Merits represent distinguishing character talents which will assist them beyond the character’s normal stats and system rules. The value beside each Merit is used to determine how much experience they cost.
Merits which have a range of cost can be bought for any amount of points within the range specified. They have effects which vary depending on the value purchased at. They can later be upgraded by purchasing the remaining points separately, whereby the cost is equal to the number of dots purchased, not the level of which the dot represents.
Combat Merits:
DRUNKEN FIGHTER (3)
Effect: If resisting a consequence while drunk, gain 2 dice to the roll.
GLIMPSE OF HORROR (4) Prerequisites: Research 3
Effect: As a reaction, or on top of your own attack, you can spend 1 Mana to convert any attack’s damage into mental damage. If armor would have reduced the damage, the damage is only reduced by half as much.
OFFENSIVE REBUKE (5) Prerequisites: Negotiate 2 or Perform 2
Effect: When your verbal remarks would inflict mental damage they deal 2|3 damage instead of the normal 1|2.
RETALIATION (2) Prerequisites: Combat 2
Effect: Deal 1 additional damage to enemies that have recently hurt you.
SHIELD COVER (3)
Effect: Your training with a shield allows you to use it to avoid damage. When holding your shield, gain a +1 die bonus to ability checks to avoid damage from attacks.
SNEAK ATTACK (4) Prerequisites: Sneak 1, Combat 1
Effect: When attacking an opponent who is unaware of your presence, deal an additional 4 damage on the first attack.
When attacking an opponent who is alert against danger but does not know your location, deal an additional 2 damage instead of 4.
STANCE (5) Prerequisites: Combat 1
Effect: Gain a new Combat Stance. The stance provides benefits and abilities based on the skill’s level. This merit can only be taken twice and a character can only be in one stance at a time.
STEALTH KNOCKOUT (4) Prerequisites: SNEAK ATTACK
Effect: When making a sneak attack against an opponent who is not alert against danger and is your size+1 or smaller, you may attempt to knock the enemy out instead of dealing additional damage. Your attack must deal bashing damage and if it passes an opponent’s stress mark, the opponent is knocked unconscious.
WAKE UP! (3) Prerequisites: Research 2 or Craft 2
Effect: When you succeed with a skill check to heal an unconscious character, that character wakes up and remains awake for the next half hour or until enough damage is restored to keep them conscious.
Magic Merits:
ARTIFICER (7) Prerequisites: Intelligence 1
Effect: When creating an enchantment, reduce the Mana investment by 1, to a minimum of 1.
BANISHING CIRCLE (4) Prerequisites: Research 3
Effect: You can spend 1 Mana to create a alter a circle on the ground into a banishing circle. No magic can enter or leave the circle. As such, nothing from outside the circle can use magic on something inside the circle, and vice versa. The circle can be dismantled physically or by an effort of your own will.
BATTLE MAGE (5)
Effect: When casting an offensive spell you do not invoke attacks of opportunity and you gain +1 Spell Potential to offensive spells during combat.
BESTOW (Metamagic) (6)
Effect: You may use the following metaspell component when creating a spell:
DC: 1 Hit | Bestow control of the spell to another target for the rest its duration. If the spell is concentration based, then the bestowed individual becomes the one who must maintain concentration on it. You may only have 1 spell bestowed at a time.
BLOOD MAGIC (7) Prerequisites: Cannot have PSYCHO merit
Effect: You gain a Knack for “Blood” in the Life Arcana, even if you do not have any points in that arcana. You may self-inflict 2 aggravated damage to your health to replace the use of 1 point of Mana. If used for an enchantment, the health is considered invested, and may not heal until the enchantment ends.
CHAOS SPELLS [0] (3)
Effect: Your spells never splice. Whenever you roll a critical trouble on a spell, add 1 to the number in brackets beside this merit. Roll a number of d10s equal to the number beside this merit and look up the total result on the chaos magic table. You may purchase this merit again to reduce the number beside this merit by 1.
