09-18-2009, 08:48 AM | #1 | |
Join Date: Nov 2006
|
Choosing not to wear glasses...
So, in the Bad Sight disadvantage (p123) GURPS has this to say:
Quote:
Underlined emphasis: mine That requirement that you must take the limitation seems harsh to me. Some people cannot afford glasses and thus don't have them. But, since they are TL7 or 8 and glasses are available they have to take 15 points off the disadvantage and only gain as much as their fellow Bad Sight sufferer who can afford the glasses. Could someone explain why this is balanced? I'm guessing that it is due to overlap with negative Wealth at those TLs (or Stubbornness if it is a willing choice out of pride or what not). I am still of a mind to allow individuals at TLs >4 to have the 25 point version of Bad Sight if they do not have glasses to wear. Can anyone tell me why this is a bad idea? |
|
09-18-2009, 08:51 AM | #2 | |
Join Date: Sep 2005
Location: Topeka, Kansas
|
Re: Choosing not to wear glasses...
Quote:
__________________
Cleopatra: Whenever she assigned me to the switch, was that Voice, or was Raina influencing her thinking? Because, I mean, if it was Raina, she got inside my head and decided that I would screw it up. |
|
09-18-2009, 08:57 AM | #3 |
Aluminated
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: East of the moon, west of the stars, close to buses and shopping
|
Re: Choosing not to wear glasses...
I think there are a couple of things here. First, I suspect that the number of people who
a) have correctable bad vision b) have it badly enough that they qualify as having the Bad Sight disadvantage (not everyone who doesn't have 20/20 vision has Bad Sight) c) live in a society where vision correction is commonplace and d) cannot afford to buy glasses on their own and don't have access to charitable or government programs which can assist them to get eyewear sufficient to correct their vision to the point that Bad Sight no longer applies is sufficiently small that it's not terribly unbalanced. Second, assuming you have a PC adventurer (because that's really all that the character creation rules apply to) who fits those rather peculiar criteria, he's very likely during the course of play to acquire sufficient resources that he can afford to get his own glasses. It's the equivalent of starting a cyberpunk with a blind PC and having him buy new eyes as soon as he gets a bit of cash. At TL5+, vision is simply too easy for adventurers to correct to be worth much. ETA: If the character adamantly refuses to wear glasses, I might let him take a vow or something worth at least part of the point difference. But I'd require him to pay it off if he ever wore glasses in play.
__________________
I've been making pointlessly shiny things, and I've got some gaming-related stuff as well as 3d printing designs. Buy my Warehouse 23 stuff, dammit! |
09-18-2009, 08:58 AM | #4 |
Petitioner: Word of IN Filk
Join Date: Aug 2007
Location: Longmont, CO
|
Re: Choosing not to wear glasses...
Frankly, I'd say it's due to not giving a character "free points." If vision can easily be corrected but a player takes the 25-point version of Bad Sight, one of two things will generally end up happening:
1)The character buys glasses or contacts at some point. Hey presto, I got 15 extra points at character creation for nothing! 2) The character tries to buy glasses or contacts at some point, but is barred by the GM until they have enough points saved up to cover the Mitigator. (Which is probably going to start a PC-GM argument.) If the character is really physically unable to wear corrective lenses (and there are still a few in this day and age), I'd say go ahead and take the 25-point version. If it's a psychological barrier, I'd say take the 10-point Bad Sight and some level of Vow: "Never wear glasses, no matter how much I may need them." That makes it clearer what the nature of the disadvantage is -- the character CAN correct her sight, she just WON'T. EDIT: Partially ninja'd by TBC! And for extra vanity (and points), you can also have the character take Secret: Needs Glasses. This is the kind of PC who will covertly squint during a driver's license eye exam, just to fool the DMV ...
__________________
“It's not railroading if you offer the PCs tickets and they stampede to the box office, waving their money. Metaphorically speaking” --Elizabeth McCoy, In Nomine Line Editor Author: "What Doesn't Kill Me Makes Me Stronger" Last edited by Rocket Man; 09-18-2009 at 09:02 AM. |
09-18-2009, 09:04 AM | #5 |
Join Date: Jul 2008
|
Re: Choosing not to wear glasses...
If the character in question just won't use corrective optics, guaranteed, then the full disad is fine. Sort of the same way a humanoid super can take 'can't wear armor' on their DR if they definitely won't even though in principle they could wear anything available.
In general getting 15 points for something largely trivial to correct in play is a bad idea. 15 point disadvantages tend to be life-altering, not 'if I had $500 this would go away'.
__________________
I don't know any 3e, so there is no chance that I am talking about 3e rules by accident. |
09-18-2009, 09:19 AM | #6 |
Join Date: Nov 2006
|
Re: Choosing not to wear glasses...
Thanks for the quick replies.
On one point... I am the GM and thinking of this in terms of building my list of advantages and disadvantages. The end result is that I see the need for two disadvantages: Bad Sight at -10 points and Bad Sight (uncorrectable) at -25 points The second would be for people/species incapable of accepting vision correcting technology (very rare) or for those people who have Bad Sight when wearing glasses and (effective) Blindness when not wearing glasses. |
09-18-2009, 09:23 AM | #7 |
Aluminated
Join Date: Feb 2005
Location: East of the moon, west of the stars, close to buses and shopping
|
Re: Choosing not to wear glasses...
Sounds about right. Actually, you might go for something a little stronger for the second case. Having Bad Sight as your best-case scenario and Blindness as the unmitigated option is a bit worse than Bad Sight alone.
__________________
I've been making pointlessly shiny things, and I've got some gaming-related stuff as well as 3d printing designs. Buy my Warehouse 23 stuff, dammit! |
09-18-2009, 09:33 AM | #8 | |
Join Date: Nov 2006
|
Re: Choosing not to wear glasses...
Quote:
Probably something like Bad Sight (only when not blind accessability of some %, maybe -20% and thus 20 points?) and Blindness (mitigator, just like bad sight at -60% and thus 20 points) for a total of 40 points. |
|
09-18-2009, 09:38 AM | #9 | |
Join Date: May 2008
Location: CA
|
Re: Choosing not to wear glasses...
Quote:
EDIT: This is because Bad Sight is already included in normal Blindness in the same way that Combat Reflexes is included in Enhanced Time Sense. Aside: My mother very nearly qualifies for this disad - her eyes are so bad that even after lasik eye surgery she still needs to wear both her contacts and her glasses at the same time to be able to see much at all - definitely qualifies as bad sight. Without glasses or contacts she's very nearly blind, though she can get by with just one or the other, though not very well. |
|
09-18-2009, 10:23 AM | #10 |
Join Date: Jul 2006
|
Re: Choosing not to wear glasses...
Speaking personally I would probably have fitted the description for a while, not because I couldn't afford glasses (or rather, given my age at the time, not because my parents couldn't afford glasses for me), but because I wasn't diagnosed until my eyesight had got pretty bad, and even once I was issued glasses, I disliked wearing them and only put them on when absolutely necessary. Obviously I had to get over that.
So I actually had the mitigator but, perhaps we could add the 'only under stress' modifier (IDHMBWM) to represent not using it under normal circumstances. In game terms I suspect that would mean suffering the full penalty to anything where the PC is surprised or (for example) needs to check for spotting something he isn't actively looking for. |
Tags |
disadvantage, q&a |
Thread Tools | |
Display Modes | |
|
|