Merits and Flaws for Highlander The Gathering Adrenaline Junkie (1-2 pt Flaw) by Erik Nielsen Although all immortals are, well, basically immortal, you feel you constantly have to prove it. Given the choice between the safe and possibly dangerous ways of attaining a goal, you inevitably take the dangerous path. Examples: never climb down from a tree or building when you can jump; jump into burning buildings even if there aren't any people in there to rescue; drink absinthe (wormwood) on a regular basis; carve ritual tattoos all over your body and watch them heal; always play chicken with other cars. Unlike certain daredevils who do this for a thrill, you are addicted to these experiences, and could not stop if you wanted to. Bonding Blood (5 pt Merit) by Marco An immortal with this merit can Blood Bond kindred to her, using the normal rules for Blood Bonds. Note: for a character who takes the merit Bonding Blood, the flaw Tasty Blood becomes a three point MERIT. Distinctive Quickening (3 pt Flaw) by LeeGarv Other Immortals can tell who you are (if they have ever met you before) by the "taste" of your quickening as you get near. Methos has something like this, and I'm not sure, but I think Kalas had it too. Dream Projection (3 pt Merit) by LeeGarv You can project dreams, nightmares, and halucinations into the mind of an Immortal whose Quickenning you have experienced. Make a Quickening test versus the target's Willpower. Successes Effect 1 The target has vague dreams centering on the subject of your choice 2 Dreams plague the character, but he doesn't remeber them upon waking 3 Recurring Dreams, whose content you control, cause the character to get no sleep. -1 to all tests. 4 Sculpted dreams, guided by you, you can implant ideas or delusions. -2 to all tests 5 In addition to the above, the character also begins having complex halucinations in full daylight. -3 to all tests, the character begins to doubt his sanity; the results of this are up to the Storyteller. This takes a lot out of the projector. The target must be within 30 miles, and only one target may be chosen per year. Endurance (1 pt Merit) by Marco Immortals do not die, but they do weaken if they go for prolonged periods of time with food, water, sleep, or air. An immortal with this benefit never needs to eat, drink, sleep, or breath. However, most still enjoy food and drink - it makes them feel human. Flinch (2 pt Flaw) by Erik Nielsen Because your original death was fairly painless, you are afraid of pain and will go to great lengths to avoid it. Make a willpower roll to do anything which might involve a great deal of pain (like jumping off a building or running into a burning building). Freindly Watcher (5 pt Merit) by The Livewire The Watcher and Immortal are good friends (ex: Duncan and Joe) Holyground Aversion (3 pt Flaw) by (charlesfreel) This would be similar to the Painful detection (qv.) but only applies to holy ground. Must spend willpower to enter holy ground. Hidden Quickening (6 pt Merit) by Marco Other immortals cannot sense you, although you can sense them. If they should become aware of you, however, and kill you, they can still get your gifts. Ignorant (5 pt Flaw) by Marco You know you're special - you realize that somehow, you cannot die, age, become sick, etc. However, nobody has ever really educated you on what it means to be an immortal. You probably do not even know that you *will* die if you lose your head, and you certainly do not know that there's a bunch of other immortals well trained in swordsmanship who are out to relieve you of your head. Note that an immortal with this flaw either tends to be very young (no other immortal has gotten around to seeking her out yet) or she might have the above merit - Hidden Quickening (she's old, but other immortals are not aware of her existance). Illusion (5 pt Merit) by LeeGarv This is the ability to create and maintain convincing illusions by exercising control over your quickenning. The quality of the illussion is determined by the successes against the Perception and Occult of any observer. Known Watcher (1 pt Merit) by The Livewire The Immortal knows there is a person watching him/her, just taking notes. Neck Injury (2 pt Flaw) by Marco At some point, the immortal has sustained a vicious injury to the throat (most likely a near decapitation by another immortal). There is a nasty scar on the immortal's throat, and he speaks in a horrible, grating voice. All social rolls suffer a penalty of two dice. On the plus side of this, the immortal gets a bonus of two dice on intimidation rolls. ("Mom!" - Kurgan) No Quickening (6 pt Flaw) by J. Clayton You can't sense other immortals, can kill em and get the gifts, but you just can't 'feel' em. Pacifist (5 or 7 pt Flaw) by Erik Nielsen Due to religious beliefs or just amazing morals, you are unable to take another's life. In any circumstance involving violence you must attempt to get away or simply accept the consequences of the violence; you are incapable of fighting. Should you commit a violent act, you will become violently ill, and will be almost unable to live with yourself. Characters with this flaw tend to live exclusively on Holy Ground, or are very good at hiding. The five point version of this flaw allows you to defend yourself (or others) but only in life or death circumstances (i.e., against an immortal out for your head). The seven point version precludes violence of any sort, and you may not purchase fighting skills of any sort. Painful Detection (3 pt Flaw.) by The Livewire The Highlander's Detect Immortal and Sense Holy Ground are acompanied by EXTREME Pain, sometimes the pain of their first death, or maybe just the kicked in the groin/really bad cramps pain. The Character must make a Stamina check vs. difficulty 6 The net failures are subtracted from all actions until the character is off the holy ground or out immortals range, check each time the power is activated. Pain Tolerance (5 pt Merit) by Marco Although immortals cannot die, they can still feel pain, and they do not particularly enjoy it. Immortals normally have a high tolerance for pain, because little compares to the agony of their first death when they become fully immortal. However, those with this pain are virtually insensitive to painful stimuli. Thus, the immortal would not hesitate to jump off the World Trade Center, or stick a knife in his heart to prove to someone they cannot die. In game terms, the immortal reduces the wound penalties on her dice pool by three. If the immortal is reduced to "incapacitated", he