[Basic] Disadvantage of the week: Bully

[Dalin]

Originally Posted by Icelander

I don't think Bully is any more (or less) obviously stupid than Bad Temper, Charitable, Compulsive Lying, Lecherousness, On the Edge, Overconfidence or Trickster. Nor, for that matter, Pacifism: Cannot Kill or Vow: Never use weapons.

If anything, Bully with high SC represents a character defect that the character might be aware of and trying to fix, which he can control to some extent when it is really important.

I agree. Although I haven't seen bully come up as a PC disadvantage in a while, I can imagine it fitting in with the right group. Indeed, reading this discussion is giving me the itch to try it out. One of the Top Features of GURPS, in my opinion, is the ability to try out tragic flaws in different combinations. I would certainly clear this choice with both GM and other players (as I would with any character concept), but it might be fun to attempt playing a recovering bully or a bully who has other good characteristics that make it worth dealing with their obnoxious qualities.

For example, a character with a bit of status could be a fun version that would play reasonably well with most traditional "heroic" groups. Your typical social snob who is actively mean to lower status folks. They might be fighting for a good cause (save the kingdom, save the world, etc.) and doing lots of other good in the world (money to charity, etc.), but they simply don't see lower status individuals as worthy of respect. Depending on the SCR value, this could be dialed up or down in intensity. My sense is that as long as they have plenty of lower status people to bully, the point value would be worth it, and would give the GM plenty of room to create nuanced social challenges that could be fun for the whole group. The character may not bully people of higher status, but the reaction penalty would still apply due to their reputation for indelicacy.