Getting More from Disadvantages

[Shostak]

Disadvantages, found in The Fantasy Trip Companion, present a way for characters to start with higher stats than they otherwise could. But, as is pointed out in a separate thread on the main forum, the benefit from taking a disadvantage is quickly lost.

Originally Posted by larsdangly

Basically, you take on a lifetime quirk or disadvantage in exchange for getting to start play with 33-36 attribute points. Which sounds really helpful, except if you had been patient and lucky you would have gotten to that attribute total within a few adventures anyway, so pretty quickly your non-disadvantaged friends have caught up with you ... but you are still blind or have a peg leg or are a fall-down drunk or whatever.

A house rule allowing characters to increase their stats as though their stat total was lower by the value of their disadvantage (e.g. a 36-point character with a 2-point disadvantage paying for increased stats as though they were only a 34-point character) would increase the useful lifespan of the disadvantage.