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Advantages and Flaws FAQ

What is a Merit?

Merit Advantages and their associated Flaws are quirks of the blood. These are things that are determined during Embrace and don’t usually change during a Kindred’s existence. 

“Merits describe advantages and gifts inherent to the character: Physical, Mental, and Social. Although something could happen in the course of play to change them – especially once weird inexplicable magic gets unleashed – characters’ Merits remain fairly constant over the course of the story.” Vampire: The Masquerade Corebook, page 179

On SbN new Merits can be acquired only in very rare instances, as they are quirks of the Blood and should have manifested during the Embrace. However, there are a few albeit rare circumstances where they can be gained. The general places you’ll be able to tap into otherwise CC-locked Advantages are: Server events such as the Holiday events as a gift from the ST team that is rolled or traded for alongside other players, requests during Odes/Campaigns as a reward within a matching campaign theme or story, or when a new Flaw is needed for balancing the sheet. The ST still holds the right to deny the request should it not align enough with the character’s current story, the campaign’s purpose, or for other ST reasons.

What is a Background?

Unlike Merits, Background Advantages are external and non-intrinsic to the character, representing material assets, social connections, and similar things acquired and possessed by the character.

“…the player should always rationalize how the character came to possess them, as well as what they represent.” Vampire: The Masquerade Corebook, page 184

Background Advantages and Flaws can be gained and lost freely over the course of the character’s story. Supporting roleplay will be required, along with, in almost all cases, rolls to justify or achieve the acquisition agreed upon with the STs via a thread in #ask-the-st channel on the server. Some Background Flaws can be gained as a result of Bestial Failures, Messy Criticals, or Total fails on rolls.

Advantages and Flaws Additional Pages

It is strongly advised to review any potential Backgrounds/Merits before purchasing, as we have adapted a few from the books to better fit our server, or defined methods that they may be used for balancing purposes.

Haven Merit Clarifications

Haunted (Homebrewed effect): Possible total daily Willpower regeneration is now reduced by 1 as the supernatural interference of the ghostly presence causes less restful sleep. (Example: Character’s Resolve is 4; normally, they can regain up to 4 WP a night. Now, they can regain up to 3 WP when daysleeping in their haven. If they use less than 4 WP, they regain as usual.) As well, ghost-themed consequences will be added to the possible outcomes for Messy Criticals, Bestial Failures, and Total Fails on rolls conducted inside the haven.

Library Haven Merit (Clarification) – When used with a Thin-blood Alchemy, Blood Sorcery or Oblivion Occult spec, this gives a benefit to the Occult rolls concerning Alchemy, Blood Sorcery, or Oblivion. This also aids in learning a Formula, Ritual, or Ceremony when Occult is used, but does not give access to new Forumlae, Rituals, or Ceremonies.

For Oblivion the library has to be noted as being for Necromancy (Hecata) or Abyssal arts (Lasombra).

Change of identity

This can be done via a few ways, most notably by becoming Zeroed; or through flesh alteration through Profane Hieros Gamos or Fleshcrafting.

Difference between Zeroed and Face Changing:

The Zeroed merit applies when a 2-dot mask is taken, and removes all evidence of the prior identity from existence, effectively wiping out all trace that this person ever was born or had any life history. This will impact any Advantages that apply to the original identity and rely upon that paper trail of the person’s existence in the world. Fame, Influence, Resources or Haven, etc, might be among the things affected. It is not possible for a character’s old identity to be Zeroed in play and replaced by essentially the ‘same’ identity but with dates altered to fit the character’s current appearance. Face-changing will mostly impact Merits that involve the physical appearance/face alongside the name. Masks, Herd, jobs in mortal-based locations, and general in-person situations similar to these, etc. Review your Merits and Backgrounds, as well as Loresheets before asking to be Zeroed as anything tied to their existence can be lost in the process and need to be regained as if for the first time.

What Advantages can be lost?

What is lost is situational and contextual based on the specifics of the character’s set of Merits/Backgrounds and whether or not appearance and identity changed, or only one or the other. Each situation will be evaluated separately, but in general most Backgrounds can be affected, particularly those which are specifically identity-based like Influence, Fame, Resources which come from a legitimate over-the-table mortal-base job, etc.

What to do after a change of identity?

