AITM?

[Not]

I took 3 levels of gizmos to offset absent-mindedness. Munchkin or no?

[zoncxs]

How is it offsetting Absent-Mindedness?

[Anders]

I wish I had that in real life. "Oh I forgot my key... no, here they are."

[clu2415]

Originally Posted by zoncxs

How is it offsetting Absent-Mindedness?

In Basic Set for sure, absent-mindedness gives you a chance to forget mundane objects. I’d say a GM would be within their rights to not let you Gizmo for something you failed your IQ roll to remember. Possibly allow it but take more time. “I forget my keys so often I keep a spare, now where did I hide it?”

[zoncxs]

Originally Posted by clu2415

In Basic Set for sure, absent-mindedness gives you a chance to forget mundane objects. I’d say a GM would be within their rights to not let you Gizmo for something you failed your IQ roll to remember. Possibly allow it but take more time. “I forget my keys so often I keep a spare, now where did I hide it?”

That is what I was thinking too.

For the OP. If you own an item but did not bring it, you can use gizmo, but that will require an IQ-2 roll, if you fail that roll then not only is the usage of gizmo gone, but you do not get the item. You really did forget it!

[Not]

Originally Posted by zoncxs

That is what I was thinking too.

For the OP. If you own an item but did not bring it, you can use gizmo, but that will require an IQ-2 roll, if you fail that roll then not only is the usage of gizmo gone, but you do not get the item. You really did forget it!

Harsh! And it vastly diminishes the utility of Gizmo. Maybe calls for a limitation?

[Dalin]

I'd have to see how this worked in play. Honestly, in 25 years of playing GURPS, with plenty of absent minded characters, I don't think I've ever seen a DF-style game where the "trivial items" clause has been invoked. Most DF characters have a specific inventory on their sheet and don't have things like car keys to remember. The other aspects of the disadvantage comprise the bulk of the points and no amount of Gizmos will mitigate that.

Plus, I could almost see more roleplaying possibilities with the combination. Lots of time spent trying to find things that you forgot. Maybe you rule that the invocation of Gizmos takes time when it potentially mitigates Absent Mindedness. So you spend a few minutes searching through your backpack to finally find your tinderbox or whatever. This way it still has an impact in combat situations. The rest of the time it adds good RP fluff. Beyond that, I probably wouldn't sweat it.

[zoncxs]

Originally Posted by Not

Harsh! And it vastly diminishes the utility of Gizmo. Maybe calls for a limitation?

A disadvantage that does not give you a disadvantage is not a disadvantage.

Originally Posted by Not

I took 3 levels of gizmos to offset absent-mindedness. Munchkin or no?

No.

Absent-minded will get to rear it's Disadvantaging head before, during, and after every encounter, at the outset of every mission, start and end of every day, etc, to see if your Character has forgotten or overlooked something.

3 levels of Gizmo will just let you overcome 3 times your Character failed to remember some piece of gear from his loadout, but it won't help them to spot the gobbos sneaking up while they're checking for secret doors (Absent-minded Characters are at -5 to secondary tasks while focused), it won't help you to have remembered to lock the door open when you came through, etc.


No, Munchkin is putting Absent-minded on the IQ 17+ Wizard (who will keep buying up their IQ) since they'll almost never fail their rolls because of Absent-mindedness.

[Anthony]

Originally Posted by Not

I took 3 levels of gizmos to offset absent-mindedness. Munchkin or no?

Ineffective. Gizmo only works on objects you could have been carrying, and if you fail your IQ-2 roll for Absent-Minded, you definitely weren't carrying it.