For every human ability, there are those who have a natural flair for it. Within your character’s specific Aptitude, reduce all difficulties by one. A natural linguist picks up languages easily, speaking without any trace of an accent, and a crack driver can perform phenomenal car tricks with ease. This Aptitude functions for one Ability.

Your mage has an exceptionally sharp natural sense, be it vision, taste, hearing or whatever. She can manage about twice the sensitivity of a human, which allows you to get a two point reduction on difficulty for all challenges with the appropriate sense.

Your mage has equal facility with either hand. You never suffer a penalty for your character’s use of either hand in performing a task, since the character has no “off-hand.” The character can use both hands at once to perform two physical tasks but he may suffer a concentration penalty if the tasks are wildly different or in different arcs of vision.

Your mage possesses an innately perfect sense of balance. You reduce the difficulties of all balance-related challenges by two.

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 reduces the difficulty on all Willpower challenges by 2 when acting 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.

Your mage has an exceptional body of everyday wisdom and a tendency to deduce clear courses of action in puzzling situations. Although this Merit does not give you a benefit to challenges, it means that the storyteller will warn you when your character’s actions violate common sense. She may even give you suggestions. This Merit is good for new players, as it gives the Storyteller an excuse to treat them lightly.

There is one thing in the world that is a great boon, or bane, to your character’s magic. Perhaps her spells work particularly well against men, or on Tuesdays, or just after a storm, or on people dressed all in black. Maybe she’s powerless to affect those who are or who bear that certain thing, such as her magic being unable to affect Christians or those who carry a piece of rowan and red thread. It may be that a certain individual gave her power over them, or perhaps it is utterly proof against her magic due to an oath she swore or spells that were placed on her.

The conditions that affect your magic may be common, uncommon or rare, and the value of this Merit or Flaw depends on the rarity of the condition. The base costs listed here assume that you have a difficulty modifier of three on all Arete rolls under the given conditions. You may adjust the difficulty by one for every point more or less you devote to the Trait.

Points Condition

1 point Unique: The Sword of Roland, the Matriarch of the MECHA construct, Leap Year

2 points Scarce as hen’s teeth: Current or former members of the Council of Nine, your former Mentors, once in a blue moon

3 points Rare, but not unheard of: loadstones, Swedish royalty, werewolves, rowan and red thread, the holy days of the archangels

4 points Special order: virgins, middle eastern eye-bead charms, any member of Iteration X, during a thunderstorm

5 points Available without much trouble: cold iron, silver, Christians, any member of the Traditions, a windy day, holy ground

6 points Common as dirt: men, anyone who’s ever been baptized, the color purple, under cloud cover, Tuesdays

Your character’s magic is tied to some regular and repeating cycle — night and day, the moon, the sun, the tides, the wheel of the year, or even such things as the stock market or the price of tea in China (very important for a Syndicate commodities broker). As such, your difficulties with magic fluctuate from the standard by a maximum of three, depending on what part of the cycle you set as your personal high point. You may be tied to the dark of the moon, the full moon, the Bull cycle or the Bear cycle. Regardless, while the cyclic nature of your magic is problematic, it is quite useful in some circumstances, allowing your character to schedule rituals for their times of greatest power.

Your mage has been educated by two traditions. Most likely, he was a Hollow One who studied a bit of this and that, and found a couple things that made sense to him. Or, perhaps, he was Awakened by a teacher of one Tradition, but then studied under a different Master and experienced a second Epiphany through this new knowledge. For purposes of spending experience, the specialty Spheres of both Traditions come with the bonus (cheap) multiplier. Your character is more open-minded about foci as well, and he may use those of either Tradition. (The penalties for unique foci still apply.) If your mage loses his Hermetic showstone, for example, he has to go either about getting another one or rely solely on the props of his other Tradition.

A character with an eidetic memory remembers the general sense of everything that she experiences, and she has greater ease in total recall. Under normal conditions, your character easily remembers everything that happens to her. In stressful situations (like memorizing a book during a firefight), you may need to make a Perception + Investigation challenge to memorize or recall the pertinent information.

