True Faith
True Faith is used as per the normal WW rules and affords some unique abitities in addition to thse most other characters posesss. For the Shih, they by their very nature posess a type of "true faith" and it is reflected in their qiao. However, for those who wish to take this to the next level, you will only be allowed to take the merit at the expense of the Qiao of the Shi and at a 7-point cost. This will allow the use of TF as per the Celestial Chorus book version of the merit. Only priest type shih should have True faith type abilities beyond those possessed by normal shih. As such, they should be concentrated in the more spiritual/religious qiao like I Shen, Yu An and Chien.
Only devoute priest type Shih with appropriate skills, Knowledges and abitities will be allowed this merit.
Banned:
Fist of God
No, shih are not allowed this merit. They have other abilities that give them the power to do aggravated damage to a supernatural opponent. However, Shih may start the game with a talisman of some kind with the ST's approval.
Blind
To hard to do the job at hand with this flaw. No Shih left in such a state would do more than teach and a Shih mentor would never put a blind pupil in that kind of lifelong peril. (same goes for Deaf flaw as well) Shih need to be in as close to perfect health as possible.
Beast within
Shih are too well trained to run about emotionally out of control, besides the P'o they accumulate over a lifetime of demon hunting create enough problems
Ghoul
Shih would not tolerate poisoning them selves into becoming one of the shen they hunt so this flaw is out of the question. A ghoul who wanted to bcome a shih and was accepted by a sifu would be forced to "dry out" of their yomi taint before learning the first step.
Addicted to Vitae
See Ghoul. Shih can have addictions, but this would get them put down by their brothers.
Lunacy
Sorry, no moon phase insane Shih in this house to start with. If something drives you nuts, then so be it; but not as a flaw.
Cursed
This is one of those things that should happen as the result of a Storyline IC. Besides, a wise or powerful Mentor would have removed the curse from his pupil long before releasing her on her own. Even if it meant hunting down the source of the curse itself.
Fae Blood/Shapeshanger kin/Dhampyr
Although the WoD book "Damphyr" counts at least 1 of the half-damned among the Shih, we won't be having any "full-shih" hybrids accepted in the DHX game as regulars. If you are interested in playing a PC lke this, then I'd suggest submitting one to the proper ST and then IC try to study under a Shih. The best you could do at that point is Learn the Lore and Mo Chi Kung Fu, but that would at least get you to "Demon Hunter " status. Sorry, no qiao though.