| From: | shadowrn@*********.com (Phil Smith) |
|---|---|
| Subject: | My Gargantuan File Of Edges And Flaws Part 1 |
| Date: | Sun Jan 21 16:42:04 2001 |
I decided to just post it. I've been making this for pretty much as long as
I have been playing SR, adding to it ever so often, its only recently that
I've realized how massive it has got. If any of you make use of something
in here in your games please let me know how it went; I'm never going to
play test all of it.
And I appologize to you digest list members for the size of this message :)>
Edges And Flaws
Pretty much every game system has a set of edges and flaws under some name
or other (Advantages and Disadvantages in GURPS, Merits and Flaws in White
Wolf, Traits and Bogies in Kobolds Ate My Baby and so on and so forth). In
some cases they are specific to the system and in others they are
practically the exact same text in each book (have a look at Common Sense in
pretty much any game system.) No matter which side of the fence you are on,
they are cool; if you just like crunching numbers for the best possible
combinations then there is the opportunity for both extra BPs and evil
combinations of abilities. If you go in for the roleplaying side of things
then they offer you endless possibilities in terms of defining
characteristics and roleplaying opportunities.
The following are about 50% our own ideas, 25% filched from various White
Wolf Games either as Merits and Flaws or derangements and 25% stolen from
official GURPS stuff or GURPS websites, they are somewhat roleplaying
orientated to suit the kind of game we like to play. Feel free to mess
around with values and game effects as you see fit; what works for us may
not necessarily work for you. Do note also that, being WOD inspired, some
of these (especially some of the mental ones) may be a little bleak and/or
complicated for an average SR group who just want to have fun. The GM may
choose to ban some of these because they deal with issues they do not want
to address in their campaign.
Stressful Situations: Something which needs pointing out before we begin;
many of the flaws that follow are triggered by "stressful situations." A
stressful situation can be defined as follows; a situation where the
character's life, the character's livelihood, the life of someone close to
the character or something otherwise important to the character is at risk.
If the character suffers from a phobia then situations involving that are
also considered stressful situations. Other than that, the GM must decide
when a situation is considered stressful. Note that combat is considered a
stressful situation. GMs should only make players roll to stay calm in
stressful situations once unless the source of the stress increases or
changes to the character's disadvantage.
Attributes
Players are not allowed to take both Exceptional Attribute and Bonus
Attribute Point for the same attribute in our games; doing so is just asking
for Cyclops with a natural body of 20.
Diminished Attribute: -2
>From a past injury, drug addiction or any number of other causes, one of the
character's attributes has been permanently damaged. Reduce the racially
modified limit for it by 1. This flaw can be taken as many times as the
player wants on as many different attributes as they want (bar Reaction,
Essence, Bio Index or Magic).
Skills
Ineptitude: -1
There is an area in one of the character's skills that they are bad at, for
example, a character may kick hoop at Computing but has never so much as
though about where their programs come from outside of their deckmesiter's
pockets and thus has an ineptitude for programing; its not that he can't
learn it, he just never did. When attempting the area of the skill where
the character has the ineptitude reduce the skill's value by 2; essentially
an ineptitude is an anti-specialisation. GMs should make sure that players
who take this flaw do so for an area that the player will actually use; it
is no good taking Pistols with an ineptitude for a gun you do not own.
Characters can not specialize in aspects of a skill that they have an
ineptitude for and may not take an ineptitude for a skill they have at a
rating less than 3.
Physical
As it says in the book; assume none of the following can be corrected with
Cyberware. We're not sure whether to class Will To Live as a mental or a
physical edge.
Animal features: -1, -2, 1 or 2
Shapeshifters only. Whilst all shapeshifters show some characteristic of
their nature such as excessive body hair, reflective eyes or hairy palms,
the character has further features that mark them out as a shapeshifter.
More common examples include tiger shapeshifters who retain their fur in
human form, wolf shapeshifters with ears or an elongated, muzzle-like face
or bear shapeshifters with a full set of pointed teeth. Some of these
features are little more than an annoyance that can be covered up in public
in which case the flaw is only worth -1 point. In other cases the features
are quite obvious and the character's nature will be evident. Some features
may be useful if weird looking such as claws or a tail for balance in human
form in which case Animal features costs 1 or 2 points depending on how
useful the feature is.
