Social Flaws

Originally
presented as an Adversarial Background for Cer­tification, this Flaw affects
your regional, national, and perhaps international official status. The degree
to which you’ve been professionally shunned depends upon the value of this
Flaw:

**1 point**: Trivial – poor driving record,
suspected shop­lifter, banned from a local union.

**2 points**: Minor – misdemeanor criminal
record, sus­pended license.

**3 points**: Significant – disbarred lawyer,
defrocked clergy, unpopular political affiliation, dishonorable military
discharge.

**4 points**: Major – convicted felon, registered
sex offender, government watch-list, revoked medical license.

**5 points**: Pariah – FBI’s most-wanted, suspected
terrorist, convicted pedophile, declared legally incompetent or insane.

A four- or
five-point Blacklisting will also wind up in the Technocracy’s supervision
database – a very dangerous place for a mage to be! And although the Awakened
don’t typically check in with mundane authorities before recruiting or making
alliances with their own kind, a mage who’s had major problems with such
authorities is likely to have problems with mages too… especially if such
problems include offenses like terrorism or pedophilia, which certain mages take
very, very poorly.

### 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.

### 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.

### 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.

**Vampire:**

**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.

### Compulsive Speech

**1 to 2 pt. Flaw**

Dude,
please just shut up! But no, you just keep talking… and talking… and talking
some more. This compulsion could come from a nervous social habit, a
know-it-all personality, a sense of awkwardness in silence, or some other
(potentially metaphysical) urge to fill up space with words. Worse still, those
words often feature rude observations, sensitive information, and other stuff
that’s best left unsaid. Day-um – did you just say what I think you just said?
Yep. You did. Arg…

As far as
this Flaw is concerned, the one-point version means you run at the mouth too
much, while the two-point one (also known as Big Mouth) means you say the wrong
things to the wrong people on a fairly regular basis, often to people who sit
higher than you do on the proverbial totem pole, or who do not exactly have
your best interests at heart. You can spend a Willpower point to keep your
mouth shut for a scene or two; sooner or later, though, the words start flowing
again…

### Conflicting Loyalties

**1 to 3 pt. Flaw**

Though
deeply loyal (probably to the point of having the Merit: Loyalty – see p. 53),
you’re facing a crisis of commit­ments: two or more of the parties you feel
loyal to are at odds with one another, and you’re caught in the middle trying
to support them all. Your best friend could be in trouble with the police force
your father worked for; your lover may have betrayed the trust of your
Convention; your Allies may have decided that your Mentor has to go. And so there
you are – poised in an impossible situation, attempting to do the right thing
for everyone involved.

The value of
this Flaw, as always, depends upon the in­tensity of the conflict:

**1 point:** A minor crisis forces you to shuttle
between loyalties while remaining true to all parties.

**2 points:** A significant clash leads you to
mediate un­tenable situations with frustrating frequency.

**3 points:** Irreconcilable differences will
eventually compel you to choose between loyalties, and that’s not a choice
you’re sure you can make. Until that time, you’re fighting an apparently doomed
campaign to support all sides without betraying anyone.

The nature
of your loyalties, relationships, and disputes should, of course, be worked out
when you take this Flaw. Your Storyteller will make sure to bring them into
play often enough to keep you scrambling for the best solution to an apparently
impossible dilemma.

### Conniver

**1 pt. Flaw**

As far as
most folks who know you are concerned, you’re a perpetual knife in someone
else’s back. That rep might not be accurate, but people expect treachery from
you even if they’re wrong to think so.

Subtract
one die from any non-magickal dice pool you employ when you’re trying to get
other characters to trust you. This penalty does not extend to Arete dice pools
when you’re casting Mind-Sphere magick (or any other Sphere’s magick, for that
matter), but if you’re having to cast spells in order to be believed, then
you’ve kinda just lived up to that reputation.

### Construct

**2 pt. Flaw**

You came
from a lab, not from a womb. Perhaps you were grown in a Progenitor facility,
woven from plants, shaped from the elements, or crafted from parts of dead
bodies in some flesh-tinkerer’s workshop. Whatever your origins, you don’t truly
fit in with natural-born humans. A combination of selfdoubt and social
alienation – or perhaps a sense that you’re far better than your so-called
peers – keeps you at arm’s length from the human social realm.

In game
terms, this Flaw inflicts penalties on social rolls in many situations; the
specifics depend upon your origins, attitude, and company, but they’ll impede
your character in significant ways.

You don’t
need to take this Flaw, incidentally, if your character is a construct. Those
penalties reflect an artificial person who stands out in a crowd, not one who
fits in comfortably with her world.

### Cultural Other

**1 to 5 pt. Flaw**

In the eyes
of your society, you’re clearly divergent. Dis­reputable. Other. People suspect
you of criminal, or at least unsavory, behavior; the authorities harass or
detain you for little or no reason, and your loved ones probably “wish you
could just be like normal people.” Granted, every mage is “other” to some degree.
In your case, though, the othering threatens your life, liberty, and happiness.

