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.
The Kindred who believe that eating a mortal’s liver can substitute for a period of normal feeding have it wrong. Devouring a human liver, still hot and dripping from the victim’s body, merely enables a vampire to subsist on less potent forms of blood. A vampire whose Blood Potency restricts her to human blood can subsist on animal blood once more; Kindred who must drink the Vitae of their fellow vampires can go back to merely mortal blood — for a while.
Liver-eating carries a number of restrictions. First and foremost, the vampire needs a living, human victim to kill. Aside from loss of Humanity, the character faces the practical difficulties of committing a murder, hiding the body and making sure the police can never tie the crime back to her.
Once the vampire rips the liver from her prey, she has to eat it and hold it down. To consume anything except blood, a character must expend one Vitae to keep from immediately vomiting what she swallowed (as described on p. 157 of Vampire: The Requiem). It isn’t enough to hold the raw meat down for a scene before eliminating it, however. To gain the benefits of liver-eating, a vampire must also expend a Willpower point to keep the meat in her stomach until she sleeps. When she rises the next night, the liver is burned away by her Vitae and she can feed on weaker blood for a number of nights equal to 10 + twice her Stamina.
Liver-eating takes practice or training from someone who already knows the art. It therefore constitutes a three-dot Merit. As a character tries to develop the art, however, the Storyteller may ask the player to roll Stamina + Resolve each time the character attempts to eat a liver; failure means the character vomits up her cannibal feast (possibly just as she slipped into her daily sleep) and gains no benefits for the attempt. After the character succeeds three times (or so), the Storyteller can grant that the character has mastered liver-eating and no further rolls are needed.
“THE CRONES WHO RUN THAT PLACE PAY GOOD MONEY FOR LIVERS. NEVERMIND WHAT THEY ’RE FOR.”
Similar to Covenant Status, Mithraic Status indicates rank within the Mysteries of Mithras. In the narrowest sense, each dot conveys only rank within the Mithraic cult, and if the Mysteries are weak (or very carefully hidden) in a given chronicle, that may be all. Within the cult, members of lower grade are expected to respect those of higher degree; as with other types of Status, Mithraic Status adds to dice pools for interactions with fellow Mithraic initiates. Unlike other Status types, however, Mithraic Status (based as it is on a supernatural bargain) does add to the dice pools predicated on supernatural powers. The Heliodromus of a Mithraic sect would add his Mithraic Status to the dice pool for use of his Dominate Discipline, for example, but only against fellow Mithraists.
• Corax (“Raven”)
•• Nymphus (“Bridegroom”)
••• Miles (“Soldier”)
•••• Leo (“Lion”)
••••• Perses (“Persian”)
•••••• Heliodromus (“Courier of the Sun”)
••••••• Pater (“Father”)
Mithraic Status has nothing to do with any other sort of vampiric Status — a Perses Adept may be nothing but a low-caste nonentity in the sight of the city’s Prince, or in the gossip of his clan. Since Mithraic initiation is a secret, a character can have more than three dots in Covenant Status along with his Mithraic Status. Of course, that is a dangerous double game to play, especially if the covenant involved is the Lancea Sanctum.
Your character has the ability to draw forth the sins of other individuals, restoring lost dots of Morality (or the equivalent trait for supernatural characters). The customary technique for doing this is to place a small piece of bread on the chest of the person whose sin you wish to eat, offering a momentary prayer, and then eating the bread, which has absorbed the subject’s guilt. Others rituals, subject to Storyteller approval, may work equally well.
To consume an individual’s sin, spend a Willpower point and make an instant contested roll pitting the Sin-Eater’s Resolve + Occult against the subject’s Resolve + Composure. The Willpower point only makes the roll possible, it doesn’t grant any bonuses to the dice pool. Each attempt requires a complete performance of the sin-eating ritual, which never takes less than thirty minutes.
Success allows the subject to attempt a new degeneration roll for a past sin. The subject makes this new degeneration roll as if his Morality was one higher; if this roll succeeds, the subject gains a point of Morality. Morality may never be raised higher than 6 through sin-eating and derangements are not automatically cured through sin-eating, but with the associated Morality dot returned, recovery becomes possible. At the Storyteller’s discretion, the subject may transcend his derangement if he goes a number of days equal to 10 – his Morality without sinning against his own Morality. Never erase a derangement overcome through sin-eating (see p. 93 of the World of Darkness Rulebook) — only real changes in behavior warrant that.
