Advantage Traits

## **About**

All characters have strengths and weaknesses, noble aspects and dark sides to their personalities. While most people try to cultivate virtues, and eschew vices, both are intrinsic elements of identity and both equally reinforce a sense of self, whether we like to admit it or not.

Every character starts play with one defining Virtue, one defining Vice and a Nature, chosen during character creation. Vice, Virtue and Nature may clearly reflect your character’s background and concept. Vice and Virtue can even be used to contrast your characters Nature to create sources of conflict that make for excellent role playing.

## **Vices**

In game terms, Vice is important because it enables the character to regain Willpower points. Each Vice archetype lists the criteria necessary to regain Willpower.

### **Ambition**

* You want to get ahead, above and beyond. You crave advancement, and you don’t care what it takes.
* In some people who work hard the accolades they seek, ambition is a Virtue — for you it’s a shortcut to success.
* Gain Willpower whenever you attempt to increase your social standing instead of pursuing useful activity.

### **Arrogance**

* You express dominance in social situations, because you are, as far as you’re concerned, far superior than the filth your walk amongst.
* Gain Willpower whenever you take an opportunity to express greater worth relative to someone else.

### **Corruption**

* You're a habitual abuser of institutions. You turn the system in your favor, and have no remorse for your actions.
* Gain Willpower whenever you misuse status or influence over a group on behalf of yourself or another interested party.

### **Cowardice**

* You shy away from danger, going beyond simple caution to true cowardice. After all, why risk your life, someone else can do that for you.
* Gain Willpower whenever you persuade or tricks another character into a risky situation instead of doing it yourself.

### **Cruelty**

* You have a mean streak, an instinct to twist the knife and mercilessly inflict pain. You have a hard time not kicking the “proverbial” dog for making a mess.
* Gain Willpower whenever you needlessly victimize someone of lesser situational standing.

### **Deceit**

* You can’t tell the truth to save your life. You have a habit of telling little white lies. It’s not like anyone’s gonna get hurt, right?
* Gain Willpower whenever you successfully maintain a lie despite others having the opportunity to see through it.

### **Envy**

* You desire that which others have, because let’s be honest, you probably deserve it more.
* Gain Willpower whenever you steal from, or thwart a rival in some manner.

### **Fickleness**

* You don’t keep promises when it doesn’t cost you anything. After all, you can’t be held down with all these pointless obligations.
* Gain Willpower whenever you break a promise for your own sake.

### **Gluttony**

* You often like to indulge in drugs, drink, or excess of any kind, like, you really indulge, seriously, you’ve got a problem.
* Gain Willpower whenever you indulge in your addictions at the risk of harm.

### **Greed**

* You'd rather hoard resources than sharing with others in need. No one is more important than number one anyways.
* Gain Willpower whenever you deny another character an advantage by taking it yourself

### **Haste**

* You frequently rush into situations you don't fully understand. A plan? Ain’t nobody got time for that!
* Gain Willpower whenever you force a scene to start by taking decisive action.

### **Hatred**

* You're blinded by hatred; you fruitlessly attack the source of this hatred. Even if the source of your hatred is someone who has passed away.
* Gain Willpower whenever you spend time in a scene persecuting the object of your hatred

### **Lust**

* You have uncontrolled desires, not necessarily sexual, probably sexual though, why else would you want this vice?
* Gain Willpower whenever you satisfy your passion or lust in a way that victimizes another person.

### **Pessimism**

* You tend to wallow in bad situations. It’s always your fault when something happens, so why do anything at all. It’s easier to wear a hat, hey, here’s a hat.
* Gain Willpower whenever you refuse to act in a scene because you believe anything you will be fruitless.

### **Pride**

* You have self-confidence gone awry, because you’re the best thing since sliced bread, and everyone knows it, right?
* Gain Willpower whenever you exert your wants on to others at potential risk to yourself.

### **Sloth**

* You're lazy, lacking the gumption to do things that you must. Somebody else will get it done anyways.
* Gain Willpower whenever you avoid completing a task, but it is successfully achieved nonetheless.

### **Treachery**

* Your loyalties are defined by what’s convenient, not loyalty itself. After all, humans are just expendable pawns, roaming free, in a sea of more expendable pawns.
* Gain Willpower whenever you betray a person or group, but be very careful about using this Vice against other players’ characters.

