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.
Prerequisite: Covenant Status (Carthians)
This Merit is applicable only in cities where Carthian Law has taken effect (see p. 172). The character has learned to instinctively manipulate the Law to best suit her. This usually indicates that the character has dwelled in the city for a long time and thus has an intuitive and experienced understanding of the tenets that the city’s Kindred have passed, as well as how those tenets have changed over the years. Sometimes such characters were lawyers or scholars in life, but sometimes they are simply people who latch onto Carthian Law easily (which has some interesting implications, depending on what explanation for the Law your troupe uses).
The systems for this Merit are included with the mechanics for Carthian Law and can be found on p. 174.
Prerequisite: Carthian Pull can never exceed a character’s Covenant Status (Carthians).
Carthian Pull allows a character to use a network of associates to accomplish tasks that are beyond his normal means. Because he has sowed some effort by working for the Movement, he gets to reap.
Pull is not quite the same as Status. Status is an index of respect and esteem. Carthian Pull measures how much a character has gotten done, how much she’s perceived as doing for the covenant and how much the covenant gestalt feels she deserves. Pull goes hand in hand with Covenant Status, inasmuch that someone who is useful but despised is going to have as hard a time getting help as someone who is esteemed but hapless.
Once per game month, a character with Carthian Pull can apply it to one of the following Merits: Contacts, Haven, Herd or Resources. This represents a fellow Carthian offering a favor or someone otherwise connected somehow to the Movement offering temporary aid to the character.
Example: Roger has Carthian Pull •••. He’s got a fine haven, but he’s on the wrong side of town and needs to lay low and heal after having his ass kicked in an ambush. Because Roger has some pull among his fellow Carthians, he can call in a favor, substituting his Carthian Pull for Haven. In story terms, a Carthian or Carthian sympathizer offers Roger a place to stay, allowing him to act as if he had Haven ••• for the night.
The effects of Carthian Pull do not last more than one night. Carthian Pull can be used to augment a Merit the character already possesses (for example, someone with Contacts •• and Carthian Pull • can, once per month, act as if he had Contacts •••), though Merits increased in this fashion can’t go above 5.
The player may also choose to parcel out the benefits. A character with Carthian Pull ••• could, say, use it to raise his Resources by two one night and then, a few weeks later, improve his Haven by one for a night. Whenever Carthian Pull is used, its effective level drops by the amount used for one month.
Prerequisite: Covenant Status (Carthians)
This is most commonly a website or blog where members discuss coding problems, software issues and other, similar coder chat. While most the members of the group are Carthians, or at least Kindred, they don’t discuss matters vampiric or Movement issues, except perhaps in passing. Private questions are commonly handled via encrypted mail, or (if they’re especially delicate) through arranged face-to-face meetings. Online is where the vampires go to find out whom to meet with, however. Generally, the system works fine, until a mortal in the group accidentally finds out what his email pals really are — usually because one of the Kindred assumed that everyone involved was Damned.
When making rolls with the Computer Skill, characters with this Merit may reroll 9s as well as 10s.
Prerequisite: Covenant Status (Carthians)
This is a group that gets together to discuss current events, both mortal and Kindred. These conversations become more and more frank as the members gain trust and confidence in one another. Blabbermouths imperil a group like this, even though the kind of passion that leads to reckless opining can keep such a circle fueled and running. It’s always a careful balance to maintain, especially since someone kicked out for indiscretion is likely to be pissed and to have the political ammo to do something about it.
When making rolls with the Politics Skill, characters who have this Merit may reroll 9s as well as 10s.
Prerequisite: Covenant Status (Carthians)
Kindred who like to argue get together, have some sort of structured (or unstructured) discussion, pick a topic for the next time and then leave. The topics sometimes concern distinctly vampiric matters, but more often are oriented to more general philosophy, especially political philosophy. Members not only learn facts about a variety of topics, but also learn persuasive techniques that work on any topic.
When making rolls with the Persuasion Skill, characters who have this Merit may reroll 9s as well as 10s.
Prerequisite: Covenant Status (Carthians)
The Carthians borrow freely and widely from mortal organizations. One organization from which some borrow is Alcoholics Anonymous. Others were Embraced after the advent of widespread group therapy. If Kindred were in a support group before they died, they almost certainly feel some inclination to get in one after.
Encounter groups for Kindred are scheduled opportunities for vampires to discuss personal matters in what’s supposed to be a safe, nonjudgmental and supportive environment. They can discuss practical things (“How do I keep his wife from finding out?”) and more emotional issues (“I keep getting romantically involved with my — you know — the people I feed on.”) The advice varies widely in terms of actual value, but one side effect of an encounter group is that it can help you learn the signs of real emotional trauma, as well as the tells of incomplete honesty.
When making rolls with the Empathy Skill, characters who have this Merit may reroll 9s as well as 10s.
