TEXT:  
  I Win 
  Traits for the best characters 
   
   
  A Sourcebook for 
  the Chronicles of Darkness 
   
  
   
  By Chris Falco 
   
   
   
  
   
   
  Ugh 
  By “Chris Falco 
   
  “But it’s on my sheet” 
  “Yeah, I know, but you really can’t use your Striking Looks 
  (Panty Melting Intensity) for intimidating some big guy at a bar.” 
  “Look, it says I get +2 dice, and-” 
  “Only if it makes sense for the situation!” 
  “Ugh, I thought this was just supposed to get me some extra 
  social dice, that’s all I wanted!” 
  “Look, what if-” 
  “No, just forget it, I don’t even want to play anymore. I clearly 
  need to find some merits that don’t need such dumb justifications 
  to work. If only…” 
   
   
  
   
  Chapter Title 
  3 
  © 2019 White Wolf Entertainment AB. All rights reserved. Vampire: The 
  Masquerade®, World of Darkness®, Storytelling System™, and Storytellers 
  Vault™ are trademarks and/or registered trademarks of White Wolf 
  Entertainment AB. All rights reserved. For additional information on White 
  Wolf and the World of Darkness, please, visit: www.white-wolf.com, 
  www.worldofdarkness.com and www.storytellersvault.com. 
  Credits 
  Author: Chris Falco 
  Developer: Chris Falco 
  Editor: Nobody, let’s be honest, this is a Vault book 
  Artist: Art is for fluff-oriented losers.  
  Special Thanks 
   
   
  
   
  Introduction 
  4 
  Introduction 
  “Who needs 
  sports stardom 
  when you can 
  shoot fireballs 
  from your 
  fingertips?” 
  - Ethan Gilsdorf 
   
  Introduction 
   
  Roleplaying games are about your stats. Yeah, you’re supposed to roleplay, but 
  that involves “playing” a “role.” How’s that “role” defined? By your stats. It 
  sounds simple, but people get all fussy if you say you’re focusing more on those 
  stats than your “background” or “connections” or whatever other fluffy crap 
  they think is most important.  
  This book isn’t for them. This book is for you. Because you know that the best 
  way to make a character you like is to have the best stats. And this book? Well, 
  we’ve figured out the dirty little secret behind the merits, powers, and other 
  traits provided in Chronicles of Darkness. They’re all held back.  
  But, you ask, what are they held back by? Their fluff. The “roleplay” enforced 
  on them. Your Striking Looks only works if your tag matches the current 
  “roleplay” scenario. Your Vampire’s Majesty only works if people are being 
  “roleplayed” as able to see you. Your Mage… well, no, they can do pretty much 
  anything, bad example. But that roleplay is built into the merits, and the weight 
  of that expected roleplay is what ultimately holds back the sheer strength of 
  these abilities.  
  So, what we’ve done here is remove that fluff. Kick away all semblance of 
  roleplay requirement, snipping it free and letting those big, beautiful dice 
  bonuses and mechanical benefits shine through. No longer held back by 
  “roleplay,” your characters will be the best they can possibly be. They’ll be the 
  best anyone can possibly be. And you know what you’ll find yourself saying, more 
  and more? 
  “I win.” 
  Chronicles of Darkness 
  The following can be taken by anyone, whether Mortal or Supernatural.  
  Merits 
  Character Autonomy (•••••) 
  Prerequisites: Resolve over 0 
  Effect: Doesn’t it suck when you lose control of your character because of 
  dumb powers and IC circumstances and such? You don’t have to deal with that 
  anymore; any time that a power or weird emotional state (like frenzy or death 
  rage) or similar mechanics would make your character do something you don’t 
  want them to, spend a point of Willpower to become immune to that effect for 
  the rest of the scene. It’s your character, after all. 
  
   
  Chapter Title 
  5 
   
  Combat Character (•••••) 
  Prerequisites: More combat dots than other dots 
  Effect: Your character is only good at fighting (who 
  the heck fleshes out their skill dots into useless stuff?), 
  but with this merit, you don’t have to do that other 
  stuff. Whenever you’d need to make a social or 
  mental roll, roll Strength or Dexterity + a combat skill 
  of your choice to inflict violence to solve the problem 
  instead. I dunno how that works, that’s for your 
  Storyteller to worry about. Maybe you punch a book 
  open to the right page?  
  Drawback: None, mechanically, and that’s all that 
  matters. Other problems are icky IC stuff you don’t 
  care about.  
   