When you pass a splice trigger, roll on the chaos magic table.
CLOUDED MIND (2) Prerequisites: Perform 3
Effect: You can toggle this effect on or off whenever you want. All creatures within Far Away range of you have a -1 penalty on Perception ability checks and Investigate skill checks.
CURSE (4) Prerequisites: Research 3
Effect: As an action you can invest 1 Mana to give a target -1 penalty towards a specified specialization. The Mana can be regained only by touching the target or when the target dies.
DEEP BREATHS (4) Prerequisites: Mind 2
Effect: As an action, or on top of a spell using components from the Mind Arcana, you may spend 1 Mana to completely heal 1 box of stress on yourself.
DENIAL (5) Prerequisites: Negotiate 3 or Survival 3
Effect: As an action you may invest up to 3 Mana to lock the same number of currently unused Mana of another mage, preventing them from using it. The Mana can be recovered at any time, unlocking the connected Mana.
DISTANCED (2)
Effect: Sympathetic spells used on you require an additional glance to succeed.
DIVIDED CONCENTRATION (6) Prerequisites: Intelligence 2
Effect: You may concentrate on two spells at once, instead of the normal limit of one. When you fail a concentration check, both spells end.
I HEAL MYSELF (4) Prerequisites: Life 2
Effect: As an action, or on top of a spell using components from the Life Arcana, you may spend 1 Mana to completely heal 1 box of physical damage on yourself.
INVASIVE QUESTIONING (4) Prerequisites: Investigate 3
Effect: You may spend 2 Mana to force someone to answer 1 question honestly and openly. They may not lie and must give at least 1 piece of information related to the question which they believe could be of use to you, if possible.
LINGERING MAGIC (5)
Effect: Instant spells can now last up to 10 seconds (ending at the end of the turn after it was cast).
POINT OF VIEW GUN (6) Prerequisites: Investigate 3
Effect: Spend 1 Mana to force a target to see a topic from your character’s point of view. Spend 2 Mana to force a target to see things from another target’s point of view.
Supercharge. When you have all of your Mana, you may spend all of it to have 1 target’s point of view shared with all nearby characters.
PSYCHO (7) Prerequisites: Cannot have BLOOD MAGIC merit
Effect: You gain a T1 Knack for “Madness” in the Mind Arcana, even if you do not have any points in that Arcana. You may spend 4 points of stress to replace the use of 1 point of Mana. If used for an enchantment, the stress is considered invested and may not recover until the enchantment ends.
MAGE MAGIC (2) Prerequisites: Research 2 or Perception 1 or Investigate 2
Effect: When studying a supernatural effect or the remains of a supernatural effect, you always are able to tell whether or not the effect was produced by a mage.
MASTER OF CREATION (7) Prerequisites: Craft 3
Effect: You do not need to spend any dice on Creation components for spells.
MICRO-MOVEMENTS (4)
Effect: When casting or manipulating an active spell, you need one less hand to do so. This means you do not need any free hands to cast a spell regularly, and can get a +1 Glance by using one hand, however, you cannot get +2 glances by using two hands)
MIMIC (6) Prerequisites: Perform 2
Effect: You may cast any spell you have seen cast within the last 5 minutes even if you do not have the required arcana. You spend 1 plus the mount of Mana as was spent by the caster who showed you the spell. This merit does not work on spells that took longer than 5 minutes to cast.
MONSTER (7)
Effect: By eating the majority of an organ of another creature, you can gain advantages and possibly powers possessed by that creature. However, your appearance and personality take on subtle traits similar to the creature. You continue to have these changes until you use this ability again, in which the traits and advantages of the newest creature overwrite those of the old one.
REFLEX CASTER (Metamagic) (4)
Effect: You may use the following metaspell component when creating a spell:
DC: 1 Hit | Mana Cost 1 | Cast a spell as an immediate reaction to another action, before the result of the originating action is rolled.