Also known
as Mistreated Minority, this Flaw reflects prejudice within your society. The
amount of trouble it caus­es, and the frequency of said trouble, determines the
value of your Flaw:

**1 point:** Folks around you tend to harass you
in small but noticeable ways (acting uncommonly brusque, using slurs in your
presence, taking uncomfortable liberties with your privacy, property or person,
etc.) and seem to feel there’s nothing wrong with that at all. Other people
might stand up for you, but more often than not they won’t.

**2 points**: As above, but now your family and
other in­timate companions feel that you deserve to be avoided, shamed,
insulted, and so forth because you are who or what you are.

**3 points:** Strangers feel free to shame,
insult, avoid, and perhaps physically attack you on general principle. Authorities
might intervene, but probably won’t do so unless major laws are broken… and
maybe not even then.

**4 points:** Authorities discriminate against
you too. Your house may be searched, your job may be terminated, you might be
evicted, robbed or assaulted and very few people will care.

**5 points**: Merely living in this society is
physically, socially, emotionally, and legally hazardous to your safety, your
sanity, and possibly your life. You could be imprisoned, enslaved, tortured or
killed with little-or-no response from the authorities.

Unlike the
physical Flaw: Profiled Appearance, this discrimination isn’t based on
physicality. A character with this Flaw cannot also take the Profiled
Appearance Flaw; if your character stands out physically while also being
discriminated against socially, simply take more points in this Flaw.

Nor is this
Flaw tied to any particular creed, gender or ethnicity; while a Wiccan could be
a Cultural Other in a town filled with fundamentalist Baptists, a
fundamentalist Baptist could be a Cultural Other in a Wicca-based Horizon Realm.
You could follow a “heretical” creed, belong to a “disreputable” subculture,
identify as a sexual /gender /ethnic /religious “mi­nority,” hold an unpopular
political opinion… anything that inspires others around you to treat you poorly
and get away with it could be considered grounds for this Flaw.

That said,
a character with this Flaw must indeed be treat­ed poorly; having folks call
you out on an unpopular opinion, or criticize your behavior, is part of the
human experience, whereas having cops shake you down merely for existing is an
actual problem. In order to take this Flaw, your character must face actual
discrimination and attack on a fairly regular and hazardous basis. No, being
called names on the Internet does not count, although an intense bout of
cyberbullying – that is, doxing, swatting, career destruction, and serious
threats to life and sanity – might count as this Flaw, at the Storyteller’s
discretion.

Because
Cultural Other is tied to the character’s social surroundings, a radical change
to those surroundings may mitigate or eliminate this Flaw. A polyamorous person
may be discriminated against in one city, and welcomed with open arms (and open
legs) in another; if that poly character remains in poly-friendly sur­roundings,
then the player needs to buy off or replace this Flaw.

Similarly,
your “otherness” must be either something that people know about, or something
that they could find out about easily enough for that element of your life to
become a big problem for you. A deeply hidden “otherness” is a Dark Secret until
or unless it gets revealed.

To be
clear: This Flaw in no way reflects judgment on the part of this game, its
creators, or – one hopes! – your gaming group. It’s intended to reflect the
ways in which mortal (and, often, Awakened) society tends to treat people who
stand out from their cultural norms. Being who they are and what they do, mages
often do stand out in ways that can be hazardous to their social and sometimes
physical health – hello, Burning Times! However, if this Flaw seems redundant
in your group, creates unwanted real-life tensions between your players, or
gets abused by characters (or players) who are catching hell for acting like
dicks, then feel free to ignore or discard this Flaw.

### Dark Secret

**1 pt. Flaw**

A skeleton
or two is hanging rather precariously in your closet. If (let’s be honest –
when) it slips out and clatters to the floor, your life will get even more
difficult than it already is. Did you steal something precious that was in your
trust? Or live on the streets for a while? Maybe you came from a family you
would rather not discuss (see the Flaw: Family Issues, below), were involved
with a criminal organization, Awakened into a rival faction, or had a child or
lover you’re trying to forget about. In any case, you’ll be in trouble unless
you manage to keep that dark secret hidden… a feat that, in a world where reading
minds is damned near entry-level magick, can be difficult indeed.

Note:
Although this Flaw is traditionally worth only one point, Dark Secrets with
potentially deadly consequences might be worth more points, at the
Storyteller’s discretion.

### Debts

**1 to 5 pt. Flaw**

Mages still
need money in order to function in the human realm. And in your case, you’re
kinda fucked financially. Student loans, credit-card debts, child-support
payments, gambling losses, legal judgments, medical bills, car and /or mortgage
payments… the ways in which a modern mage can get in over her head financially
are as numerous as the parties who prosper from such debts. And then there’s
the possibility of financial manipulation from Awakened sources – mages or
Night-Folk who, intentionally or otherwise, are keeping you broke in order to
assert their hold over you. Maybe you just suck at the whole paying-your-bills
thing. For whatever reason, your income keeps going back out. You might indeed
have the Background: Resources, but the money just doesn’t stay in your bank
account for long.

