MTH:Merits

NEW MERITS

New Merits for superhuman and heroic characters. These are purchased in the same manner as normal Merits, though they usually have higher prerequisites than the Merits in the corebook.

A number of these Merits refer to "effective" Attributes, usually as prerequisites; this refers to an Attribute's rating after all permanent modificatioins have been factored in, such as a Mega-Attribute. For example, a character with Dexterity 3 and Mega-Dexterity 1 would have an effective Dexterity score of 5.

MENTAL MERITS

OMNIVISION (***)

PREREQUISITES: Effective Wits 5+

EFFECT: Whether by incredibly sharp senses, a sixth sense, or a literal 360 degree field of vision, the character is keenly aware of her surroundings at all times. She suffers no ill effects from being surrounded in combat, and it is impossible to sneak up on her under normal circumstances (though extraordinary circumstances, such as poor lighting or invisibility, may allow the character to be snuck upon as normal). The character must still roll to avoid surprise in the case of ambush or similar situations; this Merit allows the character to perceive normally in every direction at once, but does not grant any special form of perception or precognition.

PHYSICAL MERITS

LIGHTNING DODGE (***)

PREREQUISITES: Effective Dexterity 5+ or effective Wits 5+

EFFECT: The character's reaction time is so quick that he can literally dodge bullets, or (when combined with Weaponry Dodge or Brawling Dodge) deflect them with a melee weapon or even snatch them out of the air with his bare hands. This character may apply his Defense to firearms attacks. At the Storyteller's discretion, this character's Defense may also apply in other situations where Defense doesn't normally apply.

PERFECT BALANCE (***)

PREREQUISITES: Effective Dexterity 5+

EFFECT: The character has absolutely flawless balance; she is able to stand atop flagpoles, sprint along tightropes, and even traverse crowds quickly by running on peoples' heads. The Storyteller should only make this character roll Dexterity + Athletics to keep her balance in the most extreme situations, EG running along a tightrope on a moonless night while carrying someone and being shot at; it can be assumed that the character automatically succeeds at any such rolls under less trying circumstances.

REFLECT SHOT (**)

PREREQUISITES: Lightning Dodge, Weaponry Dodge

EFFECT: The character has honed her defensive skill and reaction time to such a degree that she is able to reflect projectiles back at their attacker. In order to use this Merit, the character has to be holding an appropriate melee weapon and has to dedicate her action to dodging. If an opponent makes a ranged attack against this character and scores no successes on the attack roll, the character may make an immediate attack roll against the opponent; the basic dice pool is the character's Dexterity + Weaponry, and she counts as having the same weapon as her attacker.

SHOCKWAVE (***)

PREREQUISITES: Effective Strength 8+

EFFECT: Such is the character's strength that he can damage nearby opponents and objects by striking the ground they stand upon. In order to use this ability, the character must spend a point of Willpower and roll his Strength + Brawl as an instant action. Each success on this roll deals one point of bashing damage to everything within a one-yard radius of the impact point, including other characters, objects, and the ground being struck (which may be a problem if the character is standing on a bridge or riding in a vehicle when he uses this ability). Characters and objects further than one yard away suffer one less level of damage for every full yard of distance between themselves and the impact point. In addition, any character who takes damage from a Shockwave must roll her Strength and score at least as many successes as she took levels of damage, or else she will fall prone. Only characters and objects standing on the ground can be affected in this way; airborne characters and objects are immune to the effects of a shockwave.

UNSTOPPABLE (*** or *****)

PREREQUISITES: Effective Stamina 5+ or effective Resolve 5+, Iron Stamina ***

EFFECT: The character's pain tolerance is so incredibly high that he can continue to fight after taking injuries that would have dropped lesser creatures. A character who has the three-dot version of this Merit does not have to roll to remain conscious if all his health levels are filled with bashing damage. However, he will still lose consciousness and begin to bleed to death if all his health levels are filled with lethal damage. A character with the five-dot version of Unstoppable does not lose consciousness even when all of his health levels are filled with lethal damage, though he will begin to bleed to death as normal; such a character only stops moving when he dies (IE all his health levels are filled with Aggravated damage).

WALLCRAWLER (** or ***)

PREREQUISITES: Superhuman

EFFECT: The character is able to cling to sheer surfaces, such as walls and ceilings. A character with the two-dot version of this Merit can cling to any horizontal or vertical surface without need for handholds, but she cannot move along such a surface. A character with the three-dot version of this Merit can move along such surfaces at her normal Speed, whether or not the surface has handholds or would normally be climbable. At the Storyteller's discretion, particularly slippery surfaces or adverse conditions might require the character to make a Strength or Dexterity + Athletics roll to maintain her hold.

SOCIAL MERITS

CIPHER (* to *****)

EFFECT: The character has made some effort to hide details of his life from public scrutiny; the exact details of this process are left up to the player and Storyteller to decide, but possibilities include tampering with government documents, entering the Witness Protection Program, or simply putting on a mask and costume before heading off on an adventure. Each dot in this Merit imposes a -1 penalty on any attempts to learn personal information the character has worked to keep hidden. It is up to the Storyteller to decide whether the penalty from Cipher should apply in a given situation; for example, attempts to learn the secret identity of a masked vigilante would suffer the penalty from Cipher, but attempts to look into the vigilante's credit history would not (unless the character had made some attempt to disguise his personal history, in addition to cultivating a secret identity).

UNLIMITED RESOURCES (*****)

PREREQUISITES: Resources 5

EFFECT: The character has access to vast wealth: at least $1,000,000 a month in disposable income and millions, billions, or even trillions of dollars in assets. The character might be the beneficiary of a huge trust fund, the heir to a massive hereditary fortune, the owner of a multinational corporation, or some combination of these. For this character, it's not a question of whether or not she can afford any given item, it's a question of how soon she can get it.

Generally, it isn't necessary to quantify exactly how much the character is worth unless the player or Storyteller desires to; in game terms, the character is able to make an effectively unlimited number of Resources 5 purchases per month, and is probably capable of affording purchases beyond the grasp of even a Resources 5 character, such as private spacestations or bleeding-edge energy weapon and powered armor technology.

Note, however, that being richer than God does not equate to being God; even a character with this level of wealth can be held accountable for her actions, and a character who uses her fortune to cause trouble will almost certainly attract the attention of other powerful characters. Furthermore, the Storyteller should reserve the right to restrict the character's use of Unlimited Resources, or even remove the Merit altogether, if the character foolishly squanders her fortune.

NEW FLAWS

For all their powers and abilities, superhumans often possess great foibles and weaknesses that serve to temper their strength. The flaws listed below function in the same way as the flaws listed in the World of Darkness core rulebook; IE, any time the flaw comes up during gameplay and significantly hinders the flawed character, that character gains an additional experience point.

MENTAL FLAWS

As with standard World of Darkness characters, characters in More Than Human may take permanent derangements as Flaws. Common derangements for heroic characters include narcissism and fixation, while villainous characters might have megalomania, paranoia, or schizophrenia.

PHYSICAL FLAWS

ALLERGY

The character is violently allergic to a specific substance or condition, and takes physical damage if exposed to this allergen. The Storyteller determines what level of damage is taken and how often, based on the character's proximity to the allergen and the purity or intensity of the allergen in question. This flaw only provides experience if the character is hindered by it beyond the additional damage taken; for example, a hero weakened from allergen exposure might be unable to pursue a fleeing villain, who later returns to abduct the hero's love interest

SOCIAL FLAWS

None yet . . .

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