Flaws

Merits and Flaws are optional Traits that a Storyteller may choose to include, or prohibit, in her chronicle. Properly used, Merits and Flaws help players create and individualize their characters. Merits are special abilities or advantages that are rare or unique in the general Kindred population, while Flaws are liabilities or disadvantages that pose challenges to a character’s nightly existence. These Traits can provide player characters with added depth and personality, but Storytellers should be careful to ensure that any Traits chosen will not adversely influence the course of the chronicle or give one character an unfair advantage over the rest.

Merits and Flaws can be selected only during character creation and are purchased using freebie points (although existing Merits and Flaws can be removed or new ones added by the Storyteller during the course of the chronicle). Each Merit has its own point cost, while each Flaw has a point value which adds to the amount of freebie points a player can spend during the creation process. A character may take as many Merits as the player can afford, but no character may have more than seven points’ worth of Flaws (which would give a character a total of 22 freebie points to spend in other areas).

Merits and Flaws are divided into four categories: physical, mental, social and supernatural. The physical category describes Merits or Flaws that deal with a character’s physical makeup or abilities, while the mental category addresses intellectual abilities or patterns of behavior. The social category comprises relationships and status in Kindred or mortal society, while supernatural Merits and Flaws concern the paranormal abilities of vampires and the way they interact with the physical world. Storytellers are encouraged to not only restrict and disallow any Merits and Flaws that don’t fit with their chronicles or for specific characters, but also to create their own to reflect unique elements of their games. Some example restrictions are given in the text of each Merit and Flaw, but Storytellers can allow (or disallow) any combination that don’t make sense for their games.

## **Physical**

### Hard of Hearing (1pt. Flaw)

Your hearing is defective. The difficulties of any rolls involving the use of hearing are increased by two.

### Short (1pt. Flaw)

You are well below average height — four and a half feet (1.5 meters) tall or less. You have difficulty reaching or manipulating objects designed for normal adult size, and your running speed is one-half that of an average human.

### Smell of the Grave (1pt. Flaw)

You exude an odor of dampness and newly turned earth, which no amount of scents or perfumes will cover. Mortals in your immediate presence become uncomfortable, so the difficulties of all Social rolls to affect mortals increase by one.

### Tic/Twitch (1pt. Flaw)

You have some sort of repetitive motion that you make in times of stress, and it’s a dead giveaway as to your identity. Examples include a nervous cough, constantly wringing your hands, cracking your knuckles, and so on. It costs one Willpower to refrain from engaging in your tic.

### Bad Sight (1 or 3pt. Flaw)

Your sight is defective. The difficulties of any die rolls involving the use of your eyesight are increased by two. As a one-point Flaw, this condition can be corrected with glasses or contacts; as a three-point Flaw, the condition is too severe to be corrected.

### Fourteenth Generation (2pt. Flaw)

You were created five or fewer years ago by a member of the Thirteenth Generation. Though you have 10 blood points in your body, only eight of them may be used to heal wounds, power Disciplines, raise Attributes, etc. You can still use the final two blood points for other purposes, though. The blood point costs of nightly rising, creating and sustaining ghouls, and creating blood bonds remains the same as for other vampires.

You cannot raise any Discipline above four dots.

Taking this Flaw precludes you from taking the Generation Background, and you may not start with Status, either. You are likely a Clanless Caitiff, for your blood is probably too thin to pass down the distinguishing characteristics of a Clan. Most Fourteenth-Generation vampires should also take the Thin Blood Flaw.

### Fifteenth Generation (4pt. Flaw)

Your vitae is so weak that only six of your 10 blood points can be used for Disciplines, healing or raising Attributes. For these functions, you must expend two blood points to obtain the effect a normal vampire would achieve with one. (The cost for nightly rising remains a single blood point.) What’s more, you cannot create or sustain ghouls, create a blood bond, or sire a vampiric childe. You can use the remaining four blood points to survive through the day and wake up each night, nothing more.

You cannot raise any Discipline above three dots. The weakening of the Curse of Caine has compensations, though (which distinguish this Flaw from the Thin Blood Flaw itself). Sunlight does lethal damage to you, instead of aggravated damage as it does to other vampires. You can hold down mortal food and drink for an hour or so; other vampires vomit immediately if they try (unless they have the Eat Food Merit). Strangest of all, once in a while you might actually have a child the normal, human way... though it will hardly be a normal, human child.

### Disfigured (2pt. Flaw)

A hideous disfigurement makes your appearance disturbing and memorable. The difficulties of all die rolls relating to social interaction are increased by two. You may not have an Appearance rating greater than 2.

### Dulled Bite (2pt. Flaw)

For some reason your fangs never developed fully, or they may not have manifested at all. When feeding, you need to find some other method of making the blood flow. Failing that, you must achieve double the normal number of successes in order to make your bite penetrate properly. A number of Caitiff and high- Generation vampires often manifest this Flaw.

### Infectious Bite (2pt. Flaw)

You may not automatically lick the wounds of your feeding closed. In fact, your bites have a one in five chance of becoming infected and causing mortal victims to become seriously ill. The precise nature of the infection is determined by the Storyteller.

### One Eye (2pt. Flaw)

You have only one eye — which eye is missing is up to you. The difficulties of all Perception rolls involving eyesight are increased by two, and the difficulties of all die rolls requiring depth perception are increased by one (this includes ranged combat).

### Vulnerability to Silver (2pt. Flaw)

To you, silver is as painful and as deadly as the rays of the sun. You suffer aggravated wounds from any silver weapons (bullets, knives, etc.), and the mere touch of silver objects discomfits you.

### Open Wound (2 or 4pt. Flaw)

You have one or more wounds that refuse to heal, and which constantly drip blood. This slow leakage costs you an extra blood point per evening (marked off just before dawn), in addition to drawing attention to you. If the wound is visible, you are at + 1 difficulty for all Social-based rolls. For two points, the Flaw is simply unsightly and has the basic effect mentioned above; for four points the seeping wound is serious or disfiguring and includes the effects of the Flaw Permanent Wound (below).

### Addiction (3pt. Flaw)

You suffer from an addiction to a substance, which must now be present in the blood you drink (or you automatically frenzy, as per the Prey Exclusion Flaw). This can be alcohol, nicotine, hard drugs, or simply adrenaline. This substance always impairs you in some fashion.

### Deformity (3pt. Flaw)

You have some kind of deformity — a misshapen limb, hunchback, or clubfoot, for example — which affects your physical abilities and interactions with others. A hunchback, for instance, would lower a character’s Dexterity by two dots and increase the difficulty of die rolls relating to social skills by one. It is the responsibility of the Storyteller to determine the specific effects of the deformity chosen.

### Glowing Eyes (3pt. Flaw)

You have the stereotypical glowing eyes of vampire legend, which gives you a -1 difficulty on Intimidation rolls when you’re dealing with mortals. However, the tradeoffs are many; you must constantly disguise your condition (no, contacts don’t cut it); the glow impairs your vision and puts you at +1 difficulty on all sightbased rolls (including the use of ranged weapons); and the radiance emanating from your eye sockets makes it difficult to hide (+2 difficulty to Stealth rolls) in the dark.

### Lame (3pt. Flaw)

Your legs are damaged, which prevents you from running or walking easily. You are forced to walk with a cane or possibly leg braces, and you have a pronounced limp to your stride. Your walking speed is one-quarter that of a normal human, and running is impossible.

### Lazy (3pt. Flaw)

You are simply lazy, avoiding anything that requires effort on your part. Preferring to let others do the hard work, you lounge around. For any action that requires preparation, there’s a good chance you didn’t properly prepare. Difficulty rolls for spontaneous Physical actions (including combat, unless it’s part of a planned offensive) increase by one.

### Monstrous (3pt. Flaw)

Your physical form was twisted during the Embrace, and now reflects the Beast that rages inside you. Characters with this Flaw appear to be savage monsters and have Appearance ratings of zero. Nosferatu and other bloodlines whose weaknesses cause them to start off with Appearance zero cannot take this Flaw.

### Permanent Fangs (3pt. Flaw)

Your fangs do not retract, making it impossible for you to hide your true nature. While some mortals may think you’ve had your teeth filed or are wearing prosthetics, sooner or later you’re going to run into someone who knows what you truly are. You are also limited to a maximum Appearance rating of 3.

### Permanent Wound (3pt. Flaw)

You suffered injuries during your Embrace which your transformation somehow failed to repair. At the beginning of each night, you rise from sleep at the Wounded health level, though this may be healed by spending blood points.

### Slow Healing (3pt. Flaw)

You have difficulty healing wounds. It requires two blood points to heal one health level of bashing or lethal damage, and you heal one health level of aggravated damage every five days (plus the usual five blood points and Willpower expenditure).

### Child (4pt. Flaw)

Most vampires begin their unlife in adulthood, but your sire, whether by necessity, cruelty, or peculiarity, Embraced you when you were a child. No matter how many years have passed, your body remains prepubescent. Your Strength and Stamina may not be higher than 2 and the difficulty of rolls to lead or command mortal adults increases by two.

### Disease Carrier (4pt. Flaw)

Your blood carries a lethal and highly contagious disease. The disease can be anything from rabies to HIV, and Kindred who drink your blood have a 10% chance of becoming a carrier as well. You must spend an extra blood point each night on awakening, or you will begin manifesting symptoms of the disease (increased chance to frenzy for rabies, reduced soak rolls for HIV, etc.).

### Deaf (4pt. Flaw)

You cannot hear. While you may be more resistant to some applications of Dominate, you also may not listen to electronic or vocal media, and the difficulties of many Perception rolls are increased by three.

### Mute (4pt. Flaw)

You cannot speak. You may communicate with the Storyteller and describe your actions, but cannot talk to player or Storyteller characters unless everyone concerned purchases a commonly understood sign language (via the Language Merit) or you write down what you wish to say.

### Thin Blood (4pt. Flaw)

Your blood is thin, weak, and does not sustain you well. All blood point costs are doubled (e.g., using blood-related Disciplines or healing damage), although you only lose one blood upon rising in the evening. Furthermore, you are unable to create a blood bond, and efforts to sire other vampires succeed only one in five times.

### Flesh of the Corpse (5pt. Flaw)

Your flesh does not fully regenerate itself once it is damaged. While you are able to heal yourself to the point of regaining full functionality, your skin still retains the cuts, tears, bullet holes, and other visible damage that you have incurred. Depending on the nature of the damage, this Flaw will make social dealings exceedingly difficult, and may decrease your Appearance dots over time (even to 0).

### Infertile Vitae (5pt. Flaw)

During your Embrace, something went horribly wrong, causing your blood to mutate under the stress of dying and rising again. All those you try to Embrace die. No matter what you do, you may not create any childer. However, your blood can still be used in blood rituals like Thaumaturgy and the Vaulderie, or for any other vampiric needs like making ghouls.

### Blind (6pt. Flaw)

You cannot see. Characters can compensate for the loss of vision by becoming more attuned to other sensory input, but visual cues and images are lost to them. Difficulties of all Dexterity-based rolls are increased by two. Oddly, vampires with Aura Perception (Auspex 2) are still able to use this ability, thought the information is interpreted via the other senses. On the other hand, vampires who need make eye contact to enact powers like Dominate against you are only at a penalty to do so.

## **Mental**

### Deep Sleeper (1pt. Flaw)

When you sleep, it is very difficult for you to awaken. The difficulty of any roll to awaken during the day is increased by two.

### Impatient (1pt. Flaw)

You have no patience for standing around and waiting. You want to do things now — fuck those slowpokes trying to hold you back. Every time you are forced to wait around instead of acting, a Self-Control roll is required to see if you go tearing off on your own instead.

### Nightmares (1pt. Flaw)

You experience horrendous nightmares every time you sleep, and memories of them haunt you during your waking hours. Upon awakening, you must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 7) or lose a die on all actions for that night. A botched Willpower roll indicates that, even when awake, you still believe that you are locked in a nightmare.

### Prey Exclusion (1pt. Flaw)

You refuse to hunt a certain class of prey. You might refuse to feed on drug dealers, policemen, accountants, or rich people — if you accidentally feed upon such an individual, you automatically frenzy and must make a roll to prevent Humanity or Path loss (difficulty 7). Witnessing other Kindred feeding on the object of your exclusion might also provoke a frenzy, at the Storyteller’s discretion. Ventrue, owing to the limitations already imposed on their feeding by their Clan weakness, may not take this Flaw.

### Shy (1pt. Flaw)

You are distinctly ill at ease when dealing with people and try to avoid social situations whenever possible. Difficulties for all rolls involving social interaction with strangers are increased by two. If the character becomes the center of attention in a large group, difficulties are increased by three.

### Soft-Hearted (1pt. Flaw)

You cannot stand to watch others suffer. You avoid any situation that involves causing someone physical or emotional pain, unless you make a Willpower roll (difficulty 8). You must have a Humanity rating of 7 or above to take this Flaw — vampires on Paths of Enlightenment can only take this Flaw with Storyteller approval.

### Speech Impediment (1pt. Flaw)

You have a stammer or other speech impediment that hampers verbal communication. The difficulties of all die rolls involving verbal communication are increased by two. This Flaw must be roleplayed whenever possible.

### Unconvinced (1pt. Flaw)

You fail to see the need for the core ideologies of your Sect or Clan, and have gone on record as saying so. Taking your stand has made you suspect in the eyes of your superiors, and may have attracted the attention of your enemies as well.

### Amnesia (2pt. Flaw)

You are unable to remember anything about your past, yourself, or your family (whether mortal or vampiric), though your past might well come back to haunt you. Your origins and the circumstances behind your amnesia are for the Storyteller to determine, and she is encouraged to make it as interesting as possible.

