Mental

A Little Knowledge (•)
Book: Asylum, p. 50; Reliquary, p. 84
Prerequisite: Mortal (non-supernatural)

Effect: Your character has either had a brush with the supernatural or been in a field that has regular casual contact with the supernatural (such as medicine or law enforcement) to know that something else is out there. While he doesn’t know anything specific (i.e., this Merit doesn’t give any bonus to Occult rolls or offer any frame of reference), your character doesn’t suffer negative penalties when trying to identify or diagnosis conditions for which there is no easy medical antecedent. For instance, a doctor with this Merit sees a patient in the ER with long, vicious bite marks. The doctor knows that no animal short of a bear could have made those wounds, and he knows that there are no bears native to the area. Normally, this would negatively affect his treatment — he might waste valuable time trying to shoehorn the evidence into his own experience. With this Merit, though, he takes it as read that something made these bites and treats them, or, a scholar with this Merit finds an anachronism in a text supposedly from the 17th century. Rather than immediately dismissing the text as a fraud, the character digs deeper and discovers other references to future events, along with the author’s descriptions of his horrible visions of things to come. This Merit also offers a +1 bonus to any roll made to recognize a strange or otherworldly situation. If the character ever becomes a supernatural being, including a ghoul or a Sleepwalker, he loses this Merit.


Area of Expertise (••)
Book: The Free Council, p. 131
Prerequisite: Resolve •• and a Specialty in the appropriate Mental Skill

Effect: Your character is uncommonly focused on a particular area of expertise. By purchasing this Merit,your character essentially doubles his Specialty in a particular Mental Skill, so that he gains a +2 dice bonus from that Specialty rather than the usual +1. This Merit can only be applied to one of the character’s existing Specialties. This Merit can only be purchased once per character.

Drawback: A character with this Merit cannot have any other Specialties in the same Skill as Area of Expertise. Thus, if this Merit is purchased for the Auto mobiles Specialty of Craft, the character can never have any other Specialties in that same Skill.

Combat Awareness (••)
Book: Dogs Of War, p. 109
Prerequisite: Military training or combat back ground.
Effect: Your character understands how to survive on a battlefield as a result of either intense military training or personal experience. This includes knowledge of how to use terrain to your advantage and a general state of mental alertness sustainable even under heavy enemy fire. As a result of this aptitude, your character gains a +2 dice bonus to any situational awareness roll.


Common sense (••••)
Book: The World Of Darkness Core, p. 108

Effect: Your character is exceptionally grounded and pragmatic, and can usually be depended upon to make sound, straightforward decisions after a few moments’ thought. The Storyteller can make a reflexive Wits + Composure roll once per chapter for your character if he is about to embark on a disastrous course of action, or if you find yourself at a point in the story where you are completely stumped for ideas. If the roll succeeds, the Storyteller may point out the risks of a particular course, or suggest possible actions that your character can take that might get events back on track. Note:While you are free to ask the Storyteller for a Common Sense roll when you’re out of ideas, he is under no obligation to comply. It an aid, not a crutch. Available at character creation only.


Crafter’s Sense (•••)
Book: The Free Council, p. 131
Prerequisite: Craft ••• and a Specialty

Effect: Your character has an intuitive sense of her craft, born of experience. Good decision-making is habitual for her when it comes to her work. This Merit grants all the benefits of the Common Sense Merit (seethe
World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 108) but only regarding actions dealing with the character’s Craft Specialty. The dice pool for the reflexive action to check the character’s “common sense” is Wits + Crafts(instead of Composure). At the Storyteller’s discretion, this “gut check” roll can be used to gauge the target number of successes on an extended action using the subject Specialty, in addition to all the normal uses of the Common Sense Merit. If a character has both this Merit and the Common Sense Merit, each may be used once per chapter.


Danger Sense (••)
Book: The World Of Darkness Core, p. 108

Effect: You gain a +2 modifier on reflexive Wits + Composure rolls for your character to detect an impending ambush. This kind of roll is typically made prior to the first turn of a surprise attack. Your character has a well-developed survival instinct that warns him of impending danger. Perhaps he’s adept at reading subtle clues in his environment or he possesses an uncanny “sixth sense” when it comes to avoiding trouble.