As a Flaw,
these Debts represent a minimum amount of money you owe your creditors. The more
you owe, the more this Flaw is worth:

**1 point**: Minimal debt (less than $10,000).

**2 points:** Moderate debt (less than $50,000).

**3 points:** Significant debt (over $50,000).

**4 points**: Crushing debt (over $100,000).

**5 points:** Overwhelming debt (over $500,000).

From the
three-point level onward, your creditors will expend a fair amount (perhaps a
great deal) of effort to collect those funds from you.

Certain
creditors, like loan sharks, will start far lower than that. Tactics could
range from round-the-clock phone calls and red-envelope letters to lawsuits,
repossessions, threats, eviction, and physical violence. For folks with small
and /or irregular incomes, the pressure from debt and debt-collection
harassment can cause intense emotional and psychological distress… which, in
turn, affects one’s ability to make money… which deepens the debt… which deepens
the stress… in a desperate cycle that can lead to desperate acts.

### Diabolical Mentor

**2 pt. Flaw**

Your mentor
wasn’t merely bad at his job – he turned out to be actively malevolent. That
person could be an actual Nephandus, a demented Marauder, a ruthless wizard, a
diehard “black hats and mirrorshades” type of Technocrat, an Infernalist sellsoul…
maybe you don’t even know what your mentor really is, but it’s just plain bad.
Obviously, this personage has fucked you up. Additionally, if you’ve uncovered
things he would rath­er keep secret, that could lead to other Flaws as well:
Enemy, Cursed, and worse…

### Discredited

**1 pt. Flaw**

In your
chosen field, your name is mud. Perhaps you’re a scientist whose bizarre
theories have cost him the respect of his peers… or an academic who wound up on
the wrong side of departmental politics… or a journalist who stepped too far
over the line of credibility.

Whatever it
is you did (or are reputed to have done), your professional associates look
down on you. Add +2 to the difficulty of your social and Background-based rolls
when you’re trying to get those associates to take you seriously.

Although
this is a common Flaw among the feud-happy Etherites, anyone who depends upon a
professional reputation can be discredited in this fashion – professorial
Hermetics, corporate-ladder Syndicate ops, White Tower agents, and other
competitive-field mages can fall afoul of a bad rep too.

### 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.

### Dogmatic

**2 pt. Flaw**

Look, it’s
great that you’ve got such strong spiritual con­victions… but do you have to be
such a dick about them? This Flaw represents a religious, spiritual, and /or
philosophical approach that defines your moral and magickal beliefs.

Trouble is,
your beliefs don’t play well with others; rules-wise, you add +2 to the difficulty
of all social rolls which involve dealing with people of differing beliefs. Even
when you’re trying, dammit, to get along with those misguided heretics, folks
can tell that you don’t approve. You sneer, you argue, you try to convert
everyone around you to your way of thinking… you can’t help it, really – your
convictions are just that formidable! After all, you do use them to change the
world, so how could they possibly be wrong?

### Double Agent

**2 pt. Flaw**

You work
both sides of a very spiky fence; one of these days, you’re gonna get stuck on
it. Perhaps you’re a Syndicate spy in the Ecstatic Cult, or an Etherite working
with Iteration X. In the days of the Disparate Alliance, you might belong to a
Tradition while ferreting data to your true Craft. Eventually, this dangerous
game will catch up with you. Make plans, establish contingencies, and try not
to get yourself perished!

Obviously,
this Flaw must be kept secret from the other characters in your group. For
extra drama, try to keep it hidden from the other players, too…

### Echo Chamber

**4 pt. Flaw**

You
surround yourself with groupthink. All opinions on important topics (politics,
religion, magick, and so forth) must remain unified. No disagreements on such
matters are permitted within this echo chamber, and anyone who bucks that decree
is shown the door – often with great force – and shunned, probably vilified,
afterward. Loyalty to the group is measured by the devotion each member shares
with regards to the “truth” as your group understands it.

As a
result, that “truth” soon gets distorted. Like an echo reverberating within a
closed space, it verges into a distortion of the original source, growing
wilder and more extreme until something has to give. Will that breaking
point be you? Gods forbid…

Essentially
a story-based Trait, this Flaw cuts your char­acter off from information that
runs contrary to the group’s determined “truth.” Characters and data that
disagree with that “truth” must be pushed aside, ignored, silenced, possibly
attacked, maybe even destroyed “for the good of the group.” Because isolation
breeds distortion, the Storyteller should gradually make “the truth” seem more
extreme than it once had been. Anyone – especially a player character – who
disagrees with “the truth” should be punished by the group; the more extreme
the distortions become, the harsher the punishment becomes as well.

