Custom Merits

Battle Buddies (• to •••••)

Created by Flybandito

Prerequisites: Wits •••, Dexterity •••, Firearms •••, Athletics ••.

Description: Being a Battle Buddy, at least to the US Military, is more than just two guys that fight side by side. They live, take care of, and watch each other back at all hours of the day. This level of synergy does, however, translate onto the battlefield and this is only amplified by continued training, practice, and maturity.

Partner (•): Designate one person, who also shares this style, as your partner. In combat you can swap places with your partner in initiative order at the beginning of each turn round.

The role of a battle buddy on the battlefield is the person that has your back, that you can trust to keep you alive and make sure that you make it back in one piece.

Bounding (••): Cover fire from your partner does not force you to drop prone, nor do you take damage from it. Your Partner, however, loses dice equivalent to the damage modifier of the weapon they are using for the Covering Fire to avoid hitting you. 

Moving from cover to cover is the standard motion of most fights while under fire. Adding in suppressive fire from another to keep the heads of the enemy down makes it even easier to do.

Spotter (•••): Roll Composure + Firearms, gain successes to your partner’s next Firearms Attack.

Sometimes an extra set of eyes will see something another can’t. Being able to accurately point out what is seen, so that a shooter can hit it is a skill that has to be trained strenuously. 

Bait and Switch (••••): If you and your partner have swapped Initiatives for the turn round, you both gain an additional bonus to defense based on half of your personal firearms, rounded down. Your defense can now be applied to ranged attacks until the next turn round. 

Sometimes it is about making the opposition look elsewhere than where they are supposed to. Sometimes that is a dangerous task that has to be done and exposes you to direct fire.

Designated Target (•••••): Either you or your partner designates a target, and a specific place to hit. Attempts made to hit this called shot are taken at a -4 to hit, but gain 4 Armor Piercing. This replaces a regular called shot modifiers. 

Whether it be the video game weak spot, or perhaps the structural weakness of a building, or a chink in the armor. Whatever it might be, being able to know where to hit the enemy to hit them hard is better than simply denting their armor.

Computer Whiz (● to ●●●●)

Created by Aeveth

Prerequisite: Intelligence •••, Computer •••, Wits •••, Hacking Specialty

Your character is an expert behind a keyboard and knows tricks about hacking that only the best can manage. Each dot of this merit allows access to a new technique.

Rootkit (•): Your character knows how not to trip the security of a system to remain undercover while working through it, any attempts to detect his intrusion into a system suffer his computer skill rating as a penalty.

Breaching (••): Your character can take a look at a system and spot vulnerabilities in the programming, he may ignore up to his computer skill dots in penalties when attempting to breach a system.

Burn Out (•••): When your character decides to do without the subtlety he can hack like no other, enjoy the 8-again quality to rolls.

Drawback: This is an obvious attack on the system and he’s discovered just as he starts to use this technique, prompting a response (Contested roll) from the security of the system.

Backdoor(••••): Your character can spend willpower to apply the advanced roll quality to his computer rolls.

Dervish (Style • to •••••)

Created by Nomadic

Prerequisites: Dexterity •••, Athletics •• or Expression ••
Style Tags: Brawl, Flexible, Light Melee, Movement (Agile), Psychic

Effect: Most people in knockdown and drag-out fights are focused primarily on standing and hitting their opponent as few times as they can before they fall down… For you, a battle is an art form, a beautiful dance between you and your partners (who must have at least 1 dot in this style), that keeps your opponents guessing on where you’ll strike from at any given moment and eventually adding your own supernatural flair. You can only use one movement per turn.

Dance Partner (•): At this level, you’ve only begun to learn the intricacies of the battle dance. At the beginning of combat, you may designate someone as your dance partner. When you and your partner focus on one opponent, treat that opponent as prone when planning your combat pools.

Whirling Defenses (••): While working with your partner in tandem, it’s difficult to pinpoint you for assault. Opponents attacking you or your partner do not reduce your defense pools. In addition, you can spend a WP to increase your partner’s defense by 2.

