| From: | shadowrn@*********.com (Phil Smith) |
|---|---|
| Subject: | My Gargantuan File Of Edges And Flaws Part 2 |
| Date: | Sun Jan 21 16:42:09 2001 |
Schizophrenia: -4
The character suffers from a withdrawal from reality, violent changes in
behavior and hallucinations. This is the classic insanity that makes people
believe that God is telling them to kill people, that they are a Prince of
Tir Tangire, that they can talk to trees or that they are immortal. For a
character with this to be vaguely playable they must have some kind of
hallucination that can exist along side being a shadowrunner, maybe they
believe that all phones are tapped by the government or that an angel giving
them missions appears about once a month (or whenever they kill someone and
start getting depressed) and tells them what to do. Others may believe
themselves to be an agent for a megacorp charged with watching, and
reporting on, a group of runners. Characters who believe they are Damian
Knight will not go on shadowruns. Characters with this flaw will appear
outwardly unpredictable and dangerous. At the GM's disgression characters
may attempt to resist their hallucinations (ignore the voices in their head
or resist the impulse to start talking to their long-decesed mother in times
of stress) with a willpower(6) test, although doing so is like trying to
talk to someone whilst someone speaks into each ear. The GM and the player
should discuss the source of the character's hallucinations and what
triggers them.
Short Fuse: -2
The character is quick to anger; they take personal remarks regarding
themselves or their cause somewhat personally. Whenever anybody ticks them
off make a willpower(6) test or go on the offensive.
Tourettes Syndrome: -1 or -3
The character suffers from tics (repeated uncontrollable actions) such as
eye twitching, grimacing, neck twitching, tapping their feet or
(steriotypically) repeatedly swearing or repeating words of other people.
Tics normally rise and fall in severity and change over time. Whilst TS
sufferers can suppress their tics for a time it is like holding back a
sneeze. Resisting a tic requires a willpower(6) test which falls to a
willpower(4) test when relaxed or absorbed in activity and rises to a
willpower(8) test in stressful situations. Tics come in two forms; simple
tics involve the use of a small group of muscles such as facial tics,
complexed tics involve the use of more than one set of muscles such as
repeatedly touching one's nose or repeating a word. Being in the company of
someone with TS can be rather distressing, adding +2 to all social target
numbers whilst TS is active. Complexed tics add +1 to all physical target
numbers. Simple tics are worth -1 points, complexed tics are worth the full
-3.
Vain: -2
The character simply can not stand being anything less than stylish, they
suffer a +1 to target numbers for all tests using mental attributes or
skills that default to them (1 dot away on the skill web) if dirty or
unkempt. They must also keep at least a middle lifestyle. Cat shamen can
only claim this flaw at a -1 value. Hungoans and mambo of Ezurlie already
suffer from this.
Weak Stomach: -1
When faced with gruesome and/or repulsive images, the character has a
tendency towards loosing their last meal. A GM should make characters roll
willpower or body to avoid throwing up when faced with a horrible scene
every so often anyway, but characters with this flaw should be made to when
faced with anything from the sight of someone on the receiving end of a
called shot to the head to a particularly messy contact (with tusks) eating
spaghetti and talking at the same time. The base target number to resist
throwing up is 3, resisted with willpower or body (whichever is higher)
although the GM may choose to raise or lower this target number depending on
the situation
Wanderlust: -1 or -2
The character finds it difficult to stay in one place for any longer than a
few weeks before moving on. After two weeks of living in one place the
character must roll willpower against a TN of 4 or pack their stuff and
return to the road, if they succede then they last another week, after which
the TN rises to 6, 8 after another week and so on. Characters with
wonderlust may get severely depressed if kept in one place for too long.
At the 1 point version the character just needs to get out of the house for
a while, they may take off for a few days to wander before returning home.
Characters with the 2 point version are almost constantly on the road; they
will almost never settle somewhere for longer than a month before completely
moving on.
In Cyberpirate campaigns this acts as a longer term version of Sea Legs.
The character has an uncontrolable desire to set sail, they will land in a
port and may stay for a week or so but eventually they will be off exploring
again. Such characters are never really comfortable without a clear view of
the sea.