If the Sin-Eater achieves an exceptional success, both he and the subject enjoy a +2 bonus to their degeneration rolls for the ceremony.
If the Sin-Eater consumes a sin whose motive was driven by his own Vice, he regains a lost Willpower point exactly as if he had indulged the Vice himself. Likewise, if the sin was committed in the name of his Virtue (such as a vigilante killing for Justice or stealing from the wealthy to help the poor for Charity), he regains all of his spent Willpower as though he had acted on that Virtue.
Drawback: When you consume an individual’s sin, you are immediately subject to a degeneration check exactly as though you had committed the sin yourself. If you fail this degeneration check, you must check for a derangement as usual.
Example: Brother Roland, who is not actually a man of the cloth, is a practicing sin-eater at the local retirement home. He’s performing a ritual to consume the sin of a war vet with Morality 3. Roland spends a Willpower point and rolls Resolve + Occult versus the vet’s Resolve + Composure. Roland succeeds, and consumes the vet’s sin. The vet makes a new degeneration roll based on Morality 4 — the moral height from which he last fell — and so rolls three dice. He succeeds.
Roland, meanwhile, must deal with the sin he ate; because it falls beneath Roland’s own Morality of 5, he makes his own degeneration roll based on the same sin and fails. Therefore, Roland’s Morality drops and he must make a derangement check. Over time, Roland’s time with other people’s evils slowly erodes his own mind.
Turan placed the three curses on the ancient vampire houses to teach the believers, not to punish them. The three curses show the way to better serve the blood gods and in turn, better the Requiems of all vampires. The rigorous teachings known as the Enlightened Code of the Lawgiver are thought to have been developed by a member of the Ordo Dracul in 19th-century Delaware. Obsessed with the vampiric traditions and shot through with Kindred chauvinism, the Enlightened Code is the most “scientific” of the moral teachings set forth by those who revere the Lasa. The Enlightened Code is also notorious for driving its more weak-willed adherents into intractable depths of madness.
Based on strict adherence to ‘vampire law,’ the Code revolves around the immutability of the vampiric Traditions. Even the Ordo Dracul has not openly defied that core set of beliefs, for they are more ingrained in vampiric nature than the fear of daylight. If vampires could cleave wholeheartedly to the Traditions and to one another, their Requiems would no longer be plagued with trite psychological tribulations. The blood gods do not want us to suffer; they want us to unlock the mysteries of life and death and they have shown us how we must “live.” Known as “Abiders,” those who follow the Enlightened Code of the Lawgiver study with religious devotion the nature of death and the strange state of torpor. Hoping to scour themselves of mortal qualities, Abiders do not fear Final Death even though they know nothing but oblivion awaits them. By becoming “pure” vampires, they set an example for all Kindred to seek knowledge of the Lasa and themselves.
Pledging (•): If an Abider’s action or inaction while protecting or enforcing the Traditions causes him to make a degeneration check, he receives +1 die on the roll. Enabling another vampire to violate the Traditions in a scene — or violating them himself — costs an Abider one Willpower point.
Testifying (••): An Abider may use his dots in this Merit in place of her Humanity to determine the length of voluntary torpor. In the event of involuntary torpor, consider the Abider’s Humanity rating to be two dots higher, to a maximum of eight dots, when determining the length of her death-sleep.
Affirming (•••): An Abider gains +2 dice on rolls to resist fear frenzy. If an Abider attempts to “ride the wave” in a scene, he loses one Willpower point.
Binding (••••): An Abider may spend a Willpower point to gain one automatic success on one roll to resist fear frenzy. If an Abider succumbs to fear frenzy in a scene, she loses one Willpower point.
The Red Path teaches that the primordial blood gods were, in fact, the first vampires and, in turn, created all modern vampires. Followers of the red or Eastern path are often known as Seekers. Unlike the Lasa’s lesser offspring, the blood of the Lasa was pure and never weakened through the ages; Seekers look for the secret that will allow them to attain a similar god-like state. Emulating the tales of the blood gods, Seekers long for the power of a never-diminishing Blood Potency and aggressively perfect the powers of their blood. Aeshma’s devotees spend long hours practicing with their blood-fueled powers and take great pleasure in having to feed as often as they can.