Difficult to Ride (••••)
Book: Book Of Spirits, p. 108
Prerequisite: Composure and Resolve •••

Effect: Your character is remarkably resistant to being Urged, Ridden or Possessed by spirits or ghosts. The character adds two dice to all contested rolls against spirits’ attempts to affect her in that way (or with other forms of mental control), or adds two to her Resistance traits (if subtracted from a spirit’s roll). Whether this is because of a hardening experience in her past or some hereditary predisposition depends on the story.

Drawback: Many spirits are angered by strong resistance and eager to get revenge. Others just want to eliminate such people so they never spawn more. Either way, your character becomes a target once her resistance becomes clear.


Driver’s Charm (• to •••••)
Book: Midnight Roads, p. 56

Effect: Some drivers have good luck charms for their vehicles. A hula girl on the dashboard, a Saint Christopher medal on one’s key chain, a pair of beloved fuzzy dice, a cup holder full of the knuckle bones of a vanquished enemy. Sometimes, such items are just icons of luck that doesn’t really manifest. Other times, the driver imparts a tiny portion of his own soul and will into the artifact, and it genuinely grants him some measure of luck when driving. For every dot purchased, the charm can increase by +1 the following statistics of a chosen vehicle: Durability, Structure, Acceleration, Handling.

Drawback: The driver’s charm works for only a single scene once per day, and requires one Willpower point from the driver to become active. Also,the charm is “attuned” only to one vehicle. If that vehicle wrecks, the charm (if it survived) can be re-attuned to a new vehicle, but doing so costs the driver a
dot of Willpower. (Remember that recouping a dot of lost or spent Willpower costs eight experience points.)

Easy Ride (••)
Book: Book Of Spirits, p. 108
Prerequisite: Wits •••

Effect: Your character knows how to relax and let a spirit or ghost possess her. She forgoes any contesting roll or Resistance trait, and the possession takes place as long as the spirit rolls a single success. Possessing spirits gain full, penalty-free control over the character’s faculties immediately, without any muss or fuss. She remains aware of what is going on during the possession and has a couple of extra options. She may allow the spirit to continue controlling her body for longer than a scene, if she likes. Or, if displeased as the possession progresses, she may try to eject the spirit. She and the spirit make the normal contested roll they would normally have made during the original possession. Success on the spirit’s part allows it to remain for the rest of the scene, and ties must be re rolled the next turn. The character may only try this once per scene.

Drawback: As a well-trod soul, the character suffers a –2 dice penalty to any contesting rolls or Resistance traits applied to prevent (or end, as above) a possession. She also earns a reputation as “easy” among local spirits, who may seek her out when they need a quick body for something, even if she’s not likely to go willingly.


Eidetic Memory (••)
Book: The World Of Darkness Core, p. 108

Effect: Your character has a near-photographic memory, being able to recall vast amounts of observed detail with astonishing accuracy. You do not normally need to make a roll for your character to remember an obscure fact or past experience, unless he is under stress (such as in combat). Under stress, there is a +2modifier on any Intelligence + Composure or other Skill based roll (say, Academics, to remember a fact) for memory recall.
Available at character creation only.


Emotional Detachment (•)
Book:Asylum, p. 50
Prerequisite: Resolve ••

Effect: Your character can distance himself from the pain, grief and suffering of his fellow human beings long enough to help them. This might make him seem somewhat aloof, but it also means that he doesn't second-guess himself when performing delicate surgery. The character ignores penalties stemming from stress equal to his Resolve rating. For instance, if an EMT is trying to perform an emergency tracheostomy while in a moving car with a werewolf on the roof, the EMT might normally suffer a –2 penalty from sheer emotional pressure. If he had this Merit and his Resolve were 2 or higher, he would take no penalty at all.


Encyclopedic Knowledge (••••)
Book: The World Of Darkness Core, p. 109

Effect: Your character is a veritable font of useful (and sometimes useless) information on a wide variety of topics. Chances are he can come up with an anecdote pertaining to any situation based on something he’s read, witnessed or seen on TV. You can make an Intelligence + Wits roll any time your character is confronted with a situation or phenomenon outside his normal realm of experience. If the roll is successful, he may recall a “factoid” that he's heard at some point that may shed light on matters.
Available at character creation only. Your character has either been soaking up trivia all his life or he hasn’t.