Note that some subcultures go in for bioware fur, tails and otherwise
consider animal features fashionable, the shapeshifter may find that people
often identify them as a member of this group as opposed to their true
nature.
Asthma: -3
Asthma can be triggered under two circumstances; fatigue and stressful
situations. When rolling to resist fatigue (pg 47 SRComp), make a separate
body(4) test, each turn increases this TN by 1. If the character fails they
suffer an attack. The GM may also call for such a test after strenuous
exercise. To resist an attack brought on from a stressful situation takes a
willpower(4) test modified at the GM's digression.
When under the effect of an asthma attack, a character suffers +4 to all
TNs, -3 reaction and halves their combat pool. As a general rule, all the
character's concentration is taken up trying to breathe; as a complex action
they may make a body(6) test, if they succeed, the attack finishes. If they
fail, or if they do not attempt to stop the attack, they take one box of
stun. An inhaler reduces the TN for this test by 2, a dose from an inhaler
can be taken up to 30 seconds in advance of an attack.
Deadened Nerve Endings: 4
The character's nervous system is missing a few connections, they have very
little tactile sense, whether pleasure or pain. The character suffers a -3
intelligence when making perception tests involving touch and a -1
intelligence for all other tests. However, they have to be hit really hard
before they feel it; the character effectively has three levels of pain
resistance. The character may not even be aware that they have been shot if
the impact does not knock them over, the GM should keep track of the damage
the character has taken and make perception tests for the character to see
if they realize they are wounded. (Note, this is an edge; think of it as a
poor man's High Pain Tolerance).
Defective Sense: -1
One of the character's senses is dulled are abnormally damaged in some
fashion. They may be hard of hearing, have limited taste receptors or
incorrectably nearsighted. Reduce the number of dice they roll in
perception tests using that particular sense by 2.
Diabetes: -2(type2) or -4(type1)
(Inspired by Andy J. Otto on the GURPS list)
There are two types of Diabetes (actually three, but diabetes insipidus is
an entirely different disease). 1.An auto immune disease in which the body
does not produce any insulin, most often occurring in children and young
adults. People with type 1 diabetes must take daily insulin injections to
stay alive. Type 1 diabetes accounts for 5-10 percent of diabetes. 2.A
metabolic disorder resulting from the body's inability to make enough, or
properly use, insulin. It is the most common form of the disease. Type 2
diabetes accounts for 90-95 percent of diabetes.
Type 1 diabetes gives you a dependency to insulin (which can be bought from
any medical supplier, with or without a SIN; the SR universe is a
capitalist's world without any free health service). The character must
take their dose daily or take 1 box of stun damage every hour, resisted with
a body(6) test. You also have -2 body when resisting disease. Because
diabetics need insulin to live, demand is fairly elastic which has forced
prices up to about 200¥ a week.
Type 2 diabetes is only a dependency to insulin, where you must take
insulin daily. However, if you miss your dose you don't take damage but
don't feel too good. You receive a -1 body when resisting disease.
This does, of course, assume that diabetes is incurable in your campaign.
Cyber injectors can deliver insulin into the character's blood stream but
they still need to refresh their supply once in a while.
Epilepsy: -3
The character suffers from occasional seizures during which their limbs
tremble uncontrollably and they can not speak or think clearly. Under
stressful situations the character must make a willpower(6) test or fall
prone and enter an epileptic fit for 1D6 minutes. This time can be
shortened by one minute per success using a complex action and passing a
willpower(8) test, this may be attempted multiple times. During a seizure
the character takes one box of stun damage every minute and can take no
actions other than trying to end the seizure. Epileptic fits can also be
cause by flashing lights (especially Flash-Paks).
Migraines: -1, -2 or -3
The character suffers from headaches, whilst under the effects of a headache
a character is considered to have a light stun wound (-1pt) or in the case
of serious migraines, a medium stun wound (-2pt). Every day the GM should
roll to see if the character suffers from headaches, roll 1D6, on a roll of
a 1 or 2 they suffer from headaches for the rest of the day. The value of
this flaw can be upped by increasing the likelihood of headaches to 1,2 or 3
for an additional -1pt.