### Lunacy (2pt. Flaw)

You are affected by the phases of the moon, increasing your chances to frenzy. Under the crescent moon, difficulties to avoid frenzy increase by one. Under the half or gibbous moon, difficulties rise by two. When the moon is full, difficulties increase by three.

### Phobia (2pt. Flaw)

You have an overpowering fear of something. Spiders, snakes, crowds, and heights are examples of common phobias. You must make a Courage roll every time you encounter the object of your fear. The difficulty of the roll is determined by the Storyteller. If you fail the roll, you must retreat from the object.

### Short Fuse (2pt. Flaw)

You are easily angered. Difficulties to avoid frenzy are two greater. Brujah vampires cannot take this Flaw, as they already suffer from a similar weakness.

### Stereotype (2pt. Flaw)

You buy heavily into all of the vampire stories you’ve read and heard. You wear a cape or body glitter, speak with an accent, and otherwise act in a cartoonish fashion. Such behavior is embarrassing in the extreme to other Kindred, who are likely to ostracize or mock you (+2 difficulty to Social rolls with other vampires who don’t share your habits). You also stand out to hunters.

### Territorial (2pt. Flaw)

You are extremely territorial, staking out a particular area as your hunting ground and reacting aggressively to trespassers. If another vampire enters your territory uninvited, you must make a frenzy roll. If you fail, you immediately attack the interloper and continue attacking until the intruder is dead or has left your hunting grounds. You are reluctant to leave your territory except in desperate circumstances.

### Thirst for Innocence (2pt. Flaw)

The sight of innocence — of any sort — arouses in you a terrible bloodlust. Roll Self-Control or Instincts, or else frenzy and attack the source of your hunger.

### Vengeful (2pt. Flaw)

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

### Victim of the Masquerade (2pt. Flaw)

The Camarilla’s propaganda machine did too good a job on you. Even after your Embrace you refused to believe you were a vampire. You remain convinced that there is some logical explanation for your condition, and spend as much time as you can searching for it. You also have problems feeding, and may insist on trying to eat regular food. None of these habits makes you particularly pleasant company for other Kindred. This Flaw must be roleplayed at all times, and is generally taken by Camarilla vampires.

### Weak-Willed (3pt. Flaw)

You are highly susceptible to Dominate and intimidation by others; Dominate attempts automatically affect you unless the Discipline wielder is of higher Generation, and your difficulties to resist Social abilities such as Intimidation or Leadership, as well as mind-altering spells or magic, are increased by two. Your Willpower Trait may never rise above 4.

### Conspicuous Consumption (4pt. Flaw)

It is not enough for you to draw nourishment from the blood of mortals — you believe you must also consumeyour victim’s heart, liver, and other blood-rich tissue. Of course, this will necessitate the deaths of all of your victims (unless you are extremely creative), which might lead to numerous problems with maintaining Humanity (and a low profile). Characters with this Flaw should additionally purchase the Eat Food Merit.

### Guilt-Wracked (4pt. Flaw)

You simply cannot come to grips with the fact that you must drink blood to survive. You suffer horrible guilt over each time you feed (roll Conscience, difficulty 7, or else frenzy every time you feed — characters with the Conviction Virtue cannot take this Flaw) and try to avoid doing so as much as possible. This means that you rarely have much blood in your system, leaving you vulnerable to both attacks and hunger-based frenzies.

### Flashbacks (6pt. Flaw)

You managed to make it through the Creation Rites or other similarly traumatic experience, but not wholly intact. The most insignificant thing can throw you into a different mood or state of mind, and as such your behavior is extremely unpredictable. Because of your precarious emotional state, your Willpower fluctuates. At the beginning of each story, make a Willpower roll (you may not spend Willpower for an automatic success). If you succeed, you may participate in the story as normal. If you fail, however, your Willpower score is considered to be 1 for the duration of that session, and you only have one Willpower point to spend. You may roll again at the beginning of the next session to see if you regain your Willpower.

## **Social**

### Botched Presentation (1pt. Flaw)

When your sire presented you to the Prince of the city, you flubbed it. Now you’re convinced His Majesty hates you (whether he does or not). You need to succeed on a Willpower roll (difficulty 7) just to stand in front of the Prince or one of his duly authorized representatives without running, blubbering, or otherwise making a fool of yourself. This Flaw can only be taken by Camarilla vampires.

### Dark Secret (1pt. Flaw)

You have some sort of secret that, if uncovered, would be of immense embarrassment to you and would make you a pariah in the local Kindred community. This could be anything from having murdered an elder to being a member of the Anarchs.

### Expendable (1pt. Flaw)

Someone in power doesn’t want you around. Maybe she wants territory you possess, or is jealous of the attention you’re getting from a prize mortal retainer — the details are irrelevant. What does matter is that she has the power to maneuver you into dangerous situations “for the good of the Sect,” and has no compunctions about doing so.

### Incomplete Understanding (1pt. Flaw)

The whole matter has been explained to you, but you’re still not quite sure how things in your Sect work. Your imperfect understanding of the rules and regulations of your new existence means that sooner or later, you’re going to make a mistake. It’s only a matter of time….

### Infamous Sire (1pt. Flaw)

Your sire was, and perhaps still is, distrusted and disliked by many of the city’s Kindred. As a result, you aredistrusted and disliked as well.

### Mistaken Identity (1pt. Flaw)

You look similar to descriptions of another Kindred, which cause cases of mistaken identity. This can prompt numerous awkward or even dangerous situations, especially if your “twin” has a terrible reputation or is wanted for some crime.

### New Arrival (1pt. Flaw)

You’ve just arrived in your new city of residence, and don’t know anyone in the place. Existing factions may try to recruit or eliminate you, while vampires in positions of authority size you up and take your measure. Meanwhile, your ignorance of the city’s current events, history, and politics (not to mention the personality quirks of the vampires already in place) may cause you to make a serious blunder.

### New Kid (1pt. Flaw)

You’re the latest in the city to be Embraced or have yet to prove yourself to your Sect, and everyone knows it. That automatically puts you at the bottom of the social totem pole. Other neonates take every opportunity to demonstrate your inferiority, or rival packs constantly test your worthiness to the Sabbat. Even if someone else is added to the ranks of the unliving, you’re still regarded as something as a bit of a geek by your peers — a distinction that can have dangerous consequences if bullets start flying. All Social-related rolls are at +1 difficulty when you are dealing with other neonates. (Ancillae and elders lump you in with all the other neonates under their general disdain.)

### Recruitment Target (1pt. Flaw)

Someone in one of your Sect’s enemy organizations wants you, and they want you bad. Every effort is being made to recruit you, willing or no, and the press gangs usually show up at the worst possible time.

### Sire’s Resentment (1pt. Flaw)

Your sire dislikes you and wishes you ill. Given the smallest opportunity, she will actively seek to do you harm. Your sire’s allies also work against you, and many elders may resent you.

### Special Responsibility (1pt. Flaw)

Shortly after your Embrace, you volunteered for some task in order to gain respect and approval from the vampires around you. Now, you wish you had never opened your damn mouth! While you are not given any special credit for performing this duty, you would lose a lot of respect if you were to stop. The nature and the details of your duty should be worked out with the Storyteller in advance. Ideas can range from lending money to other Kindred to acting as a messenger or possibly gathering victims for ritae (such as Blood Feasts).

### Sympathizer (1pt. Flaw)

You have publicly expressed sympathy for some of the goals and policies of the enemies of your Sect. Your outspoken views on the subject have made you suspect in the eyes of the city’s hierarchy, and you may be suspected of (or arrested for) treason.

### Vulgar (1pt. Flaw)

Tact is a foreign concept to you, and you’re famous for being abrasive and generally unpleasant. Rolls involving social graces or delicate situations suffer +1 difficulty.

### Enemy (1-5pt. Flaw)

You have an enemy, or perhaps a group of enemies, who seek to harm you. The power of the enemy depends upon how many points the player wishes to spend (five points indicate the wrath of a Methuselah or other potent supernatural foe).

### Rivalry (1-5pt. Flaw)

Someone hates you so much that they cannot bear to leave you alone. The scale of this Flaw is similar to that of the Enemy Flaw (see above), but your Rival is not interested in seeing you dead. Rather, a Rival desires only to make your unlife as troublesome and hellish as possible. At lower point value, the Rival may also be a friend who arrives at precisely the worst moment to steal your thunder or make you embarrassed. At higher levels, your Rival loses sleep planning how to make your life miserable.

### Bound (2pt. Flaw)

You are blood bound to another vampire. Your regnant may not necessarily treat you badly, but the fact remains that your will is not entirely your own. The knowledge gnaws at you, even as you find yourself lost in devotion to your vampiric master. Sabbat vampires cannot take this Flaw.

### Catspaw (2pt. Flaw)

You’ve done dirty work for someone high up in the city’s hierarchy in the past — the Sheriff, the Bishop, or even someone higher. However, instead of granting you favor, your deeds have made you an embarrassment or a liability. For the moment, your former employer’s concern is to keep you quiet. In the long term, it’s to get rid of you.

### Escaped Target (2pt. Flaw)

You had targeted a mortal for the Embrace, but someone else got there first. You cannot stand the humiliation of being cheated of your prize, and fly into a rage (+2 difficulty to avoid frenzy) whenever you see the one who got away. This hatred may lead you into other irrational behaviors, like Embracing enemies of the neonate, creating unauthorized childer, or even trying to kill your rival. Furthermore, your petty and irrational behavior is well-known and quite noticeable, and as a result you are at + 1 difficulty on all Charisma rolls until the situation is resolved.

### Expiration Date (2-pt. Flaw)

Your personal motto is simple: I do what I want. This has, as might be expected, caused you trouble more than once. You are wanted in several domains for various minor crimes, such as exsanguinating the Seneschal’s favorite ghoul. You haven’t been bloodhunted just yet, but the writing is on the wall. You’ve just about run out of time and no one wants you to take them with you when everything turns sideways. One more mistake and you sign your Final Death warrant. All social-based rolls to acquire help are at +2 difficulty, except those involving Intimidation.

### Failure (2pt. Flaw)

You once held a title in the city, but failed catastrophically in your duties. Now you are branded incompetent, excluded from circles of power and responsibility, and generally ostracized by those on their way up. Your exclusion may make you a target for recruitment by the Sect’s enemies (or so the whispers run, making you even more distrusted). Conversely, the consequences of your error might come back to haunt you.

### Masquerade Breaker (2pt. Flaw)

In your first nights as a vampire, you accidentally broke the Masquerade — and were spotted doing so. Someone else covered for your mistake, but holds the favor over you. Now you exist in fear that your error will be revealed. In the meantime, your “savior” takes pitiless advantage of you. This Flaw can only be taken by vampires in Sects or Clans that respect the Masquerade.

### Old Flame (2pt. Flaw)

Someone you once cared deeply for is now with the enemy. He still attempts to play on your sympathies “for old times’ sake” while working against you. Unless you succeed on a contested Manipulation + Expression roll against your former friend, you cannot act against him unless the situation becomes life-threatening.

### Rival Sires (2pt. Flaw)

The flip side of Escaped Target, two vampires wanted to gift you with the Embrace. One succeeded, one failed — and she’s not happy about that failure. You, your actual sire, or both of you have become the target of the failed suitor’s ire. Regardless, your persecutor is at +2 difficulty to refrain from frenzy in your presence. In addition, she may well be working actively to discredit or destroy you.

### Uppity (2pt. Flaw)

You are proud of your new status in the Sect — so proud that you’ve shot your mouth off to other Kindred and made some enemies. Wiser vampires laugh at you and chalk your rudeness up to youth, but others find you arrogant and insulting. These enemies will take action to embarrass or harm you. Furthermore, you are at +2 difficulty on all Social rolls against any vampires you have alienated through your yammering — and you may not know who they are.

At Storyteller discretion, you may also be required to make a Willpower roll (difficulty 6) to keep your mouth shut any time the opportunity presents itself for you to brag about your pack, your Clan, or your status.

### Disgrace to the Blood (3pt. Flaw)

Your sire regards the fact that he Embraced you to be a titanic mistake, and has let everyone know it. You are mocked at gatherings, taunted by your peers, and actively despised by the one who should be giving you guidance. Any request or petition you make is likely to be looked down upon by friends of your sire, and your achievements are likely to be discounted.

### Former Prince (3pt. Flaw)

Once, you held near-absolute power in a city, but those nights are gone now. Perhaps you stepped down,perhaps you were deposed, or perhaps your city fell to the Sabbat; it matters little in your reduced state. What does matter is that the Prince in the city where you now dwell is aware of your prior employment, and has concerns that you might be trying to make a comeback. The machinery of the Camarilla in the city where you now make your home is subtly stacked against you, and if the Prince sees an opportunity to get rid of you he just might take it. This Flaw can only be taken by Camarilla vampires.

### Hunted Like a Dog (3pt. Flaw)

Another Sect or group of vampires has decided that you’re a target for extermination, and pursues you relentlessly. On the bright side, the enemies of your enemy may well wish to help you out, potentially garnering you allies.

### Narc (3pt. Flaw)

You are known to be a snitch, an informer firmly planted in the pocket of the vampires in charge. Those on whom you might yet inform loathe you as a result, feeding you misinformation when they can in an attempt to discredit you. Given the opportunity, they might do you mischief. Regardless, your reputation as a weasel precedes you, putting you at +1 difficulty on all Social rolls against those who don’t agree with your politics.

### Sleeping With the Enemy (3pt. Flaw)

You have some sort of intimate connection with a member of an opposing Sect or inimical Clan. You may have a lover, a childe, a friend, or a contact working the other side of the fence, but regardless of politics you retain a friendly (or more than friendly) relationship with your putative foe. Your close ties to someone on the other side would be regarded as treason by your superiors within the Sect, and if you are discovered, the penalty will surely be death.