Prerequisite: Covenant Status (Carthians)
These groups tend to be very small and secretive, as their most common meeting places are morgues after closing time. Kindred discuss, debate, dissect and speculate. Generally, they keep up-to-date on mortal medicine in order to extrapolate applications to Kindred physiology. Sometimes, they even experiment.
When making rolls with the Medicine Skill, characters with this Merit may reroll 9s as well as 10s.
Prerequisite: Covenant Status (Carthians), Membership in a Night Doctor clique (see p. 33)
The Night Doctors have developed surgical techniques that speed Kindred healing.
Although a vampiric body can’t repair itself without the use of Vitae, Night Doctor Surgery can make the job easier, and therefore more efficient.
Performing an operation with this Merit requires access to a fully modern operating room and cutting-edge tools. Due to the extreme difficulty of the techniques, tools give no bonus. They simply make resetting broken bones, stitching together tissue, reconnecting blood vessels and realigning nerves possible, all of which is necessary to ease the effort of the Vitae. In extreme cases, such as severe burns, skin grafts from other parts of the body are employed.
The player of the character performing the surgery makes an extended Intelligence + Medicine roll, with each roll representing an hour of surgery. The doctor needs to achieve a number of successes equal to the number of Health points of damage the patient has suffered (from whatever kind of damage). Once those successes are amassed, the patient has been stabilized. The player then makes one final roll, again representing an hour of surgery. Each success on that final roll turns one point of lethal damage into one point of bashing damage. Alternately, two successes on that final roll can be spent to turn one point of aggravated damage into two points of lethal damage.
Example: Monica has suffered two points of aggravated damage on her arms, but is otherwise unharmed. She goes to see Dr. M for surgery. His Intelligence + Medicine pool is five dice, and he needs two successes to stabilize her. He does it on his first two rolls, so after two hours of surgery he’s ready to really attack the problem and start reconstructing her mangled limbs. He rolls again, and this time gets two successes.
This turns one of her points of aggravated damage into two points of lethal damage. If he’d gotten four successes, both points of her aggravated damage would turn into four points of lethal damage. Had he failed his roll, the damage would remain.
It should be noted that many forms of anesthesia don’t work on Kindred. Those that do generally require the patient to use the Blush of Life effect to deliberately absorb them. Since Kindred who are willing to undergo surgery are often short of Vitae, this can be a problem. Various solutions have been used, from staking (which has the drawback of inflicting more damage, but which at least keeps the patient still) to Dominate to simply strapping the patient down and stuffing a gag in his mouth.
Prerequisite: Covenant Status (Carthians)
Often taking the form of a book club based around scientific or cultural texts, the Study Group pursues knowledge aimlessly, based more on what’s interesting than what’s useful at the minute.
When making rolls with the Academics Skill, characters with this Merit may reroll 9s as well as 10s.
Prerequisite: Covenant Status (Carthians)
Your character has been trained to fight cooperatively, as a member of a tactical unit instead of just a lone brawler. Originally developed by anarchist demonstrators to overwhelm armed and protected (but outnumbered) police, Swarm Tactics offer Carthians distinct advantages against battle-Disciplined Kindred or other foes.
Dots purchased in this Merit allow access to special combat maneuvers. Each maneuver is a prerequisite for the next. So, your character can’t have “Unexpected Strike” until he has “Feint.” The maneuvers and their effects are detailed below. All can be used with either Brawl or Weaponry.
Feint (•): You may declare that you’re making a Feint, and then roll a normal Brawl or Weaponry attack against a single opponent. If the roll succeeds, it does no damage, but anyone else who attacks that opponent can use Unexpected Strike if he knows how. The opponent is vulnerable until the end of the turn.
Unexpected Strike (••): If you attack someone who has successfully been fooled by a Feint, you can take 9 Again with your attack, even if the weapon you’re using typically allows only 10 Again. If you attack someone who has been fooled by two Feints, you can take 8 Again as well.
Prerequisite: Covenant Status (Carthians)
A group of this nature might be a formalized gang in one city, a group that meets for a weekly poker night in another or just some guys who know the right bar for playing pool and hearing gossip. Characters with The Right Bar Merit hear the word on the street, not because they seek it out, but because they’re right on the street there with it.
When making rolls with the Streetwise Skill, characters who have this Merit may reroll 9s as well as 10s.
Prerequisite: Covenant Status (Carthians)
No director likes a pale, dead-eyed Desdemona, particularly if she can’t make matinee performances. An undead actor going on with the show even after her Requiem begins isn’t impossible, but it’s challenging. Thus, many of them turn to other vampires. Some domains have complete societies of Kindred theaters performing Kindred-penned plays that touch on Kindred themes for exclusive Kindred audiences. There aren’t many, however. More commonly, performances and troupes are small. Those who want to perform in mortal plays can find few better allies than a Kindred theater society. Providing, of course, that they haven’t found bitter rivals there.
When making rolls with the Expression Skill, characters who have this Merit may reroll 9s as well as 10s.