Flowers spring up in your footsteps and trees burst into bloom at your touch. Your hands are as warm as sunlight or stones from a cheery hearth. A common Merit among Verbena.

For one point, your mage needs less sleep than other mortals. He can function quite well on four hours a night. If the Storyteller imposes penalties on other players for sleep deprivation, then you are exempt. Needless to say, this Merit allows your character to accomplish a lot more with his daily activities.

For two points, your mage sleeps only about two hours per night. This resilience is quite unusual, and it lets your mage get a lot more done. It also means that he has the luxury of sleeping while on the run.

Your character can perform complex mathematical equations in her head instantly with little error at the speed of a computer. You as a player can use a calculator during play at any time, even when your character is fleeing for her life.

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 mage 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 mage is a natural weak point in the Gauntlet between worlds. The difficulty to use magic to pierce it is one less, and spirits react a bit more favorably to the mage. If your mage finds an especially weak spot in the Gauntlet (with Awareness or Spirit 1), he can step between worlds without magic.

No, your mage is not one of the mystic Master mages living in an ivory tower in the Deep Umbra. Neither is she a software company. What she is, is an ordinary mage with a flair for divination and glimpses into the past, present and future. Whenever the Storyteller feels you are in the position to see a sign or portent, you may make a Perception + Awareness challenge, with the difficulty relative to how well the omen is concealed. If successful, you may then roll Intelligence + Occult to interpret what you have seen, the difficulty is relative to the complexity of what you have seen. Your difficulty for all divination with magic (generally with Time) reduces by two.

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.

Storytellers should note that this Merit is provided to add color and reason to the game, not to give min -maxers a loophole to create engines of death. With this Merit, mages can light pipes without a lighter, conjure roses or martinis, have mood music play in the background or pop a penknife or a single claw out of a fingertip. Yes, you could put an eye out with one of those things, but the combat difference between a penknife, a single tiger claw, and a press-on fingernail is inconsequential.

Your character is able to use one of the Spheres of magic with a greater degree of ease than other mages. For whatever reason (inborn talent, powerful heritage, past life, supernatural bargain, etc.), she’s got an affinity for a certain kind of magic. She picked it up quickly, and she now progresses through it at an unusual rate.

During character creation, select one Sphere. From this point on, you only pay three-quarters of the normal cost (rounded down) when buying levels, rituals and similar improvements for magic of that Sphere alone. The favored Sphere must be declared at character creation, and it may be purchased only once.

Your mage has an uncanny sense of time, down to within a few seconds of accuracy. This merit duplicates the Perfect Time effect of Time 1, but it’s natural and ever-present.

Despite the bleakness of the world and the alienation that most mages suffer, your character has discovered a true love. Such love gives hope and inspiration in the face of even the greatest difficulty, for it is a sign that the world is not totally devoid of higher, purer powers. You gain one automatic success on all Willpower challenges. On the other hand, you probably have to spend time rescuing your true love from danger or questing to find him or her again.

Your mage’s Avatar has been fragmented, and he has a “soulmate” — equal in power to his own Avatar, and similar in Essence, Nature and Demeanor. A physical twin, a look-alike, another mage or a complete stranger (possibly a Sleeper) might posses this fragment. When in physical contact with this soulmate (or spiritual mate, for actions in the Umbra), the two may share Quintessence and cast spells as one, taking the highest ratings in Arete and Spheres, also gaining an additional measure of Quintessence equal to the strength of either individual. The parts are greater than the whole. However, this joint pool must be replenished through meditation in a Node, the same as a regular pool of Quintessence. Paradox points gained from joint spells are not split, however, and each twin gains the same amount of Paradox.

With only one dot in Correspondence, your character will always know where her soulmate is. With one dot in Life, she’ll know his state of health, and with one in Mind, she may share his thoughts. If one soulmate dies, the player of the other must make a Willpower challenge (difficulty 8) to avoid psychic shock. She must wait also until her soulmate’s reincarnation before the power may again be shared. Soulmates are not just walking Merits; they must be presented and run as characters, preferably by different players in a group. Also note that a mage does not have to get along with her soulmate.. Twin souls are distinct and separate individuals, not just tag-team powerhouses.

