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Old 09-27-2018, 11:27 PM   #1
johndallman
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Default [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Fearfulness

Fearfulness [-2/level] is a mundane mental disadvantage, the opposite of Fearlessness. It appeared at GURPS 4e, as a result of tidying up the complexities that had evolved in 3e Strong and Weak Will.

Each level of Fearfulness gives you -1 to Will rolls to resist fear, such as Fright Checks, Intimidation attempts made against you, and supernatural powers that cause fear. Anyone trying to use Intimidation on you also gets +1/level to their skill. You can have quite a lot of Fearfulness, if you want: the limit is Will-3 levels, so you can’t reduce your effective Will against Fear below 3. Obviously, an enemy who realises you are Fearful is likely to take advantage of it, and deliberately becoming an adventurer if you’re severely Fearful seems like a poor idea. Still, it’s worth having in the system; some people are not courageous, although courage is surprisingly common.

Fearfulness is not common on character templates, but it shows up in some places. AtE Scavengers often avoid confrontations, and Bio-Tech octosap inherit it from their non-uplifted ancestors. Horror uses this disadvantage in fear powers and madness and Madness Dossier has drugs that cause it. There’s a quirk-level version in Power-Ups 6, with no Fright Check penalty. Social Engineering uses it in mob behaviour, and Space in alien psychology design. Tactical Shooting uses Fearfulness as a PTSD symptom, and normal people are, quite reasonably, prone to it in Zombies.

I’ve used this on NPCs as a GM, but never on a PC. Has it been important in your games?
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Old 09-28-2018, 06:07 AM   #2
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Fearfulness

Not a common pick in my experience either. I think for the reason you mention - people with Fearfulness don't become adventurers by choice.

The point value [-2/level] is very iffy. You get some campaigns where Fright Checks are rare to nonexistent, in which case it's free points. Or you get other campaigns such as Tactical Shooting based, where Fright Checks are normal when shot or when an explosion goes off, and so on... in those cases it lowers an essential defence, meaning unless you have a really high Will, then taking Fearfulness will be the difference between an 11 (62.5% chance of success) and a 9 (37.5% chance of success). Essentially each -1 is a really big deal.

And then you get GMs like me, who see Fearfulness on a character sheet and take this to mean "I intend for Fright Checks to be part of this campaign."

Generally though, I've never noticed Fearfulness in a campaign - the guys who take on combat roles don't have it, and the noncombatants usually have other modifiers to the same scenarios. For instance, it's very easy to claim the "display of strength or bloodthirstiness" bonus to Intimidation against a noncombatant.
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Old 09-28-2018, 11:39 AM   #3
ericthered
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Fearfulness

In some ways, cowardice outshines it because it produces similar behavior and has similar penalties, but gets more points back. Yes, the self control roll is worse, but the idea is to play a coward either way, isn't it?
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Old 10-03-2018, 05:27 AM   #4
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Fearfulness

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Originally Posted by johndallman View Post
Each level of Fearfulness gives you -1 to Will rolls to resist fear, such as Fright Checks, Intimidation attempts made against you, and supernatural powers that cause fear. Anyone trying to use Intimidation on you also gets +1/level to their skill.
This feels like a double-dip, and I wonder why it's set up that way. I could see a case for Reduced Will (only vs Fright Checks and Intimidation), and separately for a new sort of disadvantage, call it Social Vulnerability (Intimidation) that gives other people a bonus against you, but it's strange to combine them. To justify the cost?

I often drop Will by a point or so on a PC or NPC (I use a lot of IQ-focused characters, and they aren't all highly disciplined and perceptive), but I don't think I've ever used this.

Railstar: I think the problem of disadvantages (not to mention advantages and skills) being worth different amounts in different campaigns is a very old one in GURPS. You can't re-cost things per campaign, because the point is to be Generic and Universal; Unusual Background is the main tool for increasing costs of things that are too useful (e.g. psi powers in a world where they aren't known so people can't get psi defences).
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Old 10-03-2018, 01:20 PM   #5
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Fearfulness

Mostly useful as an NPC trait, to model people who are otherwise strong-willed , but not as impressive when it comes to dealing with sudden scares or the long-term effects of combat stress.

I agree that it's essentially free points if the GM doesn't intend to use Fright Checks, so it should be restricted.

I could see Fearfulness being useful for PCs who are "superficially" cowards, but are usually reliable in a dangerous situation: model it as the Cautious quirk plus a couple levels of Fearfulness.

Finally, there's a game mechanic from GURPS 3E, which I wish had been ported over to GURPS 4E, which applied modifiers to strong and weak will. While the modifiers might are redundant to Will, I've modified the so they apply directly to Fearlessness/Fearfulness:

Brittle (-40%): Your Fearfulness gives no penalty to resist Fright Checks, but increases the degree to which the fright affects if you fail your roll. It is appropriate for characters who are usually brave, but are vulnerable to more serious emotional colllapse once their courage fails. This limitation is mutually exclusive from the Resilient limitation.

Resilient (-40%): Your Fearfulness works normally to resist Fright Checks, but doesn’t affect you if you fail your roll. If you fail your Fright Check, your Fearfulness it doesn’t count when figuring how badly the frightful event affected you. If your modified Fearfulness roll contradicts the effects of a failed Fright Check roll, treat the “success” as a failure by 1. This limitation is appropriate for characters who “break down” on a regular basis, but never seem to break down so badly that they can’t function. This limitation is mutually exclusive from the Brittle limitation.

I could also see a quirk based on Fearfulness and Post Combat Shakes which is suitable for "tough but sensitive" characters who keep their heads until the action is over, and then dramatically collapse as a result of the stress they just experienced. (Usually, the mormally tough-as-nails high-heeled heroine who goes on a crying jag in the hero's arms, allowing him to demonstrate that he's got a sensitive side as well, and setting up a pretext for romance between them.)

Delayed Reaction Freak Out - You have a -2 penalty to resist Fright Checks, but should you fail your roll by 2 or less, you don't suffer the effects of the Fright Check until you are in a reasonably safe place. This is a quirk level version of Fearfulness and Post-Combat Shakes.

As a limitation to Fearfulness or Post-Combat Shakes, it's a limitation worth -80%.

Last edited by Pursuivant; 10-03-2018 at 01:32 PM.
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Old 10-03-2018, 02:33 PM   #6
jason taylor
 
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Default Re: [Basic] Disadvantage of the Week: Fearfulness

Quote:
Originally Posted by ericthered View Post
In some ways, cowardice outshines it because it produces similar behavior and has similar penalties, but gets more points back. Yes, the self control roll is worse, but the idea is to play a coward either way, isn't it?
Not necessarily. One can be playing a Cowardly Lion. Pair it with CoH and/or SoD and it becomes interesting and one can get some pretty good characters.
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