Choosing Flaws
All of the things that make life more challenging, from health problems to mental disorders to social stigmas, are represented as flaws. A flaw is a character trait that undermines or limits your character’s abilities. It would seem natural that the wise player would want to avoid flaws. Not so. A flaw adds richness and personality to a character's success. Your goal is to take flaws that limit you in areas that are not central to your character’s success. Flaws can be fun to play!
Getting the Point of Disadvantages
From our perspective, the most important thing about disadvantages is that they are a large part of what makes playing a character fun. Just like with the people you know, characters’ quirks and oddities make them interesting.
The disadvantage of disadvantages
The least fun thing about disadvantages is that they really only count if they limit what you’re able to do. Think back to your character concept and make sure you know the primary function the character will serve in the party and any secondary areas. Then step back and identify any areas that you really don’t care about. You probably don’t want to take any disadvantages in your primary area and want to focus most of your disadvantages in those areas that aren’t critical. You may also want to think about your character’s personality, both in terms of other characters in the party and other players in the room.
In some campaigns, a GM may introduce required disadvantages. Most commonly, these are elements that serve to bring the party together, such as a shared Enemy or a common Duty.
Adjusting disadvantages during play
Unfortunately, bad things can happen to your character during play. Characters can get hurt, traumatized, or acquire vicious enemies. These types of disadvantages are usually temporary and often can be undone in the course of the adventure — all you have to do is encounter a magical cure, get therapy, or finally defeat the evil villain.
Traits
Traits describe a minor aspect of your character. Your character may have up to five of them, with one of them opposing the other 4. In general, a trait has to be
something that causes others to react to your character differently. Traits can be physical (such as mismatched eye color), superstitious (avoids the number 5), mental (counts in different languages), or just plain annoying (drums fingers while talking).
You should always talk with your GM about traits that you want to have before making them a part of your character concept. In some cases, something that you consider a trait may be something that the GM decides is worth being a disadvantage (a superstition may become a phobia if the situation is very common). In other cases, the GM may feel that the trait would be too annoying, either to other players or just to the GM. Traits are one part of your character sheet that many GMs let you fill in as you play. Sometimes a small incident grows into a major component of the character’s personality by becoming a trait.
Embracing Human Nature
The disadvantages here are the ones that give characters personality. For the most part, these are the sorts of issues that you’ve probably observed in coworkers and family members. And frequently, they are the sort of characteristics that we use when we describe the essence of a person — he’s got a bad temper, she always tells the truth, or he just never gets the joke.
You should think through how comfortable you’ll be playing a particular disadvantage. If confrontations make you uncomfortable, then you probably don’t want to play a character that has a bad temper. Also keep in mind that your character’s disadvantages shouldn’t become your own. Just because the character you’re playing is stubborn doesn’t mean you as a player have to be stubborn when making plans with the other players.
Acting out — A matter of degree
The disadvantages discussed in this section are ones that most of us possess to one degree or another. If minor enough, the characteristic may be a trait or not even worth mentioning. The more intensely your character is defined by the disadvantage, the more her actions become limited. In the course of the adventure, as in life, it is sometimes in your best interest to act against your nature. In those cases, you need to exert self-control to take an action that is counter to the disadvantage.
There’s one in every party
Some very positive character traits can become disadvantages in an adventure setting. For example, a character with Truthfulness cannot tell a lie; she can avoid answering a question, but she can’t lie.
Two disadvantages that some players bring to each and every character are Curious and Impulsiveness. Of course, rushing in is not always a very good idea.
Although the disadvantage can be a tremendous problem in real life, playing a character with Gullibility can be great fun. The GM usually likes it, too, because your character can be told elaborate stories, and she’ll believe every word — and act on them, too. As a consequence, be careful about what other disadvantages you take with Gullibility (avoid ones like Impulsiveness).
Relating to other people
A wide range of disadvantages describe to what extent your character needs other people around. For example,
Shyness: How easily one begins to interact with new people
Loner: How much one values one’s private time
Chummy/Gregarious: How much one needs interactions with other people
A related disadvantage is Xenophilia, which relates to how your character reacts to individuals of other species or, depending upon GM interpretation, other cultures.
