Merits&Flaws

Physical Merits

AMBIDEXTROUS

(1- OR 2-PT. MERIT, 1-PT. FOR LUNARS) For one point, the character can use both hands equally well and never suffers an offhand penalty for any task. Characters with the two-point version of this Merit can also hold weapons and tools with their feet as readily as their hands, an adaptation common among the Haltans of the East and highly useful for characters who have lost the use of both hands. Matters of balance and common sense still apply, however, so omnidextrous characters will not be able to walk around carrying objects with every hand and foot simultaneously. Lunars pay only one point to be omnidextrous.

DOUBLE-JOINTED

(1- OR 3-PT. MERIT, 1- OR 2-PT. FOR LUNARS) For a cost of one point, the character is unusually supple and capable of remarkable feats of contortion. Add one die to such an individual’s grappling attempts, as well as to any Athletics or Larceny rolls where such flexibility proves advantageous. Characters with the three-point version of this Merit are uncanny contortionists, capable of seemingly impossible feats. These freakish acrobats add two dice to rolls benefiting from flexibility and can bend every finger to the wrist, kick their legs straight up, maintain indefinite splits, dislocate and reset joints painlessly and slip free of most conventional restraints with a Dexterity + Athletics roll at a difficulty assigned by the Storyteller. Lunar Exalted pay only two points for the greater version of this Merit.

PAIN TOLERANCE

(3-, 5- OR 7-PT. MERIT) Characters with this Merit can shrug off injuries that would leave most individuals unconscious or writhing in agony. For a cost of three points, the character can ignore one die of wound penalties, but this numbness increases the difficulty of all Awareness rolls based on touch by one. Five points allow the character to ignore two dice of wound penalties but also increases the difficulty of touch-based Awareness by a like amount. At seven points, the character feels nothing. Even if mortally wounded, he may continue to act without any penalties for injuries that do not involve actual maiming. If maimed, the character can briefly jog on broken legs, swing his shattered stump of an arm like a club and perform other acts of relentless fortitude. The downside to seven-point resilience is that the character automatically fails rolls that require a sense of touch and must visually inspect his body for injuries that require treatment to prevent infection or bleeding to death. The effects of this Merit are not cumulative with Charms and other magic that negate wound penalties. Only the most powerful effect applies. Pain Tolerance is particularly common among ghosts, Lunar Exalted and deathknights with corpse-like flesh.

LEGENDARY ATTRIBUTE

(5-PT. MERIT, 3-PT. FOR EXALTED) Characters with this Merit have the potential to attain superhuman strength, speed or resilience and may select a Physical Attribute in which they can attain a rating one dot higher than the normal limit imposed by their Essence allows. This may be done during character creation or after it. For mortals and Exalted with Essence 1 to 5, this allows a rating of 6 in the chosen Attribute. Exalted with Essence 6 may raise the Attribute to 7, etc. Other versions of this Merit exist to accommodate Social and Mental Attributes. Such Legendary Attributes follow the same rules apart from being classified as Social or Mental Merits.

SPECIAL RESISTANCE

(VARIABLE COST MERIT) For every point invested in this Merit, the character adds one additional die on applicable Resistance and Endurance rolls versus poison or disease. A character may not purchase more than five additional dice of immunity to either form of injury. Alternately, the character may have total immunity to a specific poison or disease for a cost of one point. The character will suffer no ill effects from that toxin or become sick from exposure to the malady. It is not possible to purchase immunity to infected wounds with this Merit. Immunity to alcohol simply means that the character will never suffer alcohol poisoning, though he may become inebriated and even pass out from excessive drinking. All forms of this Merit assume the character has built his Special Resistance through repeated exposure to the appropriate danger — intentionally or otherwise.

MUTATION

(VARIABLE COST MERIT OR FLAW) see Mutations

Mental Merits

VIRTUE SPECIALTY

(2- TO 6-PT. MERIT) A character with this Merit finds his moral resolve strengthened under certain conditions. For example, a meek villager may stand as a lion in defense of his family, and a celibate monk may train himself to better resist the lure of flesh. The character receives a number of additional dice to applicable Virtue rolls equal to half the number of points invested in this Merit. However, this also increases the virtue’s effective rating in circumstances where a character wishes to act against his moral judgment. Regardless of allocation and the number of times this Merit is purchased, a character may not have more than three specialty dice for a Virtue. This limitation duplicates the restrictions on specialties for Abilities. As always, Storytellers may veto any specialties deemed too broad.

DRIVING PASSION

(3-PT. MERIT) Characters with a Driving Passion live for a cause directly tied to their Nature (most commonly Architect or Visionary). The cause can be anything of any scope, from liberating the Threshold from the tyranny of the Realm to avenging a loved one’s murder to becoming a peerless master swordsman. Whenever the character takes an action directly furthering this goal, his player adds one additional die to the roll involved. The Storyteller remains the final arbiter of what situations merit this bonus. A character seeking vengeance for his dead wife would certainly gain dice when searching for clues, dispatching the murderer’s flunkies and the final dramatic duel with the killer. However, the character would not gain a bonus in combat with roadside brigands on the way to the murderer’s home city because the combat is only tangentially connected to the Driving Passion. If a character actually resolves or fulfills her Driving Passion, she immediately loses this Merit and gains six experience points.

