Editing Merits&Flaws

[[Category:Exalted]]

==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.

===CLIMATE SENSITIVE===
(2- TO 4-PT. FLAW)
Characters with this Flaw experience discomfort and
even take ill if they are subjected to environmental conditions
substantially different than those they are accustomed
to. The value of this Flaw depends on the likelihood of
encountering the undesired conditions. For two points, the
character responds poorly to a particular extreme of temperature
(arctic, tropical) or humidity (arid desert, marsh/
jungle). For three points, the character is uncomfortable in
any environment lacking these extreme conditions, including
temperate climates. Four points indicates the condition
that defines the character’s home environment is specific to
a geographical region and may not be replicated or transplanted
without considerable difficulty and expense, such as
the pollen of a particular tree or something equally obscure.
Whenever a character with this Flaw finds himself in an
environment he finds uncomfortable, he adds 1 to the
difficulty of all Survival rolls, as well as all Endurance and
Resistance rolls to resist manifestations of the undesired
conditions. This Flaw may not be taken to include any area
the Storyteller indicates the game will never visit.

===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.

===SLOW HEALING===
(4-PT. FLAW)
Mortal characters with this Flaw recover from injury
at half their normal rate. Most such characters do not live
long in the brutal Age of Sorrows. Exalted with this Flaw
instead recover from their wounds at the rate of normal
mortals, but given sufficient time, they still heal perfectly
from anything less than amputation.
WEAK IMMUNE SYSTEM
(4-PT. FLAW, 3-PT. FOR EXALTED)
Mortal characters with this Flaw have a harder time
fighting off illness, their players adding 2 to the difficulty
of all Endurance and Resistance rolls for the characters to
resist disease and infection. Exalted characters instead half
their dice pools to resist or throw off such maladies (rounded
down) but retain their usual superhuman resilience to the
actual effects of ailments they contract. This means that
Chosen with this Flaw will often experience the discomfort
and distraction of illness for long bouts at a time,
perhaps making them wish they were dead even if they are
never in any real danger.

==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.