Merits of the Damned

== Merits ==
This section replaces the Merits section in the World of Darkness Rulebook. It includes all of the Merits from that book (though the systems have been revised in many case), as well as various Merits from other World of Darkness books. If a Merit from the World of Darkness Rulebook is not reprinted here, it was deliberately omitted because the Merit was redundant or has been reworked into something else.
=== Style Merits ===
Merits marked as Style Merits allow access to specialized maneuvers. Each maneuver is a prerequisite for the next in its sequence. So if a Style Merit has a three-dot maneuver and a four-dot maneuver, you must purchase the three-dot version before accessing the four-dot.
=== Sanctity of Merits ===
While Merits represent things within the game and your character, they’re really an out-of-character resource, a function of the character creation and advancement mechanics. These Merits often represent things that can go away. Retainers can be killed. Mentors can get impatient and stop dispensing wisdom. So while Merits may represent temporary facets of your character, Merit points continue to exist. At the end of any chapter where your character has lost Merits, you can replace them with another Merit. For example, your character has three-dot Retainer, a loyal dog, and an eldritch horror eats that dog out in the woods. At the end of that chapter, you may re-allocate those Retainer dots. You may choose to purchase Safe Place, to reflect your character’s choice to bunker down from the monster, and perhaps Direction Sense (one dot) so your character is less likely to get lost in those woods in the future. When the character leaves his Safe Place, you can replace those two dots with something else. When replacing a Merit, consider what makes sense in the story. Pursue the new Merit during the course of the chapter if possible, and make the new tie something less superficial than a dot or two on a sheet. With Storyteller permission, you may “cash in” a Merit voluntarily and replace it with Experiences. This should not be used as a way to purchase a Merit, take advantage of its benefits, and then cash it out for something else. If a Merit has run its course and no longer makes sense for your character, however, you may use those points elsewhere. Merits such as Ambidextrous, Eidetic Memory and the various Fighting Style Merits reflect abilities and knowledge that your character has and therefore shouldn’t be cashed in or replaced. Then again, if an Ambidextrous character loses his left hand ...
== Mental Merits ==
Area of Expertise (•)
Prerequisite: Resolve •• and one Skill Specialty
Effect: Your character is uncommonly specialized in one area. Choose a Specialty to assign to this Merit. Forgo the +1 bonus afforded by a Specialty in exchange for a +2. (This can only be taken once)
Common Sense (•••)
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. • 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 (••)
Your character’s reflexes are honed to the point where nothing’s shocking. You gain a +2 modifier on reflexive Wits + Composure rolls for your character to detect an impending ambush.
Direction Sense (•)
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.
Eidetic Memory (••)
Your character recalls events and details with pinpoint accuracy. You do not have to make rolls for your character to remember past experiences. When making Intelligence + Composure (or relevant Skill) rolls to recall minute facts from swaths of information, take a +2 bonus. (Among the Ordo Dracul this is known as Mind of the Devouring Worm)
Encyclopedic Knowledge (••)
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 Encyclopedic Knowledge: Medicine: “Do you remember that time on that show, when the doctor said it doesn’t manifest before puberty?”
Eye for the Strange (••)
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 +2 to all rolls to investigate the event, due to her redoubled certainty in its natural causation.
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 healing 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 (••)
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 two dice to the dice pool to contest it. If the roll is resisted, instead subtract two 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. (Among the Ordo Dracul this is referred to as Mind of the Unblinking Serpent, yes this changes what the original effect of the Ordo merit was)
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. (this Merit can only be taken once)
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.
Library (• to •••)
Effect: Your character has access to a plethora of information about a given topic. When purchasing this Merit, choose a Mental Skill. The Library covers that purview. On any extended roll involving the Skill in question, add the dots in this Merit. This Merit can be purchased multiple times to reflect different Skills. Its benefits can be shared by various characters with permission.
Meditative Mind (•, ••, or ••••)
Effect: Your character’s meditation is far more fulfilling than 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 +3 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. At the four-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).
NOTE: This can only be purchase for conversational languages, not for esoteric/ dead languages.
Patient (•)
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 two additional rolls above what your Attribute + Skill would allow.
Trained Observer (• or •••)
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 benefit from the 9-again quality. With the three-dot version, you get 8-again.
== Physical Merits ==
Ambidextrous (•••)
Effect: Your character does not suffer the –2 penalty for using his off-hand in combat or to perform other actions. Available only at character creation.
Crack Driver (•• or •••)
Prerequisite: Drive •••
Effect: Your character’s an ace at the wheel and nothing shakes her concentration. So long as she’s not taking any actions other than driving (and keeping the car safe), add her Composure to any rolls to drive. Any rolls to disable her vehicle suffer a penalty equal to her Composure as well. With the three-dot version, she may take a Drive action reflexively once per turn.
Demolisher (• to •••)
Prerequisite: Strength ••• or Intelligence •••
Effect: Your character has an innate feel for the weak points in objects. When damaging an object, she ignores one point of the object’s Durability per dot in this Merit.
Double Jointed (••)
Prerequisite: Dexterity •••
Effect: Your character might have been a contortionist or spent time practicing yoga. She can dislodge joints when need be. She automatically escapes from any mundane bonds without a roll. 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 6 and gains +1 Health. Available only at character creation. Drawback: Buying clothing is a nightmare. Fitting in small spaces is difficult at best.
Hardy (• to •••)
Prerequisite: Stamina •••
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.
NOTE: This does not prevent a vampire from entering torpor.
Iron Stamina (• to •••)
Prerequisites: Stamina ••• or Resolve •••
Effect: Each dot eliminates a negative modifier (on a one for-one basis) when resisting the effects of fatigue or injury. For example: a character with Iron Stamina •• 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.
Parkour (• to •••••, Style)
Prerequisites: Dexterity •••, Athletics ••
Your character is a trained and proficient free-runner. Free-running is the art of moving fluidly through urban environments with complex leaps, bounds, running tricks, and vaulting. This is the type of sport popularized in modern action films, where characters are unhindered by fences, walls, construction equipment, cars, or anything else the city puts in their ways.
Flow (•): Your character reacts instinctively to any obstacles with leaps, jumps, and scaling techniques. When in a foot chase, subtract your Parkour from the successes needed to pursue or evade. Ignore environmental penalties to Athletics rolls equal to your Parkour rating.
Cat Leap (••): Your character falls with outstanding grace. When using a Dexterity + Athletics roll to mitigate damage from falling (see the World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 179), your character gains one automatic success. Additionally, add your Parkour rating to the threshold of damage that can be removed through this roll. Parkour will not mitigate damage from a terminal velocity fall.
Wall Run (•••): When climbing, your character can run upward for some distance before having to traditionally climb. Without rolling, your character scaled 10 feet + five feet per dot of Athletics as an instant action, rather than the normal 10 feet.
Expert Traceur (••••): Parkour has become second nature for your character. By spending a Willpower point, you may designate one Athletics roll to run, jump, or climb as a rote action (reroll all failed dice once). On any turn you use this ability, you may not apply your character’s Defense to oncoming attacks.
Freeflow (•••••): Your character’s Parkour is now muscle memory. She can move without thinking in a zen like state. The character must successfully meditate (see p. 51 of the World of Darkness Rulebook) in order to establish Freeflow. Once established, your character is capable of taking Athletics actions reflexively once per turn. By spending a point of Willpower on an Athletics roll in a foot chase, gain three successes instead of three dice.
