Flaws
Flaws are physical and mental maladies, bad habits, and other foibles. Every time your character takes a Flaw (willingly or not), he receives a one-time bonus of +1 to his next Advancement Roll.
As with Perks, feel free to create custom Flaws for your setting. The only word of advice is to manifest the Flaw, wherever possible, through some mechanical effect. In other words, it’s easier to enforce a Flaw via a die roll modifier than to rely on a player’s ability (or consistent willingness) to roleplay it.
Flaw Descriptions
Flaws are listed below; the numbers are provided to allow random determination by the GM when desired.
| 1d30 | Flaw | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Awkward | Penalise Diplomacy rolls by -2 |
| 2 | Butt Ugly | Penalise Diplomacy rolls by -2 |
| 3 | Butterfingers | Penalise Tinker rolls by -2 |
| 4 | Cataracts | Penalise Observe and Shoot rolls by -2 |
| 5 | Clueless | Penalise Academics rolls by -2 |
| 6 | Debt | Financial obligation of 3d6 x $1,000 |
| 7 | Frail | Reduce Wound Limit (WL) by -2 |
| 8 | Gimp | Reduce Movement Rate (MR) by –2” and downgrade Movement Die by 1 step (e.g., d8 to d6, d6 to d4, d4 to d2) |
| 9 | Glass Ceiling | Increase Advancement Cost by +2 |
| 10 | Hearing Defect | Penalise Observe rolls by –2 (can’t hear well) |
| 11 | Humanitarian | Cannot land Killer Blow upon vanquished foes |
| 12 | Lazy | Penalise Resistance vs. Fatigue by –2 |
| 13 | Oblivious | Penalise Observe rolls by –2 |
| 14 | Outsider | Penalise Diplomacy rolls by –2 |
| 15 | Pacifist | Fights only in self-defence |
| 16 | Phobia | Requires Mettle roll (TN 8+threat’s level) to face a specific threat |
| 17 | Photosensitive | Penalise all ARs in full light by –2 |
| 18 | Power Strain | Powers wielded at ½ normal effect |
| 19 | Restricted Armour | Maximum armour bulk of Light |
| 20 | Restricted Weapons | Maximum weapon size of Medium |
| 21 | Savage | Always lands Killer Blow upon vanquished foes |
| 22 | Shakes | Resistance Roll vs. Fatigue required after any intense action (combat, escape, et al.) |
| 23 | Sickly | Penalise Resistance vs. Disease and Poison by –2 |
| 24 | Slow | Penalise Initiative Modifier (IM) by –2 |
| 25 | Spendthrift | Wasteful spending reduces effective income by 10% |
| 26 | Spineless | Penalise Mettle rolls by –2 (lack of confidence) |
| 27 | Unfriendly | Penalise Diplomacy rolls by -2 |
| 28 | Unlucky | Reduce Clutch Situations by –2 each level |
| 29 | Wasteful | Penalise Gear Checks by –2 |
| 30 | Wild Shot | Penalise Ammo Checks by –2 |
Overcoming Flaws
You can overcome a Flaw by “paying it off.” This is done as an improvement during character advancement and costs 2 Improvement Points.
At the GM’s discretion, some Flaws require effort to suppress and control (e.g., Phobia, Unfriendly, Wasteful, et al.). This work is represented by reducing the number of IP received at advancement time by 1. You may ignore this penalty, but that causes a relapse and the Flaw returns.