can still take actions with a penalty of four on his pool (unless, for example, his limbs are physically cut off - the Storyteller is the final judge). Note: immortals with this merit are pretty much immune to the effects of the Dark Thaumaturgy Path of Torture (Storyteller's Guide to the Sabbat). Powerful Quickening (3 pt Merit) by Erik Nielsen You absorb more ambient quintessence (Quickening) when you kill another immortal (1.5 the normal amount of Quickening expereince points). Quiet Quickening (3 pt Merit) by Erik Nielsen For some reason, your quickenings are short and quiet. Windows don't break, cars don't explode, and dogs don't run for cover. General replacement effects are: Bright, holy light transfixes you for a minute or two; animals gather around and look at you in wonder; gentle rain falls; rainbows cross the sky over head; you simply have a quick orgasm and get it over with. Really Friendly Watcher (7 pt Merit) by morris.113@postbox.acs.ohio-state.edu (The Livewire) The Watcher will betray other Immortals to you. Note this will risk him being expelled from the watchers. If this happens obiviously this merit is lost, and said jaded Watcher may become a Hunter (Storytellers discression) Rouge Watcher (5 pt Flaw) by The Livewire Your Watcher has turned Hunter. Think of having a really diligent Vampire Hunter after you who knows your bank account, your job, where you live, etc. Slow Healing (2 pt Flaw) by Marco An immortal with this flaw heals her wounds at a normal rate. ie - a paper-cut on her finger will take a couple days to heal. However, she can still use her Quickening to heal wounds. [I don't have the Highlander rules handy, so I don't remember exactly how extra-accelerated healing using Quickening works - it might be more appropriate to make this a 3 or 4 point flaw depending on how often the immortal can use her Quickening for this purpose.] Soft Touch (2 pt Merit) by Erik Nielsen Your change from mortal to immortal life was gentle, and so it is more difficult for other immortals to detect you. Immortals have to make a Perception + Quickening roll against difficulty 7, or will see you as simply mortal. (This is the Immortal equivalent of Baby Face.) Strong Aura (5 pt Flaw) by Marco The immortal radiates a particularly strong, unique aura which is automatically sensed by any supernatural creature possessing Auspex or its equivalent. Unless vampire/mage/etc is familiar with immortals (not very likely) they will be puzzled by the immortal's presence, and will probably cause trouble for her at some point. Even a vampire who knows about immortals will most likely cause problems for the character - such kindred are most likely Elders and Mesthuselahs who are jealous of their territory and *very* paranoid: they will want to know what the immortal wants and who sent them... Princes in particular are not too enthusiastic about the prospect of decapitated bodies cropping up in their cities. Supernatural Metabolism (2 pt Merit) by Marco Immortals do feel the symptoms of any drugs/poisons/etc that enter their system, although they cannot die from an overdose. An immortal with this merit is completely immune to the effects of any drug or poison that is inhaled, injected, or consumed. The immortal could drink a gallon of pure alcohol without becoming slightly intoxicated. However, the alcohol is still in her system, and while the immortal could walk in a straight line or touch her nose without a problem, she would still utterly fail a breath test. Note that this merit only applies to poisons and drugs that have specific biological targets in the body, not to corrosive substances. For example, if the immortal drinks battery acid she would still have a bad case of heartburn, or if she inhales vescicants like chlorine or mustard gas, her lungs are history until she heals them. But the immortal will be pretty much immune to the effects of most other substances, including nerve gases, biological toxins like snake venom or botulinum toxin, general anesthetics, heavy metals like lead, arsenic or mercury, and of course any narcotic. Tasty Blood (3 pt Flaw) by Marco Vampires get no benefit from drinking an immortal's blood. However, kindred tasting the blood of an immortal with this flaw will get an incredible rush. The vampire will seek out the immortal on future nights and may Frenzy if denied the blood. Incidentally, for the immortal, the Kiss is not enjoyable AT ALL. Technophobia (1-5 pt Flaw) by LeeGarv You are unable to comprehend or operate anything that was invented after your first "death". If you are under 60 years old, it's a 1 point flaw; if you are under 150, it's 2 points; under 400, 3 points; and over 600, 5 points. "Thousand-Yard Stare" (2 pt Merit) by Marco When immortals have died their first death, they get a glimpse of what is beyond, and some take that with them when they come back to life. An immortal with this merit can unnerve any who meet her gaze, be they vampire, garou, mage, or human. The immortal gets a bonus of three dice to any roll involving intimidation. An additional benefit is a vampire will not be able to gaze into the immortal's eyes long enough to Dominate her unless the vampire scores three successes on a Courage roll (difficulty 7). Unbeating Heart (1 pt Flaw) by Marco After the immortal's first death, her heart just never started beating again. This actually makes it possible for her to pass as a Kindred, but imagine what a vampire-hunter will do ("They're running around during the DAY, now??!!"). Unfortunate Quickening (3 pt Flaw) by Erik Nielsen For some reason, luck just isn't with you. Any time you behead another immortal and experiences the Quickening, weird events occur which generally cause you some damage. Examples: Lightning strikes the stone staircase you're on, plummet to the ground; a survivalist nut with a Mac-10 uses you for target practice; a fireworks factory is standing nearby and lights up; the cops hear the sprinklers in the underground parking lot go off and come to investigate; you lose your footing and fall into the river. Weak Persona (4 pt Flaw) by LeeGarv Your persona is strong enough for normal circumstances, but when you are infused with the knowledge and memories of another Immortal (by taking their heads) the conflict is just too much sometimes. Make a test of Willpower -vs- Willpower, and if you lose, then you begin exhibiting traits of the fallen foe's personality. This cannot be taken along with Iron Will. Well Known Watcher (2 pt Merit) by The Livewire The Immortal knowas Who their watcher is.