Three-Point Quirks cause profound problems in the magician's life or result in a significant penalty or side-effect to the hero's magic. Examples include:
- Agonizing Casting: The magician suffers one unsoakable level of lethal damage whenever she casts a spell. This wound does not carry the risk of blood loss or infection.
- Amnesia: The hero is missing the memories from large chapters of his life. This might be years of reasonably common memories or months of memories that reveal something of deadly importance to the magician.
- Armor Aversion: The hero will not voluntarily don armor. If forced to do so, she loses the ability to use magic for 3 weeks. This Quirk may be taken as a Taboo, in which case the hero loses the benefit of this Taboo for 3 weeks if he dons armor.
- Burning Essence: Each day, at a time chosen when this Quirk is selected, the hero suffers 1 die of unsoakable lethal damage for every 5 motes of Essence in her Essence pool. This wound does not carry the risk of blood loss or infection.
- Deaf: The world of sound is utterly lost on the hero. He automatically fails all rolls that rely on hearing, and all Awareness checks to sense an ambush in time to evade surprise have their difficulty increased by 3.
- Delusions: The magician hears and sees things that are not there. These delusions are indistinguishable from reality, but not numerous or extremely dangerous.
- Disturbing Wake: The magician's mere presence is uncomfortable, and she suffers a difficulty penalty of 3 on all social checks to sway people by means of conversation or friendship. The effects of this aura are obvious - dust devils, swarming locusts, unholy wails, etc... This Quirk may be developed more than once, to a maximum number of times equal the magician's Heroism.
- Fair Folk Allergy: Weapons made of cold iron inflict aggravated damage against the hero, and mere contact with this substance inflicts environmental damage like a severe sandstorm.
- Frail Constitution: The hero's Endurance and Resistance checks to resist or overcome disease, poison, or infection are at +1 difficulty.
- Lame: The hero cannot walk without the aid of a crutch of some kind. The hero cannot move more than 1 yard during any turn in which she takes combat actions, cannot move more than her Dexterity in yards per turn, and is nearly incapable of jumping.
- Mood Swings: The hero has the qualities of a severe manic depressive. This condition should be roleplayed, but will have game effects, as well. The hero does not roll Conviction as normal to regain Willpower. Instead, whenever the magician's mood turns manic, she rolls Conviction and regains a number of points of temporary Willpower equal to the number of successes rolled. Whenever his mood turns depressive, she rolls Conviction and subtracts the successes from her current temporary Willpower. If this would reduce her Willpower below 0, the hero sinks into a deep and sulky depression, taking no action until mania raises her Willpower above 0. The target number of all the hero's Temperance checks is increased by 1, his Temperance may not be higher than 3, and his Temperance is treated as 1 against all attempts to manipulate his emotions.
- Multiple Personalies: The hero has more than one personality, each of which has its own Nature.
- One Arm: The hero only has one hand or arm. She is incapable of activities requiring two hands, and if she takes multiple actions requiring hands in a turn, she suffers an additional -1 penalty on all actions requiring hands.
- One Eye: The hero has only one eye. This increases the target number of all the hero's sight-based Perception checks by 1. In addition, all checks involving depth perception (Archery, Thrown, dodging or parrying missile attacks, certain Perception checks) are at +1 difficulty.
- Phobia: The hero is completely incapable of confronting some common situation or creature, such as spiders, snakes, the dark, enclosed spaces, or heights, losing 2 dice to all rolls for as long as she is forced to confront the object of her fear. Taking any other action other than flight or cowering in fear requires a successful Valor check.
- Severe Addiction: The hero has an addiction to a dangerous drug, a potentially deadly experience, or an extremely unsavory substance (such as human blood). When presented with the object of her addiction, the magician must succeed a Temperance roll at a difficulty of 1 plus the number of days for which he has abstained from the experience in question, to a maximum difficulty of 5. This Quirk may be selected as a Taboo, in which case the magician loses its benefits for 3 weeks after abstaining from the object of his addiction.
- Significantly Conditional Magic: The magician's magic is severely limited in its targets. It might be ineffective against citizens of the Realm, balding men, those who have ever met one of the Fair Folk, or those who have ever eaten pork. This Quirk may be selected as a Taboo, in which case the hero loses its benefits for 3 weeks if she violates the condition.
- Steel's Fool: Whenever the hero inflicts lethal damage with a weapon (including Brawling and Martial Arts weapons), the attack instead inflicts bashing damage. This damage is soaked as bashing damage as normal.