Mute: -2, -3 or -4
The character is incapable of speech, they may be unnaturally (bordering on
insanely) shy and refuse to speak or have irreparably damage vocal chords.
Either way they may not communicate with anyone else vocally for the full -4
points. If they choose to do so they may learn to use sign language in
which case the flaw costs only -3 or use mind link spells to communicate in
which case it costs -2. This flaw seriously slows up game play at -4, so I
advise it for NPCs only and then not for long term ones. Buffered messages
from deckers are not considered verbal communication. At -2 or -3 the
character wants to talk but can't, at -4 the flaw is mental; they do not
want to talk. The player can describe their actions but may not communicate
in or out of character during game play.
Permanent Damage: -4/box
The character has permanently lost a box of physical or mental damage, this
damage is taken from the start of the condition monitor effectively giving
the character a permanent wound. This could result from drug addiction, a
combat spell with the permanent spell modifier (in the first case you may
want to look into taking the Diminished Attribute flaw for body) or any
number of different reasons. In the SRComp it says that the maximum edge or
flaw rating is 6, but in CC Ambidexterity can be bought at 8, so with the
GM's permission a character could take this flaw at any rating they want.
Note that the character is constantly at whatever wound level they have
bought this flaw at with appropriate damage modifiers.
Pregnant: -2
This flaw is somewhat different from other flaws in that it changes over
time and disappears. It has been slightly simplified into 3, 3 month
stages: First Trimester: The character may want to change her behavior and
lifestyle (kicking addictions, improving her lifestyle etc..), no game
effects for now. Second Trimester: The pregnancy becomes obvious, reduce
the character's quickness by 2 (this affects combat pool), she also counts
as having a light stun wound as if she was carrying more than 5 times her
strength. It is at this point that a sensible runner stops shadowrunning.
Third Trimester: The character gets -3 quickness which affects combat pool,
-1 running multiplier and a medium stun wound for encumbrance.
If the mother to-be is wounded, the baby takes double the damage the mother
does. Any amount of damage can seriously effect a growing child. Whenever
the mother is wounded make a body test with a target number equal to twice
the number of boxes taken, a failure indicates a miscarriage.
This flaw is not intended to be taken entirely seriously, if you do wish to
use this it should be taken into account that we allow characters to buy (or
receive) edges flaws at +/-5x the cost in karma so long as there is a good
reason why this would happen. With this in mind, an evil GM could use the
fact that unprotected sex results in a pregnancy in one if four cases (which
best equates to a 5 or 6 on 2D6), to their cruel ends. I have heard it
suggested that - what with the different gestation periods - ork and troll
women menstruate more often and are therefore more likely to become
pregnant. Conversely, elven women menstruate less frequently. In our
campaign almost all women with a medium lifestyle or better take pills to
suppress mensuration; studies have shown that women who menstruate less
often live longer.
When the pregnancy is over the GM may change this flaw to dependency,
remove the flaw without replacing it (should the character put the baby up
for adoption, give it to a relative to look after etc..), replace it with
another -2 point flaw or reduce one of the character's attributes (charisma
or quickness would be a good choice) by 1.
Ork and troll genes are dominant over dwarf and elven genes, which in turn
are dominant over human genes, so a maximum of 1 in every four kids of a
metahuman couple will be human. Ork women normally give birth to multiple
children.
Resilient System: 3
The character's system adapts to cybernetic enhancements well (this may mean
that their body is less reactive to foreign materials in the body which case
they will probably suffer from the weak immune system flaw). Reduce the
essence cost of any cyberware they have fitted by 10%, this is cumulative
with cyberware grades.
Slow Healer: -1
The character's body simply does not get better as fast as everyone else.
Add 2 to target numbers when determining Healing times (SR3 pg127).
Mental
One of the problems with (particularly the following) mental flaws is that
some players choose them with an eye for humor; SR is not a particularly
dark game compared to some of the ones out there, but a lot of the flaws
involved in it are not "I am the lizard king" crazy but genuine
(occasionally serious) mental problems (like Compulsive, Flashbacks, Amnesia
and Phobias). Some of the more serious flaws presented here are designed
towards being frightening and dark as opposed to humorous, players can have
multiple personalities that think they are large pink bunnies called Fred if
they want, but they are cheating themselves out of a great roleplaying
experience. Having used enough malkavians in our V:TM games I can tell you
that there is something deeply cool about a character who is completely
bugfuck.
