All General Flaws

[Phsycodelic]

All General Flaws

Ability Deficit / Inept / Uneducated / Unskilled (5 point): Whether due to poor education, lack of opportunity, or simple laziness, you’ve fallen short of your potential. You have 5 fewer points to distribute in one of your Ability categories: Talents, Skills, or Knowledges. Therefore, the most you could initially take in that category would be 8 points, and the least would be 0. Of course, you can still spend freebie points to take Abilities in the affected category. However, you cannot have any Ability in that category at 3 dots or higher at the start of the game.

Absent-Minded (3 point): Though you do not forget things such as Knowledges or Skills, but you do forget things such as names, addresses, and the last time you gained Magic Juju. In order to remember anything more than your own name and the location of your home or group's hideout, you need to make a Wits roll, or, as a last resort, spend a Willpower point. This Flaw may not be taken with the Merit Concentration.

Academic Rival (1 point): You have a rival who is competing with you for the same knowledge or artifacts you pursue. Your rival could be someone from your past or someone you have never met. The Storyteller should design you rival and keep much of the information on his activities from you until the proper moment. Your rival will constantly be seeking to sabotage you or steal your work. You must of course be the type of person that this Flaw would affect (so no street punks with academic rival please).

Addicted To Kindred Vitae (3 point): You constantly need the rush that only Vampire blood can provide you. You feel empty and listless otherwise. This habit is a very dangerous one and can only be overcome via complete abstention (and likely no small amount of therapy). Anytime you have access to Kindred Vitae and wish to resist the urge to drink, the Storyteller may require a Self-Control roll. If you have not tasted Vampire blood in over a week, you suffer a progressive plus 1 difficulty to these rolls until you quench your thirst.

Addiction (1-3+ point): You are addicted to any one of a variety of things. A 1 point Flaw would be a mild addiction to an easily obtained substance, such as caffeine, nicotine, or alcohol. A 2 point Flaw would be either a severe addition to any easily obtained substance, or any "mild" drug, such as painkillers, sleeping pills, or marijuana. A 3 point addiction involves the heavy street drugs or hard-to-find drugs, and more points beyond this is not recommended as it the drug is likely to consume a major portion of your life. The need for these drugs varies from once a week to once or multiple times a day for others, depending on the strength of the drug and the addiction. If, for whatever reason, you are denied access to the drug, you lose the number of dice equal to the level of your addiction (one, two, three, or more) until you receive your 'fix.' If you are deprived of the drugs for an extended length of time, you will be forced to make a Willpower check (difficulty of 4 for the first day, and plus 1 for each additional day). If you fail, you will forgo everything and forcibly go seeking the drug. This would be an easy way for you to be either controlled or forced to do favors for your supplier, especially if the drug is hard to obtain due to its rarity or price. For "building" your own drug addiction, see examples:
( -1 point) Drug has a moderately beneficial side effect: Plus 1 bonus to a stat, enhanced perception (minus 2 difficulty on perception, dark vision, thermal vision, etc.), faster healing, etc.
(  0 point) Drug has standard side effects: Carcinogenic, depressant, euphoric, aphrodisiac, etc.
(+1 point) Drug has a moderately harmful side effect: Hallucinogenic, causes aggressive behavior (plus 2 difficulty to resist frenzy, or you are now prone to frenzies), tremors, paranoia, delusions, etc.
(+2 point) Drug has a highly harmful side effect: Psychotic rage, irrational fear, etc.
(+3 point) Drug has a severely harmful side effect: Death, nerve degeneration, etc.
(  0 point) Drug is moderately addictive: Causes strong irritability or depression when not taken, is primarily a psychological Flaw, and must be taken once per week.
(+1 point) Drug is highly addictive: Causes 1 Lethal Health Level per missed dose and two doses per day.
(+2 point) Drug is severely addictive: Causes 2 Lethal Health Levels per missed dose and one dose every other hour, or 1 Lethal Health Level per missed dose and one dose per hour.
( -1 point) Drug price is cheap: Costs less than $1 to get a single dose.
(  0 point) Drug price is moderate: Costs $5 to $10 to get a single dose.
(+1 point) Drug price is expensive: Costs $10 to $25 to get a single dose.
(+2 point) Drug price is very expensive: Costs more than $25 to get a single dose.

Aging (3 point): Your get up and go has got up and went. Lower any one Physical attribute by 1 point. This Flaw may be taken by you for every ten years past the age of 40 (60 or so for Werewolves and similarly long-lived creatures).

Airhead (1 point): Maybe you have trouble paying attention, maybe you're just clueless, maybe you just look like a flake; no matter what, people don't take you seriously. Social rolls are modified as appropriate.

Albino (1 point): This Flaw is common among Mokolé that take the form of sacred crocodiles. You have no pigment (in any form if you are a Shifter). You're white-skinned and have pale pink eyes. In the sun, you'll be burned within a few minutes. In addition, you receive 2 fewer dice on all social rolls because of your bizarre appearance.

Allergic (1-4 point): You are allergic to some substance - pollen, animal fur, alcohol, chocolate, etc. For 1 point, you get hives, sneeze, or become dizzy upon prolonged contact with your bane; for 2 points, you swell up uncomfortably in the affected area, reducing all Dice Pools by 1; for 3 points, your reaction usually incapacitates you, reducing appropriate Dice Pools by 3, and is fatal if left untreated. If the substance is really common in the chronicle, add an additional point to this Flaw.

Amnesia (2+ point, 3+ point for Wraiths): 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 they are encouraged to make it as interesting as possible. You have the option of taking up to 5 points of extra Flaw points to be determined by the Storyteller, but you don't get to find out about them till you're playing... This may be taken beyond the 7 point Flaw limit. Mummies will be unable to remember anything about themselves or their Second and Third lives.

Anachronism (1-5 point): Either you have been alive for some time, or there is something of a time lag (culturally or literally) where you are from. Maybe you traveled forward (or backward) in time, or sideways from a parallel universe. In any case, you are unable or unwilling to keep up with the modern times. Maybe awakening to the supernatural made you recall one of your past lives so vividly that you think you're supposed to be in lO^th century Egypt and forgotten about this life. Perhaps you merely think the old ways are best, or perhaps you are just too strongly attached to the dreams and ideals of the past. For 1 point, you are just a little out of sync. Pick any decade from within one century forwards or backwards, and set your attitudes and beliefs accordingly. For 2 points, pick any decade in the past (or future) two or three centuries. For 3 points, pick any decade from four centuries away or more, or just some totally weird social behavioral construct. You have a 2 point difficulty penalty when dealing with anything outside this cultural identity. Thus if you are used to the 1800s you have trouble with computers, but understand light bulbs; or if you are from a hypothetical 23^rd century parallel universe you might have trouble with telephones, which never existed in your world experience! This Flaw can be bought off over time and with roleplaying. In the mean time, culture shock can be fun. For an additional 1 Flaw point, you must spend double the experience points to buy any "modern" Abilities, no matter how long you have been in the new environment. Mummies must take their own 5 point version of this Flaw.

Anosmia (1 point): Whether from birth or due to some illness or accident, you've lost all sense of taste and smell. You automatically fail any roll involving these two senses, including supernatural Abilities relying on smell or taste for tasks such as tracking or hunting. If you are one of the Changing Breeds it's even more crippling, since smell is most animals' most acute sense; this Flaw cancels out the minus 2 difficulty to Perception rolls a Shifter gets in that form. There's a slight benefit, however: At the Storyteller's discretion, you may be immune to the debilitating effects of environmental conditions and supernatural Abilities that rely on odors.

Archaic (2 point): You're uncomfortable with the trends of the times. Machines are noisy, coal is dirty, and gaslights and electricity make you understandably nervous. All of these things signal an increase in mortal power and just plain confuse you. Your life may become a genuine hell if this is the way things are headed. The difficulties are increased by 2 if they involve machinery or technology invented within the last 50 years.

Asthma (1 point): You have difficulty performing strenuous tasks because you cannot breathe properly. With asthma, your lungs only pull in a fraction of the air that normal lungs require. Any time that you exert yourself you must make a Stamina roll against a difficulty of 6, or be unable to perform any action on the next round while you catch your breath.

Attention-Deficit Disorder (2 point): You have a hard time sitting still and paying attention to anything for more than a few minutes. If you must sit still and quiet for more than 10 minutes, such as standing guard, you must make a Willpower roll, difficulty 6. On a failure, you lose interest in your task and are distracted from it.

Babbling Brook / Long-Winded (1 point): You have to comment on everything; you can't seem to stop talking. In highly stressful situations you may need to make a Willpower roll to fall silent.

Bad Liar (1 point): You have tremendous trouble lying. The spontaneous excuses that you come up with are usually unbelievably elaborate or easily refuted with the bare modicum of research. While telling a prefabricated lie, you stutter, stammer, blush or generally look guilty. Increase the difficulty of any roll that involves verbal deception by 2.

Bad Sight (1-3 point): Your sight is defective; there's a plus 2 difficulty penalty to any dice roll where good eyesight is essential. This Flaw is neither nearsightedness nor farsightedness; it's a minor form of blindness. As a 1 point Flaw, this condition can be corrected with glasses or contacts; as a 3 point Flaw, the condition is too severe to be corrected. Shifters with this Flaw don't receive their animal form perception bonus.

Banished (2-6 point): Because of some crime, you have been banished from your particular group. This Flaw has three different degrees of seriousness. Those with the 2 point Flaw have been banished, but there is some hope of return. Perhaps you have “merely” to fulfill some nearly impossible task such as slay a dragon. This level of Flaw may or may not be enforced by any magic. With a 4 point Flaw, not only have you been banished, but you wear some mark that allows your entire group / culture to recognize you as an outcast. You may never return to any area inhabited by your people and those of your group may try to make your life miserable. Finally, the 6 point version of this Flaw means that a powerful geas has exiled you from an entire supernatural plane of existence such as the Dreaming / Umbra / Shadowlands / whatever. This does not necessarily mean that you can never go into the said realms, but that only powerful magic will allow you temporary entry. Further, not only are you banished, but actively hunted. Your fellows will likely kill you on sight (or try to capture you for a reward), and those from other cultures will probably look askance at you.

Bard's Tongue (1 point): You speak the truth, uncannily so. Things you say tend to come true. This is not a facility for blessing and cursing, or an effect that can be ruled by any conscious control. However, at least once per story, an uncomfortable truth or possibility regarding any current situation will appear in your head and through your lips (basically very mild turrets). To avoid speaking prophesy, you must expend a Willpower point and take an unsoakable Lethal Health Level from the strain of resisting (especially if you bite a hole in your tongue).

Barren / Infertile / Sterile (1 point, 1-3 point for Werewolves, 4 point for Kin, may also be a merit): You are infertile, for whatever reason; perhaps you contracted a virulent disease as a youth. If you are in a society which expects you to have children (such as if you are Kinfolk), this is a Flaw. You may, however, take this as a 1 point Merit if you practice lots of sex magic or something in which being fertile may actually cause more problems for you than not. For Kinfolk who serve the Changing Breeds as perpetrators of the species, inability to reproduce is a serious Flaw indeed. Not only does it carry a social stigma, it may also incur abuse, neglect, or even exile. Kinfolk who can’t reproduce lose a great deal of their value in Shifter eyes. Mokolé may take this Flaw at 2 points only. If other Mokolé know this, they may assume that you're diseased or Dissolver-ridden, or simply avoid you. You can't gain Matre and are an undesirable mate: Mokolé and Kin who know of your "curse" won't want even casual intimacy with you, except perhaps for same-sex relations. Other Shifters take this Flaw at 1 or 3 points only. Perhaps you suffered from battle scars to the abdomen, or were the victim of a botched abortion before your First Change (which happens in your teen years mind you). You can't learn any Mother Gifts or Rites. If you have had children, and simply can have no more, this is only a 1 point Flaw. If you have never borne any children, then you'll be considered a Maiden (or Bachelor?) until such a time as you go through menopause and becomes a Crone (or don't go through menopause if you are male, and become an impotent old fart all the same) - this is the 3 point version of the Flaw. This is the cause of some lowering of status within most of Shifter Society, but especially with the Black Furies; you lose 1 point of Honor Renown. At the Stoyteller's option, depending on the traditions of the group, the latter version of this Flaw may lead to you being considered a Crone. For obvious reasons, Prometheans, Risen, Kuei-Jin, Vampires, and Wraiths cannot take this Flaw.

Beacon of the Unholy (2 point): You radiate palpable evil. Clergy and devout mortals know instinctively that there is something horribly wrong with you, and react accordingly.

Beast Within (5 point): The Beast is awake within you. You are prone to frenzies, just like Vampires. These are caused by situations of intense emotions: fear, anger, hate. You are a figure of great rage and fear to the rest of humanity, much like Charles Manson. Mortals with a high Humanity who buy this Flaw are doomed, like Vampires, to a horrible degeneration into bestiality.

Bedeviled (6 point): Job - that guy in the Bible - was a whiner. Someone or something is watching you and ruining your life. You have no idea who or what it is, but know it's responsible for all the things that go wrong - or at least the big ones. When things are just starting to look up, it socks you with another personal tragedy. But instead of letting you die, it always seems to save you and take someone close instead just so it can watch you suffer (or so you think). The Storyteller must decide why you are being watched and what is watching you (it is not necessarily the Devil, despite the name).

Berserker / Stress Atavism (4 point): Folks don't like you when you're angry. In combat, you become a veritable monster, destroying everything and everyone in sight. In certain ways, this is a blessing, in others, a curse - for although your dedication to slaughter has undeniable benefits, it's also a distinct liability, especially if you belong to a group that prizes discipline rather than brutality. As both a Merit and a Flaw, this trait has the same effects: Under intense stress (combat, injury, disgrace, the death or crippling of a comrade, and so forth), the red haze kicks in. A failed Willpower roll at difficulty 8 leads to a berserk rampage. You gain 3 temporary Bruised Health Levels, ignore wound penalties, add 2 dice to your Strength, and 1 die to your Stamina until every enemy within easy reach or sight is dead or incapacitated. That's the good part; the bad part is that everyone becomes your enemy. Allies, enemies, and bystanders alike all look like targets until the blood-trance fades. Use of supernatural abilities and strategic thinking become impossible, and you use every weapon in your hands for maximum carnage. Unless someone knocks you unconscious, incapacitates or kills you, or simply leaves you alone for several minutes (during which time you destroy everything within reach), you remain stuck in kill mode. Is this a Merit or a Flaw? That depends. If you belong to a group that prizes bloodlust and has the luxury of mass murder (that is, you're a shock-troop "cleaner" or an elite warrior for a wetwork organization), then it's a Merit; if you belong to a group that demands subtlety, control, and restraint, then it's a definite Flaw. Either way, you are the loosest of cannons - aimed in a convenient direction and then left alone to burn out or explode. This Flaw cannot be taken by Vampires and Shifters, as they already posses this Flaw.

Big Mouth / Compulsive Speech (1-2 point): For whatever reason, you have difficulty sticking to the rule, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say it at all." 1 point makes you talkative and a bit blunt; 2 points makes you a complete prick.

