Merits represent the core characteristics, traits, gear, and companions that a character has at their disposal. They always have a visual component; something that can be seen, targeted, or hidden. Merits tracks represent a form of character health, merits help make actions easier to perform, and many merits provide unique powers and abilities for a character to take advantage of. Each legacy has its own list of unique merits for those with it, but there are many merits any character can take.
They are displayed on this website in the following manner:
| Merit Title |
The mechanical effect/benefit |
The merit’s track size |
| A suggested physical description of the merit |
||
Players are not limited to the merits in this book, and may utilize the mechanics here to create their own alongside the GM. The LARP variation of the merits on this page can be found here.
Merits provide 3 explicit mechanical benefits:
- Their tracks serve as a resource and narrative health of the character
- They provide unique abilities and boons for a character
- They can be utilized separately or additively to their abilities to add a bonus to a character’s action check.
Elaboration on point 3: using merits for a bonus to an action check
Merits are more than their boons – they are real items and character traits. As such, they can be utilized to provide a bonus to a character’s action checks whether or not the specific ability applies. To help explain this, the below examples will show example action checks of one of the two merits below:
| Crowbar |
When prying two things apart, turn one glance into a hit. (Expertise) | 4 |
| An iron crowbar. | ||
| Alchemic Fire |
Splash across something at close range to inflict an additional mark of flame harm upon it. (Damaging) Mark to pour it on a surface and slowly melt through common metals. (Utility+Consume) |
4 |
| A collection of vials with smoky, fizzy, red liquid. | ||
Examples:
- Miles and his party need to get through the vault door that’s locked in front of them. He has a 2 in his Brute Force skill and plans to utilize his crowbar to open the door. Because the crowbar is a merit (handed down from the thug to thug across generations), he gets a +1 on his action check, for a total of 3. This isn’t even including the crowbar’s ability, which will turn a glance into a hit.
- Miles got into a fight and doesn’t have any of his normal weapons, but still wields his trustworthy crowbar. He attacks his opponent with finesse, which he has a 3 in, attempting to out-maneuver them and bash their fingers. Since the crowbar’s a merit, he gets a +1 to the check for a total of 4. This time however, he’s not prying two things apart and doesn’t get the merit’s special benefit to convert glances to hits.
- Trisha needs to open the vault door before the thugs get to them. They mark the merit to use its special ability to melt through metals, not needing any action check but nervously watching the door as time ticks by.
- The door bursts open with rival thugs just as a hole in the vault reveals piles of documents and paper money. The thugs rush Trisha who makes a sudden decision to burn it all – a desperate and vindictive maneuver. They use their maneuver skill to tip some alchemic fire into the vault. If they succeed, the GM decides it will be highly effective. Since Trisha has 2 levels in maneuver, they get 3 in their action pool. 2 for the skill and +1 for utilizing their merit
- Grisha studies the chemical compounds left behind at the scene of the crime. They pull out their own vials of alchemical fire, giving it a smell and swish as they compare it with sizzling remains of the vault. They have a 2 in the Research skill and make an action check for 3, using their own alchemical fire to help, even though they don’t actually use the the merit’s ability.
General
General merits can be taken by any character. They represent unique pieces of gear, magical companions, and other traits that a person might acquire in a world of witchgates.