REVIVE (6) Prerequisites: Research 3 & a Minimum of 2 Fortune
Effect: Spend 2 Fortune to instantly revive any character that has died within the last minute. The character is conscious with 1 aggravated box healed to severe but no longer needs to roll to resist bleeding out.
SHADOW JUMP (8) Prerequisites: Sneak 3
Effect: When you are immersed by a dark shadow you may silently teleport to any shadow you can see. This can be done on top of another action.
SIPHON MAGIC (6) Prerequisites: Dexterity 2
Effect: Recover 1 Mana whenever you successfully end/nullify an active spell or magical effect that was not your own. The best ways to nullify magic are to break a caster’s concentration or to break the source of a spell, though direct counters are possible.
SPELL BOOMER (5)
Effect: You may increase the area component of any spell to the next highest area component at no additional cost.
SPELLSLINGER (6)
Effect: The Quicken Spell Metaspell component cost 1 Glance instead of 1 Hit and a Glance, and you can choose to spend 1 Stress or Fortune instead of 1 Mana.
SPELL SNIPER (5)
Effect: You may increase the range component of any spell to the next highest range component at no additional DC.
SPELL STEAL(7) Prerequisites: Dexterity 3
Effect: As an action you may spend 1 Mana to steal control of any concentration spell; concentrating on it yourself now.
STEALTH CASTER (5) Prerequisites: Sneak 2
Effect: Spell casting does not cause any audible or visual effect other than that intended by the spell or as a result of a spell splicing.
TELL TALE LIE (6) Prerequisites: Perform 3
Effect: Individuals with an Intelligence and Resolve lower than 1 automatically take what you say as truth, or at least as trustworthy. This effect spreads through any recording or broadcasting of your words.
TINY RUNES (3)
Effect: Stored spells create runes which can be made small enough to fit onto a match stick.
TRIGGER HAPPY (5)
Effect: The “Trigger” metaspell component is free instead of costing 1 glance.
UMBRA GEAR (4) Prerequisites: Sneak 2
Effect: By spending 1 Mana, you may coalesce the wisps of shadows into any simple, quasi-real, tangible item. Doing so takes 5 seconds of focused concentration. Umbral Gear last for 10 minutes.
You may also now use Sneak experience to buy a Crafting specialty in Umbral Gear. If you do so, Umbral Gear may last up to an hour and you can spend 10 minutes to create it instead of spending Mana. If you have a Crafting level above 2, you may use Umbral Gear to create complex mechanisms as well.
VAGUELY GRAND (2)
Effect: Once between rests, when casting a spell you may add 3d6 to your roll, but the GM gets to choose how those 3 dice are allocated.
Miscellaneous
AN ACCIDENT (5) Prerequisites: Perform 1
Effect: You may spend 1 Fortune to make any recent incident seem like an accident or misunderstanding to bystanders.
BLACKMAIL (4) Prerequisites: Contact 2 | Minimum of 1 Fortune
Effect: You may spend 1 Fortune to learn where and when to find blackmail on a target, if they have anything worth hiding.
CHEATER’S DICE (4) Prerequisites: Dexterity 3
Effect: At the beginning of a game roll 3d6. You may use each of these dice once to replace any of the d6s you roll during the game.
COMPANION, SMALL (3)
Effect: You have a small size, normal animal companion which can obey your commands. The companion has its own personality and acts individually from the character. All animal companions act on their own initiative but have a mental link to their owner that allow them to understand their owner’s wishes. If the companion would die, it instead disappears and the owner loses 2 points of stress. When the owner rests, they can spend 1 mana which will not recover during that rest to resummon the companion with one empty health box.
The companion has one attribute as -2, and one as +1, while the rest are 0. The has only 1 health box and stress box. They deal only 1|2 point(s) of damage when attacking. Finally the companion gets two level 2 specialties.
COMPANION, MEDIUM (1) Prerequisites: SMALL COMPANION
Effect: Your animal companion may now be of medium size. If you currently have an animal companion that does not the Fantastical type, then you must replace it with a new animal. If it does have the fantastical type, then it grows to the smallest size necessary to be considered medium size (4).