Bizarre Hunger (2-4 point): You have very odd dietary needs. Rather than normal food, you must consume some odd or disgusting substance in order to maintain your health. If you are unable to acquire and consume your required substance, you begin losing Health Levels at the rate of one per day after your first day of fasting. Although you may eat “normal” food as well, you derive no sustenance from it. Eating such odd fare is bound to attract attention if you do it in public. Some substances are also harder to get than others. In general, the more disgusting the substance required or the more difficult it is to obtain, the greater the cost. Flaw examples:
(2 point) Pig's blood, iodine, or cat food (unless you are a cat).
(3 point) Heroin, rotten meat, or mare's milk.
(4 point) Child's blood, gold, or feces.

Black and White (1 point): You see all situations in black and white, good and evil, etc. In situations where this limited, judgmental way of thinking may hinder your reaction to something or cause you to act socially inappropriate, add plus 1 to the difficulty of Social or other rolls.

Blackmailed (1-2 point): There is something in your past that you don't want to come to light and someone knows it. This person (or organization) demands outrageous sums of money or services and sensitive information in return for silence. This is a 1 point Flaw if the secret is a relatively minor one that would merely cause great embarrassment or personal inconvenience if revealed. A 2 point Flaw indicates a much more dangerous piece of information. Killing the blackmailer will probably only make matters worse, but if you are sufficiently clever about turning the tables on the blackmailer (i.e. finding out one of their dark secrets) the Storyteller may decrease, or eliminate, this Flaw - at least temporarily.

Blind (6 point): You cannot see. You can compensate for the loss of vision by becoming more attuned to other sensory input (and purchasing the appropriate Acute Senses merit), but visual cues and images are lost to you. Difficulties of all Dexterity based rolls are increased by 2 and yes, you automatically fail visual perception checks.

Bound (2 or 5 point): For the 2 point version you are blood bound to a Vampire. Your regnant may not necessarily treat you badly, but the fact remains that your will is not entirely your own. The knowledge gnaws at you, even as you find yourself lost in devotion to your Vampiric master (Sabbat vampires cannot take this version of this Flaw). For the 5 point version, you owe some powerful Umbrood, Angel, Demon, Spirit, whatever, and you owe them BIG. This is a Very Bad Thing.

Bound Head (1 point): Your head was artificially flattened in childhood by your own people, giving you a bizarre appearance. This doesn't affect Mental Attributes, but Appearance counts only for your own people. For all others, Appearance will be at least 2 points lower, although not below 1. In addition, everyone stares at you everywhere you go, and anthropologists will likely be bothering for interviews all the time. It may also prove difficult to wear most types of headgear not constructed by your people.

Broken Voice (2 point): Dogs howl when they hear you sing, and babies cry at the very sound of your speaking voice. You were blessed with a broken voice. Like the sound of breaking glass or grinding metal, your voice hurts people's sensibilities. Although you can still play an instrument with no problem, most people do not want you to sing. It makes them cringe. A broken voice makes it difficult to woo your love. No one is going to fall for someone who sounds like fingernails scratching down a blackboard or a pencil trying to erase with no eraser. And the worse part is that you don't seem to notice what you sound like or view the reactions of people toward you. Anyone who tries to tell you that you have a disgusting voice draws your immediate ire. After all, it sounds perfectly fine to you. The difficulty of all Charisma rolls is increased by 1, and people may show a general disdain for you and your voice.

Bureaucratic Vendetta (2 point): Someone in your organization dislikes you and is actively out to get you. You don't know who it is, or even if the person really exists. All you know is that you've run into a patch of unexplained bad luck. Memos don't make it to your desk, you're assigned the worst duties, your gun is loaded with blanks. Your hidden foe isn't necessarily superior to you in rank, they're just in a good position to burn you. A secretary with a secret grudge can cause more problems than just about anyone else. Whoever it is, they have covered their tracks well and will be hard to find. An invisible enemy hidden on the periphery of you vision is a great tool for building a sense of paranoia in a game.

Cast No Shadow or Reflection (1 point): There are many explanations for this phenomenon, and no two agree: You may have attended the legendary Black School, where the Devil who runs the place took the hindmost as payment - in this case, your shadow. Or maybe it got trapped in a mirror or left in a little girl's bedroom somewhere - which is better than the alternative, for some believe if it escapes, it runs around as your evil twin. In any case, you cast either no shadow or reflection (your choice), and this may cause many problems. Especially because this is a common Flaw among Demon worshipers, such as the Nephandi.

Catspaw (2 point): You've done dirty work for someone high up in your group's hierarchy in the past; for example, a Vampire would have worked for the Sheriff, Bishop, or even someone higher. However, instead of granting you favor, your deeds have made you an embarrassment or a liability. For the moment, your former employer's concern is to keep you quiet. In the long term, it's to get rid of you.

Child (3 point): You were a small child at the time of your Chrysalis, Embrace, Change, etc. - between five and ten years old. You may be precocious, but you're still just a kid. You find it difficult to be taken seriously by others (2 dice penalty to all relevant rolls). Your physical attributes underdeveloped; you may not have more than 2 dots in Strength or Stamina (except when Vampires raise physical attributes with Blood Points). You have difficulty interacting with some aspects of mortal society; difficulties of all die rolls when attempting to direct or lead mortal adults are increased by 2. Additionally, you may be subject to parental control, curfews, child labor, and truancy laws. Few clubs will admit you because you are "under-age." Changeling Childlings who don't take this Flaw are for some reason more accepted by those older than themselves. Also, you must also purchase the Short Flaw.

Chronic Pessimist (1 point): You think the glass is half-empty, that the water in the glass is contaminated, and that the glass will probably tip over any second. Others practice pessimism out of habit. For you, it's an art form. Nothing can ever go right, especially plans that others propose. You are the implacable voice of gloom and doom, always ready to point out a potential problem no matter how remote a chance it has of coming to pass. Add 2 to the difficulty of any Leadership rolls.

Chronically Late (1 point): You're always running behind schedule. If you agree to meet someone at a particular time, you must make a successful Willpower roll at difficulty 6 in order to arrive on time. Failure means that you arrive between fifteen and thirty minutes late. A botch means you show up an hour late or not at all.

City Boy / Girl (2 point): You rarely left the confines of the city and are unused to even the most basic facts of nature. Difficulties of any rolls related to wilderness or wild creatures of any sort are 3 higher.

Club Foot (1 point): One of your feet is gnarled and deformed. Your run speed rating is halved.

Cold Breeze (1 point): A chill wind follows you everywhere you go. While it may make for dramatic entrances, this effect also discomforts mortals (plus 1 difficulty on all appropriate Social rolls) and marks you as obviously supernatural. Cold winds sweeping through executive offices or crowded nightclubs can raise all sorts of questions.

Color Blindness / Monochrome Vision (1 point): You can only see in black and white. Color means nothing to you, although you are sensitive to color density, which you perceive in shades of grey. Note: color blindness actually indicates an inability to distinguish between two colors, but we fudged it a bit for the sake of playability.

Compulsion (1-4 point): You have a psychological compulsion of some sort, which can cause you a number of different problems. Your compulsion may be for cleanliness, perfection, bragging, stealing, gaming, exaggeration, or just talking. A compulsion can be temporarily avoided at the cost of a Willpower point, but is in effect at all other times.
(1 point) Don't cross a threshold without permission, never show fear to the enemy, never contradict a superior officer.
(2 point) Never refuse a reasonable bet, never betray any emotion, don't touch anything holy or consecrated to a particular faith, never harm a child.
(3 point) Never refuse a duel, never strike a woman, never refuse an offer of sex, never tell a lie, never take a life.
(4 point) Never tell the truth, dance whenever you hear music, become entranced by mirrors or beauty or books, never refuse a dare, don't harm.

Compulsive Liar (2 point): You feel the need to put your personal spin on the truth. You don't necessarily do so out of spite or malice, and you may come to genuinely believe the tall tales that you tell (especially when you spin them often enough). You might have to spend a Willpower point to force yourself to be honest, especially if it means publicly revealing a previous lie.

Compulsive Speech / Big Mouth (1-2 point): For whatever reason, you have difficulty sticking to the rule, "If you can't say anything nice, don't say it at all." 1 point makes you talkative and a bit blunt; 2 points makes you a complete prick.

Confused (2 point): You are often confused, and the world seems to be a very disoriented and twisted place. Sometimes you are simply unable to make sense of things. You need to roleplay this behavior all the time to a small degree, but your confusion becomes especially strong whenever stimuli around you (such as when a number of different people talk at once, or you enter a nightclub with loud, pounding music). You may spend Willpower to override the effects of your confusion, but only temporarily.

Conniver (1 point): There is no honor among thieves, nor trust among liars. You are known as someone whose word cannot be trusted. Whether earned or not, you have a reputation for deceit and treachery, and you lose 1 die from all social rolls involving any extension of trust, truth, or believing your words.

Construct (2 point): You came from a lab, not from a womb. Perhaps you were grown in a Progenitor facility, woven from plants, shaped from the elements, or crafted from parts of dead bodies in some flesh-tinkerer's workshop. Whatever your origins, you don't truly fit in with natural-born humans. A combination of self-doubt and social alienation, or perhaps a sense that you're far better than your so-called peers, keeps you at arm's length from the human social realm. In game terms, this Flaw inflicts penalties on social rolls in many situations; the specifics depend upon your origins, attitude, and company, but they'll impede you in significant ways. You don't need to take this Flaw, incidentally, if you are a construct. These penalties reflect an artificial person who stands out in a crowd, not one who fits in comfortably with their world.

Craven Image (1 point): There's something about you that makes you appear sniveling and "low." In appropriate situations, social difficulties are at a plus 2 difficulty.

Criminal Record (2 point): Having been convicted for several misdemeanors or perhaps a minor felony, you have a bit of a shady past. You are unable to buy firearms legally, and you receive exceptionally poor treatment from law-enforcement officials who know your record.

Crude (1 point): You never learned any manners while growing up. You talk with your mouth full, burp loudly and slurp your soup. When interacting with others in any refined or formal environment, increase the difficulty of any social rolls by 2.

Cultural Snob (1 point): You have nothing but disdain for popular music, TV and movies. You couldn't name any of the current top ten songs, and you think that knowledge of TV is a sign of poor taste and incorrigible stupidity. Unfortunately, this means you have a hard time relating to people who aren't equally snobbish with things. When dealing with strangers who don't share your allegedly enlightened views, increase the difficulty of any social rolls by 2.

Curiosity (2 point, 3 point for Bastet and Nuwisha): You're too inquisitive for your own good; even most cats have more of a sense of self-preservation than you do. When a mystery presents itself, you'll go all the way to hell (literally) to puzzle it out. It's hard to put a finger on why you feel compelled to search out facts, but it overrides your common sense and often gets you in trouble. To resist the temptation, make a Willpower roll at difficulty 5 for simple things like “I wonder what is in that cabinet.” Increase the difficulty up to 9 for things like, “I wonder what those strange sounds coming from the Duke's dungeon are. I'll just slip in and check it out – no one will ever know. What could possibly go wrong?” This question could be anything from an overheard conversation to a lost artifact. If you fail the roll, you'll go out of your way - really out of your way - to uncover the answer. The Bastet and Nuwisha have their own 3 point version of this Flaw that makes you instantly obsessed with a mystery and makes resisting nigh impossible.

Cursed (1-5 point): You are the recipient of a supernatural curse. The strength and pervasiveness of the curse depend upon how many points you wish to incur. 1 point is minor quirks of fate, 2 points is small but annoying problems, 3 points is chronic misfortune, 4 points is major problems, and 5 points is pervasive bad luck. Examples:
(1 point) If you pass on a secret you were entrusted with, your betrayal will come back to harm you in some way.
(1 point) Technology suffers tiny malfunctions in your presence.
(1 point) People tend to think ill of you.
(2 point) You stutter uncontrollably when you try to describe what you have seen or heard.
(2 point) Things you value for sentimental or functional reasons tend to disappear - mementos, minor magical items, or significant utilitarian items like the keys to your car or your favorite knife.
(2 point) Tires go flat and warning lights go on when you depend upon your car.
(2 point) Expensive clothes wind up ruined by stupid accidents.
(3 point) Tools break or malfunction when you try to use them, always to your own detriment or inconvenience.
(3 point) Children fear you, and will do or say things to get out of your presence.
(3 point) Red lights slow you down whenever you absolutely, positively need to be somewhere on time.
(4 point) People dislike you on principle.
(4 point) You are doomed to make enemies of those whom you most love or admire.
(4 point) Relationships seem to go wrong as soon as you begin to care for someone. This might keep you from establishing good relations with the members of your group.
(4 point) Your greatest plans collapse for no predictable reason.
(4 point) Your bank account keeps suffering unexpected withdrawals from sources that aren't you.
(5 point) At critical moments, you tend to experience catastrophic failures. A magical item doesn't work when you need it most, your gun misfires or jams during combat, or you get stuck while crossing the Gauntlet in an emergency situation. As a significant Flaw, Storytellers should feel free to put you into peril on a frequent basis with this level of Curse.
(5 point) Every one of your accomplishments or triumphs will eventually become soiled or fail in some way.
(5 point) Technology never works the way it's supposed to function.
(5 point) Chronic pain or poor health sap whatever vitality you possess.

Cyber Reject (3 point): Your body cannot abide cyberware. It simply rejects it. This Flaw may only be taken in a game that has a common availability of cyberware (such as working for the Technocracy or being in a space age civilization). This also limits the use of much of the modern cyber age and beyond medical technique (nanotechnology does not work in your body). Vampires may not take this Flaw, as it their dead nerves do not communicate with cyberware anyways.

Dangerous Bias (3 point): You're blinded by popular cultural illusions. You see individuals based solely on their economic position, social status, and racial or ethnic background. To you, a valet or a foreigner is a kind of person distinctly different from an Englishman. The difficulties of all Perception, Empathy, Leadership, Streetwise, and Investigation rolls are raised by 2 if they regard persons of a social or economic group other than your own. On any roll involving two of the prior traits, the difficulty increases by 3 instead. Your behavior, if properly RolePlayed, might very well make Manipulation and Charisma actions more difficult among these groups as well.

Dangerous Secret (2 point): You're privy to some top secret information that places your life in danger. What it is and how you got it is up to the storyteller to decide. Unlike the Top Secret Access Merit, this secret does you little good and will put you in extreme danger if anyone finds out you possess it. Furthermore, the source of your information is unstable or unreliable (an alcoholic coworker, a Malkavian Vampire, or someone who has recently disappeared, thus increasing the odds that you'll soon be running for your life. The secret preys on your mind, giving you many sleepless nights. You'll be guarded and suspicious of all bur your closest family and friends - and maybe even them.

