim. 
Secret Society Junkie 
(•)
Prerequisites: Ordo Dracul Status •
Effect: The Ordo Dracul exist within one of the most secret of secret societies. But many of its members participate in other such organizations in mortal (or other) spheres. Members of such secret societies tend to draw toward the Dragon, like a moths to a flame. When the vampire takes Status or Mystery Cult Initiation  (see p. 121) reflecting non-Kindred organizations, she also gains Herd dots equal to the Merit. 
Sworn 
(•)
Prerequisites: Ordo Dracul Status •
Effect: Your character is not only a member of the Ordo Dracul, she’s sworn to serve one of its branches. When taking this Merit, choose to which faction she belongs (the Axe, the Dying Light, or Mysteries typically). She gains dots equal to her Covenant Status to split between the Mentor and Retainer Merits. These reflect teachers and wards within the faction. She can swap these Merits out between chapters, as she receives new assignments. Sworn of the Axe must defend the sanctity of the Order’s secrets. They’re the soldiers and assassins expected to clean up any leaks. If a Dragon leaks knowledge of the Coils, they can expect a visit from the Sworn of the Axe. Sworn of the Dying Light act as the research and development wing of the Ordo Dracul. The Sworn dedicate themselves to learning, teaching, and creating Coils. Sworn of the Mysteries are the guiding hands of the Order as a whole. They make sweeping decisions determining the covenant’s political and social directions. They’re expected to know the affairs of all local chapter houses. Drawback: Being Sworn is no easy task. It means being tied inexorably to the covenant, with deep and time-demanding responsibilities. Your character cannot go two full nights without devoting at least some time to covenant affairs, or she’ll be punished.  
I Know a Guy 
(•)
Prerequisites: Carthian Status •
Effect: When Carthians make Allies  (see p. 118), their covenant acts as a sort of support network that bolsters the efficiency of those allies. Once per story, a Carthian may access temporary Retainer dots equal to their Allies. These Retainers act in the Carthian’s interest, just like any other Retainers (Since Allies gained with Carthian Pull don’t really belong to the character as a Merit, they don’t count for purposes of I Know A Guy.) Drawback: These Retainers represent the Allies group in question, and will serve its interests first and foremost. If the Carthian wants them to do something contrary to the group’s interest, she’ll need to manipulate, threaten, or otherwise risk her relationship with her Allies. 
Touchstone 
(• to •••••)
Effect: Your character has multiple Touchstones. Each dot in the Touchstone Merit allows for an additional Touchstone. Look to the Touchstone chart for which Humanity dot each new Touchstone is applied to. For more on Touchstones, see p. 87. Drawback: Losing attachment with Touchstones will speed the loss of Humanity. As well, if your character’s last Touchstone dies or is destroyed, your character will feel the call of torpor. 
Undead Menses 
(•)
Effect: Throughout history, various cultures attributed mystical significance to the menstrual cycle. Many of these myths carried stigmas against menses, due to the unhealthy fears of men in power. With this Merit, your character still produces menstrual blood. Once per night, she can produce a viscous, dark blood. If she uses this blood in casting a Crúac ritual, she benefits from the 8-again quality. If she touches it to a person before affecting them with a Discipline, they suffer her Blood Potency as a penalty to his Resistance. Drawback: The character must identify as female. If she draws forth her Undead Menses multiple times in an evening, each beyond the first causes her a level of aggravated damage. As well, any attempts to identify her by her menstrual blood gain a +5 die bonus.
Unsettling Gaze 
(•)
Prerequisites: Must be Nosferatu
Effect: All Haunts have an unsettling effect. Your character’s Beast oozes with terror. When she evokes the monstrous Beast (see p. 91), she unsettles her target deeply and makes him question himself. Any time she infects a victim with the Bestial Condition and scores an exceptional success, she also forces a breaking point if the victim has a higher Humanity (or Integrity) than hers.  Drawback: Forcing a breaking point in another is also a breaking point for your character if her Humanity is 3 or higher. 