Eventually,
the distorted “truth” will require distorted acts as well: assault, torture,
murder, terrorism. At that point, any character who tries to step away will
become the enemy too (possibly receiving the Flaw of that name) – shunned by
former friends at the very least, probably disgraced socially, and potentially
even attacked physically for being a traitor to the cause.

This Flaw
reflects a social phenomenon that’s increasingly common in the twenty-first
century, though it’s certainly not exclusive to our era: a social group committed
to enforced orthodoxy and the removal of dissent. The group in question could
be a religious or military order, a socio-political activist tribe, a corporate
office, a think-tank, an art collective, a fan­nish subculture, a media outlet,
mystic sect, or Political Action Committee – any social clique that holds
“certain truths to be self-evident” and vital to that group’s existence could
become an echo chamber. “Us” and “them” is a ruling principle, and if you’re
not one of Us, then you’re one of Them.

### Enemy

**1 to 5 pt. Flaw**

Someone hates
your guts and will do whatever he, she, it, or they can do in order to make
your life unpleasant. Game-wise, the value of the Flaw determines the strength
and hatred of that enemy; a single point reflects a minor grudge from some inconsequential
party, and five points represent the deadly plans of some powerful entity or
group.

### 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.

### Esoteric Discourse / Technobabbler

**1 pt. Flaw**

Your
obsessive love of a specialized field inspires you to fill every waking hour with
obscure jargon and obtuse metaphrase­ology. Most folks can’t understand half of
what you say, and their incomprehension of such elementary terminology impels
you to facilitate obligatory (if remedial) pedagogy. Oh, for fuck’s sake – just
talk normal for a change!

In game
terms, this Flaw imposes difficulty modifiers (+1 or +2) on social rolls, thanks
to the character’s compulsive jar­gonization, hyperinitiated nomenclature, and
condescending pedanticism. The Flaw’s first variation reflects arcane special­ization,
the second reflects tech-based terminology, and other variations (Specious
Legalese, Obtuse Academia, and so forth) could reflect similar fascinations
with other fields. For people who actually understand you, however, the usual
penalty might become a social bonus instead… at which point everyone else
probably leaves the room and lets the experts talk amongst themselves.

### Expendable

**Mage:**

**3 pt. Flaw**

An
upper-level member of your group wants you dead, and sticks you with missions
that will probably get the job done sooner rather than later. You could be the
lab assistant who keeps being told to send those big metal kites up into the
thunderstorm, the apprentice who keeps getting sent off to obtain forbidden
artifacts, or the Black Suit who keeps facing off against yet another goddamned
werewolf pack while his dispatcher makes excuses for the lack of timely backup.
Either way, you’re pretty screwed.

Worst of
all, no one will openly admit that’s the case, and you may not even know who’s
got it out for you, much less why they’re trying to get you perished.

Although
this Flaw works best for Technocratic operatives (who remain subject to orders
no matter who they might be), it suits any Awakened group that operates with a
top-down hierarchy wherein high-ranking mages assign missions to low­er-ranking
ones and expect those orders to be obeyed – say, the Templar Knights, the Order
of Hermes, the Celestial Chorus, and so forth. It does not suit shamans,
Ecstatics, or other mages who don’t give a flying fuck what their so-called
superiors say.

**Vampire:**

**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.

### 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.

### Family Issues

**1 to 3 pt. Flaw**

Many mages
leave their families behind. You didn’t do that, although you may often wish
you could. A flipside of the Merit: Family Support, this Flaw saddles you with
a basket of goodies from Dysfunction Junction, family-style. You might have a
meddling uncle, an abusive sibling, an alcoholic parent, or “simply” the
leftovers from dealing with such peo­ple. You might have tried to escape them,
but if so, someone in your family is still looking for you.

The family
doesn’t have to still be part of your physical reality, but the mess they left
behind if you managed to get away from them remains a part of your existence today.

As with
Supportive Family, the clan in question could be blood relatives, an adopted
family, or a family-of-choice you kinda wish you hadn’t chosen. The more points
you have in this Flaw, the more your family issues interfere with your Awak­ened
life. They could be mages themselves, though that’s not often the case. More likely,
they’re folks who still look for you even in your Newlife, hangers-on who won’t
leave you alone, sickly relations who need tending, kids or siblings (or even
parents) who have constant troubles with the law… the possibilities are as
endless as the real-life complications that a troubled family can bring. And
no, you can’t just ditch out on ‘em even if you’ve already tried to do so.

If you
could, they wouldn’t still be your problem, now would they?

### Fifth Degree

**5 pt. Flaw**

Whether you
know it or not, you have outlived your use­fulness to the Technocratic Union. Your
superiors have set you up to fall, and your date with Room 101 or a suicide mission
waits right around the corner. Combine all the deficits of the Flaw: Rogue with
the assurance that you’re only alive because someone would rather have you take
out the bad guys when you go down in a blaze of glory than spend the resources
necessary to take you down themselves.