Dramatic Failure: Your character ”remembers” something about the situation that is completely inaccurate. “Wait! Wait! I saw something like this in a movie once!” The Storyteller might make Intelligence+ Wits rolls on your behalf when a dramatic failure is possible.
Failure: Your character wracks his brain but comes up empty.
Success: Your character remembers a detail or fact that sheds some light on the situation. “You said there was an almond odor? Seems to me I read somewhere that’s a sign of cyanide poisoning.”
Exceptional Success: Your character recalls a number of useful details that provide extensive insight."Hey, cool - a little candy skull. They make these in Mexico for the Day of the Dead. It's an offering for a loved one who's died. And they say you can't learn anything on TV."


Entheogenic Synesthesia (•)
Book: Magical Traditions, p. 137

Effect: While under the effects of a psychoactive drug, the character experiences synesthesia, where her senses blur together (she can “taste” music, perhaps, or “hear” colors). This grants her an added level of awareness, as her perceptions are bolstered by more than one sense. While on the drug, she not only experiences no dice penalties to her Perception rolls, but also gains +1 to any Perception rolls.


EOD (••)
Book: Armory, p. 208 (errata correction)
Prerequisite: Wits ••• or Dexterity •••, Crafts •••, Demolitions Specialty in Crafts

Effect: Your character is well versed in handling all types of explosives. She is familiar with all kinds of techniques used in bomb making, from creating her own explosives to identifying and arming manufacture dones. She has also been trained in explosive ordnance disposal (EOD) and is comfortable disarming unfamiliar devices. Your character does not suffer the –2 penalty for disarming an explosive she did not build(see p. 114).


Good Time Management (••)
Book: Asylum, p. 50; Reliquary, p. 84
Prerequisite: Academics, Medicine or Science ••

Effect: Years of working with demanding corporations have served your character well. She can make effective use of her time, provided that she’s not relying on anyone else who might slow her down. Each rolling an extended action has the time requirement reduced by one quarter. For instance, if the character is translating a text and each roll would normally require one hour, a character with this Merit only requires 45minutes for each roll. Characters using Teamwork (see p. 134 of the World of Darkness Rulebook) cannot benefit from this Merit, or characters relying on machines (such as lab equipment).Good Time Management applies only to mundane actions. It does not apply to magical rituals of any kind,though it does apply to researching such rituals.


Higher Calling (••)
Book: Tome Of The Watchtowers, p. 125
Prerequisite: Resolve •••

Effect: Your character is especially devoted to a particular cause or purpose, gaining +1 die for Resolve rolls to resist coercion that runs counter to his calling. This only affects Resolve rolls, not Willpower or other Traits, and does not affect coercion that doesn’t involve the character’s Higher Calling.

Drawbacks: If your character ever acts in a way contrary to his calling or abandons his dedication to it, the Storyteller may even remove this Merit.


Holistic Awareness (•••)
Book: The World Of Darkness Core, p. 109

Effect: Your character is skilled in the arts of whole body healing, promoting health and recovery by keeping a person’s entire physiology balanced and strong. The result is that he is able to treat sickness and some injuries (those not requiring surgery, and ones suffered to bashing or lethal damage but not aggravated)with a collection of natural remedies rather than resorting to a doctor or hospital. Make an Intelligence + Medicine roll once per day when your character spends an hour treating a patient. If the roll is successful, the patient’s healing times that day are halved. The worst of a patient’s injuries must be treated first. So, if he has suffered a lethal wound and a successful roll is made, the wound heals that day rather than in two days. If the patient has suffered nothing but bashing damage, all wounds are healed in mere minutes (about eight each). See Chapter 7, p. 175, for healing times.

