[Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Confused

[johndallman]

Confused [-10] is a mundane mental disadvantage with a self-control roll (SCR). It appeared during the 3e period, but I’m not sure exactly when. The world seems strange and confusing to you, often not making sense. You aren’t stupid because of this disadvantage, but you are bad at coping with new information and situations. In quiet and predictable places, particularly your own home, you can operate normally.

However, in strange places, or confronted with unfamiliar circumstances, you need to make a self-control roll to avoid mentally “freezing.” The roll is penalised if there’s a lot going on: a club with loud music and strobe lights would be -5, and a battle or riot would be -10. It’s not clear how you recover from Confused: I’d allow a victim to move away from excessive stimulation, and re-roll when the penalties decreased.

Succumbing to Confusion will keep you from making plans, such as Tactics rolls. If you succumb in combat, you need to Do Nothing every turn, unless you’re directly and comprehensibly attacked. Then you can defend yourself, and even make attacks on someone attacking you. But you can’t initiate actions, only react. It’s not clear if anyone else can help you: I’d allow you to make an SCR to follow clear and simple instructions from someone you know.

Obviously, Confused is rather dangerous for any kind of full-time adventurer, and is fairly rare on character templates. It makes some sense as a disadvantage acquired through aging (page B.444) in place of attribute loss, or for characters from somewhere very different. Giving it an SCR of 15 lets you cope most of the time, of course.

AtE makes Confused a possible symptom of excessive Freakishness. It can be an effect of bioweapons or psychosurgery in Bio-Tech, which also offers mitigators for this disadvantage. High-Tech makes it a possible side-effect of drugs that mitigate other disadvantages; Horror has it as a possible effect of insanity, and Madness Dossier has drugs to cause it directly. Magic has it as a possible effect for the Madness spell, and Mysteries points out its possible effects on witnesses. Power-Ups 6 has quirks that can cause you to be Confused if you can’t indulge a habit, and it’s (naturally enough) an effect on the Awe and Confusion table in Powers. Psionic Powers uses it as an effect of burned-out powers, and of Steal Dreams attacks, while Steampunk 1 uses it in the Shocking Revelations Table, and Tactical Shooting as a PTSD symptom. Ultra-Tech has it as a side-effect of nanostasis, and many Zombies suffer from it.

I’ve never used this on a PC, since if I’m going to annoy my fellow-players, I prefer to get it over and done with. I find it more useful as a GM, for representing people who’ve learned Too Much.

[Toptomcat]

This Disadvantage is badly undercosted, in my opinion. ‘Self-control roll vs. losing all ability to plan or take the initiative in any interesting situation whatsoever’, with sharply escalating penalties for loud or chaotic circumstances, feels like it has more in common with disads in the -20 range and worse than anything I can think of at -10. It’s character-definingly crippling.

[edk926]

Yeah as written it seems much more debilitating than typical -10 disadvantages. It could fit aliens or people that have spent life in seclusion though.

[Inky]

I'm not sure I understand the mechanics. When do you roll, and how long does the effect last? (It seems like doing it like Mental Stun - making a self-control roll when you go into a place or when something unexpected starts happening, then rolling every turn until it stops as for Mental Stun - might make sense, but that doesn't seem to be what it says).

[David Johnston2]

It's fairly obviously intended to be something on the autism spectrum.

[Inky]

Looks like it, but what's it supposed to do, mechanically? The instructions look like "In a strange place, or when there’s a commotion going on, you must make a self-control roll at such and such penalty when... something, and on a failure you can't act, except in a few specific ways, until... something".

[malloyd]

Am I misreading this or is it utterly crippling in combat. You roll at -10(!) for a battle, and might very well require multiple rolls for a situation that starts off less confusing and develops, so it almost doesn't matter what your Self Control number is, you fail. There's no recovery time or roll again each turn, so presumably it lasts the full fight, during which you can Do Nothing (except against direct (presumably melee range, so you aren't confused where the shots came from) attackers. Apparently you can't even run away or surrender. It seems substantially worse than Combat Paralysis for less points even neglecting the non-combat component.

Has anybody ever used this in play in a setting where combat mattered? It looks like a death sentence.

I'm glad to see some new traits in this round of new characters, but man, some of these we haven't used much are a lot less well constructed than I thought they were before it looked like I'd need to adjudicate them.

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by malloyd

Am I misreading this or is it utterly crippling in combat.

Yup, it is absolutely crippling. It's far more useful for NPCs who can't cope with strange places and things than than for PCs.

[Anaraxes]

There are many Disads that PCs, especially heroic action-adventurers, should just avoid. Even some that work well in fiction, where the world is all well under Single Author Control, don't work nearly so well in a RPG. Often, those character-defining Disads (or Advantages) are in fact what the story is about. RPGs players have a narrower path to tread, as it's kind of rude to invent a character that demands that each story focus on their chief trait.

But all those negative personality traits aren't just for the heroic PC combatants.

[Pursuivant]

It seems like a toned-down version of Combat Paralysis, but with the extra hassle of affecting you in non-combat situations.

Combat Paralysis (-15 points): Roll vs. HT or suffer Mental Stun in combat, -2 to Fright Checks. Autofail on 14+. Pretty much agreed by GURPS grognards to be as lethal to PCs as Berserk.

Confused (-10 points): Make a SCR in combat or Do Nothing unless attacked in an obvious fashion. If that happens you can defend yourself normally and counterattack whoever attacked you on subsequent turns, but only in reaction to their continued aggression. If they back off, you're back to Doing Nothing. The -5 to -10 penalty to the SCR is the deal breaker. It guarantees that when things get hairy you freeze up, making it even more dangerous that Combat Paralysis.

It's potentially not a bad disad to represent certain reactions by people on the autistic spectrum or with really bad situational awareness or robots with limited processing power to deal with complex situations, but it sure does need a rewrite.

At the very least, I'd only apply that nasty -5 or -10 penalty on the first turn of exposure to an overstimulating situation. Better yet, unless you're completely surprised, just eliminate it and apply bonuses to anything less than a roiling hellscape. Allow a SCR every turn to snap out of it, with bonuses if you're being attacked or you have some task your can concentrate on to reduce your confusion. Once you've made your roll, you're good to go for the rest of the scene.

The massive penalties to SCR should only apply to skill use in an overstimulating environment when you have to focus on the chaos itself, like Vision rolls to notice someone in a rioting mob or Tactics rolls to respond to an ambush.