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Your mage suffers an addiction to some substance, such as nicotine, alcohol or some hard drug. If the substance is relatively trivial and easily obtained, this Flaw is worth one point, and it probably won’t cause any game related difficulties. If the substance is illegal, dangerous, or liable to cause health or psychological problems, the Flaw is worth three points. Some mages may be addicted to extremely unusual or magical substances. Although such substances generally don’t assess any penalty, they may count as a severe addiction due to their unusual nature.

A mage who can’t get his fix will go through withdrawal, with penalties assessed by the Storyteller.

Your character can’t remember anything about his past, his history or the events of his life. The character can still use his various Abilities, but he may not remember how he learned them. Your Storyteller has final say on your character’s history, and some things may come back to surprise you. You can set aside two to five additional points of Flaws for use by the Storyteller; the Storyteller gets to pick Flaws worth one fewer point (thus, if you take four extra amnesiac Flaws, your Storyteller chooses three points of Flaws but you get the four freebie points). Of course, you don’t know what these Flaws are, so you may be in for a surprise!

The character has some sort of non-correctable vision problem – a severe astigmatism, myopia or the like. This problem can’t be corrected with glasses or contact lenses, and fixing it with Life magic requires extensive permanent work to bypass the problems of Pattern bleeding. You always suffer a two point penalty to all challenges in which vision is a factor.

The character has no natural sight – the world of color and vision is lost to him. You cannot even make Perception challenges that require vision, and you suffer a three point difficulty penalty on any awareness challenge where you do have a shot, unless the matter relies exclusively on another sense. The difficulty of all dexterity-related challenges increases by two. Your mage must target his magic by hearing, Correspondence or some other magical or mundane sense.

There is something your mage is compelled to do or not do, and whether or not he likes this fact is immaterial. This Flaw may be psychological, physiological, or supernatural in nature. If it’s purely psychological, you may roll Willpower to resist the Compulsion (difficulty 6 + the point value of the Flaw). However, if it’s physiological or supernatural, it doesn’t matter how willing the mind is, since the spirit is bound or the body is crippled, and he is unable to do this thing no matter how hard he tries. The Flaw is worth two extra points if such is the case.

Compulsions can also vary. Not being able to touch something and not being able to harm it are two completely different things. An evil sorceress might not be able to physically touch an innocent, but she could still stand back and blast away with a shotgun or a spell of flaming death.

This Flaw is worth varied points, depending on the frequency and severity of the Compulsion.

Flaw Compulsion

1 point Do not cross a threshold without permission, never show fear to the enemy, never contradict a superior officer

2 points Never refuse a reasonable bet, never betray any emotion, do not touch anything holy or consecrated to a particular faith, never harm a child

3 points Never refuse a duel, never strike a woman, never refuse an offer of sex, never tell a lie, never take a life

4 points Never tell the truth, dance whenever you hear music, become entranced by mirrors or beauty or books, never refuse a dare, do no harm

There is some raw ingredient your mage needs to work his magic, besides magic itself. This component may be something rare or esoteric, like diamonds or ghostly ectoplasm, or perhaps something common or easily obtainable, like anger, alcohol or electricity. Without this crucial component, he cannot work his magic, and if this crucial component cannot be worked into a casting, oh well — you need to find a different Effect. This Flaw does not merely represent a Technocrat’s reliance on scientific devices and scientific principles. A Virtual Adept does not need a computer to work his computations; if he had to, he could use a slide-rule or a pencil and paper, or even do them in his head — it just takes longer. But Dr. Va-Voom requires diesel fuel to power all his Devices, and they won’t work if he tries to attach solar cells or an etheric proton pack — or at least they won’t work for him. This substance does not have to be direct from the source — moonlight can be charged into moonstones and holy water can be bottled — but it does have to be properly stored, with whatever methods or rituals are appropriate. (Charged moonstones must be kept in a black velvet pouch, away from the light of the sun, while holy water must be kept in a specially blessed flask.)