Social
Androgynous Apperance: 1
The chaacter can pass for a member of the opposite sex in almost all
curcumstances. Whilst this may lead to many embarassing situations it
affords great benifits when the character wants to disguise themself. This
is not necessarily be a natural advantage; many professional female
assassins have their brests removed so that they could pass as a man. If a
character takes this with the Good Looking And Knows It Edge they recieve
the -2 bonus to both sexes. Same with Ugly And Doesn't Care.
Fearsome Apperance: 1
The character is not necessarily physically large or ugly, but there is
something about them that scares people. They have an aura of fear that
makes it hard for others to relax near them. The character adds +2 to the
open test result whenever they use intimidation or interogation.
Gentleman: -2
The character exhibits what could be considered the more acceptable kind of
sexism; they consider women to be weaker than them and therefore in need of
protection, they will always be courteous, hold open doors, never swear in
front of a lady and never strike a woman. If they are forced into melee
with a female they will always fight to subdue or in the very least pull
their punches, they will not consider a female opponent a threat and will
almost never refuse something asked of them by a woman, especially not if
there is a chance to prove how big and macho they are along the way.
Feminist characters and NPCs will react negatively to the character and
likely go out of their way not to act as he expects them to.
Ghoul Looking: -1
The character once had a near escape from being infected with the Kreiger
strain of HMHVV. Whilst avoiding complete infection they developed the
distinctive ghoul skin pallor, lack of body hair, elongated fingers and 28
sharp teeth. The majority of people will believe them to be a ghoul and act
accordingly.
Green: -1
The character is new to the culture of the country the game is taking place
in and noticeably so. They are easier to identify and recognize, may often
be at +1 TN when in social situations with the natives and must take the
native language of their country before that of the country the campaign is
taking place in. This flaw is more of a roleplaying device than a serious
problem rules wise; the character must adapt to western (or eastern or
pirate etc..) life, to begin with they will have trouble working out how to
use a credstick, how to hail a cab or how to address a barman when buying a
drink. This flaw should certainly be eliminated over time.
Gullible: -2
Maybe the character is new to the streets or maybe they're not used to
thinking for themselves, either way, the character is not necessarily stupid
but they have trouble telling a lie from the truth. Whenever the someone is
attempting to convince the character of something lower their target number
by 2. The GM may call upon the character to make an intelligence test to
see through lies, a well told lie which is quite possible ("See that guy on
the table opposite? he's an undercover Lone Star detective, no don't look
round...") has a target number of 6. A lie concerned with something the
character is familiar with and can logically disprove ("One in every three
people are magically active these days") has a target number of 4. A
blatant lie ("Of course the Seattle Monorail is dragon powered - everyone
knows that") still requires an intelligence test against a target number of
2.
Mistaken Identity: -1
The character looks like someone famous, they might even be the sibling of a
famous trid star or corporate personality. This, obviously, leads to some
confusion, and serious problems if the character is often mistaken for
someone who has become famous through their appearances on "UCAS' Most
Wanted." Although to a certain degree the character may be able to leech of
their doppleganger's fame, most of the time this should be an annoyance;
people never like to be fooled and when they think you're Richard Villiers,
they expect you to spend like him. Note that whilst the character can
normally pass as the individual to people who have never met them, they will
need a lot of magical or cybernetic help if they ever plan on a major scam.
Social Phobia: -3
The character suffers from an intense fear of becoming humiliated in social
situations, specifically of embarrassing themself in front of other people.
They tend to think that other people are very competent in public and that
they are not. Small mistakes they make may seem much more exaggerated than
they really are. The character feels uncomfortable around all but the
closest people to them and will go to great lengths to avoid social
interaction. The character must start the game with a charisma attribute
less than their racial average and must eliminate the flaw before they buy
any social skills. Whenever the character is approaching a social situation
they must make a willpower(4) test every hour of anticipation or do anything
they can to get out of it. The GM may also require a willpower test not to
make an excuse and leave any social occasion or speak to more than a few
people at a time. Characters with a social phobia will be nervous,
apologetic and shy.
Talkative: -3
The character just loves to talk to pretty much anyone about things,
including their shadowrunning career. Wrong party tests (The Companion pg.
63) are made against a target number of 4. In addition to this the
character must make a willpower(6) test (modified by the GM depending on the
situation) not to tell more than they should in a social situation and their
intelligence is considered to be two points lower for the purpose of
negotiation or etiquette tests made to get information out of them (again
modified depending on the situation).