### **Violence**

* You love getting your way by means of physical force. Because, at heart, we’re all just sick mother fuckers who want to watch the world burn.
* Gain Willpower whenever you resolve a scene by using needless violence

### **Wrath**

* You have uncontrolled, undirected anger and fury. It’s not your fault though, and what are you supposed to do, not breaks his legs?
* Gain Willpower whenever you unleash your anger in a situation that is completely unwarranted and inappropriate.

## **Virtues**

In game terms, Virtue is important because it enables the character to regain all of their Willpower points at one moment. Each Virtue archetype lists the criteria necessary to regain Willpower.

### **Ambition**

* You have goals, and the drive to achieve them. You work hard to achieve exactly what you deserve.
* In some people who don’t deserve the accolades they seek, ambition is a Vice — for you it’s a guiding mission.
* Gain Willpower whenever you put yourself at risk for the sake of following your long-term goal.

### **Charity**

* You gain comfort from giving to others, you lend with no questions asked. You’re the quintessential definition of a good person.
* Gain Willpower whenever you deprive yourself of a vital resource through generosity.

### **Courage**

* You're willing to carry on despite being afraid, but you're not the absent of fear.
* Gain Willpower whenever your bravery causes or prolongs risk or danger to yourself.

### **Faith**

* In this chaotic world, you find stability as the sands crumble beneath that your feet. After all, the man upstairs has a plan for you.
* Gain Willpower whenever you forge meaning out of chaos and instability.

### **Fortitude**

* You believe skill is useless unless it is tested to the very extremes. You’ve spent a lifetime honing your ideals.
* Gain Willpower whenever you withstand pressure to sway from a chosen course or diverge from long-held ideals.

### **Hope**

* You remain optimistic, believing that everything will work out eventually. Because no matter what, you can always have hope.
* Gain Willpower whenever you refuse to abandon hope, putting yourself at risk in expectation of a better tomorrow.

### **Love**

* You have great love, usually for a person or group of people. Because, what are you without the people you hold dearest.
* Gain Willpower whenever you put yourself in danger for the object of you love.

### **Honesty**

* Your sense of self is built on fundamental honesty. Lies only complicate life a deter progress.
* Gain Willpower whenever you put yourself in danger by refusing to lie.

### **Humbleness**

* You put others before yourself, and never deny the importance of their lives
* Gain Willpower whenever you turn down the opportunity for power that could solve your problems.

### **Justice**

* You feel driven by a sense of fair play and justice. After all, we would be nowhere without our moral law.
* Gain Willpower whenever your drive for Justice leaves your own goals half-done.

### **Loyalty**

* You're loyal to a group, possibly the other player’s characters. Loyalty last long after the groups time has passed.
* Gain Willpower whenever you put yourself in danger by refusing to act against the group’s interests.

### **Peace**

* You're a pacifist in a dirty, dangerous world. You can’t bring yourself to hurt others. There is no greater message than “Peace and Love”.
* Gain Willpower whenever you resolve a conflict that puts yourself at risk without the use of bloodshed.

### **Optimism**

* You strongly believe that no matter the actions results will be optimal. Because, why worry, everything’s going to be just fine.
* Gain Willpower whenever you act in the belief your results will prove fruitful against overwhelming odds.

### **Patience**

* You wait for situations to develop and play out for a while before intervening. There’s nothing worse than getting caught unprepared.
* Gain Willpower whenever you are caught off-footed because you're were too busy planning to properly react to events.

### **Prudence**

* You have wisdom, restraint, and the ability to spot a foolish course of action. Even if no one else can see it.
* Gain Willpower whenever you refuse to take a course of action even if by doing that action, you would benefit significantly.

### **Reliability**

* When you make a promise, you keep it. Others trust and believe in you. After all, what is a man without his word?
* Gain Willpower whenever you keep a promise, even an implied one, despite knowing that the promise can put you in danger.

### **Righteousness**

* You end hypocrisy and evil where you see it, to Hell with consequences. The concept of righteousness skews, however, skews with changes in the player’s morality.
* Gain Willpower whenever your refusal to let injustice go unopposed puts you in danger.

### **Temperance**

* You believe in moderation and balance among all things, these are the foundation of a good life after all.
* Gain Willpower whenever you resist urges to indulge in any sort of excess behavior whatsoever.

