Category:Mental Flaws

Amnesia (2pt. Flaw) You are unable to remember anything about your past, yourself or your family, though your past might well come back to haunt you. Your origins and the circumstances behind your amnesia are for the Storyteller to determine, and she is encouraged to make it as interesting as possible.

Atrophied Heart (4pt. Flaw) You have grown cold and aloof, emotionally detached from the ever-changing world around you. You certainly understand good and evil as philosophical concepts, but morality is no longer something you feel with any passion. As a result, you add 2 to the difficulty of any degeneration check and pay double the usual experience to raise Compassion/Conviction or Road. True Brujah may not purchase this Flaw.

Deep Sleeper (1pt. Flaw) When you sleep, it is very difficult for you to awaken. The difficulty of any die roll to awaken during the day increases by two.

Degenerate (Variable Cost Flaw) You have already begun your descent into the jaws of the Beast. Reduce your starting Road rating by one dot per point awarded by this Flaw. Characters may not begin play with a lower Road rating than their Conscience/Conviction.

Deranged (2pt. Flaw) Either a pre-existing condition or trauma of damnation has sown madness in you. You begin play with a serious derangement that dogs you in your undying existence (see the side bar for a list of possible afflictions). It is possible for you to get over this madness in play (a long and arduous task). Malkavians may take this Flaw to represent an additional derangement beyond the one endemic to their blood.

Enraptured by Beauty (3pt. Flaw) Your preternatural senses and aesthetics find beauty supernaturally enthralling. Whenever you encounter music, art or even a pretty face that appeals to your tastes, you fall into trancelike reverie until the object leaves your senses or the scene ends. You may not even break away to defend yourself, though an attack permits a new roll to resist. Characters with this Flaw may avoid or break free of rapture with a Self-Control or Instinct roll (difficulty 6). Toreador may not purchase this Flaw.

Fierce Bigot (2pt. Flaw) You hold particular hatred or disdain for a specific class or community of mortals, most likely the common rabble of serfs and servants. You make all frenzy checks at +2 difficulty around such individuals and always attack them first if you do succumb to frenzy.

Flesh Eater (4pt. Flaw) It is not enough for you to draw nourishment from the blood of mortals - you believe you must also consume your victim's heart, liver and other blood-rich tissue. Of course, this will necessitate the deaths of all your victims (unless you are extremely creative), which might lead to numerous problems with the herd and with your own conscience (and road). Characters with this Flaw must additionally purchase the Eat Food Merit.

Moon Mad (2pt. Flaw) Your temper waxes and wanes with the phases of the moon. Under the crescent moon, difficulties to avoid frenzy increase by one. This difficulty modifier rises to two under a half or gibbous moon, and three under a full moon. There is no difficulty modifier during the new moon.

Nightmares (1pt. Flaw) you experience horrendous nightmares every time you sleep, and memories of them haunt you during your waking hours. Upon awakening, you must make a Willpower roll (difficulty 7) or lose a die on all actions for that night. A botched Willpower roll indicates that, even when awake, you still believe that you are locked in a nightmare.

Noble Arrogance (1pt. Flaw) You have never known an existence other than privilege and wealth, either in life or undeath. You fervently believe in your innate superiority over mere mortals and the riffraff of the Low Clans, perhaps too much. You cannot believe that your inferiors could ever pose a real threat. As such, you are prone to underestimating adversaries of lesser station and your haughty bearing adds 2 to the difficulty of all Social rolls to interact with those you perceive as beneath you. Characters must have at least two dots of Status to purchase this Flaw.

Poor Taste (1pt. Flaw) Your aesthetic runs counter to that of society, or perhaps you really are simply a tasteless cretin with pretensions of class. In either case, you add 1 to the difficulty of Social rolls involving mainstream artists or critics. Intimidation rolls suffer also with this penalty — you are graceless even at the art of fear.

Prey Exclusion (1pt. Flaw) You refuse to hunt a certain class of prey. You might refuse to feed upon peasants, women, priests or poets. If you accidentally feed upon such an individual, you automatically frenzy and must make a roll to prevent a Road loss (difficulty 7). Witnessing other Cainites feeding on the object of your exclusion might also provoke a frenzy, at the Storyteller's discretion. Ventrue may take this Flaw to represent an additional, self-imposed prey limitation beyond that imposed by their clan weakness.