Flourish (•••): With a flourishing dance, your character distracts an opponent for a cleaner, more effective follow-up strike. For example, if Flourishing with a two damage weapon with three successes, the attack causes no damage, however, your next attack ignores five points of Defense and causes three extra points of damage. Alternatively, you can provide a ‘dance partner’ with an opening; causing their next attack to ignore defense.

Staccato (••••): Perfectly in tune with your partner now, you two don’t seem to split your attacks, much to the chagrin of your opponents. At this point, you may use the higher of the initiative between you and your dance partner if attacking the same opponent, with the innate propensity for dual striking, your attacks gain Armor Piercing 2. Alternatively, you may give up your own strike so that your partner ignores mundane armor for the next attack.

Two Bodies, One Mind (•••••): You have reached a point with your dance partner that most people don’t know is possible between two people. During the scene where you are both active, you both benefit from each other’s supernatural merits. Allowing you to activate your partner’s abilities using your own Willpower. If your partner lacks a supernatural ability, they may instead use two movements of this style per turn.

Disabling Tactics Style ● to ●●●

From Dark Eras

Prerequisites:  Strength •••, Weaponry ••

Tags: Flexible, Heavy Melee, Light Melee, Pole Weapons

Effect:  Your character has training in disabling opponents, making it easier to bring people back alive.

Breaking the Branch • :  Your character is skilled at striking arms and legs in the midst of combat. Reduce the penalty for making an attack specifically at the arm, hand, or leg by two.

Cast Like Sand •• :  Your character can send enemies flying by encroaching on their space during a fight. When she successfully hits and deals damage with her weapon, you may spend a point of Willpower to inflict the Knocked Down Tilt on the subject.

Strike the Rising Dog ••• :  Your character knows that the best way to keep someone out of the fight is by keeping them on the ground, and she’s trained in doing so. When someone within her striking distance tries to rise from a prone position, you may spend a point of Willpower. The character makes a reflexive Weaponry attack against the subject. If successful, in addition to any damage from the attack, the subject also fails to rise.

Ruinous Impact (● to ●●●●●)

Created by Flybandito

Prerequisites: Strength •••, Stamina •••,Weaponry •••, Heavy Weapons •••, Weapons of size 3 or greater: (Swords, Axes, Mauls, Maces, Hammers.)

Martial Cadence (•): So long as you are wielding an appropriate weapon you can lower the weapons Initiative penalty up to your Strength dots.

Versatile Grip (••): While wielding an appropriate weapon, you can sacrifice -2 to your defense, your weapon attack gains Armor Piercing Rating 1, and you can impose the Knocked Down Tilt on a successful attack where the damage done is greater than the target’s stamina.

Coup De Grâce (•••): When attacking an opponent who is suffering the Knocked Down Tilt; If you make an All out attack on that opponent the opponent suffers a penalty to their defense equal to the size rating of the weapon, and the +2 to attack is instead 2L as weapon damage.

Forceful Strikes (••••): The user of this style can spend one willpower and lose defense equal to the size rating of their weapon, to add that rating to it’s damage rating.

Defy Pain (•••••): Whenever the user of this style has their defense reduced by a maneuver in the style or an all-out attack, they gain armor equivalent to the defense lost, up to the size rating of the weapon. (Example: All out attack loses 6 defense, wielding a Size 3 weapon would yield 3/3 armor)

Slow is Smooth, Smooth is Fast (● to ●●●●)

Created by Flybandito

Prerequisite: Firearms •••, Composure •••, Dexterity •••, Does not possess: Fight, Flight, Freeze.

The best laid plans break upon first contact, and it is those that keep their cool under high-stress and high-threat situations where bullets are striking right at their feet. This merit fighting style is built around surviving and thriving in the chaos of firefights and in close-quarters with firearms, and represents characters who have trained or are training in such situations: Veteran Soldiers, SWAT / Veteran Police officers, FBI agents, Professional / Corporate security, Gangsters / Cartel members etc.

