Mage Merits

Note: Some Merit descriptions are summaries of the power. Please check the source book for full details on how the merit functions. Anything listed as Supernatural category is only eligible for M+/Super. Anything marked with 'Restricted' means that it requires prior approval from your sphere's staff lead. If a sphere-specific version exists, it takes precedence over the general version.

Table of Contents

Berserker/Stress Atavism

Category: Mental | Points: 4 | Source: M20 p. 644

• Description: Folks don't like you when you're angry. In combat, you become a veritable monster, destroying everything and everyone in sight. In certain ways, this is a blessing, in others, a curse – for although your dedication to slaughter has undeniable benefits, it's also a distinct liability... especially if you belong to a group that prizes discipline rather than brutality. As both a Merit and a Flaw, this Trait has the same effects: under intense stress (combat, injury, disgrace, the death or crippling of a comrade, and so forth), the red haze kicks in. A failed Willpower roll (difficulty 8) leads to a berserk rampage. Your character gains three temporary Bruised health levels, ignores wound penalties, and adds two dice to her Strength and one die to her Stamina until every enemy within easy reach or sight is dead or incapacitated. That's the good part; the bad part is that everyone becomes your enemy. Allies, enemies, and bystanders alike all look like targets until the blood-trance fades. Magick and strategic thinking become impossible, and your character uses every weapon in her hands for maximum carnage. Unless someone knocks her unconscious, incapacitates or kills her, or simply leaves her alone for several minutes (during which time she destroys everything within reach), she remains stuck in kill mode.

Umbral Affinity

Category: Supernatural | Points: 4 | Source: M20 p. 644

• Description: Something in your background grants you an innate affinity for the Otherworlds. Perhaps you have some distant relation to shapeshifter blood, or a Pagan heritage that links you to the oldest of Old Ways. Whatever the source might be, you can travel further and longer in the Otherworlds than most mortal humans can manage. Game-wise, your character suffers no ill effects from first and second-degree Acclimation (see Chapter Nine, pp. 482-483), and all other stages affect her at one stage less than usual. Beyond that, the character does not need to worry about Disembodiment until six full moon-cycles (roughly six months) have passed. In general, the character feels at home in most strange Umbral Realms, and she might be recognized as a natural traveler who has an innate right to be there.

Time Sense

Category: Mental | Points: 1 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 44

• Description: You've got an intuitive sense of what time it is in your vicinity. Much like the Rank 1 Time Effect, but without the ability to spot ripples in the time stream, this Merit provides a sort of internal clock that helps you gauge the time of day and the passing of time even when you don't have access to windows, clocks, or other information about time. This Merit does not grant bonuses or decrease difficulties for Time Sphere-based magick-casting rolls. It does, however, give one of the benefits of basic Time Sphere perceptions to characters who do not employ the Time Sphere.

Scientific Mystic/Techgnosi

Category: Mental | Points: 3 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 45

• Description: Certain unorthodox technomancers understand that "mysticism" is just another form of science whose principles may be understood by a properly Enlightened mind. Although you pursue a technological practice and employ tech-based instruments, you can employ instruments that are traditionally considered to be "magic" once you've had an opportunity to study them and fit those tools into your scientific paradigm. The Scientific Mystic Merit lets a dedicated technomancer – that is, a member of the Society of Ether, the Virtual Adepts, a tech-based "orphan," or perhaps even a rogue Technocrat like the Disparates of Navalon – study metaphysical principles from mystic-paradigm mages for no extra point-cost if that technomancer has the focus practice Weird Science.

Judge's Wisdom

Category: Mental | Points: 4 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 46

• Description: Through firm self-discipline, you have mastered your emotions to Vulcan perfection. No passion-based assault can rattle your judgment, and the base attacks of heart-twisting fiends have little hold on you. Rules-wise, you remain immune to Mind- or Life based Effects that influence emotions (as detailed in How Do You DO That?, pp. 60 and 120-122), and can shrug off the vampiric Discipline of Presence unless that bloodsucker has at least six dots in that Discipline. Emotion-based powers from werecreatures, faeries, and other such creatures cannot affect you, although you can still be possessed, mind-controlled, enchanted, and otherwise bent or broken so long as the assault is not based on wrangling an emotional response from your perfect serene command.