Where the Bodies Are Buried 
(•)
Prerequisites: Invictus Status ••
Effect: The Conspiracy of Silence covers up a lot of secrets… and your character’s been quietly keeping track. A number of times equal to your Invictus Status per story, you can ask one of the following questions about another vampire whose name and covenant affiliation you know:
• Who would this vampire run to if he were in trouble?
• Who is this vampire’s most frequent vessel?
• What is this vampire’s main source of income?
• Who is this vampire’s closest living family member?
• Has this vampire covered up the murder of a human?
Drawback: Digging into this information attracts attention. At least one fellow member of the Invictus will know you were investigating the vampire.
Carthian Laws
Carthian laws are described on pg. 115 of Blood & Smoke: A strix Chronicle (VTR - Revised).
Lex Terrae 
(•)
Prerequisites: Carthian Status ••, Feeding Ground •
Effect: Territory is bond. Feeding ground is sacrosanct. Any blood poached from your character’s Feeding Ground is tainted for Kindred she has not specifically allowed. When next a poacher sleeps, the blood dissolves in his gullet. When he wakes, he violently retches, taking one bashing damage per Vitae lost. As well, his lips and mouth stain with black streaks that paint him as a poacher. These marks last for one week. Drawback: This Merit requires a clearly-defined and publicly announced feeding ground. 
Mandate from the Masses 
(•)
Prerequisites: Carthian Status •••••
Effect: Carthians wield consensus the way a cop wields a baton. With the power of the Movement behind her, a ranking Carthian can call on the will of her people to strike weakness into the Movement’s opposition. With her words and the mandate, she strips a Kindred enemy’s blood down to nothingness. To enact this law, your character must make a clear and direct admonishment against one of the Movement’s enemies. Cross a dot of Willpower off the Carthian’s sheet. She must also garner the support of others of the Movement for a vote — from both Storyteller characters and players’ characters. If the vote favors the admonishment, add the total dots of Carthian Status in support (including the user’s five). For every five dots, reduce the victim’s Blood Potency by one dot. If this reduces him to zero dots, he effectively becomes a revenant (see p. 94 for rules on revenants). 
Drawback: The Willpower dot (belonging to the vampire who invoked the mandate) and Blood Potency (belonging to the victim) only come back if the victim flees the city or meets Final Death. If the Carthian meets Final Death, the victim immediately regains his lost Blood Potency. A single vampire may only be victim to one instance of this Merit at a time.
Right of Return 
(•)
Prerequisites: Carthian Status ••, City Status •
Effect: This somewhat rare Merit allows a Carthian to work within another covenant without fear of her covenant’s ostracism. After all, Carthians aim for human solutions, and nothing is more human than the ability to adapt and socialize. With this Merit, the character’s Carthian Status does not count toward her normal limitations on multiple Covenant Status Merits. She can have as many as five dots of the Covenant Status Merit, not counting her Carthian Status. While individual characters may oppose your character’s cosmopolitan membership practices, she’s adept at defending them. In any Social Maneuvering with members of a covenant she claims Status in, treat her impressions as one step better (see p. 173 for more on Social Actions). Drawback: Kindred remain ever paranoid, particularly with a Carthian in their midst. Every step she takes receives the utmost scrutiny. Your character loses the 10-again quality on rolls to hide suspicious behavior from members of her other covenants. 
Strength of Resolution 
(•)
Prerequisites: Carthian Status •
Effect: A Carthian stands resolute in the face of that which would force her to violate the law. Add her Carthian Status to any dice pool to contest a Discipline or other supernatural power which would coax her to violate acknowledged city law. 
Plausible Deniability 
(•)
Prerequisites: Carthian Status •••
Effect: Carthians don’t break laws; they defy laws. Influential Carthians can throw law to the wind, then laugh it off with an argument about the definition of the word “is.” Any attempt to use a Discipline or other supernatural power to prove your character’s guilt in breach of city law or Tradition automatically fails. She cannot be forced to confess by any means, and attempts to detect her honesty through mundane means suffer her Carthian Status as a penalty. She exhibits no stains on her aura from diablerie. Drawback: It’s one thing to deny the truth. It’s another to deny the truth to witnesses. You lose the ability to use your City Status and Carthian Status dots in any Social rolls against anyone who knows for certain of your character’s guilt, and opposes her.
