Player options : Flaws, from 4 winds fantasy gaming

[Question]

I was looking through this PDF. Couple of things caught my eye :

Albino : fort save or take damage in sunlight every hour. This seems unworkable to me...considering adventuring is going to be in daylight almost all the time (barring unusual campaigns, like an underground one where this is basically a free feat).

Daydreamer : Will save or you fail to catch the whole of the conversation. 5 ranks in perception to avoid the flaw. Interesting idea, but i think it would be hard to make this work in practice....EVERYTIME someone talks, you have to make a will save (more rolling, slows things down) AND everytime you fail, the DM has to figure out what to tell you and what not to tell you...and to top it off, this is basically a free feat by 5th level if you have perception as a class skill.

Flaws where your character is exiled/excommunicated/etc are basically free feats unless this is a multi-region campaign and your character has reason to try and go back to the region they are barred from.

Flaws where you take penalties to social skills are free feats unless you are a social character, -2 to bluff is not going to affect a wizard. Similarly for flaws where you take penalties for charisma checks in conversations.

And then there are feats like deaf/lame where the drawbacks definately seem to outweigh the benefits.

Thoughts on this PDF if anyone else has read it?

[DM_Blake]

I don't have this and am not likely to get it, but just reading what you posted, I think back to Champions/Hero system which has a similar concept, taking "disadvantages" in order to gain extra benefits above what other characters would have (unless they took "disadvantages" too).

In that system, the first and foremost rule about disadvantages was that the GM was urged to disallow any disadvantage that wasn't actually a disadvantage. Or in other words, only allow disadvantages that would actually create a real problem for the character, even if the disadvantage they pick was a legitimate one from the game system's core rules - if it won't impact the character in the campaign that he'll be in, then don't allow it.

I don't know if this Flaws book has similar instructions, but I would highly advise following this Hero system rule and applying to this book.

[Endzeitgeist]

Optional rules like flaws tend to hinge A LOT on DM-prowess. I get where you're coming from regarding flaws, but I do use them in my campaign - without being able to get rid of them - If they do want to pay them off, I assign an XP-value they have to pay in addition and need to see character-development of a significant nature to allow it.

Albinism can work awesome in underground campaign, urban noir nightlife investigation-style scenarios - or you could do it like I did and introduce alchemical sunscreen: Expensive, washes off easily and still impedes the character, but makes sojourn throughout sunny days possible, if not practical.

Just my 2 cents - with minimum fixing, these can be quite fun, at least in my opinion. Cheers!

[Lyingbastard]

I wrote most of the flaws. There was absolutely no attempt made to balance the flaws in terms of penalties because, quite frankly, some difficulties simply are more impairing than others. The flaws are mostly for adding flavor to your character, making them more personalized and ideas for roleplay. There are no positive modifiers to any of the flaws, we wanted to avoid the "flaw that's actually a benefit".

Regarding the "social flaws are free if you're not a social class": Just because your character isn't the group's "social tank" doesn't mean they never have to deal with people. It's not like the party will always be together all the time - and using combat magic in a crowd of bystanders is rarely the best choice.

Flaws will not make your character a better monster-killer and loot-gatherer. But hopefully they'll make your character more well-rounded or unique.

[Question]

I don't think the fighter with 8 or 10 cha is going to be able to charm a NPC with or without the -3 penalty...(maybe if it was a really easy roll).

I like the flavour idea, i just wish it could have all been more balanced out. It saves time modifying them later on.

[Lyingbastard]

The problem with balance is that quite simply, some issues are a lot more difficult to deal with than others, and balancing them either trivializes one or over-amplifies another - being blind, for example, is a lot harder to deal with than being a spendthrift. I went for a breadth of options rather than a few that could be considered more or less equal.

It's up to you and your GM to decide how to use flaws in your campaign. Good luck and I hope you enjoy what you're able to get out of them.