Quick Draw (•)
Prerequisites: Wits •••, a Specialty in the weapon or fighting style chosen
Effect: Choose a Specialty in Weaponry or Firearms when you purchase this Merit. Your character has trained enough in that weapon or style that pulling the weapon is her first reflex. Drawing or holstering that weapon is considered a reflexive action, and can be done any time her Defense applies.
NOTE: only usable for one handed weapons.
Sleight of Hand (••)
Prerequisite: Larceny •••
Effect: Your character can pick locks and pockets without even thinking about it. She can take one Larceny-based instant action reflexively in a given turn. As well, her Larceny actions go unnoticed unless someone is trying specifically to catch her.
Small-Framed (••)
Effect: Your character is diminutive. She’s not even five feet tall and it’s easy to walk into her without noticing. She’s Size 4 and thus has one fewer Health box. She gains +2 to any rolls to hide or go unnoticed. This bonus might apply any time being smaller would be an advantage, such as crawling through smaller spaces. Available only at character creation. Drawback: In addition to the lower Health, your character might be overlooked or not taken seriously by some people.
== Social Merits ==
Many of these Merits use the Social rules (p 188), influencing Doors and other facets of the interaction.
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.
Alternate Identity (•,••, or •••)
Effect: Your character has established an alternate identity. The level of this Merit determines the amount of scrutiny it can withstand. At one dot, the identity is superficial and unofficial. For example, your character uses an alias with a simple costume and adopts an accent. She hasn’t established the necessary paperwork to even approach a bureaucratic background check, let alone pass. At two dots, she’s supported her identity with paperwork and identification. It’s not liable to stand up to extensive research, but it’ll turn away private investigators and internet hobbyists. At three dots, the identity can pass thorough inspection. The identity has been deeply entrenched in relevant databases, with subtle flourishes and details to make it seem real even to trained professionals.
The Merit also reflects time the character has spent honing the persona. At one or two dots, she gains a +1 to all Subterfuge rolls to defend the identity. At three dots, she gains +2. This Merit can be purchased multiple times. Each time representing an additional identity.
Anonymity (• to •••••)
Prerequisites: Cannot have Fame.
Effect: Your character lives off the grid. This means purchases must be made with cash or falsified credit cards. She eschews identification. She avoids any official authoritative influence in her affairs. Any attempts to find her by paper trail suffer a –1 penalty per dot purchased in this Merit. Drawback: Your character cannot purchase the Fame Merit. This also may limit Status purchases, if the character cannot provide sufficient identification for the roles she wishes to take.
Barfly (••)
Prerequisite: Socialize ••
Effect: Your character is a natural in the bar environment 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.
Esoteric Armory (• to •••••)
Effect: Your character is the go-to guy when one needs a knife carved from the bone of a martyred saint, a hawthorn stake, rock salt shotgun shells, the powdered remains of cremated suicides or any number of other things. No matter how strange the need, you’ve got it covered. After successfully researching an ephemeral entity’s Bane, compare your dots in this Merit to the entity’s Rank. If the merit is equal to or greater than Rank, you’ve got what you need in your Armory. You should decide along with your Storyteller where the Armory is, though; a one-dot Esoteric Armory can fit in a large bag ,but a four- or five-dot one will fill a house. This is also used for the mystical components used in rituals of the Circle of the Crone and Ordo Dracul
Etiquette (• to •••••)
Prerequisites: Composure •••, Socialize ••
Your character knows her way around society, customs, and traditions. More importantly, she can use this talent to make or break reputations. This Merit applies to any social interactions where etiquette, style, poise, and reputation carry weight, and uses the Social Maneuvering rules on p. 173.
Bless His Heart (•): Your character’s words are always well considered. No matter how vile, the things she says come off as defensible and respectful. When a character engages yours in a Social interaction, you may opt to use your character’s Socialize score instead of the lower of her Resolve and Composure to determine her starting Doors.
Losing Your Religion (••): When your character lets loose and insults someone, she leaves mouths agape. When tearing down a target verbally, use 8-again, and take a +2 die bonus to the roll. Afterwards, move the interaction one step down on the impressions chart.
In High Cotton (•••): Your character cultivates standing and respect, and carries it like a knight wears armor. You may apply one relevant Status or Fame Merit to rolls to contest Social interactions. Other Merits may apply with Storyteller permission.
Half-Cocked (••••): Your character is always prepared. On the other hand, others are not. In a new Social interaction, if the impression is good, excellent, or perfect, ignore the subject’s Resolve and Composure on the first roll.
Grace Under Fire (•••••): While your character may not always win, she never looks bad. If a character opens all her Doors, and you opt to offer an alternative, his player chooses three Conditions. You choose which one your character receives.
Fame (• to •••)
Effect: Your character is recognized within a certain sphere for a certain skill, or because of some past action, or just a stroke of luck. This can mean favors and attention, but it can also mean negative attention and scrutiny. When choosing the Merit, define what your character is known for. As a rule of thumb, one dot means local recognition or reputation within a confined subculture. Two dots means regional recognition by a wide swath of people. Three dots means worldwide recognition to anyone who might have been exposed to the source of the fame. Each dot adds a die to any Social rolls among those who are impressed by your character’s celebrity. Drawback: Any rolls to find or identify the character enjoy a +1 bonus per dot of the Merit. If the character has Alternate Identity, she can mitigate this drawback. A character with Fame cannot have the Anonymity Merit.
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 (••)
Prerequisite: Contacts ••, 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), reduce the Availability score of the service by one dot.
Hobbyist Clique (••)
Prerequisite: Membership in a clique.
All members must possess this Merit and the chosen Skill at ••+ Effect: Your character is part of a group of hobbyists that specialize in one area, as represented by a Skill. It may be a book club, a coven, a political party, or any other interest. When the group’s support is available, you benefit from the 9-again quality on rolls involving the group’s chosen Skill. As well, the clique offers two additional dice on any extended actions involving that Skill. Drawback: This Merit requires upkeep. You must attend at least monthly, informal meetings to maintain the benefits of Hobbyist Clique.
Inspiring (•••)
Prerequisite: Presence •••
Effect: Your character’s passion inspires those around her to greatness. With a few words, she can redouble a group’s confidence or move them to action. Make a Presence + 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.  (Among the Ordo Dracul this is referred to as Mind of the Inscrutable Hydra, yes this changes what the original effect of the Ordo merit was)
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 prophesied 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 for a commensurate favor in return); and if a roll is required, the Mentor is automatically considered to have successes equal to his 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.
Mystery Cult Initiation (• to •••••)
Cults are far more common than the people of the World of Darkness would like to admit. Mystery cult is the catch-all term for a phenomenon ranging from secret societies couched in fraternity houses and scholarly cabals studying the magic of classical symbolism to mystical suicide cults to the God Machine. Mystery Cult Initiation reflects membership in one of these esoteric groups. The dot rating dictates standing. One dot is an initiate, two a respected member, three a priest or organizer, four a decision-making leader, five is a high priest or founder. If you wish your character to begin play in a cult, work with your Storyteller to develop the details. Designing a Mystery Cult requires three things, at bare minimum. First is a Purpose. This is the defining reason the cult exists. Usually, it’s tied in with the cult’s history and recent background. Second is a Relic. This is an item that grounds members’ faith. For example, a piece of the God-Machine, an ancient text bound in human flesh, or the mummified flesh of a saint. The last is a Doctrine. Every cult is defined by its rules and traditions. In addition to standing, a Mystery Cult Initiation Merit offers benefits at each level of influence. Develop these as well. The following are guidelines; use them to craft your own cults:
• A Skill Specialty or one-dot Merit pertaining to the lessons taught to initiates.