Seekers also acknowledge the Beast as the whispering voice of the blood god Aeshma and hone their ability to listen to the Beast without succumbing to it. Frenzy is seen as a transcendent state akin to possession, and those who can ride the wave of frenzy are highly regarded by the followers of the Eastern path. While Seekers respect all of the Lasa, Aeshma is seen as the Seekers’ patron and benefactor. Sometimes accused of being a diablerie cult, the priests of Aeshma actually see diablerie as an unworthy shortcut that betrays the third curse, for they are tasked with gathering mortal blood. But a degenerate few look to the example set by the tale of Ilmaku’s murder; to them, the blood belongs to those who can take it.
Questing (•): If a Seeker’s actions while feeding off a mortal cause the Seeker to make a degeneration check, he receives +1 die on the roll. This bonus cannot apply if the feeding occurs after the degeneration check is called for. Failing to investigate the origins of vampire kind or denying the blood god’s role in vampire genesis in a scene costs the Seeker one Willpower point.
Finding (••): When a believer rides the wave of frenzy, he receives an additional +1 die bonus to all Physical actions, in addition to the frenzy’s usual benefits.
Becoming (•••): Seekers receive a +2 die bonus to resist the effects of blood addiction, but not a Vinculum. Drinking animal blood in a scene (rather than human) costs a Seeker one Willpower point.
Unleashing (••••): If actions taken in frenzy cause a Seeker to make a degeneration check, he receives +2 die on the roll. The Seeker cannot regain Willpower from his Virtue if his actions benefit a mortal.
Followers of Athtar’s way trace the origins of their current beliefs to a small fortress at the base of Mont Blanc in the French Alps. The basic principles of the Athtari were most likely formulated by an insulated group of heretical Lancea Sanctum scholars in the early Middle Ages. Their spiritual forebears only spread beyond those lands due to the persecution of their mortal herd and the destruction of their ‘monastery’ during the late Renaissance. Athtari, sometimes called Purists, believe that all of the blood gods are but representations of Athtar and that greater division came about by the intrusion of local beliefs. The true believer must return to the fundamentals of the faith, and all of the many names must be revealed as masks worn by the one Creator. According to the Purists, Athtar cast off his own flesh and transcended to the spiritual world. Seven tribes of men were given the god’s sinful skin in seven portions to safeguard it against Athtar’s many enemies. But each tribe was in turn overwhelmed by their own vices and devoured the god flesh.
After their feast, they were forever changed. They lusted for living blood, and each tribe bore their sin as a mark on their soul. When Athtar returned to the physical world, he chided them for their misdeeds, for those who ate of his flesh and blood would forever be denied entrance into the living world of spirits. Instead they would be trapped on the corpse world of material things, at best a prison constructed to test the virtuous. Now the tribes were as Athtar, dying every morning only to awake at sunset hungry for red blood.
Trapped in the land of misery, the tribes formed a pact in the name of Athtar to become the guardians of the spiritual world and safeguard their god from the unworthy. Only the virtuous would transcend beyond this world and the tribes would test the living with the transient temptations of the rotting world. Purists aspire to gratify their every impulse and overindulge their every vain whim, hoping their avarice and gluttony will tempt or provoke others into similarly condemning themselves to the physical world. Since the damned tribes are forever locked out of the spiritual world, they must make their paradise on Earth.
Initiation (•): If a Purist’s action or inaction while fulfilling his Vice causes him to make a degeneration check, the Purist receives a +1 die bonus on the roll. Acting modestly, altruistically or otherwise giving of himself without gain during a scene costs a Purist one Willpower point.
Acquiescence (••): No matter how cruel or callous a believer becomes, her intimate knowledge of human weakness gives her leverage when manipulating mortals. Athtari Social dice pools involving mortals are limited to a number of dice equal to the vampire’s Humanity plus two.
Glorification (•••): Athtari regain Willpower as if they had the Vice of Greed in addition to their own Vices. If this is already the vampire’s Vice, then he regains two Willpower when he fulfills it instead of one.
Liberation (••••): A Purist requires only six experience points to buy back a Willpower dot expended to Embrace a mortal.