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.
If given access to an alchemical (or chemical) laboratory, the character may transmute a simple, common, non-precious substance into another simple, common, nonprecious substance. This ritual requires 1 hour of work.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Occult
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: An accident occurs, possibly causing mild burns or a minor explosion. The material is lost.
Failure: The material remains the same.
Success: The material is transmuted.
Exceptional Success: The final product is imbued with a mystic energy. It can be used to inflict Bashing wounds against dematerialized ghosts.
Suggested Modifiers
–1 Per point of Size of the original material over 1
–1 Per point of Durability of the original material
–1 Per dot of Resources cost of the new material
–1 Poor laboratory equipment
–1 No sample of the desired substance
By staring at and focusing on an individual for one minute, you can read the eddies and currents of a target’s soul.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Intelligence + Empathy vs. target’s Composure + Blood Potency
Action: Instant and Contested
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: You receives misleading information.
Failure: Nothing happens.
Success: The character can observe a target’s aura as per the Auspex power Aura Sight (p. 120, Vampire: The Requiem), save she cannot use it to differentiate between supernatural creatures and need not take penalties for how carefully she’s examining the aura. She gleans only a single emotion (the strongest), and gains a +1 bonus to all Social rolls with the target.
Exceptional Success: As success, save the bonus to Social rolls is +2.
Suggested Modifiers
+1 Character possesses a bit of hair, blood or clothing from the target.
+1 Character observes the target in the reflection of a mirror over a century old.
–1 The subject is a habitual or pathological liar.
By ritualizing for 10 minutes (including the consumption of raw flesh), the character can curse a target.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Persuasion vs. target’s Composure + Blood Potency
Action: Instant and Contested
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The curse rebounds upon the character and he suffers its effects.
Failure: Nothing happens.
Success: The target suffers a penalty equal to the character’s dots in Manipulation to a number of dice pools related to a specific activity (a job interview, driving, fighting, etc.) equal to the character’s Persuasion. This curse remains for 24 hours.
Exceptional Success: As success, save the penalty applies to all rolls of the designated type for 24 hours.
Suggested Modifiers
+1 Character possesses a photograph or video of the target performing the activity to be cursed.
+1 Character possesses a tool the target uses for the activity to be cursed.
–4 Target possesses the Luck Magic Merit.
Your character possesses a strong metaphysical bond to another individual. This person is likely a mortal friend or relative, but may be a supernatural entity. She cannot, however, be another Jiang Shi; the bonds that tie the Jiang Shi to the living are bonds of jealousy and longing, emotions these beasts do not feel toward one another. The bond need not be one forged while the Jiang Shi remained alive (someone who prays each day at a temple haunted by a Jiang Shi, for example, may eventually come to serve as that creature’s anchor), though it often is.
The Living Anchor acts in all ways as an anchor for the character. The Jiang Shi can travel to her as an instant action, but can travel from her only a distance in miles equal to his Resolve. As a result, Jiang Shi often threaten and coerce their Living Anchors to travel to locations of the cursed creature’s choosing.
Drawback: The bond with the Living Anchor must be established, requiring at least an uninterrupted hour of contact each week for four weeks before the Jiang Shi may purchase this Merit. This time requirement is waived for living family and close acquaintances from life, but the character must somehow arrange to be in the individual’s presence for an hour to cement the bond.
Furthermore, the Living Anchor may not be particularly inclined to assist a self-damned creature of the night. The Jiang Shi must keep the Living Anchor convinced that helping him is in her best interest. He may do so through bribery or threats, though actually killing her severs his connection to her (which may leave a Jiang Shi stranded at his grave, depending upon how remote that location is). A Living Anchor who has been pushed too far can become a deadly and devoted enemy to the Jiang Shi. One legend persists in Japan regarding a Jiang Shi (kyonshi) that killed his Living Anchor’s cousin. The Living Anchor hunted down the Jiang Shi’s grave and, with the help of a priest, destroyed the foul abomination. With both its anchors in one place, it had nowhere to run.
By spending 10 minutes ritualizing, the character can grant himself excellent luck at a specific activity. With a 30-minute ritual, he can grant that luck to another or grant himself superlative luck.
Cost: 1 Willpower
Dice Pool: Manipulation + Occult
Action: Instant
Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The character loses the benefit of the 10-Again rule for the specified action.
Failure: Nothing happens.
Success: When using the 10-minute ritual, the character gains the 9-Again rule for a number of rolls of a specific type (driving rolls, firearms rolls, etc.) chosen at the moment of casting equal to his Manipulation. Alternatively, he can spend 30 minutes ritualizing and grant himself 8-Again or another character 9-Again for 3 rolls of a specific type. These “lucky” rolls must be used within 24 hours.
Exceptional Success: As success, save the affected dice pools also gain a bonus die.
Suggested Modifiers
+1 Character possesses a piece of hair or clothing or a sample of blood from someone who excels at the type of action designated.
+1 Character possesses a picture or video of the target performing the chosen activity particularly well.
Any vampire that fights the Larvae and survives can pass along this piece of wisdom to his fellows—“Do not let them surround you.” A pack of Larvae doesn’t have much in the way of intelligence, but more than makes up for it in animal cunning, ferocity and tenacity. This Fighting Style simulates the way in which a pack of Larvae takes down its prey.
Note that only a true pack of Larvae uses the Swarm. If, for some reason, several unaffiliated Larvae wound up in the same place at the same time, and a convenient victim was nearby, the minions would be just as likely to attack each other as the vessel. They certainly would not use any of the maneuvers listed here, even if they knew them.
Not all Larvae are equally talented in battle, and so not all of them have access to all levels of the Fighting Style.