TRUE PARAGON

(3-PT. MERIT) The character exudes honor and nobility, either from a formal code or an instinctive fulfillment of what she believes is right. As a result, she may spend bonus or experience points to raise any Virtue to a rating of 6. Characters with this Merit capable of raising their Virtues above 5 for other reasons instead add one to their permitted maximum. However, this Merit does not allow permanent Willpower to exceed a rating of 10. In addition, the character’s player may choose to roll her character’s highest Virtue in place of the standard Conviction roll for her to regain Willpower after sleeping. Only characters with the Paragon Nature may purchase or retain this Merit. Characters who betray their code lose this Merit without compensation.

TACTICAL INSTINCTS

(3-PT. MERIT) The character has an intuitive understanding of tactics, from the myriad stratagems of Gateway to the most elaborate battlefield formations. With a Wits + Lore roll as a normal dice action at standard difficulty, the character, upon glancing at any contested forces or the arrangement of a game board, immediately discerns all weaknesses and distribution of strength. Successes accumulate as a pool of extra dice the character’s player may subsequently add to any Lore rolls to devise a winning strategy or Presence rolls to command forces in pursuit of that victory. Other pertinent rolls may benefit from this pool with Storyteller permission. No more than three of these dice may be applied to any single roll, and bonus dice remain until used or the end of the scene. Characters may not reevaluate the tactical scenario to refresh the bonus pool until they empty it. Dawn and Dusk Caste Exalted pay only two points for this Merit, as do the Chosen of Mars.

Supernarural Merits

SIGNATURE STYLE

(2-PT. MERIT) Characters with this Merit combine movement and attitude into a distinctive flair that defines their legend. Signature Style functions like an Ability specialty for stunts, adding one extra die in appropriate circumstances. This extra die stacks with the rating of the stunt to determine the final bonus, but it does not alter the number of motes or Willpower returned if the action succeeds. Possible stunt specialties include “Obvious Impossibilities,” “Damn, I’m Smooth,” “Making it Look Easy,” “Look Upon Me and Despair,” “Economy of Motion,” “Excessively Flashy,” “Visual Poetry” and “Shocking Brutality.” As always, the Storyteller remains final authority on whether a particular stunt embodies the character’s Signature Style. Characters may purchase this Merit up to three times, but only one Signature Style can benefit the same stunt.

DAREDEVIL

(4-PT. MERIT, 3-PT. FOR MORTALS) Fortune smiles on the recklessly brave. A character with this Merit may reflexively spend one Willpower point to double the number of stunt dice awarded to a Physical action with a difficulty of 3 or higher. This Willpower may be spent after the Storyteller determines the rating of a stunt and does not prevent simultaneous Willpower use for automatic success or channeling a Virtue. Note that Daredevil does not increase the number of motes or Willpower awarded for a successful stunt. Heroic mortals pay one less point for this Merit, as their daring is all the more impressive for its lack of magic. Characters with the Signature Style Merit (see p. 28) do not double the extra die awarded by that Trait in situations where both Merits apply.

Physical Flaws

ONE EYE

(2-PT. FLAW) Whether resulting from injury or congenital defect, characters with this Flaw have only a single eye remaining. This imposes a one-die penalty to Awareness rolls involving distance vision or peripheral vision on the blind side and increases the difficulty of ranged attacks by one.

AMPUTEE

(2- TO 8-PT. FLAW, 1- TO 6-PT. FOR EXALTED) The character lacks an arm or a leg, either as a result of a congenital defect or injury sustained later in life. Alternately, the character retains the limb, but only as a useless, paralyzed husk. The mechanical effects of amputation vary. Characters missing a hand may only perform two-handed tasks with extreme difficulty, if at all. It is assumed that any character with only one hand considers that hand primary and, therefore, suffers no offhand penalty. The loss of both hands means that tasks involving fine dexterity are impossible, though hooks or other prosthetics may allow cruder tasks at a -1 die penalty. Characters missing an arm are at -2 on most Athletics rolls due to poor balance and also suffer the penalties for missing a hand. Characters may offset the balance penalty with carefully weighted garments, prosthetics or other innovative means (such as tying the arm in place for those suffering paralysis). Characters missing both arms suffer the same balance penalty as those lacking one but may not perform any tasks requiring manual dexterity without magic, stunts or other remarkable means approved by the Storyteller. Characters missing a leg can move at half normal movement with a crutch or peg leg and are at -3 on Athletics rolls involving footwork. Those with a paralyzed leg must also use crutches as they drag the limb behind them, suffering the same penalties as true amputees. Paraplegics cannot walk at all and automatically fail any footwork-based rolls. At best, they may drag themselves painfully and slowly across the ground with their arms. Quadriplegics may not even attempt most physical tasks. Such tortured invalids seldom live long in the harsh Age of Sorrows and make poor concepts for the vast majority of players’ characters. The value of this Flaw is two points for lack of one hand, three points for a single missing arm or leg, five points for the loss of both hands, six points for the loss of any two limbs, seven points for those with only a single limb remaining and eight points for quadriplegics. As with all major physical deformities, Exalted characters receive less compensation for amputation, gaining one less point for losing a single hand or limb and two less points for amputations involving two or more limbs. Fair or not, the gods do not normally make cripples their Chosen.

