Submissive Disadvantage?

[GodBeastX]

I have a character that needs to easily give in when a higher caste/status/charismatic/etc person pushes their weight around on them or gives them direction. What would this be?

[McAllister]

Compulsive Obedience? At least that sounds a little less kinky.

[VariousRen]

Slave Mentality with an accessibility modifier "Only to people with more status (or wealth, or whatever)." Powers has a chart that pairs accessibility to a percentage chance it applies, so you just need to know the ratio of various status levels.

[GodBeastX]

Slave Mentality is what I'm looking for but it's a bit potent. But that's the basis. Let me see if I can toy with it.

[whswhs]

Take a look at the Power-Ups volume for quirks. There's one near the beginning that amounts to a limited version of a quirk that applies under specific conditions and perhaps with lessened effects. Let's see: Extremely Limited Disadvantage, pp. 10-11. Such a version of Slave Mentality might suit.

Or you might define it as a version of Selfless. Normally Selfless requires a self-control roll to put your needs ahead of another person; what if you need a self-control roll only when the other person is higher Status? Of course you'd have to define the self-control number, but for a quirk version I'd probably make it 12 or less, with the usual proviso that trying to make self-control rolls without grave necessity is bad roleplaying and discouraged.

[McAllister]

I'll weigh in against Slave Mentality. Slave Mentality isn't just the obligation to follow commands, it is also the inability to initiate action without being ordered to do so.

"You must
make an IQ roll at -8 before you can
take any action that isn’t either obeying
a direct order or part of an established
routine."

This doesn't sound like what you want at all, and I don't think you can modify it to fit. "Slave Mentality, except you can do whatever you want, except when someone of high Status gives you an order" is going to be hard to express in modifiers, right? And you autofail Will rolls to resist influence. Modifiers are also bad at making something become infinite, or stop being infinite, including penalties to rolls.

With Compulsive Obedience, you could adjust the self-control roll based on the perceived Status/Charisma/whatever of the person pressuring the character, which is great, because then your Compulsively Obedient character can have whatever Will score you want without getting the ability to say no to people. It's ultimately up to you, but I think you'll find this a better fit.

[MIB.6361]

Maybe Vow, Duty, Sense of Duty, Code of Honor, or Compulsive Behavior related to adherence to the caste order?

[GodBeastX]

Originally Posted by McAllister

I'll weigh in against Slave Mentality. Slave Mentality isn't just the obligation to follow commands, it is also the inability to initiate action without being ordered to do so.

"You must
make an IQ roll at -8 before you can
take any action that isn’t either obeying
a direct order or part of an established
routine."

This doesn't sound like what you want at all, and I don't think you can modify it to fit. "Slave Mentality, except you can do whatever you want, except when someone of high Status gives you an order" is going to be hard to express in modifiers, right? And you autofail Will rolls to resist influence. Modifiers are also bad at making something become infinite, or stop being infinite, including penalties to rolls.

With Compulsive Obedience, you could adjust the self-control roll based on the perceived Status/Charisma/whatever of the person pressuring the character, which is great, because then your Compulsively Obedient character can have whatever Will score you want without getting the ability to say no to people. It's ultimately up to you, but I think you'll find this a better fit.

You make a good point. It probably is a Compulsive Behavior to do as told. And then a limitation to only do so to those above you.

For specifics of what this has to do with. It's for Imps being created to do what demons tell them. So it's only affect demons in the caste.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by GodBeastX

Slave Mentality is what I'm looking for but it's a bit potent. But that's the basis. Let me see if I can toy with it.

Slave Mentality is far too extreme for any realistic character, but it's where I'd start, too.

FWIW, you could also model excessive submissiveness as reduced Will, Duty, Gullibility, an OPH (Constantly apologizing, Offensively obsequious, Passive-Aggressive, etc.), Susceptibility (Influence Skills), or a Quirk.

If you want to create a new disadvantage, or a new variant of Slave Mentality, I'd base it on -5 points with a self-control roll to resist. That would make sense for creatures who are conditioned to obey certain commands, no matter what, and no matter who gives them. In some cases, it might cause them to hesitate before taking independent action, or to behave uselessly while they await orders rather than seizing the initiative.

Example: The Cylon fighter pilots from Battlestar Galactica who always had to spend a couple of seconds coming to a consensus about what to do next in a dogfight. In the meantime, they flew in a straight line setting up a nice, juicy target for Colonial pilots to blast. (Realistically, during WW2, certain British, Japanese, and Soviet pilots had at least a quirk-level version of this trait.)

[jason taylor]

The thing is, having a human with this would require a traumatic experience (a human that is submissive as a SoD seems to be a different thing).

If you give this disadvantage and don't want to make it to dark it has to be given to a robot, a race with a hive mind (or something similar), or an animal. And not all animals; ask your cat how submissive he is feeling.

So this is really kind of related to how dark you want your story to be.