A rules mechanic I would advise you bring into use to represent serious
depression when in manifests (such as when a total pacifist kills someone)
is halving their willpower attribute (round up) to represent their general
apathy and lack of motivation. We class Sensitive Neural Structure,
Simsense Vertigo and Spike Resistance as a physical edges and flaws, not
mental ones.
Absent Mindedness: -1
The character has trouble recalling things, up the TN for any attempts to
recall information by +4. The character may also forget things like meets,
passwords etc., but not that often. Whenever the GM is feeling cruel, have
the player make an intelligence(4) test to see if they forget something
important.
Anorexic/Buliemic: -4
The character is convinced that they are over weight and will go through
long periods of starving themselves or forcing themselves to regurgitate
food. They may also wear baggy clothes and exercise to the point of
collapse to "burn off the fat". Buliemics eat large amounts of food then
force themselves to regurgitate it in times of stress. A character with
this flaw must start with their body and strength attributes lower than the
average for their race (ie. less than 3+ racial modifications) and their
quickness either average or less. If during game play they wish to raise
these attributes with good karma the cost is 3x desired rating instead of 2x
(or +1 to the multiplier if you're using my house rules). The attributes
can only be increased otherwise using methods that have no obvious effect on
the character's appearance eg. muscle augmentation is not noticeable but
dermal armor is. The character will be perpetually skelatrially thin.
A character can go up to (body) days without food with no ill effects
(apart from feeling hungry), after that they reduce their body and strength
by one and take 2 boxes of stun damage every 2 days without food. This loss
can only be recovered by a full day of rest and three meals (each day
relieves the effect of 2 days of starvation). Should a character suffer
from starvation after their body and strength have reached 1, their racial
maximums for body and strength fall by 1 every day. These losses in racial
maximums can not be regained. Anorexic characters will have to discuss with
the GM how often they eat (about once very 3 days if they are not in
hospital although this may be different if they are not so physically fit),
the GM should take this into account when determining karma rewards for role
playing. The self-esteem of characters with this flaw will pivot around how
fat they feel.
Bloodlust: -2
The character suffers from a strong desire to see his foes dead. They must
go for killing blows in a fight, put in an extra shot to make sure of a
downed foe, choose violent and messy options when stealth might be better,
etc. The character must pass a willpower(6) test to leave a downed foe
alive, retreat from a fire fight when there are enemies left to take out or
shoot for any reason other than to kill. Note that the character is not a
sadist; they reserve their viciousness for real enemies. In a bar-room
brawl they will use their fists and fight to KO like everyone else. This
flaw goes well with Vindictive.
Delusional Disorder: -1
This disorder is characterized by the presence of non-bizarre delusions
which have persisted for at least one month. Non-bizarre delusions typically
are beliefs of something occurring in a person's life which is not out of
the realm of possibility. For example, the person may believe their
significant other is cheating on them, that someone close to them is about
to die, a friend is really a government agent, etc. All of these situations
could be true or possible, but the person suffering from this disorder knows
them not to be (e.g. through fact-checking, third-person confirmation,
etc.).
People who have this disorder generally don't experience a marked
impairment in their daily functioning in a social, occupational or other
important setting. Outward behavior is not noticeably bizarre or
objectively characterized as out-of-the-ordinary, however, for a
shadowrunner who generally needs to stay cool to keep from dying this can be
dangerous. The character should act in keeping with their delusion (never
using public phones, constantly checking on their friend who is about to die
etc.) The flaw should be used largely as a distraction for the character
who will most likely get quite distressed at their unshakable but baseless
delusions.
