Malkavian Merits & Flaws


Immaculate Aura: 1 pt Merit
Whether because of your iron control or small fluke of chance, your aura does not give away your insanity. The aura doesn't shift or swirl at all, even when you're confused, frenzied or in a psychotic fit.

… Benevolent Blood: 1 pt Merit
Your blood still carries the Curse of Malkav, but its effects have been lessened just a little bit. Any ghouls you create suffer none of the usual derangeing side effects of drinkig Malkavian blood - they can be loaded to the gills with your blood and not come one step nearer to gaining a derangement. (They might still be driven insane by life with you, though, depending on how demanding your reality is.) Of course, any childer you Embrace will still gain a derangement after the Embrace as usual - although your vitae is easily diluted by mortal blood, the pure stuff carries the Curse as one would expect.

Deadened Nerves: 4 pt Merit
Whether it was a condition you held in life or an odd side effect of the Embrace, your nervous system is missing a few connections. You have very little tactile sense, whether pleasure or pain. The downside of thie is obvious: One of your sense is greatly impaired, which can keep you from noticing important warnings (a blade at your back, for instance - or int it). You suffer a +3 difficulty to all tactile-related Perceptions rolls, and the Storyteller may call for a roll to notice even the blatantly obvious; you might not even notice that you've been shot if the bullet doesnt knock you down outright.
However, your deadened nerves also protect you from pain, allowing you to ignore your wounds until your flesh is literally blasted from your bones. All penalties for wound levels are halved, rounding down; in orther words, you suffer no penalties until you reach the Wounded level, where you deduct only one die from your dice pools, and even when Crippled you can still act at a mere two-die penalty.
If the Storyteller is willing, it might be particularly rewarding for the Storyteller to keep track of the character's health levels, and not let the player know exactly how badly his character has been wounded. Even if the Malkavian stops to give herself a quick look-over, the Storyteller puts things in the most general terms (i.e., "There's a number of holes in your chest, but you have no idea whether the bullets are lodged inside or not," "Your left arm refuses to move, although you're not sure why," and so on). This is a fair amount of extra work on the Storyteller's behalf (particularly if in the interest of secrecy, the Storyteller makes all Malkavian's soak rolls in secret), but can add a lot of tension and verisimilitude to the game.

… Disembodied Mentor: 5 pt Merit
The voices in your head mall tell you things, but by God, they're useful things. You have a personal guide and advisor (bought as usual through the Background: Mentor) who exists largely in your own skull. He may have been a Malkavian who uploaded himself into the Network, or perhaps he's an imaginary construct with access to the shared memories of the clan. Either way, it's exceedingly hard for your enemies to cut you off from your mentor's counsel, and it's usually pretty easy to call on his advice when you need it. Unfortunately, this Merit also has its drawbacks; your mentor can find you wherever he chooses, and can be a real distraction when you're trying to do something he finds irrelevant. You're not freed from the obligations of your relationshit, either; you find yourself running errands for your mentor just as often as any other pupil, if not more so.

… Sympathetic Bond: 5 pt Merit
For whatever reason, you unconsciously cause a peculiar supernatural form of feedback through the links of the blood bond. Although you're not immune to being blood bound (and cannot take the Merit: Unbondable), if you do become bound to someone , your regnant also becomes blood bound to you to and equal extent. Even if she was already blood bound to another, she now has the unenviable position of being regnant to two vampires at once. This can obviously lead to some unplanned and quite twisted codependent relationships.

… Stigmata: 2-4 pt Flaw
You constantly seep blood from your phantom wounds; even through your flesh remains unbroken, you bleed. The bleeding is fairly slight, but is incessant, costing you an extra blood point each evening (marked off just before dawn). If you bleed from visible locations (such as the palms, a common place for stigmata0, you are at +1 difficulty to all Social rolls, although certain vampires will probably take your reputation as a seer more seriously.
The 4 - point version of this Flaw indicates that you bleed from your eyesockets; this obviously makes it almost impossible to travel within human society unveiled, and very much disturbs other Cainites. (the difficulty of all Social rolls is increased by +2 rather than +1). In addition, the constant bleeding interferes with your vision, adding one to the difficulty of all visual Perception rolls.

… Infectious: 3 pt Flaw
Your bite transmits the madness of your clan. Whenever you feed from a mortal, the power of the Kiss holds them in place as normal. However, your mortal prey gains a temporary derangement for every three blood points you take from them; the madness lasts for a week or so. Malkavians with this Flaw are often the ones you hear about infesting asylums; it's the most low-key place for them to feed.

Compulsive Counter: 2 pt mental flaw
If you see collections of small, identical objects (such as a scattered handful of rice or marbles), you feel compelled to pick them up and count them. You can resist the obsession if you make a successful Willpower roll. The difficulty depends on how much you must count: a scattered handful of rice (hundreds of grains) gives a difficulty of only 6, but a handful of marbles (only a dozen or so) would force a difficulty of 9.

Feeding Fetish: 1 pt mental flaw
You feel compelled to bite only a specific part of the body to feed. Attemptive to bite a victim anywhere else forces a willpower check (diff 6). The neck, or course, is most traditional, but other options include: the ankles, the wrist, the back of the knee...etc

Power Fetish: 3 pt supernatural flaw
You believe that much of your supernatural power depends on carrying a specific object. Without that unique object, you must succeed at a Willpower check (diff 8) to activate any discipline power.