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As with official merits, some of the following (esp 5+ freebie point
ones) can be powerful, imbalancing, or disruptive.  If you use such
merits, you may want to keep them very rare.  Never let a player take
a merit just because he has the points.  Storyteller's word is final.


PSYCHOLOGICAL:
     
Dual Nature: (f/ Vampire’s Players guide)
(Mages can be very complex people, could represent
a past life, avatar, etc)

Free Will: (1-5pt Merit or 1pt Flaw)
     You believe, strongly, that your destiny is not pre-
determined.  You feel that you are the master of your fate and
can reasonably hope to accomplish anything.  When things are
going badly, your belief helps you to struggle onward rather than
bemoaning your 'fate.'  Once per session you may roll your Free
Will rating (difficulty 8) to regain Willpower.  If you also have
Destiny, you cannot regain Willpower by rolling your Destiny
Rating.  If you have Destiny you can take Free Will as a Flaw: in
this case you do not believe in you Destiny or your Free Will
enough to regain Willpower.

Low Self-Image: (f/ Vamp PG)
(This often comes into play when you attempt Vulgar Magic)

Objectivist: (3pt Flaw)
     Though you are awakened, you have never really freed
yourself from the paradigm of the Technocracy.  You can perform
static or coincidental magic with no problem, but vulgar effects
hold a special danger for you and those around you.  You count as
a sleeper for purposes of determining if a vulgar effect was
'witnessed.'  Thus all vulgar magick you perform is automatically
considered to be in front of witnesses (yourself) and is
correspondingly more difficult and gets you the increased amount
of paradox.  Obviously, this is a very common Flaw among
technarcs.

Soft Hearted: (f/ Vamp PG)
(Always hated the description of this, but some Chorister
might want it...)



MENTAL:


Time Sense: (f/ Vamp PG)
(Time 1 does the same thing…)

Weak Willed: (f/ Vamp PG)
(Doesn't make much sense for mages, with there
minimum Willpower of 5, and all. Should cause
trouble with casting magick, too...)


APTITUDES:

Ars Vulgaris: (3pt Merit)
     You have little respect for reality and perform dynamic
magick without batting an eye.  Even when performing vulgar magic
in the presence of sleepers, your effect's difficulty is not
increased [1st Ed: you may roll up to your full Arete pool rather
than your level with the sphere being used].  You still
accumulate paradox, however.  This Merit is much respected by
some of the Order of Hermes.

Copperfield: (2pt Merit)
     You have an uncanny knack for making coincidental effects
hold together.  You can solicit advice from other players,
bystanders, or even the Storyteller for possible coincidental
effects.  The Storyteller should also give you some extra time to
come up with them as long as it doesn't slow play too much. 
Also, when the Storyteller informs you that a coincidence you
propose is too wild to fit in static reality, you can spend a
point of willpower to keep it from being vulgar.
     You cannot take the Flaw: Stodgy.

Dogmatic: (1,3,5pt Flaw)
     You believe very strongly in your Tradition's paradigm.  All
others are clearly wrong.  You tend to ridicule other traditions
and study only with your own kind.  You may occasionally admit
that there is something to be learned by studying the
'superstitions' of others, even then you gain only half the
experience you would have otherwise [1st Ed: you learn from them
with a minus five penalty to study points (instead of the usual
minus three)].  Of course, you probably won't be able to find
many masters willing to teach you anyway.
     This flaw can also get in the way of your understanding of
the metaphysic of magick.  At the 3pt level, you do not abandon
the use of a focus until Arete 5 (like a Tradition Technomancer).
At the 5pt level, your belief in your paradigm is so inflexible
that you cannot ever perform magick without the prescribed
methods and trappings of your Tradition.
     You can not take the Merit: Paradigm Flexibility.

Duelist: (3pt Merit)
     You have never lost a one-on-one contest of any kind.  You
may be lucky or touched by some supernatural power that grants
you victory, or your sense of honor may compel you to try harder
in such situations.  Whatever the reason, whenever you face a
single opponent, whether in pitched battle or formal contests of
any kind, you ignore one botch on each roll you make - just like
Charmed Life.  Furthermore, whenever you participate in a
formalized contest (any contest where there are rules of conduct
or victory conditions) your difficulties are reduced by 1 due to
your keen strategic insights and competitive spirit.  Your fame
will spread among those mages who follow Certamen matches.