  Good at Everything (•• or ••••) 
  Prerequisites: An attribute at 1+ 
  Effect: Your character is good at everything. Don’t 
  worry about how or why. Just take a +1 die bonus per 
  two dots in this merit to all dice rolls.  
  Drawback: People will totally be jealous that you’re 
  so good at everything. Also, this technically adds to 
  bad rolls like if you’re a Mage and you have Paradox. 
  Look, I’m not worrying about fluff, dice are dice. 
   
  Take What You Want (••) 
  Prerequisites: You want a merit or power you 
  normally can’t have 
  Effect: Buy this merit to be able to buy one other 
  merit, power, or other trait you normally can’t take, 
  chosen at purchase. Want a Werewolf merit but 
  you’re a Vampire? Go for it. Mechanically, change 
  traits around as needed if it talks about stuff you don’t 
  have, like Harmony or whatever other crap. 
  You can buy this more than once, picking a new 
  thing you want each time. You can’t use this merit to 
  qualify for this merit (I don’t even know how that’d 
  work, but wanted some weird restriction to add in).  
  Drawback: Dirty looks from your Storyteller. 
  Mystery Cult: The Winners 
  Purpose: The Winners exist to be the best at 
  whatever thing they want to be good at.  
  Relic: That sounds an awful lot like roleplay  bull-
  crap we’re not worrying about.  
  Doctrine: Always win as often as you can. Be the 
  best at the thing you wanna be best at.  
  Initiation Benefits 
  •    Gain Professional Training 1, even if you’re not 
  actually a professional! 
  ••    Take Mystery Cult Initiation 1 in another 
  Cult that gives benefits you want. You’re not actually 
  in the Cult, you’ve just learned their secrets or 
  something.  
  •••    Take 1 more dot in both Professional 
  Training and Mystery Cult Initiation for the other 
  Cult.  
  ••••    Take Good at Everything at 2 dots, and 1 
  dot of either your Professional Training or Mystery 
  Cult Initiation. 
  •••••    Max out Professional Training, the 
  other Mystery Cult Initiation, and Good at 
  Everything. That’s probably more than 3 dots but this 
  is actually a major advantage not reflected by game 
  traits that just mechanically works like if you got lots 
  of game traits.  
  Vampire: the Requiem 
  The following Discipline is for Vampires.  
  Apex 
  Vampires are the top of the food chain, the 
  ultimate predator, and so they need to be good at 
  absolutely anything that can help them keep that 
  place at the top. Apex lets them do exactly that, 
  representing that the Kindred is the best Kindred they 
  can be.  
  Cost: None or 1 Vitae per active effect 
  Dice Pool: None 
  Action: None (for persistent effects) or Reflexive 
  (for active effects) 
  Duration: Permanent (for persistent effects) or one 
  turn (for active effects) 
  Like physical Disciplines, Apex has two kinds of 
  effects: persistent and active. Persistent effects are 
  always on, and have no cost. Active effects are 
  reflexive and cost one Vitae per effect. 
  Persistent: Add the vampire’s dots in Apex to all 
  dice rolls that could conceivably in some way 
  eventually lead to getting more blood down the line. 
  Nearly all rolls qualify if you’re argumentative 
  enough; that research into an occult object might give 
  