- Sympathetic Great Curse: The hero is partially consumed by her Virtues. She suffers from an ailment identical in all respects to the Great Curse that troubles the Solars (Exalted p. 131-133), including Limit Breaks, Virtue Flaws, and Limit Break Conditions. The magician cannot develop this Quirk if she has Irresistable Nature, Habitual Meddling, Mastered by Passions, or Tragic Hero.
- Unremarkable Fortune: Whenever the hero makes any roll, his 10s count as 1 success, not 2. Every 1 on a die reduces the number of successes on the roll by 1, though the hero still botches only if one of the dice comes up a 1 and none of the others yield a result of 7 or higher.
Four-Point Quirks cause overwhelming problems in the hero's everyday life or impose a severe penalty or side-effect on the magician's magic. Examples include:
- Air's Hatred: The hero takes aggravated damage from cold and ice. If the hero is exposed to temperatures below freezing, she suffers environmental damage equal to that of a severe sandstorm, though this damage is only lethal unless the cold is normally sufficient to inflict lethal damage to mortals.
- Blind: The hero has no natural vision, a handicap that is extremely difficult to compensate for. All Perception checks related to vision automatically fail, and the hero subtracts 2 successes from any attack, parry, or dodge she attempts. This can be taken as a Taboo if the hero blindfolds herself or otherwise eliminates her ability to see, but the magician loses its benefits for 4 weeks if she violates the condition.
- Condemned to Darkness: Direct sunlight burns the hero like a bonfire, inflicting environmental damage accordingly. Even on an overcast day or in the light of the full moon, the magician suffers intense pain, as these conditions inflict environmental damage like hearth fires.
- Dangerous Delusions: The hero's hallucinations are as numerous and realistic as the world around him. It is almost impossible to function in normal society in this condition.
- Earth's Hatred: The hero takes aggravated damage from all weapons made of metal or stone.
- Fatal Addiction: The magician is addicted to something that is almost certain to kill him, such as the blood of Exalted, ravishment by Fair Folk, or wounds that result in a -2 or worse dice penalty. The hero will indulge in the experience whenever possible, though she may roll a Temperance check at a difficulty of 3 if indulgence is likely to result in death. This Quirk may be selected as a Taboo, in which case the magician loses its benefits for 4 weeks after abstaining from the object of his addiction.
- Fire's Hatred: The hero suffers aggravated damage from heat and fire.
- Lycanthropy: For four days a month, the hero turns into a dangerous predator with an insatiable desire to hunt and kill or a primary prey animal such as a field mouse with no more intelligence than a normal animal of its kind.
- Mastered by Passions: The hero is wholly consumed by her Virtues. She suffers from an ailment almost identical in all respects to the Great Curse that troubles the Solars (Exalted p. 131-133), including Limit Breaks, Virtue Flaws, and Limit Break Conditions. The player must choose either 1. to have one Virtue for which a failed roll or expenditure of temporary Willpower does not allow the mage to resist the compulsion, 2. to cause the expenditure of Willpower to resist the compulsion to automatically result in the accumulation of a number of points of Limit equal to the Virtue rating, or 3. to cause the character to suffer, without rolling the Virtue or allowing an expenditure of Willpower, an immediate Limit Break whenever the character's Limit Break Condition is met. The magician cannot develop this Quirk if she has Tragic Hero. This only counts as a One-Point Quirk if the hero has Sympathetic Great Curse or both Irresistable Nature and Habitual Meddling. It counts as a Three-Point Quirk if the magician has Irresistable Nature. It counts as a Two-Point Quirk if the magician has Habitual Meddling.
- Mayfly: The hero ages a year for every two months that pass. This Quirk should not be allowed in short-term games, as this transmutes it into meaningless twinkery.
- Parapellegic: The hero cannot stand or walk without crutches. She cannot move more than 1 yard in a turn and cannot take any combat action during a turn in which she takes combat actions. Athletics checks involving walking or jumping automatically fail, and the hero cannot make Dodge checks without a stunt.
- Scoff at Defenses: The hero will not voluntarily don armor, use a shield, or parry incoming attacks. If forced to do so, she loses the ability to use magic for 4 weeks. This Quirk may be taken as a Taboo, in which case the hero loses the benefit of this Taboo for 4 weeks if he violates the Taboo.
- Severely Conditional Magic: The hero's magic only affects a certain group of people, such as virgins, Northerners, or people with autumn birthdays. This Quirk may be selected as a Taboo, in which case the hero loses its benefits for 4 weeks if she violates the condition.
- Tabula Rasa: The hero has no memory of most of his life.