Developmental Delay: -3, -4 or -5
The character has a reduced mental age. Whilst outwardly appearing to be an
average individual they have a much more child-like and naive outlook. For
each level the character has this flaw at, they must subtract 1 from all
mental attribute maximums and add +1 to all social target numbers. Their
knowledge skills will contain no, or very few, advanced subjects and they
will behave as a much younger person than their actual age, loosing interest
in things quickly, being incredibly nervous around the opposite sex,
preferring cartoons to planning a run, relying on strong parent figures and
showing no appreciation for cause and effect. Note that this flaw does not
necessarily mean the character suffers from a mental difficulty; elves do
not reach maturity until their early twenties so an elf in their late teens
is much more child-like than their human (or otherwise) counterparts. This
flaw is actually more common amongst shadowrunners and assassins than you
might think; whilst individuals suffering from this lack the abilities to
perform like everyone else in normal life, children generally tend to lack
as much of a sense of morality an cause and effect. Anyone who is not sure
how they should roleplay someone with the mind of a 13 year old in an
adult's body should watch Leon for inspiration.
Extreme Paranoia: -4
Whilst a reasonable degree of paranoia is sensible for a shadowrunner, the
character suffers from unhealthily vivid delusions of persecution that
affect their everyday lives, bordering on insanity. They have complicated
and often bizarre explanations for why particular people are doing what to
them and will take any degree of abnormal or unfriendly behavior directed
towards them as evidence of betrayal. The character will most likely have
some kind of delusion or suspicion that some large organization is out to
get him, this could range from the government, a specific megacorp or,
commonly in SR a specific metatype or magicians.
The character will find it very hard to trust anyone and will find
themselves constantly linking any hostility back to a larger scale delusion.
Paranoid character are normally either quiet and lacking in self esteem or
brash and confrontational, either way they are possessed of a strange logic
and twisted outlook that separates them from other people. Because of their
naturally distrusting, and fairly weird, nature, the character suffers +2 TN
for all social rolls and must make a willpower(6) test not to over-react at
any negative behavior directed at them. The character will compulsively
search everywhere they go for bugs, constantly look out of the window for
parked cars they do not recognize, refuse any food or drink offered to them
(in a lot of cases refusing to drink tap water because "you don't know what
_they_ put in it") and ask their resident magician to look for astral
presences wherever they go. And then start wandering what if the magician
could be actually "one of them." Any relationships they do develop will
normally degenerate into distrust because as soon as the character begins to
suspect them, the feeling never really leaves.
Fast/Slow Learner: 5/-4
The character either has a natural ability for picking up skills or has to
work hard to learn things. For fast learners treat skills as being one
level lower for the purposes of determining good karma cost (this cost
carries through for determining the base time required to learn the skill at
the new level), this does not apply if the skill being bought is at level
one (ie. to buy a skill at level 1 still costs 1 point of good karma but to
raise it to 2 only costs (1x1.5=) 1 good karma point again not (2x1.5=) 3
good karma). I feel an example is in order:
Predator is a fast learner street sam, following a particularly nasty run he
figures his pistols skill could use raising and - as a nasty run - he has
just been provided with good karma he can put to exactly that use. He has
pistols 4 and quickness 6, to raise this skill to 5 would normally cost him
(5x1.5=) 7 good karma, however he has the fast learner edge so his pistols
skill is treated as being 3 so to raise it costs (4x1.5=) 6 good karma.
The slow learner flaw raises the karma costs for learning a skill by one
level, this could also a manifestation of laziness, stupidity or whatever.
Sensible GMs will probably raise the cost of these or just ban them. I only
allow this for players whose characters really do fit with this, not just
for players who want to lower their karma costs.
Fuge: -4
When subject to stressful situations the character suffers from "black outs"
during which they act in an almost trance-like way, they follow a rigid,
specific set of behaviors to remove the stressful symptoms. Unlike multiple
personalities, a character subject to a fuge has no separate identity but
seems to be on a form of autopilot similar to sleepwalking. Whenever the
character is subject to a stressful situation, make a willpower(6) test. If
they fail the player must act as if in a trance or the GM may take control
of the character for 1D6x10 minutes, the character will act to remove the
source of their stress. At the end of the fuge the character will have no
memory of her actions.
Lunacy: -2
Shapeshifters only. The character is effected by the phases of the moon,
under the crescent moon the character must make a willpower(4) test to
assume human form. Under the half or gibbous moon the character suffers
from the combat monster flaw, they must make a willpower(6) test to assume
human form. Under a full moon the character may not assume human form and
the willpower test to resist combat monster rises to 8. This flaw is more
common in wolf or bear shapeshifters although others have been known to
exhibit it.
