Epilepsy Triggered by X

[Anders]

Epileptic seizures can often be triggered by things in the environment. Rhythmically flashing lights are so reliable that they are used as a diagnostic tool. But some people have more idiosyncratic triggers - from as narrow as seeing certain person to as broad as loud noises or hormonal changes in women. If a character has a certain trigger that is known and can easily be used against him, does this modify the value of Epilepsy?

[Xilodel]

IDHMBWM, but if I recall correctly, epilepsy requires you to roll whenever you are in a "stressful" situation. Now, this is a pretty broad category in and of itself, especially in a game where things like life-and-death combat happen multiple times a session. If you have a non-stressful trigger that can cause epilepsy in addition to "stress" this certainly increases the value of the disadvantage.

The exact nature of the trigger has to be taken into account though. If the trigger is extremely uncommon or predictable (seeing ONE individual person, hormonal changes in a character with an extremely regular menstrual cycle, etc.) it will modify the disad much less than an extremely common trigger (loud noises, plant pollen, sudden changes in lighting, etc.).

Of course, if your epilepsy isn't triggered by stress but only by a particular nonstressful condition, this decreases the value of epilepsy unless the trigger is comparatively common. A character who suffers epileptic fits only if he gazes into a spinning disco ball for 10 uninterrupted seconds has little more than a quirk (if that).