[Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Kleptomania

[johndallman]

Kleptomania [-15*] is a mundane mental disadvantage with a self-control roll. You feel compelled to steal, and need to make a self-control roll to avoid taking “anything you can get away with.” The disadvantage dates from GURPS 1e.

This is a real-world mental illness, usually considered an impulse control problem. You can sell or retain things you've stolen, but returning them or throwing them away requires at least a self-control roll. Things that are especially interesting to you give penalties to self-control rolls of up to -3. These aren't necessarily the most valuable objects you encounter, although having Greed or reduced Wealth will definitely bias you in that direction.

It's not quite clear where “can get away with” in the rule falls in the continuum between “can remove and make off with” and “can be confident that you won't be caught or found out if you steal.” I asked Kromm, who said:

Originally Posted by Kromm

Here it's being used in the colloquial: Essentially, “anything” . . . just with the implication that the act has to be physically plausible.

That's closest to “can remove and make off with.” The sense “can be confident that you won't be caught or found out if you steal” is definitely not the intended one, as that would all but make the disadvantage free points. A character with this disadvantage should routinely be attempting ill-advised thefts simply because the object isn't nailed down.

This makes Kleptomania a serious disadvantage for a criminal, because effective crime requires “getting away with it” in the long term, and feeling compelled to steal tends to ruin that part. However, the disadvantage also tends to ruin your ability to make a living in other ways, or be socially acceptable in general.

Kleptomania is not a common option on published templates, but it does show up. It's commonplace for Discworld goblins and pictsies, and an actual racial disadvantage for Aliens: Sparials, who have their own slant on it. Bio-Tech can prevent it via genefixing, but DF halflings would scorn that idea. It's among the many ways that Madness Dossier tech can mess with your mind, and that could be specific enough for one of the quirk-level versions in Power-Ups 6.

I've never used this, as player or GM. It seems likely to create characters that revolve round it, and I'd prefer more complexity. How has it entertained in your games?

[benz72]

It might make an interesting enough subplot thread to allow it with a VERY high SCR, or more likely as a quirk. I agree that it (like so many other disads) has the ability to derail an adventure.

[khorboth]

I took this on one PC. Pretty much never rolled the SC. The campaign was an adaptation of the Dragon Age Origins game which worked out really well. We spent most of our time in the wilderness or with limited opportunities. Every time we were in civilized parts, though...

I was always rolling Filch to grab random objects. Some valuable, some interesting, some just for the thrill. The other players and even the GM kept forgetting I had the disadvantage, but every time we hit a city, I turned up lots of interesting stuff. Indeed, my backstory was skipping just ahead of authorities.

[evileeyore]

My only experience with this one was Playing a Kender in a D&D game a long, long, long time ago.

Never had a Player take it, nor have I in any GURPS games. Can't say I've put it on any NPCs either... though I've run a few that might have fit the description.

[whswhs]

My current fantasy campaign has had two PCs who habitually stole things. Neither of them had or has Kleptomania. One has Odious Personal Habit: Light-Fingered for -1 to reactions. Full on Kleptomania, even at (15), just seems too rigidly constraining; it's not a trait I have any use for.