Dramatic Music (1 point Merit): The character has a peculiar psychosis that causes him to hear dramatic music almost every moment of his life. It is not disturbing or distracting; he can ignore it as he would a radio in the background. The music will always be appropriate to the Scene in the story, and he is the only one who can hear it. If he is astute, he can use the mood of the music to interpret dramatic atmosphere, use it as a hint of what is going to happen, and guide himself in appropriate actions. [The Storyteller may want to play suitable music for dramatic effect.]
Drug Allergy (1 point Flaw): The character is allergic to one type of drug, as described in the _Ephemerol And Psychoactive Drugs_ section of _Scanners_. The player should choose which type of drug his character is allergic to: Ephemerol, amphetamines, etc. For each dose of this drug that the character takes, he must make a Stamina roll (Difficulty 6) or suffer one Health level of damage.
Drug-Tainted Blood (1 point Merit): The character has used enough amounts and combinations of drugs that his blood has become permanently tainted with chemicals. This does no harm to the character (his body is used to it), but makes his blood unusable for blood transfusions (recipients take one Health level of damage per pint), and, more importantly, makes the blood distasteful to vampires. A vampire can safely drink the blood, but upon first tasting it, must make a Willpower roll (Difficulty 8) to continue drinking, unless she is desperate enough to Frenzy. Vampires with heightened senses can smell unspilled tainted blood in a character with this Merit.
Ephemerol Resistance (variable point Merit): The Scanner has an unusual metabolic resistance to the negative effects of any form of Ephemerol. The drug will still restore Willpower points to the Scanner as described under each type of Ephemerol, but for each point of this Merit, the character is immune to one dose of the debilitating effects of the Ephemerol. In the case of EPH-1, one point will immune the character to one level of Psi-power reduction. For EPH-2, and EPH-3, for each Merit point, the Scanner can safely take one dose of the drug without becoming psychoticly evil and can tolerate one dose per week without being affected by the poisonous character of EPH-2. In the case of EPH-4, the character requires 3 points of this Merit to be immune to the drug's side effect of preventing the spending of experience points to improve Psi-powers as described in the drug section of _Scanners_.
Excessive Stress (6 or 3 point Flaw): The Scanner has such difficulty using his powers that whenever he activates a Psi-Power, he must make a Stamina roll (Difficulty = rating of effect+3) or take one Health level of damage. He can never use his powers with subtlety --he always shows stress when using a Psi-power. This flaw does not affect the use of Biofeedback. The 3-point version of this Flaw is as above except it occurs with the use of only one Psi-power that the Scanner possesses (chosen by the player). Neither version of this Flaw can be taken more than once.
Inscrutable Aura (1 point Merit): The character's aura is for some reason almost impossible to read. Perhaps the character appears to have no aura to those who can see them, or perhaps his aura is faint or confusing. Anyone trying to read the character's aura must roll against Difficulty 10. The character tends not to leave readable psychic traces, either. Anyone attempting any form of Psychometry on the character's possessions must roll against a Difficulty of 10.
Internal Compass (1 point Merit): The cortices of the brains of many animals, including humans, contain ferrous compounds that orient themselves to magnetic fields. Migratory animals use these to help navigate. The character has this same ability to detect magnetic fields. He can find magnetic North and detect electrical machinery that would turn a compass needle. When navigating unfamiliar territory, the Difficulty for finding his way around is reduced by two.
Lucid Dreaming (3 point Merit): The character is able to control his dreams and is fully aware of his state of consciousness when dreaming. As a result, he is particularly resistant to hallucinations and delusions: his Difficulty to resist them is decreased by two.
Mental Prodigy (7 point Merit): The character may add one dot to his Perception or Intelligence or Wits Attributes, to a maximum limit of six. If this does not immediately bring his Attribute above five, he still has the potential to improve his attribute above five through spending experience points.
No Biofeedback (7 point Flaw): For some reason, the Scanner never attained the special skill of Biofeedback and cannot use any effect requiring it.
Psychic Affinity (4 point Merit): The Scanner's powers have a particular affinity for some kind of subject so that when using a Psi-power on that type of subject, his Difficulty is reduced by one. Such an affinity is chosen by the player, and might be something such as Werewolves, Vampires, Gypsies, the insane, characters with a particular Nature, animals, computers, metals, etc.
Psychic Aversion (3 point Flaw): The Scanner's powers have a particular difficulty affecting some kind of subject so that when using a Psi-power on that type of subject, his Difficulty is increased by one. Such an aversion is chosen by the player, and might be something such as Werewolves, Vampires, Gypsies, psychiatrists, characters with a particular Nature, animals, computers, metals, etc.
Psychic Trail (2 point Flaw): This Flaw cannot be chosen with the Inscrutable Aura Merit. The character has a strong aura that tends to leave a residue in places where he has been. Characters who can see auras can follow where he has gone for up to 24 hours since he has been there, and the Difficulty of using Psychometry on his property is reduced by two. At scenes where he has experienced intense emotion, he may leave empathic traces that even normal people can feel for a time thereafter.
Psychotic Look (1 point Flaw): There is something about how the character looks that makes people think he is a little crazy. He is limited to a maximum of one Success when rolling dice using his Charisma Attribute.
Telepathic Null (7 point Flaw): Through some defect, the Scanner never developed any telepathic abilities. His Telepathy rating is zero and can never be increased. His Biofeedback ability is not affected by this Flaw.
Touch Range (6 point Flaw): One of the Scanner's Psi-powers (chosen by the player) is limited to a range of touch. He must physically touch any subject he wishes to affect with this Psi-power. The Psi- power Sensing will not extend his range. This Flaw cannot be applied to the Sensing Psi-power.
Visible Aura (1 point Flaw): Whenever the character uses a Psi- power, his aura manifests itself for all to see. Only those who know how to read auras will know what the colours and patterns mean, but anyone will be able to see a nimbus of light around the character during the turn he activates a Psi-power. Characters possessing the Inscrutable Aura Merit are still Difficulty 10 to read, but the glow still manifests itself. It is impossible for the Scanner to make subtle use of his Psi-powers.
Wild Talent (variable point Flaw): One of the Scanner's Psi-powers is not fully under his control. When distracted or stressed, the power acts almost with a mind of its own and will affect the character's environment or the people in it. These effects are not usually harmful, but tend to be noticeable or somewhat unusual. For each point of this Flaw, one dot's rating of one Psi-power (chosen by the player) can manifest itself in this way. Obviously, more dots mean greater effects. These effects should be adjudicated by the Storyteller according to the scene at hand. This Flaw does not ever reduce the Scanner's dice pool for using his Psi-powers.
Particularly suitable Merits & Flaws that are already described in other works [this is not a complete list of all Merits and Flaws which a Scanner may have]:
Psychological: Compulsion, Intolerance, Low Self-Image, Nightmares, Phobia, Overconfident, Short Fuse, Shy, Soft-Hearted
Mental: Absent-Minded, Amnesia, Common Sense, Concentration, Confused, Eidetic Memory, Iron Will, Lightning Calculator, Self-Confident, Time Sense, Weak Willed
Aptitudes: Fast Learner Supernatural: Danger Sense