Mental Flaws

CALLOUS

(2- TO 10-PT. FLAW) A character with this Flaw believes in selfish pragmatism over scruples and integrity. He gains two bonus points for every dot of Virtues his player forfeits during character creation. Callous characters cannot forfeit their last dot of a Virtue and may not begin play with a Willpower rating more than one point higher than the sum of their two highest Virtues. This limit applies until such a time as the character has a total of 9 dots of Virtues, at which point the character automatically loses this Flaw at no cost. Thus, a monstrous, intemperate, inconstant coward with a rating of 1 in all Virtues could never have a Willpower higher than 3. Characters with this Flaw may not have the Paragon Nature. Exalted with this Flaw still suffer Virtue Flaws appropriate to their highest Virtue, if applicable.

DERANGEMENT

(1- OR 3-PT. FLAW) A character with this Flaw suffers the curse of madness. Perhaps he dallied too close to the warping energies of the Wyld or angered a wrathful spirit or maybe there is no obvious and overt cause. Regardless, his mind suffers regular debilitating bouts of its infirmity. Characters with this Flaw have one of the derangements listed on page 281 of Exalted. It is often possible to suppress the worst effects of this derangement for a scene for a cost of one Willpower point. However, it requires magic or lengthy counseling to actually cure a derangement. The actual game effects of madness are left to Storyteller imagination, but the character will probably lose at least two dice from most Social pools with characters who do not share the madness. Characters receive three points for their first derangement and only one point for such subsequent form of madness. Other possible derangements include: Depression: Observing or experiencing pain or emotional distress overwhelms the character, causing him to act as though suffering from the Virtue Flaw Heart of Tears. Glossolalia: Under stress, the character begins speaking loudly in tongues for the rest of the scene. Only powerful magic can interpret the meaning of such verbal outbursts, assuming they have any coherence. This derangement primarily manifests in true prophets, shamans and characters with the Whispers Background. Hysteria: Under stress, the character lashes out in blind rage as though suffering from the Virtue Flaw Berserk Anger Sadism: With only minor provocation, the character behaves as if constantly suffering from the Virtue Flaw Deliberate Cruelty (see Exalted, p. 132). The character also has an effective Compassion rating of 1 until and unless the madness passes, regardless of her true rating.

ADDICTION

(1- TO 5-PT. FLAW) Characters with this Flaw suffer an addiction to some substance, without which they suffer the discomfort — and perhaps danger — of withdrawal. For one point, this substance is relatively easy and legal to obtain, inexpensive enough that the habit will not bankrupt the character and reasonably safe barring excessive overdose. Examples include alcohol, qat and marijuana. For two points, the addiction is more serious due to higher cost, rarity or more debilitating side effects. Examples include opium, rasp spider venom and ice fern spores. Three-point addictions are expensive and/or dangerous, such as rock cocaine, heroin and bright morning. Addiction to the Wyld also awards three points. Add one to the value of an addiction if the character’s Resources cannot support regular use. Add two if the character cannot possibly afford a single dose and must turn to theft or deep debt or if the addiction controls the character’s entire life. Exalted subtract one from the rating of their addictions, owing to their hardier constitutions. Actual effects of addiction and withdrawal depend on the drug and Storyteller discretion but may include dice penalties, damage or rolls to remain conscious.

Social Flaws

BARBARIAN

(1-PT. FLAW) Characters with this Flaw grew up outside the bounds of civilization and do not know the ways of soft citydwellers. Such individuals lose one die from all Social dice pools related to understanding or expressing civilized etiquette and are not assumed to be literate unless they have Lore 2 or higher. Characters playing in a barbarianonly game may not take this Flaw unless they must interact with civilization on a fairly regular basis in a capacity that makes their upbringing a liability.

DEBT

(1- TO 5-PT. FLAW) The character owes money or goods to an individual or organization of substantial power, such as a wealthy Dynast or even the Guild itself. The character must either pay regular installments with interest or promise a full repayment as of a certain date agreed upon by both parties. If the character fails to meet her obligations on schedule, unpleasant consequences will follow. The creditor may send hunters or the militia after her or worse. Wise creditors will avoid killing the character, if only to ensure they ultimately receive payment, but others may accept the loss to set an example for other debtors. This Flaw functions as an inverse of the Resources Background with an identical rating system. Thus, a character with four points of Debt owes a sum equal to Resources 4. It is possible for characters to have both Debt and Resources, provided the former exceeds the latter. Such characters must pay small installments over time, no doubt accruing terrible interest all the while. Players who buy off Debt with Resources accumulated in play or borrowed from another lender do not need to spend experience points to do so.