Inept: (f/ Vamp PG)
(Some very studious mages might have neglected developing
talents)

Pitiable: (f/ Werewolf PG)
(Willworkers usually have a certain force of personality,
but this could be a Paradox Flaw of some sort)

Paradigm Flexibility: (1-5pt Merit)
     You have an easy time understanding other paradigms and
adapting elements of them to your own. [1st Ed: When learning
from mages of other traditions, you reduce the study point
penalty by your rating in this Merit.  You can even learn some
spheres from non-mages (Werewolves, Vampires, Mummies, etc). 
Generally, a base study point penalty of 5 is assumed, so if you
have Paradigm Flexibility at the maximum level you can learn
anything anyone has to teach at no penalty.]  Whenever you face a
penalty due to paradigm differences, that penalty is reduced by
your points in this merit (though you never get a bonus, of
course).
     Your investigation of alternate paradigms may also help you
to overcome your dependence on foci.  Tradition Technomancers
with at least 3pts of Paradigm Flexibility abandon foci as
quickly as other Tradition mages.  Convention mages with Paradigm
flexibility can abandon foci (though they risk much in doing so):
at the 3pt level, at the same rate as Tradition Tecnomancers and,
at the 5pt level, as quickly as any Tradition mage.  No amount of
Paradigm Flexibility allows a mage to abandon foci faster than 
the basic Tradition rate of 1 per dot of Arete after the first.
     You cannot take the Flaw: Dogmatic.

Stodgy: (1pt Flaw)
     You have a tough time coming up with coincidental effects. 
You much prefer simple static magic that doesn't stretch reality
too far.  Whenever your player comes up with a brilliant,
convoluted, bizarre, or extreme coincidence, you will have to
spend a point of willpower to use it.  
     You cannot have the Merit: Copperfield.

Uneducated: (f/ Vamp PG)
(This would be odd for most mages, for whom knowledge is
so important.  But might be reasonable for an orphan or child
mage.)

Unskilled: (f/ Vamp PG)
(Possible for nerdy V-depts and Hermetics)

SUPERNATURAL

Active Avatar: (2pts +4/dot of Avatar)
     Your Avatar is unusually active.  It appears to you
frequently and can be very insistent or even domineering, even
when no seeking is involved.  However, it may also offer you
greater magickal power.  Active Avatars make for quick Seekings
and can sometimes act independently (using your Arete).  
     In addition, you can spend a point of Quintessence to tap
your Avatar, adding your Avatar rating to your Arete pool for one
roll. [AMS: Unlike the normal use of Avatar, this actually
increases both Intensity and Power].  To fully realize the
potential (and downside) of this Merit, the Storyteller might
want to have another player take the role of the Active Avatar,
much as the Shadow is handled in Wraith.

Charmed Life: (f/ Werewolf PG)
(This merit can be excessively useful.  One good way to reign
it in is to ignore a ‘1’ only on a roll that would otherwise be
a botch.)

Faerie Affinity: (f/ Vamp PG)

Fountainhead: (5pt Merit)
     Though quintessence flows through all patterns of life, your
own pattern is home to a virtual torrent of it, making you a
living Node.  This Merit is of most use if you have the
Background: Avatar.  Otherwise, you will be unable fully to
harness the natural force you posses.  Whenever your Quintessence
falls below your Avatar rating you may make a Stamina +
Meditation roll (difficulty = 7) each hour (this is not an
action, but a natural process for you) to recharge your Avatar. 
Furthermore, the abundant free quintessence swirling through your
pattern makes magick easer for you.  Your difficulty for all
effects is decreased by half your Avatar rating (round down). 
And. you never need more than one success to step sideways, since
your mere presence weakens the local Gauntlet.  
     Tass also accumulates in your pattern - 1 Tass for each
point of Avatar each month.  Tass tends to accumulate in a
specific organ such as the heart, gallbladder, or brain.  After a
month, your pattern assimilates that Tass, making it useable,
stored Quintessence (assuming you have 'room' for it). It takes
conjunctional Life 4, Prime 3 to remove useable Tass from your
body without harming you.  Unfortunately, there will be those who
don't worry about harming you.  
     If you are killed the free quintessence is released and
flows for several turns, randomly coalescing into patterns of
lesser forces and elemental gasses, before stopping forever. 
During this time a mage with Life and Prime at three can try to
incorporate the Fountain into his own pattern.  To do so he must
roll successes equal to your avatar rating plus his own as an
extended action before the flow stops.  If he succeeds he has
gained the Fountainhead Merit, if he already posses this merit he
gains a point of Avatar.  If he fails, he takes two health levels
of soakable, aggravated damage per success he did roll as the raw
quintessence in his body coalesces into forces.  If he botches,
Paradox will claim him for this effect is invariably Vulgar, and
ALL dice rolled prior to the botch are counted.
     If you have this Merit you will likely have some Physical
Merits as well such as Longevity, or Fast Healing.  You cannot
have: Arcane, Paradox Slough, or Upturned Cup.