Magical
Magical edges and flaws can be some of the most satisfying players can take;
there is something cool about being a magic resistant anomaly or having city
spirits follow you wherever you go. And if you just have to crunch numbers,
a street sam with astral perception, low light, thermographic, eye lights,
ultrasound and a couple of levels of electronic magnification can see
_everything_. Unless otherwise noted anyone can take these edges and flaws.
Astral Blindness: -3 (-4 for full magicians)
Available only to characters normally capable of astral perception. The
character can not astrally perceive or access the astral plane (unless
helped there by a free spirit with the astral gateway power), this impedes
all abilities normally requiring astral perception (such as Quickening).
This flaw is common amongst religious magicians who refuse to believe in
their own powers. Access to the metaplanes is still possible.
Astral Sight: 3
(I saw this mentioned on another sight as an edge so this isn't actually my
idea.) The character is capable of astral perception (SR3 pg.171) in the
same manner as full and aspected magicians and some adepts. Adepts may also
purchase this edge if they do not have the astral perception power. If the
character takes the Blind flaw (SRComp page 19) along with this, Blind is
only worth -2. Note that the Germany Sourcebook recommends you take magic
at priority D to get astral perception alone and that it costs 1 good karma
to activate, but it was left out of MITS so I guess FASA gave up on it. The
GM should discourage adepts from going this way; it is a darn sight cheaper
to purchase the edge than the power.
Astral Projection: 5
The character is capable of astral projection (SR3 pg.172) like full
magicians, this is only available to characters who would normally only be
able to astrally perceive (ie.. aspected magicians, some adepts and
characters with the astral sight edge). The GM should watch the use of this
one; them adepts can get evil with this edge.
Background Count Tolerance: 2, 4 or 6
Anyone who uses magic in an area where there is a background count for a
prolonged period of time eventually develops an immunity to its effects; a
number of cases have appeared in Chicago where individuals have been able to
work in areas with a background count as high as three without suffering any
ill effects. For every 2 points in background count immunity the character
reduces the effects of a background count by 1. When in a manawarp they
receive the same magic reduction, damage from astral activity and drain
level modifiers but still reduce increased magical TN's and drain power.
Born Human: -1
Orks and Trolls only. The character, unlike the large majority of their
kind these days, was born human and goblinised during puberty. Whilst this
has great physical and emotional trauma attached, it affords one major
advantage; longevity. Most Orks live between 35 and 40 years and most
Trolls live around 50. Those individuals born human live the normal human
lifespan (55 worldwide but as high as 75-80 in UCAS and other advanced
countries.
Conditional Magic: -2
The character's view of magic may be different to the norm, maybe a joke at
college that spirits need tempting out of the metaplanes with beer became a
crutch for them, or maybe they were taught to do magic whilst astrally
perceiving. Either way, they have some form of mental block that prevents
them from performing magic under certain circumstances, they may be unable
to cast spells without speaking Latin, or without a silver crucifix around
their neck. The character starts with the equivalent of a geas (pg 32
MITS). This is not a geas however; they can not be broken when the magician
wishes, instead it is simply a condition which the character must forfill to
use magic. If the condition is not met, the character's magic simply does
not work because the character does not believe it will.
Grounded: -3
Available only to full magicians. Unlike other full magicians, the
character can not leave their body and go onto the astral, although they can
astrally perceive normally. The flaw may have a psychological basis or the
character may not be fully awakened like aspected magicians. Access to the
metaplanes is still possible.
Group Member: 2
The character belongs to a magical group. The nature of which is either
randomly generated or decided by the player and the GM together. The
character can therefore benefit from reduced costs if spending spell points
as karma to initiate at character creation.
Suppressed Talent: -4
Most magical abilities manifest just before puberty but not all do.
Although the character has "the talent" they are not aware of it. They may
have been brought up in an environment away from any magical individuals or
have been taught that magic is evil, some magicians simply do not find
sorcery or conjuring as easy as others and without proper tuition never know
they have it. However it happened, when the time came, the magician never
discovered their abilities. The character must discover that they have the
talent and pay the 40 karma to eliminate the flaw before they can start to
learn any magical skills. This provides many interesting role playing
moments as the character comes to terms with their abilities (and maybe gets
chosen by a totem). Wiley GMs may inflict this flaw on mundane characters
(whose players will be receptive to it) when they get boring to play.
