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By Chris Hoffmann
Merits and flaw are a way to allow a character to have greater individuality. In the other White Wolf Games, the merits and flaws were introduced in their respective player's guides. They were overlooked in The Street Fighter Player's Guide (probably due to space constraints, their are fifteen pages of Merits and flaws in the Vampire Player's Guide and only 102 pages in the Street Fighter's Player's Guide.) Merits are advantages and are bought with freebie points while Flaws are penalties and give you freebie points. You may take as many flaws as you want, however, the maximum number of freebie points given by flaws is seven.
Merits/Flaws without descriptions are Identical to the ones found in the Vampire Player's Guide.
You are the greatest fighter in the world (and perhaps beyond), and tell you opponent so at every opportunity. A fighter with this flaw must make a willpower check (Target Number is the rating of the flaw), or spend the round taunting. In addition, if the fighter had hit his opponent, (a blocked maneuver doesn't count), with a move that costs chi/will/super bar, the target number is doubled. A character with this flaw may not take the merit Glory Hound
The opposite of Quick Reflexes. Regardless of your dexterity or athletics, your reaction time is very low. This gives you a slight speed problem when in combat. A fighter with slow reflexes breaks speed ties in the opponent's favor. If the fighter has the 2 pt. flaw, when the fighters' maneuver speed, dexterity, AND Wits are tied, then instead of rolling to see who has the effective higher speed, the fighter with Slow Reflexes automatically looses. If the fighter has the 3 pt. flaw, then only the Maneuver speed and the Dexterity need to be tied. Finally, if the fighter has the 4 pt. flaw, then he looses the Maneuver speed tie. If both opponents have this flaw, then ties go to the fighter with the lower rating of Slow Reflexes. If both characters have the same rating, then ties are resolved normally. Finally, if one fighter has Quick Reflexes and the other has Slow Reflexes, then the Character with Quick Reflexes automatically wins speed ties. A character with this Merit may not have the Merit Quick Reflexes
You are overwhelmingly afraid of something. When confronted by the object of your phobia, you instinctively attempt to flee. Common Objects of fear are Crowds, Open or Closed Spaces, Heights, Revenants, and Animal Hybrids). You must succeed at a willpower roll or flee from the source of your terror. The difficulty of the roll is up to the Story Teller.
As Phobia above except that you must score 3 or more successes in your willpower roll or be unable to approach the object of your fear.
You are blind. Period. Since your eyes are useless, you rely on Sound, vibrations in the air and ground, and possibly Chi to sense the world around you. In a fight, roll Perception+Blind Fighting, with a difficulty determined by the storyteller. (Some things that affect the target number are cheering crowds, extreme temperatures, and other such distractions). If you succeed, you may see the hex map when choosing your maneuver and moving. If you fail, you are not allowed to see the map and must either block or rely on luck and memory. If you failed your check but still perform a maneuver that hits your opponent, roll Blind Fighting+Technique (Difficulty 6) to determine if you hit. Blind Street Fighters tend to have very high Blind Fighting Skill (Obviously, they have lots of time to practice), High Block Technique, the merit Concentration, and Maka Wara. They also tend to specialize in one other technique besides block.
You are well below average height, and have trouble seeing over high objects and moving quickly. You suffer a two dice penalty to all pursuit rolls, and you and the storyteller should make sure your height is taken into account in all situations. In some circumstances, this will give you a concealment bonus. You can walk under projectiles thrown by huge fighters. In addition you can crouch under projectiles thrown by 'normal' sized fighters. You may not take the merit Huge Size
During your training you suffered severe injuries, and you never quite recovered from them. While your sensei managed to heal most of the damage (hospital stays, ancient Chinese potions, Chi Kung Healing, etc.), you have suffered permanent damage. You start the game with one less level of health (although you can still purchase 10 more health levels or 11 with huge size). This Wound can not be healed by any known means, although a storyteller may create an adventure where you search for a remedy.
You have something dark in you that sometimes comes out when you fight. Whenever you loose half of your health, you are in danger of succumbing to the frenzy. To avoid this you must get at least one success with a Chi Roll. If you loose control and later regain it, then you are fine (for a guy who's lost half or more of his health) until you loose half your current health again. Example: Poison Vapors, a gila-monster hybrid, has just lost 5 of his 10 health levels. Since his Chi is a one, he rolls his chi and gets a 3, causing him to go into a frenzy. During his frenzy, he looses three more health (bringing him down to two). Since one half of two is 1, when he's reduced to one, he'll probably go berserk again.
The effects of the Frenzy are as follows:
This may only be taken with either The Power or Dual Power merits. The Warrior has less control of his power and occasionally emits the element he has control over.