Flaw Crucial Component

2 pointssunlight, eggs, motor oil, tea, aspirin, electricity, emotion, ectoplasm

3 pointsbeeswax candles, blood, fresh lavender, grave dirt, holy water, rage, spectral residue

4 pointsvirgin’s blood, hashish, dead humans, gold, platonic love, the fires of Hell

5 pointsdiamonds, live humans, rare orchids, lightning strikes, transcendent joy, the tears of angels, any variety of Tass

Some terrible fate looms over your mage, and worse still, she knows it. She will die in a horrible way, or she may be doomed to suffer for eternity. Maybe she had a vision of her own Gilgul, or of entering the Cauls of the Nephandi. Your character cannot escape this fate, and it will come to haunt her sooner than she thinks. Occasionally, situations may remind your mage of the futility of her existence. You must spend a Willpower point to overcome such lassitude or else lose a trait from all challenges for the rest of the day. Only the Storyteller knows the exact nature of this fate, and it’s up to him to determine how it will come to pass.

Some terrible past haunts your character. Perhaps he turned on his mentor, or maybe he is secretly in love with a Widderslainte. Either way, your character’s secret – which will come up from time to time as the Storytellers feels it appropriate – can cause some embarrassment or trouble for your mage (although it’s unlikely to get the character killed).

Your mage’s natural Pattern is deaf, and the mage cannot hear at all. You fail all tests involving hearing automatically. This Flaw increases the difficulty of many Awareness challenges by three as well, since your mage must rely on other senses for warnings and clues. Overcoming this defect with magic, as with all such Flaws, requires the use of difficult permanent rituals and the expenditure of experience points.

Snore, toss and ignore the alarm — your mage sleeps like a force of nature. Whenever your mage is trying to wake up, you suffer a difficulty penalty of two on the challenge, and the mage continues to stagger along bleary-eyed and uncomprehending for the rest of the scene (with a further one point penalty on all challenges).

One of your character’s senses is dulled or abnormally damaged in some fashion. Perhaps the character is hard of hearing, has limited taste receptors, is color blind or is correctably near-sighted. In each case, you suffer a two point penalty to the difficulty of all challenges involving the flawed sense.

A hideous disfigurement makes your characters appearance disturbing. The difficulty of all challenges relating to social interactions increase by two. The character may not have an Appearance rating higher than two.

Your mage manifests the traditional marks associated with the supernatural. Maybe it’s a little quirk like not having a shadow, or something as severe as a baleful aura. Perhaps milk curdles around your mage and mirrors break. Look up some superstitions associated with the heritage of your mage’s Tradition, and pick a few! The Storyteller determines the value of this Flaw, based on the severity of these supernatural problems.

There is something your character must or must not do, and his life, his luck, his magic (and perhaps his very soul) depends on it. It may be something that has always been upon him, a Geas prophesied by druids at bis birth, or a curse laid on him by faeries at his christening. It may also be a sacred oath or vow he swore, or a promise or bargain he made, and Someone (with a capital S) witnessed it and is going to hold him to it. If he disobeys, the consequences are dire, if not deadly.

The value of a Geas depends on how easily it is broken and the penalty for violating it. If the penalty is the loss of some Merit or Background, deduct the Geas’ rating from the value of the Merit or Background and make that number the value of the Flaw. For example, your character’s sword may be a five-point Artifact, but you have been told, “If you ever raise this blade in anger, the angels who gave it to you will take it away.” Never raising one’s sword in anger is a small sacrifice, so it’s worth four points, making a four point Flaw.

