Checkered Past Disadvantage

[Donny Brook]

Let me be the Devil's Advocate here ...

Doesn't this either turn out way too generous or stingy?

On the one hand it looks like getting [5] points in return for occassionally suffering [-1] of inconvenience.

On the other hand it looks like getting [5] in return for getting mired in a plethora of [-1] challenges.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

Doesn't this either turn out way too generous or stingy?

Possibly. Given that the advantage has had exactly zero playtesting it could go either way.

My reasoning for why it's not just "-1 point in problems for the cost of -5 points" is because when the problem shows up the GM assigns a quirk which specifically hinders the character during play. Compared to a typical quirk, which should only hinder a character on rare occasions, that makes those Quirks worth more than just -1 point.

Furthermore, if you don't deal with Quirks the GM dreams up as they occur they stick around, meaning that your disadvantage could effectively grow in severity.

Obviously, the disad is unbalanced for a one-shot or limited duration campaign. It's free points or a single Quirk for -5 points.

For a longer campaign having a ~50% chance of having some minor social annoyance crop up every game session for -5 points means that you "break even" in terms of Quirks vs. "free points" after about 5 sessions.

Before that happens, savvy players might want to buy down, or buy off the disadvantage. That's fair, because it represents specific actions designed to make a clean break with their former life. But making that clean break is a small disadvantage in itself, since those early earned character points would normally go to boost core adventuring skills or buy crucial new skills. "Oops, looks like Fred really needed to put a point in Riding (Llama) skill, but he couldn't do it because he was busy making apologies to his old mentor."

On the other hand, roleplayers might enjoy having small individualized social complications to overcome on a regular basis. In that case, they might retain the disadvantage long after a min-maxer would have bought it off.

The outright advantage of this trait is that you might be able to swap out existing Quirk if the GM comes up with a Quirk that more fun for the player or easier for the character to deal with. "Funny how my trick shoulder cleared up after my ex-fiancee showed up and tried to poison me with willow bark tea. She's nuts, but sometimes she's crazy like a fox."

[RGTraynor]

Originally Posted by Donny Brook

Doesn't this either turn out way too generous or stingy?

Yeah, but that'd apply to any advantage/disadvantage governed by some blend of frequency roll. It's all dependent on the GM staying on top of it all the same. I've wound up houseruling the point totals of a bunch of advantages and disadvantages, but I freely concede that the changes reflect what they're worth at my table. I've seen enough over the years to know that we all have wildly disparate notions as to what constitutes make-or-break/OMG-this-is-worthless advantages.