| Merits | Effect | Track |
| Lip Readers | If you can see a person’s lips, you can understand what they are saying, regardless of whether you can hear them or know the language. | 3 |
| A pair glasses with a thick, inky frame. | ||
| Remnant’s Pouch | Whenever you use your last esoteric and it isn’t “etheric dusts” gain the esoteric “etheric dusts.” | 4 |
| A crystalline plant-like pouch with several sealed compartments for holding esoterics. | ||
| Medical Kit | When you use a restorative action to treat a wound or injury you or another are suffering, treat glances as hits. (clear an additional mark) | 4 |
| A small duffle bag packed to the brim. | ||
| Hookshot | A gun that fires a grappling hook and rope that can be used for climbing and swinging to new places. Mark to have the gun instantly retract the hook, pulling you towards larger targets or pulling smaller targets to you. |
4 |
| A large pistol shaped harpoon gun with a blunt grappling hook lodged in the chamber. | ||
| Spidersilk Gloves | Allow the wearer to grab the wind as if it were rope, pulling them along its current. | 4 |
| A pair of frayed, woven-silk gloves that tug in the lightest wind. | ||
| Food for the Masses | When you create a temporary merit that can be consumed, it can feed up to 5 people. | 3 |
| A botanical cooler that appears to increase the size of some foods put into it. | ||
| Sealed Mask | A mask that lets you see more clearly through cloudy air and makes you immune from breathing in harmful particles in the air. | 2 |
| A gas mask with goggles and a large air filter. | ||
| Repellant Canisters | Mark to create a small area around you which creatures that rely on scent will actively avoid. | 5 |
| Two-inch tall, green canisters with release valves on top and bottom. | ||
| Favorite Instrument | Increase the effect of performances when using this instrument | 4 |
| A near-transparent musical instrument that has tendency to riff off of nearby music or that of the user. | ||
| Lost Knowledge Ledger | Mark to gain information related to one of your lost words without spending the lost word itself. | 4 |
| A thin leather ledger that refuses to hold onto ink or graphite for any length of time. However, writing a lost word into the ledger fills pages with details of the word’s story. | ||
| Ancient 8ball | Mark to gain a hint about upcoming events in the future around a specific topic or question. | 4 |
| A stone magic 8 ball with a thick oily liquid inside that hides a shapeshifting die. | ||
| Crafter’s Guarantee | When crafting a physical object, increase the temporary merit‘s track by 1. | 3 |
| A crafter’s certified toolkit; messy and completely disorganized. | ||
| Clinic Room | When taking a restorative action, you may work on up to three different merits or injuries over the same lengthy task. Each takes its own esoteric still. | 3 |
| A pop-up workshop and tent with adjustable sectional divides and time-dilation properties. | ||
| Secretive Charm | You are immune to supernatural effects that attempt to draw information from you | 2 |
| A simple charm on string that slowly wonders around the body, sometimes appearing as a necklace, other times as bracelet or ring. | ||
| Degradation Salvage | When you spend an esoteric that does not have any negative tags, give it a negative tag instead of destroying/removing it. | 3 |
| A set of pliable, crystalline jars of somehow-adjustable size. | ||
| Firefly Hive | Shake to force the fireflies out of their hive and light up the nearby area around you. | 4 |
| A waxy orb with many hexagonal holes covering the surface and many fireflies inside. | ||
| Phantom Oil | Mark to soak an item in the phantom oil. While coated in the oil, the item can slide through non-organic materials effortlessly, without touching the material, for the remainder of the scene or until washed in water and soap. | 4 |
| An iridescent oil held in a heavy rusty salt-iron flask. | ||
| Kinetic Shield | Mark when you take bludgeoning, hacking, or piercing harm to deal 1 mark of harm of the same type back to the attacker, or to recover 1 box in another of your merits. | 4 |
| A large shield of distilled and layered elements. | ||
| Iron Stomach | Reduce the trouble of poisons and sicknesses by 1 level | 4 |
| Your abdomen appears dark gray and discolored compared to the rest of your body. | ||
| Intrusive Accountant | Mark to learn how much Coin a character has on them and how many esoterics are on their person. | 4 |
| A small notepad that mimics the accounts of nearby individuals. | ||
| Analysis Screen | Mark to understand the makeup, structure, age, and inner-workings of a material. | 4 |
| A small home-made tablet like device. | ||
| Sneaky Merits | Effect | Track |
| Smoke Bombs | Mark to cover an area with dense smoke that completely obscures view of anything inside or across from it. | 4 |
| Four ceramic containers with a simple wick that doubles as a rip-cord. | ||
| Trapper’s Precaution | When creating or setting up a trap, treat glances as hits. | 4 |
| A set of protective equipment and semi-intelligent shoulder cam which sounds an alert when it notices a mistake. | ||
| Wallflower Cloak | Mark to completely avoid visual detection while not moving. | 4 |
| A cloak that changes color and texture to mimic its surroundings. | ||