The companion gets 1 point to increase any attribute, has a base of 4 health boxes, and can deal 1 | 3 point(s) of damage with an attack.
COMPANION, LARGE (3) Prerequisites: MEDIUM COMPANION
Effect: Your animal companion may now be of large size. If you currently have an animal companion that does not the Fantastical type, then you must replace it with a new animal (creating it from small to medium, to large). If it does have the fantastical type, then it grows to the smallest size necessary to still be considered large size (7).
The companion gets 2 points to increase any attribute, with the max of any attribute set to 3. The companion has a base health of 8 and can deal 2 | 5 points of damage with each attack.
COMPANION, FANTASTICAL (2) Prerequisites: ANIMAL COMPANION
Effect: Choose 1 option. Options A and B and C may only be selected once.
A) With GM approval, your companion gains 1 supernatural ability that only affects itself. This effect can be compared to any spell that requires 2 Hits or fewer. Greater effects may be considered if they have strict limitations or if the companion gains a supernatural weakness as well. The companion also gains +1 to any specialty.
This effect can be used to make your companion into a rank 3 spirit with a base of 14 Essence, + 4 Essence if medium sized, and +10 Essence if large sized. The spirit’s skills become influences and you may decrease the spirit’s essence to add powers as described in the Ephemeral Experiences section.
B) The companion may gain armor based on its size. Small: 1 Armor | Medium: 2 Armor | Large: 3 Armor
C) The companion increases one attribute by 1 and gains one level 3 specialty and may put 2 additional specialty levels anywhere (as long as no specialty passes level 4).
D) The companion may increase it’s physical health, mental health, or essence by 4.
E) The companion gains 3 damage points (spent as normal for NPC creation)
CONTACT (2) Prerequisites: GM Approval
Effect: Create an NPC that knows personally knows and is friendly towards your PC.
COPY CAT (3) Prerequisites: Perform 2 or Contact 2
Effect: When attempting to make a skill check that you have seen another person make within the last 10 seconds, add 1 die to your roll.
FAKE NEWS (4) Prerequisites: Intelligence less than 0 , Perform 1
Effect: Gain a +1 bonus when discrediting information based on facts, science, or research.
FAVORED TERRAIN (2) Prerequisites: Survival 1
Effect: Choose a terrain, such as a dessert, tundra, grassland, or urban environment and gain it as a specialty. Gain the following bonuses when in that environment:
Camouflage: While in your favored terrain you gain +1 to Sneak checks when not moving.
Familiarity: Gain a +1 on social checks when interacting with creatures from your favored terrain.
Trackless: You leave no tracks while in your favored terrain.
FLUFFED RESOURCES (Target Income – Campaign Base Income) Prerequisites: Contact equal to or above Target Resource Value
Effect: Set your resources level to a higher value. Resources are described here.
HEARTY (1) Prerequisites: Physique 0
Effect: Your character gains 1 additional health box. This merit can be purchased multiple times, but each additional purchase increases the prerequisite and merit value by 1.
HUGE (3) Prerequisites: Character Creation Only
Effect: Your character gains 1 size (to 6) and +1 to speed. This may give situational bonuses and penalties.
IMMORTALITY (7) Prerequisites: GM Approval
Effect: Your character has physical phylactery that can be used to repeatedly resurrect them. The phylactery can be a physical item, an animal companion, or an NPC. To resurrect the PC a living character needs to perform a 4 hour ritual with both the phylactery and the PC spirit present. After the ritual the PC is revived with half of their health boxes fully healed (lowest damage removed first).
Note: The player and GM should agree on the type of ritual, which can be thought of as a repeatable side quest. Keeping the phylactery near the PC instead of hidden away will allow for it to be more involved in the story without detracting from ongoing events.