Open an ask reporting the change, and the staff will review the character sheet and discuss what Merits/Backgrounds/etc are lost. Assets such as Retainers, Mawali, and/or faction perks, etc, may be able to mitigate some of the work to retain these things.

Resources streams: Multiple vs adding

Resources can be separate Backgrounds and values, if the income is from different sources; these dots don’t stack. For example, a thief has two dots of Resources and then another 1 dot from a daytime job. This does not mean the character has 3 dots of Resources, but merely one 2-dot Resources and one 1-dot Resource.

Multiple resource streams can be separated or combined between their types as long as it’s logical at the given dot value. Two low-paying jobs will not equal 2 dots, and may still be a 1-dot Resource stream. But if streams are combined, one source being burned or lost can mean the entire dot value is lost; whereas if separated, the additional Resource streams and associated Merits (like Mask) will not be impacted.

Fame

Mortal Fame is dangerous; the higher you climb the ranks, the more the mortal eye watches everything the character does in public spaces. Players with characters that have Fame 3+ will be asked at CC how they plan to navigate and mitigate the drawbacks. This level of Fame means that they will require a disguise roll or something similar to be able to enter Kindred locations and venues, as those in charge don’t usually want mortal attention directed on their meeting location. This test will be done at a Difficulty of 4 at a minimum, as mortals can be relentless when it comes to their favorite celebrity in the city.

Fame can be taken in Kindred Circles, but it is not equivalent to Status. This Background is capped at 2 and Kindred Fame cannot be taken at CC. Kindred Fame 1 can be achieved through our ask-the-st system; Kindred Fame 2 is likely only gained from campaigns.

Looks Merits & Flaws

The Looks merits (Beautiful/Stunning), when used to add dice to a roll, implies that not only is the character good looking but that they are actively using their looks as part of their social effort to sway a character. Generally, and by default, Looks merits can apply to all Siren hunts against SPCs; in other situations it is conditional, and STs may rule them applicable or not applicable on a case-by-case basis. Always ask a scene partner prior to rolling if the Looks merit will apply when using this with/against a PC.

The Looks flaws (Ugly/Repulsive) shouldn’t be used solely in conjunction with characters who have or exhibit disabilities, physical or skin conditions, scars/scarring, or other very real and human traits. Equating these real health issues to physical ugliness or repulsiveness is offensive to those who may themselves have or experience these conditions, and is not permitted. These Flaws and associated physical descriptions should not be used as a shortcut to indicating a character’s evil nature. Keep that in mind in your character creation and roleplay. Whereas the Merits may not always apply to rolls, the Flaws will always affect relevant social rolls, against SPCs or PCs alike. The supernatural nature of the Looks flaw doesn’t necessarily entail a Masquerade breach; rather, this is more of a vibe which causes others to become uncomfortable/distressed by the person.

Cobbling A Mask:

Intelligence + Tech/larceny Diff 3 for Mask 1

Diff 4 for Mask 2 A successful roll “kicks off” the process.

Three game day wait for Mask 1, Six for a Mask 2

Cobblers can work on up to a limit of 2 masks or mask-related tests at a time, but they must be started on separate nights.

While zeroing someone, Cobblers are unable to work on any other Mask project.

Research & Writing

Whereas prior the Academics skill was used as a ‘catch-all’ for research and writing in all topics, going forward we will now be using the relevant skill to the subject being written about or researched. The roll will be Int + Skill, to research a topic or write a paper/book; this might be Int + Science, Int + Occult, Int + Medicine, etc, depending on the topic/field. Creative writing endeavors (poetry, plays, writing song lyrics, etc) are still Academics, as Academics is the skill used to represent understanding of the liberal arts, whether or not that understanding has been formally trained through a university setting or acquired through self-study.

Kindred Iconography

Covering all forms of hidden messages within art, such as paintings, graffiti and other works rolled with an artistic creation pool. If a roll was made to encode the message in art/symbols, then the artist can choose the diff to interpret it up to the number of successes they had on that roll. Having this loresheet can help lower the difficulty in determining the other pieces of iconography.

No Haven Flaw Roll

This is done only for those with the Flaw, those who do not have a Haven but do not have this Flaw are not required to make this roll unless their usual unsecure place to sleep is not available.

Wits + Streetwise/Survival diff 4 done each week in order to ensure a safe location for daysleep, make an ask should this fail.

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