Merits are special capabilities or knacks that add individuality to your character. They’re purchased during character creation or with experience points over the course of your chronicle.
The Merits in this chapter are organized alphabetically into three broad categories: Physical, Mental and Social. Some apply to your character’s basic traits to enhance them in particular situations. Some have prerequisites that must be met before they can be purchased. For example, a character with the Gunslinger Merit must have a Dexterity of 3 and Firearms of 3 or higher to be able to accurately fire two weapons at the same time. By the same token, some Merits apply drawbacks that balance out their inherent advantages. A character with the Fame Merit, for example, is treated like a star wherever he goes — but has a hard time blending into the crowd when he wants to.
Each Merit has a number of dots (•) associated with it. These dots represent the number of points that must be spent to purchase the Merit. Some Merits allow for a range of dots (say, • to •••). These allow you to purchase a low rating if it’s appropriate to your character concept, or you can start with a low level and increase it over time with experience points.
A character is born with some Merits or develops them early in life, while others can be acquired through trail and error, training and effort later in life.
The first kind can be acquired at character creation only and are labeled as such. The second kind can be acquired during play with experience points.
Merit dots must be purchased sequentially with experience points. You have to buy • and then •• before your character can have ••• or more.
Homeless or investigative vampires who have spent all or most of their Requiems in Chicago may have gained some knowledge of the vast and complicated system of connected el tunnels, abandoned freight tunnels, deep tunnels, sewers and commuter train tunnels that riddle the land beneath the city. This Merit indicates how well the character knows this interconnecting suite of tunnels. Characters may add their dots in this Merit to Survival dice pools made within the Undercity, in addition to the effects described below. It should be noted that any Kindred who starts bringing unwanted visitors into the Undercity makes enemies of his fellow tunneldwellers in no time, not the least of whom is Max Maurey.
• The character has ventured into the tunnels once or twice. He’s safe so long as he stays on the biggest and busiest passageways. Getting from one place to another strictly through the tunnels may take up to twice as long as it would on the surface. Penalties to dice pools for navigation and survival in the Undercity are reduced by one (e.g., from –3 to –2).
•• The character has a solid, but imperfect, understanding of Chicago’s tunnels. He may specialize in one kind of tunnel (el tunnels or freight tunnels, for example), or he may stick to primary and secondary tunnels. Traveling from one place to another through the Undercity is no more time-consuming than surface travel. Penalties to dice pools for navigation and survival in the Undercity are reduced by two (e.g., from –3 to –1).
••• The character knows the Undercity in an up-close and personal way. She has personally explored dozens of tunnels down to the smallest service conduit and probably spends most of her active time down in the Undercity. She can tell her location in the tunnels by one or two subtle landmarks and knows the fastest routes to get anywhere. A character with this level of knowledge need never fear getting lost in the Undercity and cuts travel time by 25% when traveling between any two points in Chicago via the tunnels. Penalties to dice pools for navigation and survival in the Undercity are reduced by three (e.g., from –3 to 0).