When you take a Geas, choose the Flaw(s), Background (s), and/or Merit(s) to which the Geas is attached. Then either lessen the final value of the Flaw(s) or decrease the cost of the Merit(s) and/or Background (s). In the case of Merits that may be taken multiple times, you may take the Geas the same number of times to decrease the cost. However, your Geas should be at least one point less than the total value of the Merits, Backgrounds and/or Flaws to which it’s linked. In other words, you cannot get a Merit or Background for free just by piling on strictures and limitations. Storytellers should examine each Geas to make sure it makes sense in terms of story, rather than just being a pile of bizarre restrictions and commandments that could only be explained by faeries dropping acid at a christening. Storytellers should also blackball any Geas that does not cause actual problems. Losing your soul if you die is a problem, and so is losing an legendary Attribute if you lose your virginity. However, it’s to be expected that you’ll lose all of your Attributes, enhanced or otherwise, when you die, so this is not a legitimate problem unless your character also has some way to come back from the dead.

The point value of the Geasa suggested here is only approximate, and it will vary depending on character and circumstances.

Value Geas

1 point Inevitable circumstance or incredible sacrifice: When you die, if you ever let the sun touch your skin, if you ever allow your feet to touch the earth, if you ever speak another word

2 points Almost unavoidable circumstance or significant sacrifice: Remain a virgin, never harm a living creature, never tell a lie

3 points Everyday circumstance or common sacrifice: Never back down from a fight, never tell a secret, never refuse hospitality, never marry, never have children

4 points Unlikely circumstance or a small sacrifice: Stop and pet every cat you see, never eat any animal product, never harm a certain type of animal or a certain type of person, never raise your sword in anger

5 pointsEasily avoided circumstance or trivial sacrifice: Never break bread with a red-haired man, say your prayers every night, take your vitamins, never harm the king, don’t eat ham, keep one small secret

Classic penalties for violating a Geas include suffering a dark fate, losing one’s Avatar, having luck turn from good to bad, being deserted by one’s familiar (especially if the Geas was a pact you made with the beast), losing a totem, losing all one’s friends and losing one’s worldly possessions.

Characters may have several Geasa that may come into conflict. Cuchulainn had the Geasa to “Never refuse hospitality” and to “Never harm a dog” (his namesake). Three hags then offered him roast dog for dinner and Cuchulainn died soon after. Consequently, most mages try to keep their Geasa secret, lest they be used against them by enemy mages. Unfortunately, Geasa can be divined by a simple Entropy 1 Effect mixed with a little skill in fortune-telling as can one’s destiny. Elaborate traps have been devised to force mages to violate all their Geasa in succession, leading to their flamboyant destruction. Perversely, Geasa, curses, holy vows and binding oaths are also marks of great status among certain Traditions, particularly the Akashic Brotherhood, Verbena, and Celestial Chorus, who accord status to mages with such Flaws. Simply put, unimportant people don’t have Geasa or family curses, and someone who takes a binding oath or makes a sacred vow (and keeps it) is worthy of respect. Most Technomancers, on the other hand, aren’t impressed by people who take vows of chastity or silence, and they are similarly blase about those who break them. Traditionally, there is very little that may be done about Geasa, which are simply facets of one’s destiny, and curses are devilishly hard to lift (and the Flaw must be bought off if they are). However, with binding oaths, sacred vows, and bans imposed by totem spirits, characters who violate them accidentally may attempt to atone for their crime. A witch who has vowed to never eat any red meat, then suddenly finds ham in her pea soup, might be able to atone for the trespass by fasting and sending checks to PETA. However, if a mage violates an oath willingly and with full knowledge — and survives — he becomes an oathbreaker, one of the most foul epithets among the Traditions. The destiny of an oathbreaker is scarred permanently, and the marks show clearly to the same Entropy 1 magic that reveals a mage’s destiny. As such, it is virtually impossible for an oathbreaker to find a tutor or any sort of aid among those Traditions that value one’s sworn word. Some Traditions, notably the Order of Hermes and the Verbena, kill oathbreakers on sight, numbering them among the Nephandi, whose dark paths of power are the only ones left open to them.