Naked Anomaly: (3pt Flaw)
     It is impossible for you to cast coincidental or static
magic.  Your magic invariably takes a vulgar turn no matter how
hard you try to conceive and execute coincidences.  The only time
your magic is coincidental is when you're in the Umbra.  You can
still use Static Magic, if such is available to your Tradition. 
The Merit: Ars Vulgaris would be particularly useful to you.

Natural Channel: (f/ Werewolf PG)
 (The difficulty of all Spirit magick is reduced by one for you.   
Masters of Spirit will single you out for special training . . . 
or use you for their own ends.)

Natural Vessel: (1-6pt Merit)
     Your pattern is particularly well suited for storing
quintessence.  You may store five extra points of quintessence
for each point you put into this Merit.  This extra capacity can
also hold Paradox energies.  You cannot take this Merit along
with the Flaw: Upturned Cup.

Paradox: (1pt Flaw)
     You have accumulated Paradox - either in the course of your
training or in you earlier adventures - 2pts of Paradox per
freebie point you get from the flaw.  You should not be able to
immediately spend this Paradox; wait until you have gained more
or have had a bout of Quiet first.

Paradox Flaw: (3,5pt Flaw)
     You have had a run in with Paradox that resulted in a
permanent Paradox Flaw (1 or 2 pts).  The Flaw is of an obviously
supernatural nature.  Sleepers will react to you appropriately -
with fear, disbelief, confusion, etc.  Flaws that result in more
mundane afflictions can be simulated with physical flaws instead. 
Even though this flaw makes you stand out, it does not adversely
affect your arcane (sleepers will unconsciously suppress their
memories of such an obviously supernatural phenomenon).

Paradox Slough: (3,5,7pt Merit)
     Some mages jokingly call this Merit the 'Teflon Avatar.'
Though you still generate paradox and may suffer from a backlash
or flaw, your pattern does not accumulate Paradox over the long
term.  Each day - or each hour at the 5pt level - your pattern
sloughs (harmlessly disperses) one point of accumulated paradox. 
At the 7 point level Paradox simply will not 'adhere' to your
pattern, you need fear only the backlash created by botching
Vulgar magick in front of witnesses.  Mages with this Merit often
have the Flaw: Upturned Cup as well and the Storyteller should
consider requiring this if he thinks the merit is being abused.

Upturned Cup: (2,3,4pt Flaw)
     Your pattern leaks stored quintessence.  Any quintessence
beyond your Avatar rating is lost at one point per day or one
point per hour for the 3pt version.  At the highest level this
Flaw prevents you from storing any quintessence beyond your
Avatar rating.  Mages with this flaw may also have the Merit:
Paradox Slough.

Wild Talent: (7pt Merit)
     Your ability to use magick is not limited by your knowledge
of the Spheres.  You can cast effects from spheres you do not
know or do not have the necessary foci to use.  The only
limitation is that the effect you evoke cannot require any sphere
with a level greater than your Arete.  However, whenever you
throw such an effect, you must make a Willpower roll (difficulty
is the highest sphere in the effect +3, no modifiers apply).  As
long as you make more successes on your Willpower roll than on
your Arete roll, the effect manifest normally.  Otherwise, the
effect gets away from you in some way, becoming more or less
powerful, affecting unintended targets, or going Vulgar.  On a
botched Willpower roll, the effect backlashes on you (either an
actual Paradox Backlash, or a reverse/harmful effect).      
Spheres that you have learned and use foci with or those that you
have 'bought off' can be used normally.  
     Wild Talents often have merits like Ars Vulgaris, and Active
Avatar and may lack spheres at the beginning of the game
(Storyteller's discretion).

CONTINUUM SOCIETY

Traitorous Mentor: (2pt Flaw)
     Your Mentor has gone over to the Technocracy (or perhaps was
a technarc from the beginning) or become a barrabi.  Though you
were not involved in his fall you will be viewed with suspicion. 
Powerful mages will ask you difficult questions:  Where is your
mentor now?  Do have congress with the Nephandi?  How do we know
you're not a Progenitor clone?


