Mental Merits

Mental merits refer to special skills, abilities, or aptitudes in mental or philosophical pursuits or contests that characters may possess. These may range from very simple merits, such as those that indicate a character can see well in the dark or understands languages easily, to very complex and supernatural ones, often possessed by only a few beings in the world at any given time. Merits always represent either an innate quality of a character, a situation they have encountered that has permanently affected them, or a skill they have worked hard to acquire.

Mental merits are broken down into merits belonging in the realm of Intelligence (merits involving knowledge or lore), Perception (merits involving using a character's senses), and Wits (merits involving reflexes and reactions).

Intelligence Merits

Bilingual: This character speaks two languages with native fluency.

Code of Honor: This character has a self-imposed ethical code that they refuse to break, even when others try to force them to.

Coldly Logical: This character is analytical and capable of making unemotional decisions.

Compassionate: This character has an unimpeachable moral character and is very difficult to force to do anything that harms others.

Computer Aptitude: This character is naturally good with computers, whether using or building them.

Concentration: This character is excellent at focusing on the subject at hand and is difficult to distract from a task.

Early Adopter: This character is always on the cutting edge of technology.

Eidetic Memory: This character has a perfect photographic/recording-style memory and never forgets anything they have experienced.

Fast Reader: This character reads and digests material more quickly than most.

Gift of the Bard: This character easily remembers and can retell a large variety of stories, legends, and pieces of folklore.

Gifted Teacher: This character is great at sharing information with others.

Good Map Reader: This character easily and instinctively understands maps and similar graphics such as blueprints.

Grand Library: This character has amassed a collection of informative and rare books.

Healthy Cynicism: This character seldom accepts things at face value and is good at fact-checking.

Internet Savvy: This character is a tech wizard who knows exactly how to get what they're looking for online.

Introspection: This character is highly in touch with their own motivations and finds reading those of anyone with the same Archetype as themself much easier.

Lightning Calculator: This character is a natural mathematician and can perform complex math mentally.

Limited Paranoia: This character always has plans in case of disaster (and backups, and backups for the backups) and seldom finds themself in a situation they have never planned for.

Media Junkie: This character keeps up-to-date on everything going on in the world and often knows useful information.

Natural Cypher: This character is a mathematical genius and can solve any problem or crack any code.

Natural Linguist: This character learns and speaks other languages with surprising instinctive ease.

Occult Library: This character has a library of rare occult materials and can find information about the supernatural more easily.

Paid Mortgage: This character has an already paid-off home that is owned by them, should they need it.

Patience: This character is excellent at waiting for the moment the time is right and as a result seldom has emotional problems related to stressful situations.

Precocious: This character learns new skills, including supernatural ones, noticeably quickly.

Scholar of Enemies: This character is extremely knowledgeable about one group that opposes them (for example, a Hunter might be very knowledgeable about a specific House of demons).

Scholar of Others: This character is extremely knowledgeable about some other secret group, such as a fairy kith.

Science Laboratory: This character has access to a scientific lab that they can use for their own projects.

Seasoned Traveler: This character is good at taking care of themself while traveling, including finding places to sleep and sustenance to keep going, even if they have never been to a place before.

Secret Code Language: This character knows a secret code that few others can decipher without help.

Specific Interests: This character has a focused interest in an obscure or strange field of study and knows a lot of unusual information about it.

Subculture Insider: This character is intimately familiar with a fringe subculture that most barely know about and can navigate there with ease.

Trivia Champ: This character knows a large amount of eclectic trivia that may occasionally include important details.

Uncanny Logic: This character can separate truth from fiction to an impressive Sherlock Holmes-esque degree.

Useful Knowledge: This character is an expert in a useful field related to their activities.

Well-Traveled: This character has traveled extensively and is likely to know a lot about various customs, cultures, and even to have met others before.

Perception Merits

Acute Sense: One of this character's senses is exceptionally keen by normal standards.

Barrow Sense: This character is adept at navigating underground.

Culture Knack: This character picks up cultural and social cues easily even in unfamiliar situations.

Deadened Nerves: This character has very muted physical sensations, but never suffers from any disadvantage from pain or wounds.

Direction Sense: This character always knows vaguely where they are, which direction is which, and how far they have recently traveled.

Eagle-Eyed: This character is able to discern tiny details even at a distance.

Eidetic Taste: This character perfectly remembers every taste they have ever encountered and can identify a startling range of things by taste alone.

Good Night Vision: This character sees better in the dark than most.

Good Sense of Character: This character reads the personality and vibe of others easily.

Homing Instinct: This character has an innate sense of direction and can always find their way home no matter where they are or how unfamiliar the terrain.

Insightful: This character is good at recognizing the inner qualities and goals of those around them.

Light Sleeper: This character wakes easily from even minor stimuli, such as the sound of an animal in the distance or a breeze from a suddenly opened window.

Natural Aptitude: This character is especially good at a specialized innate skill, far more than most other people.

Night Sight: This character can see perfectly in the dark or through similar obscuring effects such as smoke or fog.

Night Vision: This character can see better in low light than most, and does not need any time to to adjust when going from darkness to bright lights (or vice versa).

Open Road: This character loves to travel and is excellent at planning routes and finding their way.

Socially Aware: This character is excellent at guessing the relationships between others from their interactions.

Time Sense: This character instinctively knows the time and is good at estimating how much time has passed, even when there are no obvious ways to measure it.

Traveler's Intuition: This character may not know exactly how to find their way, but they are always able to go in about the right direction.

Vibes: This character has a sixth sense that allows them to accurately get a read on the personality of each person they meet for the first time.

Weather Sense: This character can sense in advance when bad weather is coming.

Wits Merits

Bargain Hound: This character is excellent at finding the best possible deal for what they need.

Common Sense: This character is practical and seldom makes unwise decisions in the heat of the moment.

Cool in Battle: This character keeps their head even in the heat of battle.

Danger Sense: This character has a sixth sense that warns them when they are in danger just in time to respond.

Daredevil: This character loves to take risks and is surprisingly good at surviving the fallout from them.

Death Wish: This character has a secret (and possibly unconscious) desire for self-destruction and often takes foolish chances or makes odd decisions that place them in danger as a result.

Determined: This character is laser-focused on their goals and extremely difficult to persuade to change their mind.

Fearlessness: This character is unafraid of most things and is much more difficult to affect with fear-inspiring powers.

Flexible Job: This character's job can be fit into the moments between the rest of their life, allowing them to stay solvent even when fighting the supernatural or setting up a coup.

Good Recognition: This character easily remembers people, places, and events they have encountered, including small details others are likely to forget.

Homing Instinct: This character has an uncanny ability to home in on their home base, although they can still be prevented by obstacles.

Independent Income: This character manages to have the money they need in between the pressures of supernatural life.

Jack of All Trades: This character is reasonably good at a wide variety of niche skills.

Optimistic: This character has a fundamentally optimistic outlook and regains Willpower quickly.

Organized: This character is incredibly organized and can often complete complex tasts very quickly.

Paid Mortgage: This character owns their home and need not involve others in what goes on there.

Punctual: This character always arrives to events on time unless prevented by a major disaster.

Self-Confident: This character knows exactly how good they are at things and is less likely to have accidents.

Unflappable: This character is naturally calm and able to take even frightening emergencies in stride.