   
  Introduction 
  6 
  you more power for hunting, for instance, and 
  resisting another supernatural being’s power means 
  more time in the right state of mind, body, and spirit 
  to feed. 
  Active: By spending one Vitae as a reflexive action, 
  one of the following effects can be used. A given effect 
  can only be used once in a turn, but multiple Vitae 
  can be used to activate more than one.  
  • 
  Gain one automatic success on any roll that 
  isn’t a dramatic failure, because you’re that 
  good at everything. This can be used a number 
  of times per scene equal to the Vampire’s dots 
  in Apex. 
  • 
  Turn a dramatic failure into a failure. This can 
  be used a number of times per scene equal to 
  the Vampire’s dots in Apex. This can be 
  combined with the above effect to turn a 
  dramatic failure into a success with 2 Vitae.  
  • 
  Remove a success from a hostile action aimed 
  at your character. This can be used a number 
  of times per scene equal to the Vampire’s dots 
  in Apex. 
  Werewolf: the Forsaken 
  Wolf Rite:  
  Victorious Hunt (••••) 
  A much improved version of the Sacred Hunt, this 
  rite guarantees that whatever the Uratha are hunting 
  will be taken down, one way or another.  
  Symbols: Victory, hunting, extra dice, stuff 
  werewolves do 
  Sample Rite: What did I say about fluff? (Whatever 
  your best dice pool is) 
  Action: Extended, (10 successes needed, each roll 
  represents 1 minute) 
  Success: In addition to all of the benefits of the 
  Sacred Hunt rite, the Uratha that participate in the 
  Victorious Hunt build up a pool of dice equal to the 
  sum of the highest Renown of each werewolf that 
  assisted in the Rite. At any time during the Victorious 
  Hunt, each of the participants gains that pool; it’s not 
  shared, they each draw from their own one of the 
  same size. These dice can be taken from the pool at 
  any time to add to any dice pool relating to the Hunt 
  in any way, even indirectly. Any number can be taken 
  for a given roll, but once spent, those dice are gone 
  until the next time the Rite is used. 
  This box is modern art.  
  
   
  Chapter Title 
  7 
  Whatever You Need (Level 5 
  Fetish) 
  Isn’t it awful needing to keep track of bunches of 
  Fetishes? With this one, fueled by, like, a spirit of 
  change or adaption or something like that (maybe an 
  Idigam? Do those go in Fetishes?), you needn’t keep 
  track of what you have.  
  Effect: Once per scene, this Fetish can be used to 
  gain the effect of any other Fetish of 4 dots or less.  
  Mage: the Awakening 
  You’re already playing Mage. See Chapter 4 of 
  Mage: the Awakening 2nd edition for your 
  overpowered abilities. You need more? Dang it, fine, 
  let’s see. 
  Five-Dot Attainment: Ultimate 
  Spellcasting (Any Arcana) 
  Rather than learning to create Rotes, you’ve 
  learned to just be better at casting spells. For any spells 
  utilizing the Arcana you’ve earned this attainment 
  for, you gain free steps in both the Primary spell factor 
  and one other factor of your choice. Even Scale. Can’t 
  even spend Reach to gain free Scale normally, that’s 
  how you know this Attainment’s awesome.  
  This Attainment is learned in place of Create Rote, 
  or through whatever other means you normally get 
  other Arcana Attainments (Mage: the Awakening 
  didn’t say).  
  New Spell: Ignore Mechanic 
  (Death ••••• or Prime •••••) 
  Practice: Making or Unmaking 
  Primary Spell Factor: Potency  
  Cost: 2 Mana 
  Withstand: Supernatural Tolerance (Yeah, that’s 
  right, screw the normal Withstand rules) 
  Suggested Rote Skills: Occult, Survival, Subterfuge 
  Over the course of the spell’s duration, for each 
  level of Potency you can ignore one game mechanic 
  in one instance. For instance, maybe you don’t want 
  to die if you take full aggravated damage. By default, 
  this has to be a mundane mechanic, not something 
  supernatural.  
  What constitutes a single game mechanic? I dunno, 
  ask the Storyteller. They need to fiat 90% of 
  everything in this game anyway.  
  +3 Reach: You can ignore one supernatural rule, 
  like someone being able to Withstand one of your 
  other spells, or having to roll Paradox. Against other 
  powers in this book, you need to roll a Clash of Wills 
  to do so, but automatically win against normal 
  powers.  
  Add Fate •••••: You can also ignore rulings 
  made in the spur of the moment by the Storyteller. 
  Screw you, ST, the mechanics don’t say I can’t punch 
  a bridge until I roll enough successes by luck to make 
  it crumble.  
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
   
  
  I Win 
  You know how every gaming supplement says that there’s no 
  real “winners” in RPGs, and that everyone wins if you have 
  fun? Bull.  
   
  I Win contains Merits/Powers that have had that silly “fluff,” 
  “character development,” and “in character reasoning” stripped 
  away from them, leaving only raw, powerful mechanics. You 
  don’t need some story reason to be awesome, you just need to 
  buy the right dots.  
  And this book? It has all the right dots.  
   
   
  
SOURCE: textdata/thevault/Storyteller [multi]/World of Darkness (WoD) [multi]/CofD/April's Fools/Chronicles of Darkness - I Win (April Fools).pdf