You have a deep-seated faith in and love for God, or whatever name you choose to call the Almighty. You begin the game with one point of True Faith (see the sidebar on p. 372); this Trait adds one die per point to all Willpower and Virtue rolls. You must have a Humanity of 9 or higher to choose this Merit, and if you lose even a single point, all your Faith points are lost and may be regained only when the lost Humanity is recovered. Individuals with True Faith are capable of performing magical acts akin to miracles, but the exact nature of those acts are up to the Storyteller.
You have a close friend in one of the Kindred sects. Perhaps you are a warrior who is in touch with one of the antitribu, a vizier who shares common business interests with some Camarilla Ventrue, or a sorcerer who corresponds with one of the rare blood magicians of the Anarch Movement. Your ally can help you navigate the currents of their sect, but they might want something in exchange from time to time.
might and magic 7 for blood and honor crack
Like a lizard, you are able to actually shed parts of your body. By spending a blood point and a little effort, you can detach a hand or foot, or even an arm or leg. This might be to escape bonds or a grapple. Unfortunately, the appendage will not reattach, and you will have to regrow that over time (usually a couple of days for a hand or foot, and a week for a limb). You also suffer a -3 dice pool penalty to actions that would require the use of more limbs.
While you are part of the Sabbat and a traitor to House and Clan Tremere, somehow you remain unmarked by the antitribu curse. You are not easily recognized as a renegade Tremere, and the magic that burned so many of your brethren cannot target you. Further, other Sabbat members cannot judge you at a glance. Those of the Telyavelic bloodline can purchase this Merit at 2 points, while other Tremere pay 5 points.
Inducted by a true Salubri Warrior, rather than a mere member of the bloodline, the young Cyclops possesses supernatural might far in excess of what she might otherwise wield. She is allowed to purchase and use the Discipline power Song of the Blooded at normal cost (45 experience points), irrespective of Generation. No other Valeren Discipline power may be purchased unless the Salubri otherwise qualifies for it. Additionally, her Status is accounted as two higher when interacting with other Salubri.
Vampires naturally resent mortals known to possess this blessing and may well seek their destruction. Ghouls or revenants with this Merit may expect a similar reaction, since blood does not have any impact on Poisonous Blood. Other times, a scheming vampire might capture the character and use her as bait to physically harm a rival or enemy. This Merit is also recommended for independent ghouls or revenants who wish to remain free from vampiric influence.
At this point, Ariel arrives, dragging behind him a frantic Alonso, Gonzalo, Sebastian, and Antonio, with their attendant lords Adrian and Francisco. They all stand in Prospero's magic circle, charmed, as Prospero addresses each of them. He speaks to Gonzalo first, and tears up as he thanks him for being his "true preserver" and remaining so loyal to whomever he serves. Prospero then chides King Alonso for treating him and Miranda so poorly, and says Sebastian, too, suffers for wronging them. Finally, Prospero comes to his terrible brother Antonio. Prospero reveals that Antonio plotted with Sebastian to murder the King, but forgives them all. Prospero then notes that the group may not recognize him (which is kind of a bummer, as they don't know how gracious he's being, given how bad they were to him). Prospero then asks Ariel to bring his hat and sword, so they might know that the man before them is the old, genuine Duke of Milan.
It is the nature of the magic. A broken soul has cracks into which something else can be fit. Surgebindings, the powers of creation themselves. They can brace a broken soul; but they can also widen its fissures.
The Windrunner, lost in a shattered land, balanced upon the boundary between vengeance and honor. The Lightweaver, slowly being consumed by her past, searching for the lie that she must become. The Bondsmith, born in blood and death, striving to rebuild what was destroyed. The Explorer, straddling the fates of two peoples, forced to choose between slow death and a terrible betrayal of all she believes.
Your mage has some personal ethic or code of honor, above and beyond the teachings of Tradition, by which she lives. This code guides her actions, promotes higher standards and gives a clear ethical path. Your mage's belief in and struggle to uphold this code grants you two additional dice to all Willpower rolls when he acts in accordance with this code or when resisting some compulsion that might force him to violate the code. You should work with the Storyteller to describe and flesh out the code. Note that if your mage does not uphold the code and ponder its impact on his lifestyle regularly, this merit may be revoked.
