[Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Deafness and Hard of Hearing

[johndallman]

Deafness [-20] is a mundane physical disadvantage. It is total deafness, you can’t hear anything at all. You have to receive communication via sign language, gestures, or writing (given literacy). You can also read lips, given knowledge of the language. Time spent communicating counts as study of the relevant skills, so you will become pretty good at them with time. By default, you start knowing a sign language and a regular language in written form.

Hard of Hearing [-10] is also a mundane physical disadvantage. It gives you -4 to all hearing rolls, and to any other rolls where understanding someone else’s speech is important. It’s effectively -4 levels of Acute Hearing [2/level], rounded up to [10] because of the understanding problem.

Both of these disadvantages date from GURPS 1e, and have not changed much since then. They do have some minor upsides, in helping to resist attacks like Kiai or Musical Influence. Before 4e, GURPS offered the option of requiring a player whose character was deaf to wear ear-plugs. This is a lot more practical nowadays with noise-cancelling headphones, but still doesn’t seem like a great idea, unless the player wants to do it.

Hard of Hearing is a fairly common option on templates for characters who work with explosives or shoot guns a lot, as well as elderly professors or wizards, and some exotic races. Deafness is much rarer, though Banestorm Octopus Folk and Bio-Tech biological spaceships have it, as does the Plant meta-trait. Both disadvantages can be useful for representing temporary problems, from drug side effects to heavy metal concerts. High-Tech has the rules for concussion imposing these disadvantages, and for hearing aids; Madness Dossier has more advanced equipment, since Deafness can be quite useful in that setting. Most Low-Tech helmets give Hard of Hearing, and there are attacks in Martial Arts that can cause either disadvantage. Power-Ups 6 has quirk-level versions of Hard of Hearing, and Powers: Enhanced Senses has more detail on deafening, and sensory enhancements that dull other senses. Psi-Tech uses it in an unethical way of helping you gain psi powers, and brains-in-a-jar have Deafness, while Psionic Powers has attacks to cut off senses. Many Reign of Steel robots have poor hearing. Social Engineering: Back to School has details of these disadvantages’ effects on teaching, and Tactical Shooting has more on loud noises. Ultra-Tech has sonic weapons, but even the smartest missiles are deaf.

The only PC I recall with Hard of Hearing was a wizard in my playtest campaign of the original GURPS Discworld, whose player wasn’t that interested, but was willing to go along with the group. He put absorbent cotton in his ears as a simulation device, slept quite a bit … and found a way to move the plot forward dramatically with a simple spell.