Advanced case of Overconfidence?

[BraselC5048]

I'm wondering how to represent an advanced case of Overconfidence. She 'is' a very high power character, and can certainly weigh the odds correctly and decide on a rational course of action, or decide to delay a mission for, say, more suitable weather or moon phase. And she does know what her she's capable of quite well, and isn't going to go around needing make a lot of critical rolls at skill-12 or worse. The thing is, many of these rolls are not 'risky' in the sense of likely to fail, in fact they're very likely to pass, but instead they're
'risky' in that the consequences for failing are rather dire. (A messy death is a common one, or serious injury, or having just gone down wounded in front of people who are likely going to kill you, or if they capture you instead, you're pretty much going to be in no shape to escape.) So perhaps "extremely dangerous" is a better term.

The Overconfidence part is that she knows the danger and simply doesn't care or worry about it at all. She's simply thinking "of course one slip in an extremely difficult roll and I die, but that's not going to happen, I'm too good for that," although it never really gets that far unless somebody brings it up. She simply automatically assumes she's going to pull it off, and then doesn't have the slightest regard for what could happen if she doesn't. Entertaining the idea of that happening is simply not possible for her. She knows what the consequences for failure are, and she doesn't care.

The first time her whole life she ever felt any fear at all was when she was stuck in a situation where she needed to pass a couple of rolls to survive, and the odds were pretty poor, and she realized she might not be able to escape. (Stuck trying to escape underwater and she discovered that she the locks she had assumed had used simple handcuff keys were in fact using real padlocks. No easy +5 to lockpicking shaving 25 seconds off each for a very quick escape, which she had assumed would let her escape before running out of air.) She did escape, and hasn't been scared at all in the two extremely dangerous years since then.

Just background fluff for Overconfidence with Self Control 12, or something else?

[whswhs]

If you assume that she really is just about as good as she thinks she is, I'd call it the quirk-level analog of Overconfidence. If she's actually not, then I'd say virtually never having fear is Overconfidence (6).

Though you could also just roleplay it as the way she behaves. When I played La Gata Encantada, I didn't give her Overconfidence, even though she regularly leaped into combat with people who had automatic weapons; she had Dodge-16, which could get +1 from a Move! roll and +1 from Daredevil, and she moved faster than most foes would allow for, with Basic Move 12, Enhanced Move 1, and Super Jump 2, so I figured she wasn't actually very likely to get hit. Now if she hadn't worn any protective gear that would have been Overconfidence!

La Gata did have Impulsiveness (12), though. . . .

[Curmudgeon]

Originally Posted by BraselC5048

Just background fluff for Overconfidence with Self Control 12, or something else?

Overconfidence requires two things as a disadvantage. First, that you [the character] "believe that you are far more powerful, intelligent, or competent than you really are" and second, "that you ... go ahead as though you were able to handle the situation! Caution is not an option." Granted the second part is about failing a self-control roll but the trigger for the roll is showing more caution than the GM warrants the character should, so it's arguably how the disadvantage is supposed to be roleplayed.

As an aside, the text for Overconfidence is fairly explicit that Megalomania is an advanced case of Overconfidence.

All that said, it's clear that the character is exercising sound, rational judgement based on an accurate, uninflated assessment of her capabilities. I'd be inclined to say that she doesn't suffer from Overconfidence at all, not even at the quirk-level.

It's probably closer to the concept to say that she suffers from a quirk-level Delusion (Low probability events don't happen to me).

[GoldenMonkey]

Sounds like a quirk to me. If she's seeking these situations out and actually enjoys them, then maybe a Thrillseeker quirk.

Otherwise it's more like an advantage -- one or two levels of Fearlessness or even Unfazeable (Only While Performing an Action under Stress).

[Wavefunction]

I'd say absolutely handle this as Overconfidence.

It may not fit the description exactly, but it has exactly the same effects. If she knows the chance of dying is too high to make the enterprise worthwhile, and does it anyway, that's pretty much Overconfidence with a slightly different thought process.

[Rasputin]

That she doesn't seem to give a damn about her own life could make this On the Edge.