| Dousing Rods | A pair of small rods which can “hold” onto a nearby light, causing it to go completely dark. Each rod can hold onto 2 lights, for 4 in total. The lights return to their source when let go. | 4 |
| Short, metallic pen-like objects with a blackened crystal on their tips. | ||
| Guiding Oil | Increase effect when you attack an unaware target from a hidden position. | 4 |
| A mercury-like oil which, when spread onto a weapon, will guide the weapon’s point towards an unguarded vulnerabilities on unsuspecting victims. | ||
| Muffled Picklocks | When picking a lock, treat glances as hits. | 4 |
| A set of old picklocks covered in a thick layer of soot and ash that refuses to fully wash off. | ||
| Numb Dust | Mark to make a medium surface unnoticeable to the sense of touch. | 5 |
| A storage tube filled with black, shifting, and ephemeral dust. | ||
| Eraser Dust | Mark to negate trouble related to drawing attention to you or a nearby ally. | 5 |
| A pile of magical dust which briefly mollifies the importance of recent events. | ||
| Shoe Paddings | Mark to give an ally a two box temporary merit that can be used in conjunction with a sneak check to turn a glance into a hit. | 4 |
| A collection of soft, sticky pads that can be placed on shoes or joints to reduce sound. | ||
| Attention Grabbers | When an adjacent ally attracts unwanted attention via trouble, you can move away from them to draw that attention and trouble towards yourself instead of them. | 3 |
| A pair of fae-crafted gloves that allow the wearer to literally steal attention meant for others. | ||
| Extra Limb | You have an additional limb that can help you hold and manipulate items. | 4 |
| You have an additional limb that can help you hold and manipulate items, such as an extra arm and hand, tentacle, or prehensile tail. | ||
| Observation Glasses | You know when something is looking at you. | 3 |
| A set of 4-lens bifocals that glint with light when someone looks at you. | ||
| Gathering Merits | Effect | Track |
| Witchgate Notebook | When someone nearby other than yourself gains an esoteric, mark to gain a lost word relating to that esoteric. | 3 |
| A leather notebook with thick, uneven papers seemingly stuffed inside | ||
| Bartering Gloves | When someone in a scene you are in acquires coin, gain 1 coin as well. | 3 |
| A fine silken glove that occasionally has sticky fingers. | ||
| Disassembled Secrets | When you destroy or disassemble a unique and complex contraption, gain one lost word. | 3 |
| A small whirlwind of paper scraps that pirouette around you. | ||
| Whistle Kettle | When using the kettle to create a temporary merit, gain a lost word related to the concoction. | 3 |
| An iron and glass kettle pot that whistles alongside whispers and murmurs. | ||
| Suitcase of Cash | Mark to create 2 coins or to outright purchase a mundane but expensive item or service; such as to buy a new compact car, to book a restaurant to yourself for the night, or to bribe someone to leave their job for the day, etc. | 3 |
| What it sounds like; a nice secure suitcase of cash. | ||
| Earworms | When spending a lost word with multiple words, remove just one word instead spending the full lost word. | 2 |
| Silver ear cuffs that wiggle and squirm when listening to music or juicy information. | ||
| Recycler | Once per scene, gain an esoteric when you or an ally mark the last box of a temporary merit. | 3 |
| A small copper and ceramic pot that sits snuggly in a leather harness. | ||
| Corrupting Extractor | You can give temporary merits that you create a negative tag as though it was an esoteric. The negative tag applies each time the temporary merit is used. | 3 |
| A toolkit mostly composed of various inky pliers, tweezers, and needles. | ||
| Demolitionist | Spend 1 esoteric to deal 2 marks of harm against a nearby structure without needing to make an action check | 3 |
| A pair of thick metal gloves with a small compartment in the back to enter energy sources. | ||
| Alchemic Terrarium | Mark or add the volatile tag to an esoteric to transform an esoteric’s properties, changing 1 noun into another. | 4 |
| A glass terrarium with biome unique to an elemental’s affinity. | ||
| Blast Bag | While holding esoterics with the volatile tag, you cannot take harm from more than 1 of them. If you only have 1 esoteric with the volatile tag, never take harm from it. | 4 |
| A heavily reinforced bag with padded, resistant compartments. | ||
| Stabilization Arrays | Mark to remove the volatile tag from an esoteric or to add the volatile tag to an esoteric you can see. | 5 |
| A complex series of portable, metallic, alchemical circles. | ||
| Affinity Jumper | Pick an elemental affinity (water, fire, earth, dust, sand, etc). If you are completely surrounded by your affinity, you may teleport yourself into any areas of the same affinity within the same scene as long as it is large enough to cover you. | 2 |
| A wisp of vaper that travels around you, orbiting your body. | ||
Companions act as separate entities from a character that the player controls. The player character always has a mental connection to their companions, and is able to guide and learn information that the companion knows. Companions have an animalistic, dog-like intelligence unless otherwise stated. When a companion’s track reaches 0, it retreats into until the PC can take a restorative action to heal it.
