In the Chronicles of Darkness, your merits are unique abilities and assets, and they are the things that can make a character unique in a lot of ways. However, on page 46 at the start of the Merits section of the book, the game talks about the Sanctity of Merits... namely that the experience points spent to acquire the merit do not disappear, even if the merit itself has been compromised or eliminated in some way. Players should, generally speaking, be allowed to reallocate those points somewhere else on their sheet at the end of any chapter they're currently in.
And while some of you probably knew that, there are going to be some players and STs for whom this is new information. However, I think we may be overlooking the story potential of what this could mean when merit points have to be reassigned, and it allows us to add new facets to the story we're telling!
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The More Things Change...
Merits are a fairly big part of a character sheet, but a lot of them are far more flexible in terms of what they represent. For example, a character who takes Iron Stamina is likely never going to lose that merit as long as the character is still alive. However, what if someone has a Retainer? Contacts? A Safe Place? Or something as simple as Resources? Well, those things might all get destroyed in the course of a chronicle. A character who has set themself up as a rich occultist with a loyal butler and a family manor might find a group of vampires targeted their wealth before coming to their doorstep, and in the ensuing fight their butler is slain, and their home burned down, though the monsters eventually met their end.
The question then becomes, well, what does the character do with all the XP that's just dropped into their lap? Because their loyal Retainer is dead, and that's not changing. The Safe House was destroyed. Maybe they got their Resources back, or maybe it was stolen and spirited into the ether... but the question you should be asking is, "How are they going to move forward from here?"
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| Because which way you go matters far more to the story. |
As an example, does the character seek out a replacement for his Retainer, perhaps going to his butler's son who was once a member of an elite military unit, asking him to take over his father's duties and to avenge his death? Does he rebuild his family's manor, including additional safety procedures and secret rooms? Do they get into a new business to rebuild their Resources, perhaps dealing in drugs, or playing the stock market?
Alternatively, though, does the character go in a different direction as a result of the costs they had to pay? Do they believe it would be irresponsible to bring anyone else into such a dangerous situation, instead using the XP they got back from their Retainer to buy merits like Trained Observer and Danger Sense to represent new paranoia? Do they, instead of acquiring a new Safe Place, opt to take merits like Crack Driver and Quick Draw, representing their dedication to getting far more stuck-in and violent with their upcoming plans as a vagabond who simply hunts their enemies until they're all dead, John Wick style?
Whichever direction a player wants to go with their merit acquisition, it's important to ask yourself how it changes the story, and what developments it represents for them. Because whether it's following along the same general path as before (but the locations, allies, etc. are all different), or they're going in an entirely fresh direction, the important question is how these decisions affect the story, the character, and the unfolding narrative.
Because when characters or locations get written out of the chronicle, asking what replaces them is a far more interesting question!
And for those of you looking for some supplements that might fit well into this week's discussion, consider the following titles from yours truly:
- The Blade Itself - Corrupt Equipment For Hunter: The Vigil: While the Corrupt Equipment merit can be used for any game in the Chronicles of Darkness, it makes the most sense in Hunter. Still, it's an extra piece of danger that can give even smaller characters a deadly edge.
- 100 Havens: Vampires need safe places to call home, and this supplement helps get the juices flowing when it comes to where they might lay their heads when the sun comes up.
- 100 Mediums: Average mortals who can see and interact with the dead, mediums can be quite a boon in any game involving ghosts... and as such they can be quite useful to have around.
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