Favor

Category: Social | Points: 1-3 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 54

• Description: Also known as a Boon, this Merit means that somebody owes you, big-time. You scratched their back, and will eventually call in some scratching of your own in due time. Maybe you aided a Master-level mage... or helped a vampire prince... or did a solid for a wealthy Sleeper, a spirit, a faerie, or a ranking member of the Changing Breeds. Regardless of their identity, this party is more powerful than you are, and can get things done on your behalf that you could not get done yourself. The value of this Merit depends upon the value of that favor. Minor acts of benevolence cost one point, significant boons are worth two, and a life-debt is worth three.

Prestigious Mentor

Category: Social | Points: 1 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 54

• Description: Your Mentor (as in the Background Trait of that name) has a reputation that benefits you as well. When you're making social rolls to invoke your influential teacher, reduce the difficulty by -2. Of course, some folks will be somewhat less than impressed; for rolls that involve rivals or enemies of your mentor, add +2 to the difficulty unless that mentor scares the shit out of them... in which case, you had damned well better be able to live up to the fear his name invokes!

Prestige

Category: Social | Points: 2 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 56

• Description: Also known as Reputation, this Merit reveals you as an honored personage within your Tradition, Convention, Craft, or another sort of sect. Among your peers, you add three extra dice to all social rolls used to influence folks within that group. Story-wise, allies of your group will tend to like you, and rivals or enemies will tend to... not. When you first select this Merit, decide upon the source of this prestige. Perhaps you earned it through deeds before the chronicle began, or won the Merit in place of experience points.

Noted Messenger

Category: Social | Points: 3 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 58

• Description: A known emissary between groups, you're treated with a certain amount of deference and courtesy that other mages would not receive. Even enemies of your group won't try to kill you on general principle, though they might not be especially happy to see you. The things you have to say will be given a certain amount of weight, and your presence may open doors (literal or otherwise) that would remain shut for almost anybody else. That's the upside; the downside is that you need to behave yourself (and keep a tight leash on your companions) when you're on someone else's turf.

Rising Star

Category: Social | Points: 3 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 58

• Description: Within your group, you're an up-and-coming luminary. Your superiors favor you, your peers respect you, handfuls of haters despise you (of course!), and folks who pay attention to the group's activities have noticed your progress, and they approve. Many people within your group go out of their way to be your friend, and plum assignments keep coming your way. When dealing with members of your Tradition, Convention or whatever, subtract -1 from the difficulties of your social rolls, unless those rolls are meant to influence folks who want to see you fail. People are, of course, expecting great things from you, so don't let them down...

Burning Aura

Category: Supernatural | Points: 1 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 68

• Description: To those who can sense it, your aura burns with amazing brilliance and clarity. Even folks who can't actually perceive this bright corona of energy realize that you're "different." Entities that can read your aura react accordingly; some will treat you with uncommon respect, while others will view you as a nice meal. The nature of your aura cannot be hidden easily (+2 to the difficulty of any attempt to do so), and while this is a dreadful disadvantage for, say, a Nephandus, people who prize forthright integrity may reduce their difficulties by -2 when they're trying to make an impression that's in accord with that vivid aura and affecting characters who can sense it.

Green Thumb

Category: Supernatural | Points: 1 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 69

• Description: Plants flourish from your touch. Although they don't bloom and grow on contact (a wildly paranormal effect which was part of this Merit's original form), they do attain a healthy boost when you work with them. Reduce the difficulty of all non-Arete rolls by -2, and reduce the difficulty of Arete rolls by -1, when you work with plants, trees, and other forms of vegetation –algae, mold, fungus, seaweed, and the like. Story-wise, your aura pulsates with green vitality, plant matter grows fast and robust in your presence, and your Resonance and Synergy reflect a powerful connection to the green world.

Bardic Gift

Category: Supernatural | Points: 2 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 69

• Description: Blessed with uncanny inspiration, you create profoundly evocative artwork. Truth echoes through your words, blazes from your canvas, resonates in song, speaks silently in dance. Although artistic skill is, of course, important, this gift runs deeper than mere technique. Art is your passion, your spirit, your Truth. And that Truth manifests itself in whatever arts you pursue, up to and including the Magickal Arts. When making a roll with the Art Talent, reduce the difficulty by -2. Even when the attempt itself falls short of your expectations (that is, when you fail a roll), your creations feature an unmistakable gleam of brilliance and a preternatural expression of Truth.