### Clan Enmity (4pt. Flaw)

One Clan in particular wants you dead. You have offended the entire Clan, from elders to neonates, and as a result every member of that bloodline wants your head on a plate. The effects of the Flaw may manifest as anything from very public snubs and insults to actual attempts on your unlife. You are also at +2 difficulty on all Social rolls relating to members of the Clan in question.

### Hunted (4pt. Flaw)

You are pursued by a fanatical witch-hunter who believes (perhaps correctly) that you are a danger to humanity. All those with whom you associate, be they mortal or Kindred, may be hunted as well.

### Loathsome Regnant (4pt. Flaw)

Not only are you blood bound, but you are also in thrall to a vampire who mistreats you hideously. Perhaps you are publicly abused or humiliated; perhaps your master forces you to commit unspeakable acts for him. In any case, existence under the bond is a neverending nightmare, with your regnant serving to conduct the symphony of malice. Sabbat vampires cannot take this Flaw.

### Oathbreaker (4pt. Flaw)

Once you swore fealty to a lord or organization, or made a binding contract. You’ve broken that promise and everyone knows about it. Now it’s near impossible to earn the trust of others. The difficulty of Social rolls to convince someone of your trustworthiness is increased by three, and even members of your coterie may have reservations about you.

### Trophy Arrogance (4 pt. Flaw)

The character has begun to wear out his welcome when it comes to making demands on the Trophy Clan. While the Clan has promised him any number of rewards, both monetary and supernatural, the new Alastor has been abusing the Trophy’s Clan hospitality and is taking advantage of them. Making demands of local Kindred resources, throwing the fallen Anathema back in the Clan’s face, or being overly arrogant about the fact that the Clan owes the character are just some of the ways an Alastor can demonstrate this Flaw.

***Note:** This Flaw is only available to Alastor characters who have killed an Anathema. It is not available to those named Alastors by Justicars and Inner Circle.*

### Outspoken Heretic (4pt. Flaw)

You hold a belief considered to be heretical by a major religious power, such as the Catholic Church. Unlike others who practice their heresies in secret, you are open about your beliefs. You must constantly face false accusations, harassment from others who fancy themselves true believers, and the denial of hospitality from steadfastly faithful stranger, or those who fear the religious authority. At the Storyteller’s discretion, this can impose a difficulty increase of up to 3 to applicable Social rolls.

### Overextended (4pt. Flaw)

You’ve got your fingers in too many pies, and people are starting to notice. You have too many ghouls, too many retainers, or too much influence, which means that a lot of people have a vested interest in trimming back your operations. These enemies take every opportunity to reduce your power and influence, and if that means lying, cheating, or killing, so be it. Furthermore, your enemies block every attempt you make to move into new areas of control. You’re boxed in, and the box is getting smaller.

### Probationary Sect Member (4pt. Flaw)

You are a defector. You turned traitor to the Camarilla, Sabbat, or other Sect, and you still have much to prove before you are accepted by the Kindred you have defected to. Other vampires treat you with distrust and even hostility, and your reputation might even sully those whom you regularly associate with.

### Blood Hunted (4 or 6pt. Flaw)

You have been made the target of a blood hunt, and for you to return to your home city is death. For four points, this Flaw means that only your home city is offlimits to you. For six, it means that the entire Camarilla is howling for your vitae. This Flaw can only be taken by Camarilla vampires.

### Black Sheep (5-pt. Flaw)

You belong to a prestigious lineage that is considered to be paragon of another sect, or at least it did before you joined the Anarch Movement. You have embarrassed your sire, grandsire, and perhaps even farther back up the line; now the time has come to pay. Your erstwhile broodmates want to bring you back into the fold, if only to clean the stain from your reputation, and are unwilling to recognize your independence. Your sire and grandsire spare no effort to make things uncomfortable for you and any Anarchs who shelter you. This flaw combines the effects of Sire’s Resentment and Hunted Like a Dog, so those flaws may not be taken in conjunction with Black Sheep.

In addition, many members of the Anarch Movement actively distrust you solely based on your lineage, believing that you are a double-agent. All social rolls involving your fellow Anarchs incur a +2 difficulty.

### Laughingstock (5pt. Flaw)

Somehow you’ve drawn the scorn of the local Harpies, who make you their favorite target. You are at a +2 difficulty on all Social rolls in Elysium and a +1 anywhere else in the city. In addition, you are at +2 difficulty to use Intimidation or any Dominate powers on anyone who has heard the stories mocking you. This Flaw can only be taken by Camarilla vampires.

### Nameless (5pt. Flaw)

You do not exist. Certainly, you still walk the earth and your friends and kin can still see and touch you, but all records of your existence have been destroyed. Not even your vampiric progeny can lay claim to your name. As far as anyone can prove, you never were. If you take this Flaw, you may not take any Social Merits that grant benefits based on reputation. At Storyteller’s discretion, you may also be barred from taking Backgrounds that require a social presence. Who or what have you made so angry that they have erased your existence from the face of this earth?

### Red List (7pt. Flaw)

You are either being considered for or are already on the dreaded Red List, the registry of those vampires the Camarilla most wants extinguished. Any Camarilla vampire will either attack you on sight or, more likely, call in for a great deal of help.

## **Supernatural**

### Cast No Reflection (1pt. Flaw)

You actually cast no reflection, just like the vampires of legend. This can have a detrimental effect when trying to pass as a human. Vampires of Clan Lasombra automatically have this Flaw (and you may be mistaken for one of them if you possess this).

### Cold Breeze (1pt. Flaw)

A chill wind follows you everywhere you go. While it may make for dramatic entrances, this effect also discomfits mortals (+1 difficulty on all appropriate Social rolls) and marks you as obviously supernatural. Cold winds sweeping through executive offices or crowded nightclubs can raise all sorts of questions.

### Initiate of a Road (1pt. Flaw)

Your life on the road to enlightenment has just begun. Though you fully grasp the tenets and precepts of your chosen Road, you have not yet put them to the test. This may be because you were recently Embraced or because you previously abandoned a former Road (in which case you may also consider taking the Apostate Flaw). With this comes a +1 difficulty in resisting frenzy and Rötschreck, and you lack an aura tied to your Road. However, you have an easier time changing Roads, if you wish to do so.

### Repulsed by Garlic (1pt. Flaw)

You cannot abide garlic, and the smallest whiff of its scent will drive you from a room unless you make a successful Willpower roll (difficulty based on the strength of the odor).

### Touch of Frost (1pt. Flaw)

Plants wither as you approach and die at your touch. Your touch leeches heat from living beings, as though you were made of ice.

### Cursed (1-5pt. Flaw)

You are the recipient of a supernatural curse. The strength and pervasiveness of the curse depend upon how many points you wish to incur. Examples follow:

• If you pass on a secret you were entrusted with, your betrayal will come back to harm you in some way. (1 pt.)

• You stutter uncontrollably when you try to describe what you have seen or heard. (2 pts.)

• Tools break or malfunction when you try to use them. (3 pts.)

• You are doomed to make enemies of those whom you most love or admire. (4 pts.)

• Every one of your accomplishments or triumphs will eventually become soiled or fail in some way. (5 pts.)

### Demon Hounded (1-5pt. Flaw)

A demon has taken a shine to you. It comes at odd and inconvenient hours and offers you bribes of wealth and power. Some days, it asks for favors; on others, it offers them. What black schemes does hell have in mind for you that one of its servants would bother you so? What fell powers have you toyed with that you should not? At 1 point, the demon is little more than an imp, asking for minor favors or stealing small objects. At 3 points, the demon is your physical or magical equal, or is a smaller threat that is willing to also drag your close friends into this affair. At 5 points, the demon is significantly powerful, able to threaten your coterie, or a lesser demon willing to torment your friends, family, and acquaintances.

### Unlucky (1-5pt. Flaw)

You are spectacularly unfortunate. Disaster follows in your wake. You are magnetically attracted to misfortune. At 1 point, it rains whenever you forget your coat. At 3 points, it’s rare for you to recover from any failure gracefully. At 5 points, nearly everything you attempt ends catastrophically. A number of times per day equal to the point you have in this Flaw, the Storyteller may force you to reroll a successful roll and take the second result. Lucky and Unlucky are not mutually exclusive, but for simplicity’s sake, the same roll cannot be modified by both at once. That is, if a Lucky reroll is used, the Storyteller cannot force you to reroll the reroll.

### Beacon of the Unholy (2pt. Flaw)

You radiate palpable evil. Clergy and devout mortals know instinctively that there is something horribly wrong with you, and react accordingly.

### Deathsight (2pt. Flaw)

Everything appears rotted and decayed to you. The world appears to you as a corpse; mortals look diseased or skeletal, buildings seem decrepit, and your fellow Kindred seem to be walking, moldering cadavers. You are at -2 difficulty to resist all rolls based on Appearance, but by the same token you are at +2 difficulty on all Perception-based rolls. In addition, you find social interaction difficult and are at +1 difficulty on all Social-based rolls.

### Eerie Presence (2pt. Flaw)

Mortals have an unconscious awareness of your undead nature, which makes then anxious and ill at ease in your presence. Because of this, difficulties of all rolls relating to social interaction with mortals are increased by two.

### Kiss of Death (2pt. Flaw)

Should you drain a mortal vessel of all blood minutes after their heart stops beating, the corpse rises as a zombie (using the statistics for zombies on Necromancy). These zombies are free-willed, hostile toward you, and cannot be directed without some sorcerous or necromantic means to command them.

### Lord of the Flies (2pt. Flaw)

Buzzing harbingers of decay swirl around you everywhere. Their constant presence makes it difficult for you to interact socially (+1 difficulty when appropriate) and nearly impossible to sneak up on someone or hide effectively. The buzzing of the flies inevitably gives you away — all Stealth rolls are at +2 difficulty.

### Can’t Cross Running Water (3pt. Flaw)

You believe in the old folklore, and cannot cross running water unless you are at least 50 feet (15 meters) above it. Running water is considered to be any body of water at least two feet (half a meter) wide in any direction and not completely stagnant.

### Cloaked in Shadow (3pt. Flaw)

Shadows cling to you constantly. These are not the ordinary shadows cast simply by existing; the darkness around you is thick and heavy, making it impossible for you to pass as anything other than something supernatural. In addition to this complication, the difficulty for Social rolls with other vampires (especially the Lasombra) increases by one.

### Devil’s Mark (3pt. Flaw)

Whether product of your Embrace or gained through exposure to infernal or other unholy power, you’ve been branded with the “Devil’s Mark,” an anatomical aberration that manifests the taint of the demonic. Possible deformities include, but are not limited to: bestial or inhuman eyes, hooves, horns, unnaturally colored or scaly skin, a birthmark in the form of a sigil, parasitic infestation, claws, misshapen teeth. or ineffectual (perhaps additional) limbs. You may never remove or “improve” these disfigurements, although magic or Disciplines can hide them from plain sight.

A Devil’s Mark confers the following mechanical effects: Lower the maximum rating in one Attribute by one (if the maximum rating is 5, it becomes 4), while the cost to raise said Attribute increases by one (1 + the current rating x 4). If the mark becomes visible or is known to a mortal, it confers a -1 difficulty on Intimidation rolls when dealing with her, but in turn increases the difficulties for all other Social die rolls by one. Players should work with a Storyteller to determine an appropriate Devil’s Mark, and the Physical Attribute best suited to their mark.

### Haunted (3pt. Flaw)

You are haunted by an angry and tormented spirit, most likely one of your first victims. This spirit actively attempts to hinder you, especially when feeding, and does its utmost to vent its anguish upon you and anyone in your presence. The Storyteller determines the exact nature of the spirit, its powers, and whether or not it can eventually be laid to rest.

### Lord of the Night (3pt. Flaw)

In your presence lights dim, tiny flames extinguish, and shadows cling to you or languidly move about with a surreal unlife, making it impossible to pass as anything other than inhuman. The particular shadow you cast is a malicious entity with a will of its own. It lashes out at friends and enemies alike, tearing at the scenery, and snarling at passers-by. These effects can be suppressed for a scene by spending a point of Willpower.

### Repelled by Crosses (3pt. Flaw)

You are repelled by the sight of ordinary crosses, believing them to be symbols of holy might. When confronted by a cross, you must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 9) or flee from the symbol for the duration of the scene. If you botch the roll, not only must you attempt to flee, but the touch of the cross can cause aggravated damage (one health level of damage per turn that the cross touches your skin). This damage cannot be soaked, even if the vampire possesses Fortitude.

### Unholy Stain (3 pt. Flaw)

Your soul is stained with sacrilege. Some are born or Embraced this way; more earn the stain through wicked oaths and foul deeds. When interacting with any mortal, your Social difficulties increase by one, as people feel unnaturally ill at ease in your presence. Additionally, people of faith feel compelled to hostility when in your proximity. Their initial stance towards you is always aggressive, and it takes little to provoke them to violence. Mortals with True Faith will recognize you on sight, and often attack.

### Grip of the Damned (4pt. Flaw)

There is no ecstasy in your Embrace — only terror and pain. Mortals upon whom you feed struggle and shriek while you attempt to feed, requiring you to grapple with them for as long as you wish to take their blood. For vampires with high Humanity, this experience may require a Humanity roll, at the discretion of the Storyteller. Giovanni cannot take this Flaw.

### Dark Fate (5pt. Flaw)

You are doomed to experience Final Death or, worse, suffer eternal agony. No matter what you do, you cannot avoid this terrible fate. At some point during the chronicle, your Dark Fate will come upon you. Even more ghastly is the fact that you occasionally have visions of this fate, and the malaise these images inspire requires an expenditure of a temporary Willpower point to avoid, or else you lose a die from all of your actions for the remainder of the night. It is up to the Storyteller to determine the exact nature of this fate, and when it will occur. This is a difficult Flaw to roleplay; ironically, though it may seem as though it removes all free will, the knowledge of one’s death can be quite liberating.