You never actually learned a Martial Art style. Everything you know, you learned on the street. You can only buy maneuvers that anyone can take (at the any cost). You get 6 Willpower and 1 Chi.
You seem to always heal damage slower than other street fighters. Instead of healing all non-aggravated damage in 15 minutes, it takes you 20. In addition you only heal 2 points of aggravated damage every 3 days. This Flaw may not be taken with the merit Fast Healing.
For what ever reason, you have no ability with languages. While you may be (and probably are) quite proficient at your native language, learning additional languages is exceedingly difficult for you.
It costs you twice as many experience points to get or raise your linguistics knowledge. In addition, all difficulties involving linguistics are raised by two (maximum of 9).
This does not affect your ability to use your native language or your ability to use computer languages.
Your build is large and a little bit clumsy. You may not take superhuman Dexterity. You may take the flaw short, but you may not take the flaw Small Frame.
Your frame is smaller than average and somewhat frailer. You may not take superhuman Strength or Stamina. You may not take the Merit Huge Size or the Flaw Large Build.
Compulsion (1 pt.)
Dark Secret (1 pt.)
Intolerance (1 pt.)
Nightmares (1 pt.)
Overconfident (1 pt.)
Speech Impediment (1 pt.)
Driving Goal (3 pts.)
Vengeance (2 pts.)
Deep Sleeper (1 pt.)
Amnesia (2 pts.)
Absent Minded (3 pts.)
Hard of Hearing (1 pt.)
One Eye (2 pts.)
Deaf (4 pts.)
Illiterate (1 pt.)
Inept (5 pts.)
Uneducated (5 pts.)
Unskilled (5 pts.)
Note: The Following are very optional. Many of these Traits are only useful in crossovers with other WOD Games. If the Storyteller decides not to allow you to have supernatural Traits, don't sulk. It's against the Warriors' Code to sulk.
Cursed (1-5 pts.)
Magic Susceptibility (2 pts.)
Dark Fate (5 pts.)
You have an enemy, or perhaps a group of enemies, who seek to harm you. The value of the Flaw determines how powerful these enemies are. The most powerful enemies (Shadoloo, the Mafia, the IRS, etc.) would be five-point flaws, while someone nearer to your own power would be worth only one point. You must decide who your enemy is and how you became enemies in the first place.
Your sensei was, and perhaps still is, distrusted and disliked by many members of the Fighting Community. As a result, you are distrusted and disliked as well. This is a heavy load, and one not easily shed.
You look similar to another fighter, and are mistaken for him, much to your chagrin. This individual's allies will approach you and tell you things you don't want to hear, her enemies will attempt to do away with you, and others will treat you in odd ways. Ultimately you might be able to sort out things, but it will take tremendous effort.
For some reason, something about your inspires contempt or hatred in members of a style other than your own. There is a two-dice penalty to all rolls for social dealings with students of this style. Select the 'enemy' style randomly or choose.
Your sensei is engaged in acts that could cause tremendous uproar in the fighting community. She could be a mass murderer, or frequently use firearms in the ring. World Warriors are likely to come to you in order to learn your sensei's whereabouts, and they may not believe you if you tell them you do not know. (Blanka is not known for his subtlety, or his restraint).
You have a bad reputation along the fighting community. This may be your own reputation, or it may be derived from your sensei. There is a two-dice penalty to all dice rolls for social dealings with the fighting community. A character with this flaw may not take the Merit of Reputation
You are devoted to the protection of a non-Martial Artist. You may describe your ward, though the storyteller actually create him. This character may be a friend or relative form your pre-training days, or simply someone you admire and consider important. Wards have a way of getting caught up in the actions of stories, and are frequent targets of a character's enemies.
A hideous disfigurement makes you ugly and easy to notice as well as remember. You have a zero appearance.
You have some kind of deformity - a misshapen limb, a hunchback or whatever -which affects your interactions with others and may inconvenience you physically. The difficulties of all dice rolls related to physical appearance are raised by two. Your deformity will also raise the difficulty of some Dexterity rolls by two, depending on the type of deformity you posses.
You have only one arm - choose which, or determine randomly at character creation. This happened before your training and it is assumed that you are accustomed to using your remaining hand, so you suffer no off-hand penalty. However, you do suffer a two-dice penalty to any Dice Pool where two hands would normally be needed to perform a task. A character may not take this Flaw along with the Merit Ambidextrous.
Your vocal apparatus does not function, and you can not speak at all. You can communicate through other means - typically writing, signing, or possibly telepathy.
I hope you enjoy---
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