Merits & Flaws

Some perilous substance may spell your doom. Thanks to a paranormal weakness – a curse, a Paradox Flaw, a quirk of belief or cultural legends – you suffer extraordinary harm from that malignant material. Perhaps you shrivel up in sunlight, flee from the scent of roses, or melt when obnoxious farm girls throw water in your face. This substance isn’t generally fatal to most folks (Awakened or otherwise), but it’s potential death for you.

Your vulnerability to this substance in question has two potential levels:

• Weakening, which inflicts one aggravated health level on your character every turn she’s in contact with the substance; and…

• Mortal peril, which inflicts three aggravated health levels for each turn she’s in contact with the substance.

The value of this Flaw is based upon two factors: How common the fatal substance is, and how badly it affects you:

• (2 points) You can be mortally wounded by contact with something that’s almost impossible to acquire (the sound of Pan’s pipes, a splinter from the True Cross), or weakened by a very rare substance (a chunk of moon rock, the tooth from an aged lion).

• (3 points) Mortal injury from a very rare substance, or weakness caused by something that’s relatively scarce and not obviously harmful (saffron, grave dirt, a raven’s feathers).

• (4 points) Mortal injury from something that’s relatively scarce, or weakness from a common substance (rainwater, silver, a baby’s cry).

• (5 points) A common substance inflicts mortal injury on you.

• (+1 point) You die instantly upon contact with the substance in question.

• (+1 point) The mere presence of the substance means instant death to you.

• (-1 point) The substance must first inflict damage on you through a typical injury (a stab wound, ingested poison, a silver bullet) before it can harm you.

Damage from this Flaw cannot be soaked unless you’re wearing an appropriate type of armor to prevent exposure to that substance. (Being aggravated damage, it shouldn’t normally be soaked anyhow, but mages have ways of getting around such trivialities.) Your backstory should feature the reason for your potentially fatal vulnerability to this substance. That vulnerability ought to be tied into your magickal focus, too – an Alpha Male tycoon isn’t likely to burn upon contact with holy water, although it might be fun to fling a few dashes of the stuff around Wall Street and find out for sure! (That would certainly explain a few things.)