The Storyteller needs to decide, when using Larvae in a battle, which minions have access to the Swarm and at what rating. It might be simpler to assume that all members of a pack have the same rating, rather than write out traits for a large group of them, of course.
Dots purchased (or granted) in this Merit allow access to special combat maneuvers. Each dot is a prerequisite for the next one, so a Larva can’t have Set-Up until he has Dogpile. All Larvae involved in a given maneuver have to have the requisite dots in this Merit to enact it, except for Sever Limbs (see below).
• Synchronicity: The Larvae anticipate one another’s moves, waiting for an unspoken signal before moving in. The Storyteller makes one initiative roll for the Larvae, using the character with the highest Initiative modifier. All members of the pack act on this initiative.
•• Dogpile: The Larvae attack a single target simultaneously, grappling him and holding him down. A maximum of three Larvae can enact this maneuver at once. Use the grappling system found on p. 157 of The World of Darkness Rulebook, except that the Larvae use the teamwork rules (found on p. 134 of that book). The primary actor subtracts the target’s full Defense rating from the roll, but if the roll succeeds, the character is grappled by all of the participating Larvae. This means that to break free, the grappled character’s player must roll Strength + Brawl – the highest Strength rating of the grappling Larvae + 1 for each additional Larva. The grappling Larva can bite the target on the next turn, but cannot enact other Swarm maneuvers.
••• Set-Up: One Larva moves in and absorbs a blow from a victim. As the blow lands, the next Larva attacks, taking advantage of his packmate’s sacrifice. The first Larva sacrifices his Defense, taking no action for the turn. If the target attacks the “sacrificial” Larva, another member of the pack can attack the target and gain a +2 to the attack roll. Only one Larva can take advantage of this maneuver in a turn.
•••• Eyes Everywhere: Since Larvae have an intuitive sense of each other’s positions and current situation, they are extremely difficult to overwhelm. All Larvae in a given combat scene with this level of Swarm do not suffer from the Defense penalty due to multiple attacks in the same turn (see p. 155 of The World of Darkness Rulebook).
••••• Sever Limbs: Once a pack of Larvae has grappled a target using Dogpile, it can hold the target immobile allowing devastating attacks from other members of the swarm. By chewing through the target’s flesh at joints, the Larvae can sever a target’s arm or leg in a matter of seconds. This is an extended action, during which the target must remain immobilized in the grapple. The attack roll comes from a Larva not involved in the Dogpile (and whose Strength doesn’t contribute to the penalty for breaking free, therefore). The Storyteller makes the Larva’s attack roll as usual. The target’s Defense does not apply. The Larva must accumulate a number of successes equal to the (target’s Stamina x 2) + Resilience (if any). If the Larva manages to accumulate these successes before the target breaks free, the creature chews through the target’s elbow, shoulder or knee and removes the attached limb. To a living target, this immediately fills the character’s Health track with Lethal damage (meaning that the character is bleeding out), even if the successes on the attack roll(s) were not sufficient to do this. To a vampire, the loss of the limb is obviously terrifying and inconvenient, but the vampire won’t bleed to death. He merely suffers the Lethal damage indicated by the Larva’s attacks.
Only the Larva making the chewing attack needs to have Fighting Style: Swarm •••••.
Example: A pack of four Larvae attack a hapless mortal walking home one night. Three of them (each with Swarm ••) grapple him, while the fourth (with Swarm •••••) chews through his arm. The man’s Stamina is 2, his Health rating is 7 and he has no wounds going into the fight. That means that Larva needs 4 successes to chew through his arm. The Storyteller rolls 3 successes on the first turn and 2 on the second. This indicates 5 levels of Lethal damage, but it’s also enough to separate the man from his arm. This fills his Health track with Lethal damage and he immediately begins to bleed out (as described on p. 173 of The World of Darkness Rulebook). Of course, the Larvae will surely drain his blood in the next few seconds, killing him.
If the hapless wanderer had been a vampire with Resilience 1, the Larvae would have a much harder time of it. For one thing, once the vampire activated Resilience, his effective Stamina increases to 3, meaning the Larva needs 7 successes to sever the limb (Stamina 3 x 2 = 6 + Resilience 1 = 7). At that point, it’s more likely that the Larva will put the vampire into torpor than take off his arm.
The vampire’s Beast resonates with the Larvae, allowing her to seize control of a swarm. Whenever the character is in close enough proximity to a Larva to trigger the Predator’s Taint, the player may roll Presence + Resolve + Blood Potency in a contested roll vs. the Larva’s (or the pack leader’s, if applicable) Resolve + Composure. If the vampire wins, the swarm is under the vampire’s control until she is physically separated from the swarm for a period of one hour per dot of Blood Potency. At the end of that time, the swarm regains its independence, though the vampire can attempt to assume control again. During the separation, the Larvae will follow the vampire’s last orders, or, if no orders were given, attempt to find her.
While in control of a swarm, the vampire can issue verbal commands to the swarm. The Larvae follow the Kindred’s commands to the best of their abilities. In order to force the swarm to undertake especially dangerous actions (entering a burning building, fighting a more powerful vampire without the rest of the pack, etc.), the vampire’s player must roll Presence + Intimidation. If the command involves facing fire or sunlight, apply a –3 to the roll.
Another vampire can attempt steal the pack away from the master, but incurs a –5 penalty on the attempt to do it, whether using this Merit or another method.
Drawback:
The swarm doesn’t feel safe away from the master. The Larvae follow the vampire around, which can make maintaining the Masquerade difficult. Clever masters find ways to compensate, but one Larva running off after a vessel can ruin the whole enterprise.