•• A one-dot Merit.
••• A Skill dot or a two-dot Merit (often a supernatural Merit).
•••• A three-dot Merit, often supernatural in origin.
••••• A three-dot Merit or a major advantage not reflected in game traits.
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.
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). For example, a character with Resources •••• can procure as many Availability •• disposable cellphones as she needs.
Retainer (• to •••••)
Effect: Your character has an assistant, sycophant, servant, or follower on whom she can rely. Establish who this companion is and how he was acquired. It may be as simple as a paycheck. He might owe your character his life. However it happened, your character has a hold on him. A Retainer is more reliable than a Mentor and more loyal than an Ally. On the other hand, a Retainer is a lone person, less capable and influential than the broader Merits. The Merit’s dot rating determines the relative competency of the Retainer. 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.
Safe Place (• to •••••)
Effect: Your character has somewhere she can go where she can feel secure. While she may have enemies that could attack her there, she’s prepared and has the upper hand. The dot rating reflects the security of the place. The actual location, the luxury, and the size are represented by equipment (see Housing, p. 241.) A one-dot Safe Place might be equipped with basic security systems or a booby trap at the windows and door. A five-dot could have a security crew, infrared scanners at every entrance, or trained dogs. Each place could be an apartment, a mansion or a hidey-hole. Unlike most Merits, multiple characters can contribute dots to a single Safe Place, combining their points into something greater. A Safe Place gives an Initiative bonus equal to the Merit dots. This only applies to a character with dots invested in the Safe Place. Any efforts to breach the Safe Place suffer a penalty equal to the Merit dots invested. If the character desires, the Safe Place can include traps that cause intruders lethal damage equal to a maximum of the Merit rating (player’s choice as to how much damage a given trap inflicts). This requires that the character has at least a dot in Crafts. The traps may be avoided with a Dexterity + Larceny roll, penalized by the Safe Place dots.
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.
(Each time you take this merit it must be for a different skill. They can not stack for the same skill.)
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. For one dot, your character gets a +1 bonus on any Social rolls that would be influenced by her looks. For two dots, the benefit increases to +2. Depending on the particulars, this might influence Expression, Intimidation, Persuasion, Subterfuge, or other rolls. Drawback: Attention is a double-edged sword. Any rolls to spot, notice, or remember your character gain the same die bonus. Sometimes, your character will draw unwanted attention in social situations. This could cause further complications.
Keep in mind,  this isn't just "physically attractive" it could be, you "clean up well" or have a great sense of fashion.
Sympathetic (••)
Effect: Your character is very good at letting others get close. 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.
NOTE: in order for a vampire to benefit from this merit they must have a humanity of 6 or higher.
Taste (•)
Prerequisite: Crafts •• or Expression ••
Effect: Your character has refined tastes and can identify minor details in fashion, food, architecture, and other forms of artistry and craftsmanship. Not only does this give an eye for detail, it makes her a center of attention in critical circles. She can appraise items within her area of expertise. With a Wits + Skill roll, depending on the creation in question (Expression for poetry, Crafts for architecture, for example), your character can pick out obscure details about the item that other, less discerning minds would not. For each success, ask one of the following questions, or take a +1 bonus to any Social rolls pertaining to groups interested in the art assessed for the remainder of the scene.
• What is the hidden meaning in this?
• What was the creator feeling during its creation?
• What’s its weakest point?
• What other witness is most moved by this piece?
• How should one best appreciate this piece?
True Friend (•••)
Effect: Your character has a true friend. While that friend may have specific functions covered by other Merits (Allies, Contacts, Retainer, Mentor, etc), True Friend represents a deeper, truly trusting relationship that cannot be breached. Unless your character does something egregious to cause it, her True Friend will not betray her. The Storyteller cannot kill a True Friend as part of a plot without your express permission. Any rolls to influence a True Friend against your character suffer a five-die penalty. In addition, once per story your character can regain one spent Willpower by having a meaningful interaction with her True Friend.
== Fighting Merits ==
Some Merits in this section have other Merits as prerequisites. These are refinements of form and additional areas of expertise. For example, Iron Skin requires Martial Arts ••. This means you must have two dots in Martial Arts before buying dots in Iron Skin. Many Fighting Style Merits require a character to sacrifice their Defense. Defense cannot be sacrificed multiple times in a turn; this prevents certain maneuvers from being used together.
Armed Defense (• to •••••; Style)
Prerequisites: Dexterity •••, Weaponry ••, Defensive Combat: Weaponry
You’re able to use a weapon to stop people who are trying to kill you. Often deployed by police officers using riot shields or ASP batons, it’s just as effective with a chair leg.
Cover the Angles (•): Whenever you take a Dodge action, reduce the Defense penalties for multiple attackers by 1. You can apply your full Defense against the first two attacks, suffer a –1 penalty against the third, and so on.
Weak Spot (••): You swing against your opponent’s arm rather than his own weapon. Use this ability when defending against an armed attacker. If your Defense reduces his attack pool to 0, he’s disarmed. If you Dodge, you disarm your opponent if your Defense roll reduces his attack successes to 0. init
Aggressive Defense (•••): Anyone dumb enough to come near you is liable to get hurt. When you take a Dodge action, if you score more successes than any attacker, you deal one point of lethal damage to the attacker per extra success. Your weapon bonus doesn’t apply to this extra damage. Drawback: You must spend a point of Willpower and declare that you are using Aggressive Defense at the start of the turn. You cannot combine this maneuver with Press the Advantage or Weak Spot.
Iron Guard (••••): You and your weapon are one. At the start of each turn, you can choose to reduce your weapon bonus (down to a minimum of 0) to increase your Defense by a like amount. If you take a Dodge action, add your full weapon bonus to your Defense after doubling your pool.
Press the Advantage (•••••): You create an opening with a block and lash out with a fist or foot. When you’re taking a Dodge action, if your Defense roll reduces the attacker’s successes to 0, you can make an unarmed attack against that opponent at a −2 penalty. Your opponent applies Defense as normal. Drawback: Spend a point of Willpower to make the attack. You can only make one attack per turn in this way.
Cheap Shot (••)
Prerequisites: Street Fighting •••, Subterfuge ••
Effect: Your character is a master at the bait and switch. She can look off in an odd direction and prompt her opponent to do the same, or she might step on someone’s toes to distract them. Either way, she fights dirty. Make a Dexterity + Subterfuge roll as a reflexive action. The opponent’s player contests with Wits + Composure. If you score more successes, the opponent loses his Defense for the next turn. Each time a character uses this maneuver in a scene, it levies a cumulative –2 penalty to further uses since the opposition gets used to the tricks.
Choke Hold (••)
Prerequisites: Brawl ••
If you can get your hands on someone, it’s over. When grappling, you can use the Choke move. • Choke: If you rolled more successes than twice the victim’s Stamina, he’s unconscious for (six – Stamina) minutes. You must first have succeeded at a Hold move. If you don’t score enough successes at first, you can Choke your opponent on future turns and total your successes.
Close Quarters Combat (• to •••••; Style)
Prerequisites: Wits •••, Athletics ••, Brawl •••
You know that hitting someone in the face is an easy way to break the little bones in your hand. To that end, you’ve perfected the art of using the environment to hurt people. 