Dark Fate (5 point): You are doomed to experience an untimely death or, worse, suffer eternal agony. No matter what you do, you cannot avoid this terrible fate. At some point during the chronicle, your Dark Fate will come upon you. Even more ghastly is the fact that you occasionally have visions of this fate. The malaise these images inspire requires an expenditure of a temporary Willpower point to avoid, or else you lose 1 die from all of your actions for the remainder of the session. It is up to the Storyteller to determine the exact nature of this fate, and when it will occur. This is a difficult Flaw to roleplay; ironically, though it may seem as though it removes all free will, the knowledge of one’s death can be quite liberating.

Dark Heritage (2 point): Your bloodline has been tainted in the eyes of the Inquisition. You might have had a distant ancestor who was burned at the stake for practicing witchcraft, or another relative is believed to have become one of the children of Caine, or lycanthropy is said to run in your blood. Whatever the case may be, the Inquisition believes that your bloodline is tainted, and you may one day pose a danger as well. Even if your heritage has no other effect on you (in terms of Merits, Flaws, Attributes, or otherwise), you have what you and others believe to be a blotch on your soul. Obviously, only non-supernatural characters should take this Flaw as all others but Hunters are already considered to be tainted.

Dark Secret (1 point): You have some sort of secret that, if uncovered, would be of immense embarrassment to you and would make you a pariah in the local mortal or supernatural community.

Deaf (4 point, 1 point for Mokolé and Nagah): You cannot hear. The difficulties of many Perception rolls are increased by 3, as you could conceivably still notice someone behind you through ambient reflections, shadows, or through other people reacting to a sound that you did not hear. As a Mokolé with this Flaw, you're mostly without hearing, like some large lizards. You're able to hear some things (as the Defective Sense Flaw) in your Homid and Archid forms, but are entirely deaf in Suchid. As a Nagah with this Flaw, the poor hearing of your snake heritage has extended into most of your forms. You're completely deaf in Kali Dahaka, Azhi Dahaka, and Vasuki. Your hearing Perception rolls in Silkaram are at a plus 3 difficulty, and even in Homid form you make auditory-related rolls at a plus 1 difficulty.

Deathsight (2 point): Everything appears rotted and decayed to you. The world appears to you as a corpse; mortals look diseased or skeletal, buildings seem decrepit. You are at at a minus 2 difficulty to resist all rolls based on Appearance, but by the same token you are at a plus 2 difficulty on all perception rolls. In addition, you find social interaction difficult and are at a plus 1 difficulty on all social rolls.

Debts (3 point): You're chronically and deeply in debt. Maybe you're an alcoholic, or a gambler, or just a bad money manager. You just can't seem to stretch your paycheck to meet your financial needs. You have to borrow heavily just to cover old debts, and your creditors (banks, collection agencies, repo-men, guys with bats) are knocking down your doors. This indebtedness makes you a prime candidate for recruitment by enemy groups (supernatural or mortal). This may alleviate your debt problems (Storyteller's option), or it may just make you spend more. If recruited, you may trade this Flaw for the Pawn Flaw. Your group keeps an eye out for financial irregularities in its members (especially since the Ames case), and you may already be under scrutiny. You may not buy the Resources Background, and you don't receive access to the free resources that most group members enjoy, since you spend everything as quickly as it comes and are left with little to show for it.

Deep Sleeper (1 point): Snore, toss, and ignore the alarm - you sleep like a force of nature. Waking up is hard; getting you moving is hard enough (plus 2 difficulty to attempts to wake you), getting you comprehending what's going on after you're up isn't much easier (plus 1 difficulty to all rolls during the scene). For Vampires, this makes it even harder to stir you during the day, and you may even sleep a good deal past sunset, regardless of Humanity score.

Defective Sense (1 point): One of you senses is dulled or abnormally damaged in some fashion. Perhaps you are hard of hearing, have limited taste receptors, or are correctably nearsighted. In each case, you suffer a 2 point penalty to the difficulty of all rolls involving the flawed sense. Obviously, you can't take this Flaw in conjunction with the Acute Sense Merit.

Deformity (3 point): You have some kind of deformity - a misshapen limb, hunchback, or clubfoot, for example - which affects your interactions with others and may inconvenience you physically. A hunchback, for instance, would lower your Dexterity by 2 dots and increase the difficulty of die rolls relating to social skills by 1. It's the responsibility of the Storyteller to determine the specific effects of the deformity chosen.

Degeneration (3-7 point): You will die without the aid of magic or science to sustain you. You might be the victim of a disease or curse, or maybe you're something that wasn't meant to be alive in the first place. At the lowest version of this Flaw, you simply do not have the natural healing factor with which most mortals are born. All wounds suffered remain until treated with magic or Technocratic science and you will not heal any damage otherwise. At the 6 point version of this Flaw, you are actually falling apart. A hideous disease might be eating you up from inside, or maybe you're a victim of beetles and / or natural decay if you're the result of someone's half-assed necromancy. Maybe Iteration X didn't tell you that your “perfect android body” was a prototype made by the lowest bidder and that all the warranties are expiring. Whatever the case, you take one Lethal Health Level of damage at three months, one a month later, another a week after that , one more three days beyond that, one the next day and a final one an hour after that. In short, your health deteriorates at an accelerated rate, following the progression for natural healing backward until you are dead. Obviously at this level you don't heal normally, either. With the 7 point version of this Flaw, you fall apart at the same rate as before, but the damage is Aggravated. An alternative to this Flaw is Short Life.

Depression (4 point): You're mired in a pit of bleak, mind-numbing sorrow. Convinced that your eternally dark mood is completely natural, or deserved, you refuse to seek professional help. You do not regain a point of Willpower per day as most do. Instead, you may gain Willpower only through actions, and even those must ardently reaffirm your goals.

Deranged (2-3 point): Due to circumstances beyond your control, you are permanently insane. This state may result for a congenital brain disorder, or maybe you saw things you weren't meant to see that drove you mad. Although you can overcome this insanity temporarily with Willpower, you might never overcome its grip. For the 3 point version, you may not resist your derangement with Willpower. Create or choose a Derangement from the Derangements list.

Devil’s Mark (1 point): Somewhere along the line, you made a pact with a demon or devil and it tunneled its foul power into you, leaving a mark in the process. This blemish (known as a witch's nipple) is dark and unwholesome looking, but it is insensitive to pain. In ages past, the “witch prickers” of the Inquisition would test these marks with special pins before they burned infernalists at the stake. In the modern day, the puritanical pricks are few and far between, and most people who see this mark will just think it's a birthmark. Despite the name “nipple,” it can grow anywhere on your body. On the plus side, if you have some demonic familiar, your imp can suck Quintessence directly from your third nipple, with the added bonus of it being insensible to pain - a real perk when you have a cat chewing on your tit.

Diminished Attributes (3 point): Life isn't fair. When they were passing out brains, brawn, or beauty, someone else got your portion - maybe several of them. What this means is that you are remarkably lacking in the social, physical, or mental department. You might be a victim of disease or brain damage, or you may just have been born on the shallow end of the gene pool. It happens. However, you have points to spend on other stuff. Real life may not be fair, but at least game reality is. However, Storytellers should be careful with this Flaw, and make certain that you RolePlay the actual realities of being shortchanged. For each dot that you lose from your Attributes, you get 3 points back from this Flaw. This kickback isn't subject to the normal limits of 7 points of Flaws, but you can't take more than one additional Flaw without special Storyteller approval and a damn good story. Note that this arrangement isn't fair in terms of Freebie Points, but it lets you be someone who's totally crippled in one area and still get some payback. For example, if you're creating Dippy the Wonder Twerp and only want 2 points to spend in Mental Attributes instead of 3, get 3 Freebie Points back.

Disease Carrier (4 point): Your blood carries a lethal and highly contagious disease. The disease can be anything from rabies to HIV, and Vampires who drink your blood have a 10% chance of becoming a carrier as well. If you are a Vampire you may spend an extra blood point each night on awakening, or you will begin manifesting symptoms of the disease (increased chance to frenzy for rabies, reduced soak rolls for HIV, etc.). If you are non-Vampiric, then you may not avoid the penalties of the disease.

Disfigured (2 point): A hideous disfigurement makes your appearance disturbing and memorable. The difficulties of all die rolls relating to social interaction are increased by 2. You may not have an Appearance rating greater than 2.

Dissolve (3 point): This Flaw is only for members of the Technocracy. When killed, you disintegrate into a puddle of goo or pile of ash. The advantage (to the Technocracy, anyway) is that no reality deviant can perform necromantic rituals on your corpse, and no medical examiner can identify your remains. The downside (to you) is that once you pass Incapacitated, you're irrevocably, 100% perished after 10 seconds. No Procedure or Rite can restore you to your original form; no magic or science can contact your broken awareness.

Distinctive Appearance / Distinguishing Characteristic (1-2 point): You have something unforgettable about your appearance that makes you very easy to pick out in crowds, like a strange hairstyle, a tattoo in a prominent place, an obvious scar or birthmark, or bi-colored eyes. People who see it will remember it and thus, you. If you're trying to hide or stay unnoticed, this can be a royal pain. This Flaw is worth 1 point if the characteristic is hidden easily under clothes (but still manages to see the light of day every now and again), and 2 points if it is not. For Wraiths, you can cover it with Moliate, but Moliate costs corpus, and who has that much to burn?

Disturbing Mannerism (2 point): You have a habit or character trait which is peculiar, gross, or annoying. You may not even be aware of it - but boy, everyone else is. Difficulties of social rolls are increased at the Storyteller's discretion.

Dogged by Fringe Media (2 point): You have somehow attracted the attention of an amateur reporter, one who covers a fringe website or publishes a zine that covers the bizarre or paranormal. This crank occasionally follows you to try to discover any dirt on you. Unfortunately, and in true modern journalism style, he tends to catch you in bizarre circumstances that he simply can't understand. Of course, he tries to interpret them anyway.

Doormat (5 point): Both supernaturals and mortals think of you as a doormat and constantly take advantage your goodwill and generosity. Unfortunately, you have started to think of yourself this way as well. You must make a willpower roll to refuse any request made of you; difficulty depends on the nature of the request.

Driving Goal (1 point, 3 point for Mages): You have a personal goal which sometimes compels you and directs you in startling ways. The goal is always limitless in depth, and you can never truly achieve it. Because you must work toward your goal throughout the chronicle (though you can avoid it for short periods by spending Willpower), it will get you into trouble and may jeopardize other actions. Choose your driving goal carefully, as it will direct and focus everything you do.

Dyslexic (2 point): Printed information of any sort, from written text to maps, is nearly indecipherable to you. Although you are not necessarily illiterate, you struggle to read the simplest sentences. In order to interpret a map or read anything, you must make a successful Intelligence roll, difficulty 8. On a botch, you interpret the message to have almost it's opposite meaning.

Eccentric Appearance (1 point): You dye your hair pink, wear clothes that are fashionable only among fringe subcultures such as goths or punks, and otherwise appear nothing like the average citizen. When dealing with people not familiar with your particular subculture, increase the difficulty of any Social rolls by 2. Your appearance unnerves mainstream people and makes them wary of you. Furthermore, your appearance is eye-catching, though people tend to focus on your attire rather than your actual physical characteristics, such as eye color.

Eerie Presence (2 point): Mortals have an unconscious awareness of your supernatural nature, which makes then anxious and ill at ease in your presence. Because of this, difficulties of all rolls relating to social interaction with mortals are increased by 2.

Enemy / Foe From The Past / Rival / Supernatural Enemy (1-3 point, 1-5 point for Mortals): You have an enemy, or perhaps a group of enemies, who seek to harm you, your reputation, or even those closest to you. Perhaps your aggressor(s) hate(s) you because of some wrong committed upon them in a past life. An enemy wants to do you harm, physically and (preferably) emotionally. A 1 point version of this Flaw means that this enemy is approximately as powerful as you, while a 2 point enemy is approximately twice as powerful as the you. A 3 point foe is incredibly powerful, like Elder Vampire powerful. For mortals this is instead a wider scale, where a 1 point enemy is less than or comparable to your own ability, and a 5 point enemy could easily kick your ass into next Tuesday (five points indicate the wrath of an Elder Vampire or other potent supernatural foe). The reason for this is that Mortals do not have the means or knowledge necessary to defend themselves from such a foe. For a more anti-you specialized stalker, see the Hunted / Witch-Hunted Flaw. For a truly frustrating experience, see the Nemesis Flaw.

Errant Mind (1 point): You have a deserved reputation for being unreliable. Your mind tends to wander frequently so that you forget meetings you promised to attend, fail to keep promises (although sworn oaths tend to stay in your memory) and otherwise fall short of the exceptions of others. You must spend a Willpower point each time that you wish to make a determined effort to keep a promise or attend a gathering.

Expendable (1 point): Someone in power doesn’t want you around. What does matter is that they have the power to maneuver you into dangerous situations “for the good of your people,” and has no compunctions about doing so.

Failure (2 point): You once held status in the city, but failed catastrophically in your duties. Now you are branded incompetent, excluded from circles of power and responsibility, and generally ostracized by those on their way up. Your exclusion may make you a target for recruitment by your people’s enemies (or so the whispers run, making you even more distrusted). Conversely, the consequences of your error might come back to haunt you.

Faint of Heart (3 point): The sight of gore and blood shocks you to the core. If you witness a gruesome scene, you must make a Willpower roll at difficulty 6 in order to avoid debilitating nausea for five to ten minutes. The difficulty of all actions increases by 1 when you're in this state.

Flaming (2 point): Although lifestyle and sexual preference is not in itself a Flaw, this social Flaw defines the social disadvantage of appearing gay. You appear to only like people of the same sex for sexual or emotional attachments. If you have this Flaw you are the stereotype of a gay person. For a lesbian they are butch and very male in appearance and know their way around Home Depot. For a gay man they are very effeminate and have a killer fashion sense. You may alternatively be very open about their preference and tell everyone (wear gay pride buttons t-shirts with, "fuck abstinence try homolove," etc). You do not actually have to be gay in order to take this Flaw, nor do all who are gay have to have this Flaw. However even when dating the opposite sex, others believe you are pretending. In most situations you receive a plus 3 to the difficulty of social rolls with those who are uncomfortable with your apparent way of life. You may however, add 2 dice to your social rolls in certain communities known to be "gay friendly." If you are believed to be pretending to be gay, both sets of rolls are at a plus 3 difficulty.

Flashbacks (3 or 6 point): When under pressure and / or in the presence of something which reminds you of something unpleasant in your past, you flashback to that past event. Whilst in a flashback, everything to you is as it was then. During an event that reminds you of said event, you must roll your Willpower. Difficulty and number of successes required vary at storyteller discretion. At the 6 point version you managed to make it through a traumatic experience, but not wholly intact. The most insignificant thing can throw you into a different mood or state of mind, and as such your behavior is extremely unpredictable. Because of your precarious emotional state, your Willpower fluctuates. At the beginning of each story, make a Willpower roll (you may not spend Willpower for an automatic success). If you succeed, you may participate in the story as normal. If you fail, however, your Willpower score is considered to be 1 for the duration of that session, and you only have 1 Willpower point to spend. You may roll again at the beginning of the next session to see if you regain your Willpower.

