Why is Broad-Minded a Quirk?

[Phoenix_Dragon]

Originally Posted by Figleaf23

That social consideration is only part of the matter though. The practical value of being able to get along with strangers and not react to them out of reflex remains.

I think this is part of the problem. Someone who lacks Broad-Minded is not incapable of getting along with strangers, and does not have to react to them out of reflex. Basically, he can choose wether to react to them positively or not. A Broad-Minded character is going to default to reacting to them positively. The Broad-Minded person is more constrained in his choices, because he defaults to only a certain range of options that the non-quirked character has. And if the stranger he's interacting with does something freaky, he has to make the same fright check the non-quirked character does, too. He certainly doesn't have more options available to him.

And yes, it will cause a hit to reactions at times. In many societies, anybody foreign is automatically regarded with suspicion, and being openly friendly with them might be considered very bad indeed. Even in modern "open minded" western cultures, there are plenty of social groups that will get you a negative reaction from certain people for socializing freely with. Plenty of people have a social stigma, and interacting openly with them often has a bit of that rub off.

It's not like there has to be a reaction penalty explicitly stated in a disadvantage for people to react negatively to someone who has it. There's no reaction penalty for Addiction (Meth). Or Alcoholism. Or Bad Temper. Or Berserk. Or almost every other disadvantage. But you can bet people will react to it.