Another set of disadvantages relates to how giving you are, both in terms of your time and energy as well as your money:
Miserliness: This money-related disadvantage means you hate to part with a penny and always seek the best deal.
Greed: This money-related disadvantage means you’ll do anything for a buck.
Gluttony: This applies not to wealth but to craving food and drink; a related disadvantage is Increased Consumption, which means your character needs more sustenance (usually restricted to exotic characters).
Selfish: If status is important to your character, then this disadvantage perhaps captures the feeling. Any slight to your status can quickly give you the Bad Temper disadvantage.
Charitable: On the other end of the spectrum, this disadvantage is less about money than it is about attitude. Your character honestly wants to help those around him by sharing his resources.
Selfless: This is a trait similar to Charitable, but it comes into play only during a conflict of needs, in which case you’ll sacrifice your own needs to help the other person.
Taking risks
When evaluating risky situations, two disadvantages can dramatically change your character’s options:
On the Edge: If you have this disadvantage, the fact that a situation is risky just makes it more attractive. After all, the bigger the risk, the bigger the payoff. With On the Edge, your character can accurately assess the risk and plan for it (including listening to the advice of other characters), but won’t let the risk stop her.
Overconfidence: On the other hand, this disadvantage means that you misjudge the risk. You are convinced that you can overcome almost any obstacle, despite what other characters may try to tell you. Be careful to avoid mixing Overconfidence with any other trait that might make it difficult to work with other party members. It’s actually in your overconfident character’s best interest if the other party members care about preventing your character from being hurt.
Focusing on people, places, or things
Four disadvantages describe the negative ways in which a PC might respond to a stimulus such as a place, a symbol, or any other identifiable item or collection of items. In many campaigns, stimuli specific to the adventure may be appropriate (for instance, in a real-world campaign, a fear of vampires is probably a trait, but in a horror campaign, it’s a valid Phobia).
Phobias: Phobias are fears of something. Any exposure to the object of the Phobia is a stressful situation and so triggers any stress-related disadvantages. If your character has a phobia, consider taking a trait or two that relate back to the fear — it makes it more fun to play. For example, you might combine a fear of darkness (nyctophobia) with a quirk of always checking the peacebonds on your weapons or carrying both a magical light source and a candle.
Squeamish: This is a specific disadvantage for the general category of “yucky stuff.” It’s a fun disadvantage, and as long as you have a reasonable self-control roll, it’s not likely to prevent your character from being successful at most endeavors. You do, however, have to respond in such a way as to limit your actions (mild panic, screaming, or hysterical giggling can all work).
Compulsive Behavior is the general category for addiction to a type of behavior. If your character doesn’t have an opportunity to indulge in the behavior, she suffers from Bad Temper until she gets a chance to again immerse herself. Specific examples of compulsions include gambling, carousing (partying), generosity, lying, spending, and vowing, but you are allowed to create your own. The GM may impose immediate negative consequences for having the compulsion in the first place (for instance, someone with compulsive spending has a higher cost of living). Compulsive behaviors are calculated both in terms of the cost of the habit, the likelihood for it to disrupt life, and the value of the self-control modifier.
Obsessions: These are goals that your character must pursue — even when the rest of the party wants to go do something else and when the pursuit is not in your character’s best interest. It’s not enough just to talk about it; having an Obsession influences your character’s actions as well. It’s entirely up to the GM as to whether an obsession can ever be satisfied.
Use with caution
The set of disadvantages that can be most challenging to play are those that run counter to the traits of a good player. In particular, the following disadvantages
are very difficult to play unless you tend to nap through most of the action:
Incurious: The opposite of Curious — your character has no natural inclination to find out what’s behind doors or to try new things.
Indecisive: Your character has difficulty making decisions. In fact, he tends to spend more time deciding than acting.
Confused: Your character has trouble understanding the world around her, or at least new situations. This can be quite crippling for a character and is just annoying to play because you have to limit your own thinking.
Clueless: You just don’t get jokes. You may appreciate other forms of comedy, but verbal wit is just beyond you.