Filth (3 point): You are exactly what it says, filthy. Your hair is matted, your clothes and body haven't been washed in weeks, and your teeth are green. And for some reason, you can't ever seem to stay clean. Add 3 to the difficulty to all social rolls where the other person can tell that you are dirty and minds it (generally it's the smell that gets to them).

Free Will: (1-5 point): You believe, strongly, that your destiny is not predetermined. You feel that you are the master of your fate and can reasonably hope to accomplish anything. If you have Destiny you can take Free Will as a Flaw, meaning that you do not believe in you Destiny or your Free Will enough to regain Willpower by rolling either rating. This may also be taken as a Merit, allowing you once per session to roll your Free Will rating at difficulty 8 to regain Willpower. However as a Merit if you also have Destiny, you cannot regain Willpower by rolling your Destiny Rating.

Geas / Mystical Prohibition or Imperative (1-10 point): There is something you must or must not do, and your life, your luck, your magic and perhaps your very soul depends on it. It may be something that has always been upon you, a geas prophesied by Druids at your birth, a sacred oath or vow you swore, or a promise or bargain you made. Someone (with a capital S) witnessed it and is going to hold you to it. If you disobey, the consequences will be dire, if not deadly. You may have several magical prohibitions or imperatives, and these may come into conflict. In Celtic myth, Cuchulainn had the geas to “Never refuse hospitality” and “Never eat dog meat.” Three hags once offered him roast dog for dinner, and Cuchulainn died soon after. Consequently, most keep their magical prohibitions and imperatives secret, lest they be used against them by their enemies. Storytellers should examine each prohibition or imperative and assign a point value to it, as well as the punishment for avoiding it. Easily avoided circumstances are generally worth 1 point, while more common, or difficult, things are worth 2 points, and particularly drastic or dangerous circumstances are worth 3 (or more) points. A 5 point geas is something that rules your entire life.
(1 point) Easily avoided circumstance or trivial sacrifice: Never break bread with a red-haired man, say your prayers every night, take your vitamins, never harm the king, don't eat ham, keep one small secret.
(2 point) Unlikely circumstance or a small sacrifice: Stop and pet every cat you see, never eat any animal product, never harm a certain type of animal or a certain type of person, never raise your sword in anger.
(3 point) Everyday circumstance or common sacrifice: Never back down from a fight, never tell a secret, never refuse hospitality, never marry, never have children.
(4 point) Almost unavoidable circumstance or significant sacrifice: Remain a virgin, never harm a living creature, never tell a lie.
(5 point) Inevitable circumstance or incredible sacrifice: When you die, if you ever let the sun touch your skin, if you ever allow your feet to touch the earth, if you ever speak another word, if you ever sleep in the same place more than one night, if you do not render aid to everyone in need that you encounter.
Consequences are also worth points as well:
(1 point) Automatically botching the next major supernatural Skill you use.
(2 point) Having bad luck for the rest of your life.
(3 point) Losing all your friends and worldly possessions.
(4 point) A gruesome death.
(5 point) Being deserted by your very soul.
You and your Storyteller may come up with variants of these. Traditionally, there is very little that may be done about geas, which are simply facets of one's destiny, or curses that are devilishly hard to lift (and the Flaw must be bought off if they are or else they are replaced by a separate Flaw of equal value). If you accidentally violate them you may attempt to atone for your crime, fixing whatever you did wrong. For example a witch who has vowed to never eat any red meat, and then suddenly finds beef in her soup, might be able to atone for the trespass by fasting and sending checks to PETA. However, if you violate an oath willingly and with full knowledge - and survive - you become an oathbreaker, one of the foulest epithets among most of supernatural society. Oathbreakers are psychically and spiritually marked, and it is virtually impossible for them to find a tutor or any sort of aid. If you wish to begin as an oathbreaker you should take the Flaw Dark Fate or Cursed, as well as Oathbreaker, which is worth 4 points.

Ghoulish Sense of Humor (1 point): You find humor in situations that make most people uncomfortable or even nauseated. Your questionable taste doesn't make you particularly resistant to the horror of gruesome sights. Your defense mechanism is simply to belittle the situation or those involved in an inappropriate way. When confronted with a horribly gory scene or otherwise uncomfortable situation such as people trying to console each other, you tend to crack jokes and sling insults. The difficulty of any social roll you make under such circumstances, and around those who remember your offense by such antics, are increased by 2.

Graceless (2 point): You always look awkward, even when you're totally on top of things. Everything you do looks, feels, or sounds wrong, even if you go about it the right way. People think you're a schmuck no matter what you do, and this drives you crazy. Which, of course, makes you look even worse. You add a plus 2 difficulty to all Social rolls which involve looking good or making an impression, from Seduction to Etiquette, and others of your kind may think less of you. If you are a Shifter, and depending on the circumstances, this may cost you a point of Cleverness or some other Renown, although this can be offset by Ferocity, Honor, etc., as you struggle through.

Group Enmity (2 point): Some group amongst your kind, i.e. another Clan / Tribe / Kith / Tradition / whatever, doesn't like you and may prevent you going places you might otherwise go or may otherwise give you hell in a variety of ways.

Gullible (2 point): Maybe you’re slow on the uptake, or maybe you just never learned to separate truth from fiction. Whatever the cause, you’re particularly susceptible to lies and half-truths. You lose 3 dice from all dice pools relating to guile and subterfuge (no, not stealth), whether perpetrating your own feeble lies or attempting to penetrate someone else’s words to find the truth.

Hard of Hearing (1 point): Your hearing is defective. The difficulties of any rolls involving the use of hearing are increased by 2. Shifters don't receive the animal form perception bonus.

Hatred (1 point, 3 point for Changelings, Mages, and Wraiths): You have an unreasoning hatred of a certain thing. Your hate is total and largely uncontrollable. You may hate a species of animal, a class of person, a color, a situation, or just about anything else, and you constantly pursue opportunities to harm the hated object or gain power over it.

Haunted (3 point): You are haunted by an angry and tormented spirit. This spirit actively attempts to hinder you and does its utmost to vent its anguish upon you and anyone in your presence. The Storyteller determines the exact nature of the spirit, its powers, and whether or not it can eventually be laid to rest.

Hemophiliac (3 point): You suffer from hemophilia. If you are cut, you will not stop bleeding without medical help. If you suffer lethal or aggravated damage, you suffer an additional level of bashing damage once every five minutes until your wound has been dressed to stop the bleeding. Any Vampire who bites you will find that they cannot seal the wound closed with a lick.

Hero Worship (1 point): You absolutely idolize someone, and disobeying them requires an effort of will (spending Willpower or succeeding a Willpower roll at a minimum 5 difficulty). The object of your hero worship can literally do no wrong in your eyes, which can lead to some serious disputes with your fellows. You must make a Willpower roll at difficulty 5 in order to disobey an instruction given by your hero. In your eyes, they are perfect. In fact, you add an additional plus 2 difficulty to any roll in which success would require you to admit that your hero is wrong.

Honest to A Fault (2 point): You always try to tell the truth, no matter what the situation. You won't stretch it, bend it or manipulate it to take advantage of others, unless human lives are in jeopardy. If you do attempt to lie to someone, the difficulty of any roll involved is increased by 2.

Hostage (1-5 point): Whether out of paranoia or just ruthlessness, a noble holds you as a hostage to ensure someone's good behavior. You may be held in a dungeon or tower, or be allowed the run of the castle. It's possible that you have no travel restrictions; the noble may have laid a geas or other curse on you, one that takes effect if he's attacked. Note that being a hostage doesn't necessarily imply mistreatment; a dead hostage is worthless. In fact, you may be treated quite well, and may even pick up some choice gossip or important secrets. But the threat is always with you, and using that information could be bad for your health. Point value varies; for 1 point, you'll get thrown in the clink if a certain person ever shows their face at court, while 5 points means that if anyone ever attacks His Nibs, someone will march you to your cell in the west tower and do something terminally nasty to you.

Hunted / Witch-Hunted (4 point): You are pursued by a fanatical witch-hunter who has targeted you as his quarry, convinced (perhaps correctly) that you are a monster out of legend bent on preying upon humans. They may be fully aware of what you are and what you can do, and work to negate the advantages of your supernatural abilities (if any), and they may extend their hunt to your companions and associates. Anyone you know or are close to may be in danger from the hunter. While just about everyone can claim some enemy, this Flaw makes you a pariah. Nobody wants to hang out with someone who's going to bring a psycho killer along. While your nemesis desires the elimination of all things that go bump in the night, their primary focus is on you. As fate would have it, the Delirium / Shroud / Mists / whatever has no effect on your pursuer. They are also intelligent and resourceful, far more likely to set nasty traps for you than to blunder into any pitfall you leave for them. The hunter may even have friends or allies who continue to trouble you if you eludes, dissuade, or kill the individual. Whatever the case, this person wants you dead, they're not going to stop, and they have access to special resources (or, at the very least, specialized knowledge) in their quest. For a less anti-you enemy that isn't a stalker, see the Enemy / Foe From The Past / Rival / Supernatural Enemy Flaw. For a truly frustrating experience, see the Nemesis Flaw.

Hunted Like A Dog (3 point): Another group of supernaturals has decided that you're a target for extermination, and pursues you relentlessly. On the bright side, the enemies of your enemy may well wish to help you out, potentially garnering you allies.

Ignorant (1 point): You tend to miss common cultural references that others take for granted, such as the knowing that the Statue of Liberty is in New York City. You're not necessarily dumb or uneducated; a cloistered college researcher could just as easily dive so deeply into his field of study that he dismisses anything outside it. You do tend to give people the impression that you're slow and uneducated, however.

Illiterate (1-3 point): Through lack of education or as a result of a condition like dyslexia, you are unable to read or write. You can understand most traffic signs and warning labels that rely on pictographs, but written instructions and warnings are completely beyond your comprehension. In any time period when reading is very rare, this is not a Flaw an purchasing literacy is a 1 point Merit. In any time period where reading is common, but illiteracy is only moderately uncommon this is a 1 point Flaw. In a time period where just about everyone can read, this is a 3 point Flaw. Subtract 1 point from the Flaw points if you can read a particular language that it is not seen in the area (like Chinese in Africa).

Impatient (1 point): You have no patience for standing around and waiting. You want to do things now - fuck those slowpokes trying to hold you back. Every time you are forced to wait around instead of acting, a self-control roll is required to see if you go tearing off on your own instead.

Impractical Dresser (1 point): You tend to dress with an eye toward impressing others rather than personal comfort. Unless you explicitly state that you dress appropriately for physical activity, you wear high heels, tight jeans or something else that hampers physical activity. Increase the difficulty of Athletics rolls by 2 when you wear such clothes.

Inbred (1-5 point): Inbreeding, a common occurrence among the incestuous Giovanni Clan, can take many forms, and this Flaw is best discussed with the Storyteller before you take it. The Inbred Flaw covers all manner of physical, mental, and emotional defects. A 1 point Inbreeding is something simple and unobtrusive, such as eyes too close together or an underbite. A 3 point Inbreeding is more severe: a congenital health condition (for mortals) or a crippling physical deformity. 5 point Inbreedings are grossly disabling or emotionally crippling - everything from uselessly atrophied legs to a of permanent Derangement, decided on mutually by the player and Storyteller. Inbred conditions may or may not be immediately discernible, though their point cost should be relative to their magnitude. This Flaw is suggested for Giovanni, but may apply to other families as well.

Incoherent (5 point): Human speech is impossible for you. It might be that your mouth is too misshapen, or that years of living in isolation has made you forget how to communicate. While you can understand what is being said to you, you cannot respond. Telepathy works on you as normal, and you have no problem communicating with animals if you have the ability, but human speech is barred to you.

Incompetent (3 point): You are spectacularly bad at something. Unfortunately, you're the only person around who doesn't understand this fact. Pick a single ability. You believe you have the proficiency equal to three 3 in that Trait, when in reality you almost always ruin any effort involving it. Whenever you try to use the Ability, treat the outcome as if you rolled a botch.

Incomplete Understanding (1 point): The whole matter has been explained to you, but you're still not quite sure how things in your group work. Your imperfect understanding of the rules and regulations of your new supernatural existence means that sooner or later, you're going to make a mistake. It's only a matter of time...

Inconvenient Alliance (1-3 point): You have an ally with someone who is discomforting to you and / or your circle, but can't easily get rid of him because of a favor owed, sense of guilt, or whatever. Level of Flaw reflects how controversial or dangerous this ally is.

Indolent Will (4 point): You have a hard time rousing yourself to take action. Whether others call it laziness or simply a tendency toward inertia, you prefer to sit back and let others take the initiative. Unless you spend a Willpower point to allow yourself a normal initiative roll, you automatically go last in any turn.

Inept Scholar (1 point): Despite your brilliance, you just were never good at research of any kind. All such rolls are at a difficulty 3 higher.

Ineptitude (1 point): You just suck at one particular Ability. Maybe you can't handle driving worth a damn, or you make computers burst into flames and emit pink smoke. Pick one Ability in which you have at least one dot - preferably one that will be important to you in some fashion. (Your Storyteller will know if you do otherwise, and has nasty ways to make you pay.) You suffer a difficulty penalty of 2 on all rolls with that Ability.

Infamous Mentor (1 point): Your mentor was, or still is, distrusted and disliked by many of your fellows. As a result, you are distrusted and disliked as well. This is a heavy load, and one not easily shed.

Inferiority Complex (1 point): No matter what you do, by your standards, it's just not good enough. You’re not worthy. Never have been, never will be. In situations requiring you to take charge and strut your stuff or be personally responsible, add plus 1 to all difficulties.

Insane Mentor (1 point): Your mentor has completely lost their grip on reality, and has become dangerously insane. Any wrong committed by your mentor may affect your reputation, and some of your mentor's dangerous schemes may somehow involve you.

Insomniac (2 point): For whatever reason, you have tremendous trouble getting more than a few hours of sleep. You are often groggy and slow as a result. Increase the difficulty of any alertness, awareness or intuition rolls by 2.

Insubordinate (3 point): You like to be in charge so much you have a hard time following anyone else's orders. When given a plan or told to do something, you tend to do the opposite on principle. Whenever you are ordered to do something, you must make a Willpower roll with a difficulty depending on the importance of the superior and the danger of the task (difficulty 7 is typical for someone directly above the character assigning them a moderately dangerous task). If you fail, you will do anything except what you've been told to do.

Intolerance (1 point): You have an unreasoning dislike of a certain thing. This may be an animal, a class of person, a color, a situation, or just about anything else. The difficulties of all dice rolls involving the subject are increased by 2. Note that some dislikes may be too trivial to be reflected here – a dislike of left-handed Lithuanian plumbers or tissue paper, for instance, will have little effect on play in most chronicles. The Storyteller is the final arbiter on what you can pick to dislike.

Intrigue Junkie (1 point): You can't resist the urge to complicate matters by inserting an element of intrigue in almost everything you do. Nothing for you is ever simple or straightforward. You assume that others have ulterior motives, just as you do. You must spend a Willpower point to resist your tendency to mistrust others or to avoid over-complicating a simple situation.