## **Natures**

Nature is a basic description of your character’s self-perception; no character fits any Nature exactly, but one usually describes his concept well enough. Nature isn’t all that a character is about. Rather, it serves as a basic guide to your character’s perspective on the universe and how to act in and react to that universe.

While Nature helps describe who your character really is on the inside, this may not be the facade he presents to the world. However, a person’s mood and demeanor can change depending on whom he’s with and what situation he’s in. Your character’s outward personality is handled entirely through roleplaying (although his Nature should accent his general disposition).

In game terms, Nature is important because it enables the character to regain Willpower points. Each Nature archetype lists the criteria necessary to regain Willpower, but also presents a way in which your character can freeze up and have to perform an action to regain control.

**Note:** Failure while using Willpower on combat rolls does not force your character to recede from battle or feel the negative effects of nature.

### **Addict**

* Your hooked on something or someone, and you keep coming back.
* Gain Willpower when you get a "fix" of your addiction.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll gives you a temporary derangement and go into withdrawal.

### **Analyst**

* You live by logic and have a goal of understanding most things.
* Gain Willpower when your rational scientific approach aides in the locating or solving of a problem.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you to get lost in the details of your action.

### **Architect**

* You build a better future; plans are what matters most to you.
* Gain Willpower whenever you create or establish something of importance or lasting value.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to retreat from action and re-plan how you’ll go about what you were doing.

### **Autocrat**

* You want control and you take charge structuring events around you.
* Gain Willpower if you construct a plan that others will follow.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you to try to take control over the situation issuing orders and demeaning to be obeyed.

### **Bon Vivant**

* You aren't averse to a little work, but you want to have fun at the end of it all.

* Gain Willpower whenever you have a good time and truly enjoy what you're doing.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to party, drink, celebrate, or whatever you do to have fun.

### **Bravo**

* The world's tough, you look out for number one, and maintain the upper hand.

* Gain Willpower whenever you gain the upper hand in a long-running conflict either through your personal strength or the accumulation of power.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you to resort to force to take control of the situation.

### **Bumpkin**

* You believe in the practical approach and common sense, you distrust theory.

* Gain Willpower when you successfully resolve a crisis by following procedures set down by an established authority.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll will force resort to the old ways much like a traditionalist.

### **Bureaucrat**

* Laws exist for a reason and your primary concern is to follow them
* Gain Willpower when a crisis is resolved by following correct procedures.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you to fall back on the accepted procedures, you want to find a law or procedure and make sure that it is obeyed.

### **Caregiver**

* You make a difference by helping those around you and they depend on you
* Gain Willpower when you receive tangible proof that you have helped someone.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to turn to help those in your party immediately.

### **Celebrant**

* You truly enjoy and care about your work and inspire others to do so as well

* Gain Willpower whenever you’re able to get the group to party for a scene.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to attempt to start a party until successful.

### C**harmer**

* You know just what they need to hear in order to feel good
* Gain willpower whenever you say exactly what someone wants to hear.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes to you spend every second complimenting individuals until you successfully flatter them.

### **Child**

* You're immature and childish, you expect others to do things for you.
* Gain Willpower whenever someone looks after you like a parent; either in care taking, planning or attitude.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to immediately throw a tantrum and it will not stop until someone takes care of you and your concerns.

### **Competitor**

* Life is a challenge and you treat every event as a race or competition
* Gain Willpower if win a contest that relates directly to the story.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you to immediately challenge your fellow characters in some sort of contest.

### **Confidant**

* You listen well and give advice or you may just collect secrets
* Gain Willpower if you learn a significant piece of gossip.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll give you the urge to gossip and cannot stop until someone engages you and you learn something new.

### **Conformist**

* Others have blazed a trail for you so there is no reason for not taking it

* Gain Willpower if the group acts together, in concert, in some task that is important to the story.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you to suffer from a low self-esteem and refuse to take any risks or any chances, or do anything dangerous.

### **Conniver**

* You use your friend's efforts and sow dissent among your enemies.
* Gain Willpower when you trick someone into doing what you want.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you to try and con someone into doing something that is not advantageous for them.

### **Critic**

* You find purpose in revealing weakness and faults
* Gain Willpower when you point out a significant flaw that would have been harmful had it been overlooked.

* If fail Willpower you start criticizing everything the group is doing.

