[Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Epilepsy

[jason taylor]

Originally Posted by Ashtagon

In a medical sense, it absolutely is a health issue. In the GURPS sense, it really isn't related to much else that the HT attribute covers. I'd favour making it a self-control roll (i.e., a frequency of appearance roll).



During a seizure, writing is hard or impossible. Outside of one? Some of the best calligraphers I know of are prone to epilepsy.

It does not make learning to drive out of the question. It is quite possible to be prone to epilepsy and be a very good driver -- when not having a seizure. The problem with epilepsy and driving isn't so much that they can't drive, but that the onset of a seizure is unpredictable and would usually lead to an uncontrolled vehicle. Essentially, it's a legal barrier, not a cognitive one. In game terms, a character who is known to be epileptic would probably require at least a perk-level Unusual Background to explain how they found someone willing to teach them to drive. A character who was diagnosed after learning to drive would retain their pre-existing skill level, but would almost certainly have had their driving licence revoked once diagnosed. Their ability to drive would be as good as it was before -- right up until a seizure is triggered.



This much is correct.

During a grand mal writting is simply impossible. During a local the hand shakes making it merely difficult. Outside it is quite correctly whatever.

It is quite correct that learning to drive is theoretically a legal barrier not a cognitive one. Oregon however does not give out drivers licences to epileptics and would be insane to.

[cptbutton]

Is the point cost reduced if effective drugs for it are available?

This would be a disadvantage that could be obtained in play, as it can be caused by brain injury.

There is the famous split-brain surgery as a possible treatment, with however GURPS handles the effects of that.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by cptbutton

Is the point cost reduced if effective drugs for it are available?

Sounds like a Mitigator limitation.

[Phil Masters]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Don't take the term "Self control" too literally.

Possibly someone did when 4e was being compiled; I seem to recall that this isn't the only disadvantage that can be controlled by a HT roll. Might have been better to call them "Occurrence Rolls" or something, in retrospect.

Originally Posted by cptbutton

Is the point cost reduced if effective drugs for it are available?

That's definitely a mitigator, probably available at TL7+, though how well drugs work seems to be highly variable. My late father was prone to occasional petit mal blackouts which were effectively controlled by drugs, to the point where he legally (and perfectly safely) retained his driving license.

Petit mal effects probably need all sorts of disads to represent them, depending on all sorts of details. But the problem with this sort of disadvantage is that, for an adventurer, it's either no great problem at all or a guaranteed fatality at some random point. The system arguably needs these things for completeness, but one can't expect to see them used often.

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Phil Masters

Possibly someone did when 4e was being compiled; I seem to recall that this isn't the only disadvantage that can be controlled by a HT roll. Might have been better to call them "Occurrence Rolls" or something, in retrospect.

Addiction withdrawal (physical), yearly attribute loss for Alcoholism, Bad Back, Chronic Pain, HP loss to cold with Cold-Blooded, Combat Paralysis, keeping fallen-off pieces intact with Brittle or resisting catching fire with Combustible/Inflammable, Insomnia, Light Sleeper, Maintenance, Motion Sickness, Restricted Diet (Substitution), Revulsion, Self-Destruct, Timesickness. A long list, which seems to rather support the idea that Self-Control's intent is to replace Will rolls, what with the stark cheapness of Strong Will and its bundling with IQ (which 'everyone' usually takes anyway!).

[Rocket Man]

A few notes from personal experience. (I had petit mal epilepsy as a child - AKA "absence seizures" - and now have gran mal as an adult.)

1) The comments about "cloudy brain" right after a gran mal seizure are absolutely correct. Having a seizure is very disorienting. Not only do I black out when I have a gran mal, but in the first few minutes after one is over, I have done things completely unconsciously, such as climb off a stretcher to go to the bathroom and then return to the stretcher.

2) I'll make a pitch for a "self-control" roll instead of a HT roll as well, for a simple reason -- high levels of fatigue affect self-control rolls but not HT rolls. High fatigue can easily make a seizure more likely; one of my worst came after I had pretty much been working for 12 hours straight (an all-day newspaper assignment that had me travel throughout the county) and then collapsed into bed to sleep the clock round. A seizure hit in the morning hours.

3) Accessibility modifiers can apply to seizures. Some people only get them under certain conditions. Mine, for example, are Only While Sleeping. As a side note, this is one way in which an epileptic can qualify for a driver's license; if your seizures do not occur while you're awake, your neurologist will usually clear you to drive.

4) For many epileptics, medicine can act as a Mitigator if it's taken consistently. In the wonderful world of medicine, of course, drug interactions can interfere with this. For example, triptans are wonderful migraine medicines but they also lower seizure thresholds, effectively eliminating the Mitigator while taken.

5) For realism, a seizure should do HP damage as well as FP damage. I have never had a seizure where I wasn't in pain after waking from it, sometimes to the point where I could not run, only walk, for a couple of days afterward. The damage isn't necessarily just from pulls and muscle tears, either - it's possible and even likely to knock something on top of yourself in the course of a seizure, or even just to fall on top of a hard or dangerous surface.

6) In game terms, petit mal seizures might be handled using rules similar to Absent-Mindedness. To an outside, that's often what it appears like, that the person has just "zoned out." As a Quirk, the petit mal may also have associated pscyhomoter effects, a repetitive motion that the individual unconsciously performs while having the seizure. (Mine was a repeated plucking at my shirt.)

7) Many epileptics get "auras" before a seizure, some change in their environment that gives them a short-notice warning. GMs who want to simulate this could give a Perception roll to the PC or to a nearby pet - there are many records of"seizure dogs" that can pick up the changes and either get their master to safety or attract help.

8) One thing that *might* argue for a HT roll instead of self-control is that it's very possible to have a critical failure for seizures, representing either an exceptional danger that's been created or a SEVERE medical reaction. For example, epileptics will stop breathing for short periods throughout a seizure, usually 10-15 seconds at a burst. But sometimes, the person will stop breathing entirely and have to be assisted with CPR. Even with intervention, it's possible for there to be lasting brain damage if the person has been without oxygen for long enough - this happened to a developmentally disabled relative that my wife and I care for, and was the proximate cause of her long-term disability.