Isolated Upbringing (1 point): You were raised in your supernatural society, or were somehow otherwise sequestered away from "normal" life, so you have trouble dealing with this Outside-World thing. Dealing with any community outside the one in which you were raised adds 1 to social difficulties, or reduces your social pool by 1 die.

Judgmental (2 point): You aren't as open-minded as someone could be, and you form opinions about people quickly. The difficulty to detect if a person lies is raised by 2, as you're inclined to trust your prejudices rather than your senses. If you fail, you automatically assume that they're lying or telling the truth - whichever you are already inclined to believe.

Lame (3 point): Your legs are damaged, which prevents you from running or walking easily. You are forced to walk with a cane or possibly leg braces, and you have a pronounced limp to your stride. Your walking speed is one quarter that of a normal human, and running is impossible.

Lazy (3 point): You are simply lazy, avoiding anything that requires effort on your part. Preferring to let others do the hard work, you lounge around. For any action that requires preparation, there’s a good chance you didn’t properly prepare. Difficulty rolls for spontaneous physical actions (including combat, unless it’s part of a planned offensive) increase by 1.

Lifesaver (3-4 point): You believe that human life is a sacred gift, and will not take a person's life except in the most extreme of circumstances. You may not ever willingly endanger the lives of innocents or in any way participate in a killing. You have no problems with killing animals (for the right reasons), and will kill evil and inhuman creatures to protect others if necessary. (Be very careful, however, with your determination of "evil"…) Senseless death in all forms repulses you, and you feel that those who commit murder should be punished. At the 4 point version of this flaw, you believe that all sentient life is sacred and will not willingly take part in the killing of any sentient creatures. Black Spiral Dancers and Wyrm creatures would count, regardless of any danger they presented to you and those you care about.

Loathsome Regnant (4 point): Not only are you blood bound, but you are also in thrall to a Vampire who mistreats you hideously. Perhaps you are publicly abused or humiliated; perhaps your master forces you to commit unspeakable acts for them. In any case, existence under the bond is a never-ending nightmare, with your regnant serving to conduct the symphony of malice. Sabbat Vampires cannot take this Flaw.

Long-Winded / Babbling Brook (1 point): You have to comment on everything; you can't seem to stop talking. In highly stressful situations you may need to make a Willpower roll to fall silent.

Low Alcohol Tolerance (1 point): Alcohol goes straight to your head. Double any penalties you suffer from consuming alcohol.

Low Pain Tolerance (2 point): You have a very low capacity for pain. You turn into a whimpering, blubbering ball of misery at the first sign of it. Although you soak damage normally, you suffer an additional minus 1 dice pool penalty when you are injured.

Low Self-Esteem (3 point): You have trouble accepting your own value and worth. You tend to highlight your failures and overlook your triumphs. Whenever you have the opportunity to gain Willpower from accomplishing goals (not resting), make a Willpower roll, difficulty 6. If you fail the roll, you do not gain the bonus. If you botch, you lose a temporary point of Willpower.

Low Self-Image (2 point): Suffering from a low self-esteem, you have a minus 2 dice penalty in situations where you don't expect to succeed, or you may have to make Willpower rolls to do something that requires self-confidence.

Lustful (2 point): You can't resist the erotic advances of the appropriate gender(s). You are easily seduced and often exhibit very poor judgment when dealing with sexually attractive people. The difficulty of any attempts to seduce you is reduced by 2.

Magic Susceptibility (2 point): You are especially susceptible to magical rituals and spells of various sorts. The difficulty to cast any such effects upon you is 2 lower than the difficulty to cast the same ritual or spell on another.

Manchurian Candidate (5 point): You're the worst kind of double agent: One who doesn't know they're compromised. Some power unknown to you gave you a task, and you can't help but carry it out. Your controller has programmed you to react to a specific signal - it could be a trigger word, a pattern of flashing lights, or a specific image. When you encounter your trigger, you'll do whatever your master asked of you. Afterwards, you'll remember up to the point where you encountered the signal - the rest is a blank. Common duties include spying on your own organization, destroying sensitive documents, assassinating a target named at the same time as the trigger, or stealing valuable equipment. Work with the Storyteller to come up with a signal and a duty. Optionally, you can let the Storyteller work out the details of what you're up to. At some point the storyteller will describe your trigger, and you have no knowledge of what happens between that point and when you come around. The Storyteller may leave what happens when you're triggered a mystery - or might have the other players encounter you when you're programmed. Work with the storyteller to portray yourself in your brainwashed state. The brainwashing is strong enough that even supernatural powers may not sway you from your task.

Masochism / Sadism (2 point): You are excited either by causing pain or receiving it. In many situations, you will seek to be hurt or hurt someone for your pleasure. For a masochist (someone who enjoys pain), your soak roll difficulty for physical damage is increased by 1 because you really want to feel the pain. A sadist (someone who likes to hurt others) must make a Willpower roll at difficulty 5 to stop combat (modified depending on how much you are into the attack and how much you are enjoying hurting the other person). If you fail, you are so caught up in the event that you unaware of anything else happening around you.

Mayfly Curse (5-10 point): Common among Progenitor Victors and those with Shifter or Demonic blood, you mature at an accelerated rate - and decline at the same. At the lower level, you age one year every two months, which means that when you're physically eighteen years old, you're chronologically three. At the higher rate, you age a year every week, making you sixteen in less than four months and fifty two by the end of the year. It's not much of a lifespan, certainly, but it's more than sufficient for shock troops. This Flaw can be combined with any degree of Aging.

Medicated (1-5 point): You require a daily medication to stay in good health. As a 1 point Flaw, your medication is important to your long-term health, but has little effect on your day-to-day well-being, as with prescription drugs that keep your cholesterol down. The 5 point version represents insulin shots or something else that is necessary to keep you alive. If you should miss a day's worth of medicine, you automatically suffer an unsoakable Bashing or Lethal Health Level of damage for every 12 hours that pass without your medicine, as determined by the Storyteller. The damage is healed at a rate of one level per 12 hours that pass once you resume your regular medication schedule.

Mental Patient (2-5 point): Sometime in your life you have run afoul of the mental health authorities. Seeing and talking to beings that no one else can perceive, and hearing voices that may tell you frightening and disturbing things, is far outside the realm of the normal. Anyone who does such things must be crazy! Because you seemed delusional and incoherent you were locked up as a possible danger to yourself and others. Since schizophrenia is the most common diagnosis for such problems you may even have been on powerful anti-psychotic drugs for a time. If you managed to convince the officials that you are no longer a danger to yourself or others and you were released this Flaw is worth only 2 points. However if you actually escaped from a mental institution and are on the run from the authorities, then the Flaw is worth 5 points. Even if you were legally released from care, the modern mental health system does not consider an illness like schizophrenia curable. Anyone who has ever been institutionalized against their will has this fact noted in his records. Prospective employers, landlords and similar personnel usually look askance at anyone who was crazy. The discrimination and problems for mental cases are much worse if you were not released. Escaped mental patients are regarded in much the same light a escaped convicts. Most people see them as little better than dangerous animals. Everyone, from the police to the general public, will consider you to be a potential killer, even if you have no history of violence. In this age of nation wide databases, and background check using your name, social security number, or finger prints will reveal your status. This Flaw costs less depending upon the level of technology in the society that you are a part of.

Mentor's Resentment (1 point): Your mentor dislikes you and wishes you ill. Given the smallest opportunity, your mentor will seek to do you harm, and may even attack you if provoked. Your mentor's allies and friends will also work against you, and many of your superiors may resent you because of what your mentor has told them. Good luck!

Misinformed (1 point): You uphold some odd belief, such as a conspiracy theory or UFO visitation, that flies in the face of accepted science or conventional wisdom. You tend to incorporate this misinformation into your worldview. Whenever you test a Knowledge that in some way relates to your belief, increase the difficulty by 2. This penalty kicks in when you roll a failure. It represents your tendency to come up with off-the-wall answers that others see as obviously incorrect (or worse yet, believable).

Mistaken Identity (1 point): You look similar to descriptions of someone else, which causes cases of mistaken identity. This can prompt numerous awkward or even dangerous situations, especially if your “twin” has a terrible reputation or is wanted for some crime.

Mistreated Minority (1+ point): You belong to a group or have a trait to which the average person will react badly. This depends a lot on where the game takes place and what kind of people you run into, so check with the Storyteller before you assume you can take this. Yes, if you're playing an openly gay man in a backwoods redneck area, that may cause you problems. However if you're playing an openly gay man in a game focused on the New York art scene, that probably won't be a problem.

Moneygrubbing (3 point): You exist to make money. Family, friends, and other concerns are trivial when compared to the almighty dollar. If someone offers you a bribe, you must make a Willpower roll at difficulty 7 in order to resist. If the bribe involves something that as far as you know won't directly result in any injuries or lasting damage, increase the difficulty to 8.

Monochrome Vision / Color Blindness (1 point): You can only see in black and white. Color means nothing to you, although you are sensitive to color density, which you perceive in shades of gray. Note: color blindness actually indicates an inability to distinguish between two colors, but we fudged it a bit for the sake of playability.

Monstrous (2-3 point): There's something wholly monstrous about you, something which makes you hideous in the eyes of others. You look like the very devil ( maybe literally) and some people may take your appearance to believe you're connected to some horrible yucky evil thing. At the 2 point version of this  Flaw, you cannot have an appearance rating above 1 dot. With the 3 point version, you automatically have an Appearance rating of 0. If you are a Shifter, your Homid form scarcely looks human, and your Crinos and Lupus forms look horrendous; in what manner they differ from the norm is up to you. Perhaps you've taken on the features of a reptilian animal, and appear as a creature of the Wyrm to certain literal-minded Garou.

Motion Sickness (1 point): You suffer from motion sickness and become queasy and nauseous by the rocking of the sea on boards, when traveling long distances by car, or on amusement park rides. You make a Stamina roll for seasickness against a base difficulty of 8, and if you fail you increase the difficulty of all actions you take by 2 when dealing with these conditions.

Mute (4 point): You cannot speak. You may communicate with the Storyteller and describe your actions, but cannot talk to other people unless everyone concerned purchases a commonly understood sign language or you write down what you wish to say.

Multiple Personalities (4-5 point): Your personality is different depending on situation and time of the month or year. Your basic beliefs desires and nature may alter. Roll 1 die each day to decide which personality is in control (equal chance for each), and anytime a stressful event occurs (storyteller discretion for the difficulty of the roll). You may choose a few days of the year that you have a particular personality. The 4 point version of this Flaw means that you have knowledge of the differences in personality, though you may wish to create elaborate ruses where each personality has its own identity. With the 5 point version you have no knowledge of the other personalities, and must create separate character sheets (all dots may vary by a maximum of 2).

Naive (1 point): You are hopelessly naive about the nature of reality and see everything through “rose-colored glasses.” You may have been brought up in wealth and privilege or be a survivor of abuse and trauma that you have repressed. You are hesitant to suspect evil or foul play in others, which can be a serious problem. The difficulty for any rolls for you to detect another person’s ill intent, from the Sense Wyrm Gift, to Auspex mind reading, to Empathy rolls, is raised by 2.

Narc (3 point): You are known to be a snitch, an informer firmly planted in the pocket of those in charge. Those on whom you might yet get information of or from loathe you as a result, feeding you misinformation when they can in an attempt to discredit you. Given the opportunity, they might do you mischief. Regardless, your reputation as a weasel precedes you, putting you at a plus 1 difficulty on all Social rolls against those who don't agree with your politics.

Nemesis (5 point): Maybe you're the reincarnation of some ancient hero or maybe you just have rotten luck, but whatever the reason, you've inherited a true nemesis: an opposite number determined to do you some serious harm or even destroy you. This feud falls outside the scope of the regular Enemy or Hunted Flaws because it represents something more cosmic. Not only does this individual hate you and actively seek to do you harm, but the two of you seem to have been specifically designed to be enemies, an your confrontations bear testament to it. Your foe is nearly telepathic at anticipating your next move, and both of you always seem to have an answer for each others best tricks or strongest powers, forcing a constant struggle to come up with some new way of surprising each other. Both of you know it will never end until one of you is put out of the picture permanently. The Storyteller is responsible for creating your nemesis and is under no obligation to reveal their full powers and potencies. Optionally, you may begin the game not knowing of your nemesis, but rest assured, the Storyteller will have you make their acquaintance before long. For a less anti-you enemy that isn't a stalker, see the Enemy / Foe From The Past / Rival / Supernatural Enemy Flaw. For a slightly less frustrating anti-you specialized stalker, see the Hunted / Witch-Hunted Flaw.

New Arrival (1 point): You’ve just arrived in your new city of residence, and don’t know anyone in the place. Existing factions may try to recruit or eliminate you, while those in positions of authority size you up and take your measure. Meanwhile, your ignorance of the city’s current events, history, and politics (not to mention the personality quirks of those already in place) may cause you to make a serious blunder.

New Kid (1 point): You're the latest in the city to be Awakened / Embraced / Changed / whatever or have yet to prove yourself to your group, and everyone knows it. That automatically puts you at the bottom of the social totem pole. Others that have yet to prove themselves as well or are not well established take every opportunity to demonstrate your inferiority, and superiors constantly test your worthiness. Even if someone else is added to the ranks after you have joined, you're still regarded as something as a bit of a geek by your peers - a distinction that can have dangerous consequences if bullets start flying. All social related rolls are at a plus 1 difficulty when you are dealing with others that are not well established. (Most superiors far enough up to not compete with you normally lump you in with all of the other the other newbies under their general disdain anyways.)

Nightmares (1 point): 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 at difficulty 7 or lose 1 die on all actions for that day / night. A botched Willpower roll indicates that, even when awake, you still believe that you are locked in a nightmare.

No Sense of Direction (1 point): You get lost all the time. Maps, compasses and detailed directions do little to help. You have a lot of trouble figuring out where you are in relation to landmarks that aren't immediately obvious, and maps are largely incomprehensible to you. Increase by 2 the difficulty of any roll that involves following convoluted directions, backtracking a route or navigating a confusing set of city streets.

No Sense of Smell (1 point): You completely lack a sense of smell. You may have simply been born without it, or perhaps you lost it due to some freak accident. You can't smell anything, no matter how strong the odor might be. Food tastes somewhat bland to you. On the good side, you aren't bothered by the stench of sewers, rotting flesh, or other nasties.

No Sense of Taste (1 point): Your taste buds simply do not function. You cannot appreciate a fine meal, and you have trouble gauging the difference between good and bad food and drink.

Nonconfrontational (1 point): You have a hard time bringing up difficult subjects with others. You're willing to make a lot of sacrifices to avoid interpersonal confrontations. You let people have their way simply to avoid fights, and often you step into arguments and attempt to end them without any thought about the outcome of the discussion, as long as it ends. You have a hard time coping with pushy people and find yourself making a lot of compromises that you later wish you hadn't. Add 2 to the difficulty of any roll that involves debating or arguing with someone who is normally friendly with you.

Notoriety (3 point): You did something, or at least others think you did, that is frowned upon by your peers and elders. Minus 2 dice to all social rolls dealing with your group. Renown (or lack thereof) has nothing to do with your reputation. Your own group members (other than your immediate friends) dislike you regardless of how much Renown you have, and you may not take the Reputation Merit.