Firing Lines (•): In some situations, your best option is a tactical retreat — especially if you’ve inadvertently brought a knife to a gunfight. You can run for cover as a reaction to a ranged attack instead of dropping prone (see “Going Prone,” pp. 164–165 of the World of Darkness Rulebook). You give up your action for the turn but can get to any cover that’s within twice your Speed.
Hard Surfaces (••): Bouncing someone’s head off a urinal, computer monitor, or a brick wall is a handy way to increase the amount of hurt inflicted while not breaking the aforementioned hand bones. When you’re grappling someone, you can bounce them off a hard surface with a Damage move. You deal lethal damage and immediately end the grapple.
Armored Coffin (•••): The problem with protection is simple: the very things that protect you can be turned against you. That holds true for body armor just as much as anything else. Sure, it blocks bullets and knives, but get in a clinch and you might as well be wearing a straightjacket. When you grapple an opponent, add their general armor rating to your dice pool. When you use a Damage move, ignore your opponent’s armor. This technique can’t be used in conjunction with Hard Surfaces.
Prep Work (••••): If you’ve got a second to look around, you could catch someone by surprise almost anywhere. When launching a surprise attack, your Dexterity + Stealth roll becomes a rote action. Drawback: You can’t use this Merit to set up sniper attacks — your ambush must use Brawl or Weaponry.
Turnabout (•••••): If you’re caught short in a fight, your opponent’s weapon suits you just fine. When you attempt to Disarm your opponent, step the results up one level — on a failure, your opponent drops the weapon. On a success, you take possession of your opponent’s weapon. On an exceptional success, you’ve got the weapon and your opponent takes two points of bashing damage.
Defensive Combat (•)
Prerequisite: Brawl • or Weaponry •; choose one when this Merit is selected
Effect: You are training in avoiding damage in combat. Use your Brawl or Weaponry to calculate Defense rather than Athletics. You can learn both versions of this Merit, allowing you to use any of the three Skills to calculate Defense. However, you cannot use Weaponry to calculate Defense unless you actually have a weapon in hand.
Fighting Finesse (••)
Prerequisites: Dexterity •••, a Specialty in Weaponry or Brawl
Effect: Choose a Specialty in Weaponry or Brawl when you purchase this Merit. Your character’s extensive training in that particular weapon or style has allowed them to benefit more from their alacrity and agility than their strength. You may substitute your character’s Dexterity for her Strength when making rolls with that Specialty. This Merit may be purchased multiple times to gain its benefit with multiple Specialties.
Firefight (Style, • to •••)
Prerequisites: Composure •••, Dexterity •••, Athletics ••, Firearms ••
Effect: Your character is comfortable with a gun. She’s been trained in stressful situations and knows how to keep herself from being shot while shooting at her opponents. This Style is about moving, strafing, and taking shots when you get them. It’s not a series of precision techniques; it’s using a gun practically in a real-world situation.
Shoot First (•): In a firefight, the person who gets shot first is usually the loser. Your character has trained herself to fire first in an altercation. If her gun is drawn, add her Firearms score to her Initiative. If she has Quick Draw, she can use Shoot First to draw and fire with increased Initiative in the first turn of combat.
Suppressive Fire (••): Sometimes, the purpose of a shot is to distract, not necessarily to hit. Your character is trained to fire off a handful of rounds with the intent to startle opponents and force impulse reactions. When using the Covering Fire maneuver (p. 200), her opponents cannot benefit from aiming against her. She can apply her Defense against incoming Firearms attacks in addition to any cover bonuses. As well, her training allows her to use Covering Fire with a semi-automatic weapon.
Secondary Target (•••): Sometimes shooting an opponent behind cover is all but impossible. A bullet can knock objects off balance, however, or cause ricochets. By using Secondary Target, your character opts to not hit her target but instead strike them with any collateral objects that might be nearby. She causes bashing damage instead of lethal, but ignores all cover penalties to the roll. The weapon’s damage rating does not add to the damage in this case.
Grappling (Style, • to •••)
Prerequisites: Stamina •••, Strength ••, Athletics ••, Brawl ••
Effect: Your character has trained in wrestling or one of many grappling martial arts.
Sprawl (•): Your character can adjust her weight to defend herself in a grapple. While in a grapple, the character’s opponent cannot apply the Drop Prone or Take Cover moves.
Takedown (••): Your character can take an opponent to the ground rapidly. With a normal roll, you may choose to render an opponent prone instead of establishing a grapple. You may also choose to cause bashing damage equal to the successes rolled.
Joint Lock (•••): You use joint locks and immobilizing tactics to limit your opponent’s movement. You can use the Joint Lock move in a grapple. Next turn, your opponent suffers bashing damage equal to your successes. You can use Joint Lock as a lead-in to the Restrain move. In addition, any successful overpowering maneuvers your character uses cause 1L damage in addition to their normal effects.
Heavy Weapons (Style, • to •••••)
Prerequisites: Stamina •••, Strength •••, Athletics ••, Weaponry ••
Effect: Your character is trained with heavy weapons that require strength, wide range, and follow-through more than direct speed and accuracy. This Style may be used with two-handed weapons such as a claymore, a chainsaw, a pike, or an uprooted street sign.
Sure Strike (•): Your character doesn’t always hit the hardest or the most frequently, but you guarantee a deadly strike when you do hit. You can reflexively remove three dice from any attack dice pool (to a minimum of zero) to add one to your character’s weapon damage rating for the turn. These dice must be removed after calculating any penalties from the environment or the opponent’s Defense.
Threat Range (••): Your character’s weapon is immense and keeps opponents at bay. If you opt not to move or Dodge during your turn, any character moving into your character’s proximity suffers 1L damage and a penalty to their Defense equal to your character’s weapon damage rating. This penalty only lasts for one turn. This cannot be used in a turn the character is Dodging.
Bring the Pain (•••): Your character’s strikes stun and incapacitate as well as causing massive trauma to the body. Sacrifice your character’s Defense to use Bring the Pain. Make a standard attack roll. Any damage you score with Bring the Pain counts as a penalty to all actions the victim takes during their next turn. So, if you cause 4L damage, the opponent is at –4 on their next attack.
Warding Stance (••••): Your character holds her weapon in such a way as to make attacks much harder. If her weapon’s drawn, spend a point of Willpower reflexively to add her weapon’s damage rating as armor for the turn. This will not protect against firearms.
Rending (•••••): Your character’s cuts leave crippling, permanent wounds. By spending a Willpower point before making an attack roll, her successful attacks cause one point of aggravated damage in addition to her weapon’s damage rating. This Willpower point does not add to the attack roll.
Improvised Weaponry (• to •••; Style)
Prerequisites: Wits •••, Weaponry •
Most people don’t walk around armed. While someone pulling a knife or a gun can cool a hostile situation down, it can also cause things to boil over — an argument that wouldn’t be more than harsh words suddenly ends up with three people in the morgue. If you’re on the receiving end of someone pulling a knife, it helps to have something in your own hand. You’re good at making do with what you’ve got. Sometimes, you’re lucky — if you’re in a bar, you’ve got a lot of glass bottles, maybe a pool cue to play with. But you’ve got something almost like a sixth sense for weaponry and can find one almost anywhere.