Totem Advantages +/-2 per dice
The character may have had a disagreement with their totem or may (on the
other end of the scale) be totally emerged in the role their totem gives
them. For each level of Totem Advantages the character takes as a flaw they
loose one dice of totem advantages for either sorcery or conjuring, or they
may increase totem disadvantages by another 1D6, as an edge they receive
+1D6 to a spell category or spirit type consistent with their totem
advantages, or reduce their totem disadvantages by 1D6. If the character
changes their advantages this would indicate the displeasure or appreciation
of their totem. Altered disadvantages are characteristic of a shaman who is
not completely bound by their totem; one who shows an interest in all
aspects of magic. Characters may not get more than +3D6 in any area.
Matrix
Faded Otaku: 4
The character must have a minimum age of 21, they may be older if the player
wishes, bearing in mind that otaku have not been around for long. The
character is a former otaku who has experienced The Fading (pg 146 The
Matrix) and has lost their abilities. Whilst lacking in the ability to
access the matrix without a deck, lost channels and the emotional pain of
loosing their link with the Deep Resonance, the character has come a way an
amazing decker. They must begin with a computer skill between 6 and 8
(specializing as they see fit), they will also possess knowledge of otaku
culture and may well still have links to and friends in their old tribe.
The character's racial maximums for mental attributes are increased by 1 and
their maximums for physical attributes are reduced by 1. The option is also
open for them to allocate only 1 point into each physical attribute (trolls
need to put 2 points into quickness to counter racial modifiers) in exchange
for 2 more BPs for mental attributes and increasing their mental attribute
limits by 2.
Miscalanious
Debt: see text
Through gambling debts, money for cyberware or for whatever other reason,
the character owes someone money. Depending on who they owe this money to
they will be bothered about it in varying worrying or painful ways, their
creditor will undoubtedly claim any nuyen they see the character with and
will constantly be ready to remind the character of their debt. With some
organizations, a debt is a slippery slope to belonging to whoever loaned the
money originally; megacorps often demand favors as interest on loans.
Either way, the character owes flaw rating x 10,000¥, or, if the group has
established a cash for karma system, nuyen equal to ten times the flaw's
rating in good karma. This flaw is not bought off with karma, but with
nuyen. Of course, the character may choose to try to escape paying the debt
in which case the GM may exchange the flaw for another of equal value
(hunted seems a good idea, as does bad reputation, hung out to dry or extra
enemy). Note that the character does not receive the value of the debt in
resources; that money has either already gone into resources or it has
already been spent. The GM is encouraged to put as much pressure on the
character as is possible, forcing them to repay the debt.
Essence Drain Addict: -6
At some time in their past, the character had an unhappy run in with an
essence draining critter such as a Vampire or Wendigo who drained some of
their essence. During the experience they felt the extasy of being drained
and became addicted. The character will spend every waking hour and every
nuyen they earn actively searching out essence draining critters to
experience the drain again, they will hang around areas where vampires are
reputed to feed and will try to bargain with any essence draining critter
they meet. The player must do this, even in the face of quite possible
death, although the GM is advised to have any such critter use them as a
pawn or mess about with them as opposed to just killing them. The character
starts out having lost a minimum of 1 essence point, the GM may up the value
of the flaw by up to -2 per level for each point.
Financial Independence: 2, 4 or 6
The character has a regular source of income for which they do not have to
work. This can be a trust fund, disability payments, alimony, a benefactor
etc. For every point of Fincnial Independance the character recieves 1000¥
a month. At the GM's disgression the character may take this at levels
beyond 6 points.
Involuntary Cyberware Activativation:-1 or -3
Maybe the character's image link and headware memory has 30 seconds of
"ghost" footage that it plays every so often, or the character's reflex
trigger is a little jumpy, or they unconsciously pop their spurs in and out
when they feel threatened. However it manifests, every so often the GM
should inform the character that the item of cyberware has switched itself
on. This could range from the annoying (like your eye light superflash
system switching on whilst you are trying to chat up a member of the
opposite sex) to the dangerous (like your shotgun cybergun going off whilst
you are driving).
For the -3 version of the flaw, not only does the cyberware activate under
a different stimulus, but it does not activate when the normal mental
command is given. The user must take a simple action and pass an
intelligence(6) test to activate it. This flaw is linked to a particular
piece of cyberware.