Circumspect Avatar

Category: Supernatural | Points: 2 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 69

• Description: You've never seen your Avatar, and probably doubt that such a thing exists. Sure, you have a shadow, and a reflection, or maybe a little dog who's followed you around since you were a kid and seems no older even though he should have died of old age years ago, but an Avatar? Nah – that's a buncha New Age hippie crap! You have yet to encounter any such thing, you don't go on "seekings" or whatever they're called, and you get your metaphysical insights the same way any normal person does: through everyday events in the everyday world.

Unaging

Category: Supernatural | Points: 2 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 69

• Description: The years seem to pass you by. Time moves on, but you remain essentially the same physical age as you were when this Merit stopped your aging process. Maybe you discovered the Fountain of Youth, upgraded yourself to perpetual stability, assumed an odd relationship with the time stream, or entered an uncanny bargain that preserved your current age. And so, although you continue to accumulate the scars, experience, and perspective of age, your body maintains a consistent state of chronological development. Note that this is not the same thing as immortality – injuries and sickness can kill you just as surely as they'll kill any other person. Age-based decrepitude, however, is not something you'll have to worry about.

Celestial Affinity

Category: Supernatural | Points: 3 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 70

• Description: You get along especially well with a certain type of spirit entity. Depending upon your practice, you might relate well with nature spirits, High Umbral Courtiers, Digital Web entities, the Restless Dead, the Loa, angelic or demonic beings, and so forth. When you're dealing with entities within a single selected category, you reduce the difficulty of your summoning and negotiation rolls by -2. (See the section that deals with Summoning, Binding, Bargaining, and Warding in How Do You DO That?, pp. 90-95.) This bonus does not apply to attempts to bind or ward against such beings, as it's based upon goodwill, not force.

Cloak of the Seasons

Category: Supernatural | Points: 3 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 70

• Description: Adverse weather does not bother you. Regardless of your clothing or lack thereof, you're essentially immune to the effects of exposure to harsh climates, as described in Mage 20, p. 435. You still need to eat, drink, and breathe – this Merit won't save you from starvation or suffocation – and climate-based obstacles (fog, high winds, snowdrifts, ice, etc.) hinder you as badly as they'll hinder anybody else. Aside from outright attacks by the elements, however, you remain untouched by extremes of temperature and climate. You might not always be comfortable, but you'll survive.

Cyclic Magick

Category: Supernatural | Points: 3 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 70

• Description: The strength or weakness of your Arts is tied to some periodic cycle – the phases of the moon, night or day, your menstrual periods, the rise and fall of the stock market, and so forth. At the peak of your cycle, your magick flows most easily; at its nadir, you find it challenging to work with your magick at all. System-wise, this Trait is both a Merit and a Flaw, granting bonuses at one point in the cycle and penalties on its opposite point. At the highest point, you reduce your casting difficulties by -3 for one hour, while at the lowest point you increase them by +3 for one hour.

Hands of Daedalus

Category: Supernatural | Points: 3 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 71

• Description: You've got an innate gift for crafting machines and technology. Such devices seem to come to life in your hands, fitting easily into place and functioning with incredible precision once you've worked with 'em. Although this gift does not extend to the ins and outs of software technology, you can work on computer hardware (assuming that you know what you're doing) as naturally as you can tune a '58 Ford. From a systems standpoint, any rolls you make to craft, repair, invent, or otherwise modify mechanical technologies are at -2 difficulty when you've got the opportunity to put those Hands of Daedalus to work.

Manifest Avatar

Category: Supernatural | Points: 3 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 71

• Description: For most mages, the Avatar remains a mysterious figure, goading them from the sidelines and appearing primarily within a Seeking or during other moments of intense stress. For you, however, the Avatar is a vibrant presence in your life, as real to you as anyone else. Essentially a character in its own right, this manifested Avatar interacts with you on an almost daily basis. In certain situations, it might interact with other people, as manifestly real as any other person in your world.

Mark of Favor

Category: Supernatural | Points: 3 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 71

• Description: A godlike entity has claimed you as its own, and has stamped your features with evidence of that claim. You might have the bushy red hair and sly eyes of Reynard the Fox, the hearty temper and brawny build of Thor, the compassionate fury of the Christ in your eyes, or Legba's lame leg and penchant for corncob pipes and tobacco. Folks who understand the lore of your associated god-form recognize this Mark of Favor, and even those who don't know who you're marked by realize that there's something special about you.

