As optional Traits to help flesh out your character, Merits and Flaws aid in specifying certain benefits and hindrances that add dimensions not readily covered by Attributes, Abilities and Backgrounds. All Merits and Flaws are organized into specific categories: Physical, Social, Mental and Supernatural. In order to purchase Merits you must spend Free Traits; taking a Flaw, conversely, adds burden to your beast but offers extra Traits to spend elsewhere. You may take as many as seven Traits each in Merits and Flaws. Some Flaws have been designated as appropriate for metis characters to take as their metis disfigurement. If you choose to do this, you gain none of the Free Traits the Flaw would normally provide.

Normally you may only purchase Merits and Flaws during character creation, however, with an appropriate explanation, you may purchase a new Merit (with Experience at double the cost) to overcome an existing Flaw (again, with Experience at double the cost).