Always Armed (•): You can always get your hands on something dangerous, and you’ve an instinctive understanding of how to put it to good — and deadly — use. At the start of your turn, make a reflexive Wits + Weaponry roll to grab an object suitable for use as a weapon in pretty much any environment. (The player is encouraged to work with the Storyteller to determine an appropriate item — a large, jagged rock in the wilderness, for example, or a heavy glass ashtray with one sharp, broken edge in a dive bar.) Regardless of what you pick up, the weapon has a +0 weapon modifier, −1 initiative penalty, Size 1, Durability 2, and Structure 4. On an exceptional success, increase the weapon modifier and Size by 1, but the initiative penalty increases to −2. Whatever you grab doesn’t suffer the normal −1 penalty for wielding an improvised weapon (see p. 205).
In Harm’s Way (••): You’ve got a knack for putting your weapon in the way of an oncoming attack, no matter how small or inappropriate for blocking it might be. While wielding an improvised weapon acquired with Always Armed, you can treat the Structure of your weapon as general armor against a single Brawl or Weaponry attack. Any damage you take inflicts an equal amount of damage to the improvised weapon, bypassing Durability. You can use the weapon to attack later in the same turn, but can only use this ability when applying your Defense to an attack.
Breaking Point (•••): One sure way to win a fight is to hit the other guy so hard that he doesn’t get back up, even if that means losing a weapon in the process. When making an all-out attack with an improvised weapon acquired with Always Armed, you can reduce the weapon’s Structure by any amount down to zero. Every two points of Structure spent in this way adds +1 to the weapon modifier for that one single attack. Declare any Structure loss before making the attack; this Structure is reduced even if the attack does no damage. If the weapon is reduced to zero Structure, it is automatically destroyed after the attack. You can use this technique in conjunction with In Harm’s Way, allowing you to parry an attack made on a higher Initiative and then go on the offensive, provided that the weapon wasn’t destroyed.
Iron Skin (•• or ••••)
Prerequisites: Martial Arts •• or Street Fighting ••, Stamina •••
Through rigorous conditioning or extensive scarring, your character has grown resistant to harm. She can shrug off shots that would topple bigger fighters. She knows how to take a strike and can even move into a hit from a weapon to minimize harm. She gains armor against bashing attacks; one point of armor with ••, and two points of armor with ••••. By spending a point of Willpower when hit, she can downgrade lethal damage from a successful attack into bashing. Downgrade one point of lethal damage at ••, two points of lethal with ••••.
Light Weapons (Style, • to •••••)
Prerequisites: Wits ••• or Fighting Finesse, Dexterity •••, Athletics ••, Weaponry •• Effect: Your character is trained with small hand-to-hand weapons that favor finesse over raw power. These maneuvers may only be used with one-handed weapons that have a damage rating of 2 or less.
Rapidity (•): Your character moves with swiftness to find just the right spot to strike. You can sacrifice your character’s weapon damage rating to add her Weaponry score to her Initiative for the turn. The weapon becomes a 0 damage weapon for the turn.
Thrust (••): Your character knows when to defend herself and when to move in for the kill. At any time, you can sacrifice points of Defense one-for-one to add to attack pools. This cannot happen if you’ve already used Defense in the same turn. If you use this maneuver, you may not sacrifice your full Defense for any other reason. For example, you cannot use Thrust with an all-out attack.
Feint (•••): With a flourish to one direction, your character can distract an opponent for a cleaner, more effective follow-up strike. Make an attack roll as normal, but the attack causes no damage. The next attack your character makes against the same opponent ignores Defense equal to the damage the attack would have caused, and adds the feint’s successes rolled as additional damage if successful.
Flurry (••••): Your character moves quickly enough to stab opponents with numerous pricks and swipes in the blink of an eye. As long as your character has her Defense available to her (it’s not been sacrificed for another maneuver or denied from surprise, for example), any character coming into her immediate proximity takes one point of lethal damage. This damage continues once per turn as long as the enemy stays within range and occurs on the enemy’s turn. This can affect multiple opponents but cannot be used in a turn where the character is Dodging.
Vital Shot (•••••): Your character can use her smaller weapon to get past an opponent’s defenses and hit where it hurts most. Sacrifice your character’s Defense for the turn to use this maneuver. If the attack roll succeeds, the attack causes one point of aggravated damage in addition to the damage rating of the weapon.
Marksmanship (Style, • to ••••)
Prerequisites: Composure •••, Resolve •••, Firearms ••
Effect: When prepared and aimed, a gun is an ideal killing machine. Your character has trained to take advantage of the greatest features of any gun. This Style is often used with rifles, but it can be used with any type of firearm. Because of the discipline and patience required for Marksmanship, your character cannot use her Defense in any turn in which she uses one of these maneuvers. These maneuvers may only be used after aiming for at least one turn.
Through the Crosshairs (•): Your character is a competent sniper, able to sit in position and steel her wits. Usually, the maximum bonus from aiming is three dice. With Through the Crosshairs, it’s equal to her Composure + Firearms.
Precision Shot (••): With this level of training, your character knows how to effectively disable a victim instead of focusing on the kill. When attacking a specified target, you may reduce your weapon’s damage rating one-for-one to ignore penalties for shooting a specified target (see p. 203). For example, if you’re using a sniper rifle (4 damage weapon), and attacking an arm (–2 to hit), you could choose to use 3 damage reduce that to –1, or 2 damage to eliminate the penalty entirely.
A Shot Rings Out (•••): A master sniper, your character has no worries or lack of confidence. She can fire into a crowd and strike a specific target without penalty. If she misses, it’s because her shot goes wide. She will never hit an unintended target.
Ghost (••••): Your character has trained to shoot unseen and vanish without a trace. Her Firearms score acts as a penalty on any roll to notice her vantage point, or any Investigation or Perception roll to investigate the area from which she shot. (Note: this does not affect contest of wills just the normal perception check)
Martial Arts (Style, • to •••••)
Prerequisites: Resolve •••, Dexterity •••, Athletics ••, Brawl ••
Effect: Your character is trained in one or more formal martial arts styles. This may have come from a 
personal mentor, a dojo, or a self-defense class. It may have been for exercise, protection, show, or tradition. These maneuvers may only be used unarmed, or with weapons capable of using the Brawl Skill, such as a punch dagger, or a weapon using the Shiv Merit.
Focused Attack (•): Your character has trained extensively in striking specific parts of an opponent’s body. Reduce penalties for hitting specific targets by one. Additionally, you may ignore one point of armor on any opponent.
Defensive Strike (••): Your character excels in defending herself while finding the best time to strike. You can add one or two points to your character’s Defense. For each Defense point you take, subtract a die from any attacks you make. This can only be used in a turn in which your character intends to attack. It cannot be used with a Dodge.
Whirlwind Strike (•••): When engaged, your character becomes a storm of threatening kicks and punches; nothing close is safe. As long as your character has her Defense available to her and is not Dodging, any character coming into arm’s reach takes 1B damage. This damage continues once per turn as long as the enemy stays within range and occurs on the enemy’s turn. If you spend a point of Willpower, this damage becomes 2B until your next turn.
The Hand as Weapon (••••): With this degree of training, your character’s limbs are hardened to cause massive trauma. Her unarmed strikes cause lethal damage.
The Touch of Death (•••••): Your character’s mastery has brought with it the daunting power of causing lethal injury with a touch. If she chooses, her unarmed strikes count as weapons with 2 damage rating.
Police Tactics (Style, • to •••)
Prerequisites: Brawl ••, Weaponry •
Effect: Your character is trained in restraint techniques often used by law enforcement officers. This may reflect formal training or lessons from a skilled practitioner.