Dramatic Failure: Your character misdiagnoses or mistreats the problem, making it worse. The patient does not heal more quickly (he maintains normal healing times). He does, however, suffer an additional point of bashing damage. Your character cannot try to heal the patient again for his current injuries.
Failure: The treatment has no effect and normal healing times apply to any bashing wounds or to a single lethal wound. If the Storyteller allows, your character can make a successive attempt to try again that day (see p. 132). If still no successes are gained to heal a single lethal wound or one or more bashing wounds, those must be allowed to heal naturally before another effort can be made. Thus, if no successes are rolled to he alone of a patient’s lethal wounds, that wound must heal naturally over two days before your character can try to heal another lethal wound.
Success: Your character’s treatment is rewarding and the patient’s healing time that day is halved.
Exceptional Success: The patient responds remarkably well to treatment. You can skip tomorrow’s roll altogether. It’s automatically assumed to succeed. In that case, two lethal wounds can be healed in two days.
Suggested Equipment: Holistic medicines (+1), healing- touch manuals (+1), body-purifying foods and liquids (+1)
Possible Penalties: Lack of remedies (-1 to -4), noisy environment (-1), imminent danger (-3), improvised facilities (-1)


Hollow Soul (••)
Book: Book Of Spirits, p. 109
Prerequisites: Easy Ride

Effect: Your character can be possessed even by spirits that cannot normally use the Possession Numen. All the spirit needs to do is fetter to the character, and then it can possess him for a scene with a contested Power + Finesse versus Resolve + Composure roll. The character can serve as a mouthpiece for spirits too weak to normally interact with the material world on a meaningful level, but also gets sought out by more powerful spirits who would prefer to abuse the character’s ability.


Hypnosis (•••)
Book: Mekhet - Shadown In The Dark, p. 120; Mage Chronicler's Guide, p. 115
Prerequisite: Medicine • or Occult •

Effect: A character with this Merit can hypnotize others (or herself) using the Occult or Medicine Skills. The character must choose which of the two Skills the Merit is tied to, and write the Merit down on the character sheet as either Hypnosis (Medicine) or Hypnosis (Occult). The character can only use the chosen Skill to perform hypnosis. If the player wants the character to be able to use either Skills, he has to buy the Merit twice, once for each Skill. Many hypnotists use equipment such as pendulums, pocket watches, simple machines that project revolving spiral patterns and the like. A subject placed in a trance becomes easily manipulated and likely to respond positively to questioning or suggestion. This Merit is not limited to vampires or mages; it can be bought by any character.
Hypnotizing a Subject Dice Pool: Manipulation + Occult or Medicine + equipment (hypnotist) - subject’s Resolve (if target resists)
Action: Extended The hypnotist requires a number of successes equal to twice the target’s Willpower. Each roll represents one minute of work. If the hypnotist succeeds, the target falls into a trance and becomes malleable tosuggestion. A hypnotist can hypnotize himself.

Roll Results
Dramatic Failure: The hypnotist fails even to calm the subject down, or makes a basic error in the process. The subject cannot be hypnotized again for a number of days equal to his Resolve.
Failure: The hypnotist fails to induce trance in the time allowed, or gains no successes towards hypnotizing the subject.
Success: The hypnotist makes progress, or gathers enough successes to place the subject in a trance. As long as the trance persists, any rolls the hypnotist’s player makes to influence the subject (eg. to induce the subject to impart information or to implant a posthypnotic suggestion which will make the subject behave in a certain way after the trance has ended) gain a bonus equal to the hypnotist’s dots in Manipulation.
Exceptional Success: The hypnotist makes speedy headway towards hypnotizing the subject.

Equipment: Pendulum or pocket watch on chain (+1); audio visual stimulation (+1 to +3); white and featureless room (+1).
Possible Penalties:
Unfamiliar with subject (-2); language barrier (-3); distractions nearby (-2).


Informative (•• or •••• )
Book: The Free Council, p. 131
Prerequisites: Wits •• and •• in the appropriate Skill

Effect: Your character may not be much of a writer or public speaker, but get him talking about his work and he becomes downright erudite. Your character can use the dots in one of his Mental Skills, up to maximum of the dots in this Merit, in place of Expression to lecture, write papers or otherwise inform an audience. Your character’s performance may be dry or routine, but it will at least be clear and absorbing. You must specify the Mental Skill to which this Merit applies when you purchase it. You can purchase this Merit multiple times, selecting a different Mental Skill each time.