Pistol Whip (•): When in close quarters, sometimes firing the gun is too dangerous to the fighter or their allies. To subdue an opponent, your character may make a melee strike using their firearm as the weapon. The strike is calculated with Firearms + Strength against the target’s defense, and does Bashing damage. (This replaces the Core Mechanic of Improvised Crowbar as the weapon type).

Rapid Acquisition (••): In intense firefights and close quarter firefights it is near impossible to sit and wait to take precise and carefully aimed shots. There are only mere moments to strike. Your character may make an attack with an additional aim bonus of Half of Composure (rounded down). This bonus lasts for one round, can only be used 1 + Composure per scene, and prevents the character from benefiting from any cover rating greater than Barely Concealed (-1) until the character’s next turn. Note: This bonus does not coincide with the usual Aim bonus, and is to be considered a separate action to the Aim Action.

Keep Moving (•••): Circumstances sometimes prevent the ability to take cover in a firefight, either by lack thereof, an ambush, or the need to push forward an assault. Your character may choose to spend 1 Willpower to apply Keep Moving to their dodge action. In doing so they add Composure to the dodge pool. This can only be done Once per scene.

Advanced Drills (••••): Either through real world experience or extensive additional training, your character has become distinguished in keeping their cool when under intense pressure and fire. Each previous dot gains additional effects:

• Pistol Whip: The strike is now calculated with Firearms + Strength + Weapon Size. The size rating is applied as Auto Damage.
• Rapid Acquisition: Your character may now benefit from cover up to rating: Partially Covered (-2)
• Keep Moving: Your character may now do this Twice per scene, each time spending 1 Willpower.

Sporting Chance (Style • to ••••)

Created by Nomad

Prerequisites: Resolve •••, Integrity <7, Firearms •••, Survival •••
Style Tags: Pistol, Rifle, Tactical (Hunter)

Effect: You are adept at hunting the most dangerous game, Man. This applies equally to the various creatures that take the shape of mankind, they all seem to react the same to stimuli, the same weaknesses when it comes to how their bodies are formed and move, and the instinct to survive that often forces them to take options that are far too obvious not to be traps, at least within your mind’s eye.

The Most Dangerous Game (•): Mankind has always been a resourceful lot, quick to adapt to a situation or find an advantage that might help them turn the table on their predators. Unfortunately for them, you are not only like them, but you’re also better. While hunting someone who ‘looks’ human you may reduce the penalty of Called Shots or the penalty granted by Cover, by dots in this merit.

Now, Now, That’d be Cheating (••): So many evolutionary paths of mankind, each of them developing wild adaptations and methods to avoid their own demise. You don’t play these kinds of games. Spend a Willpower, When you do, you may lower the defense of your target by your dots in this style. This specifically works on those adaptations that nullify a Firearm’s ability to ignore Defense. If this would cause a Clash of Wills, you would use your Resolve + Firearms.

I Don’t Need a Spotter (•••): It’s been said that you perceive things more swiftly, that’s not true, you simply predict how your prey moves. You’ve learned through years of experience how to lead your targets so that you can draw a line on them far swifter than your peers. Every turn you spend Aiming gives you two dice towards your Aim maximum.

This is a Gentleperson’s Sport (••••): All too often, your prey tries to run away, or fight in some sort of uncouth way that is simply inappropriate. Since you are simply better than them, rather than call out this sort of disruptive behavior, you assist them by removing the potential. When causing the Arm Wrack or Leg Wrack Tilts while hunting, you may treat the target’s Stamina as three dots lower.

Subduing Strikes ●

From Dark Eras

Prerequisite:  Weaponry ••

Effect:  Your character is practiced at striking enemies in a way that leaves them breathing, even when using otherwise deadly force. When pulling her blows with a weapon, she can deal bashing damage instead of lethal without spending Willpower.

Thrown Weapons ●●●

Created by Brickwarrior

Full Force Throw ••• : Your character can throw using the power of her entire body. Add her Strength dots to the dice pool for throwing the weapon.

Drawback: The character is considered a still target and may not employ her Defense during the turn in which she uses this maneuver.