INSPIRING (5) Prerequisites: Negotiate, Contact, or Perform 3
Effect: Gain 3 d6 motivation die. As an action you may give one of these die to an ally. Motivation die can be used to provide a bonus to any non-spell related roll. Only 1 motivation die can be used on a roll at a time. Motivation die expire when used or after 30 minutes. You regain all motivation die after resting.
LUCKY BASTARD (4)
Effect: You gain 2 luck points per day that can be used to reroll any die that affects you. You must expend 1 point to force a die to be rerolled. If you run out of points then the GM gets 2 unlucky points he/she can use to reroll any dice that affects you. (Your luck has run out). While your luck points may never exceed 2, the GM may accumulate any number of unlucky points across multiple days.
MASTER CRAFTSMAN (4) Prerequisites: Craft 3
Effect: When someone uses an item you created from scratch, it provides a +1 bonus to their roll.
META KNOWLEDGE (3) Prerequisites: Investigate 2
Effect: When you succeed on an investigate check you may spend 1 Fortune to ask the GM a question about the stats and other information that might be on a character sheet for the target. This doesn’t give you a historical background, but can give you knowledge of their current capabilities and general personality.
MULTITASKING (4) Prerequisites: Contact 3
Effect: You may maintain two aspects at once, instead of just 1.
NEW TERRAIN (2) Prerequisites: Survival 2
Effect: When entering a region for the first time you may ask the GM 3 questions regarding how best to survive in the area, including what areas seem dangerous or helpful. The GM does not have to go into detail, but must answer honestly.
OBFUSCATE (4)
Effect: You may spend 1 Fortune to make any story currently being told unintelligible and too confusing to understand.
PACK MULE (4) Prerequisites: Brute Force 2
Effect: You are able to carry more gear without arousing suspicion. Increase your loadout by 2. (light: 5, normal 7, heavy, 9)
READ LIPS (2) Prerequisites: Perception 1
Effect: You are able to read the lips of creatures who are speaking a language you know.
SMALL (1) Prerequisites: Only available at Character Creation
Effect: Your character size and speed is reduced by 1. However, your character gains +1 to Maneuver and Sneak Skill Checks in small spaces. This may give situational bonuses and penalties.
SPREADING INCEPTION (8) Prerequisites: Negotiate 3
Effect: When you make a share an idea with another you may spend 1 Mana to have the target believe the idea was their own (Intelligence Ability Check vs DC 2). If you invest the Mana instead, anyone the target shares the idea with must also resist or otherwise believe they had the same idea. The Mana can be recovered at will, but doing so stops the idea from spreading further. If the target partially succeeds then they realize the idea is not their own after a few minutes (~10).
STAGE SENSORY (5) Prerequisites: Perform 3
Effect: When putting on a performance you may spend 1 to 5 Mana to completely veil or alter one to all of the 5 senses of your audience (1 Mana per sense). The veiled or new sensory input appears as part of the performance. Audience members must succeed on a DC 3 Resolve Ability Check if they wish regain their sense during the performance. This only affects those in the audience, and does not affect people who leave the audience and are no longer able to sense the performance. A partial success to resist regains half the number of senses rather than all.
STRONG WILLED (1) Prerequisites: Resolve 0
Effect: Your character gains 1 additional stress box. This merit can be purchased multiple times, but each additional purchase increases the prerequisite and merit value by 1.
STUBBORN MIND (3) Prerequisites: Resolve 1
Effect: You gain a +1 on ability checks against effects which would force you to change your mind.
TEMPORARY BANDAGES (1) Prerequisites: Craft 1
Effect: When making a successful craft check to heal a non-aggravated wound, you can spend 1 Mana or Fortune per damage to temporarily heal it completely. After an hour, the wounds reopen, undoing the healing.
THICK SKIN (4)
Effect: You have a natural armor of 1
TWITCHY (4)
Effect: You gain a +1 on ability checks reacting to surprises.
VOICE MIMIC (5) Prerequisites: Investigate 2
Effect: After hearing someone talk for at least 1 minute, you are able to mimic the general sound of their voice and their dialect.