What are reaction bonuses?

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Witchking

Or if Androgyny were the same as Very Beautiful Male + Female...Sir Mix a Lot would have sold about 5 copies of Baby Got Back....

NSFW
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k4he79krseU

Apparently Youtube/SME thinks it's not safe for my whole country.

[Witchking]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

Apparently Youtube/SME thinks it's not safe for my whole country.

Thats too bad, he was not shakespeare, it was kinda crude, but he had some wit and humor in there too.

If you get VH1 it has been on 17 bajillion one hit wonder video specials...or the 100 vids of the 90's too I thinks.

[David Johnston2]

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

That's true. But is it that "not everyone goes for it" or is it "most people find it weird, and so there is a built in -3 to the +8"? What if the "perfect specimen" for each gender isn't too far apart? What about guys who are more attractive than female models, and yet still pull off being attractive to females (i might have seen too much anime...)?

Such a situation should be represented by giving androgynes a higher level of physical attractiveness than normal or even giving them Cosmic Beauty.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

Sorry, let me rephrase; Shouldn't it give the same bonus as it unmodified to both genders? I don't even care if it costs more, but I can't see a very beautiful girl somehow being less attractive overall because she's androgenous.

The problem is that you can't price this as a flat enhancement and get the price right, because the bonus for the Wrong Gender stays flat, while the bonus for the Right Gender rises. So you can't make this a simple enhancement, but instead must make it an alternate trait, reprint the entire table with the new numbers, and add words to note that it can't be combined with regular appearance. And THEN you have to list which enhancements it can take from Regular appearance, and which it can't.

Great for a house rule, not worth the space in the Basic Set, which was already pressed for space.

However, as a tip: the price is 4 points per +1, so for a flat +8 to everyone, it's 32 points.

[Mailanka]

Originally Posted by kirbwarrior

Sorry, let me rephrase; Shouldn't it give the same bonus as it unmodified to both genders? I don't even care if it costs more, but I can't see a very beautiful girl somehow being less attractive overall because she's androgenous.

I'm not sure what you're saying. A Very Beautiful Androgenous character gives a +4 reaction bonus, which is more than a Very Beautiful woman gets from women (+2), but not as good as what she gets from men (+6). This is what I would expect: A beautifully mannish woman is going to get a better reaction from women than a beautiful woman, but she's not going to get the same reaction from men that the classically beautiful woman will (She's still going to get quite a reaction, though!)

Part of what people react to are sexual characteristics: A beautiful woman is not only physically attractive, but very feminine, and a handsome man is not only physically attractive, but very masculine. An androgynous character is "merely" very physically attractive, and neither particularly feminine or masculine, and so tends to get the same reaction from both genders.

It's not "best of both worlds" but "average between the two." A "best of both worlds" androgynous character is probably a higher appearance character competing with lesser characters (such as a Transcendentally Androgynously Beautiful character (+5) competing with merely Beautiful characters (+2/+4))

[vicky_molokh]

I think it is not entirely correct to think of Androgynous appearance as flat out 'less feminine' or 'less masculine'. It would be more proper to treat them as 'more equally attractive to people of both genders'. The former treatment is too likely to result in 'I hate sissy guys'/'I hate crude girls' kind of reaction as a justification for treating the reaction modifier as negative. The latter makes the trait worth exactly what it is priced as*.

* == Hopefully. Appearance is overpriced compared to other similar traits, IME.

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

* == Hopefully. Appearance is overpriced compared to other similar traits, IME.

Agreed. My notes on this are at http://ottgaming.grimoire.ca/Borderlands/Appearance

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by vicky_molokh

* == Hopefully. Appearance is overpriced compared to other similar traits, IME.

Attractive [4]
vs Charisma 1 [5]

Handsome [12]
vs (Charisma 2 [10] + Charisma 2 (Only if attracted to your sex, -40%) [6]) [16]

Very Handsome [16]
vs (Charisma 2 [10] + Charisma 4 (Only if attracted to your sex, -40%) [12] + Negative Reputation 2 (Small Class * 1/3) [3]) [19]

Transcendent [20]
vs (Charisma 2 [10] + Charisma 6 (Only if attracted to your sex, -40%) [18] + Negative Reputation 2 (Small Class * 1/3) [3]) [25]

... you sure about that?

[Bruno]

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

... you sure about that?

Yes. You're missing the "AND is attracted to your species AND can see you".

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Bruno

Yes. You're missing the "AND is attracted to your species AND can see you".

"Mundane Countermeasures: Is negated by scarring, mud, and a host of other stuff", "Very few skill bonuses", probably something more."