Post by Phsycodelic on Aug 2, 2016 0:38:28 GMT
General Mental 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.
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.
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 (2-4 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 lOth 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 23rd 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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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 you assigning 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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).
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 (2-4 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 lOth 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 23rd 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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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...
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.
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.
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 you assigning 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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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).
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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 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.
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.
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.
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).
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