Invictus Oaths
Invictus oaths are described on page 116 of Blood & Smoke: A strix Chronicle (VTR - Revised).
Notary 
(•)
Prerequisites: Invictus Status •••
Effect: The Invictus appointed your character a Notary, a scholar of Oaths. She presides over Oath agreements. Because of your standing as an arbiter of the status quo, Invictus may not use their Invictus Status in rolls against you. As well, each month, you may request access to a single dot of Allies, Contacts, Herd, Mentor, or Resources, granted by the covenant at large. Drawback: Invictus are deathly serious about the sanctity of Oaths. If you’re caught knowingly administering an unwilling Oath, or Oath a non-Invictus as liege in an agreement, the Invictus will remove you from the Estate. Usually, this removal comes through Final Death. 
Oath of Action 
(•)
Effect: With this Oath, a vassal swears to perform a service to his liege. The service must be a difficult task with definite criteria for accomplishment or failure. At the time of the swearing, both parties agree upon one of the liege’s Disciplines. The vassal gains access to that Discipline. The liege’s Blood Potency increases by one. This Oath stands as a rare exception to bloodline Disciplines: a vassal may temporarily access a liege’s bloodline gift. If the vassal accomplishes the task, the Oath ends and the liege suffers aggravated damage equal to the Discipline dots granted. If the vassal fails the task or a month passes, he suffers the damage instead. While not uncommon, some domains consider a liege’s interference in the task to be bad form. The liege does not lose access to the Disicpline. Drawback: A character may be part of only one Oath of Action at a time, as vassal or liege.
Oath of Fealty 
(•)
Prerequisites: Invictus Status •
Effect: This most basic Oath establishes a foundation of trust within the Invictus. The vassal may draw a number of Vitae from his liege equal to his Invictus Status in a given week. This Vitae transfers mystically over any distance, and replenishes the vassal’s pool without risk of Vitae addiction or blood bond. The liege always knows if the vassal lies to her, in voice or in writing. Drawback: A vassal may only owe fealty to one liege.
Oath of Penance 
(•)
Effect: This Oath is a form of apology from a vassal to an aggrieved liege. For the agreed-upon term, the liege receives every tenth Vitae the vassal ingests. This Vitae comes over any distance, without risk of blood bond or addiction, and counts as Kindred Vitae. Some ancient Invictus use this Oath to skirt their need for Kindred blood, by establishing massive networks of “punished” vassals. During the same period, the vassal becomes immune to the liege’s Discipline effects. Drawback: While a vassal is paying penance, she may not gain the benefits of any other Oath. She retains their drawbacks.
====Oath of Serfdom ====
(•)
Effect: This Oath is a contract between a landlord and a tenant. In Invictus domains, Princes often use this Oath as the go-to for granting territory. Young Invictus refer to this practice as “castling.” Oath of Serfdom agreements typically involve “red rent,” a certain blood tithe given to the landlord regularly. While in her granted land or when defending her liege, the vassal gains access to a dot of Celerity, Resilience, or Vigor, chosen at the swearing of the Oath. She must still pay relevant activation costs. As well, she instinctively knows when another creature with the predatory aura enters her territory, and from what direction. If she knows the trespasser, she can identify him. The liege gains the vassal’s Feeding Ground Merit dots in any rolls against her. As well, he becomes immune to blood bonds from the vassal. 
Werewolf: The Forsaken
Following merits are werewolf specific. 
 
Auspice Blessing
(•)
Prerequisite:One auspice Affinity Skill at ••
Effect: Whenever your character can see her aus-pice moon — or at least where it should be in the sky — she is filled with confidence in the role that Luna has given her. Irraka slip that little bit more silently when the new moon is out, and Elodoth argue that bit more eloquently when bathed in the light of the half-moon. You gain a +1 equipment bonus to one Auspice Skill when your auspice moon is in the sky. This Skill must be rated •• or higher. 
