(ThereвЂ™s no reason you couldnвЂ™t have a house rule for that, though!) Best Merits to Pick from the V5 Core Rulebook You canвЂ™t take on a Flaw to get more points to spend towards advantages. YouвЂ™ll get 7 points to spend on Advantages like merits, and then you automatically have to take 2 points of Flaws. If you wanted more merits but didnвЂ™t have enough points, you had the option of picking flaws, which were negative qualities that gave you more points to spend. You could use the points to increase your attributes, for instanceвЂ¦or you could purchase merits, which differed in cost. In revised edition, you would get a number of freebie points that you could spend on just about anything. IвЂ™ll be discussing two editions here: second (revised) edition and V5, as those are the editions I have access to. How you pay for them, though, varies based on which edition youвЂ™re playing. You can generally only get merits during character creation. The V5 Core Rulebook, the latest edition of the game, defines merits in the following way: вЂњadvantages and gifts inherent to the character.вЂќ For instance, if you have a soft voice or innocent look that just makes you seem trustworthy, that would be similar to a merit.

I guess I would almost describe them as вЂњsoftвЂќ traits.

TheyвЂ™re different from skills such as computer use or attributes like intelligence. IвЂ™ll begin by answering the obvious question for any newbies here: what, exactly, are merits? In short, merits are traits you can pay points for in character creation that offer you some kind of benefit. Best Merits to Pick from the V5 Core Rulebook.

Vampire the masquerade builds