Psychological Merits

Calm Heart (●●●): You have a great deal of control over your emotions and can maintain your calm even in outrageous situations. Reduce the difficulty of all Frenzy triggers by two. You must still test for Frenzy even if this means the difficulty is zero or less. Brujah who purchase this Merit do not gain its benefits for Fury Frenzy triggers. 

Common Sense (●●●●): Your character knows how to assess risks and dangers. Twice per game, as a simple action, you may ask the Storyteller one of the following questions and receive a truthful answer: 

● What is the most dangerous choice in this situation? 

● What is the least dangerous choice in this situation? 

● What might I lose in this situation? 

● Am I on the right track by pursuing this lead? 

Storytellers should not weigh in on player character motivations. It might be ok to tell a character using this Merit that insulting the Prince would be the worst choice, simply because insulting a Prince is usually always a bad idea. But the Storyteller shouldn’t reveal things that aren’t public knowledge, such as ‘You shouldn’t attack that mortal because it’s a character’s Touchstone’. 

Common Sense as a Tool for New Players While any player could find Common Sense useful, it is an excellent Merit to recommend to new players to Vampire: the Masquerade, as it allows them to ask for some help from the Storyteller at a key moment.

Psychological Flaws 

Archaic (●●): The constant evolution of technology confuses and enrages you. Modern things signal an increase in mortal power and a palpable shift away from the world you understand. You cannot purchase the following skills: Drive, Science (any modern science), or Technology. Further, you cannot operate machinery or technology invented in the last 100 years. Players with this Flaw should roleplay ancient or archaic perspectives on other skills where appropriate, such as the use of herbs and poultices when performing the Medicine skill, rather than modern drugs and equipment. Only characters who are 9th Generation and have spent at least 100 years Embraced may take this Flaw.

Players must ensure the themes and perspectives they wish to explore are appropriate for their game space, and Storytellers have absolute discretion to decide which archaic perspectives are permissible within their game. 

Dark Secret (●): You have a secret which would cause great embarrassment if uncovered by your enemies. If your secret is publicly revealed, you must buy off this Flaw, per the rules for removing Flaws. Like all Flaws, a Dark Secret should not be allowed if it does not impact the character’s possible survival if revealed or if it copies a difficulty inherent to the character type. A character cannot have more than one Dark Secret. 

Death Sight (●): While your body remains in limbo between life and death, you view the world as if everything around you is dead. Humans appear to be rotting zombies, vampires are withered and decaying. Buildings are decrepit and falling apart. You find no beauty in the world anymore. In addition to the roleplay aspects of this Flaw, you are incapable of determining another character’s creature type or mood, even with the aid of supernatural powers such as Scry the Soul. 

Living on the Edge (●●): Your incredible curiosity and “devil-may care” attitude often overrides your common sense. You cannot help it! There are so many wonderful things in the world, so many secrets to uncover, and so many thrills to experience. If you actively deny yourself the opportunity to explore or experience something new or unknown, you lose one point of Willpower. You do not have to immediately explore this new experience, but if the opportunity passes and you are no longer able to experience it, you lose one Willpower. You may only lose one point of Willpower per opportunity. However, each different opportunity costs you one point of Willpower. If you run out of Willpower from this Flaw, you gain the Impaired Condition (see page XX). 

Impatient (●●): You have no patience for standing around and waiting. You want to do things now — forget the slowpokes trying to hold you back. You vastly prefer acting on impulse without caring about the consequences. Every time you are forced to be patient instead of acting immediately, you must spend one Willpower to wait without acting for five minutes. If you do not spend this Willpower, you react with extreme anger, lashing out at the source of your delay. 

Weak Willed (●●●●): Your mind is weak, easily disturbed, or confused. You rely on others to survive and tend to be a follower, rarely speaking up for yourself. If you suffer from the Distracted, Disoriented, Staggered, or Prone Condition, you cannot resolve them unless another character spends a simple action to aid you. You may not benefit from any powers that alter how these Conditions affect your character.