### **Curmudgeon**

* Nothing is worthwhile, the old ways were the best ways
* Gain Willpower when the group or a significant member expresses disgust at the current situation and wants to stick to a traditional method.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you stop what you are doing and compare it to traditional plans with the goal of doing it that way.

### **Cynic**

* You're grim, morbid and bitter… and you just gotta share it with the universe.

* Gain Willpower whenever someone screws up or something goes wrong like you predicted it would, either out loud or in private to the Storyteller.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you to slip into and inactive depressive funk, paralyzed by your own certainty that nothing comes out right.

### **Dabbler**

* You want to engage in doing a wide variety of things
* Gain Willpower when the group barely finishes a task and jumps to another one, or jumps to another task without finishing the current one.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to immediately change your current task to another one.

### **Defender**

* You stand guard over that which you care for.
* Gain Willpower if successfully defend a group from attack.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to stand and make a defense.

### **Deviant**

* You exist for no one's pleasure, but for your own, no matter how twisted.
* Gain Willpower whenever you are able to indulge one of your pleasures.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to indulge in your most twisted desire.

### **Director**

* You desire order and want to eliminate random chance and chaos
* Regain Willpower whenever your influence in the group causes them to work together to achieve a goal.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you to try to take charge and start classifying things and putting them in order.

### **Dreamer**

* You aspire to lofty heights and have great dreams and visions
* Gain Willpower whenever one of your major goals is accomplished, or when you take time out to just day dream.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you enter a day dream.

### **Expert**

* You have passionately devoted your life to excellence in a single field
* Gain Willpower when you teach your chosen skill to someone or whenever you make a particularly impressive showing with that ability.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll prevents you from resisting any opportunity to show off your prowess and want to find a way to do so now.

### **Explorer**

* The prospect of finding new places, people and things gives your life meaning

* Gain Willpower whenever you make a significant discovery.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to leave the party to explore new areas or you can take them with you, but you must go out and

explore.

### **Fanatic**

* The cause is all that matters. You must develop a cause with the Storyteller

* Gain Willpower if you accomplish a major step in reaching your goal.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you turn from the task at had to perform one that would let you reach your goal.

### **Follower**

* Your strength comes from cooperation with a variety of personalities
* Gain Willpower if you help the team succeed because you carry out your assigned duty.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces your character to lose their independence and requires a teammate to tell them what to do.

### **Gambler**

* You play the odds in all things
* Gain Willpower if you win a major bet; not just one made with your bookie.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to immediately make a bet.

### **Gallant**

* You seek to be the center of attention
* Gain Willpower whenever you are rewarded as a hero who succeeded.
* Failure while spending Willpower forces on a roll do something to take a major risk.

### **Hedonist**

* If we're all built to experience pleasure, isn't that just common sense?
* Gain Willpower when you have a truly good time, and bring others along for the ride.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you you be unable to resist physical pleasures. (This expenditure may not be necessary if the temptation has recognizably certain and severe consequences.)

### **Hot** **Shot**

* How do you know what you can do until you try something you think you can't!

* Gain Willpower when you survive a dangerous situation that you deliberately entered.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you to be unable to resist indulging in an obviously Foolhardy venture, especially if it has no direct bearing on your goals.

### **Innocent**

* You're an adult stuck in a pre-teen mindset of naiveté and reliance.
* Gain Willpower whenever you substantially impress another character.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to perform an immediate act to try and impress your teammates, no matter what the cost.

### **Jester**

* The only sane defense is an insane universe is to laugh at it all.
* Gain Willpower whenever you can lighten the mood or ease a tense situation.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to you to crack a joke. You keep making jokes until you get a smile from at least one person.

### **Judge**

* You seek to solve the problems of others by acting as a mediator, or arbitrator

* Gain Willpower any time you lead others to an amicable resolution.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to judge something of consequence.

### **Leader**

* You're meant to be in charge. You excel at organizing, and others look to you.

* Gain Willpower when the group follows your commands, without argument.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you start becoming an autocrat; barking out orders you expect to be obeyed.

### **Loner**

* You go your own way and strike out on your own.
* Gain Willpower whenever you leave the group and accomplish something on your own.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to leave the group to strike out on your own.

### **Martyr**

* You're ready to put yourself at risk so that others or a cause succeeds
* Gain Willpower whenever you sacrifice yourself or something of yours to a higher goal.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to make an immediate sacrifice of yourself, your goods or something else.