Compliance Hold (•): Once your character has established a Hold in a grapple, your opponent suffers a -3 to all further grappling rolls until your character releases her.
Weapon Retention (••): Opponents attempting to disarm your character or turn her weapon against her must exceed your character’s Weaponry score in successes.
Speed Cuff (•••): Against an immobilized opponent, your character may apply handcuffs, cable ties, or similar restraints as a reflexive action.
Shiv (• or ••)
Prerequisites: Street Fighting ••, Weaponry •
Effect: Your character carries small, concealable weapons for use in a tussle. Rolls to detect the concealed weapon suffer your character’s Weaponry score as a penalty. With the one-dot version, she can conceal a weapon with a 0 damage rating. The two-dot version can conceal a 1 damage rating weapon. Your character may use the Brawl Skill to use this weapon.
Street Fighting (Style, • to •••••)
Prerequisites: Stamina •••, Composure •••, Brawl ••, Streetwise ••
Effect: Your character learned to fight on the mean streets. She may have had some degree of formal training, but the methodology came from the real world in dangerous circumstances. Street Fighting isn’t about form and grace. It’s about staying alive. These maneuvers may only be used unarmed, with weapons capable of using the Brawl Skill (such as punch daggers), or weapons concealed with the Shiv Merit (above).
Duck and Weave (•): Your character has been beaten all to hell more than a few times. Now she dodges on instinct, not on skill. You can reflexively take a one-die penalty to any actions this turn in order to use the higher of her Wits and Dexterity to calculate Defense. If you’ve already made a roll without penalty this turn, you cannot use Duck and Weave.
Knocking the Wind Out (••): Shots to the center mass can shake an opponent, and your character knows this well. When your character makes a successful unarmed attack, the opponent suffers a –1 to his next roll.
Kick ‘Em While They’re Down (•••): The best enemy is one on the ground. Your character topples opponents and keeps them down. Any time your successes on an attack roll exceed an opponent’s Stamina, you may choose to apply the Knocked Down Tilt (p. 211). Additionally, any time your character is close enough to strike when an opponent attempts to get up from a prone position, she can reflexively cause 2B damage.
One-Two Punch (••••): Your character hits fast and follows through with every hit. Whenever she makes a successful attack, you can spend a point of Willpower to cause two extra points of bashing damage.
Last-Ditch Effort (•••••): In a street fight, every second could be the one that kills you. A proficient street fighter is a remarkable survivalist. She bites, headbutts, trips: whatever it takes to prevent that last hit. Any time a character with this level of Street Fighting is about to take a hit or an overpowering maneuver when she’s already suffering wound penalties, she can reflexively spend a Willpower point and sacrifice her Defense for the turn to make an attack against her would-be assailant. This can occur even if she’s already acted in a turn, so long as she’s not already spent Willpower. Resolve this attack before the opponent’s action.
Unarmed Defense (• to •••••; Style)
Prerequisites: Dexterity •••, Brawl ••, Defensive Combat: Brawl
You’re better at stopping people from hurting you than you are at hurting other people. Maybe you practice a martial art that redirects an opponent’s blows, or else you’re just very good at not being where your opponent wants you to be.
Like a Book (•): You can read your opponents and know where they’re likely to strike. When facing an unarmed opponent and not Dodging, increase your Defense by half your Brawl (round down).
Studied Style (••): You focus on reading one opponent, avoiding his attacks, and frustrating him. Attacks from that opponent do not reduce your Defense. If your Defense reduces his attack pool to 0, his further attacks against you lose the 10-again quality.
Redirect (•••): When you’re being attacked by multiple opponents, you can direct their blows against one another. When you Dodge, if your Defense roll reduces an attack’s successes to 0, your attacker rolls the same attack against another attacker of your choice. Drawback: You may only redirect one attack in a turn. You cannot redirect an attack against the same attacker.
Joint Strike (••••): You wait until the last possible second then lash out at your opponent’s elbow or wrist as he attacks, hoping to cripple his limbs. Roll Strength + Brawl instead of Defense. If you score more successes than your attacker, you deal one point of bashing damage per extra success, and inflict either the Arm Wrack or Leg Wrack Tilt (your choice). Drawback: Spend a point of Willpower to use this maneuver.
Like the Breeze (•••••): You step to one side as your opponent attacks and give her enough of a push to send her flying past you. When dodging, if your Defense roll reduces an opponent’s attack successes to 0, you can inflict the Knocked Down Tilt. Drawback: You must declare that you’re using this maneuver at the start of the turn before taking any other attacks.
== Vampire Merits ==
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 fabric, 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
Kindred Status
Within Kindred society, there exist three types of Status: City, Clan, and Covenant. Each functions as the Status Merit on p. 123, within its purview. City Status allows its advantages within the scope of the assigned city. Clan Status only functions within its designated clan, and Covenant Status similarly within the chosen covenant.
City Status reflects a vampire’s sway in the city, whether official or unofficial. There’s no specific dot rating tied to a given position. For instance, a Prince may have three dots of City Status, if the city doesn’t respect his authority as much as the Sheriff with five dots.
Clan Status reflects notoriety and recognition within the clan. Typically, a character with high Clan Status is iconic within the clan. A character with five dots of Ventrue Status is whom most Kindred think of when they speak of the clan Ventrue. Kindred recognize a low-Status character as a frequent collaborator within clan circles. A character may not gain Status in a clan to which she does not belong.
Covenant Status is generally tied to positions and direct authority within covenant structure. A character with five dots of Covenant Status is a regional leader within the covenant, a character with one dot has minor responsibilities to their organization of choice. Additionally, each covenant has available Merits that scale depending on Covenant Status dots. A character could theoretically gain Status within multiple covenants. Most of the covenants will allow members to dabble in other organizations, so long as they don’t share secrets. The Ordo Dracul, for example, will not stop a member from attending Sanctified mass. But the moment she shares her knowledge of the Coils, she’ll find her Requiem cut abruptly short. Her combined dots in one type of Status (City, Clan, or Covenant) cannot exceed five, and she may never have as many dots in her affiliated group as she does to the group to which she belongs.
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.
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 better sustenance from one type of supernatural creature. This may mean werewolves, ghosts, prometheans, zombies, changelings, spirits, or stranger things still. Normally drinking from these types of beings would get you the effect of human blood, if anything. This blood counts as Kindred Vitae for the purposes of feeding restrictions. This also includes drinking from a supernatural source without detriment. Instantly succumbing to frenzy from drinking werewolf blood, Having delusions from drinking the blood of the Fae touched, etc. 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.
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.
Multiple Touchstones
Touchstone Merit Associated Humanity
0 dots 6
• 5
•• 4
••• 3
•••• 2
••••• 1
Undead Menses (••)
Prerequisite: Must be female
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.
=== Carthian Merits: ===
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.
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.
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.
==== Carthian Law ====
Carthian Law Merits stand as the Carthian Movement’s edge in Kindred society. Each affords the Carthian certain advantages pertaining to the recognized law of the city. In many cases, this law did not come from the Carthians, but that doesn’t mean they can’t use it to their advantage. Carthian Law gives Kindred law a sort of metaphysical weight which prevents a city’s residents from breaching protocol. Carthians have learned to leverage that, making them valuable to even cities without a Carthian government.
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.
=== Circle of the Crone Merits: ===
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 coven mate 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.
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.
=== Invictus Merits: ===
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.
Friends in High Places •
Prerequisites: Invictus Status •
Effect: The Invictus have their fingers in a lot of pies…but any single 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.
