Masochism?

[Gumby Bush]

How much would
A. an addiction to pain, or
B. compulsive self injury
cost as a disadvantage?

[lexington]

Originally Posted by fighting_gumby

How much would
A. an addiction to pain, or
B. compulsive self injury
cost as a disadvantage?

An addiction to pain should be built like any other addiction. In the modern world it is likely to be Cheap, Legal and essentially harmless. It would just really be a quirk accompanied by Secret (Serious Embarrassment) unless the person would be "totally incapacitated".

Compulsive self harm might be easiest to treat as Disciplines of Faith or an Odious Personal Habit.

[David Johnston2]

Being a cutter is a quirk (although it is probably a symptom of a more serious disad). Being a masochist is more like an odious personal habit/social stigma/secret depending on how one goes about it.

[Sunrunners_Fire]

Originally Posted by fighting_gumby

How much would
A. an addiction to pain, or
B. compulsive self injury
cost as a disadvantage?

Addiction, "Pain" (Cheap) (Legal) (Minor Addiction) [-1]
-or-
Compulsive Behavior: Self Harm [-10]

... is how I would price those traits depending on whether it was a "I like pain" or a "I must hurt myself" thing.

[Lord Carnifex]

In the boring real world, cutting is often accompanied by fairly elaborate ritual and preparation. If it happens often, I'd say that type of self harm is worth a -10 point Compulsive Behavior. Masochism is probably a quirk, maybe with a Secret. If either is continual enough to cause actual HP loss on a regular basis, I would suggest maybe -5 points per HP taken off; this is about consistent with The Draining and Slow Healing.

Also see Chronic Pain [Basic 126] which I would count even if it's compulsively self-inflicted. There's also Chronic Depression [Basic 126], On The Edge [] and Wounded [Basic 162].

[Bruno]

There are nondamaging sources of "pain", so you definitely have to distinguish between "pain" and "damage". "Pain", as something the character gets up to "in the background" isn't significant in game terms. "damage" on the other hand can cause problems even if it's all happening "off camera".

Once you've got that, figure out what the effects on the characters life are. If it just consumes a small amount of the characters time on a daily basis, it's the quirk level addiction.

If the character needs someone else's co-operation to get their daily "fix", it starts becoming more time consuming and "expensive" (either in hiring a professional to assist you, or courting and maintaining your relationship with an understanding playmate/life partner).

If the character has to take damage to qualify, that's pretty major. GURPS tends to rate these things on a daily-frequency basis, and for normal characters, taking even 1 HP of damage every day is going to get them in a LOT of trouble very quickly.

If the character is a cinematic/caricature masochist, and suffers actual effects in combat rather than in their personal time, I'd start looking at things like Mania (from Supers) or Uncontrollable Appetite.

If the character is harboring a Secret about it, price that separately.

[Figleaf23]

I think self-harming, if it is severe enough to cost HP on a regular basis, could be modelled with (I always get these confused and IDHMBWM) either Weakness or Vulnerability with the trigger being whatever internal processes drive the behaviour.

[smurf]

About rituals:

If the self harmer ritualises their affliction and this is a -10 point CB

Then the Masochist, who also ritualises, they do not usually hurt themselves for 'fun' so to speak but the pleasure, usually sexual pleasure. And there are also rituals in this, from the role of the submissive, finding a dominator to inflict pain.

IMO both should be worth -10, the former for the danger of doing it alone and bleeding badly, the latter for finding the partner for the ritual that may go badly due to the technical expertise of the dominator. Moreover, the former is fairly quick in the space of time where the latter could take hours of punishment.

[Lord Carnifex]

Mmm... yes and no.

The harmers I have known IRL tend to have very specific ways of doing it. There was usually a favored instrument, usually a favored location, and often a specific song to be played. Set up and clean up was often very stylized and specific. Quite often, cutting would happen at specific times, and in some cases, the person even planned their day around it. The more common payschopathologies of cutting are about control, and the ritual is almost as important as the act itself.

OTOH, the masochists I've known tend to just seek after eroticised pain. How it was inflicted, where and in what context tended to be more free form. The amount of ritual involved wasn't necessarily more than any other erotic act. Some more desperate masochists have even lower standards than that when seeking pain.

Of course, you can have very ritual dependent masochists. In that case, sure, elevate it to a Compulsive Behavior.

An analogy would be to drinking tea: most masochists just want tea, but it's not necessarily important how they get it. Tea on a friend's tea set or from a restaurant is fine as long as it's prepared well and the cups are clean. Self harmers tend to want their tea from a specific tea set, done just the right way and in the right context.