Sins (Vices)
Your character’s Vice is a fundamental weakness that she strives to overcome, a less-than-noble aspect of her soul that can come into play at inopportune times. In order to make a Vice “appealing” it has a game mechanic associated with it. This gives your character a special benefit or ability that you can activate by tapping into that dark core of sin inside your soul and drawing forth some of its power. That’s the good news. The bad news is that by giving in to the temptation you taint yourself in the eyes of God, gaining a point of Damnation. You may activate the ability associated with your Vice any time you choose – it does not need to be in a scene or situation that is thematically appropriate to the Vice in question. This is because the number of scenes that will actually match your Vice will be very low, but the temptation is omnipresent. Thus, the power is always there, you need only call upon it.
The Vice itself is intended to help guide your role-playing and to give the GM the opportunity to draw your character into situations where the Vice itself (not the specific ability) might matter. If you give into temptation during such a scene (by following the Vice and thereby putting yourself or someone else at a disadvantage) you gain a Hero Point.
Thus, there are always benefits to indulging your Vice, but there is always a cost as well. This is the Faustian bargain that has plagued mortals since the Fall.
To be clear, there are two entirely different scenarios that relate to your Vice. The first is a straight game-mechanical exchange – you activate your Vice power, gain its benefits (which usually involve manipulating a dice pool in some fashion) and also immediately gain a Damnation point. There is no other consequence and the game continues. The second is a pure role-playing scenario. If the Game Master presents you with a situation in which giving in to your character’s Vice will put you, other people (especially innocents), or the mission at risk, and the choice is significant from a story standpoint, then you are rewarded with a Hero Point for giving in to the temptation and thereby complicating the story. Giving in to your Vice has to make things tangibly worse if it is to be worthy of a Hero Point. Of course, as with so many other things in the game, what exactly constitutes “worse” is a matter to be negotiated between you and the Grand Master, but an example will hopefully clarify what we mean.