### Light-Sensitive (5pt. Flaw)

You are even more sensitive to sunlight than other vampires are. Sunlight causes double normal damage, and the light of the moon can cause lethal damage in a manner similar to the sun, though it must shine directly upon you. Even bright lights hurt your eyes, requiring the use of sunglasses. Followers of Set and related bloodlines cannot take this Flaw, as they already have a worse version of it.

### Harbinger of the Abyss (5pt. Flaw)

You have become the void: the endless black of night, an empty pool of darkness. Where you pass, shadows leap to join you and flames gutter and perish. When you are in the presence of mundane fire, you must make a reflexive Obtenebration roll against the soak difficulty of any nearby flame. A success extinguishes the fire instantly, casting the area into darkness. This Flaw also includes the effects of Touch of Frost and Eerie Presence and is therefore mutually exclusive with them. However, the clinging darkness around you provides one benefit (besides being an unusual way to extinguish unwanted fires): reduce the difficulty of all Intimidation rolls by two, to a minimum of 4. You must have at least one dot of Obtenebration to purchase this Flaw.

### Vassal of the Clan (6pt. Flaw)

Through natural predisposition or a curse, you bear a permanent one-point blood bond to those one Generation lower, a two-point blood bond with those two Generations lower, and a three-point blood bond to those three or more Generations lower than you within your own Clan. These blood bonds override any other blood bonds you may earn during play. This can be a great risk for Hand members, as the blood forces allegiances to potentially risky vampires, or worse, to heretical ideologies.

### Methuselah’s Thirst (7pt. Flaw)

Whether from advanced age, your addiction to Diablerie, or the degradation of your Humanity, you are no longer capable of drinking mortal blood to sustain yourself and must feed upon the vitae of other vampires to survive. You may attempt to drink the blood of mortals, but it will not nourish you. If you do not feed on other vampires — you will go into torpor.

### The Scourge (7pt. Flaw)

The Scourge is a vampire-specific plague that infects the Blood. This disease is a mutated strain of leprosy crossed with the bubonic plague which directly attacks the vampire’s vitae. Once infected, the victim must spend more blood each time they expend vitae. The cost for any vitae expenditure increases by one for each night the victim suffers from The Scourge. In some cases, the victim also suffers from a disfiguring malady that impacts their appearance but does not threaten their life.

While The Scourge is curable on a case-by-case basis, the disease itself cannot be exterminated. In extremely rare cases, an afflicted vampire becomes a carrier of the disease and immune to its effects. The carrier then spreads The Scourge to other vampires.

Currently, there is only one known carrier of the disease.

# **Clan Specific Flaws**

## **Assamites**

### Outcast (2pt. Flaw)

Your have rejected the ethos of the caste into which you were Embraced. Perhaps you are one of the few viziers or sorcerers to support the Web of Knives or pursue the Path of Blood. Perhaps you are a warrior who has little stomach for combat, preferring instead to be a diplomat or a student of the occult. Perhaps you made some kind of public spectacle that revealed your disdain for your fellow caste members. Your sire now rejects you, as do the other members of your caste. The difficulty of all Social rolls against members of your caste is at +2.

### Broken Antitribu (3pt. Flaw)

You are one of those most pitiful things — an Assamite antitribu who still labors under the Tremere Curse. You have pledged yourself to the Sabbat, but you cannot perform diablerie and can only partake of Kindred vitae already transubstantiated through the Vaulderie. As a result, the difficulty of all Social rolls against other Sabbat members is at +2.

### Multiple Curses (3pt. Flaw)

In addition to the normal curse imposed upon you by your caste or sect, you suffer one additional one associated with the Assamite Clan. Most likely, you are a rare vizier or sorcerer within the Sabbat who suffers the Baali Curse in addition to your normal caste-imposed curse, but at the Storyteller’s discretion, other combinations may be possible.

## **Brujah**

### Obvious Predator (2pt. Flaw)

Your innate Brujah rage always percolates below the surface no matter how hard you try to project an image of calm. Mortals find you intrinsically menacing, and instinctively fear you for the violence you promise to unleash.

System: The difficulty of all Social rolls made against mortals other than Intimidation rolls increases by 2.

## **Followers of Set**

### Scales (1-3pt. Flaw)

Set blessed you upon your Embrace, and you bear his mark. A portion of your skin is covered in scales. As a one-point Flaw, a small, easily hidden area of skin is covered. As a two-point Flaw, a whole limb is covered, while having a scaled, lipless face is a three-point Flaw. Kine are frightened and disturbed by the obviously unnatural scales, and Kindred have their own prejudices against the Setites. All social rolls receive a +2 difficulty when the scales are visible. This penalty does not apply to social interactions with other Setites.

### Venomous Bite (2pt. Flaw)

You have developed venom glands in the roof of your mouth. The venom is a virulent neurotoxin, fatal to mortals, although Kindred and other supernatural creatures are unaffected by it. You, of course, are immune. The problem is you have no control over your poison glands. When you bite, you always inject this venom, usually killing your human victims. You must learn to feed in other ways, perhaps drawing the blood you need with a syringe or razor, if you do not wish to kill every time you feed.

### Forked Tongue (2pt. Flaw)

Your tongue is forked, flickering, and inhumanly reptilian. Upholding the Masquerade becomes difficult for you. Note that this tongue does not inflict aggravated damage, nor draw blood.

### Heartless (4pt. Flaw)

You have lost your heart. Either you removed it via The Heart of Darkness, or an elder did it to you, but either way you no longer have easy access to it. The heart might be in the possession of a foe, or simply missing. If it turns out that a Cainite possesses the heart (say a Setite elder, or your sire) you must obey their every command. If it’s merely missing, the anxiety and obsession to find it interferes with your nightly existence, and may increase the difficulty of Willpower rolls by +1 at Storyteller discretion.

### Aura of the Typhon (5pt. Flaw)

Something slithers beneath your skin, coiled in your very essence — something that causes the Lupines to stalk you for some dread purpose you do not understand. Their howls follow in your wake. You catch glimpses of blurred motion and the gleam of eyes and teeth in the dark. They get closer every night. What do they want from you?

## **Gangrel**

### Member of the Pack (2pt. Flaw)

You can only summon, speak to, and command a specific type of animal — ravens, rats, and so forth — with Animalism. Your Storyteller is the best adjudicator of what types of animal are appropriate for this Flaw, but the choice should be fairly limiting. Other animals do not respond to your uses of Animalism at all.

### Rat in a Cage (2pt. Flaw)

Anytime you are penned in or physically restrained (such as by a cage, or with handcuffs), you suffer acute anxiety. The difficulties of any rolls made under such circumstances are increased by two.

## **Giovanni**

### Inbred (1-5pt. Flaw)

Inbreeding, a common occurrence among the incestuous Giovanni Clan, can take many forms. The Inbred Flaw covers all manner of physical, mental, and emotional defects. A one-point Inbreeding is something simple and unobtrusive, such as eyes too close together or an underbite (+1 difficulty on Appearance rolls). A three-point Inbreeding is more severe: a congenital health condition (for mortals) or a crippling physical deformity (+2 difficulty on appropriate Strength, Dexterity, or Stamina rolls).

Five-point Inbreedings are grossly disabling or emotionally crippling — everything from uselessly atrophied legs to a permanent Derangement — decided on mutually by the player and Storyteller. Inbred conditions may or may not be immediately discernible, though their point cost should be relative to their magnitude, as decided by the Storyteller.

### Shadow Walker (6pt. Flaw)

The Giovanni Clan is by its nature inexorably tied to the realm beyond the sudario. Giovanni suffering from this Flaw are so tied to the Shadowlands that even in the lands of the living they must interact with the world of the dead on a nightly basis. To shadow walkers, objects in the Underworld are as real as anything found in the physical world. Such vampires find that the ghosts of walls may impeded their flight, ghostly objects may strike them, and wraiths’ powers work as if the Kindred were on the far side of the Shroud. This Flaw is similar to the Ash Path power Dead Hand, except that Shadow Walker is always on and it in no way allows the character possessing it to perceive beyond the Shroud.

The Storyteller may determine that certain Shadowlands topography interferes with you. Unless you have some ability to do so, you can’t see into the Shadowlands, so you have to be careful in feeling your way about — essentially, a blind man subject to the Underworld landscape. At the Storyteller’s discretion, immaterial walls or environmental effects may restrict you.

## **Lasombra**

### Uncontrollable Night Sight (2pt. Flaw)

Your night vision is good, but you can’t turn it off. While you can see easily into the deepest shadows, any light is almost blinding to you. You suffer penalties the brighter the area you are in is lit, inversely proportional to the standard penalties for darkness. Even just standing in a well-lit room is uncomfortable to you.

### Insubordinate (3pt. Flaw)

You like to be in charge so much you have a hard time following anyone else’s orders. When given a plan or told to do something, you tend to do the opposite on principle. Whenever you are ordered to do something, you must make a Willpower roll with a difficulty depending on the importance of the superior and the danger of the task (difficulty 7 is typical for someone directly above the vampire assigning them a moderately dangerous task). If you fail, you will do anything except what you’ve been told to do.

### Unproven (3pt. Flaw)

Somehow, you have failed to prove yourself worthy of the name Lasombra. Maybe your sire did not test you well enough, or an opportunity to prove yourself has not come up. Whatever the reason, you are not truly considered part of the Clan. All social dealings with other Lasombra suffer a -3 dice penalty. You may also not be chosen to sit in judgment in the Courts of Blood.

## **Malkavians**

### Paper Trail (2pt. Flaw)

You’ve spent some time in state institutions like prisons or asylums, likely before your Embrace. Most people have some sort of information that relays date of birth and other bits of fact. This information is hard to eliminate, and may endanger the Masquerade. Enemies with the right influence may be able to track down the information and use it against you. It may lead to vulnerable targets or clue hunters to where your haven is located.

### Stigmata (2 or 4pt. Flaw)

Oracles are often marked as messengers of the gods. Your markings come in the forms of phantom wounds that seep blood. The bleeding is slight but incessant, costing you an extra blood point every day just before you wake at dusk.

The 2-point version of this Flaw means wounds that can be easily hidden from prying eyes, such as on the hands or the side. You gain a +1 difficulty to all Social rolls when dealing with someone aware of your condition.

The 4-point version can’t be easily hidden, like bleeding eyes. The Social penalty increases to +2, and one of your Attributes also gains a +1 difficulty to all rolls because of the constant seeping blood.

### Infectious (3pt. Flaw)

Madness flows within your blood, but your bite carries a taint as well. Mortals take a temporary derangement for every three points of blood you take from them. The derangements stay until the mortal restores the lost blood.

### Overstimulated (3pt. Flaw)

Malkavians notice things that many others do not. That means keeping their eyes and ears open far longer than anyone else does. That makes you easily distracted when trying to focus. Take a +2 penalty to all rolls involving Perception.

### Dead Inside (4pt. Flaw)

You feel nothing but pain and numbness. While others find ways to make their lives worth living, you sometimes don’t get that thrill. Once per session, the Storyteller may cancel any gain of Willpower points.

## **Nosferatu**

### Stench (1pt. Flaw)

Most Nosferatu pick up a certain odor, but you stink so bad even your Clan-mates find you hard to be close to. Your presence is preceded by your stench, removing two die from all Stealth rolls.

### Dangerous Secret (1-5pt. Flaw)

You have come to know something you really wish you hadn’t discovered. Worse yet, the people you have the dirt on know that you know. It might be that you have discovered the Prince’s haven, or that there are infernalists hiding in the diocese. Whatever it is, you are not sure whom you can tell, and if you do, you will only make the subjects of the secret more enthusiastic about getting rid of you. You may even be implicated in the secret and risk going down with them. The more potent the Flaw, the more powerful the people in question are, and the more they want it silenced.

### Anosmia (2pt. Flaw)

Your life in the sewer has removed your sense of smell and taste. This means you are unperturbed by even the worst stench or most disgusting flavor. However, it also means you cannot ever succeed at any Perception rolls that rely of taste or smell. It also does not make you immune in any way to gas attacks or poisons; you just won’t be able to tell they are there.

### Parasitic Infestation (2pt. Flaw)

Living in the dark has made you a home to all manner of creepy crawlies and bloodsuckers. Your skin is crawling with ticks, lice, and leeches of all descriptions. They constantly bite and burrow, and having fed on your vitae, they have become very hard to kill. Not only can you not command them, you have tried everything to get rid of them and still they persist. Whatever the reason, they find you so succulent they reduce your blood pool by the result of one die divided by 3 (round down) each time you rise. The constant itch also keeps you on edge, increasing the difficulty of any Self-Control or Instinct rolls by 1.

### Bestial (3pt. Flaw)

You are closer to animals than humans, and it shows. In addition to the Nosferatu Clan weakness, you have an additional weakness: whenever you frenzy, you gain an animal feature, similar to the Gangrel Clan weakness .

With Storyteller permission, permanently acquired animal features may be justification to acquire certain Merits after character creation, such as Lizard Limbs or Monstrous Maw. If so, the Storyteller can simply award them, or require an experience point expenditure (such as two times the Merit point value). Similar Flaws can also be taken, but cannot grant additiona freebie or experience points.

### Enemy Brood (3pt. Flaw)

You have made an enemy of another group of Nosferatu. Unlike your usual enemies, they know the places you like to go and aren’t too squeamish about following you there. They keep you on the move, hunting you from sanctuary to sanctuary. The sewers themselves might not even be safe for you anymore. If you move to a new city, they use their contacts to pass on the word to their allies to keep hounding you. Sooner or later, you are going to have to take them down to rid yourself of them.