The GM may rule that the player of an Indecisive or Clueless character is restricted in how much he can influence other players. Indecisive is not a disadvantage,
for example, if you as the player get to be decisive and talk other players into your course of action. We’ve always wondered why Incurious characters ever leave home; make sure your character story explains that.
Sometimes you can conceive a character who’s a bit grumpy or not so nice to be around. And of course, there are disadvantages for those situations as well:
Bad Temper: This disadvantage covers the entire range of short fuses and hair-trigger reactions that can transform a simple greeting into a barroom brawl.
Intolerance: This is an active dislike for members of a specific group. When you encounter members of this group, you don’t wait for an excuse; you go out and start the problem.
The difficulty with these disadvantages is that they are traits that most of us do not like to see in our friends. It can be a challenge for other players in the party not to become frustrated with your character’s behavior.
Other difficult disadvantages include the following:
Lecherousness: This is a particularly tricky disadvantage in some parties. If all of the players are comfortable with sexual situations, and everyone has a good sense of humor, being Lecherous can offer endless opportunities for amusement (particularly when it is creatively combined with other disadvantages, such as Shyness, Xenophilia, or Impulsiveness.) The key is making sure that the players are comfortable with this; the other characters don’t have to be, however.
Short Attention Span: This disadvantage requires extra work on the part of the GM. If the character is supposed to be concentrating on something, the player is also likely concentrating. That makes it harder for even the most honorable player to remember that his character can’t really concentrate. GMs should remember to step in and remind players about this.
Chronic Depression: This is similar to Short Attention Span, though a bit more troublesome.
Failing to fit in
Although how well your character gets along with the rest of the party is an important factor to consider as you select disadvantages, you may want to consider some that make getting along a bit more challenging. Most of the disadvantages in this category won’t dramatically change what you are able to do, but rather influence how you go about it. None of these, however, are recommended for a character destined to play a primarily social role.
How you react to others
The individual with Low Empathy just doesn’t understand the emotions and motivations of those around him, neither innocents that the party encounters nor other party members. This means that he is at a disadvantage with many social skills.
The Callous individual may understand other people very well; she just doesn’t care about them. The Callous disadvantage can create conflicts with other party members who have traits like Charitable.
Jealousy makes social interactions a bit more awkward (particularly with those of a higher social class or who are obviously more talented) but doesn’t affect most of your day-to-day adventuring. The only time that it can cause serious problems is if you become jealous of someone else in the party.
Limiting your own actions
Some disadvantages require more role playing skill than others. Not all characters contribute to the party equally, and no matter how excited you as a player are, or how much you want to contribute to the campaign, you may limit your character’s abilities within the party with disadvantages such as the following:
Stubbornness is a great disadvantage for the annoying character who won’t cooperate with the rest of the party. Keep in mind that this is not the “stupidness” is advantage. If a good plan is suggested, your character should be able to (eventually) recognize that fact.
A Guilt Complex is a relatively safe disadvantage in that it comes into play only if something happens to those to whom your character feels close. In that case, he becomes severely depressed and may try to withdraw from the action.
Laziness means your character wants to withdraw from the action all the time. Most GMs allow that even lazy characters are motivated to adventure because it’s supposed to be easy money; it’s only hard work that a lazy person tries to avoid.
No Sense of Humor requires both good role playing, and, strangely, the player has to have a very good sense of humor. The player can laugh at jokes and should still have a good time, but the character needs to be the perpetual straight man — never quite getting the joke and setting everyone else up for humor. We’ve seen some great role playing in which other characters have patiently tried to explain the joke over and over again.
Killjoy is a very different disadvantage in that the character cannot feel any pleasure. The character with No Sense of Humor may not laugh a lot but still enjoys life, even taking pleasure in the amusement of others. Not so the person with the Killjoy disadvantage. For that character, life is always a flat gray with no peaks of enjoyment.
Lunacy combines the Laziness disadvantage on the new moon with a moderate degree of Impulsiveness or similar trait on the full moon. If being tied to the moon is critical to your character conception, this is a good disadvantage to take, but otherwise, the bookkeeping required to track the phases of the moon tends to make it more of a headache than a pleasure.