### **Masochist**

* You revel in causing pain to yourself. You test your limits each day.
* Gain Willpower if you are hurt by more than 2 health levels, either in combat or self-inflicted.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you inflict great pain to yourself causing the loss of at least one health level.

### **Mediator**

* You always seek the middle way; you seek an agreement or deal.
* Gain Willpower if you make a deal between two or more groups that disagree on something.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll force you to try to make a deal with your current competition.

### **Mentor**

* You try to teach and tutor others.
* Gain Willpower if you engage in successfully training someone.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you you engage in a lecture trying to teach those around you.

### **Monster** (Acquired at Taint 8+)

* You are grotesque, sociopathic or just plain wrong. More extreme than Deviant
* Gain Willpower whey you assert your dominance (usually violently) over humanity as a society or as a species.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll makes you likely to resort to extreme and vicious acts just to prove your superiority.
* This Nature is common to serial killers and high-taint Aberrants. Take this Nature only with careful advice from the Storyteller

### **Paragon**

* You know what's right and what's wrong, you can't stand to
* Gain Willpower when you accomplish a task by sticking to your enlightened ideals.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you to do something to demonstrate the difference between right and wrong to those around you.

### **Pedagogue**

* You save others through your knowledge
* Gain Willpower whenever you teach someone something new.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you to attempt to teach someone, allies or foes, something.

### **Penitent**

* You seek to atone for past. You worry about mistakes you've made in your life.

* Gain Willpower if you confess of a misdeed.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to make a confession to someone.

### **Perfectionist**

* Nothing is ever good enough, you want things to be just so
* Gain Willpower whenever a complex plan you make succeeds.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you to change the current scene to fit your exacting specifications.

### **Rebel**

* You're the ultimate Free thinker. You champion a cause or simply feel contrary

* Gain Willpower whenever you act to defy an established authority.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you rebel against the current plan, even if it is yours.

### **Riddler**

* The truth is best obscured and covered.
* Gain Willpower when you hide the facts of a case.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll force you to come up with a riddle and pose it to the group.

### **Rogue**

* You've learned one important lesson in life, and that is to look after number one

* Gain Willpower whenever you manage to gain something significant through your self-centered nature.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes turn inward and selfish, you won't cooperate unless you see a way for you to come out on top.

### **Scientist**

* Any problem can be solved with logic and deduction.
* Gain Willpower when you successfully solve a problem through logic, reasoning and or deduction.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you engage in a descriptive dialogue of the scene, pin pointing all the details and narrating

the events.

### **Skeptic**

* Science of the day is tearing down many long-held beliefs regarding mankind.

* Gain Willpower when adherence to tried-and-true methods proves effective.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll force you to completely disregard any incidence of intuition, non-traditional deduction or mysticism and prove the old-ways are the best.

### **Socialite**

* The social whirl is both a battlefield and a workshop, you revel in social events.

* Gain Willpower whenever you attend a major social advent and are recognized.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to attend a social gathering of any kind, preference to those with new people.

### **Survivor**

* You endure nearly any circumstance. No matter what, you always persevere
* Gain Willpower whenever you survive a difficult situation through your own cunning and perseverance.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll causes you to sacrifice someone or something to survive the situation.

### **Thrill Seeker**

* You do things, not for the ends, but for the rush that the means provides.

* Gain Willpower every time you put yourself in a life-threatening situation and then escape it.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to take an immediate gamble with someone's life at stake.

### **Traditionalist**

* You believe the solutions for today's problems can be found in the past
* Gain Willpower when a tried-and-true method proves effective.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to follow a specific and laid out plan.

### **Trickster**

* Laughter erases the pain. Practical jokes are made for fun.
* Gain Willpower when you are able to pull a practical joke.
* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to immediately try to pull a practical joke.

### **Visionary**

* You have a goal that only you can see, to which you've dedicated your life

* Gain Willpower whenever you take a concrete step toward realizing your goal.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to take measures to reach your goal despite whatever resistance you will meet (within reason of course).

### **Xenophile**

* You're at the forefront of the human efforts to establish a galactic community.

* Gain Willpower when you manage to “learn” something new and critical about aliens.

* Failure while spending Willpower on a roll forces you to attempt to “learn” something about an alien or at least “interact” with them.