### Putrescent (4pt. Flaw)

The supernatural process that usually keeps a vampire’s form from rotting after death has failed to work on you. Your body has become putrescent and fragile as it gradually decays. All soak rolls you make have their dice pool reduced by 1. You may even lose body parts if you suffer a solid enough blow. Should this happen, make a Stamina roll (difficulty 6) and lose a part of your body (Storyteller’s choice) if you fail. Should you botch, you also receive a level of aggravated damage. These missing parts may regrow, but your body continues to rot.

### Contagious (5pt. Flaw)

Your body is still dying on the inside, your rotting entrails providing nutrition for noxious bacteria, spores, and even fungi. Mortals that touch you or on whom you feed must make a Stamina roll (difficulty 9) not to fall ill. The illness puts them in bed with fever and sickness, and each week they may attempt the Stamina roll again. The Storyteller might reduce the difficulty if the target is receiving proper medical attention. On a success they recover, but if they fail, they remain feverish. At the end of each month the victim remains ill, they lose a point of Stamina; if they are reduced to zero Stamina they die. If the Nosferatu knows of their contagion and infects someone maliciously, the Storyteller might call for a Humanity (or appropriate Path of Enlightenment) degeneration roll if they die. Supernatural creatures generally have the ability to heal or cure such sickness in themselves, and vampires are immune to these germs of the dead.

### Incoherent (5pt. Flaw)

Human speech is impossible for you. It might be that your mouth is too misshapen after the Embrace, or that years of living in the sewers have made you forget how to communicate. While you can understand what is being said to you, you cannot respond. Telepathy works on you as normal, and you have no problem communicating with animals, but human speech is barred to you.

## **Ravnos**

### Chandala (1pt. Flaw)

Being a member of the the Chandala jati is a mixed bag. You are responsible for the disposal of corpses, as well as many other foul tasks, but at the same time, you are often ignored. Your Social rolls against other Ravnos are made at a +2 difficulty.

You do not have to take this Flaw to be a member of the Chandala jati, but only members of the Chandala jati may have this Flaw.

### Flawed Reality (2pt. Flaw)

Your illusions always contain a notable flaw, and as such, are easier to disbelieve. The difficulties of all rolls to disbelieve your illusions are reduced by two.

### Oathbreaker (2pt. Flaw)

Making an oath ties one person’s svadharma to another, linking the two spirits until the oath can be fulfilled. With this in mind, a Ravnos never breaks her word once given in good faith, and so long as it was done with proper ceremony. If the Ravnos spits into her palm and shakes on her word, then the oath cannot be broken without negatively impacting the vampire’s svadharma (or so Ravnos superstition dictates).

The oathbreaker will lose her way, falling into vice and worthlessness, until the broken oath can be redeemed. Anyone who looks at your aura can see a sickly red slash indicating the broken oath. You may not spend Willpower to ignore your Ravnos vice, and you do not gain Willpower from fulfilling your Nature.

### Lost Svadharma (3pt. Flaw)

You once knew your svadharma, but when the time came to fulfill it, you failed. Now that destiny has passed you by, and there may never be another chance to make it right. Other Ravnos know the tale, and hold your failure against you. You are scorned, and your confidence has been thrown into doubt. Your total Willpower score is permanently reduced by one and you may not spend Willpower when performing actions where other Ravnos are directly involved.

## **Toreador**

### Tortured Artist (1pt. Flaw)

Nothing is ever good enough for your work. No matter how much praise is lavished upon you, you can only see the flaws and mistakes. This leads to long periods of ennui, which makes your artistic work irregular at best. Further, you throw yourself into business arrangements and social situations with intensity, which often leads to heartbreak, which leads to the pain and passion that fuels your next work. You are at +1 difficulty on Social rolls in which you are being praised, complimented, or treated with respect.

### Private Life (3pt. Flaw)

You have a completely separate life that no other Kindred know about. It may be your mortal family that you have turned into ghouls, or a YouTube channel that you use to talk in metaphor about your frustrations with Kindred society. If discovered, this could risk other vampires accusing you of breaching the Masquerade (if Camarilla), consorting with humanity instead of being a superior vampire (if Sabbat), or just overall paranoia and suspicion on why you’re keeping such deep secrets.

## **Tremere**

### Arcane Curse (1-5pt. Flaw)

Because of either your studies or someone else’s, you suffer from a magical curse. It might be an aversion or allergy, or even a strange magical effect. The level of the flaw depends on how debilitating the curse is. Curing the affliction may be impossible, or require some sort of quest or advanced research.

Flaw Value Example Curse

1 point A minor oddity, such as an animal feature or strange eye color

2 point A noticeable problem, such as your magic having a strange taint or pattern that makes it instantly recognizable, or that plants wither in your presence.

3 point Something problematic, such as people sickening in your presence or animals attacking you.

4 point Concerning handicap, such as developing another Clan’s weakness.

5 points Potentially deadly, such as moonlight being as dangerous to you as sunlight.

### Cloistered (2pt. Flaw)

You have spent almost all of your undead existence in the halls of the chantry, making Kindred society rather new and confusing for you. You suffer a -2 dice penalty to any social interactions with those outside the Tremere.

### Permanent Third Eye (2 or 4pt. Flaw)

While most sealed third eyes are visible as a slight scar, yours remains permanently open on your forehead. For 2 points, the eye is merely open, and may be closed for a scene on a successful Willpower roll (difficulty 6). For 4 points, the eye sheds light, increasing all Stealth difficulties by 2.

### Betrayer’s Mark (3pt. Flaw)

Even though you are loyal to House and Clan Tremere, for some reason you are branded with the mark of the antitribu. It might be that you have returned to the Clan after leaving the Sabbat or that you unwittingly or as part of an undercover operation took part in the Vaulderie. Whatever the reason, the mark makes other Tremere wary of you. You will have to go that extra mile to prove yourself, and few among the Clan will trust you with positions of power and responsibility.

### Bound to the Clan (3pt. Flaw)

You have done more than just drink from the blood of the elders. Whether as punishment or by choice, you have become fully blood bound to Clan Tremere. You cannot act against the Clan, and find everything you do works in the service of the Tremere. You might not like it, but you can’t help yourself doing it. Of course, now you are bound to the Clan, you cannot be bound to another individual. Many older Tremere have this Flaw, as it has been common in the past to completely blood bind new Tremere.

### Mage Blood (5pt. Flaw)

Your blood is so tied to magic that you find you are unable to use any Discipline apart from Thaumaturgy (and for Kindred who are not Tremere, it is still paid for at out-of-Clan rates). While no path or ritual is barred to you, you may not gain any dots in any other Discipline.

### Thaumaturgically Inept (5pt. Flaw)

Something about you refuses to respond to Thaumaturgy. Magic just doesn’t work for you. You cannot take any ability in the Thaumaturgy Discipline or any of its paths or rituals. For a Tremere this is doubly difficult, as skill in Thaumaturgy is often the key to position within the Clan.

While some willingly choose to ignore their thaumaturgical studies and serve in other ways, ineptitude is never excused. Only Tremere can take this Flaw.

## **Tzimisce**

### Unblinking (1pt. Flaw)

Your eyes do not close. Ever. Perhaps you have left your humanity too far behind to upkeep such habits, or perhaps you fleshcrafted some form of transparent eye-scale or nictitating membrane. Your quirk probably makes astute observers uncomfortable, adding +1 to the difficulty of friendly social interactions with humans, Kindred on Humanity, and others with mortal sensibilities.

### Ancestral Soil Dependence (2pt. Flaw)

Your flesh yearns for a homeland you have never seen. The voice of Kupala punishes your day sleep if this yearning is not met. The soil from a place important to you as a mortal will not suffice; in addition, you require two handfuls of the tainted Eastern European soil of the ancestral Tzimisce homeland. This Trait mostly commonly manifests in the childer of koldun and the branch of the Clan thought to be descended from Yorak. It can even manifest in childer sired generations after their ancestors relocated. Characters Embraced in Eastern Europe can’t take this Flaw (they’re already dependent on the local soil).

### Faceless (3pt. Flaw)

You have escaped the tyranny of physical self-identity. You call no face your own. Every sunset, you awaken to a new visage, an amalgam pieced together from memory and dream. Your features, ethnicity, even gender become fluid things while you sleep. While this Flaw exemplifies the extreme ideals of Azi Dahaka (and should impress most Metamorphosists), it can cause complications for vampire concerned with maintaining recognition, reputation, or a mortal alias.

Every sundown, the player rolls one die and is subject to the results on the following table:

Roll Result

1 No change.

2-3 Minor changes, somewhat recognizable.

4-8 Unrecognizable by even those closest to the character (such as her packmates or sire). Ethnicity and gender may change.

9-10 Total metamorphosis. Tentacles, bone spikes, or other inhuman features may appear.

This Flaw affects some Backgrounds (V20, p. 110). Without a stable face, Alternate Identity and Fame cannot be maintained. Backgrounds like Allies, Contacts, Influence, and Status might be complicated by the lack of a solid identity as well. The vampire can use Malleable Visage and a mirror to reconstruct her true face from memory, but this requires at least three successes at difficulty 8 to make her recognizable, and five successes for a flawless copy.

The Mistaken Identity Flaw cannot be taken. Other Merits/Flaws may be affected, at the Storyteller’s discretion. Characters must have at least one dot of Vicissitude to take this Flaw.

### Privacy Obsession (3pt. Flaw)

Perhaps it is a trait carried in the blood. Perhaps your strict sire carved this lesson into your mind and flesh. Either way, you carry the Tzimisce respect for privacy to extremes. You must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 6) to enter another being’s dwelling without being invited, though you can go to fiendishly clever lengths to garner an unwitting invitation. When disturbed in your haven by an uninvited guest, you must make a Self-Control or Instincts roll (difficulty 7) to avoid frenzy.

### Revenant Weakness (3pt. Flaw)

You were once part of a revenant family. Following the Embrace, you suffered both your Clan’s weakness and your revenant family’s limitation. The Storyteller might let you manifest a weakness from a lost or destroyed revenant line. This could add mystery to your background and allow for a bit of genealogical detective work, certainly making you a curiosity to the Romanian Legacy Foundation.

### Consumption (5pt. Flaw)

There is something hungry inside of you. But what is it? Portions of the Antediluvian? Your Vicissitude gone horribly wrong? Whatever it is, it is active, acting like a cancer, devouring you from the inside out. Your very blood is wrought with corrosive, flesh-eating bacteria. At the beginning of each evening, you suffer one health level of lethal damage that cannot be soaked nor healed with blood. The only way to counteract the effect is by ingesting one-tenth of your body-weight in flesh to supplement your depleted carcass.

Whether you kill and devour the skin from humans or raid the biohazard containers of liposuction clinics for siphoned fat, you need your ration of human flesh in order to survive. If you try and ingest this macabre meal before damage is done, you’ll simply vomit it out like any other food — this does not impart the benefits of the Eat Food Merit.

## **Ventrue**

### Uncommon Vitae Preference (2pt. Flaw)

Your preferred source for vitae is rarified even by the standards of your Clan, such as “only Korean War vets,” “only Federal Court Judges,” or “only virgins over the age of 40.” The difficulty of all hunting rolls for your character is increased by +2, to a maximum of 9.

# **Bloodline Flaws**

## **Caitiff**

### Clan Weakness (2pt. Flaw)

Despite your failure to adopt your original Clan’s other abilities, you did inherit their weakness. While this can be deadly to the unprepared vampire, a canny Caitiff might turn this to their advantage to better blend among the parent Clan. Some Nosferatu, for example, would likely never notice, and might even stand up for the Caitiff even amidst accusations from outsiders.

### Fangless (2pt. Flaw)

Considered the mark of a true mongrel, you never developed your fangs, or you lacked teeth before the Embrace. Either way, you have to use a knife or otherwise drink from bleeding wounds. You have no natural way beyond Disciplines to inflict aggravated damage.

### Ignorance (2pt. Flaw)

Many sires abandon their Caitiff progeny without a word of instruction or warning about their new nature. For most Princes, ignorance is no excuse for a breach of the Masquerade, and Sabbat packs are quick to notice weakness. The character starts with no knowledge of the abilities, customs, or politics of the undead, and must learn from their mistakes or find a mentor. Of course, any vampire willing to take on a Caitiff will most likely blood bond the poor wretch, leading to a completely new set of problems. Ignorance is deadly for a vampire, and doubly so for the Clanless.

### Bulimia (4pt. Flaw)

You hunger for blood, and like all vampires, you will eventually feed, but the thought of it still makes you sick. Maybe you’re just not cut out for an eternity of bloodsucking, or you had an eating disorder in life that has followed you to the other side of mortality. Whatever the reason, you can’t hold your blood. Whenever you feed, make a Stamina roll with a difficulty 8. If you fail, you vomit out the fresh blood before it can be absorbed into your body, spraying it everywhere (embarrassing at best, a breach of the Masquerade at worst). Note that blood taken in frenzy is absorbed normally, though this carries its own risks.

## **Baali**

### Carrion Presence (2pt. Flaw)

This affliction represents the Baali’s true connection to the decrepitude their bloodline commands. Pestilence is attracted to the Baali; flies leave their delicious carcasses to circle around the vampire, rats crawl along their limbs and squeak their praises, and vultures can be seen circling them at almost all times. The degree to which they are afflicted differs from character to character, but there is no getting rid of their swarm. Swatting their flies simply calls others to take their place. While quite disgusting to most, these vampires wear such a thing with pride. It does, however, make dealing in non-Baali circles quite difficult.