- Vein-Bursting Essence: Whenever the hero gains Essence, she suffers a number of dice of lethal damage equal to the number of motes of Essence gained. The only exception to this is the 1 mote per day the magician naturally regains. This damage may only be soaked by Stamina, if the magician is capable of soaking lethal damage with her Stamina. This wound does not carry the risk of blood loss or infection.
- Water's Hatred: The hero sinks like a stone in any body of water. She is incapable of treading water or swimming. Worse, if she is completely submerged, she suffers environmental damage as though the water were a bonfire. Even heavy rains are painful against her skin, inflicting environmental damage like a hearth fire.
- Wood's Hatred: Wooden and natural weapons inflict aggravated damage against the magician. Even touching a living thing (plants or animals) is painful to the magician, inflicting environmental damage to her like a hearth fire. Magicians with this Quirk are almost always tragic and lonely figures, since their vulnerability makes intimate human contact impossible.
Five-Point Quirks can result in death at nearly any hour or impose a crippling penalty on the magician's magic.
Examples include:
- Cripple-Condition Magic: The hero's magic only affects a small group of targets, such as soldiers dressed in uniform, people with more than 3 tattoos, children under the age of 6, or Exalted. This Quirk may be selected as a Taboo, in which case the hero loses its benefits for 5 weeks if she violates the condition.
- Dark Fate: The magician is doomed, and he knows it. The nature of this doom is up to the player and Storyteller, but the hero will never see the end of the series and is likely to only survive for two or three stories before the inevitable doom befalls him. Moreover, this constant sense of impending doom weighs heavily on the hero, and she does not roll Conviction each day to regain Willpower.
- Deadly Casting: The magician suffers one unsoakable level of aggravated damage whenever she casts a spell. This wound does not carry the risk of blood loss or infection.
- Defenseless: The hero will not voluntarily don armor, use a shield, parry incoming attacks, dodge, or use defensive magicks or Heroics of any kind. If forced to do so, she loses the ability to use magic for 5 weeks. This Quirk may be taken as a Taboo, in which case the hero loses the benefit of this Taboo for 5 weeks if he violates the Taboo.
- Hemmorhage-Inducing Essence: Whenever the hero gains Essence, she suffers a number of dice of aggravated damage equal to the number of motes of Essence gained. This wound does not carry the risk of blood loss or infection. The only exception to this is the 1 mote per day the magician naturally regains.
- Law of Balance: Every spell the magician casts produces an equal and opposite effect in the near future. If the hero inflicts three health levels of damage on one enemy, another enemy is cured of three health levels of damage. If the hero prevents or heals damage done to a target, that target later suffers an equal amount of damage or complications relative to the damage prevented or healed. Slaying one enemy usually results in the creation of an equal enemy in the near future. Wizards who labor under this Quirk, understandably, are especially careful of when and how they use their magic.
- Mayfly of Mayflies: The hero ages one year for every week that passes. This Quirk should not be allowed in short-term games, as this transmutes it into meaningless twinkery.
- No Healing Factor: The hero does not heal naturally at all and injuries can only be repaired by means of magic. This Quirk does not prevent the hero from staunching bleeding.
- No Causal Memory: The hero has no memory of events, sources, or people. He is still capable of learning skills and spells, but must literally live in the moment, basing all his reasoning on what he has observed since the last time he slept. Whenever he falls asleep, he wakes with no memory of who or where he is or of anything else.
- Random Transformation: At random intervals or under commonly experienced circumstances, the magician turns into a dangerous predator with an insatiable desire to hunt and kill or a primary prey animal such as a field mouse with no more intelligence than a normal animal of its kind.
- Tragic Hero: The magician is wholly consumed by her Virtues. She suffers from an ailment almost identical in all respects to the Great Curse that troubles the Solars (Exalted p. 131-133), including Limit Breaks, Virtue Flaws, and Limit Break Conditions. The player must always obey the dictates of her Primary Virtue (no roll or expenditure of Willpower allowed). If the hero expends Willpower to resist a compulsion, she automatically accumulates a number of points of Limit equal to the Virtue rating. Moreover, the hero suffers an immediate Limit Break whenever the hero's Limit Break Condition is met. This only counts as a Two-Point Quirk if the hero has Sympathetic Great Curse or both Irresistable Nature and Habitual Meddling. It counts as a Four-Point Quirk if the magician has Irresistable Nature. It counts as a Three-Point Quirk if the magician has Habitual Meddling. It counts as a One-Point Quirk if the magician already has Mastered by Passions.