Interdisciplinary Specialty (•)
Book: The Free Council, p. 132
Prerequisites: ••• in two Skills and a Specialty

Effect: Your character makes sense of the world through interdisciplinary thought. She sees metaphorical connections between different fields of study and, through those connections, achieves greater comfort and success more easily in both. This Merit lets a character duplicate her Specialty in one Skill with another Skill. For example, a Medicine Specialty in Anatomy could be duplicated under Weaponry to describe a character’s deadly precision. Or a Craft Specialty in Motorcycles could be duplicated under Drive to reflect a character’s honed experience. The character must have three dots in both Skills used by this Merit.
Note: Because the Storyteller judges access to any Merit on a case-by-case basis, the application of this Merit is left deliberately vague — it essentially saves a player an experience point in exchange for adding cohesion to her Specialties. Individual Storytellers must decide what Skills are suitable to be paired through this Merit based on the background and nature of the character involved. Some combinations (Anatomy as a Specialty for Weaponry, for example) will seem appropriate in some cases and inappropriate in others.


Language (•)
Book:The World Of Darkness Core, p. 109 (Errata Version)
Effect: Your character knows an additional language besides his own, one that he can read, write and speak with fluency. If he wishes to convince others that he is a native speaker, however, the Storyteller might call for an Intelligence + Expression draw, contested by a reflexive Intelligence + Academics draw by anyone who is suspicious. You must specify which language your character is familiar with when purchasing this Merit. There is no limit to the number of languages that a character may learn, though each language must be purchased as a separate Merit.

Locus-Drinker (•••)
Book: Book Of Spirits, p. 109
Prerequisites: Mortal (non-supernatural)

Effect: Your character can draw Essence from a locus, an ability normally reserved for spirits, werewolves and some mages. This requires a Morality roll that the character can only attempt once per day. Each success allows the character to draw out one point of Essence, and each point requires one minute of meditative effort. The character still has no ability to store that Essence within himself or use it for any means, but he can channel it to objects or creatures that can (such as spirits or the Cup of Life fetish, see p. 120). If the character somehow has the ability to use Essence, he may bend this Essence to that use immediately (but still cannot store it).

Drawback: Possession of this Merit makes the character a threat to some (endangering their supplies of Essence) and a resource to others (potentially doubling their daily Essence acquisition). If the character isn’t careful with his ability, others may try to eliminate him or use him as a tool.


Make Do (• to •••)
Book: The Free Council, p. 132
Prerequisites: Wits ••• and • in the appropriate Skill

Effect: Your character has some experience working under sub-optimal conditions. With poor tools or the wrong tools, she can change a tire, repair a roof or perform an emergency tracheotomy. When you purchase this Merit, assign it to a particular Skill (e.g., Make Do: Crafts). Reduce all penalties stemming from poor or inappropriate tools by the number of dots you have in this Merit. You still must need and have some kind of tools to attempt the action (you can’t patch a tire or perform a tracheotomy with your bare hands), but you can scrape by with poor substitutes using this Merit. Note that this Merit does not add dice to your pool; this Merit negates penalties. This Merit can be purchased multiple times to apply to multiple Skills.


Meditative Mind (•)
Book: The World Of Darkness Core, p. 109

Effect: Your character can effortlessly enter a meditative state when she chooses, and can remain in it for as long as she wishes. All environmental penalties imposed to Wits + Composure draws to meditate are ignored. Not even wound penalties apply to your character’s efforts to focus. See the Meditation Attribute task in Chapter 2, p. 51


Multi-Lingual (• to •••••)
Book: Reliquary, p. 85

Effect: The character either has knack for languages or grew up in a culture that teaches several different tongues. In addition to the character’s native language, the player may choose two languages for every dot in this Merit that the character speaks conversationally. Note that the character cannot speak effortlessly in these languages. Communicating quickly or over the telephone requires an Intelligence + Wits roll, and talking about anything esoteric (including humor, politic sand certainly occult matters) imposes a penalty of –1 to –3 dice. Reading the language requires an Intelligence + Academics or Wits roll (depending on how the character learned the language; study or immersion,respectively), and writing something coherent in the language requires a roll of Wits + Academics or Intelligence (again, study or immersion). Even if these rolls succeed, the character’s utterances or writings obviously come from a non-native, unless the player rolls an exceptional success, in which case the character manages to sound like a native-born speaker of the language for a few moments. The player can spend one experience point for the character to become fluent in one of languages covered by this Merit.