You have
one more chance to make good and stay alive. Step out of line again, and your
fate will be the sort of thing that makes cyborgs cringe.

### 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.

### Gullible

**2 pt. Flaw**

You believe
everything folks tell you. You repost memes without checking their accuracy or
source. You fall for cons and pranksters every single time. Seriously? How can
a mage be so goddamned gullible? Beats me, but yeah – subtract three dice from
every dice pool you roll (down to a minimum of one die) when you’re trying to
penetrate falsehoods (lies, not stealth), or to fool people with your own
bumbling attempts at deception.

### Hit List

**4 pt. Flaw**

A rival
group wants you dead. You might be a Templar who’s made enemies among the
Etherites, an Etherite who crossed the line with the New World Order, and so
forth. Whatever happened, it’s personal and extends to the entire group. As
with ”Clan Enmity”, this is a deadly business, far worse than the one-point
Sect Enmity, above.

Social
rolls when dealing with members of this group add +2 to their difficulty – if
you get a chance to make such rolls at all. Whether or not the enemy group
actively attacks you on sight, its members will go out of their way to make
your life solitary, unpleasant, nasty, brutish, and short.

### 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.

### 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.

### 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 are distrusted and disliked as well.

### Infamy

**1 to 5 pt. Flaw**

You’ve made
a bad name for yourself among the Masses. Like the Background: Fame, this Flaw
represents a degree of recognition; in your case, though, that’s not a good
thing… especially not when you want to keep your life as a mage a secret from
the Sleepers.

Once again,
the weight of the Flaw determines its value:

**1 point**: Certain people within a region or
subculture recognize and dislike you. (Examples: the local drunk, Vox Day.)

**2 points**: Your notoriety was wide once, but
has faded to occasional recognition and disdain (H.R. Clinton, M.C. Hammer).

**3 points**: You’re famous, but many people do
not like you (Kanye West, Nickelback).

**4 points**: The authorities don’t like you
either (Roosh V, Jared Fogle).

**5 points**: You’re a household name, and that
name is shit (O.J. Simpson, Charles Manson).

Especially
in the age of social media and intelligence net­works, this sort of infamy can
be a very bad thing. Obviously, some folks adore you, if only because the rest
of the world hates you. On the whole, however, your reputation among the Masses
is more bad than good, and folks go out of their way to give you a hard time.
As with other bad reputations, you may not have actually done anything wrong;
then again, there might be reasons that folks hate your guts.

### Insane /Infamous Mentor

**1 pt. Flaw**

The mage
who taught you the ropes is dangerously tangled up in them. Maybe she’s out of
her head (though probably not a Marauder… yet); or he’s got an awful rep that
has splattered all over you. That person could be angry at you for some reason
(good or otherwise), or live downstream on Shit Creek, with a nasty habit of
dragging you along for the ride. This Flaw makes an excellent addition to the
Background: Mentor, and has a way of fouling up your relationships with other
mages as well as your bond with the mentor herself.

### 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.

### 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.

### 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.

### Mistaken Identity

**1 pt. Flaw**

You’re not
who folks think you are, but that doesn’t stop them from thinking that you are
that person. For some reason – similar features, related habits, a bureaucratic
fuck-up that linked their data to you, or maybe some far more insidious
connection – confusion follows you around. This situation is awkward at best,
and can get downright dangerous if that not-you person is wanted for serious
crimes…

### Mr. Red Tape

**4 pt. Flaw**

Bureaucracy
hates you. Any official complication that could go wrong will go wrong if
you’re the one who’s dealing with the authorities. Essentially the opposite of
the Merit: Master of Red Tape, this Flaw adds + 2 to the difficulty of any roll
you make when trying to get something done through an established system, and
throws stupid mistakes and delays into the works whenever you’ve got to work
with any sort of bureaucracy.

### Naïve

**1 pt. Flaw**

Surely, the
world can’t be that dark… can it? (Spoiler: Yes, yes it can.) Oblivious to the
depths of misery around you, you retain an intrinsic faith in the best possible
outcome. And while this sort of optimism can provide the foundation for
literally world-changing beliefs, it can also blind you to the realities you
face.

When making
a roll that could detect another character’s bad intentions or malignant
nature, add +2 to the difficulty of your roll.

Story-wise,
you have a hard time believing that the terrible things you see around you could
really be as bad as they seem, and may perhaps lack empathy for other people’s
pain (+2 to the difficulty of Empathy-based rolls, at the Storyteller’s option)
because you recognize so little about pain yourself.

