Steve Jackson Games - Site Navigation
Home General Info Follow Us Search Illuminator Store Forums What's New Other Games Ogre GURPS Munchkin Our Games: Home

Go Back   Steve Jackson Games Forums > Roleplaying > GURPS

Reply
 
Thread Tools Display Modes
Old 04-02-2023, 10:35 AM   #1
Blind Mapmaker
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Mannheim, Baden
Default [PU6] Modifying/Expanding the Easily Influenced Quirk

I recently had a player express an interest in playing a character with a flirtatious disadvantage. I made up a custom Compulsive Behavior: Flirting disadvantage since she didn't want to be crude or too easy to influence and it was active flirting she was after.

But it got me thinking, how would you model a disadvantage or levelled quirk for a character who was easily influenced by Sex Appeal or some other influence skill? I took a good look at the Easily Influenced quirk (PU6, p. 18). It's fine for a quirk, but I had thought it was levelled, which it isn't. There's a reason for it not being levelled since the problems quickly pile up.

Instead of giving minus -1 to resistance rolls, it gives that and +1 on the influencer's skill roll. Going for a more-or less normal skill level and Will of 12 that shifts the success rate of the influencer from almost 43% to almost 61%. That's kind of strong, but still fine for one level, but two levels would take that to 76,5% and three to almost 88%. That can quickly add up a lot of margin of success for influencing PCs (Basic, p. 359), which means penalties. Also my players usually like to play along if I give them suggestions, when NPCs make their influence rolls (I apply no penalties then, but the complications are their own thing).

Long story short, do you think it's balanced as a levelled quirk with otherwise RAW? At the moment, I'm more inclined to give a plain -1 to resistance rolls per level and an extra -1 if the influencer has an appropriate advantage (Appearance bonus, Voice etc.). That would give +5% to +8% of success per level for the middle of the Gauss Curve. It might seem a little too good compared to Magic Susceptibility, but unlike that I think this trait would soon become known socially. Thoughts?

Bonus question: How much should an "Easily Influenced: All Skills" disadvantage cost? I'm thinking -3 pts / level seems fair if you cap it at four levels. Here it might be best to use the Easily Influenced RAW, except multiple levels and affecting all skills.

All of the above assumes a campaign medium to heavy on social interaction, of course.
__________________
My GURPS and mapmaking blog: The Blind Mapmaker
Blind Mapmaker is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-02-2023, 01:00 PM   #2
Sam Baughn
 
Sam Baughn's Avatar
 
Join Date: Aug 2004
Location: United Kingdom of Great Britain and some other bits.
Default Re: [PU6] Modifying/Expanding the Easily Influenced Quirk

Maybe a variant of Susceptible? It always seemed odd to me that Resistant has a mental option, but its counterpart doesn't.
__________________
My blog.
Sam Baughn is offline   Reply With Quote
Old 04-02-2023, 01:30 PM   #3
Blind Mapmaker
 
Join Date: Sep 2010
Location: Mannheim, Baden
Default Re: [PU6] Modifying/Expanding the Easily Influenced Quirk

Well, there's Magic Susceptibility (Basic, p. 143), which works exactly like Easily Influenced, but vs. all magic and at -3 pts / level. I think it might be very slightly underpriced for regular fantasy campaigns, but I don't see Easily Influenced quite at -2 pts / level either. -1.5 pts / level might work, but 4th Edition hates the fractions - of course, that never really stopped me...

Thanks, I guess you helped me make up my mind a bit.
__________________
My GURPS and mapmaking blog: The Blind Mapmaker
Blind Mapmaker is offline   Reply With Quote
Reply

Tags
disadvantage, influence skills, quirk, rules-as-written

Thread Tools
Display Modes

Posting Rules
You may not post new threads
You may not post replies
You may not post attachments
You may not edit your posts

BB code is On
Fnords are Off
[IMG] code is Off
HTML code is Off

Forum Jump


All times are GMT -6. The time now is 11:51 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.9
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions, Inc.