Rational Explanation (••••)
Book: The Free Council, p. 133
Prerequisites: Resolve •• and Science or Academics ••••

Effect: Your character relies on rational thought, reason and his education to make sense of a frightening and irrational world. When required to make a Resolve + Composure roll to resist fear, panic or some other mental breakdown in the face of the supernatural, the character may gain an edge from the reliability of reason. When spending a Willpower point to augment such a Resolve + Composure roll, the character may substitute his Science or Academics dots for the +3 dice bonus he would typically gain. If the Willpower point is spent to increase Resolve or Composure for the purpose of subtracting from an aggressor’s dice pool,this Merit increases the +2 dice bonus to +3 for a •••• Skill or +4 for a ••••• Skill. Specialties do not alter these effects. This Merit can only be purchased once for any character. It must be linked to one Skill — either Science or Academics — when it is purchased and cannot be changed thereafter.


Residual Spirit Energy (••)
Book: Book Of Spirits, p. 110
Prerequisites: Mortal (non-supernatural)

Effect: Your character releases spirit energy — Essence — into the world when her blood spills. And spirits can sense it. No one has ever been able to explain why to the character’s satisfaction, but it’s true. Because Essence is such a valuable resource to spirits, the character has some measure of influence over them. She can bribe them for information or favors, and all it takes is a splash of blood. Each point of lethal damage the character suffers frees one point of Essence into the air, as long as the injury actually causes bloodloss. For the next several turns before the Essence dissipates, any spirit nearby may take an action to consume the Essence.

Drawback: While most spirits would rather preserve a renewable source of Essence, not all are so careful. Some might try to slaughter her all at once when they really, really need the Essence. Others notice her as a resource of their enemies and might decide to make a surgical strike against them (but at her). In short, the character becomes a target or potential possession to those spirits who don’t want to barter with her.


Scientist’s Sense (•••)
Book: The Free Council, p. 133
Prerequisite: Science ••• and a Specialty

Effect: Your character has an intuitive sense of her scientific discipline, born of experience. Good decision-making is habitual for her when it comes to her work. This Merit grants all the benefits of the Common Sense Merit (see the
World of Darkness Rulebook, p.108) but only regarding actions dealing with the character’s Science Specialty. The dice pool for the reflexive action to check the character’s “common sense” is Wits + Science (instead of Composure). At the Storyteller’s discretion, this “gut check” roll can be used to gauge the target number of successes on an extended action using the subject Specialty, in addition to all the normal uses of the Common Sense Merit. If a character has both this Merit and the Common Sense Merit, each may be used once per chapter.


Spirit Tongue (•••)
Book: Book Of Spirits, p. 90

Effect: No human can speak the language of the spirits (called “Babel” by some, or the “First Tongue” by others) perfectly. A human’s mouth and tongue are literally incapable of capturing the nuances of this otherworldly language. This Merit, however, at least allows a human to make a go at it. The character with this Merit can express very simple ideas (one to three-word phrases) without any roll. More complex communication requires a Manipulation + Expression roll. This roll may suffer negative dice modifiers (maximum of –5 dice) if the circumstances are tense or if the ideas communicated are based solely in human experience (i.e., spirits would have a difficult time comprehending the idea much less the language involved).


Steady Driver (•)
Book: Midnight Roads, p. 59
Prerequisites: Drive ••

Effects: Sometimes, effective driving is about achieving calmness, about driving with your head more than your hands. A character who possesses this Merit does just that: when driving, the character always makes Resolve + Drive rolls instead of using Dexterity, whether or not it’s a high-traffic scenario (see above, “High-traffic Driving”).