This power does not come without cost, however. Your mage must continue to feed on vampire blood occasionally. Otherwise, she regains her mortality and craves forever the sweet rush of her former mistress's essence. Should she revert (after going a month or more without the sacred vitae,) she loses her supernatural might (and Disciplines) forever. (Unless she is Embraced as a vampire, in which case she gets them back at the cost of her life and Avatar.) Note also that imbibing the cursed blood of the brood of Caine has all sorts of detrimental effects! A mage gains a dot each in Static and Entropic Resonance immediately the first time she becomes a ghoul. The unaging curse causes the mage to have difficulty with Seekings. This penalty comes on at the Storyteller's discretion, but in general, the mage has a tendency to fail in Seekings due to her own static nature and the foibles of the Curse.
However, this invulnerability is only to the particular thing, not to any secondary or tertiary effects - Fenris may have blessed your character so that he is unscathed by the teeth and claws of wolves, even werewolves, but that does nothing to stop the silver sword or even the damage when the werewolf pounds your mage's head into a wall. (Fenris, after all, said you'd be unharmed by wolves, not by architecture.) Likewise, even if metal doesn't exist for your mage, it does for his lab coat, and a bullet's going to pack quite a wallop before it shreds the cloth. And even if the faeries at your christening said that no mortal man could ever harm you, that proviso doesn't apply to vampires, or the magics that mortal man might command, or even - for that matter - to his 1957 Chevy Bel Aire.
Your mage is a natural conduit to the Underworld. Although this Merit does not reduce the difficulty of working Spirit magic, it does mean that your character can hear ghosts naturally. The mage might not see wraiths without the right magic, but they do tend to hang out, talk, bug the character and ask him to do things. This talent can be helpful in some cases; wraiths are eager to talk to those who can hear them. However, they often make demands, and they can be difficult to banish if the mage doesn't have enough power with Spirit.
Your character has a natural ability to perform some small, pretty or useful bit of magic at will. This trick is nothing that can cause much damage, or even serious annoyance; it's just enough to perform some small basic task or give your mage a little flair. Your mage might be adept at the old wizard's trick of conjuring an orb of witchlight to hand or a flame to her finger. She might be a cyborg who had the bright idea of installing a light bulb or pilot light in her head for the same purpose. If your mage uses a magical sense like night-vision often, you might have the added perk that he can make his eyes glow like a vampire's, allowing him to see even in total darkness. If your character is of the scientific bent, he may be able to emit enough x-rays to use with his x-ray vision, or he could have a laser pointer installed in his index finger just for fun. You don't have to roll or spend anything to make this parlor trick work.
By some quirk of fate, your mage is related to a werewolf, -cat, -raven, -bear or perhaps even one of the more mysterious breeds. The changing blood has not stirred in him - at least not in the traditional way - but it has left its mark. He's immune to the Delirium (the madness that claims those who see a werebeast's half-human form,) and he has friends among whichever breed he's related to. Having this Merit doesn't mean that he knows their secrets or that he can wander around their sacred sites without retribution, but he has a certain edge that no normal mortal can match. If your character is a Sorcerer, you might be able to learn a few spirit Gifts, and an Awakened mage can use these inherent magical powers as well without threat of Paradox. However, he can never have Gnosis, the innate connection to the spirit world that all shifters share.
Either version of this Merit is quite rare, and a whole cabal might be built around the power of one individual to travel across the Gauntlet unhindered. There's no apparent pattern to who manifests this boon - some mages who've never studied Spirit magic before suddenly discover this talent when dragged across the Umbra, while other Masters of Spirit still can't simulate it.
The downside of this Merit is that your blood is particularly rich in life force, meaning vampires gain twice the normal amount of blood points when drinking from you. This might make you a target of bloodsuckers and similar life-draining creatures.
From time to time your character might be able to perform miracles fueled with faith; the exact details of such inherent magic are up to the Storyteller. Performing such tasks may exhaust the individual's faith for a time until it can be reaffirmed, in effect lowering the Faith rating. Miracles of this sort do not garner Paradox, and they seem to stem from some unknown force. Perhaps there is a benevolent power that watches over the universe. 2ff7e9595c
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