My Honest Opinion

[vicky_molokh]

Originally Posted by Icelander

It's -20 points of Disadvantage, because Honesty comes bundled with a 10 point Reputation. And it's worse than some -20 points, better than others.

Honesty is fairly comparable to Reprogrammable, in being a -10 Disadvantage that will generally make a character unsuitable as a protagonist in an adventure. Of course, as Honesty comes bundled with a 10 point Advantage, it's even worse than Reprogrammable. It's about as bad as Crippling Shyness or Hoplophobia for an adventurer.


I don't really know how much scrutiny goes into the templates in GURPS supplements, but I doubt very much that the editors have the leisure to make sample characters or go through all the implications of how playable the characters would be. That's probably a job for the author. The editors are more likely to check if the character creation rules are followed in the templates and that there aren't errors or layout problems.

That being said, as far as I can tell, the text of GURPS Honesty is substantially unchanged from its first incarnation. The intention may have been for the Disadvantage to represent something that an English-speaker might call 'honesty', but whoever wrote it did not succeed at defining any such thing. Going by the text of the Disadvantage, it is not technically unplayable, nor is it any more severe for its point value than some other Disadvantages, but it does result in characters that are unlikely to be interesting in the role of a footloose adventuring hero or likable in any sense.

I don't really think we need Honesty as a Disadvantage in future editions, but I suppose it could be re-written as an example of Code of Honour combined with a positive Reputation (and if considered necessary, a Delusion about the honesty of others). And if we do, we should probably get rid of the requirement to 'do their best' to get everyone else to follow the law and replace it with a requirement to get everyone else to behave honestly, i.e. not to require the character to attempt to enforce the local law whatever it may happen to be, but rather to act consistently according to his own conception of what honest behaviour is.

No way is a reputation that only works where you live, after a while, when people realize that you're that Honest person, and does not apply to combat reactions, is worth [10]. It's about the right place for Trivial Reputation [1] at most. Maaaybe another [1] for even narrower conversion from a +1 to a +3.

Notice that when asked about the law-abiding only part of Honesty, Kromm's answer is:

Originally Posted by Kromm

I'd say that "Always behave in a law-abiding fashion . . . but assume the worst about others" is a reasonable -5-point Code of Honor.

Not something close to [-15] (due to being bundled with a [-5] delusion).