Mental Merits

Ability Aptitude (1pt. Merit) You are particularly gifted with one Ability. Perhaps you are a poet of great renown or a master fleshcrafter. Within your specific Aptitude, reduce all difficulties by 2. Characters may purchase this Merit more than once, but Storytellers should feel free to veto any Ability selections that seem too powerful or unbalanced, especially for combat Abilities.

Artful Visionary (2pt. Merit) You are a consummate artist at heart. You reduce the difficulty of any roll to create something new by 1. This can be actual Expression or Crafts rolls, or even the development of a new tactic or torture method… Conversely, you add +1 to the difficulty of any repetitive or menial task. You are ill suited to such labor - surely everyone should see that you are more important than mere drudgery.

Cathartic Fury (2pt. Merit) Forced to play the part of the civilized monster, you find solace and strength in periodic outbursts of rage. At the conclusion of any frenzy, roll Courage (difficulty 5). Each success restores one point of Willpower, up to your usual maximum. Vampires with this Merit still suffer degeneration for their frenzy if such anger violates the tenents of their road.

Celestial Attunement (1pt. Merit) You have an innate link to the passage of time and the movement of celestial bodies. You can estimate the time until sunrise or sunset within a minute or two, and you can follow the phases of the moon in your head. Those with some training in astrology and this Merit can even foretell certain astrological conjunctions without access to charts. You can accomplish any of these feats with only a minimum of concentration.

Common Sense (1pt. Merit) You have a significant amount of practical, everyday wisdom. Whenever the charatcer is about to act in a way contrary to a common sense, the Storyteller can make suggestions or warnings about the implications of said action. This is a very useful Merit to give to beginning players who are unfamiliar with theg ame.

Concentration (1pt. Merit) You have the ability to focus your mind and shut out any distractions or annoyances. Characters with this Merit are unaffected by any penalties stemming from distracting circumstances (e.g. loud noises, hanging upside down).

Eidetic Memory (2pt. Merit) You remember what you see and hear with perfect detail. Documents, events and conversations, can be committed to memory with only minor concentration. Under stressful conditions involving numerous distractions, you must make a Perception + Alertness roll (difficulty 6) to summon enough concentration to absorb what your senses detected.

Enlightened (5pt. Merit) You have detached yourself from the War of Princes and taken the first step on the bitter journey to Golconda. The difficulty of the Virtue rolls is two less than nromal. Characters must ascribe to the Virtues of Cosncience and Self-Control and have a Road rating of 8 or higher to purchase or retain this Merit. If you ever fail to meet these conditions, you lose your way and the benefits of enlightenment. Storytellers should feel free to inflict automatic degeneration on characters who abuse this Merit.

Flock (3pt. Merit) You feel strong ties of kinship with a specific community of mortals. The difficulty to resist frenzy is always two less than normal where your flock is cnocerned, enabling you to better withstand the lure of their blood and forgive their trespasses. If you do succumb to frenzy, you may spend one Willpower point to recognize members of their flock as friends. As long as these individuals stay out of your way and do not directly provoke you, you may ignore them for the duration of the rampage. This Merit is often coupled with the Prey Exclusion Flaw. Storytellers should feel free to disallow any communities deemed unbalancing or two inclusive.

Focused Rage (1pt. Merit) You have partially transcended the blood fury of your clan by focusing your Beast's anger. Select one frenzy condition from the chart on page 265 of Dark Ages: Vampire… When faced with that provocation, you automatically frenzy. You do not suffer the usual difficulty increase to other frenzy conditions, however. The Storyteller must approve the selected condition. Only Brujah and other vampires who suffer a similar frenzy difficulty increase may purchase this Merit.

Iron Will (5pt. Merit) Your mind is as a castle, daring intruders with towers of ego and walls of raw will. Any attempt to affect you with Dominate or otherwise magically tamper with your mind adds 2 to the usual difficulty. Characters must have a Willpower of 8+ to purchase or retain the benefits of this Merit.

Light Sleeper (2pt. Merit) You can awaken instantly at any sign of trouble or danger, and you can do so without any sleepiness or hesitation. You may ignore rules regarding how Road rating restricts the number of dice available during the day.

Lion-Hearted (1pt. Merit) In a moment of great crisis, you may call upon your honor and nobility to fortify your resolve. Once per story, you may spend a point of Willpower to substitute your Road rating for both your Self Control/Conviction and Courage for the scene. Characters who ascribe to roads that do not venerate heroism and valor may not purchase or retain this Merit, particularly those on the Road of Sin (although followers of the Via Adversarius may possess this Merit; see the Road of Sin for more information).

Meticulous Planner (2pt. Merit) You are inhumanly through in your preparations, weighing contingencies and every course of action with cold, calculating precision. You may substitute Intelligence for Wits in any situation where your dedication may prevent you from being caught flat-footed or unprepared, and the Storyteller should occasionally give you advice as per the Common Sense merit.

Obsessive Savant (2pt. Merit) You have a particular fixation that drives your existence, be it as esoteric as death or vampirism or as mundane as the tactics of chess. You must have one Specialty for an Ability (usually a Knowledge, though sometimes a Skill) that forms the core of your obsession. For rolls involving this specialty, you reduce the difficulty by three in addition to receiving the usual bonus die (minimum difficulty of 3). Your intensity discomforts those who do not share your obsession, adding +1 to the difficulty of most Social rolls with people who observe you indulging your hobby. Storyellers should feel free to veto any Obsessions that seem too powerful for their games.

Sanguine Lucidity (1pt. Merit) In satiation you find sanity. Whenever your blood pool is completely full, you do not suffer the effects of any derangements. As a result, you often gorge in the futile hope that you can silence your inner demons forever. This Merit cannot suppress a Malkavian's core derangement, although it may alleviate additional madness. Sane characters may purchase this Merit, although they do not learn of their resistance unless they gain a derangement.

Well-Educated (3pt. Merit) Either through monastic training or determined royal tutors, you are one of the lucky few to receive superlative tutelage in classics, natural sciences and theology… Whenever you attempt a task involving a Knowledge you do not possess, your player may still roll at +1 difficulty as if the required Ability was a Skill. Characters must have at least three dots of Academics to purchase this Merit.

Uncanny Logic (2pt. Merit) - Inquisitor Only All inquisitors have to be able to separate truth from falsehood and right from wrong. You, however, have an uncanny reasoning ability that allows you to take apparently innocuous facts and ruthlessly reduce their true meaning. There is nothing supernatural in this: God has merely granted you an ordered an uncluttered mind that can work through trains of thought more fully than others can manage. All difficulties on rolls involving deduction decrease by two.

Unimpressed (5pt. Merit) You have tight control over your emotions and a monstrous awareness of self. All rolls to affect you with Presence or otherwise magically tamper with your emotions add 2 to the difficulty. Only characters with Self-Control 4+ and Willpower 6+ may purchase or retain the benefits of this Merit.