Trait: Neutral Reaction

[oneofmanynameless]

I have a character concept for a character who has a trait that is something like, "People almost always have neutral initial reactions to this person." Like they're not likely to receive negative reactions, but also not likely to receive very positive ones either.

Is there already a trait along those lines in gurps? If so, what is it?

similarly, is there a trait for being generally inobtrusive, easily fitting in with most crowds by virtue of being unobtrusive and easy to get along with, but never really making much of an impression prior to someone getting to know you?

these are imagined as mundane qualities, not super powers or an actively cultivated effect he has control over.

[JulianLW]

How about this ...

Basic, 3 point/level. For each level (maximum 4 levels), the PC may choose to round reaction rolls +/-1 in the direction of 10. This trait includes a surcharge of 2/level per level of Basic for any reaction penalties gained from other traits (the PC must choose which penalties are bought off). If traits with reaction penalties are gained in play, the effect of being Basic is lost until the surcharge for those reaction penalties is paid for.

Example: Caspar the Ogre suffers from the racial traits Hideous and Social Stigma (Monster), for a total of -7 to reaction rolls! But Caspar is also very Basic. This might be reflected on his character sheet as:

Basic 4 [12]
Basic Surcharge (Less Hideous) [4]
Basic Surcharge (Less Monstrous) [4]

When the GM rolls reactions for Caspar, he subtracts 3 from those rolls for the remaining reaction penalties, and then rounds 4 in the direction of 10. Caspar still has more negative reactions than most, but far fewer than most Ogres.

Bob the Woodcutter is Basic 4 [12] with an average appearance. Fewer than 1 in 20 people react Poorly to Bob, and only about 1 in 50 have a Good reaction to him. He is almost always overlooked until he starts actively causing trouble or trying to get someone's attention with an Influence roll.

Alternatively:

Image Management is a +20% enhancement to Charisma. It allows the character to round toward 10 equal to his Charisma bonus instead of adding to reaction rolls. This effect is Active only and must be declared before the GM rolls for an NPC's reactions. This enhancement may be combined with an other traits that include reaction modifiers.

Image Management may be combined with Selective Effect +20%. This is far more effective than the Cutting Out technique because it allows the PC freedom to choose his own targets for his influence and be ignored by everyone else.

[Lovewyrm]

Personally, I'd just roleplay the character in this "neutral" way, unless that character truly never achieves anything of note, because at that point, the character is, well, noteworthy.
That way you can save (the small handful of) CP or put them into more skills, or use the perhaps later gained noteworthyness to rationalize "allies" or "wealth" or "connections" etc.

Or, you want to play it as a disadvantage and the character simply won't get recognition, etc, will be overlooked, be seen as "just meh"

You could go for that, use the points (which won't be many... either) you get from that for more stuff, and later buy off the disad after the character has grown.

If you want an actual advantage like using that neutrality to do covert operations, then that would be something else (perhaps even worth taking)
Otherwise, I'd just roleplay it...being middle of the road is pretty neutral, after all.

[Refplace]

How about Charisma (offsets penalties only, -50%) [2.5/level].
So you add Charisma to reaction rolls as normal but it can never grant a bonus, only offset penalties.

[sir_pudding]

Luck (Reaction Rolls Only, -60%; Normalizing -30%) [3] would probably work if you don't roll more than one reaction every hour. Extraordinary Lick would be [6]. Ridiculous would be [12] and probably overkill (every 15 minute reaction seem unlikely).

I would probably just make the assumption that 30 minutes is good enough, and that this isn't worth that much (and applying "below the minimum").

Nondescript 5 points
People just tend to not especially have any strong feelings about you one way or the other. Whenever the GM makes a reaction roll in regards to you specifically, they roll three times and use the roll that's closest to 11.

[Stormcrow]

Originally Posted by Refplace

How about Charisma (offsets penalties only, -50%) [2.5/level].