Ironically, many oathbreakers are young internalists who foreswore their allegiance to the Dark Masters — and the binding oath they had been given — after realizing the price of that power. Destiny, however, does not play favorites, and those who break their word to Hell are just as stigmatized as those who lie to Heaven.

Characters who wish to begin as oathbreakers should take Dark Fate or some other curse. Occasionally there are good and noble characters who have sworn foolish oaths in the past, then have broken them rather than allow some greater evil to occur. It is impossible to erase the stain from the soul once one is foresworn, but some have friends who will still stand by them, even though most mages will spit when they say their names.

Geasa may be taken at the same time as the Compulsion Flaw, assuming that the Compulsion does not make the Geas impossible. For example, a witch could be both under a Geas and supernaturally (or just psychologically) compelled to stop and pet every cat she saw, lest she suffer a dark fate.

Your mage just sucks at one particular Ability. Maybe he can’t handle driving worth a damn, or he makes computers burst into flames and emit pink smoke. Pick one Ability in which your character has at least one dot — preferably one that will be important to your character in some fashion. (Your Storyteller will know if you do otherwise, and he has nasty ways to make you pay.) You suffer a difficulty penalty of two on all challenges with that Ability.

Due to an unhealed injury or a missing limb, your mage has trouble walking. The character has a pronounced limp and a slow stride, and he must use some means of support to walk like a cane, leg braces or Forces magic. The character’s movement speed is quartered, and running is impossible. This Flaw may also add to the difficulty of maneuvers that rely on the legs – jumps, swimming, martial arts kicks – at the Storyteller’s discretion.

Your mage is not the reincarnation of some ancient hero or nefarious character from history, the favored child that some great animal totem set its mark upon, a powerful immortal wizard who has not been seen for a hundred years or some god come down in human form. Unfortunately, he looks the part, and people who value iconography more than actions will believe he fits the role. This confusion can naturally get your mage into all sorts of trouble. People may expect him to have capabilities that he doesn’t, or they may blame him for problems that aren’t his own.

Your mage has an Appearance rating of zero. He may be the stereotypical pock-marked leper, or he may have the face and body of a demon or bug-eyed monster. Otherwise, someone just beat him with the ugly stick.

Your mage can’t speak. This shortcoming may derive from the physical damage, a magical curse or a natural deformity. You are not allowed to talk in character. You can use Linguistics to learn sign language, or write. Mind magic can also overcome this problem to a limited degree.

Horrid nightmares afflict your mage, whether due to a natural condition like night terrors, a curse or perhaps a vivid replaying of a terrifying event. Your mage has trouble getting enough sleep, and he often wakes up horrified, soaked with sweat and exhausted. You must make a Willpower roll when your mage wakes up. Failure indicates that you lose a trait from all categories for the rest of the day.

Due to Pattern damage, a permanent Paradox injury or some other nastiness, you have a wound that never heals. Even if you repair the injury with magic, it reoccurs at sunset or sunrise of each day (your choice as to which). This wound causes your character to suffer the Wounded health level with lethal damage that cannot be soaked. Such damage is cumulative with other injuries (and it could kill a badly wounded mage if it reoccurs while he’s already injured), but it is not self-cumulative. That is, your character’s bleeding head wound doesn’t cause any more damage the next morning or evening if he hasn’t bothered to heal it magically for a day.

Some simple stimulus, engenders an overwhelming fear in your mage. Your character might be afraid of snakes, heights or large crowds of people. You must make a Willpower challenge whenever your mage is confronted by the object of terror. If you tie, your mage retreats from the situation, while a fail means that the mage flees completely out of control or curls up into a helpless ball and quivers. If forced to stand ground against such a fear (fighting a giant magical snake, for instance), you suffer a difficulty penalty of two on all challenges.

Your mage may have Primordial Essence, some totem of god or legend, or perhaps she’s just gained some powerful spirit’s patronage and it’s set its mark on her. If the totem is an animal, she resembles what such animal would look like in human form so strongly that people who don’t even know her call her “Bear” or “Moose” or “Raven.” If the totem is some well-known god or hero, your character looks just like people would expect her to, including any particular deformities. Your mage looks the part so much that anyone can guess her nature at a glance, and there is some danger in that, especially if your totem has a legendary enemy.