Drawback: The effects of this Merit only work when the sun is down, and your character can see where her moon would be in the sky (clouds don’t affect this Merit, but buildings do, for instance). If the character’s moon isn’t above the horizon after sundown, she must be able to see the sky directly above her.
Ephemeral reckoning
(•)
Effect:Whether through hours of study or an innate knack, your character has more insight than most into the Shadow. Something inside her picks up on spiritual resonance without her consciously noticing. Your character can make a reflexive Intelligence + Occult roll once per scene to determine the resonance of a given area. Dramatic failure indicates misleading information, failure offers nothing, success gives the main resonance of an area and an exceptional success shows the subtle layers of resonance before her. She can make a similar reflexive roll to pick up on the resonance of a source of Essence that she has found. Only one roll of either kind can be made per scene, though with the four-dot version of this Merit she may try again if the first roll is a failure (see “Successive Attempts,” the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 132).
Moon-centered 
(•)
Effect: No matter your character’s auspice, the sight of the full moon fills him with a powerful rage that yearns to be unleashed. Mother Luna’s face fully revealed spurs him to release the rage within in the only way he knows. On nights of the full moon, your character adds one to his Stamina + Primal Urge when determining the number of turns spent in Gauru form only. This counts as the natural duration for the purposes of Gifts and other effects that alter the duration.
Drawback: Your character is on edge in the light of the full moon until he can release the rage within. All Composure rolls suffer a –1 penalty during the full moon until he can take Gauru form. Changing forms just once is enough to offset this penalty for the duration of the phase (usually three nights).
Metabolic control
(•)
Prerequisite:Stamina ••• 
Effect:Your character has more control over his body than most werewolves. This allows him to stop his body from regenerating, at least for long enough to set a wound. In addition, this Merit allows the werewolf to slow down other aspects of his physique. When normal people are out of breath, werewolves normally aren’t. When normal people are shocked by injury, werewolves normally aren’t. This Merit allows your character to appear no better than a normal hu-man, slipping under the radar of anything that would hunt him. Camouflaging himself in this way takes a Stamina + Survival roll, with a success indicating that your character has suppressed his metabolism for one scene, or one day for an exceptional success. The character may selectively turn the regeneration on and off when he desires during this period. 
Drawback: Preventing regeneration in a par-ticularly stressful situation may require spending a Willpower point, at the Storyteller’s discretion
Animal Magnetism
(• to •••••)
Effect: Your character is a focal point for every-one in the room. Through a combination of phero-mones and body language, she has an edge of danger that’s hard to resist. Her primal, powerful nature hides just under the surface, and when she wants to, she can let it out. Your character lowers the penalty from her Primal Urge by a number equal to his dots in this merit when making a Pres-ence or Manipulation roll to distract or seduce some-one who would normally be attracted to her gender.
Drawback: Being the center of attention is not always a good thing. People who are attracted to you will keep flirting or trying to strike up conversations when you’re alone, and everyone who isn’t attracted to you will likely resent you. 
Predator’s gaze
(• to •••••)
Prerequisites:Presence •• and Intimidation ••
Effect: Your character has a tendency to look at people as if they were prey animals. Her body lan-guage is domineering, and in conversation, her eyes focus on the throat or another weak spot. People want to get out of her presence, and while that can be annoying, it can also be very useful for getting things done quickly.Your character gets a +1 bonus to all intimidation rolls equal to the penalty normally levied on social rolls by her primal urge, but not higher than her rating in this merit. A shopkeeper will serve her first, just to get her out of the store, and a street gang will suddenly decide that mugging her might not be the best plan they ever had.
Drawback: Looking on people as prey doesn’t help with making friends and influencing people. People look askance at anyone who hangs around with you voluntarily, and you’ll likely be the first name in people’s heads whenever they hear of a violent crime in the area. After all, you sure look and act the type.