Natural Channel

Category: Supernatural | Points: 3 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 72

• Description: You've got an innate affinity with the Otherworlds. Sliding through from the mortal realm to the Three Worlds is easier for you than it is for other Awakened folk. System-wise, you subtract -2 from the difficulty of your rolls to penetrate the Gauntlet. Story-wise, crossing over feels, to you, like a primal sort of homecoming, as if you exist between worlds on an elemental level.

Natural Shapeshifter

Category: Supernatural | Points: 3 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 72

• Description: Guided by an innate affinity for metamorphosis, you can change your shape more easily than most mages do. Such changes still demand the usual Life Sphere Ranks and Effects, but your difficulty for such rolls is reduced by -2 (the usual limits apply), and you don't need to worry about losing yourself in the new form, as described in How Do You DO That?, p. 20. Such talents don't necessarily link you to the Night-Folk, although this Merit fits in well with Fae Blood or Shapechanger Kin (and the Mental Flaw: Feral Mind, as well; see p. 52). The gift does not, however, affect your ability to change other people's shapes in any way. Such talent works for you alone.

Oracular Ability

Category: Supernatural | Points: 3 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 72

• Description: Everything, to you, has a richer significance than it might otherwise appear. The flight of birds, the fall of cards, the patterns of sand after a wave, a spatter of sacrificial blood... in your eyes, they're all clues to the Universal Mystery. You're good at deciphering such clues, and so while many enigmas remain unanswered, you often spot insights that other people – even mages – fail to see.

Parlor Trick

Category: Supernatural | Points: 3 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 73

• Description: You've honed a special trick – a simple, specific, non-combat application of your Arts – which you can perform without making a casting roll. Such tricks include things like conjuring a business card, stirring a pot without touching the spoon (or the pot), igniting your cigarette without lighters or a match, producing a small amount of light without mechanical contrivance, changing your hair color with a shake of your head, and so on. To a Sleeper, these tricks look like something a normal person could do with a mysterious bit of skill. You, of course, realize that the skill in question is not quite what they think it is.

Spirit Magnet Merit

Category: Supernatural | Points: 3-7 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 73

• Description: Ephemeral entities flock to your presence. The essence of who you are – benign or malignant – draws spirits to you, and they, in turn, affect the essence of who you are. For the most part, these entities cluster around you in the Penumbra, invisible to mortal perceptions; whenever you cross the Gauntlet, though (either with your perceptions or with your body), they're waiting for you there. Spirits that can manifest physical forms may come across the Gauntlet to visit you, and those that cannot take on physical bodies still energize the spiritual atmosphere in your vicinity.

Spirit Mentor

Category: Supernatural | Points: 3 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 74

• Description: A ghost, Loa, or other ephemeral entity has taken a special interest in you. As an expression of favor, this entity teaches you things few mortals ever have the opportunity to learn. Although those lessons do not include Sphere-based magick, you could learn insights that help you to expand your knowledge and better understand the nature of Reality. (See Raising or Learning Spheres in Mage 20, p. 337.) More often, though, this entity tells you secrets, offers you enigmas, and helps you work through situations that would leave most mortals scratching their heads or crying in corners.

Deathwalker

Category: Supernatural | Points: 4 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 74

• Description: The Underworld welcomes you. While most Umbral travelers are more or less barred from the Shadowlands and Low Umbra unless they possess special magicks (or have died), you can step sideways into the Dead Lands with a simple application of Spirit 3. When you do so, your aura assumes the pale tone of death, and you become essentially indistinguishable from a ghost unless some knowledgeable entity makes a successful Perception + Occult roll (difficulty 7) to see you for what you really are.

Fae Blood

Category: Supernatural | Points: 4 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 74

• Description: Your veins pulse with the enigmatic blood of the fae. Although not a full changeling, you possess a distant tie to the Dreaming by way of your strange heritage. In Changeling: The Dreaming terms, you're kinain: a mortal human related to their kind. Your Banality rating is low (no higher than 4, and often lower than that), and you remain permanently enchanted in the sense that you perceive, and are affected by, the changeling world. As a default member of that eldritch fellowship, you also tend to get swept up in their odd intrigues, and know an uncomfortable amount about their hidden world.

