[Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Klutz

[johndallman]

Klutz [-5 or -15] is a mundane physical disadvantage. You tend to trip up, drop or smash things, or have other physical accidents far more often than your DX would imply. It first appeared in GURPS IOU, where it was a qualification for working in the campus mail service.

At [-5] you need to make a DX roll each day to avoid some physical accident. If you avoid explosives and weapons, this won't usually be dangerous, but it's always a nuisance, and often expensive. Your DX can be as high as 13, but don't let that make you confident: the world has lots of breakable things.

At [-15], “Total Klutz,” you have the problems of the [-5] level, and all failures on DX rolls, or DX-based skills, are treated as critical failures. This is very dangerous if you ever engage in combat, and you should definitely avoid grenades.

Naturally, this disadvantage mainly shows up on templates for less physical types, children, comic relief, or huge goons. It's a possible side-effect of Freakishness in AtE, while Bio-Tech has it as an effect of an example bioweapon, and as a side-effect of excessive neural upgrades. I'd avoid adventuring with a DF wizard who had Total Klutz, but a Fantasy sage or other stay-at-home specialist is usually safe to consult. Horror offers it as a curse, and Low-Tech Companion 2 as a side-effect of spiky armour. Power-Ups 6 has a quirk with Klutz-based effects, and Powers has a way to afflict Total Klutz. Psis offers it as a power-based disadvantage, and Ultra-Tech has an implant for it.

This disadvantage was created for a silly campaign setting, and I doubt it sees much use on PCs outside such games, but low-quality automatons can have it, as might people moved into bodies very different from their own. Has a Klutz smashed things in your games?

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by johndallman

This disadvantage was created for a silly campaign setting, and I doubt it sees much use on PCs outside such games, but low-quality automatons can have it, as might people moved into bodies very different from their own. Has a Klutz smashed things in your games?

A major NPC in one of my campaigns had it for most of the campaign, as a result of overuse of home-made DX Adders during youth. I didn't see the trait as silly, and as far as I know none of the players did. One of the necessities of dealing with this was hiring another NPC to do all the physical actions at the alchemlab. (The NPC got rid of the trait by the end of the campaign, but not without a serious cost, and has only got the opportunity to mitigate most of said costs 1½ campaigns later.)

[Icelander]

Originally Posted by johndallman

If you avoid explosives and weapons, this won't usually be dangerous,

I can't think of a single campaign I've run in which the above condition could be reliably met without effectively sidelining a character from a great deal of the campaign.

Which is probably the reason I've never seen any PC take it or even a player be slightly tempted.

[WaterAndWindSpirit]

You could be a very good physical fighter and have Klutz. If you've ever played Fire Emblem Awakeing, you know how much of a comic relief a clumsy character can be, and then you remember it's the girl who wiped out half the enemy army all on her own who's always tripping over something or breaking stuff at base...

Yeah, I'd still avoid Total Klutz on a fighter character, but you can be a Klutz and still be successful in combat if you have the skills for it. I've played a character that had the Klutz trait yet was a physical fighter. My GM never made me roll Klutz, I'd come up with accidents all on my own without ever making the roll because it made for some good comic relief. But when it counted on the battlefield, my Klutz turned into a whirlwind of destruction for her foes.

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by Icelander

I can't think of a single campaign I've run in which the above condition could be reliably met without effectively sidelining a character from a great deal of the campaign.

A magician, particularly one in a primitive setting - or in a Harry Dresden-style game where "technology" isn't compatible with magic.

I'm not convinced that this is worth the rules weight over simply having low DX, but I can point to a historical example: JJ Thomson, discoverer of the electron, was apparently so notorious for breaking equipment that his assistants would conspire to distract him while someone else did the building and switching-on of things to his plan.

[Bruno]

I have Klutz in Real Life due to brain damage in my motor cortex. I bash my arm on the door frame as I walk through (or walk face first into the door or door frame), jamn my feet on furniture, and fumble or knock over things. Fortunately I heal from minor bruises and suchlike quickly, or I'd be a dreadful mess all the time.

IRL, you can avoid (or at least reduce the odds of) whoopsying things with a lot of focus, but you definitely can't do two things at once (like, e.g. walk and carry something) with confidence.

There's also a lot of compensating behaviors, which in GURPS add up to either extra time or extra money spent (often both).

I've trained myself to put things down if I don't immediately need them, and to move things back from the edges of counters and tables. This means on any task I burn extra time picking up and putting down things and moving them around to safety.

I favor carpet and linoleum even though I have allergies, because they reduce breakage of dropped items. I use heavy ceramics, thick glassware, plastics - durable items.

My cellphone has a heavy duty ruggedized case with thick rubber bumpers on it. I don't carry a laptop or tablet in my hands in a "sleeve" case, I always use a (padded) satchel with a shoulder strap, and I always wear the strap diagonally across my body so I can't possibly drop it by accident.

I've played characters with Klutz, big brutes with "bull in the china shop" syndrome (even though actual bulls in actual china shops are surprisingly dainty and careful). It goes well with Ham-Fisted for that archetype, the character that's so big they don't know where all their parts are.

[David Johnston2]

Klutz seems to me like a limited Unluckiness.

[Daigoro]

Originally Posted by johndallman

At [-5] you need to make a DX roll each day to avoid some physical accident. ...
At [-15], “Total Klutz,” you have the problems of the [-5] level, and all failures on DX rolls, or DX-based skills, are treated as critical failures. ...

From a game balance theory perspective, is this a disad which is not a disad for high DX characters? Would a control roll be preferable? You'd have to change the Total Klutz trigger somehow though.

[newton]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

From a game balance theory perspective, is this a disad which is not a disad for high DX characters? Would a control roll be preferable? You'd have to change the Total Klutz trigger somehow though.

well you can’t take it above dx... 14 i believe

[johndallman]

Originally Posted by Daigoro

From a game balance theory perspective, is this a disad which is not a disad for high DX characters? Would a control roll be preferable? You'd have to change the Total Klutz trigger somehow though.

With either level of Klutz, you cannot have DX above 13. With that much DX you can have DX-based skills at 16 fairly readily, but you're still effectively critically failing on 17 or 18, which is one time in 54.