HoE Hindrances

Jump Back to the HoE Main Page

All of the Hindrances from the Savage Worlds Main Book are available in Deadlands: Hell on Earth, with the exception of Anemic, which is replaced by Ailin’. In addition, the following new Hindrances are available.

Ailin’ (Minor or Major)

Brainers with this Hindrance likely have a cold grave in the near future. An ailin’ character suffers a –1 penalty to all Fatigue checks, such as resisting radiation and disease (see Hazards in Savage Worlds). As a Major Hindrance, the penalty is -2 and is often radiation poisoning called “the glows.”

Grim Servant o’ Death (Major)

Your hero’s a killer. His family’s probably pushing daisies, his enemies are wormling food, and even a few friends have holes in ‘em the same size as his own shootin’ iron. Only Wild Cards can take this Hindrance. The good news is your hombre adds +1 to every single damage roll he ever makes, whether it’s from Fighting, Shooting, arcane skills, Throwing things at people in a most inhospitable manner, or anything else. The downside is that your hero winds up in the local survivor settlement’s jail or on the run a lot. And there’s worse. Any attack roll that comes up a 1 on the skill die automatically hits the nearest friendly character in sight. Player characters are always first choice, but an allied NPC will do in a pinch. A Benny may be spent to change the roll, but a Benny spent is a Benny burned, as they say. Even hand-to-hand attacks hit allies when that nasty 1 comes up. This may require a little imagination, but either the weapon flies out of the hero’s hand and strikes his friend, or the killer moves adjacent to his compadre and “accidentally” whacks him. In either case, if the hero rolls snake eyes, he damages his ally as if he rolled a raise.

Heavy Sleeper (Minor)

Not even Judgment Day could wake this Dozing Doolie. Your hero subtracts 4 from Notice rolls made to wake up, as well as Spirit and Vigor rolls made to stay awake.

Lyin’ Eyes (Minor)

Lies just don’t come naturally to this brainer. That sounds good, but often causes problems when dealing with more nefarious types. Subtract 4 from any Persuasion rolls where lies—even little white ones—must be told.

Mutant (Major/Minor)

Somewhere along the line, your waster came down with a bad case of the glows and gained a mutation for his troubles. As a Minor Hindrance, draw one card off the Action Deck to determine the mutation (your Marshal has the skinny on the results on page 95). As a Major Hindrance, your survivor has likely picked up a more nasty mutation. Draw three cards off the Action Deck to determine the mutation and keep the lowest (Doomsayers take the lowest of two cards). Whatever the case, the mutation is difficult to hide, and some folks out there don’t look too kindly on mutants. Your hero suffers a –2 Charisma penalty when dealing with these narrow-minded norms.

Night Terrors (Major)

Your hombre doesn’t sleep well. In fact, the Land of Nod is a constant nightmare for him. He tosses and turns like a demon on a rack, and likely keeps everyone within a dozen yards of him awake with his nightly torment. Each night, your hero must make a Spirit roll or suffer a level of Fatigue, which he regains the next time he beds down. If the Marshal skips over long periods of time, such as during a trip, roll once instead of each night that would have passed.

Rad Intolerant (Major)

Radiation affects your waster more than most. He suffers a –2 penalty when resisting radiation (see Savage Worlds, Hazards). Damage-causing spells of the Doomsayers or other creatures of radioactive origin cause an additional 2 points of damage as well. The hero suffers both penalties against a power that is resisted and causes damage.

Slowpoke (Minor)

Your survivor is slow. Maybe he has a limp from an injury that never heals, or maybe he’s just choosey about where he places his feet. Either way, reduce his Pace by 1. This is cumulative with the Lame Hindrance if you really want to compete in the next tortoise and hare race. You can guess which one you are.

Thin-Skinned (Major)

Every little ol’ cut and scrape makes your waster whine for mama. As long as he has at least one wound, he suffers an additional –1 penalty to all his actions (so a hero with two wounds suffers a –3, for example).

Combine Deserter (Major)

For whatever reason, your hero turned his back on Throckmorton’s private army and ran. Lucky for him, that nasty chip they put in his head for exactly that reason didn’t explode. Even luckier, it still seems to work well enough to let him use Combine weapons and equipment (if he can get his hands on them). So far, this doesn’t seem so bad, right? Well, it’s not all roses being a former Black Hat. Carting a Combine weapon around a survivor settlement is likely to spark some uncomfortable questions. Most folks know Denver booby-traps its toys and are likely to wonder how your former cretin is able to use them without triggering the explosives. Throckmorton’s goons aren’t particularly thrilled to see other wasters with their equipment either. Since they tend to shoot or at least enslave everyone they meet anyway, this doesn’t really change things all that much. Finally, your hero’s chip is on the fritz, but there’s always a chance it reactivates. Anytime your character faces the Combine (including automatons) and the Denver forces are dealt a Joker, your scav’s chip might trigger. She must make a Smarts roll, or a Smarts roll at –2 if the opposing side has a Red Hat. If you fail the roll, pop goes the chip! Not only does the targeted explosive kill your reformed scav, it makes sure he’s not coming back Harrowed. Hasta la never, pal.

Back to the Top