Oathbreaker (4 point): You are a known defector. If you violate an oath willingly and with full knowledge - and survive - you become an oathbreaker, one of the foulest epithets among most of supernatural society. You turned traitor from your former group and you still have much to prove before you are accepted by the society that you defected to. Oathbreakers are psychically and spiritually marked, and it is virtually impossible for them to find a tutor or any sort of aid. Superiors, equals, and even lessers will treat you with distrust and even hostility, and your reputation might even sully those whom you regularly associate with. If you wish to begin as an oathbreaker you should take the Flaw Dark Fate or Cursed.

Obsession (2 point): There is something you like, love, or are fascinated by to the point where you often disregard common sense to cater to this drive. You react positively to anything related to your obsession, even if it's not in your best interests. For example, if you are obsessed with supernatural creatures, you will go out of your way to talk to and befriend Vampires, Werewolves, and stranger things, and find out as much as you can about them, disregarding all warnings. If you are obsessed with Elvis, you have your house decorated with black velvet paintings and annoy your friends with your constant talk about the King. You don't necessarily believe that Elvis is still alive, but you buy ever supermarket tabloid that caries an article about him anyway. There are many other obsessions, including British royalty, guns, football, roleplaying games… you know the type. As with the Merit Higher Purpose, the Storyteller must be careful that a Wraith with this Merit and high Passions doesn't grow too powerful.

Offensive to Animals (1 point): For some reason, animals fear you or just don't like you. Add 2 to your difficulty or subtract 2 dice from rolls involving interacting with animals. Obviously, Vampires can't take this Flaw as they naturally have it (though they can take the 1 point Merit Inoffensive to Animals, which reverses the effect of the curse).

Old Flame (2 point): Someone you once cared deeply for is now with the enemy. They still attempt to play on your sympathies “for old times’ sake” while working against you. Unless you succeed on a contested Manipulation + Expression roll against your former friend, you cannot act against them unless the situation becomes life-threatening.

Old Injury (2 point): You hurt yourself pretty badly back in your younger days and now pay the price with chronic pain and tenderness. Increase the difficulty of any athletics roll by 2.

One Arm (3 point): You were either born with only one arm or lost your arm through an injury of some sort. You suffer no secondary-hand penalty, since you have adapted to using your one hand for most activities. When you need to use two hands, however, you lose 2 dice from your dice pool. For Shifters, your running speed in any non-bipedal form is half of normal.

One Ear (2 point): You are missing an ear, or else you are suffered damage or a birth defect that makes such an organ useless. The difficulties of all Perception rolls within the appropriate sense increase by 2. If you have one functional ear suffers a plus 1 difficulty on all rolls to determine the location of a given sound (due to the loss of binaural hearing).

One Eye (2 point): You have only one eye - which eye is missing is up to you. The difficulties of all Perception rolls involving eyesight are increased by 2, and the difficulties of all die rolls requiring depth perception are increased by an additional 1 point (this includes ranged combat).

Otherworldly Taint (2 point): Something about you just isn't right. You have a physical peculiarity (odd hair / eye color, glowing eyes, etc.), and / or just an odd aura about you which may make you stick out. Perhaps you have white hair at a young age, or you're unusually tall, or you've got eyes that shine slightly silver in the moonlight. Regardless, you've got some feature or mystique that other people consider disturbing, even if they don't know why. To most observers, you're simply uncanny; a person skilled in occult or mystical matters can recognize you for what you are with a successful Perception + Awareness roll at difficulty 7. Some people might find your disquieting presence compelling. Most, however, will give you a lot of breathing room - or a lot of trouble.

Outcast (2 point): Unlike the banished you are still nominally part of your group's culture, but you occupy its very lowest rung. You may be a bottom-feeder at the fringes of an army, a Pariah among the town, or the worst sort of artist among the muses. Those above you think little of insulting or demeaning you and your legal status among your own kind is debatable, though they rarely attack you outright. Others may take pity on you, but are likely to see you as inconsequential.

Outsider (2 point): Though you're not exactly infamous, you have a poor reputation amongst your kind. Whether because of rumors (true or not), an ill-done deed, poor decision, or some other character flaw, you have a poor reputation among them. They don’t necessarily hurt you, but they let you know you aren’t welcome in their camps, towns, or homes. Plus 2 difficulty on all social rolls when interacting with your group.

Overconfident (1 point): You have an exaggerated and unshakable opinion of your own worth and capabilities. You never hesitate to trust your abilities, even if situations where you risk defeat. Because your abilities may not be enough, such overconfidence can be very dangerous. When you do fail, you quickly find someone or something else to blame. If you are convincing enough, you can infect others with your overconfidence.

Overextended (4 point): You've got your fingers in too many pies, and people are starting to notice. You may have too much land, too many retainers, or too much influence, which means that a lot of people have a vested interest in trimming back your operations. These enemies take every opportunity to reduce your power and influence, and if that means lying, cheating, or killing, so be it. Furthermore, your enemies block every attempt you make to move into new areas of control. You're boxed in, and the box is getting smaller.

Pacifist (5 point): You utterly refuse to use violence against anything, even if your life or the lives of others are in immediate danger. Furthermore, you work hard to prevent others from using violence, though you do not recklessly endanger yourself or others to do so. You never carry weapons and refuse to procure them. A Willpower roll at difficulty 6 may be required to resist the temptation to engage in violence when a gross offense has been committed before or against you, such as a loved one being harmed. If you defy your nature and succumb to violence at some point, you cannot regain Willpower each morning until you come to terms with your lapse or you change your life philosophies (road / path) altogether.

Pack Mentality (2 point, 1 point for Pooka Changelings): You pride yourself on being a member of the pack; it's your life. Your attachment to your group far exceeds healthy limits. Your identity is tied to that of your pack, so much so that you always think in terms of "us" rather than "me." You not only want to be part of a group, you need to be. You go to extreme lengths to protect your group, even to the point of sacrificing yourself. And if you find yourself without one, you join up with the first that accepts you. You stress hard when left alone, and receive a plus 3 difficulty on all rolls when not part of a group. You don't, however, have to be a follower in the group, you could just as easily be the leader who needs more than anything to have people to oversee. When with your pack, you receive a -1 on all pack tactics difficulties but are so dependent on your pack that sometimes you can't make decisions without them - even if you're the Alpha of the group. The storyteller may decide you have to make a Willpower roll or even spend a Willower Point to act on your own in a stressful situation. If you've lost your old group, spend a Willpower point to put off joining the first one that you find - even if they are inimical to your own ethics. You must do this for a number of days equal to the number of failures (number of 1s rolled) on an Intelligence roll.

Paranoia (2 point): Awakening to the supernatural wasn't easy for you. You are suspicious of everything and everybody. These humans are everywhere and possess strange and provocative powers. No wonder they're destroying the Dreaming / Umbra / Shadowlands / whatever so easily - it's a plot! The other supernaturals in your group are in on it too, turning themselves into some sort of demi-humans to further the cause of the mortals. You'd call your friends for help, but what if they're in on it too? You are at a plus 1 difficulty to all Social rolls, and are expected to roleplay acting upon your beliefs.

Paraplegic (6 point): You can hardly move without assistance, such as a pair of crutches or a wheelchair. Even then it can be painful and cumbersome to do so. The Storyteller and you should take care to roleplay this Flaw correctly, no matter how difficult it makes things. You may not take this flaw along with the Merit Double-Jointed.

Permanent Wound (3 point): Due to Pattern damage, a permanent Paradox injury, wounds suffered during the Embrace, or some other nastiness, you have a wound that never heals. Even if you repair the injury with magic, super science, or spend Blood Points to heal, it reoccurs at sunset or sunrise of each day (your choice as to which). This wound causes you to suffer the Wounded Health Level with Agravated damage that can't be soaked upon waking each night or morning. Such damage is cumulative with other injuries (and it could kill a badly wounded mage if it reoccurs while you're already injured), but it isn't self-cumulative. That is, your bleeding head wound doesn't cause any more damage the next morning or evening if you haven't bothered to heal it magically for a day.

Persistent Parents (2 point): Having disappeared into your new life as a supernatural, your parents, for whatever reason, are actively searching for you. They may hire detectives to find you, plaster posters with your picture on it around town, pester radio and television stations to run public service ads, or dedicate websites and utilize social media to recruit the aid of the internet in order to try to find you. They may be ignorant of your new life, suspecting instead that you have run away, joined a cult, or been kidnapped. They may instead have ties to a rival faction or organization with ulterior motives in locating you.

Phobia [Mild] (1 point): You have an overpowering fear of something. You'll instinctively and illogically retreat from and avoid the object of your fear. Common objects of phobias include certain animals, insects, crowds, open spaces, confined spaces, and heights. You must roll Willpower whenever the object of your fear is encountered. The difficulty of this roll is determined by the Storyteller. If you fail the roll, you must retreat in terror from the object, and if you get less than 3 successes you'll not approach it.

Phobia (2 point): You have a strong aversion to a type of encounter or confrontation that's likely to occur in a story. When presented with this stimulus (crowds, birds, rats, enclosed places, heights), you must make a Willpower roll at difficulty 9; 1 success temporarily overrides the phobia. If you score no successes, you'll spend the rest of the scene trying to avoid or flee the situation, confrontation, or revelation. On a botch, you are paralyzed with fear for at least one round. Spending a Willpower point can override this reaction for at least one round, no doubt long enough for the rest of your group to come to the fearful victim's aid. As you'd expect, the Storyteller has the right to disallow any phobia that's too trivial or too esoteric to ever show up in a story. In fact, the Storyteller should feel free to work the phobia into sessions once in a while to justify it. If the Flaw doesn't inconvenience or challenge you, the Storyteller can veto it immediately and choose another Flaw for you.

Phobia [Severe] (3 point): You have an overpowering fear of something: Common objects of fear include certain animals, insects, crowds, open spaces, confined spaces, heights, and so on. You must make a frenzy roll not to go into a fox frenzy when faced with the object of fear. The difficulty depends on the circumstances. if you fail the roll, you must retreat in terror from the object of fear. If you get less than 3 successes you won't approach it. The Storyteller has final say over which phobias are allowed in a Chronicle.

Plagiarist (1 point): You cannot help it. All of your academic achievements were stolen from the work of others. Now you live in constant fear of being found out. You try to do proper research, but whenever presented with a shortcut, you cannot resist taking it. Sooner or later you will be found out unless you change your ways, but you don't seem to be able to beat the temptation.

Poor Judge of Character (2 point): You're the type of person who always ends up hanging out with the wrong crowd. Maybe you just like to date dangerous men or you're a sucker for a woman in trouble (or vice versa). Whatever the reason, you have a very hard time figuring out whom to trust. Increase the difficulty of all awareness and intuition rolls you attempt in social circumstances by 2. Also, your friends and acquaintances tend to be sponges and other lowlifes.

Poor Night Vision (2 point): Your eyesight is poor in low-light conditions. Increase the difficulty of any action attempted in dim light, such as what a flashlight might provide or under starlight alone, by 2.

Poor Taste (1 point): You wallow in bathroom humor, lowbrow jokes, and other practices that make more refined people uncomfortable. You've seen movies like Dumb and Dumber dozens of times, and don't plan on giving them up any time soon. Your sense of humor makes you an instant pariah in any reasonably cultured company, and you can't help but let your true colors shine through in even short-term social contacts. Or you are simply forever known and prove yourself to have bad taste in your clothes and the decorations you use anytime you decorate. You can never have an Art Appreciation Hobby Skill, and add 2 to the difficulty of any Social roll that involves people who might not like your brand of humor or design choice.

Potent Blood (3 point): Your blood, for some reason, is very potent and Vampires will desire to drink it. They will not easily give up the chance to continue using you as a source of Vitae. They gain two blood points for every one drunk. Vampires may not take this Merit.

Primal Marks (2 point): You may have an Avatar of the Primordial Essence, some totem or god of legend, or perhaps you've just gained some powerful spirit's patronage and it's set its mark on you. If the totem is an animal, you resemble what such an animal would look like in human form so strongly that people who don't even know you call you "Bear" or "Moose" or "Raven." If your Avatar / Fae Mein / totem / spirit is some well known god or hero, you look just like people would expect you to, including any particular deformities (although you do get extra points for such handicaps). You look the part so much that anyone can guess your nature at a glance, and there's some danger in that, especially if your Avatar / Fae Mein / totem / spirit has a legendary enemy (as most do). Your Avatar / Fae Mein / totem / spirit will also require you to protect its species or finish up its unfinished agenda. You might alternately be the descendant of some famous or infamous house: Pendragon, Muraski, Bacon, Bathory, Borgia, or Le Vey. Besides the family name, you've also inherited the family "look." Students of history can easily picture you banishing the Devil and slaying dragons, or poisoning entire families and bathing in the blood of virgins - especially since they have the illustrations that might give them this idea. Alternately, you may just look the part of your profession too well. Perhaps you have the red hair and green eyes of an Irish witch, the pale eyes and dark skin of an Arabic sorcerer, the grown-together brows and elongated ring-fingers of a born Shifter, or the intense yellow, violet, or emerald green eyes of one the Fae. Students of ancient lore recognize these signs, and you may easily become the victim of witch-hunters. However, some witches, Changelings, Shifters, and others may accord you more status in their societies if you "look the part."

Probationary Member (4 point): You are a defector. You turned traitor to the other side, and you still have much to prove before you are accepted by those you have defected to. Others within your group treat you with distrust and even hostility, and your reputation might even sully those whom you regularly associate with.

Procrastination (3 point): Distraction comes in many forms and you want to do everything at once. Unfortunately, there is only one of you. You've never heard of the concept of time management, so you skip from one project to the next as your fancy dictates. And when an important obligation comes along, you flit off to have fun rather than perform your duty. That party at your friend's place seems so much more interesting than polishing your mentor's sword - you can do that tomorrow. There will be plenty of time for that tomorrow. But that elusive tomorrow never comes and the task goes shoddily unfinished. Yet, to your credit, you had a damn good time at the party. You must make a Willpower roll any time you must choose between duty or fun to see which you choose.

Psychic Vampire (5 point): The spark of life is dying within you, and you must be continuously fed from outside forces. You are a Psychic Vampire. Plants and insects wither or die in your presence as you feed on their energies, and any person you touch for more than an hour will suffer one Lethal Health Level as you siphon away their life. Those already injured (including those whose Bruised Health Levels have been sucked away) will not heal while in your presence. You can still be in the same building without harming someone, but sharing a bed is not possible unless you want the other person to slowly die. If you do not feed the emptiness within yourself at least once a day, you will begin to die. The rate at which you take wounds follows the progression for natural healing in reverse: you take an unsoakable Health Level after one day, a second in three days, a third in a week, a forth in a month, and finally, one wound every three months.

