A veteran character is one with at least five years of experience in a specific field. These characters haven’t yet experienced enough of the oddities of the World of Darkness to truly recognize everything isn’t as it seems, but they’ve had more real-world experience than is typical of your average starting character. For each dot spent on this Merit, the character gains one Specialty in a Skill that relates to her field. Stacking Specialties (above) is recommended in coordination with this Merit.

Examples of appropriate Skills to enhance with Specialties by way of this Merit include:

Cop: Computer, Investigation, any Physical Skill except Survival, any Social Skill (including Animal Ken for K-9 units) except Socialize.

Blue Collar Laborer: Computer, Crafts, possibly Medicine by field, Athletics, Drive, any Social Skill except Streetwise.

Professor: Any Mental Skill except Occult, Athletics, Drive, any Social Skill except Streetwise.

Professional Thief: Computer, Crafts, Investigation, any Physical Skill except Survival, any Social Skill except Animal Ken.

White Collar Laborer: Any Mental Skill except Crafts and Occult, Athletics, Drive, any Social Skill except Animal Ken and Streetwise.

Soldier: Academics, Computers, Crafts, Medicine, any Physical Skill except Larceny, any Social Skill except Animal Ken and Streetwise.

Street Thug: Crafts, Investigation, any Physical Skill except Survival, any Social Skill except Animal Ken and Empathy.

Example: Stew decides he wants to make a beat cop with several years experience on the job. He invests three dots into the Veteran Merit, which allows him to select three Skills to enhance with a Specialty. Stew figures his character has in-depth knowledge of Drive, Firearms, and Investigation and so the character begins play with a Specialty in each of those Skills. Likely choices for Narrow Choice Specialties include Drive (Police Cruiser), Firearms (Pistol), and Investigation (Crime Scene).

Drawback: Time on the job frequently comes with some disadvantages and the longer you spend on the same job; the more problems are likely to come up. Buying this Merit at three dots or above means beginning play with one Flaw. A construction worker might lose hearing after being around loud equipment day after day, a cop is likely to make some enemies during the course of his duties, or an accountant might take to slugging back the booze to drown out the numbers dancing in his head. Select Flaws that seem in-character and use them as possible future plot points and roleplaying opportunities. Don’t feel bound by the Flaws presented in the World of Darkness Rulebook (p. 218) either. Be creative and design Flaws that say something about the character.

Example: Continuing with the example above, since Stew took three dots in the Veteran Merit, he must select one Flaw. Stew decides that his cop’s time on the job has made him cynical about human behavior, which makes him hard to deal with at times and imposes a –2 penalty to Socialize rolls.