Manic-Depressive: -3
The character's moods are on a see-saw; they bounce back and forth between
bubbling enthusiasm and morose withdrawal. Whilst the character is
frequently perfectly normal, situations can provoke violent mood changes in
them. Whenever the character has cause to get excited they may enter a
manic phase, whenever they have cause to become upset they may enter a
depressive phase, the GM decides when the character's mood may change, this
will normally occur two or three times a game and can be cause by something
as small as getting a smile out of an NPC or as large as killing a fellow
team mate. To resist a mood swing the character makes a willpower(6) test
(modified by the GM depending on the situation). In the manic phase, the
character is confident, friendly, outgoing and excited about whatever it is
they're doing, should they suffer from impulsiveness, vindictiveness,
short-fuse, combat monster, bloodlust, lunacy, megalomania or have shamanic
disadvantages which cause frenzy or other violent behavior, up the target
number to resist this by 2. In the Depressive phase, the character will be
unenthusiastic, lazy and half-hearted in everything they do, as a preference
they will spend time alone sulking, in the depressive phase they divide
their willpower by 2 (round up).
Masochism: -5
The character likes to feel pain, this can come from a number of different
sources; they may feel that they have to prove their ability to stand up to
pain, they might like to leave each fight feeling as if they have been to
the edge, maybe they feel as if they are doing penance for something.
Whatever the source is, the character links pain with pleasure, which can
lead to rather disturbing sexual desires. They begin to have trouble
operating when wounded, when ever the character suffers a wound they must
pass a willpower(5) test or spend their next action excepting the sensation
of pain. If the character is a magician they may wish to learn the heal or
treat spell (it means they can hurt themself without having any scars to
hide) but they must make a willpower(6) test to cast it on themself. The
character has no fear of getting hurt however and will continue fighting
until it becomes apparent that they may well die from their injuries, making
them quite a dangerous opponent. The character will cause themself pain if
suffering from depression or extreme boredom. This may result in their
having to be treated for a light wound once a month or so.
Megalomania: -2
The character is obsessed with power and wealth, normally to hide their own
insecurities. They are arrogant and have an inflated opinion of their
abilities. They not only want to be in charge but believe completely that
they should be in charge. Their every moment is devoted to furthering their
own position through bribery and corruption or outright brutality. They
will see anyone of equal or higher position to them as a threat to their
power. The character will want to be viewed as the leader of their runner
team, expect to be treated with respect by everyone they deal with and will
go on the offensive if someone does not treat them as having a superior
status. When ever they meet someone with a better reputation or more power
than them they must pass a willpower(6) test not to try to prove (or even
enforce) their imagined superiority. Characters suffering from megalomania
commonly have the braggart, vindictive, daredevil and overcompensator flaws.
This is more common amongst gangers and suits than runners.
Memory Lapses (or Dissociative Amnesia): -6
This is not a flaw for PCs, or at least, not for runners; people who suffer
from this frequently forget where they live, who people close to them are
and live their whole life in a daze. It is, however, a good flaw for senile
or mentally unstable dependents. Memory lapses is the much bigger cousin of
Bad Memory, more than an annoyance it is a mental disability. The character
frequently looses random portions of their memory for as short a time as a
few minutes or as long as a few years. Between five and ten times per
adventure the character forgets something for a time, this may be as trivial
as where they left their credstick or the passcode on the maglock to get
into their apartment or as major as an entire skill, including the knowledge
that they ever possessed it ("why are you looking at me like that? I've
never touched a deck before in my life"). In the hands of a dependent
character this flaw can be quite distressing ("sorry young lady, you must be
mistaken; I don't have a daughter"). If some crazy GM allows this for a PC
they have to pay a lot of attention to the player, whilst they may ad-lib
minor memory lapses, the GM will have to inform them of the serious ones.