Technophile (• to ••)
Book: Armory, p. 208

Effect: Through professional experience or a hobbyist’s fanaticism, your character is exceptionally knowledgeable with regard to one specific type of equipment, chosen upon purchase of this Merit. With one point in this Merit, its focus is relatively narrow: Edged Weapons, Handguns, Consumer Vehicles, 20th-Century French Military Equipment and so forth. With two points, the Merit’s focus may be broader: for example, Melee Weapons, Firearms, Vehicles, 20th-Century Military Equipment. With regard to items that fall within the chosen focus
only, this Merit functions as the Encyclopedic Knowledge Merit (see p. 109, the World of Darkness Rulebook). With a successful roll, your character is fully versed in the performance, history and trivia of any specific item he encounters. In addition to identifying an item, he can recite the likely metallic composition of an ancient sword, the ballistic characteristics of an enemy’s sidearm, the top speed of a sports car or the explosive yield of a nuclear warhead. This Merit confers no actual bonuses or abilities when the character attempts to use an item that falls within his field of study. Unlike Encyclopedic Knowledge, this Merit is available after character creation, though the character’s actions and interests over an extended period of time should justify the purchase.


Trained Memory (•)
Book: Guardians Of The Veil, p. 46
Prerequisite: Composure ••, Investigation •

Effect: Your character can remember the events of a single scene or a day’s worth of study perfectly as long as she has a turn to concentrate. During this turn (in which she cannot engage in combat or other stressful situations), the character uses a special technique to commit what she has learned to memory. (You should write a brief note about this on the character sheet.) After that, during peaceful times, you no longer need to make dice rolls to remember details about that event or piece of knowledge, and you can ask the Storyteller to fill in details that you might have forgotten.

Drawback: Just as for any other character, you must make an Intelligence + Composure roll for the character to remember any additional details about a subject during stressful situations (such as combat). You gain no bonus to this roll; your enhanced memory is a matter of training and organized thinking, not off-the-cuff recall.


Trained Observer (• or •••)
Book: Dogs Of War, p. 38
Prerequisites: Wits ••• or Composure •••

Effect: A Trained Observer can spot the smallest anomaly. No detail escapes his notice. With the one-dotversion, the TO ignores penalties of up to -3 on Perception rolls. The three dot version gives Perception rolls the Rote Action quality (see “Rote Actions”, the
World of Darkness Rulebook, p. 134).


Trip Sitter (•••)
Book: Magical Traditions, p. 137
Prerequisite: Composure •••

Effect: Your character has some skill when it comes to guiding others through intense psychoactive head trips. Perhaps it’s a soothing voice or calming presence, or maybe you’ve just been through enough entheogenic experiences to know what effects are going to hit the user, and when. In your presence, a user can ignore up to two dice of penalties while undergoing her trip. If you’re present at the end of the experience, as well, the user gains +3 dice to the Resolve + Composure roll made to resist Hallucinogen Persisting Perception Disorder.


Vision (• to •••••)
Book: The Free Council, p. 133
Prerequisites: Intelligence, Wits, Resolve or Composure ••••

Effect: Your character has vision. He is capable of visualizing his wants with great clarity and knows how to use that vision to guide his work. A character with two or three dots in this Merit has vision on a smaller scale — he sees his sculptures, inventions or performances with unusual clarity. A character with four or five dots in this Merit has a uniquely vivid vision of whole worlds. Whether he uses his vision to paint, to governor to achieve some other aim is up to him. The character’s vision helps him accomplish his goals. Essentially, this Merit gives a skilled character a chance to gain more than the usual +3 dice when he spends Willpower. By spending a Willpower point, your character can reflexively rely on his vision to “assist himself” on any extended action he performs, whether it’s drawing the plans for a building, sculpting a statue or speaking in front of an audience (see “Teamwork,” p. 134 of the World of Darkness Rulebook). The character rolls Vision + an appropriate Skill, and each success is added as bonus dice to the next roll on the extended action. Your character may substitute his dots in Vision for either an Attribute or a Skill when rolling to assist another character on an extended action. The Storyteller has final say on whether a given trait can be replaced,however. Vision may be no substitute for Strength when lifting a boulder. Willpower points spent to activate this Merit don’t grant any of the usual effects of Willpower points; they simply allow the character to use the Merit. This Merit does not enable a character to spend more than one Willpower point per turn. Though a character may be said to have gained this Merit through supernatural means, Vision is not in itself a supernatural power. A character’s vision for the future may be the result of some supernatural experience or may simply the product of a profound imagination.


