[Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Unusual Biochemistry

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by The Colonel

I'd not considered it as far as the drugs ... I just got to the bit about food and stopped.

Unusual biochemistry actually specifies that food is fully compatible. If food isn't compatible, RAW you shouldn't take Unusual Biochemistry. Though in practice I'd ignore that and use it anyway if the actual Disadvantage effects (more or less compatible drugs with more side effects and some not working at all) held.

[Otaku]

I think I had a 3e character that was going to have this Disadvantage, but never got around to it.

Many years later, I was diagnosed with Irritable Bowel Syndrome (yay -_-) and saw some parallels. It is hardly an exact match, but with food (which Unusual Biochemistry doesn't affect) and medications (which it does), it at least resembles it.

It is worth noting, for those that think the result ought to always be the same, that would make sense if all variables, and I mean all variables were the same. I've learned how rarely that can apply. XP Other foods, quantity, how well I slept the night before, etc. all affect how I'll react. One day, I can afford to take some Extra Strength Tylenol, the next day it may bother me a little, and the third day it'll cause more pain than it relieves.

[Rupert]

I'm somewhat surprised that the Vorkosigan book doesn't give Miles this, as it's mentioned several times that there are whole drug families that he can't take because of weird reactions to them. All it mentions is his odd reaction to Fast-Penta.

A now-retired NPC in my game has this. Due to being a genemod and bio-modded as well she required some dietary supplements (most readily obtained by refining human blood) and had odd reactions to a lot of drugs. So, Dependency and Unusual Biochemistry.

[kirbwarrior]

I've used it in two ways but not actually as written;

In some book a plant-like race takes it as Unusual Biochemistry: Photosynthesis. It made sense to me and I still use it, but I should look it up again to see if it actually makes sense.

I asked a while back about imitating 'positive' and 'negative' energy from That Other Game and reversing the effects worked out as a form of Unusual Biochemistry. It's a net negative because most forms of healing hurt you instead.

[Ulzgoroth]

Originally Posted by Rupert

I'm somewhat surprised that the Vorkosigan book doesn't give Miles this, as it's mentioned several times that there are whole drug families that he can't take because of weird reactions to them. All it mentions is his odd reaction to Fast-Penta.

A now-retired NPC in my game has this. Due to being a genemod and bio-modded as well she required some dietary supplements (most readily obtained by refining human blood) and had odd reactions to a lot of drugs. So, Dependency and Unusual Biochemistry.

It does seem like Miles should be a poster child for it.

Unusual Biochemistry seems a bit like it's intended as a racial trait rather than an individual one - someone unique like Miles probably can't get personalized pharmaceutical variants at 10x price. Then again, the same could be said for Basic Set example character Xing La, who might not be biochemically unique in her home timeline Lenin-2 but may as well be as soon as she leaves. (And shopping for meds in post-apocalyptic-and-getting-worse Lennin-2 doesn't seem like a useful option.)

[scc]

Unusual Biochemistry is mainly a species or racial Disadvatage, not one normally taken by individuals.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by scc

Unusual Biochemistry is mainly a species or racial Disadvatage, not one normally taken by individuals.

Mostly because only in supers universes can individuals get that weird. It also isn't appropriate in really cosmopolitan settings stuffed with aliens, with none of them particularly dominant an all of them Unusual to each other.

[RogerBW]

Originally Posted by Ulzgoroth

Unusual biochemistry actually specifies that food is fully compatible. If food isn't compatible, RAW you shouldn't take Unusual Biochemistry. Though in practice I'd ignore that and use it anyway if the actual Disadvantage effects (more or less compatible drugs with more side effects and some not working at all) held.

If it does affect food compatibility, that's probably Restricted Diet.

[whswhs]

Originally Posted by RogerBW

If it does affect food compatibility, that's probably Restricted Diet.

That's the trait I recommended in Templates Toolkit 2 (see p. 25).

[Otaku]

Originally Posted by David Johnston2

Mostly because only in supers universes can individuals get that weird.

Not really? Like I said, Unusual Biochemistry is something close to what I deal with due to my IBS. Where it differs, it is because

• Other aspects of it are covered by related Disadvantages
• Converting the experience to a generic, game-able abstract

Maybe some of the finer aspects of it could use tweaking, and I might get into that later. Not just for representing my experience, but to make it a bit better for its original, intended purpose. The issue is avoiding going into too much detail, I think.