An almost reflexive mental tic drives you toward compul­ sive, often subconscious, behaviors. In some cases, especially among mages, these behaviors manifest as ritualized activities: hand-washing, obsessive grooming, doing a task exactly the same way every time, and so forth. Other compulsions inspire annoying habits (humming, making farty noises with your mouth, speaking out loud even when you don’t mean to, etc.), or potentially harmful activities like shoplifting, gambling, or hitting on everything that moves, which manifest when you’re under stress. (A seriously harmful compulsion could be considered a Derangement Flaw instead, as referenced below.)

Minor compulsions tend to get chalked up to the ra­ tionalization, “That’s just what she’s like.” If you want your character to avoid a serious compulsion, however, you must spend a Willpower point in order to put off that behavior for a little while. However, once that little while is up (Storyteller’s discretion), your character is again compelled to perform that activity… unless you spend another Willpower point… to put it off again for a little while longer…