Unseen Sense (•••)
Book: The World Of Darkness Core, p. 109
Prerequisite: Mortal (non-supernatural); Wits ••

Effect: Your character has a “sixth sense” when it comes to the supernatural. Perhaps his hair stands on end, goose bumps race along his arms, or a shiver runs up his spine. Regardless of the manner, his body reacts to the presence of unseen forces. He can’t see or hear anything, and in fact he might not know at first what causes this reaction. It might be a response to a specific type of supernatural phenomenon such as ghosts or vampires, or it might be a general sense that something isn’t right. Over time and with a little trial and error,he might be able to qualify what his body tries to tell him. The specific type of supernatural phenomenon to which your character is sensitive must be determined when this Merit is purchased. It can be something as vague as a creepy feeling when in the presence of ghosts,or something as specific as a sudden chill when a vampire is nearby. The Storyteller has final say on the exact nature and trigger of your character’s sixth sense, and can keep its nature secret if desired, leaving you to figure it out during play. Only mortal, mundane characters can possess this Merit. The pivotal moment of becoming or being changed into a being with supernatural capabilities eliminates it.

Unseen Sense (Spirits) (• to ••••)
Book: Book Of Spirits, p. 111
Prerequisites: Mortal (non-supernatural); Wits ••
This is an optional Merit, expanded from the World of Darkness Rulebook to focus on spirits and spiritual phenomena.

Effect: Your character has a sixth sense about spirits and the strange phenomena that surround them and their world. Regardless of how much the character knows about the occult or the Shadow Realm (she may know absolutely nothing), she has some instinctual understandings and can often sense when spiritual events are going on around her. Each dot in this Merit adds a category of phenomenon to those that the character can sense. The character reacts when phenomena of the included sort are present. How the character reacts varies from one to the next. The hairs on her neck may stand up, a chill may run down her spine or anything appropriate. • The character may sense verges and loci, feeling the emotional weight of the area around her. With an extended Wits + Composure roll, the character may be able to feel what sort of resonance the area has. The number of required successes is equal to 10 minus the locus’s rating, and each roll represents one turn.•• The character may sense when spiritual Numina or Aspects are used in her vicinity (within 20 feet). This kicks in when the acting spirit or the Numen’s target is in that range, not otherwise. When a Numen or Aspect targets her, she may roll a reflexive Wits + Composure roll at a penalty of the offending spirit’s Finesse rating to get a rough idea of the Numen’s effect. Even on a success, her knowledge is very vague. Only exceptional successes are at all clear.••• The character may sense when a spirit in Twilight passes within 20 feet of her. She may roll a reflexive Wits + Composure roll to determine the rough direction the spirit is moving and whether it is hurrying. If the spirit is attempting stealth, roll its Finesse as a contested roll.•••• The character may sense when spirits riding humans or animals pass within 20 feet of her. She may roll a reflexive Wits + Composure roll, contested reflexively by the spirit’s Finesse, to pick out which creature is ridden. Unseen Sense (Spirits) has a drawback, but only in that characters who act on their subtle impulses can attract unwanted attention from spirits who don’t like to be noticed.


Well-Traveled (•)
Book: Reliquary, p. 85

Effect: The character has either made a study of customs and practices in cultures other than his own or, as the name suggests, traveled extensively enough to know such customs. The character receives the 9-again benefit on any Social roll involving dealing with a foreign culture, or Mental roll for remembering the practices and mores of such a culture. This knowledge is purely practical; the character might remember that it’s rude to show one’s bare head in a given country, but not why.


Whispers (•)
Book: The My sterium, p. 179Your character’s mind has ripped open, allowing tendrils of underlying primordial truths to reach into his psyche. He can purchase the Dream Merit (see
Mage: The Awakened, p. 82) even if he is not a mage, and may attempt to gain insights through that Merit as an instant action while conscious rather than requiring the usual hour of meditation or sleep. However, each time he accesses Dream in this accelerated manner further erodes his sanity, requiring a character with a Wisdom (or Morality) higher than five dots to make a degeneration roll.