### Narc

**3 pt. Flaw**

Cursed with
the rep of an informer, you’re on the outs with your would-be associates. As
with other reputation-based Flaws, this shunning may be based on mistakes and
rumors; in this case, though, it’s probably at least somewhat accurate. Known
spies and spymasters, intelligence officers, witnesses against their fellow
mages, members of groups that are assigned to investigation and justice (like
House Quaesitor or the Ivory Tower), and other real or assumed snitches
generally catch such reputations by default.

System-wise,
this Flaw adds +1 to the difficulty of social rolls when dealing with people
who fear you might be spying on them; story-wise, such people could be feeding
you misinformation, stonewalling you, or plotting to take you out when the
moment to do so seems right.

### 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

**1 pt. Flaw**

**Mage:**

You’ve just
recently Awakened, and you still have some­thing to prove. Your peers don’t
think much of you just yet, and although you’ve got allies who consider you
worth their time, their investment in your goodwill is minimal. Add +2 to the
difficulty of your social rolls with more experienced mages until you’ve earned
the right (and the experience) to buy off this Flaw.

On the good
side, however, you’re likely to be popular with certain companions, although –
as “new meat” in a social scene often discovers – that’s not always the kind of
attention you’ll want.

**Vampire:**

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.)

### Notoriety

**3 pt. Flaw**

Thanks to
this inverse of the Merit: Prestige, you’re saddled with a bad reputation among
your fellow mages. System-wise, this Flaw adds +2 to the difficulties of all
social rolls within your faction (Traditions, Crafts, Technocracy, etc.), and
pre­disposes pretty much everyone outside your closest friends to think the
worst of you.

Rumors dog your
steps, and whispers precede your appearance. Whether or not the stories are
true, you’ve been linked to some disgrace, and will be shunned and probably
punished accordingly if you haven’t been punished already.

You might
be able to shuck this bad rep eventually, but it’s gonna be a pretty rough road
until you do.

### 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.

### Offline

**1 or 3 pt. Flaw**

You hate
the goddamned Internet. As far as you’re con­cerned, it’s a complicated waste
of time. You loathe social networking, lack a webpage, refuse to Twitter, and
don’t really even know (or care) how to Google stuff. Anyone who wants to
contact you can damned well write a letter, use a telephone, or just leave you
the hell alone! (Damn kids, get off my digital lawn…)

While this
Flaw is worth only one point in cultures where the Internet is an occasional
(and often privileged) indulgence, it’s a three-point Flaw in cultures where
Internet access and participation are major elements of most people’s social
lives. Those cultural divides are more tied to generational and eco­nomic
divides than they are to ethnic or geographical ones. A poor, elderly, or
simply old-fashioned New Yorker might not really care about net access, so long
as she can still stay in contact with her friends and family; a college student
in Rio, however, would be at a pretty significant disadvantage if he chose to
avoid the Internet. And yeah – twenty-first-century mages use the Internet too,
even if they don’t visit the Digital Web. Online presence isn’t just for
Virtual Adepts anymore!

### Old Flame

**2 pt. Flaw**

A former
love of your life now works for the enemy. Worse, she knows your weak spots,
and can still call on you “for old times’ sake.” Unless you succeed on a contested
Manipulation + Expression roll against your former friend, you cannot act
against him unless the situation becomes life-threatening.

### Outsider

**2 pt. Flaw**

Because of
rumors (true or not), an ill-done deed, poor decision, or some other character
flaw, you have a poor reputation among Kinfolk and Garou. They don’t necessarily
hurt you, but they let you know you aren’t welcome in their camps or homes.
Make all Social rolls involving interaction with werewolves and Kin at +2
difficulty.

### 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 Member

**4 pt. Flaw**

**Mage:**

Having
recently defected from a rival group or faction, you’re on probation with the current
group. Peers expect you to turn on them, and certain folks have probably
decided to throw you under the bus on general principle. Your continued
membership (possibly even your survival) depends upon doing everything right
and nothing wrong… and just how often do things really go that well in the real
world, anyway?

**Vampire:**

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.

### 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.

### 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.

### Rival House

**1 to 5 pt. Flaw**

You
 belong
to a Chantry (or Construct, or whatever) that has a longstanding animosity with
another such organization. This could be a rival Hermetic Chantry, a temple
whose members consider you to be heretics, a hostile street gang, an opposing
martial arts order, a coven that has declared a witch-war against your group, a
Construct that has marked you all for death, and so on. This antagonism is
mutual, too, and you’re expected to act accordingly. Mediation remains
unlikely, and things could get worse before they get better… if improved
relations are even possible.

Obviously,
such hostility is personal, with deep roots in the backstory of your chronicle
and its characters. Groups of mages don’t generally pursue mass grudges without
serious reasons to do so! The Flaw’s value depends upon the power of that other
stronghold and the level to which they hate members of your own.

**1 point**: A minor rivalry with an associated
Chantry of equal or lesser power in relation to your own. For the most part,
the antagonism involves pranks, competition, minor sabotage, and occasional
“friendly” brawls.