### Dark Aura (3pt. Flaw)

Even without the use of Auspex, the Baali seems somehow wrong to anyone they interact with, emitting a terrifying aura of sickness and power. The character is always at a slight disadvantage when dealing with other vampires or those touched by the divine, as they sense the depravity of the Baali’s soul. Baali with this Flaw suffer a +2 difficulty to all Social rolls, unless they are using Intimidation. To those who use Auspex to view the Baali’s aura, it appears as a thin, red mist surrounding the character with the occasional watchful eyes appearing within.

### Plague of Demons (4pt. Flaw)

No matter what, demons are constantly drawn to the Baali. Once in a while, this can be a benefit (Baali with this Flaw are at -1 difficult to summon a particular demon), but most of the time these nefarious spirits are distractions. They scream in the Baali’s ear, tug at her clothes, or screw with her possessions… and always at the worst possible moment. The character is at +1 difficulty for any rolls involving Perception. Further, once per session, the Storyteller can convert one of the Baali’s dice rolls into a botch.

## **Daughters of Cacophony**

### Banshee-in-Waiting (5pt. Flaw)

The Fugue is gradually driving you towards madness. If your temporary Willpower ever reaches 0, you automatically gain a derangement which can never be removed. You may remove other derangements you gain in other ways as usual. You may gain a maximum of three of these permanent derangements from losing your Willpower before being consumed by it. Should it happen a fourth time, you immediately lose yourself to the Fugue and become a character under the control of the Storyteller, walking in whatever direction the music takes you and killing anything you come across.

## **Gargoyles**

### Stone Tongue (3pt. Flaw)

The transformation of the Embrace didn’t just affect your appearance. It made it physically difficult for you to speak properly and clearly. It may be because of a clumsy tongue, some nasty looking tusks, or a raptor-type beak. No matter the cause, you suffer a +2 difficulty to any Social rolls requiring you to speak.

### Blood Weakness (4 or 7pt. Flaw)

The bloodline began as an experiment in manufacturing a Kindred from diverse bloodlines. They perfected the alchemical process, but somewhere along the way, a weakness in an ancestor caught hold. It manifested in your Embrace. In addition to the weaknesses you possess, you also possess either the Gangrel or the Tzimisce weakness. For four points, choose one of the two weaknesses. For seven points, you possess both. Warrior Gargoyles with the Gangrel weakness version of Blood Weakness may gain both animal features and stone features from one frenzy.

Additionally, choose one of the four Disciplines available to the Gargoyles. For you, this Discipline is considered out of Clan and costs the higher amount of experience points to advance.

## **Harbingers of Skulls**

### Unsanctioned Embrace (2pt. Flaw)

Lazarus decreed no Harbingers should Embrace, but your sire failed to listen. You’re hopelessly green and unworthy of the vitae in your veins. Until you perform acts befitting the nobility of your blood, your existence is shunned as a bad omen. Increase difficulties of all Social actions involving your bloodline by two.

### Shadow Scarred (3pt. Flaw)

Since escaping the Shadowlands, you’ve struggled to reacclimatize to the world of the living. You see ravenous Spectres in every shadow. You must roll your Courage (difficulty 7) or spend a point of Willpower whenever using Necromancy, as you fear the repercussions of touching the Underworld.

## **Kyasid**

### Lightweight (1pt. Flaw)

Shamefully, you cannot imbibe the blood of any creatures other than mortals, ghouls, and vampires. Whenever you attempt to drink from another entity, you’re forced to purge the contents immediately after and gain no sustenance from it.

### Illiterate (1-2pt. Flaw)

Perhaps you communicate best through illustration, dance, or impassioned speech; but you can’t read or write. This is either a temporary Flaw (1pt.) that can be rectified with a patient teacher, or permanent (2pt.) due to a disability inhibiting your understanding. This Flaw is enough to get you ostracized by others of your bloodline if you do not conceal it.

### Refined Palate (1-3pt. Flaw)

Many Kiasyd self-impose feeding restrictions: refusing to feed from the poor and diseased, or even those still wearing skin, or over a certain age. This manifests akin to the Ventrue Clan weakness, due to conditioning making any blood outside of the Kiasyd’s preference unpalatable. The severity of the Flaw depends on how narrow the restriction is.

### Dreadful Mara (4pt. Flaw)

You drank something that still lives within you and hates you, exerting alarming control over your thoughts and actions. Each night, the Storyteller may convert a single rolled success into a 1, potentially leading to a botch. At the Storyteller’s discretion, the entity may also whisper advice or insults, which can lead to increased difficulty during attempts to concentrate.

## **Nagaraja**

### The Largest Maw (2pt. Flaw)

Due to the size of the Nagaraja’s shark-like rows of teeth, they find it hard to communicate verbally. Instead, she speaks through pools of spit and sometimes bites her own teeth in the process. This makes them quieter than other Nagaraja, but can also affect situations where clear speech is mandatory, such as when giving speeches or reciting delicate rituals. All difficulties for rolls where speech is a factor are raised by +2.

### Body Trail (4pt. Flaw)

Whether the Nagaraja is just too sloppy and prone to overlooking details during her kills or she is especially fond of leaving a signature for every kill to send a message to others, others can use this to track her down. Each time there are items at a scene of a crime that could link directly back the Nagaraja, causing her to always look over her shoulder. The police are always one step away from busting her, or the Camarilla’s assassins have her in their sights. In any case, leaving a trail is a terrible thing. For every person they kill during a single story, the difficulty to Survival checks for tracking are reduced by 1. This penalty resets at the beginning of a new story… if they survive to the next story, that is.

## **Salubri**

### Permanent Third Eye (2 or 4pt. Flaw)

While most sealed third eyes are visible as a slight scar, yours remains permanently open on your forehead. For 2 points, the eye is merely open, and may be closed for a scene on a successful Willpower roll (difficulty 6). For 4 points, the eye sheds light, increasing all Stealth difficulties by 2.

### The Eighth (6pt. Flaw)

Your sire is one of the Seven, the diablerist Golcondaseekers, trying to ensure the spiritual wealth of salvation would never be lost with their Final Death. They sought you as a successor, and proudly prepared you for your sacred duty. You, on the other hand, smiled at their lies, listened to their bullshit, and ran for the hills the first chance you got. You’re constantly hunted, not only by the Tremere, but by your sire, the other Seven, and their various hangers-on.

You must be at least Ninth Generation to take this Flaw.

## **Samedi**

### Brittle Body (2 or 4pt. Flaw)

Your already disfigured corpse doesn’t handle the physical demands of being a Kindred as well as it should. Your bones break at inopportune times, your skin tears if you move too quickly, and you have to be careful on a nightly basis. The 2-point version of this flaw gives you a +2 difficulty to all Physical rolls because of the delicate nature of your body. The 4-point version means that you also hang onto physical damage longer than other Kindred. You may still heal health levels as normal, but any dice penalties remain until the next evening when you awaken. This is in addition to the penalty to Physical rolls.

### Mortal Flashbacks (5pt. Flaw)

Your body remembers your death. Every night when you awaken, you vividly remember the pain of your death wound. The wound reopens during the night and closes itself shortly before you rise. This traumatic reminder of your mortality starts your night off in a bad way. You lose a point of Willpower each night when you awaken, because of the trauma of dying again.

## **True Brujah**

### Out of Phase (2pt. Flaw)

The character is a little too aware of time and the possibilities surrounding them. People often seem to be in slightly different places, and speech frequently echoes in their ears. They see layers of alternate timelines in too much detail. Any perception rolls they make are at +2difficulty, as they try to see past the unreal.

# **Ghoul & Revenant Flaws**

## **Existing Merits and Flaws**

V20 provides numerous Merits and Flaws for vampires. Despite this comprehensive list, not all of them are appropriate for ghouls or revenants.

The following Merits and Flaws are *recommended* for ghouls and revenants:

• Physical: Acute Sense, Ambidextrous, Bruiser, Catlike Balance, Friendly Face, Daredevil, Hard of Hearing, Short, Tic/Twitch, Bad Sight, Disfigured, One Eye, Addiction, Deformity, Lame, Lazy, Slow Healing, Disease Carrier, Deaf, Mute, Blind

• Mental: Coldly Logical, Common Sense, Concentration, Introspection, Language, Time Sense, Useful Knowledge, Eidetic Memory, Calm Heart, Iron Will, Precocious, Impatient, Shy, Soft-Hearted, Speech Impediment, Amnesia, Luncay, Phobia, Short Fuse, Weak-Willed

• Social: Expendable, Incomplete Understanding, Mistaken Identity, Sympathizer, Uppity, Narc, Laughingstock

• Supernatural: Magic Resistance, Light-Sensitive, Lucky, Cursed, Oracular Ability

These Merits and Flaws are *disallowed* for use when creating a ghoul or revenant:

• Physical: Blush of Health, Efficient Digestion, Fourteenth Generation, Fifteenth Generation, Dulled Bite, Infectious Bite, Glowing Eyes, Monstrous, Permanent Fangs, Permanent Wound, Thin Blood, Flesh of the Corpse, Infertile Vitae

• Mental: Prey Exclusion

• Social: Former Ghoul, Prestigious Sire, Clan Friendship, Primogen/Bishop Friendship, Former Prince, Escaped Target

• Supernatural: Additional Discipline, Hidden Diablerie, Cold Breeze, Touch of Frost, Eerie Presence, Lord of the Flies, Grip of the Damned

## **Physical**

### Albino (1pt. Flaw)

Albinism occurs when a group of normally recessive genes become prominent, leading to a lack of pigmentation of the skin. While generally harmless, the appearance of an albino individual can be startling, particularly to others who are unfamiliar with the condition. The condition is marked by extremely pale skin and red irises.

Albinism was viewed with great suspicion in most early cultures, such that even today people with albinism are shunned and ostracized, and considered to be an illomen in many parts of the world. While this condition is harmless from a physiological standpoint, it does cause afflicted individuals to stand out. This may reduce a ghoul’s capacity to blend into a crowd, without the help of a disguise. However, those who suffer from the Albino Flaw can also turn other people’s fear into a source of intimidation, particularly if your ghoul or revenant has a reputation that cannot be ignored.

When you take the Albino Flaw, keep in mind that your skin is highly susceptible to sunburn, having little or no pigmentation to reflect the sun’s harmful UV rays.

**Used by:** All ghouls and revenants

### Light Sensitive (2, 4, or 6pt. Flaw)

Your ghoul has discovered, much to her chagrin, that she is growing more sensitive to bright light thanks to the transformative powers of the vampiric blood she ingests.

During daylight hours, she might require strong, prescription sunglasses, and bright flashes such as a camera flash or lightning may require a Frenzy check. Among ghouls of certain Clans and bloodlines, like the Followers of Set, this Flaw can worsen over long periods of time at the Storyteller’s discretion.

The point value for the Light Sensitive Flaw reflects an increasing sensitivity to artificial and natural light. A 2-point Flaw means your ghoul retreats from harsh, bright sunlight harsh and will react more quickly than most mortals. At 4 points, your ghoul is incapable of functioning normally in bright sunlight, and may develop painful skin rashes and/or sunburn after exposure.

At 6 points, the ghoul finds any bright light nearly paralyzing, and will go to whatever lengths required to avoid such bright conditions. Bad sunburn will result from only a minute or two in full sunlight, and will become bashing damage at a rate of one point of damage per fifteen minutes’ worth of exposure. A ghoul with this level of the Flaw will therefore receive four points of bashing damage per hour of contact with full sunlight or its equivalent. Such damage may be healed normally.

**Used by:** All ghouls and revenants

### Cannibal (3pt. Flaw)

Though the Bratovich family of revenants is known for their depravity, the desire to consume human flesh is not limited to them alone. Historically, mortals have resorted to acts of cannibalism during times of war or starvation, but they have also eaten the flesh of the dead as part of a religious ceremony to honor the fallen, too. The vast majority of cultures, however, consider the practice barbaric and unnatural.

To become a Cannibal, is to put your character at risk of ostracization and death. There are several physical disorders that can be transmitted through the consumption of infected flesh or organs. For the most part, such an infection is undetectable through normal, non-medical means. Should you eat human flesh as a ghoul, the vitae you’ve already ingested is likely strong enough to negate the effects in most cases. Should your ghoul be denied future feedings, however, the infection will take hold as your body returns to its natural state and age.

A character with the Cannibal Flaw will generally only feed on the flesh of the living or the dead in privacy.

Most cannibals are not rabid animals, and are cunning and highly intelligent. They are aware that modern society frowns on cannibalism, but they feel compelled to do it anyway. Thus, they are often careful to act on their Flaw in places and at times where they and their victims cannot be easily discovered. Missing corpses or well-loved people, for example, are likely to be searched for. If there are witnesses who spotted the cannibal and victim together, it might lead to further complications a Cannibal is not prepared to deal with. A Willpower roll may be called for to determine if the cannibal can exercise sufficient control and discretion to avoid leaving clues behind.

The Cannibal Flaw may be selected by any ghoul, or may be bestowed upon a character by the Storyteller as a result of acquiring a Derangement. Though this Flaw is far more common among revenant families, it is not exclusively available to them. Because of the dramatic impact the Cannibal Flaw has on ghouls in modern society, Camarilla ghouls are discouraged from taking this Flaw.

**Used by:** Revenants, some Sabbat and independent ghouls

### Hemophiliac (3pt. Flaw)

Your character suffers from hemophilia. If your ghoul’s skin is cut, you will not stop bleeding without medical assistance. The Blood does not have any effect on a ghoul or revenant Hemophiliac.

If your character suffers lethal or aggravated damage, he suffers an additional level of bashing damage every five minutes until his wound has been dressed to stop the bleeding. Any vampire who bites a Hemophiliac may “dress” such wounds. By licking the injury after biting the ghoul, the vampire will put a stop to any future bashing damage.

