Mental Merits

Common Sense: (l point Merit)

You have a significant amount of practical, everyday wisdom. Whenever you are about to do something contrary to common sense, the Storyteller should alert you to how your potential action might violate practicality. This is an ideal Merit if you are a novice player because it allows you to receive advice from the Storyteller concerning what you can and cannot do, and (even more importantly) what you should and should not do.

Concentration: (l point Merit)

You have the ability to focus your mind and shut out any distractions or annoyances, above and beyond the norm. Any penalty to a difficulty or Dice Pool arising from a distraction or Dther inauspicious circumstance is limited to two dice, though no extra benefits are gained if only one penalty die is imposed.

Lightning Calculator: (l point Merit)

You have a natural affinity with numbers and a talent for mental arithmetic, making you a natural when working with :omputers or betting at the track. The difficulties of all relevant rolls are decreased by two. Another possible use for this ability, assuming you have numbers on which to base your conclusions, is the ability to calculate the difficulty of certain tasks. In appropriate situations, you may ask the Storyteller to estimate the difficulty rating of a task you are about to perform.

Eidetic Memory: (2 point Merit)

You can remember things seen and heard with perfect detail. By gaining at least one success on an Intelligence + Alertness roll, you can recall any sight or sound accurately, even if you heard it or glanced at it only once (although the difficulty of such a feat would be high). Five successes enable you to recall an event perfectly: the Storyteller relates to you exactly what was seen or heard.

Iron Will: (3 point Merit)

When you are determined and your mind is set, nothing can divert you from your goals. You cannot be Dominated, and wraiths, mages and other changelings using mental attacks against you gain an additional + 3 to their difficulties if you are aware of them and resisting. However, the additional mental defense costs you one Willpower point per turn. Even if you are unaware of an attack, anyone attempting to magically influence you must add + 1 to her difficulty.

Self-Confident: (5 point Merit)

When you spend a point of Willpower to gain an automatic success, your self-confidence may allow you to gain the benefit of that expenditure without actually losing the Willpower point. When you declare that you are using a point of Willpower and roll for successes, you do not lose the point of Willpower unless you fail. This will also prevent you from botching, but only if you declare that you are spending the Willpower point before you roll. This Merit may only be used when you need confidence in your abilities in order to succeed. You can use it only when the difficulty of your roll is 6 or higher. You may spend Willpower at other times; however, if the difficulty is 5 or less, the Merit will not help you.