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| MERITS & FLAWS |
The following merits may only be taken by Wraith characters. These include Aegis, Artifact, Haunt, Legacy, Medium, Memoriam, Old Soul, Relic, Secret Death, Secret Reaping, and Status (special).
Aegis (0 to 000)
Aegis is the mental fortitude a wraith has against herself. It is added to a wraith’s Willpower dice pool for the purposes of resisting Catharsis.
Artifact (0 to 00000)
Unlike relics which cross over the Shroud, artifacts are actually made in the soul-forges from the corpus of captured wraiths. Most wraiths have a moral opposition to owning artifacts and any obvious artifacts in ownership gives a wraith a -3 to her social interactions dice pool when dealing with such wraiths. This merit may be purchased more than once to reflect several different artifacts in the wraiths ownership, and they are usually powered by Pathos if they have any moving parts. The number of Pathos points used to power an artifact is equal to the number of dots in the merit. The number of dots is equal to the items power, function, and often size. Some examples are listed below.
- 0: An artifact that serves no real purpose, like a trophy or a piece of jewelry.
- 00: A minor but slightly useful item, such as a soul-shaped torch or a grappling hook.
- 000: A useful item with simple or no working parts, like a sword or a clock.
- 0000: A useful item with moderately complex working parts, like a bullhorn or a car.
- 00000: A legendary artifact that is one of a kind and incredible useful, such a computer or howitzer.
Haunt (0 to 00000)
Most wraiths have a haunt of some kind. It is their haven, the place they are considered to “haunt” in the eyes of mortals and the dead, and it is their domain. Several wraiths may share the same Haunt, sometimes unhappily, while others are avoided even by their owners except in times of Tempests or raids by the Shadow Eaten due to a high Angst saturation.
A Haunts dots are actually two ratings in one and the dots must be broken down when the merit is purchased: one rating is the number added to the dice pool to cross the Shroud while the other is the size of the Shroud. Many wraiths with larger Haunts must rely upon other factors to lower the Shroud while the smaller Haunts are easier to interact with.
- 0: A small Haunt, such as a room or a car.
- 00: A medium Haunt, such as a floor in a building or a parking lot.
- 000: A large Haunt, such as an entire house, a large ship, or a battlefield.
Secret Reaping (00)
You are known to have died, but many do not know you have been reaped or exist as a wraith in the Shadowlands. This is a very useful anonymity in the lands of the dead, but it also means no one may know if you disappear into the forges either.
Character Flaws
- Bound: For some reason, you are bound to a particular spot in the Shadowlands and can not move more than 100 yards from this spot. In addition, you must take this spot as an Anchor, though once resolved you may move about freely once this is done.
- Echoes of the Past: When a wraith is at home in her Haunt, her presence is known in the Skinlands through faint scents and sounds. This makes her presence known to mortals who know what to look for.
- Fog of Death: The character’s sight is limited to fifty feet around each Anchor and his Haunt, the rest of the Shadowlands hidden in a dense fog. The character can move through such fog but is considered blind while doing so. This flaw does not affect a wraith’s vision in the Labyrinth, Tempest or Junkyards.
- Fragile Corpus: Whenever you try to pass through a solid object, you lose two Corpus levels rather than one, as your Corpus reacts poorly.
- Rotting Appearance: You always thought of the dead as rotting corpses shambling about, and this twisted notion of self-concept has marked your Corpus. While many wraiths bear their death marks, those with this flaw are hideously decayed and as such have a much harder time working in the Underworld. Social dice pools have a -1 to all interactions. In addition, manifesting to loved ones has a whole new way of scaring the shit out them.