Mob Family: 3
Like the Pirate Family edge, the character has ties to a part of La Cosa
Nostra. When moving to a new city they can expect to be able to get in
touch with the local Mafia and get some help doing whatever it is they are
there to do. This edge can be a disadvantage as well; the Mafia is hardly
united in SR and there are many organizations who would be more than happy
to use the character to get at the local boss. This edge can be altered to
incorporate members of major gangs like the Cutters or members of other
centrally-organized criminal organizations.
Responcibilities: -2 to -4
The character has certain commitments that require large amounts of their
time, the 1 point version of this flaw may be a manifestation of being in a
band or doing a little volunteer work in the local homeless shelter the 3
point version would represent something like being in full time education.
Whilst the character may be able to blag a day or two off every so often
they could risk getting thrown out of whatever their responcibilities entail
if they make a habit of it.
Point Value Hours taken up per week
-2 5-9
-3 10-19
-4 20+
Staying Clean: -1
The character was previously addicted to something; they got clean but the
cravings still linger. Should the character ever be able to get their hands
on the drug again (if, for example they are offered the drug or they find a
warehouse full of it) they must pass a willpower (addiction rating) test to
refuse it. If they fail, they're hooked again with +1 addiction. Their
Addiction and Tolerance ratings are equal to their base ratings, plus 12
divided by the drug's pre-addiction edge rating (rounded up). The GM should
check up on which drug the character was addicted to before allowing them to
take this flaw.
Alternative Campaigns
Whilst most, if not all, of the above could quite easily fit into a
non-shadowrunner campaign as described in SRComp and The Underworld
Sourcebook, there are areas of life in those campaigns that are not covered
in normal ones, the following edges and flaws are ideas we have come up with
to add a little spice to an alternative campaign.
Duties: -1/-2
The character's job involves a certain minor role that others do not have to
suffer. In Special Ops groups, for example, one individual is usually
responsible for the maintenance of heavy equipment. One (usually the
highest ranking) member of a cop group has to sign for all warrants,
equipment etc. the group uses. More than one made man, eager to impress,
has ended up babysitting the senile but respected former don. The duty
should be relatively minor but should show up enough to annoy the character.
The value of the flaw depends on how much of the character's time is taken
up performing the duty or how many problems may arise from their doing so.
Informer: -4
This flaw is intended for Mafia, Yakuza, Triad and Seoulpa Ring alternative
campaigns as described in the Underworld Sourcebook. The character is
talking to the feds or, for a lower ranking member, Lone Star. They may be
threatened with prison, maybe they are trying to get a certain individual
taken down or maybe they are trying to get out of the organization and into
a witness protection program (only really applicable with the FBI). Either
way the character has to meet an FBI agent or police Detective contact once
a week, or whenever requested, to tell them what is going on, to pass on
evidence against other members of their organization and to receive new
orders. The character may be asked to wear a wire, to find things out and
otherwise put themselves at great risk. The GM will probably want to keep
the fact that the character has this flaw secret from the other players.
On The Take: -2
This flaw is intended for cop campaigns a la pg 116 of The Companion. The
character takes money from an underworld syndicate in exchange for which
they turn a blind eye on that syndicate's dealings, crack down on the
syndicate's opposition and generally act in the best interest of their
benefactors. Whilst this provides the character with money every so often
they have to do as they are told which can mean getting other officers
fired, destroying evidence and otherwise not acting in the best interest of
the public. The character's job may well be threatened by their actions and
once the Mob, the Yaks or the Triads have you there is no way out.
Rank: 3 per level (varies)
This edge can be applied to pretty much any alternative campaign setting.
Whilst most starting cop characters are considered to be ordinary beat cops,
most military characters are (well-trained) soldiers, most starting Mob
characters are considered to be Soldatos etc, the character has advanced in
their position within their particular organization, giving them a degree of
authority over the other characters and other lower-ranking individuals.
The GM may want to vary the cost of this edge depending on the campaign.
Each level of Rank moves the player up one position (eg. for a Mafia
campaign it costs 3 points to become a Caporegime, 6 to be the Stottocappo
or Consiglieri and 9 to be the Don). A higher rank indicates greater
authority and a better income, however, it also means greater
responsibilities, more attention from rivals and more work than the other
characters will receive and if the character abuses their power they will be
put in a position with less. Characters with the Rank edge should look into
the Leadership skill.
Phil
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