Advantages

Alongside their Attributes, Skills, and Disciplines, Kindred also have Advantages from before they began the Chronicle. Advantages are broken down into different types — Merits, Backgrounds, and Loresheets. The opposite end of Advantages are Flaws, which are ongoing problems for the characters.

Unless otherwise stated, Advantages and Flaws without a rating may be taken at any level from • to •••••.

MERITS & FLAWS

Language: Merits covering the ability to communicate or understand spoken or written language. ----
Linguistics (• +) Each dot of Linguistics allows the character to read, write and speak fluently in another language outside of the default two they already know, which is their native language and the language of the Domain.
Illiterate (••) The Character cannot read nor write and their Science and Academics Skills may not go beyond 1 dot.

Looks: Merits related to the appearance, supernaturally influenced or not, of the character.
Beautiful (••) Add one die to related Social pools
Ugly (•) Lose one die from related Social pools.
Stunning (••••) Add two dice to related Social pools.
Repulsive (••) Lose two dice from related Social pools

OLD SCHOOL RULE

As per the rules, Advantages are best used at character creation. However, through discussion with the Storyteller and either ongoing roleplay or a sufficient period of downtime, players may purchase some at the cost of 3 XP per dot in each, with Flaw dots taken after character creation granting equal Advantage dots.

You are encouraged to consider why your character possesses Merits and Loresheets, as any new power goes some way toward defining your character and their roles in the Chronicle. Any new Advantage should make sense within the context of the story and come from an agreement between player and Storyteller.

SCARCITY OF BACKGROUNDS

This is an optional mechanic introduced in Chicago By Night: Let the Streets Run Red, specifically for Kindred living in smaller towns where a Storyteller may decide the number Backgrounds given the smaller population.

Contacts — A certain amount may be rewarded freely, but largely the rest are opposed with other Kindred of the domain.

Influence — Similar to Contacts scarcity, but also attempts to grow Influence come with the need for defense rolls. Online or location-agnostic Influence may not be affected depending on the storyteller.

Herd and Feeding — Storyteller may have Herd operate in a limited size, migrating Herd face a degree of fluctuations, and failed hunts may have repercussions for the wider setting.

Haven — Kindred struggle in sharing the prime real estate in this setting.