PTSD (2-5 point): Awful experiences have given you a hair-trigger response to certain situations. Anxiety, aversions, phobias, sudden rage - whatever the symptoms might be, this post-traumatic stress disorder acts as a protective shield against further harm. Unlike a derangement, this Flaw doesn't induce delusions - you remain lucid enough. Still, your fears kick in at difficult, sometimes unpredictable, times, undermining every attempt at whatever passes for a normal life in the supernatural world. Sadly common in the World of Darkness, PTSD reflects deep-seated pain caused by things that a person might not even recall. Combat, torture, accidents, poverty, sexual violation, domestic violence, parental abuse - anything that can destroy a person's sense of safety might cause PTSD. Despite its sometimes extreme nature, PTSD is a perfectly rational response to harm. Because of that, it can be difficult to treat successfully, even with advanced psychiatry or mind-based magics. In most cases, a person suffering from PTSD simply learns to live with the symptoms and avoid the triggers that can set off a reaction. As usual, the different levels of this Flaw manifest in various levels of severity:
(2 point) Your PTSD conjures occasional nightmares and anxieties under certain rare circumstances: Confronting ghosts, dealing with demons, entering the wilderness, and so forth.
(3 point) The trauma triggers phobias or other strong reactions to more common situations: Dealing with your elders, facing financial difficulty, etc.
(4 point) Reactions become more extreme: Near-panic, powerful aversion, rapid mood swings. Provocations also become more common: Gunshots, confrontations, raised voices, etc.
(5 point) Your PTSD kicks off major reactions: Fight-or-flight panic, vivid flashbacks, moments of stark terror, or incapacitating catatonia in fairly common situations: Sex, arguments, financial transactions, etc. Even without the specific stimulus, you suffer from nightmares, social anxieties, fear of common things, and other circumstances that could evoke the traumatic event(s).

Pyromaniac (5 point): You must set fires. You cannot stop yourself. You almost get a sexual thrill from watching flames. To avoid setting fires you must make a Willpower roll each morning. If you fail, you will set at least one fire that day. This is a very dangerous Flaw, and will eventually get you in trouble with mortal or supernatural law-enforcement.

Recruitment Target (1 point): Someone in one of your group's enemy organizations wants you, and they want you bad. Every effort is being made to recruit you, willing or no, and the press gangs or misunderstanding witnesses usually show up at the worst possible time.

Religious Hysteria (3 point): Even among the devoutly religious, there are those that take things too far. Unlike religious ecstatic, who occasionally have visions of Heaven, your visions seem a bit too often, and a bit too untenable. You see everything as an omen or a sign from God, devils and angels are everywhere, and you just can't read the Good Book too many times. The difference between this Flaw and the Ecstatic Merit is that people don't take you seriously. Whenever you're in any social encounters, you have a 1 die penalty.

Routine (3 point): This Flaw is most appropriate for long lived beings of various sorts.You tend to go to the same places at the same time of day, week, month, or year. If others have studied you they have a bonus to surprising you (Storyteller discretion). You must also add 2 to the difficulty of all rolls when you are unable to follow your routine for any length of time.

Sadism / Masochism (2 point): You are excited either by causing pain or receiving it. In many situations, you will seek to be hurt or hurt someone for your pleasure. For a masochist (someone who enjoys pain), your soak roll difficulty for physical damage is increased by 1 because you really want to feel the pain. A sadist (someone who likes to hurt others) must make a Willpower roll at difficulty 5 to stop combat (modified depending on how much you are into the attack and how much you are enjoying hurting the other person). If you fail, you are so caught up in the event that you unaware of anything else happening around you.

Sadness Of Hakahe (1 point): You tend to succumb to depression whenever circumstances overwhelm you. Instead of reaching inside to find that extra will to endure or persist, you flounder in the depths of self-pity and pessimism. If you fail three successive rolls (either in combat or non-combat situations) you fall prey to feelings of despair and inadequacy. All successive rolls have a plus 1 added to their difficulty until you finally succeed at something.

Second Class Citizen (1-3 point): The simple happenstance of birth has made you second class citizen in the mortal world. The existence in that class is relatively obvious. The points given for this Flaw depends on the time period, location, and class that you are. Examples: 1 point for females in 1950's America, 2 points for black people in 1950's America, and 3 point for black people in medieval Europe.

Secret Friendship (2 point): You have a secret friendship with another denizen of the night: A Vampire, Mage, Werewolf, or other supernatural entity. Knowledge of this wouldn't only destroy your reputation among your group - it would place you on their hit list. You must always cover up any activities that deal with this friendship, and you're paranoid that your secret is always on the verge of discovery (which it is).

Sell-Out (2 point): Others in your group see you as a sell-out, a suck-up, a traitor to your kind, or just a (insert rival faction's name here) loving SOB. It may not be true - you may be fulfilling an oath or geas, or you may be a deep cover mole. You are at a plus 2 difficulty on social rolls when dealing with others in your society (the Storyteller may increase the difficulty when dealing with those who are especially anti-traitor or anti-[insert rival faction's name here]). Other sell-outs may treat you better, but more than likely they won't since you're probably competing with them.

Sensation Junkie (2 point): You're addicted to sensation, and will do anything to find new means of stimulation. You must roll Willpower to resist taking the opportunity to try a new kick, difficulty depending on the situation.

Shaky Hands (3 point): You have a lot of trouble keeping yourself composed under pressure. In an extremely stressful situation such as combat, your hands shake so badly that you have trouble completing any tasks that require a delicate touch and intense concentration. Examples include picking a lock, loading bullets into a revolver or typing at a computer. Increase the difficulty of any rolls for such demanding activities by 2.

Short / Small (1 point): You're well below average height - four and a half feet tall or less - and have trouble seeing over high objects and moving quickly. You have normal Health Levels, but have less body mass. You suffer a minus 2 dice penalty to all pursuit rolls, you have 1 less die on Social rolls and probably aren't considered for leadership, you subtract 1 die from your combat dice pools if you're brawling or using melee weapons, your running speed is half that of an average human, and you and the Storyteller should make sure your height is taken into account in all situations. In some circumstances, this'll give you a concealment bonus. A Shifter in Crinos form doesn't gain as much mass and size as is normal, so you're just under average human height in this form. If you would like to go the whole nine yards and lose a Health Level as well, see the Puny Flaw.

Short Attention Span (2 point): Much of a person's time can be spent pouring over complex problems, separating informational wheat from chaff. This requires time, effort, and most of all, patience. Unfortunately, with Short Attention Span, patience is something you have in short supply. You bounce from idea to idea and project to project, never finishing one before starting the next. Even if you're promised to complete work for someone else, you never quite seem to be able to get around to it, particularly when there are so many more exciting things to which you could devote yourself. (Alas, each of these eventually pales, and you're left with a string o unfinished pieces, which depresses you so much that you want to wipe the slate clean and start on something completely new…) For those with Short Attention Span to finish a piece of work that cannot be done at a single sitting, you must make a Willpower roll at difficulty 6; otherwise the necessary work will be left undone. This roll must be made every time the project in question is returned to. Someone with this Flaw will be treated like a child by others, as an adult without patience is no real adult at all.

Short Life (3 point): This Flaw is for Technocracy members only. Like the replicants in Blade Runner, you have a built-in life span. Under the best of conditions, you may live a year or two. At the end of that time, your body breaks down, your organs shut off, and your life-spark fades to black. Chances are, you also have the Dissolve Flaw to keep authorities from asking the wrong questions. An alternative to this Flaw is Degeneration.

Short Temper (1 point): You are easily driven to distraction by what would otherwise be minor failures and other frustrations. If you fail to gain any successes on any single roll during an extended action, increase the difficulty of all subsequent actions by 1, cumulatively.

Shy (1 point): You are distinctly ill at ease when dealing with people and try to avoid social situations whenever possible. Difficulties for all rolls involving social interaction with strangers are increased by 2. If you become the center of attention in a large group, difficulties are increased by 3.

Siege Mentality (3 point): You're a "company man" through and through. You view your agency as an extended family of sorts. This can have its advantages, but it leads you to regard everyone else with an unfriendly eye. You suspect that most of the "civvies" out there hate your agency. You think they want to interfere with it, or even shut it down. Your contempt for the "little people" makes you far more likely to use your privileged position to dispense a little "justice" of your own. This contempt extends also to the civilian legislators, who tie your agency's hands without really knowing what's going on. You especially hate the traitors within your agency who are trying to "reform" it. You think you're above the law, and so often break it. The worst excess committed by intelligence agencies over the years were the acts of those victim to this narrow scope of thinking. You tend to see everything through "agency colored glasses," and thus lack the flexibility to understand foreign mindsets. Subtract die from all Empathy or Investigation rolls involving alien ways of thinking.

Sleeping With The Enemy (3 point): You have some sort of intimate connection with a member of an opposing group. You may have a lover, a child, a friend, or a contact working the other side of the fence, but regardless of politics you retain a friendly (or more than friendly) relationship with your putative foe. Your close ties to someone on the other side would be regarded as treason by your superiors within the group, and if you are discovered, the penalty will surely be death.

Slow Healing (3 point): The body's natural healing processes are slow, whether due to a bad immune system, old age, bad diet, or just genetics. You therefore heal at half-normal speed. You heal all of your wounds twice as slowly as everyone else. All Life Magic effects heal half the damage they should, rounded down. Mummies have difficulty healing injuries to their Khat. Vampires and ghouls have to spend twice as many Blood Points to heal one level of damage. Other special or supernatural healing methods (such as alchemical potions and other forms of Hekau) are only half as effective as it normally would be, rounded down.

Slow Learner (3 point): You always lagged behind in school, and even the most patient people find it frustrating to teach you the simplest concepts. You aren't dumb. It just takes you longer than most to wrap your brain around things. For the purposes of figuring out how many experience points it costs to raise an ability, add 1 to your current rating. Acquiring a new ability costs four experience points, not the usual three.

Slut (2 point): You are perceived by others to either put out for almost anybody, or sleep with anything that will have you in bed with them. In your chosen crowd you may add 2 dice to any rolls to pick someone up, but on all other social rolls you must add 2 to the difficulty, simply because people in the scene lack respect for you. This is only a 1 point Flaw for a Hetaerae since it is considered to be forgivable behavior due to the nature of their Clan.

Socially Oblivious (1 point): You have trouble picking up subtle hints from others. You often overstay your welcome at parties, and you tend to blurt out topics that everyone else takes great pains to avoid in conversation. You aren't a socially repellent person, just occasionally tactless. Add 2 to the difficulty of any Etiquette rolls you attempt.

Soft-Hearted (1 point): You cannot stand to watch others suffer. If you are the direct cause of suffering and you witness it, you will experience grief and sickness from it. You avoid situations where you might have to witness someone in physical or emotional pain, and will do anything you can to protect others from it. Whenever you must witness suffering, difficulties of all rolls are increased by 2 for the next hour unless you succeed a Willpower roll at difficulty 8.

Special Responsibility (1 point): Shortly after your joining your group, you volunteered for some task in order to gain respect and approval from those around you. Now, you wish you had never opened your damn mouth! While you are not given any special credit for performing this duty, you would lose a lot of respect if you were to stop. The nature and the details of your duty should be worked out with the Storyteller in advance. Ideas can range from lending money to others in your group, to acting as a messenger, or possibly even gathering victims for rituals (such as Blood Feasts).

Speech Impediment (1 point): You have a stammer or other speech impediment that hampers verbal communication (even for Shifters using their native tongue of howls and growls). The difficulties of all die rolls involving verbal communication are increased by 2.

Spiritually Noticable (3 point): Only those who possess either the Medium or Spirit Sight Merit or a similar power can take this Flaw. Spirits automatically notice that you can always perceive them. Unlike the Spirit Magnet Merit or Flaw, Spiritually Noticeable people are known to be able to interact easily with spirits. While most spirits will ignore you, Wraiths who need aid in the mortal world, nature spirits who are upset with environmental destruction, and odd spirits who merely want to talk to a human will flock to you. These spirits may be annoyed, or they may be honestly friendly, but they all want something from you. While having spirits frequently hitting you up for favors can be annoying, having them do so when you are involved in some potentially hazardous activity can be extremely dangerous. Many with this Flaw either ward their dwellings against spiritual intrusions or make deals with one or more spirits to act as guardians.

Sterile / Barren (1 point for most, 4 point for Kin, may also be a merit): You are incapable of reproducing. If you are in a society which expects you to have children (such as if you are Kinfolk), this is a flaw. You may, however, take this as a merit if you practice lots of sex magic or something in which being fertile may actually cause more problems for you than not. For Kinfolk who serve the Changing Breeds as perpetrators of the species, inability to reproduce is a serious Flaw indeed. Not only does it carry a social stigma, it may also incur abuse, neglect, or even exile. Kinfolk who can’t reproduce lose a great deal of their value in Shifter eyes. For obvious reasons, Vampires and Wraiths who were Kin while they were alive cannot take this Flaw.

Stress Atavism / Berserker (4 point): Folks don't like you when you're angry. In combat, you become a veritable monster, destroying everything and everyone in sight. In certain ways, this is a blessing, in others, a curse - for although your dedication to slaughter has undeniable benefits, it's also a distinct liability, especially if you belong to a group that prizes discipline rather than brutality. As both a Merit and a Flaw, this trait has the same effects: Under intense stress (combat, injury, disgrace, the death or crippling of a comrade, and so forth), the red haze kicks in. A failed Willpower roll at difficulty 8 leads to a berserk rampage. You gain 3 temporary Bruised Health Levels, ignore wound penalties, add 2 dice to your Strength, and 1 die to your Stamina until every enemy within easy reach or sight is dead or incapacitated. That's the good part; the bad part is that everyone becomes your enemy. Allies, enemies, and bystanders alike all look like targets until the blood-trance fades. Use of supernatural abilities and strategic thinking become impossible, and you use every weapon in your hands for maximum carnage. Unless someone knocks you unconscious, incapacitates or kills you, or simply leaves you alone for several minutes (during which time you destroy everything within reach), you remain stuck in kill mode. Is this a Merit or a Flaw? That depends. If you belong to a group that prizes bloodlust and has the luxury of mass murder (that is, you're a shock-troop "cleaner" or an elite warrior for a wetwork organization), then it's a Merit; if you belong to a group that demands subtlety, control, and restraint, then it's a definite Flaw. Either way, you are the loosest of cannons - aimed in a convenient direction and then left alone to burn out or explode. This Flaw cannot be taken by Vampires and Shifters, as they already posses this Flaw.

Stubborn (1 point): Once your mind is made up, there's no changing it. You cling to your beliefs the way a pit bull does a leg, and you're about as pleasantly comported when others challenge you. You hate to be proved wrong and go to extremes to avoid enduring the shame of it. Increase the difficulties of all Social rolls by 2 when someone challenges your ways.

Superstitious (1 point): You adhere doggedly to a superstition, such as knocking on wood or tossing salt over your shoulder. Although everyone has foibles, you take your behavior to extremes, often tying misfortune to your inability to abide by some superstition, and crediting any success to your adherence to “the rules.” Your obsession doesn't lead you to risk your life, nor does it have a pervasive sway over you. You do tend to raise warnings and make superstitious suggestions frequently, though. Add 2 to the difficulty of any social roll when dealing with people who know about your superstitious bent and who frown upon it.

