Merits and Flaws are a special and optional type of character traits used in the old World of Darkness's Storyteller System to flesh out characters. They both involved the use of freebie points. Merits and flaws were used to flesh out a character and add playable advantages or disadvantages that were otherwise not covered by the typical character traits. They were usually not found in the main rulebook of each line, but were instead published in that line's Players Guide.
The range of merits and flaws are diverse, but there are several basic merits and flaws that are common to all lines. Physical, social, and mental were among the most common categories, as were psychological, supernatural and ally-type merits and flaws. Other types were available, depending on the type of creature being created, and were usually related to that specific supernatural breed. A classic Vampire: The Masquerade flaw, for example, was Thin Blood, used to represent a character above generation thirteen.
Merits, as the name suggests, provided boons or advantages and could be purchased through freebie points or experience only. Classic examples of merits include Common Sense, Code of Honor, Eidetic Memory, Ambidextrous, True Love, Lucky, and the infamous Fast Learner (which many took for the extra experience point gained at the end of every chapter!). Also seen as merits were alliances with a creature of another supernatural breed, such as a wraith ally for a Garou.
Merits are the predecessors of the Storytelling System's Merit system.
Flaws obviously provided the opposite effect. Unlike merits, adding a flaw to a character allowed you to gain freebie points equal to that flaw's rating; however, there was a limit of seven points that could be gained in this manner. Classic flaws include Phobia, Curse, Vengeance, Amnesia, Distinctive Appearance, Enemy, and a set of flaws which limited the amount of points that could be spent in each Ability. Inept limited the points one could take in Talents, Uneducated limited Knowledges, and Unskilled affected Skills.
A very different system for handling Flaws is used by the Storytelling System, in which they are unrelated to Merits.
Merits
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Animal Affinity, An innate understanding of and rapport with a certain type of animal. All difficulties dealing with that Animal are reduced by 2. (DSBH)