SLEEPER TIES:


Acolytes: (1pt Merit)
     [1st Ed: You are served or assisted by a sleeper of no great
ability who knows you are a mage and is generally loyal and
supportive.  You can have two more acolytes for each additional
point you put into this Merit.  Your acolytes will help you with
whatever mundane tasks you need to get done, but are neither
inclined to undertake nor well suited for dangerous missions. 
They do help to keep you in touch with mundane reality however,
giving you a  -1 difficulty on rolls to deal with Quiet as long
as at least one such friend is present.  Since this represents a
fairly close relationship the mage should seek to help and
protect his acolytes in return.]
     You are served by a number of sleepers of no great ability
who know you are a mage and firmly believe in your paradigm of
magick.  Though they cannot work magick (even hedge magic) on
their own, they do not count as witnesses for your Vulgar effects
and can even assist in magickal rituals (see 'Acting in Concert'
p172, Mage, 2nd Ed).  You have 5 Acolytes for each point you take
in this Merit.

Alien: (3pt Flaw)
     You have lost touch with the rest of humanity.  Perhaps you
have had too many bouts of Quiet or spent too much time in other
Realms.  In any case, though you are still sane, you find it
difficult to relate to and communicate with sleepers - and many
mages for that matter.  Your speech is littered with enigmas,
Zen-like koans, and non-sequiturs.  You loose half your pool in
social skills and cannot pass on information to other players
except in roundabout ways or riddles.  You may spend a point of
willpower to moderate your behavior and communicate 'lucidly' for
a short time.  You cannot have the Merits: Acolytes or Custos nor
the Flaw: Mundane Life.

Anachronism: (f/ Vamp PG)
(Perhaps you were raised in a chantry since birth, sent into the
future by your Mentor, left in suspended animation, or only 
recently returned from some Realm where time flowed differently 
or maybe you just picked up outdated habits from an ancient 
mentor.) You also have a tendency to dress/talk/act strangely
drawing unwanted attention.  This reduces your maximum Arcane
rating by 1.)

Custos: (2pt Merit)
     You have a personal bodyguard who is extremely loyal to you. 
Though a sleeper, she has learned to take the supernatural in
stride and is not overtly affected by things like the Delirium. 
You should describe her to the Storyteller who will build the
actual character.  This is a particularly able person and is
built just like a mage but without Spheres or Arete.  Each
additional point spent gives you another Custos.  Having such a
friend present during bouts of Quiet gives you a -1 to 
difficulties on rolls you must make to resist it. (This is just a
minor variation of the Allies Merit).

Mundane Identity: (3pt Flaw)
     You continue to pursue a mundane existence in spite of your
Awakening.  You have friends, family, and a career.  This takes
up a lot of your time leaving less for study and experimentation. 
You try to avoid using magic in you mundane life - it represents
both a danger to those sleepers you deal with and a distance
between you that you still deny.  You go out of your way to keep
your two lives separate.  All mages maintain some sort of contact
with the mundane world; taking this Flaw means that you are
determined to keep your old (or assumed) life as normal as it
would have been had you never Awakened.  On the positive side,
you are highly resistant to Quiet: -2 all difficulties and your
sojourns to the mindscape never take more than a day.



PHYSICAL:


Fast Healer: (3pt Merit)
     You recover from non-aggravated wounds very quickly - one
Health Level per day.  You must heal aggravated wounds, those
from Vulgar Magic, fire, acid, and the attacks of supernatural
creatures like Vampires and Nephandus demons, at the normal rate. 
You are also harder to kill by normal means; you must suffer
three Health Levels of non-aggravated damage while Incapacitated
in order to be killed.  However, one aggravated wound would be
sufficient, even if you were taken to Incapacitated by normal
damage.  This Merit may be the unconscious exercise of
Coincidental powers, the result of past experiments performed
upon you, or a natural, inborn ability.

Immortal: (7pt Merit)
     It is unlikely that you will ever die.  You do not age, nor
do you require food, water, or air.  You recover quickly from
most wounds (1 HL/minute) and can even heal aggravated wounds at
a rate of 1 per day of rest.  You take aggravated damage from
Vulgar Magic, fire, and acid as well as the attacks of Werewolves
and Vampires.  You will also die if decapitated or dismembered by
normal damage.  You may have been magickally altered by some
unimaginably powerful mage (like an Oracle) or you could have
always been this way - you may not even know why.  Though you
have only recently Awakened, you may have lived for some time and
might take the Flaw: Anachronism.

Longevity: (f/ Were PG)
(Mages *are* mortal, after all)

Puny: (f/ Were PG)  
(Might not want to give full points for extremely non-physical
mages, like the V-dept who *never* leaves his sanctum and does
everything via coorespondence)

Monstrous: (f/ Vamp PG)
(You may have been transformed by a malevolent mage, 
or be staggering under the weight of terrible Paradox flaws.  
Because you are so distinctive, you can buy Arcane only with the
Storyteller's permission - and then only a point or two.)



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