| Companion Merits | Effect | Track |
| Perception Parasite | A “living” thought within your mind and Nearby creatures that feasts on peripheral observations, causing slight absent-mindedness. Mark to identify a missed detail within the scene or to concentrate on an additional action. | 4 |
| Tracking Cat | A small agile cat that walks with a slow after-image following behind. When in a wild environment, mark to gain a new organic esoteric. | 3 |
| Flame Gecko | A molten black gecko with a glowing red mouth and flames that occasionally sprout across its body. Immune to flame and able to set itself on fire. Automatically succeed when taking a lengthy task to gather a flammable esoteric. | 1 |
| Sand Jackal | An elemental jackal formed out of sand and stone. When attacking a creature, it deals an extra mark of piercing melee harm. | 3 |
| Gossip Sprite | A tiny and playful, barely visible wisp of dusty wind that constantly alters shapes and forms as it floats in the air and eavesdrop on nearby conversations. Mark to gain a lost word when it is in a social area. | 3 |
| Toolshop Drone | A tiny, flying robotic construct with an array of minor workshop tools. Increase effect when repairing gear and crafting items out of esoterics. | 3 |
| Thermite Termites | A swarm of unstable termites that glow red hot when outside of their hive. Useful for weakening organic structures. Mark to allow them to burrow through hard materials such as stone and metal. | 4 |
| Walking Stick | Just a normal staff, until it sprouts legs and starts to walk away on its own. A living quarterstaff companion that can be wielded to deal an extra mark of bludgeoning harm at close range. | 3 |
| Ember Spark | A small tuff of floating, flashing energy with an eclectic personality and taste. When you find a new esoteric with your companion’s help, you can add the volatile tag to it. You can spend an esoteric with the volatile tag to instantly recover 1 mark on one of your merits and inflict 1 blast AOE harm against creatures adjacent to your companion. | 3 |
Supernatural
Supernatural merits can only be taken by characters with a Fae, Werebeast, or Vampire legacy. They represent some of the superhuman or beastly qualities that these legacies are known for.
| Merits | Effect | Track |
| Brute Strength | You are unnaturally fit with superhuman strength, able lift a car with effort. Increase the effect of actions that utilize your brute strength. | 4 |
| Your muscles produce a faint glowing aura when used beyond a normal human’s capacities. | ||
| Celerity | You are unnaturally fast, able to move with a speed 3 times that of the fastest humans. Mark to add an extra action on top of another action. | 4 |
| Your movements, even when casual and slow, produce a brief afterimage. | ||
| Heat Vision | You can switch between your normal vision and heat vision. | 3 |
| Your eyes gain a faint green tint while using heat vision. | ||
| Acidic Blood | Deal 1 mark of damage to any creature that deals melee harm to you. Additionally, mark to add 1 additional mark of acidic harm on top of any melee attack. | 4 |
| Your blood hisses and steams when in contact with anything other than your own flesh. | ||
| Regenerative Skin | When someone takes a restorative action to heal this track, you may recover 1 additional box. Restorative actions used on this merit do not need an esoteric. | 4 |
| Though difficult to notice, your skin is slightly thicker and less pliable than usual. | ||
| Sharpened Ears | You have an extraordinary sense of hearing and can pinpoint the details and direction of sounds with ease. If you can hear it, you can hear it as if it was whispered into your ears. | 3 |
| You have abnormally long pointy ears. | ||
| Launching Charge | Mark to launch yourself at a nearby or far away location with an extraordinary leap, dealing blast harm to any creatures on your landing zone. | 4 |
| Your legs briefly increase in size when preparing to launch. | ||
| Echo Location | You can see your nearby surroundings by making noise or when they make noise. | 3 |
| Your ears are half the size of your head or larger. | ||
| Hive-Form | You are a collection of tiny creatures with a group intelligence that work together to puppeteer a hollow and/or makeshift built-body. Mark up to three boxes to separate a part of your body with an exploratory task force, known as an outrider, that you control separately from your main body. It gains a track equal to the number of boxes marked. If it returns to the built-body then you can unmark a number of boxes equal to the number of unmarked boxes returned with the outriders. |
4 |
| Spider Hairs | You are able to climb up vertical surfaces without difficulty and do not need to make an action check to do so. | 3 |
| Your body is covered in tiny hairs or claws that help you quickly climb up any surface. | ||