Shapechanger Kin

Category: Supernatural | Points: 4 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 74

• Description: Through a distant but noticeable quirk of lineage, you share a touch of the Changing Blood. In plain English, you're related to one of the were-breeds: werewolves, werecats, werecrows, and so forth. This gift does not grant you their powers or Gnosis, but you probably know a few secrets (in game terms, Lore Knowledge) about your kin. You remain immune to the primal-fear Delirium that affects most people in a werecreature's presence (not that mages suffer from it anyway); can travel in the Otherworlds longer than most mortals manage, without suffering the Disconnection and Acclimation side-effects of such travel (detailed in Mage 20, pp. 482-483); and possibly enjoy some goodwill from your feral family, so long as you haven't done anything to piss them off.

Twin Souls

Category: Supernatural | Points: 4 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 75

• Description: To you, the term soulmate is literally true. Your Avatar has a twin that has been embodied within another mortal body. That other person (typically a human being, but potentially an animal) shares your Nature and Essence, and possibly your Demeanor as well. Even so, your "twin" can be a very different person – different gender, different ethnicity, different culture, and again possibly even a "higher" animal like a wolf, bear, hawk, bison, and so forth. That person might live on the other side of the world, and may not even know that you exist. If soul-twins meet in person, though, both feel an unmistakable connection to one another.

Immortal

Category: Supernatural | Points: 5 or 7 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 76

• Description: Thanks to some uncanny gift, you age slowly (if at all) and are extremely hard to kill. This gift comes not from Sphere magick but from a metaphysical legacy or curse that transcends the fleeting nature of the flesh. You're not truly immortal, as death will probably claim you eventually; by normal standards, though, you exist outside of the usual range of human mortality.

Inner Knight

Category: Supernatural | Points: 5 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 77

• Description: In your heart of hearts, you're a hero. While your companions work toward their own selfish ends, you embody a higher purpose. This purpose guides you in uncanny ways that feel, at times, as if you're being moved by a force greater than yourself – a noble force, naturally, but one that transcends even your personal Enlightenment. In dreams, you see yourself as a Warrior of Reason, a Champion of Truth. A paladin. A genius. A knight of everything that is worth defending.

Legendary Attributes

Category: Supernatural | Points: 5 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 77

• Description: Gifted with the strength of Shango or the beauty of Lucifer, you may exceed the human capacity for one Attribute Trait. That Trait is not automatically higher than usual (you still need to spend points to raise the favored Attribute), but you may purchase up to six dots in a given Attribute for your character, exceeding the usual limit of five dots. Beyond that higher maximum, you also get one heroic capability that's linked to that Attribute.

Spark of Life

Category: Supernatural | Points: 5 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 78

• Description: Blessed with great vitality, you heal injuries with heroic speed and ease. Your own injuries from lethal damage heal as if they were bashing damage (see the Healing Damage chart in Mage 20, p. 406), and aggravated damage heals as if it were one level higher than it is. (Wounded-level damage, for instance, would heal at the Injured-level rate.) Bashing damage, regardless of its extent, heals within an hour.

Nine Lives

Category: Supernatural | Points: 6 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 79

• Description: Oh, you lucky bastard! Somehow, you manage to cheat the Reaper with hair-raising regularity. If a die roll would result in your character's death, the person who made that roll must roll again. If the second roll allows your character to live, then you and/or your Storyteller mark off one of your nine "lives" and your character survives the thing that would otherwise have killed her. If that roll fails, then one "life" gets marked off anyway and another roll is made.

Sphere Natural

Category: Supernatural | Points: 6 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 79

• Description: For a single element of magick – the Sphere of your choice – you enjoy an innate proficiency. The powers of that Sphere come to you more easily than usual, and you advance faster in that field of knowledge than you do in other Spheres. System-wise, you pay 70% of the usual experience cost, rounded up, when advancing in that Sphere. Naturally, such advancement costs even less when you're raising your Affinity Sphere.