Your mage might alternately be the descendant of some famous or infamous house: Pendragon, Murasaki, Bacon, Bathory, Borgia or Le Vey. Besides the family name, you’ve also inherited the family “look.” Students of history can easily picture you banishing the Devil and slaying dragons, or poisoning entire families and bathing in the blood of virgins – especially since they have the illustrations that might give them this idea.

Alternately, your mage may just look the part of their profession too well. Perhaps she has the red hair and green eyes of an Irish witch, the pale eyes and dark skin of an Arabic sorcerer, the grown-together brows and elongated ring-fingers of a born shapeshifter, or the intense yellow, violet or emerald green eyes of one of the fae. Students of ancient lore recognize these signs, and your mage may easily become the victim of witch hunters. However, some witches, changelings, shapeshifters and others may accord you more status in their societies if you “look the part.”

Your mage is quick to anger. Whenever anybody ticks off your character, you must make a Willpower challenge (difficulty 6) to not go on the offensive.

Large groups of people make your mage uncomfortable, and although he doesn’t necessarily panic and flee from crowds, he has trouble dealing with such gatherings. Your mage has trouble speaking and presenting himself when the world’s watching. Any time your mage interacts with strangers or becomes the center of attention for a group of three or more people, you suffer a difficulty penalty of three on all social challenges.

The mage’s body’s natural healing processes are slow, whether due to a bad immune system, old age, bad diet or just genetics. You heal all of your character’s wounds twice as slowly as everyone else. All Life magic effects heal half the damage they should, rounded down.

Your character cannot stand to watch others suffer. Your mage avoids any situation that involves causing someone physical or emotional pain, unless you make a Willpower challenge (difficulty 8).

A severe lisp, stutter, cleft palate, outburst of Tourette’s Syndrome or similar problem makes it difficult for your mage to speak clearly. Try to

roleplay this Flaw; you suffer a two-point penalty to all verbal communication rolls.

For some reason, your mage sucks at a certain kind of magic. She could be paying off some karmic debt or struggling with some metaphysical concept. Maybe she invested her knowledge in some item in a past life and she hasn’t run across it yet in this incarnation. This Flaw acts like Sphere Natural in reverse. Advancement in one particular Sphere (chosen at character creation) costs ¼ more experience points than normal, rounded up. To take this Flaw, choose one Sphere that your character plans to study. This Flaw can be selected only once, and it must be chosen at character creation.

Your character speaks the truth, uncannily so. Things he says tend to come true. This Flaw is not a facility for blessing or cursing, or an Effect ruled by any conscious control (use Time 2 instead). However, at least once per story, an uncomfortable truth regarding any current situation will appear in your character’s head and come out his mouth. To avoid speaking prophecy, the owner of this “gift” must expend a Willpower point and take a wound of one bashing health level from the strain of resisting (especially if he bites a hole in his tongue).

Someone pissed your mage off, and he plans to get even. Your mage wants to even the score with one individual or group. This victim may or may not be an enemy — the subject may not even be aware of the perceived slight — but your mage takes it seriously and counts it as a major part of his life. You must spend a Willpower point to turn your mage away from the object of his vengeance when a situation crops up to potentially wreak havoc on the opponent in question.

A dangerous and skilled mortal hunter stalks your character, fully aware of what your mage is and what he can do. Worse still, the subject is intelligent and crafty, he works to negate the advantages of your character’s magic, and he may extend his hunt to your companions and associates. While just about every mage can claim some enemy, this Flaw makes your mage a pariah. (Nobody wants to hang out with someone who’s going to bring a psycho-killer along!) The hunter may even have friends or allies who continue to trouble your mage if your mage eludes, dissuades or kills the individual. Whatever the case, this guy wants your mage dead, he’s not going to stop, and he has access to special resources (or, at the very least, specialized knowledge) in his quest.