**2 points**: A significant rivalry (serious
fights and slanders, major sabotage) with a Chantry of similar power, or a
minor rivalry with a Chantry so powerful they don’t consider yours to be a true
threat.

**3 points**: Deadly antagonism between roughly
equal Chantries.

**4 points**: A significant rivalry between your
Chantry and one that’s powerful enough to inflict serious damage upon your own.

**5 points:** Deadly hatred from a Chantry that
could level yours if they really wanted to… and they probably do.

From the
three-point version onward, it’s pretty unlikely that the rivalry can be
resolved without a shared enemy or some significant interference from an even
more powerful third party. It might not be resolvable even then. This Flaw
requires the Background: Chantry /Construct, but any character with such
associations can take it – the Flaw is not restricted to mages from the
Traditions and Technocracy. Your rivalry might cross factions, too; a Hermetic
House might hold a longstanding enmity with a Progenitor lab. It can also exist
within a single group (two rival Etherite collectives), or between two related
groups that do not belong to the same faction; alchemist sects, for example,
have been arguing over the name Solificati for centuries, with no end in sight!

### 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.

### Rivalry

**3 to 5 pt. Flaw**

An
associate of yours has it out for you, and while this rival cannot openly move
against you (probably because of an external authority she doesn’t want to risk
annoying, or social pressures that she can’t avoid), she’ll make your life as
difficult as she can under the circumstances. Rumors, sabotage, exposed
scandals, and perennial traps are just a few of your rival’s weapons against
you. And while you can dance around most of them, a few still manage to hit
their mark.

The value
of this Flaw depends, as usual, on the amount of trouble this rivalry causes
for you:

**3 points:** Someone of a lower or equal degree
of power and influence wants to complicate your life.

**4 points:** A rival of greater power and
influence throws obstacles in your path whenever possible.

**5 points**: A far more powerful rival is seriously
dedicated to keeping you miserable… possibly even to making you dead.

Why does
this person hate you? It could be a “simply business” sort of situation, like
the rivalry between Syndicate executives or Hermetic Adepts. There may be a
romantic tangle or family history involved, or perhaps an academic dispute, as
is often found among members of the Etherite Tradition or Progenitor
lab-groups. Chances are, this person doesn’t actually want you dead – just
disgraced or removed from further consideration. Fatal rivalries do arise,
however… and as Doissetep’s implosion proved long ago, such things can get
really ugly when mages are involved.

### Rogue

**4 pt. Flaw**

The loosest
of cannons, you’re gonna do whatever you damn well please, and to hell with any
and all consequences! You might still belong to a group, but your membership is
more a matter of habit or convenience than of loyalty.

Alternately,
you may have gone your way and now exist in a nebulous state between fondly remembered
comrade and total outlaw.

Certain
Backgrounds (Requisitions and Secret Weapon) are forbidden to you now, and
others (Allies, Backup, Chantry, Resources, and potentially many more) are hard
to access – perhaps even impossible to access – if their connection to you
depends upon your allegiance to a group. Former peers consider you a liability,
and the main reason no one has taken you out yet is because nobody’s gotten
around to doing so successfully.

For
Technocratic operatives, this Flaw is a slow-motion death sentence; for other
mages, it could involve similar threats to longevity, although many Crafts
(aside from the Templars, Wu Lung, and Hippolytoi) and most Traditions (aside
from the Chakravanti, Akashayana, and Order of Hermes) take a more liberal
approach to rogue members. Either way, your relationships with former allies
are strained at best (+3 to the difficulty of most social rolls involving their
goodwill), and you’re on rather hostile terms with your so-called (or former)
superiors. Some mages manage to live for quite a while in this state of mutual
antagonism. Most, however, do not.

### Rotten Liar

**3 pt. Flaw**

Man, you
suck at lying! You could not tell a credible un­truth if your life depended on
it… which it might, so this can be sort of a problem for you. It may be that
you’re just too honest for your own good, or cursed to speak the truth as you
know it, regardless of the cost or your intentions; then again, you might just
stammer your way through attempted deceptions, telegraphing your lies through
body language and vocal tone.

Whatever
the reason, add +2 to the difficulty of any die roll you make when you’re
trying to deceive another character. Yes, this penalty extends to magickal
deceptions too, like illusions or mind control. Honesty might not always be the
best policy among the Awakened, but for you it’s generally the best option.

### Sect Enmity

**1 pt. Flaw**

Mage groups
tend to have issues with each other by their very nature. You, however, have
managed to piss off an entire sect of mages within your larger group. You could
be a Verbena witch who hacked off the Hermetic House Flambeau (yipe), a Black
Suit on the wrong side of the Friends of Courage, or a Red Spear who
trash-talked the Ghost Wheel Society and lived to regret it. Although your
enemies won’t try to kill you – you are theoretically on the same side, after
all – they really don’t like your face, or much else about you.

