Rubik
2015-04-20, 09:47 AM
For anyone here who doesn't know what they are (yeah, right), character flaws are from Unearthed Arcana, and they inflict a penalty on a character in exchange for a bonus feat of your choice. They tend to be numerical penalties that are on par with, or slightly stronger than, some of the less amazing feats out there. (-1 penalty to AC, as opposed to Dodge, which is +1 to AC vs one creature, for instance.)
But what if character flaws were a lot harsher? For instance, I homebrewed the following two flaws for a story I'm writing -- regarding a person who suddenly gains D&D abilities (and is turned into a monster) and can game the system as he likes, within RAW -- which are purposefully hard (though not impossible) to deal with, just to make his little min-maxing life more difficult. They are imposed upon him, and he has to deal with the fallout from them.
As a beast, you find wearing clothing excruciatingly uncomfortable.
Effect
Any time your body is covered by tangible equipment that isn't considered slotless or held, even regular clothing, you receive a -1 level penalty per body slot covered (to a minimum level of 1) until your body is once again uncovered and unrestricted. This level penalty is similar to incurring negative levels, except it cannot result in death when normal negative levels are applied, nor can the level penalty be removed short of removing the constricting items. It also cannot result in your hit points being reduced to 0 or below.
Special
Specific items of great importance to you are exempt from this flaw, such as a focus item, item familiar, or ancestral relic.
This severely nerfs his ability to use WBL, which is a major power boost to any character.
You rely on your chosen focus item for your special abilities.
Effect
Upon taking this flaw, choose a magical or mundane item you own. If this item is not on your person, whether equipped or held, you are unable to use any of your special abilities (Ex, Su, Sp, Ps, or spells) from class, race, feats, or other effects. Nor can you use the magical or psionic properties of items until your focus is once again in your possession. You may still utilize your natural abilities, and any items in your possession still retain any mundane uses they have.
Artifacts as well as cursed items are unaffected by this flaw, as are any items that are creatures in their own right.
Special
You may choose to conduct a ritual to replace your current focus item with a different one, such as if your focus item is destroyed, lost, or stolen. It costs no gold or experience; it does, however, require 2 days per level of uninterrupted solitude as you imprint your needs and desires on the item in question.This one introduces a huge weakness, and it makes sense in the context of the story, since his abilities are largely granted by a pair of goggles he wakes up with after being given his powers. They grant him the ability to interact with the rules on both a standard level and a meta level, and they're the only piece of body-slot equipment he's capable of using unless he pulls some tricks out of his metaphorical arse.
Now, a question: What kind of benefits should come with this increase in flaw potency? A single feat seems a little low, but I definitely don't want this to be a completely equal trade, since a player can choose both his flaw (to minimize its impact) and his feat(s) (to maximize his gain). Granted, the person/character in question doesn't get to choose his flaws, but I do want this to be potentially usable in a game where the player would get to choose.
Also, what other kinds of flaws would you make for something like this?
But what if character flaws were a lot harsher? For instance, I homebrewed the following two flaws for a story I'm writing -- regarding a person who suddenly gains D&D abilities (and is turned into a monster) and can game the system as he likes, within RAW -- which are purposefully hard (though not impossible) to deal with, just to make his little min-maxing life more difficult. They are imposed upon him, and he has to deal with the fallout from them.
As a beast, you find wearing clothing excruciatingly uncomfortable.
Effect
Any time your body is covered by tangible equipment that isn't considered slotless or held, even regular clothing, you receive a -1 level penalty per body slot covered (to a minimum level of 1) until your body is once again uncovered and unrestricted. This level penalty is similar to incurring negative levels, except it cannot result in death when normal negative levels are applied, nor can the level penalty be removed short of removing the constricting items. It also cannot result in your hit points being reduced to 0 or below.
Special
Specific items of great importance to you are exempt from this flaw, such as a focus item, item familiar, or ancestral relic.
This severely nerfs his ability to use WBL, which is a major power boost to any character.
You rely on your chosen focus item for your special abilities.
Effect
Upon taking this flaw, choose a magical or mundane item you own. If this item is not on your person, whether equipped or held, you are unable to use any of your special abilities (Ex, Su, Sp, Ps, or spells) from class, race, feats, or other effects. Nor can you use the magical or psionic properties of items until your focus is once again in your possession. You may still utilize your natural abilities, and any items in your possession still retain any mundane uses they have.
Artifacts as well as cursed items are unaffected by this flaw, as are any items that are creatures in their own right.
Special
You may choose to conduct a ritual to replace your current focus item with a different one, such as if your focus item is destroyed, lost, or stolen. It costs no gold or experience; it does, however, require 2 days per level of uninterrupted solitude as you imprint your needs and desires on the item in question.This one introduces a huge weakness, and it makes sense in the context of the story, since his abilities are largely granted by a pair of goggles he wakes up with after being given his powers. They grant him the ability to interact with the rules on both a standard level and a meta level, and they're the only piece of body-slot equipment he's capable of using unless he pulls some tricks out of his metaphorical arse.
Now, a question: What kind of benefits should come with this increase in flaw potency? A single feat seems a little low, but I definitely don't want this to be a completely equal trade, since a player can choose both his flaw (to minimize its impact) and his feat(s) (to maximize his gain). Granted, the person/character in question doesn't get to choose his flaws, but I do want this to be potentially usable in a game where the player would get to choose.
Also, what other kinds of flaws would you make for something like this?