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.
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.
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.
==== Invictus Oaths ====
Invictus Oaths are the First Estate’s ace in the hole, its way of establishing and maintaining a rigid and effective hierarchy. An Invictus Notary officiates Oaths; a character with the Notary  Merit can preside over any Oath, so long as the participants meet the prerequisites for the Merit. Recognized and manumitted Invictus must have at least one active Oath. This is to say Invictus require the presence of a Notary for their induction. Each Oath is a two-way street, with two active participants: the liege and vassal. The vassal must purchase the Oath Merit to gain its advantages; the liege does not. When swearing an Oath, the participants must define terms in addition to the Oath’s effects. Usually, they swear for a finite time, often a year and a day. Terms include conditions for violation, which end the contract (and the Oath’s effects) immediately. Unless otherwise noted, the vassal does not have to be Invictus; in fact, most are not. In rare cases, ghouls or other mortals enter Oaths. Most Notaries refuse to preside over such agreements. Typically, Oaths are temporary. Merit dots revert when the Oath ends; see The Sanctity of Merits on p. 109.
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.
=== Lancea et Sanctum Merits: ===
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.
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.
=== Ordo Dracul Merits: ===
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.
=== Kindred Fighting Merits ===
The Danse Macabre provides mechanisms to avoid overt violence between Kindred. However, even the most civilized Kindred cities are far deadlier than their mortal counterparts. Despite a façade of nicety, Kindred society holds numerous violent traditions. From the Invictus rite of Monomacy, to a Carthian jumping in ceremony, violence is far more commonplace than anyone wants to admit. These Merits reflect specific tricks vampires developed to kill one another efficiently.
Kindred Dueling (Style, • to •••••)
Prerequisites: Fighting Finesse, Composure •••, Weaponry ••
Effect: Your character is not only a competent fighter, but also one trained specifically to take advantage of Kindred variables in a fight. Use of Kindred dueling requires an edged weapon. While humans could theoretically learn some of these tricks, the practical experience required could prove deadly. Note that Kindred Dueling abilities may not be used together. If you’re using Hamstring, you cannot benefit from Carving as well.
Hamstring (•): With a well-placed tendon strike, you can briefly cripple a vampire’s ability to augment their physical prowess with Vitae. By targeting a limb (and taking the penalty to do so), your successful strike can deny that limb from the benefits of Physical Intensity (see p. 91) for a turn. The rest of the body may still use those advantages.
Taunt (••): You know the way the Beast works, and how to taunt it with short, shallow swipes. Before you roll, remove a number of dice from your pool no greater than your Weaponry dots. Make your roll. If the attack succeeds, the victim must roll to resist frenzy, with a penalty equal to the number of dice you removed.
Carving (•••): When you strike, you curve the blade hard and strike to pull the flesh apart, making it harder to heal in the heat of the moment. When Carving, your weapon’s damage rating deals lethal damage to Kindred instead of bashing.
Pincushion (••••): You hit deep, intending to lodge your weapon in its victim. If you choose to leave your weapon in the victim on a successful strike, the victim cannot heal the wound with Vitae. You may remove the weapon as a reflexive action. If anyone else wishes to remove it, he can attempt a Strength + Stamina roll, minus the damage caused, as an instant action.
Spray (•••••): You cut to remove mass from the body, and by extension, blood. Sacrifice your Defense for the turn to use this maneuver. On a successful attack roll, you can choose to remove Vitae from your opponent instead of Health levels. You can divide Health levels of damage and Vitae in any combination after the roll.
Riding the Wave (Style, • to •••••)
Prerequisites: Composure •••, Resolve •••
Effect: Your character runs with her Beast, and knows how to use it to her advantage. She’s turned riding the wave into a raw, primal art. These maneuvers may only be used while riding the wave. They cannot be used in a normal frenzy, or outside of frenzy.
Ravage (•): Due to your character’s connection to her Beast, her fangs become horrendous weapons. They look no different, but her Beast knows how to use them with the utmost efficiency. While riding the wave, they become 1L weapons when used in a bite attack.
Primal Strength (••): Your character’s Beast blasts outward in short bursts, in order to accomplish quick feats of strength. When lifting, jumping, or destroying objects as an instant action, double the Strength bonus aquired while in frenzy.
In the Zone (•••): When attempting to leash the Beast and ride the wave, your character still operates at peak efficiency. She still has to spend Willpower points in order to make rolls to ride the wave, but those Willpower points also give a +3 die bonus to any action taken in the turn.
Unyielding (••••): Your character rides the wave frequently; it ceases to be taxing on her mental reserves. After a scene where she successfully rides the wave, she recovers any Willpower spent to initiate the ride.
Animal Grace (•••••): Your character dodges and strikes as fluidly as an animal, with confidence and awareness. When spending Willpower to attack or defend, gain both benefits. Add a +2 die bonus to Defense, and a +3 die bonus to attack rolls. 
==Domain Merits==
Domain (• to •••••)
Prerequisite:  City Status ••+
Effect: Your character is lord over a domain granted to him by an overlord. In many cases, your character’s ratings in this Merit won’t be variable, but rather given to you by the Storyteller to reflect a domain already in existence in the game world. You may be able to gradually increase certain values of these Merits with experience points, but changing the character of a neighborhood doesn’t simply happen and certainly does not happen because your character solved a mystery last week. The Storyteller must oversee alterations to this Merit. See “Designing Domains,” p. 203, for guidelines on creating and altering domains. The following Domain Merits are each purchased or defined separately.
Domain Location (• to •••••)
Effect: This Merit generally measures how easy it is for a vampire to hunt within the Domain. Each dot of Domain Location grants a +1 bonus to hunting rolls for any character in the domain, whether resident or trespasser. This Merit also defines the maximum number of dots in Haven Location a resident Kindred can have here. Your character, as the lord of the Domain, may impose a lower maximum on a tenant, vassal, or simple resident by demanding she nest in some secluded part of the territory.
This Merit is not identical to the Feeding Ground Merit. Feeding Ground represents a body of mortals suitable for hunting regardless (or even in spite of) the general atmosphere and landscape of the area. Dots in Domain Location cannot be “cashed in” for dots in Herd. This Merit is its own drawback. Better feeding grounds attract trespassers who often bring trouble with them. The lord of a domain with a good Location has to protect it.
Domain Quality: Interactive (• to •••••)
Effect: The Domain Quality Merit describes the Domain’s influence over actions in the area and the nature of its populace. In practical terms, it defines the maximum modifiers, positive or negative, the Domain can have in its Interactive Attributes (see p. 251). An Interactive Attribute can have a positive or negative modifier up to the number of dots in this Merit. Thus, with two dots in this Merit, the Domain can have a +1, –1, +2 or –2 ratings in Access, Information, and Prestige. An Attribute does not have to be rated to the maximum possible modifier, but no Attribute’s modifier can exceed the dots in this Merit. So, with Domain Quality: Interactive •• the Domain could have Access –2, Information +1 and Prestige +2.
Domain Quality: Reactive (• to •••••)
Effect: The Domain Quality Merit describes the Domain’s influence over actions in the area and the nature of its populace. In practical terms, it defines the maximum modifiers, positive or negative, the Domain can have in its Reactive Attributes (see p. 251). A Reactive Attribute can have a positive or negative modifier up to the number of dots in this Merit. Thus, with two dots in this Merit, the Domain can have a +1, –1, +2 or –2 ratings in Safety, Awareness and Stability. An Attribute does not have to be rated to the maximum possible modifier, but no Attribute’s modifier can exceed the dots in this Merit. So, with Domain Quality: Reactive ••• the Domain could have Safety +2, Awareness –3 and Stability –1.