Fetish
(• to •••••)
Effect: Your character possesses a fetish, a tool or weapon empowered by a spirit bound within. Perhaps she inherited it from a relative, received it from another werewolf, crafted it herself as part of her initiation or took it from a fallen ally dur-ing the prelude. Whatever the reason, your character begins play with a fetish that is already attuned to her.The fetish has a level equal to the dots in this Merit. One dot of Fetish is equal to three talens (small, minor fetishes; see p. 205), which may be multiple copies of the same talen. You may purchase multiple fe-tishes during character creation as long as the total dots in this Merit do not exceed five. You could put four dots into Fetish by assigning your character a Spirit Drum (one dot) and a Mask of Life (three dots), but your character could not begin play with a four-dot klaive and a Fireflash (two dots). Further fetishes can be ac-quired through roleplay as the chronicle progresses, but cannot be purchased by experience points.Sample fetishes are provided in Chapter Three (pp. 204-209).
Scout
(•)
You are exceptionally talented at scoping out an enemy’s territory, so long as you are not interfered with and don’t attack. You receive +1 die to Perception and Stealth dice pools in a rival werewolf’s territory.
Vicious attacker
(•)
You have no respect for other werewolves’ territory and see their territorial claims as a challenge to your own dominance. When invading another werewolf’s territory, you receive +1 die to attacks made with claws and teeth against that werewolf or his allies. This Merit does not provide you with any benefit against humans or supernatu-ral entities that live in your opponent’s territory, unless they specifically take up arms to help those werewolves. (If the local police attack you because you appear to be a shotgun-toting maniac, you get no benefit from this Merit; if a werewolf’s spouse attacks you because you are fighting his wife, this Merit does apply.) This Merit provides you no benefit if you are fighting another werewolf in neutral ground or in territory he does not claim as his own.
Locus
(VARIES; SPECIAL)
Prerequisite: At least one member of the pack must hold at least one dot in the "Territory" merit (see below)
Effect: The pack, or lone wolf, has access to a locus (see WtF core for details on locus benefits). A pack pools their dots in locus and every dot in this merit costs only 2 exp. A locus cannot have a higher rating than 5, but a pack can have access to several loci. A locus is not only a tool to keep the characters supplied with essence. The essence could also be used as currency to buy off local spirits, or even be traded to other werewolves. 
Totem
(VARIES; SPECIAL)
Effect: Werewolves lead a uniquely dangerous exis-tence. They are closely tied to the spirit world and must frequently face dangers that human beings cannot con-ceive. To help deal with these obstacles, Uratha forgepacts with various spirits for mutual aid and assistance. Many packs take this practice to the next level, binding a spirit to their pack to serve as a patron — their pack totem. A pack’s relationship with its totem is something like a compact between wartime allies. The totem looks after the pack, and the pack works to aid and honor the totem in a relationship as old as the world itself.This Merit is shared by all members of the pack; each member who contributes Merit points to Totem reaps the benefits, and the totem becomes stronger. Dots placed in this Merit are spent on the pack totem, increasing its power in a number of ways. Full systems for creating a pack totem are found in Chapter Three, pp. 186-195. Every dot in this merit costs only 2 exp, but a single werewolf cannot contribute more than 5 totem points, meaning a minimum size pack can only contribute a total of 15 totem points, and that totem strength also depends on the pack size. In order to recieve full benefits from having a totem (or any benefits at all), one must have at least 1 dot in this merit, even if other pack members have already contributed several points. 
Territory
(VARIES; SPECIAL)
Effect: Werewolves who have an established territory can purchase dots in this merit. To have an established and recognized territory, at least one dot must be held. No matter how much territory a single werewolf or a pack claims, it takes effort to unlock the true benefits of said territory and even to be recognized as holders of territory, and dots in this merit represent that effort. The merit is purchased at a rating of 2 exp per dot (Iron Masters purchase this at 1 exp per dot, but lose half their dots rounded up if they leave their tribe, unless they can compensate with exp). Dots in this merit purchased by various packmembers are pooled together, and can be used to unlock certain bonuses on the territory (see below). Only pack members that have at least one dot in territory will benefit from these bonuses. Now, these are the universal territory benefits, but the character may also unlock personal benefits for as many dots as he has purchased in territory. These benefits can otherwise be bought, althought not at the lowered price, as stand alone merits (see below). Further more, every dot in territory must be allocated into either "Size", "security" or "influence". At least one dot must be put into size. Bear in mind that rural territories are always larger than urban ones.
