Most people see them as little better than dangerous animals. Escaped mental patients are regarded in much the same light a escaped convicts.

The discrimination and problems for mental cases are much worse if you were not released. Prospective employers, landlords and similar personnel usually look askance at anyone who was crazy. Anyone who has ever been institutionalized against his will has this fact noted in his records. Even if you were legally released from care the modern mental health system does not consider an illness like schizophrenia curable. However if you actually escaped from a mental institution and are on the run from the authorities, then the flaw is worth five points. If you managed to convince the officials that you are no longer a danger to yourself or others and you were released this flaw is worth only two points. Since schizophrenia is the most common diagnosis for such problems you may even have been on powerful antipsychotic drugs for a time. Anyone who does such things must be crazy! Because you seemed delusional and incoherent you were locked up as a possible danger to yourself and others. Seeing and talking to beings that no one else can perceive, and hearing voices that may tell you frightening and disturbing things, is far outside the realm of the normal. Sometime in your life you have run afoul of the mental health authorities. This would be an easy way for you to be either controlled or forced to do favors for your supplier, especially if the drug is hard to obtain due to its rarity or price.

If you fail, you will forgo everything and forcibly go seeking the drug. If, for whatever reason, you are denied access to the drug, you lose the number of dice equal to the level of your addiction (one, two, or three) until you receive your 'fix.' If you are deprived of the drugs for an extended length of time, you will be forced to make a Willpower check (difficulty of 4 for the first day, +1 for each additional day). The need for these drugs varies from once a day to two to three times a day for others, depending on the strength of the drug and the addiction. A three-point addiction involves the heavy street drugs or hard-to-find drugs. A two-point Flaw would be either a severe addition to any easily obtained substance, or any 'mild' drug, such as painkillers, sleeping pills, or marijuana. A one-point Flaw would be a mild addiction to an easily obtained substance, such as caffeine, nicotine, or alcohol.

You are addicted to any one of a variety of things.

Vtm merits and flaws list