On the Edge and rolling every turn

[Kromm]

Originally Posted by Flyndaran

And just because you, the player, are choosing to not roll or "fail" does not mean you can't play the character as if they're truly struggling against their disadvantage.

Very true.

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I've played at least one character with Curious who never bothered with self-control rolls but who recognized and apologized for/justified his problem ("Sorry, guys, I know I shouldn't look, but somebody has to."). Self-control rolls are for those times when you're externally motivated to keep the disadvantageous behavior in check ("Don't open the box or I'll shoot Alice!"), not for representing an internal struggle ("Nobody will know if I just sneak a peek . . .). You represent internal struggle with roleplaying.

[Stone Dog]

The external vs internal divide is a great way of explaining how disadvantages are supposed to work.

[Grayscale]

All right then, this clarified things!

I'll pass this up to my player who picked on the edge.

Also a very nice explanation about disadavantages in general. Thanks you all!

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by Kromm

I've played at least one character with Curious who never bothered with self-control rolls ...

Curious has a self-control roll?


Seriously, the only disad I ever roll for is Berserk and On the Edge, and only because those are really just reskinned Terminally Ill....

[AlexanderHowl]

Berserk is a favorite of mine because of the benefits. You can manage the risks with DR and high-HP. With Martial Arts, you can make a 'realistic' martial artist with ST 20, HP 40, and DR 5 (Tough Skin) with 250 points, meaning that you would need an attack dealing a minimum of 15 points of damage to trigger Berserk.

[ravenfish]

It does seem to me that the dicta that rolling to resist a disadvantage is bad roleplaying makes it difficult to play a character who not only recognizes and struggles against him personality flaws, but who sometimes succeeds.

[Diomedes]

I wouldn’t say rolling to resist a disad is bad roleplaying; far from it. It just makes the disadvantage more than flavor, by introducing a risk that when it is uncontrollable is not entirely under the control of the player.

[evileeyore]

Originally Posted by ravenfish

It does seem to me that the dicta that rolling to resist a disadvantage is bad roleplaying makes it difficult to play a character who not only recognizes and struggles against him personality flaws, but who sometimes succeeds.

Which is why my groups have always ignored that nonsense. "Badwrongfun" my behind.

[AlexanderHowl]

If you want a character who always gives in, just give them a 6+ frequency on the disadvantage (which doubles the effective value). A character with Berserk (6) or On the Edge (6) is not going to be long for the world though.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by AlexanderHowl

Berserk is a favorite of mine because of the benefits.

Whereas for me, Berserk (and to a lesser extend On the Edge) is a favorite because once my PC goes berserk/off the edge, their tactical choices could be picked by a short (and very stupid) program. That means if I'm tired after work and do something that puts my character in the path of danger, I'm in character!

This is along the line of taking Curious if you're the kind of player who can't help themselves around buttons, or taking Impatient if you are the kind of player to yell "Bored now" and kick down a door. You're going to do it anyways, might as well take the points (and any other game mechanical benefits).

In my experience, though, the "benefits" of Berserk are a poisoned flower; it disguises itself with attractive perfumes, but really those are not benefits. They're a deathtrap. It's bad enough when you get your leg broken, it's so much worse when after getting your leg broken you keep fighting, get your arm broken, keep trying to fight, and get filled with even more pointy sticks. The first one leaves you at the end of the fight with a broken leg and probably around 0 HP. The second one leaves you at the end of the fight having fallen on several death checks; you may have survived, but you're still in the negative HP to the tune of a zillion pointy sticks.

Don't forget that a Berserker goes berserk also when allies suffer a major wound, and if they have Bad Temper that triggers too with no Berserk check (this has changed for the better in DFRPG).