**Used by:** All ghouls and revenants

### Seizures (3pt. Flaw)

Seizures tend to occur during moments of duress, and few mortals have a more stressful or terrifying existence than ghouls. The affliction of the Seizures Flaw can also be more pronounced in revenant families whose members suffer from a limited genetic pool. Many types of seizures can be controlled or mitigated with medication following thorough medical tests or examinations. However, some ghouls and revenants aren’t willing to risk their lives by seeking the advice of a doctor, and these Seizures are often not related to a diagnosed illness. This Flaw is a side effect of the many horrors ghouls and revenants witness over the course of their lives.

Seizures can potentially be disastrous, especially if they occur in the presence of a vampire or at an inopportune moment. Under any stressful circumstances related to combat, physical or verbal threats, or witnessing a terrifying, bloody sight the character with this Flaw will need to make a Frenzy roll. A success means a seizure was not triggered, and you’ve managed to regain control.

Failure indicates your body was not able to cope with the stress and something has happened. If you roll a critical failure, your character suffers a full-blown grand mal seizure. You will have fallen to the ground and will thrash uncontrollably for a number of minutes equal to the number of 1s rolled on the Frenzy check. Your actions may wind up getting yourself, or others, hurt as your finger might accidentally pull the trigger, or you may slip and fall. A less than critical failure may likely result in your character blacking out until the next round. Depending on the needs of your story, your ghoul may pass out and drop to the ground, your vision might turn black for a few seconds, or your arm might tremble and you cannot regain control.

**Used by:** All ghouls and revenants

## **Mental**

### Black and White (1pt. Flaw)

The World of Darkness is complex, both morally and spiritually, but your character doesn’t see it that way. To her, every situation can be summed up as black or white. Your ghoul thinks simply, and believes her allies and enemies are either for or against her, hot or cold, good or evil, easy or impossible, stupid or genius.

After being subjected to the blood bond, its influence can complicate your ghoul’s natural outlook on life. Under its influence, the blood bond may force your ghoul to view what your domitor says or does through a rosy, positive filter at all times. Alternatively, any character who does not agree or side with your master is, according to you, an enemy worthy of your contempt and deserves to be hurt.

This Flaw is particularly prominent among the Giovanni, Assamite, Ravnos, and Ventrue Clans, along with the Followers of Set and many revenant families. A closed mindset can cost your character dearly as your perspective may result in your bad judgment, missed opportunities, and misunderstandings that might escalate.

In social situations where your character’s perspective comes to bear, the difficulties of associated rolls increase by one.

**Used by:** All ghouls and revenants

### Fixation (2, 4, or 6pt. Flaw)

The Blood is exhilarating, but when the feeling wears off, you want another high, another “fix” to add to that heady rush. Your Fixation might involve substances designed to alter your brain’s chemistry and processing ability, or it could be all about your thrill-seeking, heart-thumping compulsion to live on the edge and get high off the adrenaline or dopamine naturally produced in your body.

With this Flaw, you are forced to turn to outside activities or substances in your free time to get a fix that doesn’t come from the Blood. While the fulfillment of your Fixation may be temporary, you know that any satisfaction you feel is a pale imitation of the high you get from the Blood. The stronger your Fixation, the more likely you won’t be able to hide it from the other characters around you. Since this is a Flaw that cannot be “healed” by any physical, mental, or social means, your Fixation may cause unforeseen consequences for your character over time.

To start, you’ll pick a type of Fixation your character is likely to have: chemical, psychological, or physical. Unlike an addiction to cocaine or drag racing, your overall Fixation is more generic than that. Essentially, you are deciding what category your fix falls in, and you’ll figure out how to satisfy it over the course of your chronicle. At your Storyteller’s discretion, you may make a stamina check during your downtime to avoid succumbing to your desires.

The more dots you take in this Flaw, the more likely it is your Storyteller might require more checks or raise the difficulty. If your ghoul fails, you will feel a compulsion to get a fix, and will need to act on that.

At two points of addiction, your character is still in control. Your ghoul may show up fog-headed, but she will attempt to carry out her domitor’s wishes to the best of her ability. At four points, your Fixation is so strong that you are more likely to forget a crucial errand, miss an appointment, or doze off spying on a rival. At six points, however, your ghoul is deep in the throes of terminal addiction. You may also decide, at your Storyteller’s discretion, that adding more points to this Flaw will cause greater and more violent consequences to the fulfillment of your desires. For example, a murderous revenant with a six-point Fixation might get a thrill from desecrating churches. As another, an independent ghoul who escaped from a brutal pack might get a rush from “curing” another ghoul of the blood bond.

Failing to master your Fixation will likely be viewed unfavorably by most of your peers or your domitor, because your inability to control yourself is viewed as a weakness. Servants that run off and base jump off the top of a skyscraper at every opportunity are not as useful as the meek from a master’s point of view. Over time, a domitor might even make a troubled ghoul’s death look like an accident before replacing him. However, the stronger your Fixation is, the more chaotic and rebellious your ghoul will likely act as you take pleasure wherever you can find it. Thus, it is not uncommon to find independent ghouls or revenants with higher levels of Fixation, especially if they have a loose leash to satisfy their darker needs.

You may attempt to deny your Fixation, but to do so requires you to spend a Willpower point to temporarily bypass it for a round. Then, you must roll to make a Frenzy check. Should you fail that roll, your Fixation will continue to build and may overwhelm you at the most inopportune time. In other words, a failure to master your Fixation doesn’t mean you’ll automatically fly off into a rage on your schedule. Your bitterness and resentment may boil beneath a thin veneer of control until you’re forced to wait too long at a store, you’re cut off at a traffic light, or another ghoul gets rewarded instead of you.

With any dramatic failure on a Stamina check, your character’s Fixation will increase by two points. If your character has already attained the six-point version of this Flaw and rolls a dramatic failure on his Stamina check, the effects will be severe. You may overdose and die without immediate medical attention. Your car may have crashed and you’re now unconscious because you couldn’t maintain control of the wheel.

To remove points in your Fixation Flaw, or to get rid of it entirely, your character must pledge and endure a program to remove that compulsion. Your Storyteller may allow the circumstances and requirements of your chronicle to shape your domitor’s reaction to your admitted weakness. Independent ghouls, Sabbat ghouls, and revenants may not have the ability to reduce the influence of this Flaw, nor may they be able to remove it without help due to the nature of their nightly activities.

Please note that while Fixation is similar to the Addiction Flaw for vampires, the results of this Flaw are felt more acutely in a mortal body. A Fixation Flaw is likely to develop more often in ghouls than revenants, simply because revenants produce vitae naturally in their blood.

**Used by:** All ghouls, some revenants

### Duplicitous (3pt. Flaw)

Ghouls and revenants with this Flaw have an underhanded reputation based on their previous actions. In the past, you’ve probably lied, cheated, or played both sides against the middle during a deal that went south. The nature of your underhanded actions, as well as your intended target, has not been the same every time. A ghoul might, for example, go to her domitor and inform him of a transgression, real or imagined, and then suggest an appropriate punishment for her target. That same ghoul might turn around and fabricate stories that show how well-meaning she was to stand up for her fellow ghoul in front of her master.

While you can be duplicitous as a character, when you take this Flaw, it impacts your relationships and dealings with other characters. You probably don’t seek to take the upper hand in every situation, but other characters expect you to. Your allies and enemies are on edge around you, because they’re not sure when and if you’ll ever treat them fairly. They may even backstab or try to undercut you, too, because they expect you to.

The influence of the blood bond does impact most ghouls with this Flaw in subtle ways. While your domitor would know you are Duplicitous, you would not act out in a direct way against your master. Instead, you might backstab or double-cross your allies to curry favor and obtain rewards from him. Your domitor may also point you at a dangerous target, too, to use you as bait or to draw out his enemies, to taking advantage of your reputation.

**Used by:** All ghouls and revenants

## **Social**

### Isolated Upbringing (1pt. Flaw)

You are a revenant who was raised by your family away from prying eyes. When you were growing up, your entire world was based on what your family taught you. For many years, your knowledge was limited to your family’s habits, customs, and politics. Consequently, you have a limited understanding of the outside world that impacts how you interact with other people.

At your Storyteller’s discretion, whenever you are in an uncomfortable social situation outside of your family’s estates, subtract one die from your Social dice pool. This penalty does not apply evenly across all situations, because your interactions with the world will vary depending upon your particular family and your character concept. Revenants from the Obertus, Bratovich, and Ducheski families are good candidates for this Flaw, as are ghouls from the Giovanni Clan and the Kairouan Brotherhood.

Independent ghouls, who have little to no memory of their life before they became a ghoul, may also choose this Flaw to reflect the fact that they were isolated from humanity and have forgotten how to interact with people.

**Used by:** Revenants

### Obsession (1, 2, or 5pt. Flaw)

Even ghouls who lead relatively uneventful lives can become obsessed with a persistent idea, image, set of circumstances, or unshakable feeling. Many obsessions are so minor they would not be noticed by a casual observer, while others may become so powerful they’ll prevent a ghoul from performing the simplest of tasks.

At one point, your ghoul’s Obsession is minor. For example, your character may prefer a particular brand of beverage, pair of jeans, etc., and may refuse to eat, wear, or use a replacement. Your minor Obsession will probably cause you to seek a replacement for an “inferior” item with your preferred one at the earliest opportunity.

At two points, your Obsession threatens to consume you. If the focus of your insatiable desire is a person, you would likely have an image of that person in your possession at all times, or you will stop what you are doing to obtain one. If your Obsession involves an object or totem, like a lucky rabbit’s foot or a small statuette, you will need to have it within your reach. You might even grow more upset over time if it’s not nearby.

At five points, your Obsession consumes you, and may bring others to harm. Your character might kidnap a local celebrity you’re obsessed with, and will likely go to unreasonable lengths to keep him under your direct control. Similarly, any object that you’re consumed with creates tremendous need at this level. If your lucky rabbit’s foot is misplaced or lost outright, you might not be able to function as you normally would, and may be prone to fits of destructive rage. Depending upon the severity of your Obsession, you could enter a near-catatonic state until the object is found or a suitable replacement is obtained. You would probably act in a similar fashion if the person you’re obsessed with is rescued or escapes.

There may be times, however, when you cannot find a suitable replacement for an object or a person to satisfy your Obsession. In those instances, your character will need to succeed a Willpower check. The difficulty rating is your Willpower minus the number of dots in your Obsession Flaw to “snap out of it.” Should you fail, you may become so distressed that you will require medical attention.

**Used by:** All ghouls and revenants

### Squeamish (1 or 3pt. Flaw)

Your ghoul or revenant might talk a good game, but you’ve never been around real violence before. When you’re confronted with the sight of blood, you probably won’t respond well, and may faint, panic, or run away.

In situations that involve gunfire, bloody combat, or an aggressive use of Disciplines, roll Willpower (difficulty 7). If this roll fails, your character either freezes in place (if her Courage is higher than her Self-Control) or flees the area (if her Self-Control is higher than her Courage).

At your Storyteller’s discretion, you may be forced to make a Willpower check once per relevant scene. Your character does not need to be directly involved in the fight; she may simply be a witness to a stabbing. When you accumulate five successes in a single session, no further rolls need be made for that night of game time. A gory show of violence might necessitate another roll, however, at your Storyteller’s discretion.

Should you botch a Willpower check, your ghoul is so unnerved by the gruesomeness you’ve encountered you cannot act for the rest of that scene. Your ghoul is frozen from shock, and may soil herself or puke in response to your fear or revulsion.

**Used by:** All ghouls and revenants

### Domitor Pariah (2pt. Flaw)

Your master is a vampire who, for whatever reason, is unwelcome among or even hated by other members of his Clan, bloodline, or Sect. Without allies, your domitor may struggle to retain her status and will likely rely on ghouls, like yourself, to fulfill her basic needs. You may be given additional responsibilities, or you might be manipulated into spying, attacking, defending, or stealing for your domitor.

Should you take the Domitor Pariah as a Flaw, keep in mind that should other vampires discover whom you serve, your life might well be in danger. The events that led to your domitor’s downfall may be kept hidden from you, at your Storyteller’s discretion, or you might stumble upon your master’s secrets accidentally.

Once a ghoul understands how challenging life may be with a Domitor Pariah, you might sow the seeds of rebellion despite the strength of your blood bond.

**Used by:** Camarilla ghouls, some Sabbat ghouls

### Under Surveillance (2, 4, or 6pt. Flaw)

Your ghoul’s activities are being monitored by members of law enforcement or government agencies. You might be Under Surveillance because you are suspect in a crime, or because you’ve been spotted associating with other criminals or suspects.

The points you take in this Flaw represent the level of scrutiny your character is under. At two points, only local authorities are watching your ghoul’s activities. At four points, both city officials and state authorities are involved. At six points, local, state, and national law enforcement agents are coordinating efforts to analyze your movements, and they may share their concerns with foreign agencies should you travel outside the country.

The effects of this Flaw vary, depending upon your circumstances, and you may not always be aware of them. For example, among Camarilla ghouls, any ghoul Under Surveillance will risk a Masquerade breach.

Some vampires might decide that your character is too dangerous to live, and may take an opportunity to end your life at the hands of your associates or domitor. Other Kindred might take a different, more devious approach.

They might use you as bait, create a body double, or plant false information.

Generally speaking, Under Surveillance is less dangerous than the Fugitive Flaw, because your character is a person of interest as opposed to a wanted criminal. Thus, this Flaw, at your Storyteller’s discretion, may be reduced in points or regulated to a cold file with time and effort.

Ghouls and revenants, however, might be given a limited number of opportunities to correct the situation before their domitors or families lose patience and turn on them. Independent ghouls might have a much harder time ditching nosy officers. Though their first instinct might be to run to the cops and confess, keep in mind that no agency is immune from the reach of a Clan, bloodline, or Sect. Thus, some independent ghouls who take this Flaw might suspect that their former domitor has engineered their situation, and they are now Under Surveillance as punishment for abandoning them.