Size
Points allocated in size increase the overall size of the territory. Dot one may be a single street in an urban environement or a roughly the size of an average farm and belonging property in a rural area, where as dot 5 indicates an entire city hub, or a massive rural area, probably containing several villages, national parks and forrests as well as large spaces of farmland. 
Influence
Werewolves gain a measure of influence over their territory. Without any dots in this, the territory may be considered theirs by spirits and other werewolves, but the mortals living there do not recognize the werewolves as an authority. Every point allocated to influence can be treated as a dot in both contacts, status and allies in with a specification in their territory. At dot 1, they know a few of the local faces well enough to have some sway with them. At dot 5 everyone listens to them. City Council, the local sheriff, local business owners and so forth. Everyone owes them small favors and respects them. 
Security
The entire idea of a territory is security. Most werewovles would pick a secure territory over a large one. Points allocated here signify how easy it is for the werewolves to defend their territory. At dot 1, territory lines are blurred and hard to figure out for outsiders, making it very hard to come close enough to spy but at dot 5, the territory is almost impossible to enter without risking being ambushed at certain choke-points. The merit affects both the hissil and the corporeal world. It gives an active -1 per point to track the owners of the territory within it, to find their hide-outs and enter undetected. Small minor spirit allies (not otherwise worthy of note) warn the werewolves of incoming attacks. 
Personal Territory benefits
For every dot put into territory by a single character, he can select one of these benefits free of charge. 
=====Eyrie=====
(•)
You know the best lookout points and lines of sight within your pack’s territory. You receive +2 dice to all Perception pools while within your own territory, and if you attack a foe at range, you receive +1 die to your pool to do so.
=====Local=====
(•)
You are so comfortable within your pack’s terri-tory that you blend right in with local humans. They accept you as one of their own. You receive +1 die on all Social rolls when dealing with humans in your territory. Humans in your territory unconsciously suspect that there’s something strange about you, but know that you are one of them — humans in your territory receive +1 to their effective Willpower to resist Lu-nacy that youcause. If you are seen alone in Urshul form in your territory, for instance, the Willpower 5 observer reacts as though he had Willpower 6. If you and your three packmates (who lack this Merit) all shapeshift within sight, the same guy would respond to you all with his base Willpower 5.
=====Nimble defender=====
(•)
You know the best spots from which to defend yourself in your pack’s territory. When in your pack’s territory, you receive +1 to your Defense score. In addition, you receive +1 die to Athletics rolls to move around within your territory (to keep your footing, climb or keep your balance, for instance — you know that Old Man Ratcliffe’s roof is slippery, but your foes do not).
=====Secret paths=====
(•)
You know better than anyone else how to move around your own territory unobserved. You receive +2 dice to Stealth pools while in your pack’s territory. Moreover, if you have one turn to prepare, you can quickly rig up a good hiding place that gives an additional +2 dice to Stealth pools and one point of cover.
=====Short cuts=====
(•)
You know the best, fastest routes through your pack’s territory, even if they involve going across rooftops or through basements. Once per session, if your path is blocked by an obstacle within your own territory, you can declare to the Storyteller that you know a shortcut that lets you bypass the obstacle without slowing you at all.
=====Staunch defender=====
(•)
You are especially fierce when defending your pack’s territory. When in your pack’s territory and fighting an invader to that territory, receive a bonus die to all attack pools made with claws and teeth. This Merit does no good against any humans, other werewolves or other supernatu-ral creatures that live within your pack’s territory, or spirits that belong there (or that you have summoned there). Your ferocity in defending your territory gives you –1 die to resist Kuruthwhile doing so.
Universal benefits
These benefits may not always be available. It's unlikely to find a hospital in a very desolate rural area for instance. 
These can be found it WtF - Territories, and regardless of what costs are listed, they always cost only one point. They cannot be purchased seperately, unlike the personal benefits. Bear in mind, that only a rural pack can get the rural territory benefits and so forth.