Superstitious (2 point): You have misconceptions about being a supernatural. For some reason you completely buy a different set of legends about your capabilities. The Flaw is temporary but severe. The storyteller should not allow this Flaw for any supernatural that does alter the entire perception of what the they can and cannot do, to such a point that it would become immediately obvious. You should expect aspects of this Flaw to last a while because your subconscious is trained to accept the truth of their way of viewing the world. Examples of suitable Vampire superstition misunderstandings would be: Forever Knight (repulsed by garlic, difficulty limiting drinking, psychosomatic burns from holy items), Dracula (can't enter dwelling without permission, the young give better blood, fascination with opposite sex), Buffy the vampire slayer vampire (can enter the day to a limited extent, must get permission to enter a home, crosses repulse, you have no soul, limited extra powers) or Lost Boys (can't enter dwelling without permission, must protect sire or will die).

Sympathizer (1 point): You have publicly expressed sympathy for some of the goals and policies of the enemies of your group. Your outspoken views on the subject have made you suspect in the eyes of the city's hierarchy, and you may be suspected of (or arrested for) treason.

Taint of Corruption / Taint of The Wyrm (1 point or 4 point for most, 7 point for Werewolves): For 1 point version plants wither when you approach, and will die if you touch them. It is rumored that Caine himself possesses this Flaw, and only Vampires with Auspex can sense it easily, although other powerful enough Supernatural sights could notice it (other splats are at a plus 2 difficulty to detect the taint at this level). At the 4 point version you are touched by the force of Corruption called the Wyrm by the Garou, and can be detected as a Wyrm creature by any splat. This makes you Werewolf bait, and particularly sucks if you are a Werewolf. You also suffer nightmares and are called by Wyrm-creatures to join its side. Get your ass cleansed if you can (this is going to take quite a quest) or else... and in the mean time, may Heaven help you if a Werewolf sniffs you out. (Of course, all Vampires with Humanity below 7 read as Tainted by others anyways...)

Techno Fetish (1 point): Those with Techno Fetish have just that. Everything must be the newest thing and at the forefront of technology. If the music requires guitars, make the sounds with a synthesizer. Use e-mail not snail mail. Play digital tapes, not analog. Get a computer. This further exhibits itself as an inability to function outside of the city. Cybers must have the newest and the best, and for this reason money is difficult to save for them. A typical cyber will have a few hundred dollars to pay rent, but will instead go and get the brand new dual screen TV instead because they think it is neat.

Technophobe (2 point): You are severely intimidated by computer and other technology. You never use and ATM if a teller is available, and you get nervous at the sight of a keyboard. You must make an intelligence roll at difficulty 6 in order to perform even simple tasks on a computer, ATM, or similar device. Increase the difficulty of any Computer or Technology roll by two.

Teddy Bear (1 point): Something about you screams harmless. Any attempt to intimidate is at a plus 2 difficulty. This can sometimes be a benefit, as people ignore you. People aren’t fools however, and even teddy bears with swords will be dealt with quickly as threats.

Teenager (1-2 point): You have various legal and social difficulties due to your apparent age. This is a 2 point Flaw if you are somewhere between twelve and fourteen years old, and a 1 point flaw if you are somewhere between fifteen and sixteen years old. Seventeen year olds can pass for 18, so no. This Flaw is worth more or less depending on the time period, and is only worth 1 point if you are aging normally (i.e. not a Vampire or unaging).

Territorial (1 point, 2 point for Mages and Vampires): You are extremely attached to your territory: if forced to leave your territory, you will be at a plus 1 difficulty in most rolls because you are so disoriented. If someone passes through your territory without your permission, you will immediately attack them (make a frenzy check if available). Obviously this was created with Vampires and the Changing Breeds in mind, though it might be applicable to other character concepts.

Thoughtless Heart (2 point): You suffer from a lack of wisdom in your judgments and frequently take action without regard to the consequences for yourself or for others. You often say or do things that hurt others out of thoughtlessness, rather than from malice. You don't mean to harm anyone, you just don't take the time to consider the repercussions. You suffer a plus 2 difficulty increase to Wits-related rolls (with the exception of initiative rolls).

Throwback (1-5 point): One or more of your past lives has affected you - badly. Their fears come back to haunt you in your dreams, and you have flashbacks of their worst memories (such as their death, or, even worse, a personality that encroaches on your own). For bad dreams or flashbacks, take 1 to 2 points depending on the severity of the condition and how much it will affect your studies or performance in dangerous situations. For a 'roommate in your head,' take 3 points (whether you know they exist or not). For the package deal and a truly miserable experience, take 5 points, but expect the Storyteller to take every opportunity to use these against you. This Flaw can be "worked off" during the course of play, but only with difficulty.

Tic / Twitch (1 point): You have some sort of repetitive motion that you make in times of stress, and it’s a dead giveaway as to your identity. Examples include a nervous cough, constantly wringing your hands, cracking your knuckles, and so on. It costs 1 Willpower to refrain from engaging in your tic.

Tortured Artist (1 point): You must suffer for your work. Your work is never good enough to suit you. You often suffer writers block and depression for extended periods of time, preventing you from working steadily. In addition, you constantly find yourself in heartbreaking positions, and subconsciously leading yourself into these situations.

Touch of Frost (1 point): Plants wither at your approach and die at your touch. Your touch is as cold and clammy as a corpse - a refrigerated one at that.

Transvestite (2 point, may also be a 1 point merit): As a Merit, you have an uncanny ability to appear as the opposite sex if you wish. As a Flaw, you feel a strong need to dress up as a member of the opposite sex, and are fairly obviously dressed up that way. As a result, the difficulty of social rolls will increase at the Storyteller's discretion.

Trusting (1 point): You tend to follow your instincts when dealing with strangers. Sadly, your instincts often tell you that you can trust people. You want to believe the best about everyone you meet and tend to put yourself in situations that could be dangerous, such as accepting a ride home from a recent acquaintance, going home with a person you just met at a bar, or taking a stroll in a poorly patrolled city park after nightfall.

Twisted Apprenticeship / Twisted Upbringing (1 point): Your mentor was quite malevolent and taught you ll the wrong things about your society. Your concepts of the ways of your people gave are an incredibly skewed version of those ways, and your faulty beliefs can get you in big trouble... Over time, after many hard lessons, you can overcome this bad start (the Storyteller will tell you when). But until then, you will continue to believe what you were first told, no matter how others try to "trick" you into thinking otherwise.

Twisted (2 point): Although most people have their little quirks, you have at least one that make other people's mouths drop. It is either obvious to others who get to know you, or you feel free to tell acquaintances as you see nothing wrong with whatever it is that merits this Twisted Flaw. A few examples are necrophilia, a dead animal collection, extreme BDSM fetishism, being unable to sleep in anything but a coffin (for any society but Vampires), or an emotional desire for small mammals. You see this as a perfectly acceptable and desirable way of life. As a result, the difficulty on any social rolls with others know of your "quirk" may increase at Storyteller discretion, depending on how offensive it is to them, how recently they found out, and if they have been recently reminded of your "hobby."

Ulterior Motive (2 point): You have more reason to be with your comrades than your like for them or for their common goals. Whether this motive is sinister or not, it's a secret for whatever reason, and if you are suspected of this motive, things won't look too good for you.

Unable To Swim (2 point): You have never learned to swim, or has been taught but reverts to helpless flailing. Consider your Athletics rating to be zero for purposes of water movement. You can't take this Flaw unless you have at least one dot in athletics, and if you have the secondary ability called swimming you can't take this Flaw for obvious reasons. At the Storyteller's discretion, if you take swimming lessons after game play begins you may buy off this Flaw at the cost of 6 experience points after using experience to raise your athletics score at least 1 dot.

Uncontrollable Appetite (2 point): You suffer from a tendency to binge whenever you're under stress or have gone without food for more than a few hours. Something in your metabolism snaps and you feel the need to eat enormous amounts of food - everything in sight that's even vaguely edible. Such binges follow each frenzy or other stress-related event; additionally, whenever you go more than four hours without at least a snack of some sort, you feel the urge to devour great amounts of food at the next opportunity. You may spend a Willpower point to overcome this urge for a scene. At the end of each binge, you must roll Stamina + Survival at difficulty 7 or be violently ill for the next half hour.

Unconvinced (1 point): You fail to see the need for the core ideologies of your group, and have gone on record as saying so. Taking your stand has made you suspect in the eyes of your superiors, and may have attracted the attention of your enemies as well.

Unlucky (4 point): You've dealt with bad breaks all your life. From the true love who had to move across the country to the struggling internet company you quit two months before it's billion-dollar IPO, you seem always to make the wrong moves at the wrong time. Once per game session, the Storyteller may increase the difficulty of a critical roll you make by 2. If you fail he roll, it's due to some random, hard-luck factor. Your bad luck seems to crop up at the most inconvenient times.

Uppity (2 point): You are proud of your new status within your group - so proud that you've shot your mouth off to others and made some enemies. Wiser members laugh at you and chalk your rudeness up to youth, but others find you arrogant and insulting. These enemies will take action to embarrass or harm you. Furthermore, you are at a plus 2 difficulty on all social rolls against any that you have alienated through your yammering - and you may not know who they are. At Storyteller discretion, you may also be required to make a Willpower roll at difficulty 6 in order to keep your mouth shut any time the opportunity presents itself for you to brag about your status, personal accomplishments, or your group's accomplishments.

Vengeful (2 point): You have a score to settle. You are obsessed with taking your revenge on an individual or group, and it is your overriding priority in any situation where you encounter the object of your revenge. You may temporarily resist your need for vengeance by spending 1 Willpower point.

Vulgar (1 point): You will never fit into high society. You are crude, rude, and socially unacceptable. This affects all social rolls at a plus 1 difficulty for situations in high society, or those who are trying to pretend to be high society.

Vulnerability (1-7 point): You possesses a Vulnerability - a substance, element, or power that can harm or even kill you, like Superman's problems with Kryptonite or the Wicked Witch of the West's aversion to cleaning buckets. The level of this Flaw depends on whether his weakness can fatally injure you, or simply weaken you, and on how common the substance is. Damage caused by a Vulnerability cannot be soaked, except by Armor, assuming it's the right sort of Armor (the Wicked Witch of the West would have survived if she were wearing a hazmat suit or just a raincoat and umbrella). A normal, weakening Vulnerability causes 1 Aggravated Health Level of damage per tum of contact. A mortal peril causes 3 Aggravated Health Levels of damage per turn of contact. If the slightest drop of the substance is certain death, instantly bringing your destruction, this Flaw is worth 1 extra point beyond that. If merely being in the presence of the substance causes you damage - being in the same room as the Emperor's perfume or standing in indirect sunlight - or the most infinitesimal drop causes you harm, this Flaw is also worth 1 point more; while if you actually have to be damaged by the substance - stabbed with the Lance of Longinus, beaten with an iron crowbar - this Flaw is worth 1 point less. If taken at the full seven-point level, this Flaw means a single beam of moonlight or the mere sight of a drop of blood can instantly kill you.
(2 point) You can be fatally injured by something that's nearly impossible to acquire (the Holy Lance of Longinus, the perfume of the Emperor of Cathay), or weakened by something very rare (dragon's blood, naphtha, the bite of an Egyptian asp, panther's breath).
(3 point) You can be fatally injured by something very rare (dragon's blood, naphtha, the bite of an Egyptian asp, panther's breath), or weakened by something moderately rare (mistletoe, garlic, the sight of your reflection, silver, magic).
(4 point) You can be fatally injured by something moderately rare (mistletoe, garlic, the sight of your reflection, silver, magic), or weakened by something common (iron, sunlight, fire).
(5 point) You can be fatally injured by something common (iron, sunlight, fire).

Wanted by Law Enforcement (3 point): You are the prime suspect in a felony crime. The police actively look for you, and you cannot move openly about your usual hangouts. If you encounter cops who know that you're wanted, they'll call in backup and bring you in.

Ward (3 point): You are devoted to protecting a "sleeping" human, perhaps a close friend or relative from your pre-supernatural days. You may describe your ward, though the Storyteller will actually create them. Wards have a talent for getting caught up in the action, and they're frequent targets of a your enemies.

Water Under The Bridge (5 point): Rivers and streams flow endlessly to the sea, and so does your memory. Every day you awaken, remembering nothing that happened the day before. To recall what happened to you, you must make a Willpower roll.

Weak-Willed (2-3 point): You can only spend Willpower when survival is at stake or it is appropriate to your Nature (Auspice, Legacy, etc.), and your difficulty to use or resist mind-altering abilities are increased by 2. Or alternatively, at the 3 point version you automatically fail to use or resist mind-altering affects from and towards your own supernatural kind (Dominate for Vampires, Roll Over for Werewolves, etc.), and your difficulties to resist social abilities such as Intimidation or Leadership, resist mind-altering spells or magic from those outside of your own splat, and your use of a mind-altering ability on other splats increases the difficulty by 2. At this level you are permitted to spend Willpower freely, however your Willpower trait may never rise above 4.

Whimsy (1 point): You become whimsical under stress. Rather than getting serious when things go wrong, you tend to get tickled and adopt a fey attitude. While this can occasionally be so disarming that foes are caught off-guard (perhaps giving you another chance to best them), it usually prevents you from doing anything particularly helpful for one turn and really annoys your companions.

Wishy-Washy Ways (3 point): Your lifestyle involves making snap decisions on a regular basis. When you're given an opportunity, you'd better act quickly or it might just pass you by. Yet, you can't seem to make up your mind fast enough; it takes you a while to sort through all the options, examine the pros and cons, and then decide which is the best decision. You are indecisive to a fault, and you want to discuss the problem with someone more intelligent before you commit. Intense situations, where the action is fast-paced, confuse you and the result is you usually standing around in the middle, with a lost look on your face. This attribute frustrates your fellows and sometimes lands you in dangerous situations. You must make a Willpower roll whenever you must make a decision, otherwise you remain undecided about what to do.

Witch-Hunted (4 point): A dangerous and skilled mortal hunter stalks you, fully aware of what you are and what you can do. Worse still, the subject is intelligent and crafty, they work to negate the advantages of your supernatural abilities (if any), and they may extend their hunt to your companions and associates. While just about everyone can claim some enemy, this Flaw makes you a pariah. Nobody wants to hang out with someone who's going to bring a psycho killer along. The hunter may even have friends or allies who continue to trouble you if you eludes, dissuade, or kill the individual. Whatever the case, this person wants you dead, they're not going to stop, and they have access to special resources (or, at the very least, specialized knowledge) in their quest.

Wyld Mind (2 point): Your mind is extremely chaotic and unpredictable. As a result you have difficulty concentrating on any one task. You must make a Willpower roll at difficulty 4 for every extended action roll after the second.

Youthful Appearance (1 point): You look like you're still in high school. You always get carded at bars and often have to produce identification even to buy cigarettes. In order to gain entry to concerts, clubs or bars, or to purchase alcohol, you need to present a valid-looking ID.