Flaw Idea: Inability

StarHawk

StarHawk

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I don't know if this has been gone over elsewhere. But I thought of it tonight and I had to share it... Still working on sytematics. Feed back welcomed.


Inability: 1-3 point flaw


  The character is unable to perform under certain conditions. For each point the character looses a die in a particular situation. Instead of a specialty she has an inability. And like any specialty a character may only have 3 "dots" in any given ability.


Expample Inabilities: Brawl- Enclosed Spaces, Performance- In a Noisy enviroment, Stealth- Daylight, ect.
 
Oh the humanity, with the DB Initiate with a 3 Dot Inability for Socialize: Women and another 3 Dot Inability for Resistance: Liquor...
 
We need an area in Submissions for Merits and Flaws... :?


Hey, Stillborn...


*pokes ya with a stick* :P
 
In all seriousness though, this is a great Flaw.  Nice job, Starhawk.


I will be borrowing it.  Thanks.
 
Excellent idea, it reminds me alot of the Adversarial Backgrounds from Mage: the Ascension, speaking of which, anyone thought about trying to make versions of those for Exalted?
 
Interesting idea, but technically it's the same as just adding external penalties for those circumstances anyways, at least for the examples given.
 
If anything, wuxia flicks have shown us that fighting in an enclosed place can be very useful.  Same with using bright sunlight and deep shadows created by the same.  


Even more, it gives a chance to show how even great characters might have places where they are weak.  Like my own inability to make a good Sweet Potato Pie.  I can make a great Bean Pie, I can make a good Pumpkin. I can make Apple Tarts to make you weep, but a good Sweet Potato Pie seems beyond me, and I accept this limit with great humility.


I especially like the social aspects of this sort of Flaw.  A charismatic character, with great oration skills, but little experienced in the ways of the Realm could take a 3 Dot Inability for Formal Debate or Realm Politics.
 
I'd steer my players more towards things that arent obviously bad situations for the ability, such as a Melee Inability of swords. However you have to make sure that the Inability is something that will matter to the character, so if he never plans on picking up a sword, I wouldnt allow that Inability.


Also I wouldnt allow more dots in an Inability than the characte has in the Ability. So in order to have a 2 dot Inability, you must first have at least 2 dots in the Ability.
 
There's no point to a Flaw if it isn't going to have an affect; otherwise it's just free bonus points. That's good sense. If a character's smart, though, they'll steer clear of areas they know they're inept in.


I like this Flaw, anyway; it's basically a reverse speciality. I too, would require a character to have dots in the score before taking it, unless they have a good story reason. Maybe they have a terrible phobia of swords, which makes them even more bad at using them than your regular Joe McNomelee.
 
A fella who uses nothing but clubs, big ass Tetsubo things, and staves, and maces, who gets a sword and winds up using it as a sharp club...


It doesn't come up often, but a good ST uses the Merits and Flaws to better come up with interesting little bits for the players.  A character who has an Inability: swords winds up being captured, and has to arm himself with what his captor have, which are nothing but short blades is going to be glad as hell to find the room where his stuff has been hidden.  


I think though, the strength in this Flaw isn't for Physical sorts of Abilities, but the Social ones.  That, or the odd situations that someone can get into.  Say a rightous tree climber from the East, who really sucks at running--acrobatic, quick, lithe, and runs like duck...


Me, I have displayed hips.  Makes skiing impossible, but I can skate like a motherfucker.  Run really badly too, but it makes climbing a lot easier up sharp faces.  Makes some throws impossible for others to perform on me, without some serious modifications--used to throw my sensei off when we'd spar, because it shifted my weight significantly, and the range of motion sometimes made some some holds ineffectual, but again, I just don't run real well.  Skate, yes.  Bike, yes.  Hike, certainly, running, not so much.  Skiing, damn near impossible.  Snowshoing, easy as pie, especially on a grade.  


I don't think I'd require folks to take a Flaw like this in something that they had two dots or more in, but I would certainly suggest such a thing, to make it more dramatic.
 
It strikes me that this could also be a supernatural Flaw, representing the result of a curse from a god, Exalt, or mad gypsy woman, who all have mad cursing powers for some reason. Then you could get really strange Inabilities, like -3 dice to Martial Arts rolls against anyone wearing blue.


Or...


"No, broccoli! My one weakness!"
 
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