Generally,
the members of the sect in question will have as little to do with you as they
can, and won’t be terribly coop­erative if they must deal with you at all. Social
dice rolls you make while dealing with members from this group add +2 to the
difficulty.

You cannot,
obviously belong to this sect when you first take this Flaw, although you could
conceivably smooth things over, buy off the Flaw, and join that group later.

A player
may buy this Flaw multiple times to reflect poor relationships with several
different sects. Storytellers are advised to create several reoccurring
characters from the rival sect, in order to give this Flaw some teeth. For a
more severe version of this Flaw, see Hit List.

### 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.

### Sleeping with the Enemy

**3 pt. Flaw**

A paramour
of yours belongs to an enemy group – Awakened antagonists, perhaps, or maybe
one of the Night-Folk. This isn’t simply a matter of rivalry; if you’re
discovered, you’re both probably gonna die. Still, love (or lust) is a powerful
force, and so you and your loved one live out one of those Romeo and Juliet
situations.

Just remember,
though: Romeo and Juliet is a tragedy, not a romance, and things are likely to
go the same way for you.

### Special Responsibility

**1 pt. Flaw**

You and
your big mouth! Shortly after you joined your current group, you stepped up and
assumed a duty to that group. Doing so earned you some points with the
leadership, but that duty comes at great cost to you. This responsibility
weighs on you to a significant degree, consuming time, energy, and social,
emotional and perhaps monetary resources you’d rather devote to other things.

Obviously,
you need to define what you’re doing for whom, and what you need to do in the
course of doing it. Although it’s (probably) not dangerous in life-threatening
ways, this Flaw demands constant attention. Until you buy off the Flaw, you
really can’t skip out on your responsibilities.

### 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.

### Troublemaker

**2 pt. Flaw**

Pretty much
the inverse of the Merit: Sanctity (p. 57); you project an impression of guilt
even when you haven’t done anything wrong. Folks blame you for pretty much
everything, and the authorities go harder on you than they might if you didn’t
seem like such a noxious little turd! You come across like a natural-born
sinner regardless of how you behave. Gee, if you’re gonna get punished no
matter what you do, maybe you ought to at least have some fun before the whip
comes down.

### Twisted Apprenticeship

**1 pt. Flaw**

Someone
taught you all the wrong things. For whatever reason, the mentor who introduced
you to the Awakened realm did a terrible job, and now you reap the benefits. They
may have told you lies about other groups, filled your head with nonsense about
the nature of magick (though in all honesty, pretty much everyone does that),
or simply behaved like a raging shmuck and left you with the payoff. Now folks
blame you for things you did not do (or you did out of ignorance), and the
mentor’s bad rep and worse teachings hang about you like a god-slaying stink.
You’ll probably recover eventually, but your Awakened career got off to a
wretched start.

### 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.

### 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.

### Ward

**3 pt. Flaw**

Mages
rarely move through life alone. And when certain companions – lovers, children,
partners, parents, close friends, even employers – depend upon you, that lack
of loneliness can become a liability.

This Flaw
represents a character, or a group of characters, who require constant
attention on your part. Your life is a hazard to them, and their needs often
provide hazards for you as well. Wards tend to get in trouble, require
rescuing, and go digging into aspects of your life you’d prefer they left
alone. Is it love that binds you to your ward? Duty? An oath? Family obligations?
A job like bodyguarding, teaching or medicine? Regardless of the reason, each
ward is an essential part of your life. Their life is your priority.

Although
Ward characters may have a useful skill or two, such folks are unAwakened
people, not mages, Night-Folk, familiars, or other powerful entities. That said,
you could take a Ward Flaw to reflect a special bond with a Retainer, a Cult
member, or one of your Spies. Merits like Supportive Family or True Love (and
Flaws like Family Issues) go well with the Ward Trait. Wards don’t have to be
human, either – your dog, your cat, your horse… an animal who depends upon you
could be a ward as well.

You can
take this Flaw more than once, to reflect several dependent characters. Yeah,
there are reasons that mages tend to avoid having big families!

Obviously,
each ward is a Storyteller character, with all the agendas and complications
that situation entails. This person might not count as a Sleeper witness with
regards to your magick… but if you’ve been keeping that person in the dark with
regards to your true life and nature, they could still count as a witness for
at least their first experience with your sort of “reality.”

### Witch-Hunted

**4 pt. Flaw**

The Masses
want you dead. You’ve been exposed for what you are and can do, and so various
unAwakened parties have decided to take you out like the abomination you’ve
become. These hunters could be law-enforcement authorities, religious groups,
fanatical sects, furious mobs, imbued hunters, pawns of the Night-Folk… whoever
they might be, these people offer a significant threat to your existence,
possessing the power to end you and the dedication to back it up. Your Arts
alone cannot stop them, and a painful showdown (or three) is sadly inevitable.