Ialdabaoth/MeritsAndFlaws

Ability Merits

Natural Aptitude (4 to 8 Point Merit)

This Merit must be taken for a specific Attribute or Ability. The character has a natural knack for learning anything related to this Trait, and spends one less XP for any expenditure related to increasing the Trait (including Specialties, Charms and Knowledges). This Merit may only be taken once per Trait, and the cost of the Merit increases by +2 each subsequent time it is purchased, to a maximum of 3 purchases for 3 seperate Traits.

Prodigy (2 or 5 Point Merit)

In its first form, as a 5-point Merit, Prodigy grants the character one additional Favored Ability (although no character may ever have more than 5 Favored Abilities). If taken again for an Ability which is already Caste or Favored, the Prodigy merit costs 2 points, and does not reduce the XP cost of increasing the skill or add a "phantom" Ability die, but instead increases the maximum level that the Ability may be purchased to by 1 dot (i.e., a character with Essence 1 - 5 may buy up to 6 dots of the Ability, while a character with Essence 6+ may buy up to Essence + 1 dots). If purchased, this extra dot functions as a normal Ability level in all circumstances, including contributing to Excellencies. Thus, the second level of Prodigy is the Ability-equivalent of Legendary Attribute.

Ability Flaws

Comments:

Possible problem with natural aptitude - at rating 10, specialities will be free. Is this what you're aiming for? Also, that costing of prodigy is very, very expensive. The original is only 2bp... why is this one 5? I do agree though, I've recently decided I'm going to change prodigy in much the same way.
-- Darloth

Regarding Natural Aptitude - no, you can only take it once per Trait (see above) - the 10-cost one is for your third Trait. I.e., you could only take Natural Aptitude: Melee once (lowering the cost for Specialties to 2), for 5 points; you could then take Natural Aptitude: Dodge once (lowering *its* cost by 1), for 7 points; and then could take Natural Aptitude: Dexterity once. Does this make sense? Should I re-word the Merit to make that more clear? -- Ialdabaoth

Regarding Prodigy - I upped it to 5 because having an additional dot of Ability adds to your Excellency powers. Although, so does Legendary Attribute, and *THAT* is 5... so I shall change the new Prodigy to 3. Thank you for your input! -- Ialdabaoth

On second thought, I think the original 2-pt cost is sufficient. Thanks again! --Ialdabaoth