I thought of this too, but then I also thought of adding Odious Personal Habit (offsets bonuses only, -50%), and that made me realize that the two cancel each other out, points-wise. Therefore "Induces Neutral Reactions" would effectively be a 0-point feature, assuming the character has no other general reaction modifiers (and why would they, given the premise?).

So basically, role-play being average, and ask the GM to occasionally nudge your reaction rolls toward neutral where appropriate, and you've got what you're looking for.

[Varyon]

I think it's overall a beneficial trait (I feel someone having a poor or worse reaction is more negative than having a good or better reaction is positive), albeit not by a lot - call it [1] per +1 to reactions, with it always skewing toward Neutral. A bigger issue is what JulianLW pointed to, that it should make negative reaction modifiers worth less of a discount (and positive reaction modifiers should probably have a lower cost). My inclination would be, rather than a flat surcharge like JulianLW suggested, to reduce cost proportionally. If you have Basic 1 (or whatever name you opt to use for the trait) and another trait that gives +4 to reactions, that trait costs 3/4 as much as usual. For traits with split reactions, I'd just average the reaction modifiers - a Beautiful (+4/+2) character with Basic 1 pays only 2/3 as much as usual for Beautiful. Advantages go no lower than [1], Disadvantages no higher than [-1] - a character with Beautiful and Basic 4 pays only [1] for Beautiful, for example. This arguably overstates the value of the Reaction Modifier part of Social Stigma (and possibly Social Regard, although I think that's meant to be run more like a straight - if somewhat-flavored - reaction bonus rather than having serious additional effects like Social Stigma can), but I think it gets close enough.

[Anaraxes]

My first reaction was also that it's a Feature, with the bonuses offsetting the penalties.

If you want a mechanic, you might implement as a divisor on the reaction result. Say, cut the different of the roll from 10 in half. If that seems like too much math, just move one category on the table toward Neutral, or two if the result was more than two away from Neutral.

Traits with reaction roll modifiers would become Taboo Traits for the character. (No Charisma, Voice, Bully, etc.)

You might want to rule that this new trait also zeroes the bonus/penalty for traits that also do something else. Talents and some Perks, for instance, grant a reaction bonus in certain circumstances, but that's not usually the main reason to take them. So rather than forbid them entirely, just ignore any bonus. Similarly with traits with reaction modifiers plus other effects (e.g., Blessed, Cowardice).

Other traits don't have reaction modifiers at all per se, but might be ruled out simply because they don't fit the concept of being neutral and unassuming (Bad Temper). Hopefully the player isn't inclined to choose them in the first place. You can, of course, stretch SoD to try to understand why people tolerate the angry loner jerk that's constantly insulting or threatening people to no ill effect, but that's going to call for a lot of special pleading. Easier to not have the problem in the first place. But your group might come up with some workable example that makes sense, so apply Rule Zero, as always.

[JulianLW]

A trait that prevents poor and worse reactions on a regular basis is clearly beneficial, in my opinion, and should cost points. Whatever this is, I don't think it's a zero-point feature.

But it shouldn't be less than 5/level if combined with traits that give negative reactions at -5/level, because what about the ogres? But it also shouldn't be worth 5/level either since it's not as good as flat Charisma.

I came up with 3/level from Charisma (-50%, rounds to 10), just eyeballing.

A few GURPS traits have a surcharge for other traits, and there are advantages that buy off disadvantages.

I do like Sir Pudding's Nondescript. That leaves regular reaction modifiers intact but gives 3 tries to move to the center. That's a nice solution. I think I like that better than my proposal.

[Pursuivant]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

My first reaction was also that it's a Feature, with the bonuses offsetting the penalties.

Yes, but if a player wants a character with neutral reactions, they usually want it because it gives them some sort of an advantage. Given that consequences of a bad Reaction roll are usually worse than those of a good one, I'd call it a Perk. Pretty much guaranteeing a neutral reaction, like the proposed Nondescript trait, would be a minor advantage.