Why is Cursed so expensive?

[Ubiquitous]

Originally Posted by Fnordianslip

Hah, indeed! I once had an NPC with the evil eye. Basically, he could afflict people with Cursed...

If I might sidetrack a bit...how many points did this come out to? It sounds wonderful.

[sir_pudding]

Originally Posted by Ubiquitous

If I might sidetrack a bit...how many points did this come out to? It sounds wonderful.

This ability is a worked example in Powers, IIRC. But really, it's Affliction (Disadvantage Cursed +750%) Mod to taste.

[Ubiquitous]

Originally Posted by sir_pudding

This ability is a worked example in Powers, IIRC. But really, it's Affliction (Disadvantage Cursed +750%) Mod to taste.

Solid, I'll keep an eye out for it.

[LemmingLord]

If you trust your gamemaster, cursed is an awesome disadvantage. I took it once in an old greek setting similiar to "Hercules" and "Xena Warrior Princess." There were two keys actually - first, we each had two characters, so if the one character became out of the picture or got hosed the player wasn't completely out of the game. The second was that we took turns gamemastering and each player had LOTS of input.. It gets very fun as a player to offer plenty of ways to mess with your character..

I take disadvantages NOT for the points, but for the fun of having an interesting character.

[Orienda]

I've played around with the idea of a cursed character who also had a level or two of unkillable–nothing ever goes right but he just keeps on rolling along.

[martinl]

Originally Posted by Ubiquitous

Looking at it mathematically, treat it as five uses of Unluckiness or whichever 15-point luck Disad there is; easy enough benchmark.

Do GURPS disads have a linear relation between negative point value and effect?

You need a lot of -5 pointers to make up for Blind or Enemy:God, but I think it is more than the math would imply.

[zorg]

Originally Posted by Orienda

I've played around with the idea of a cursed character who also had a level or two of unkillable–nothing ever goes right but he just keeps on rolling along.

A friend of mine had a PC like that: Cursed, Unkillable, Regen. It turned out to be pretty boring - he never got anything done, had nasty accidents, and none of it mattered. Sort of a walking, talking running gag.

[jason taylor]

cursed is a handy concept mainly because it is an engine that runs much of speculative fiction. Where would Turin be if he didn't have cursed.
Arguably Cursed is a special application of Enemy(godlike being). As the GM is a godlike being, I suppose it's appropriate...

[Captain-Captain]

Originally Posted by hackbarth

-75 points for a disadvantage that is "Like Unluckiness, but worse"?

Unluckyness is only -10 points, why Curse isn't something like -20 or -30 points? The only mechanical difference seems that it can't be bought back normally.

Cursed is to unlucky what nukes are to firecrackers.

Wile E. Coyote is not exceptionally cursed. He is the default of it.

Unlucky is a once per game sessiion penalty.

Cursed is anytime, anywhere anything short of inistant death the GM feels like inflicting on the Cursed character. The rules that forbid something from occuring to the character do not apply if they protect him. Neither do the laws of physics. The GM can spend the entire campaign session hosing you.

That boulder WILL roll up a taller embankment than it rolled down from, sailu up into the air to target where you are standing, and hover and shift position if you move to hit you dead on.

If the laws of physics aren't being broken this way, it's a 0% feature because the GM likes physical reality in the game. Anything else goes.

[Captain-Captain]

Originally Posted by Kromm

Unluckiness means that once per game session, the GM gets to decree that you had the equivalent of a failure when you would've, or at least could've, succeeded. This comes with an express warning that the GM shouldn't try to kill you. That's it.

Cursed mean that the GM gets infinite uses of Unluckiness to pile on you per game session. Moreover, there's nothing to forbid the GM from trying to kill you.

The difference in point value comes from "one nonlethal instance/session" vs. "infinite potentially lethal instances/session."

No. Curse never kills the Cursed character. Not. Ever.

Cursed isn't that merciful.