Domain Size (• to •••••)
Effect: Domain Size measures the amount of physical ground your Domain covers. More is not always better. A larger Domain means more land to patrol and defend, more space for Kindred trespassers to slip in or even lair unnoticed, and more room for troubles to emerge. More land, however, generally also means greater Status and prestige among other Kindred in the feudal hierarchy. Domain Size isn’t a precise measure of blocks or miles. It’s a relative measure of the domain compared to the city and its Districts. In general, each dot of Domain Size should correspond roughly to the lord’s station in the feudal hierarchy — the lowliest domains are Domain Size • while all but the most modest or token-appointed Regents are Domain Size •••••. (The Prince doesn’t count his dominion by Domain Size as his Domain trumps everyone else’s — it’s the whole damn city.) In some cities a single dot of Domain Size might represent three or four blocks of turf while in others it could be nine or ten streets wide. It depends on the size of the city and the Prince’s standards for the number of domains her city should have.
The guiding rule of Domain Size is its relationship to the Tenant and Vassal Merits. Your character can purchase a Tenant or Vassal Merit once for each dot of Domain Size. Resident Kindred who keep havens in the domain, but have no formal claim to land under the lord, count for about half a dot of Domain Size as an abstract measurement, but the Storyteller should adjust that measurement relative to the size of the domain. A nest with five dots in Haven Size may be worth a whole dot of Domain Size in a small city or crowded District where a mansion sized lair would be almost impossible to maintain under the Masquerade. The Masquerade is always a looming factor in determining what kinds of havens are suitable for the Domain Size. (But don’t discount the ability of a domain to contain hidden networks of rooms in defunct office buildings or even abandoned subway stations serving as palatial havens.)
This Merit, therefore, doesn’t necessarily limit the number of dots that local havens can have in Haven Size. The Storyteller has the right to set a limit in order to reflect the nature of the domain’s neighborhood, but it’s not essential. Regardless of limits imposed by the domain, the lord of the land always has the right to limit the size of local havens. It’s his right to decide how much of his land another Kindred receives. Some lords cite the Masquerade when forcing their tenants into smaller havens, but the fact is that lordly fiat is all the justification they need.
Domain Security (• to •••••)
Domain Security reflects the general safety of the area, either as the result of police oversight or the proximity of Hounds or a surplus of gated condos and iron grilled storefronts. Domain Security interacts with the local District’s Attributes (and thus the Domain Quality Merits) but doesn’t override them. Neither does it dictate a limit on Haven Security dots in the domain. Domain Security modifies the likelihood of thieves and muggers in the domain. Each dot of Domain Security imposes a –1 die penalty on rolls to locate or hire characters specializing in Skills like Larceny, Stealth, Streetwise, and Subterfuge. This penalty does not apply to the actual physical acts of breaking and entering, though; that’s covered by the Security dots of individual buildings like havens. Rather, Domain Security reduces the need for dots in Haven Security.
The Storyteller could assume that an average neighborhood in the city is prowled by muggers and thieves with an average dice pool of 7 plus or minus Stability modifiers.
The Storyteller rolls that particular dice pool to determine if a random act of crime or violence emerges from the background to spice up the chapter. A success indicates a couple of muggers or a car thief. An exceptional success could indicate an armed robbery, drive-by shooting, or open shootout in the street. Dots in Domain Security, modified by Safety, are rolled to contest the random crime roll.
The domain’s rating in Haven Security (modified by District Attributes) can be rolled, with each success reducing the response time by one minute from a base starting time of ten minutes, to determine the response time of local police.
Strictly speaking, a lord may impose a ruling on the security measures of local havens — declaring blaring alarms off limits or demanding Kindred have barred windows — but it is not his feudal right to do so. The space within a Kindred’s haven is his own. That is where every vampire is a lord.
Site (• to •••••)
Effect: Your character has a degree of access to a useful building in the city or a degree of influence over a mortal who can provide access to such a place. A Site grants bonus dice equal to the Merit’s rating to the dice pools of one Skill when used on the premises. You must define the Site and the relevant Skill when this Merit is purchased. Purchase this Merit multiple times to represent multiple Sites or Sites that grant bonuses to multiple Skills.
The bonus granted by this Merit represents a selection of equipment kept at the site (something more substantial than just a few tools — a complete garage, not a toolbox) or a supporting character found at the Site who can provide service and expertise. Thus a Site worth Medicine •••• might represent access to a private medical practice’s surgical suite or access to an underground surgeon.
A Site might not comply with this Merit as neatly as, say, a haven. Specific Sites can be designed by the Storyteller or the player with additional bonuses or penalties, provided the final Site and its rating in dots are approved by the Storyteller.
Dozens of sample Sites can be found in Chapter Five of ‘Damnation City’.
NOTE: this merit is common for those members of the Ordo Dracul that guard a Wyrm’s Nest, whether it’s a Fontal, Crucible, or other type.
Tenant (• to •••••)
Prerequisite: Domain Size • per dot of Tenant Merit, City Status ••+
Effect: Your character has one or more Kindred tenants in his Domain. This vampire makes her haven in your domain in exchange for providing your character with a corvée. Each dot in this Merit entitles your character to call in the corvée roughly every month. Like the Resources Merit, the Storyteller needs to regulate the frequency with which you can use this Merit in order to prevent it from outclassing other Merits.
You define the specific terms of service your character demands from his tenants, but the Storyteller can veto your terms if no local Kindred will agree to them. In general, each dot in this Merit entitles your character to five Vitae per month, which is one expenditure equal to about Resources • (multiple dots do not equate to a higher Resources value, but rather more frequent use of Resources •), temporary access to a piece of equipment worth +1 to +3 in bonuses, or one night’s use of a Retainer worth the same value as this Merit. The specific benefit of the Tenant Merit must be decided when the Merit is purchased. If the Storyteller agrees, however, the Merit can be renegotiated with the tenant later. You can purchase this Merit multiple times to reflect different tenants in residence, but you cannot purchase this Merit more times than you have dots in Domain Size.
Drawback: Tenants can cause trouble. Because tenants do not have the same kind of authority or responsibility over the land, they cannot be expected to defend the domain or solve problems on site unless the lord calls in the corvée. This Merit essentially comes with a linked Flaw. Every time your character collects his corvée, the Storyteller may roll a dice pool equal to 7 – the dots for that Tenant Merit. If the Storyteller gets a success, the tenant in involved in some kind of trouble, such as attracting unwanted mortal attention or causing damage to the Domain or a Site that temporarily reduces its value by one point. This trouble may not be the tenant’s fault, but it is the tenant’s presence that makes it responsibility of the lord (your character) to deal with it.
Vassal (• to •••••)
Prerequisite: Domain Size • per dot of Vassel Merit,  City Status ••+
Effect: This Merit functions essentially the same as the Tenant Merit but with a separate drawback. Your character cannot have more Vassals and Tenants in any combination than he has dots in the Domain Size Merit.
Drawback: A vassal’s authority over his territory can come into conflict with the lord’s authority over his. When the Storyteller deems your character’s vassal is exerting his authority over the territory more loudly than your character or plotting to gain more power from (or over) him, your dots in this Merit serve as a penalty to your character’s Social dice pools to influence other Kindred within the domain.