Multiple Personalities: -4
The character has two or more separate personalities, this is normally so
that they can assign trauma and guilt to another individual. The different
personalities appear as a response to different emotional stimuli, someone
who was the target of abuse may create a personality to take that abuse for
them, an awakened individual who was brought up believing magic to be evil
may develop a personality that can perform magic, or individuals who grew up
in a bad district may create a confrontational personality as a protector,
more commonly amongst shadowrunners, some individuals create personalities
which carry out wetwork or even all their shadowruns so they do not have to
deal with any associated guilt. Most of the time these personalities are
not aware of each other and the character changes as a response to
situations and conditions.
This flaw is better used to show a fractured and unstable individual rather
than for comic value. The different personalities should all be totally
believable in the game world, characters and GMs may find it a good idea not
to tell the other players about the character's nature; imagine their
surprise when they see their mage outside of a run and he tells them not
only that he has never seen them before in his life, but that he is mundane.
The player and the GM must also decide under what situations the different
personalities appear, each personality should respond to the situation that
caused its being. Different personalities may display different skills,
attributes and edges and flaws; whilst a protector personality may know the
intimidation skill at 5 and have a willpower of 6, the other personality may
have no social skills and a willpower of 3. This is for the GM and the
player to decide, the player must pay the full cost for the different
skills, edges and flaws and the highest values they will use their
attributes at. This flaw requires a lot of roleplaying but is not
necessarily difficult to play, it will, however, slow down play a lot and
GMs may deem it unnecessarily comlexed for their game.
A suggestion from the ShadowRN list which could be entrusted to a good
roleplayer who can be entrusted with such power is a magically active
individual with multiple personalities who follow different magical
traditions (for example, an analytical, sensible (possibly much more
resilient to persuasion) personality could be a hermetic, whilst a more
outgoing, confident personality could follow the idol of Bacchus).
Natural Linguist: 1
The character has a natural ability with languages, given a relatively short
amount of time in an area using a language they are not familiar with they
will begin picking up phrases and constructing sentences. Treat language
skills as being one level lower for the purposes of determining karma costs
as with the fast learner edge. The character starts with intelligence x2
points of language skills instead of intelligence x1.5.
Nightmares: -1
The character is haunted by nightmares. Sleep does not come easy, every
night on a D6 roll of a 1, or at the GMs digression if it helps further the
story, the character does not get their full eight hours. A night without
sleep causes a light stun wound. This stun can only be cured by a full
night of sleep.
Overcompensator: -2
The character may be haunted by a disastrous failure earlier in their life,
they may have had too close a run in with death or they may inwardly lack
self esteem. Either way the character always makes sure that they succeed
as spectacularly as possible. They will make sure they always achieve the
goal they set out to do, even if it means going on alone (this does not
apply if they find out they are on a suicide mission, in which case they
will most likely become even more empassioned with proving themselves better
than being sent on such a mission). Whenever the character is faced with a
situation where they may fail in whatever task they are currently embarked
upon they must spend karma to re roll the dice even if their actions are not
particularly important in the grand scheme of things. Overcompensators are
insecure and commonly make up for it by being arrogant, overbearing,
obsessive and take things personally although the player may interpret the
flaw as they see fit.
Perversion: -1 to -3
The character takes pleasure in something that is considered socially
unacceptable. For example, a sadist takes pleasure in causing pain. The
character will probably not advertise their perversion but it will most
likely come to light eventually, getting the character a reputation as a
sick fuck. On the other hand, the character may revel in their reputation
and get work related to it. The character will indulge in their perversion
on down time of whenever possible, the GM may call for a willpower test
depending on the situation if the character gets a chance to indulge
themselves. The rating of the flaw depends on the kind of perversion and
how much it infringes upon the character's everyday life. This is one of
those flaws that the GM may not be comfortable playing; I know I would not
want a character who gets off on killing their sexual partners in my games.
Power-Object Fixation: -2
The character has invested much of his or her self confidence in an external
object to the point where they believe they can not live without its
presence. The object is normally one that has been a part of a major event
in the character's life. For example, a character may fixate on his dead
fiancee's engagement ring, a photo of a dead child or the belt their father
used to beat them with. When separated from the object the character is at
+4 to all mental target numbers. In stressful situations they must make a
willpower(6) test not to start cradling the object, rubbing it obsessively
or otherwise comforting themself with its presence.
...
Phil
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