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

Linguistics — 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
Semblance of the Methuselah (• - ••) With an appearance strikingly similar to a methuselah, gain one die on rolls to impress, intimidate or attract the attention who recognize your face. As well as gain other bonuses such as status or additional die when meeting the methuselah they resemble.

Substance Use — You seek out prey with a specific drug in their system.
High Functioning Addict (•) Add one die to either Physical, Social or Mental pool when the last feeding had the drug of desire.
Addiction (•) Unless the action is to immediately gain their drug, lose one die to all pools if the last feeding was not on the drug of their choice.
Hopeless Addiction (••) Unless the action is to immediately gain their drug, lose two dice to all pools if the last feeding was not on the drug of their choice.

Archaic — These flaws may only be taken by Ancilla or older vampires.
Living in the Past (•) Unable to grasp modern societies mindset, one or more of the character's convictions reflect outdated views.
Archaic (••) Cannot use computers, cellphones and the character's Technology rating is always 0.

Bonding — Not all vampires respond to the Blood Bond equally.
Bond Resistance (• - •••) Add one die to resist Blood Bonds per level of this merit.
Bond Junkie (•) The bond is sweeter to the character, they lose one die when acting against Blood Bonds.
Short Bond (••) Bonds decrease by two levels each month if not reinforced.
Long Bond (•) Bonds fade slower, decreasing by one level for each 3 months without reinforcement.
Unbondable (•••••) Unable to be bonded.
Bondslave (••) Bond instantly to another kindred with just one drink, not three.

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.