Psis vs Weirdness Magnet?

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

You should not let that trait be the reason an enemy Precog can't get accurate visions of the character.

Why not? Just means that in this game, WM is say +5 points of Precog Fuzziness and -20 points of personal attention from the Big Bad (compare Enemy) rolled into one. If it includes its other ill effects, then you don't even need -20 points of bad attention to net out to -15, or can grant even less benefit.

[smurf]

Another view would be to get reading that WM produces and the precog can never believe that such strangeness happens so frequently to an individual.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Why not? Just means that in this game, WM is say +5 points of Precog Fuzziness and -20 points of personal attention from the Big Bad (compare Enemy) rolled into one. If it includes its other ill effects, then you don't even need -20 points of bad attention to net out to -15, or can grant even less benefit.

Because the RAW Weirdness Magnet , as I understand it, is a disadvantage, not a meta-trait. You could create one like your proposal, but when referring to it here it might be better to give it a different name or just show the build each time you introduce it into a thread, otherwise there's the chance of miscommunication. It seemed like smurf was asking if WM, as presented in Basic, should have an effect like that. The proper answer appears to be "No, but you can add that to it if you like and adjust the price accordingly."

[NineDaysDead]

Originally Posted by Anaraxes

Why not? Just means that in this game, WM is say +5 points of Precog Fuzziness and -20 points of personal attention from the Big Bad (compare Enemy) rolled into one. If it includes its other ill effects, then you don't even need -20 points of bad attention to net out to -15, or can grant even less benefit.

For comparison:

Obscure: Precognition 10 (Stealthy +100%) [40]

[Anders]

If you want that thing, take Zeroed (Psi -10%) and say it applies to attempts to research stuff about the character.

[Danukian]

Originally Posted by GodBeastX

I tend to pick weirdness magnet people for random occurrences when picking a PC. And those are usually always bad.

"Huh, this has never happened before, we lost your rent check. It was right here on the desk!"

That sounds like standard Unluckiness - nothing to weird about that.

Typical Weirdness:
"OMG! A meteorite covered in telepathic bacteria crashed through the kitchen window and landed in your cereal! What are the odd of that?!?"

"I don't know: 1 in 4? The novelty wears off pretty quickly after the first few times, believe me!"

----

"Mr. Thurston, we've tried to be flexible, but we are just going to have to let you go. I'm sorry, but your constant visitations from Great Old Ones is becoming a distraction to the rest of the staff."

---

"BWAHAHAHA! The ancient ritual is nearly complete, all I need is the blood of a man with at least 1/32nd Fae blood, and from all my research, that blood is yours!"
"OFFFFFCOURSE IT IS!"

Now, if you wanted it to screw with Precog, I'd suggest inconstancy - like Ninedaysdead said: you don't want to turn a -15 point disadvantage into a 40pt Advantage - but motes of psychic energy hovering around the character would probably interfere with precog from time to time. Omens might even be downright silly.

[Anaraxes]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

Because the RAW Weirdness Magnet , as I understand it, is a disadvantage, not a meta-trait.

Many traits straight out the book have both positive and negative aspects without being explicitly built as a meta-trait. It's not that case that an Advantage can never work against you, or a Disad for you. All the possible side effects are not enumerated as little sub-traits, nor are the existing "composite" traits expected to be neatly decomposable (as often as we try that exercise in the forums).

Pretty much all the posts boil down to the same thing: remember WM is supposed to be an overall Disadvantage, not just fun and weird.

(Having strange or unusual things happen is more or less a built-in feature of PCs in most settings.)

[GodBeastX]

Would be nice if there were better examples of how to use wierdness magnet in campaigns to make it a disadvantage. When you read the disadvantage, it just seems like plothooks and negative reaction modifier for people who find you a magnet for the wierd. I get that most negative reactions are -10 points, but the fact it says positive things can happen from it throws off the whole idea of disadvantages.

Maybe it should cost less in general then.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by GodBeastX

Would be nice if there were better examples of how to use wierdness magnet in campaigns to make it a disadvantage. When you read the disadvantage, it just seems like plothooks and negative reaction modifier for people who find you a magnet for the wierd. I get that most negative reactions are -10 points, but the fact it says positive things can happen from it throws off the whole idea of disadvantages.

Maybe it should cost less in general then.

IF you're going to make it helpful, you should definitely adjust the cost towards the positive. The phrasing in Basic is somewhat unfortunate, as a lot of people get the impression that Weirdness Magnet isn't all that bad. The -15 point value should be taken as a contraindication to that.

This post of Kromm's is relevant to the op, and the rest of that thread might be of interest as well. You can probably find a lot of inspiration for the gaming of Weirdness Magnet just by searching on it as keywords, as it has been discussed quite a few times over the years.

[Nereidalbel]

Originally Posted by GodBeastX

Would be nice if there were better examples of how to use wierdness magnet in campaigns to make it a disadvantage. When you read the disadvantage, it just seems like plothooks and negative reaction modifier for people who find you a magnet for the wierd. I get that most negative reactions are -10 points, but the fact it says positive things can happen from it throws off the whole idea of disadvantages.

Maybe it should cost less in general then.

Read The Hitchhiker's Guide To The Galaxy, then imagine WM is a walking Infinite Improbability Drive. Flower pots turning into whales, spaceships becoming balls of yard, and raining purple Jell-O are all within the realm of possibilities.