[johndallman]

Overconfidence [-5*] is a mundane mental disadvantage, with a self-control roll. You feel you’re far more capable than is actually the case, and confidently attempt challenges that are at or beyond the limits of what you can do. This disadvantage appeared at GURPS 1e, and hasn’t changed much.

The way you express your overconfidence is up to you. You can be loudly boastful, or understated, but you must role-play it in your actions, and the GM is entitled to ask for self-control rolls if they feel you’re being too cautious. If you fail, you assume you can handle the situation, and go ahead. Some degree of scaling to the challenge is reasonable, since this isn’t On the Edge: that disadvantage is more about turn-to-turn tactics, while Overconfidence is more about what plans you make and fights you start. If your plans are huge, you have Megalomania, possibly as well as Overconfidence. You get +2 reactions from naive or young people, who tend to believe you’re as capable as you act, and -2 from experienced people with a better idea of what’s possible. It’s incompatible with Low Self-Image.

Overconfidence is a very common trait for heroes of many genres, especially low-tech warriors, and shows up as an option on lots of published character templates. It’s also an effect of being Maniac-Depressive, and a side-effect of some drugs, including psychiatric medications. Madness Dossier naturally has drugs to cause it, some of them with additional combat value. SEALs in Vietnam regards Overconfidence as an acceptable disadvantage for SEALs, inheriting that from Special Ops for 3e, and it’s part of the racial psychology design system in Template Toolkit 2: Races.

This disadvantage is a bad combination with Impulsiveness, and very bad when mixed with nuclear power, low-tech artillery, or explosives at any TL. A good way to survive it is to be fairly tough, and have a player who isn’t overconfident, and can deploy Luck when needed.

My uses of Overconfidence on PCs have mainly come when I feel a character needs to be overconfident to have taken up adventuring in the first place. I’ve played in campaigns where there was a recognisable party faction who were Overconfident, and another who weren’t. The latter tended to do a lot of picking up the pieces afterwards, and occasionally had to remind the GM that they were the semi-sensible group.

How often has Overconfidence got PCs into trouble in your games?