**Used by:** All ghouls and revenants

### Loose Lips (3pt. Flaw)

Ghouls are often privy to a great deal of sensitive information in the night-to-night dealings with their domitors, and some cannot resist the urge to divulge (or sell) these secrets. In general, ghouls and revenants who cannot keep secrets tend not to live very long.

When you take the Loose Lips Flaw, you might be known as a gossip. In fact, this weakness may be the reason why any ghoul might become independent. It’s possible that the ghoul’s master felt that withholding feedings for the rest of his vassal’s pitiful life would be suitable punishment, and might still be keeping tabs on his former ghoul.

Ghouls with this Flaw tend to not be trusted with jobs involving secrets, so their usefulness to higher-ranking vampires is limited. On the other hand, they make perfect tools for spreading false information, which can often be far more useful. Unfortunately, you may not know whether you’re spewing fact or fiction until it’s too late.

**Used by:** All ghouls and revenants

### Self-Preservation (3pt. Flaw)

For whatever reason, your character refuses to carry out orders that you feel will threaten your safety and put your life at risk. For ghouls, the Self-Preservation Flaw defeats the purpose of serving a vampire. If you cannot defend your domitor, then your worth decreases considerably.

However, a Bound ghoul who can refuse to carry out an order bears close watching. This Flaw is also one of the most common reasons why a ghoul leaves his master’s service to operate as an independent.

Revenants who have a sense of Self-Preservation may feel the effects of this Flaw in a different way. Your loyalty to your family may be questioned, for you might sacrifice another family member or ally when the time is right. Should you, too, be subjected to the blood bond, your inability to fully “commit” to a vampire’s orders may result in unforeseen consequences ranging from experimentation to further scrutiny.

Mechanically-speaking, any time your domitor or master gives you an order that threatens your life, your character gets a check against Willpower at +2 difficulty. If successful, your ghoul or revenant may refuse to carry out the order.

Should you refuse to carry out such a command in front of your master, you may expect to be punished severely. Clever ghouls and revenants will attempt to manipulate this Flaw to their advantage. They might attempt to carry out a life-threatening command while ensuring they do not come to harm, though this isn’t always possible.

**Used by:** All ghouls and revenants

### Turncoat (4pt. Flaw)

The Turncoat is more than just a traitor. Revenants that take the Turncoat Flaw have betrayed more than the bonds of friendship, but also those of their familial connection and duty. Typically, a revenant that takes this Flaw has decided he is more interested in serving her family’s enemies, and has taken the requisite steps to do so.

Most revenants with the Turncoat Flaw understand the ramifications of their actions. They understand that this Flaw requires them to protect themselves and hide from her former colleagues; they might even expect their families to hunt them down for their treachery. Depending on the nature and depth of the betrayal, allied vampires may decide to render their assistance to the hunt as well.

A Turncoat revenant will have likely earned the trust of her new friends by killing a former ally, friend, or relative, or by turning over sensitive information, such as the haven of a (formerly) allied vampire or the passwords to access her family’s finances or accounts.

Despite being protected by a powerful vampire, Clan, members of a local Sect, or revenant family, characters who take this Flaw know their problems are far from over. The Turncoat’s new allies will probably be skeptical of this character, and may not divulge anything other than minor details. After all, if the Turncoat betrayed her own family or a master while under the influence of the blood bond, she could do so again.

In general, this Flaw is best used by characters who are embroiled in the politics of a larger organization. The ramifications of a revenant’s betrayal, such as a Grimaldi revenant divulging secrets pertaining to his family’s desire to leave the Sabbat, are often far-reaching and significant.

Thus, independent ghouls may also select this Flaw when and if it makes sense for them to do so. However, an independent ghoul might struggle to find the allies required to help ensure their survival, since most vampires may seek a blood bond with the traitor.

**Used by:** Revenants, some independent ghouls

### Blood Feud (5pt. Flaw)

The hostility between revenant families such as the Grimaldi and Zantosa is well known throughout the Sabbat. Rivalries between the Brujah and the Ventrue occasionally bleed into the behavior of their ghouls throughout Camarilla-held cities. Fights between revenant families are all too common, and these feuds have been going on for so long that some family members may have forgotten how an argument first started. A Blood Feud might be a recent development, but more than likely a deadly rivalry has probably been smoldering for decades, if not centuries.

Not all disagreements and rivalries between families or factions, however, are considered to be Blood Feuds. A Blood Feud is what occurs after a slight or injury has been escalated to impossible heights, and the initial cause of the argument can now only be rectified when both debts are settled, often violently. Other family members will even go so far as to swear a revenge-filled oath to harm the rival family at the first opportunity. Like the nature of the feud, the violence both families cause may range from slashing tires to slitting throats.

While Blood Feud is particularly applicable to members of certain revenant families, this Flaw may also apply to rival Clans in a given city. Loyal ghouls might take offense at a misstep or take up vengeance for a slight against their Domitor, and their feelings could escalate into hatred and a desire to kill. A Gangrel ghoul might be involved in a bitter dispute over territory or domain with the servants of a Toreador Primogen. Enough betrayal and insults could be hurled over the course of the conflict that tense discussions erupt into bitter arguments. Usually, however, for a Blood Feud to exist there must be more than a simple rivalry between the two parties. In a Blood Feud, several members of each side should be willing to battle over the insult or slight.

The hatred between the two sides has escalated over time, and calls for vengeance carry weight. When confronted with the possibility that your rival is nearby, your character must make a Frenzy check at a -2 difficulty. If successful, your character is able to control the blind fury caused by your thirst for revenge.

If your character fails the check, you will feel compelled to act on your obsession for vengeance. You might seek out and confront your rival. You might attack someone who looks like her, or sabotage her car or attack her girlfriend. You might even rile up the other people around you to join the fight, too. How you act on your hatred is up to you, but a failure will guarantee that the Blood Feud is renewed.

You may choose to spend a Willpower point to delay your moment of frenzy for one round. However, the longer you delay acting on your thirst for revenge, the greater the chances are that your rival will act upon hers.

**Used by:** Revenants who have a clear rivalry with another family, or by ghouls from warring Clans, bloodlines, or Sects.

To take this Flaw, you must work with the Storyteller to name which family (or Clan) the Blood Feud is with, and how much the player character knows about its cause. You must also select a specific rival from the opposing side who is heavily involved with the feud or its cause.

### Hunted (5pt. Flaw)

You have unwittingly crossed paths with a hunter, who has identified you as a supernatural creature that must be destroyed. You may be a revenant who accidentally attacked a hunter’s ally, or you might be a ghoul who dated a hunter before you fell under the influence of the Blood Bond.

Hunted represents a serious threat to all vampires, regardless of Sect, and all revenant families. The consequences of a hunter stumbling into a revenant family’s compound or a vampire’s haven would be so severe, your domitor or family might feel compelled to sacrifice you to prevent a future catastrophe.

While you may not have intentionally drawn the ire of a hunter, your grievous error will not go unpunished, nor will it be forgiven easily by your domitor or family. Consequences may range from ordering you to capture the hunter first to seeking allegiances with your enemies.

You may take steps to eliminate this Flaw in the way that makes sense for your character. However, unless your Storyteller tells you that you are in no danger of being hunted for the foreseeable future, you will always run the risk of being targeted by a hunter more easily than other characters who do not have this Flaw.

Because Hunted represents a dramatic turn of events that could impact your chronicle in any number of ways, check with your Storyteller before taking this Flaw.

**Used by:** All ghouls and revenants

### Problem with Authority (5pt. Flaw)

Problem with Authority is unhealthy for ghouls or revenants who are expected to serve without question. It is especially problematic for ghouls who have violent or unpredictable masters, and may spur a ghoul to leave her domitor’s side. Many independent ghouls suffer from this Flaw, and continue to feel the effects of their disobedience.

When taken to its extreme, your ghoul will become argumentative and unruly, and may take an issue with the simplest instructions. While you might argue with lesser authority figures in your ghoul’s life, like the police, your combative words are less likely to get you killed, but may result in being arrested or fired.

**Used by:** All ghouls and revenants

### Fugitive (6pt. Flaw)

You are wanted by the authorities. You may be a suspect in a case, or might have been charged and convicted with a serious crime. Your ghoul or revenant may have even gone so far as to escape a high security prison or mental health facility. You may have, on the other hand, run afoul of a Sect and are now being hunted by its members, whether they be Kindred, Cainite, Anarchs, etc.

When you take the Fugitive Flaw, you are admitting that you have either committed (or have been framed for) a transgression that is so severe, agents who uphold the law, be they vampire or mortal, have ordered your capture. Any and all persons found in your company may immediately become suspect as well, and could be charged with additional crimes.

A Fugitive is rarely hunted without good cause, and often those who seek to bring you in will have a personal reason for doing so. An officer might track you down because her negligence allowed you to escape. A rival ghoul, who managed to uncover how you were attempting to thwart your domitor, might want to prove his worth to your former domitor. A Sabbat pack may be hard on your heels, because they feel your escape is an embarrassment to them. These are all examples of characters who would probably pursue you at great personal cost in an attempt to recapture or even murder you.

To the Camarilla, a ghoul or revenant Fugitive represents a serious threat to the Masquerade, regardless of who may be after you. While it is possible you may have been carrying out orders under the influence of the Blood Bond or Disciplines like Dominate, Kindred authorities cannot turn a blind eye to a desperate ghoul or revenant who’s on the run. To the Sabbat, on the other hand, a Fugitive may be hunted for other reasons, ranging from a sense of pride to a fear that you’ll run to the Camarilla and divulge secrets that must be kept buried.

Though you are a Fugitive, you may have Allies, Contacts, or have clearly identified a place to hide for a time. Your domitor or revenant family, for example, might often you a place to stay for a few nights, but doing so puts them at risk. Safe houses may be arranged to ensure your survival, with the understanding that you are expected to curry favors or perform services that will help your benefactors. You may even be asked to follow a strict code of conduct to avoid exposing your accomplices.

**Used by:** All ghouls and some revenants. This Flaw is particularly appropriate for independent ghouls who are on the run from their domitors.

## **Supernatural**

### Finicky Palate (1pt. Flaw)

Your ghoul must choose a Clan or bloodline, other than your domitor’s, whose blood causes you an allergic reaction when present in your bloodstream. Any time your ghoul ingests blood from a vampire of that selected Clan, either intentionally or forcibly, you must make a Stamina check to avoid vomiting it up. If you are successful, the blood remains in your system and all rolls involving Disciplines will be at +1 difficulty until either the offensive blood is burned off, or you consume new blood from a different Clan, whichever comes first.

For most Camarilla ghouls, this Flaw represents little threat. In the unlikely event that a ghoul consumes the blood of a Kindred other than his domitor, it won’t take long for that ghoul to find the blood he does need. For an independent ghoul or a Clan-sponsored revenant family, on the other hand, this Flaw could represent a dire problem.

**Used by:** All ghouls and revenants

### Artificially Aged (2pt. Flaw)

You are an underage ghoul or revenant that has been fleshcrafted to look like an older, mature adult. Your true maturity is still far off in your future, but you appear to be a decade or two older than your actual age. As long as you remain a ghoul, your body will not age.

Due to the terrors inflicted on your young body and mind, your character may never reconcile what has happened to you. Physically, you might pass for a much older person, but mentally and emotionally you are still a child. Thus, you will likely encounter challenges in most social situations, and your Storyteller may require you to subtract one or more dice from rolls involving your Social dice pools.

**Used by:** Like the Vicissitude Modification Merit, this Flaw may only be added at your Storyteller’s discretion.

### Offensive to Animals (2pt. Flaw)

Ghouls and revenants who take the Offensive to Animals Flaw will have difficulty in their encounters with animals. Dogs, wolves, bats, birds, and other creatures will act hostile toward the character whenever she’s around, and will likely attack the closer the character gets. Much like the vampiric Flaw of the same name, a ghoul or revenant who is Offensive to Animals may find it challenging to walk freely in certain areas.

Animals will bark, howl, whine, and make noise when the character approaches them. They may not directly attack the ghoul unless provoked, but they will clearly be aggressive or, alternatively, might flee from the area. This Flaw is not recommended for ghouls or revenants who either plan on using the Animalism Discipline or come into contact with characters that do.

**Used by:** All ghouls and revenants

### Romantic Notions (2pt. Flaw)

You believe your entire existence as a ghoul is a marked improvement over your previous life, and you are convinced you owe it all to your domitor. You feel your domitor needs you, you’d die without her, and that every feeding is an act of pure love.

When your domitor attempts to use either Dominate or Presence on your character, your Willpower is at -2. This Flaw is in effect regardless of how you react to the blood bond, and while under its influence you may feel an even stronger sense of artificial love toward your domitor.

This Flaw does not affect revenants, who were born with their condition, in the same way as it does ghouls. At the Storyteller’s discretion, only a revenant who feels romantically inclined toward a specific vampire who has the use of Dominate and Presence may take this Flaw.

Independent ghouls may not purchase this Flaw, as it does not make sense narratively for them to be romantically inclined toward a specific vampire.

**Used by:** All ghouls, except for independent ghouls, and revenants in rare cases.

### Vitae Sink (3pt. Flaw)

For whatever reason, your ghoul or revenant metabolizes vitae more quickly than others do. You must be fed every two weeks, rather than once every month, or risk losing all supernatural Traits and will revert to your natural state. Few ghouls with this Flaw last beyond their natural life spans, unless their domitors are especially devoted to them. At this increased rate, however, it is likely that missed feedings might happen, which is why this Flaw is deadly to independent ghouls.

Revenants who suffer from Vitae Sink replenish their natural vitae at half the rate they normally might.

Used by: Most ghouls and revenants