Religious Prohibition (2 or 4pt. Flaw) You have retained your faith through the Embrace, and you suffer because your beleifs prohibit drinking the blood you need to survive. You may have lived as a believer in Islam or Judaism (both of which explicitly ban blood-drinking) or even as one of the strictly vegetarian Cathar perfecti. As even animal blood is a forbidden substance to you, your conscience pricks whenever you feed. In the two-point version of this Flaw, you voluntarily restrict your feeding to animals or blood that has been drained by a ritual butcher. At four points, you refuse to feed unless it is an immediate necessity (blood pool is three or less), and even then, you may fall victim to depression and self-loathing for several nights after the forbidden act. Most vampires with Flaw are on the Road of Heaven, and they might also have the Outspoken Pagan/Heretic Flaw.

Selective Thirst (4pt. Flaw) Your aristocratic palette prefers the taste of a particular “vintage” of mortal blood, even to the point of spurning all other flavors. You may favor the delicate nectar of youthful virgins, the robust draught of the Norse or the touch of piety in a priest’s veins. Whatever your tastes, you may drink only from mortals who meet your criteria. All other blood tastes foul and rancid to you, and you will immediately vomit it like mortal food even in the throes of frenzy. Even your exacting sensibilities find Cainite blood sweet to the taste, no matter its source. Ventrue may not purchase this Flaw.

Sickened by the Flesh (2pt. Flaw) - Inquisitor Only You are easily sickened by the sight of base flesh and all things to do with it. Whenever you witness a gory scene of battle, obvious signs of the corrupted flesh of the enemy or an overt display of carnal lust, you must roll Willpowwr (difficulty 6). If the roll fails, you are overcome with nausea for the next few minutes. While tihs doesn't mean you spend the time vomiting (unless the roll botches) it does mean that all difficulties increase by one during that time.

Suicidal Beast (6pt. Flaw) Some part of your withered soul recognizes your damnation. Perhaps your Beast repents its hunger, or your self-destructive impulse overrides its instincts. Whenever you are in a position to check for Rotschreck, roll Courage as normal. However, failure does not lead to the Red Fear. Instead you seek out the source of danger and embrace destruction - seizing a torch by the flames or dashing into the sunlight. It is possible for characters with this Flaw to develop "normal" survival instincts in play, but never easy.

Territorial (2pt. Flaw) You are extremely territorial, staking out a particular area as your domain and reacting aggressively to tresspassers. If another vampire enters your territory uninvited, you must make a frenzy roll. If you fail, you immediately attack the interloper and continue attacking until the intruder is dead or has left your hunting grounds. You are reluctant to leave your domain except in desperate circumstances. It is possible (but not common) to take this Flaw without taking the Domain Background, in which case your absolute claim to territory is not at all recognized by other vampires.

Vengeful (2pt. Flaw) You have a score to settle, incurred either during your mortals days or after the Embrace. You are obsessed with taking your revenge on an individual or group, and it is your overriding priority in any situation in which you encounter the object of your revenge. You may temporarily resist your need for vengeance by spending a Willpower point.

Wanderlust (4pt. Flaw) Like Caine himself, you are cursed to wander the Earth, never finding succor or rest until God Himself grants it to you. You may only sleep three consecutive days in the same one-mile area. If you surpass this limit, each successive day leads to cumulative halving of all dice pools (to a minimum score of 1 in any pool). You do not suffer this agitation in torpor. Gangrel of the Anda bloodline cannot purchase this Flaw.

Worship Obsession (1pt. to 4pt. Flaw) - Inquisitor Only God has laid a heavy burden upon you. You sense that he demands an unusually harsh regimen of worship from you. It might be regular prayer at predetermined times, as practiced by monastic brothers (1pt. Flaw). Two points might mean that you have to stop and pray with every obvious sinner you meet. A 3-point Flaw might mean that you have to give up all worldly goods of your own whenever you receive them, whereas a 4-point Flaw might demand self mortification or flagellation each evening, to drive all the impurities from your corrupted flesh. Failure to perform your chosen worship costs you two points of Conviction for each day you miss, and missing more than two consecutive days requires a roll to avoid losing Piety.