Avatar Companion

Category: Supernatural | Points: 7 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 79

• Description: From lifetime to lifetime, you share a bit of your Avatar with a companion who follows you through incarnations, recalling more about their details than you do. Although he's not as powerful as you are, and lacks the metaphysical prowess of the Merits: Twin Soul this companion knows a great deal about your reincarnated self... quite a bit more about it than then you do. This loyal (if not always agreeable) character literally follows you for life, typically ending his life when you do; in the meantime, he provides insights, advice, information about previous lifetimes, and whatever other forms of aid he can possibly offer.

Dual Affiliation

Category: Supernatural | Points: 7 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 79

• Description: You've been initiated and trained in two different Awakened groups. Perhaps you were a Verbena who gravitated toward the Virtual Adepts, or a Man in Black who sought refuge among the Templars. Whatever your history and affiliations might be, you're intimately familiar with both groups, have connections (not necessarily friends) in both groups, and may use and understand the practices, tools and beliefs (in short, the focus) of either group. Rules-wise, your mage enjoys the benefits of each affiliation.

Nephilim/Laham

Category: Supernatural | Points: 7 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets p. 80

• Description: Long ago, it has been said, immortals walked the earth, siring offspring whose descendants still live among us now. The Hebrew Bible refers to them as nephilim, an ambiguous word that seems to be related to root words for "fallen," "prisoners," and "overseers." Later transliterations refer to them as giants, monsters, watchers, and the fallen (or violent) ones. Were they gods? Angels? Demons? Not even the Awakened know for sure; you, however, have a bit of High Umbral essence within you, and this nephilim inheritance – known sometimes by the demon-blooded name of laham – marks you as something more than merely human (Awakened or otherwise).

Shadow Appeal

Category: Supernatural | Points: 3 | Source: M20 Book of the Fallen p. 117

• Description: Every human animal has secrets even from himself. In time, those secrets form a repressed self — a shadow — that collects all the things that person doesn't want to recognize, either because they feel too awful to accept or too good to seem true. Thanks to their journeys through the shadow-side of existence, and the self-lacerating experiences they have in the process, many folks who've gone through the Cauls possess a frightening degree of insight about those shadows... and a fiendish gift for using those insights to their advantage.

Innocuous Aura

Category: Supernatural | Points: 5 | Source: M20 Book of the Fallen p. 117

• Description: Most Fallen mages have been marked by their travels through the Caul. One with this Merit has somehow escaped such deformations of the soul. Although she might alter her aura to conceal her true emotional state, she doesn't need to hide the flickers of Qlippothic essence in her aura because in her case they aren't there. This unearthly blessing makes her life a lot easier than it might be otherwise, and so Fallen Ones with the Merit make excellent deceivers, infiltrators, and double agents in places where Nephandi often cannot go.

Abyssal Mastery

Category: Supernatural | Points: 7 | Source: M20 Book of the Fallen p. 117

• Description: In space, no one can survive for long...according to science, anyway. Those who revere the Void, of course, have other ideas. Even so, the ability to endure the cold vacuum of deep space and the deeper Umbra demands a certain level of preternatural mastery. One does not simply step out of the airlock and let darkness take its course. Such survival requires deep affinity with the broken Qlippothic shells and the cold darkness which waits beyond them.

Saint of the Pit

Category: Supernatural | Points: 7 | Source: M20 Book of the Fallen p. 118 | Restricted

• Description: She has gone where few others of her kind have gone and survived to speak of it. So terrible is this master of infernal Realms that all but the most powerful malign entities defer to her commands. When she speaks, demons tremble and awful things obey. Even on the earthly plane, monsters know better than to mess with her. Often combined with other Traits like Echoes, Primal Marks and Infamy, this Merit reflects the kind of rep that makes devils step-to. This rare human monster has gathered such respect that even earth-bound creatures have heard her name.

Taint of Corruption

Category: Supernatural | Points: 7 | Source: M20 Book of Secrets, p. 96

• Description: Evil has an intimate hold on you. Your spirit has been corrupted – possibly since birth, as with the reborn Nephandi known as widderslainte – and you are, as the werewolves put it, "of the Wyrm" whether you wish to be or not. This doesn't necessarily mean you behave in an evil manner – you can choose to resist the evil inside you. On a metaphysical level, however, you bear an innate corruption which tests the ideal of Enlightened self-determination. You may, perhaps, defeat it, but it'll be a hard struggle before you do. HR: This is supernatural Flaw is a Merit for a Nephandus.