Page 220 - World of Darkness

them abandon your character, or drive them to make her Social Flaws
remember. For all she knows, there might be a warrant
out for her arrest in a distant county or state. Aloof: Your character is uncomfortable in social set-
Coward: Your character is afraid to confront unknown tings and avoids crowds and interaction as much as pos-
situations, and hesitates when he should act boldly. sible. She dislikes being the center of attention and re-
Forgetful: Your character doesn’t have amnesia, but coils from center stage. Experience is gained when she
she does have trouble remembering particular details. What avoids attention or social environments and misses out
was the name of that cursed book I was supposed to rescue on potential rewards as a result. Maybe she doesn’t get
from the library? The player should avoid relying on her the job that she “deserves,” because the boss is looking for
own memory or asking for memory rolls for her character. a people-person rather than a hard worker.
The character doesn’t forget everything, especially not truly Behavior Blind: Your character doesn’t really under-
important details, but she should forget enough to make stand human behavior and is blind to common social cues
things frustrating for her companions. that communicate other people’s basic feelings. Maybe he
was raised by wolves or terrible parents, but he is socially
Physical Flaws maladapted. He can’t tell when others use sarcasm or in-
nuendo, or if he’s boring them. An experience point is
Crippled: Your character cannot walk. He has no natural awarded only if this Flaw is directly related to a setback
Speed trait, and must rely on a wheelchair or vehicle to travel. that delayed or prevented your character from achieving
A manual wheelchair’s Speed is equal to your character’s his goals. Perhaps an important contact or ally refused aid
Strength, but he must spend an action to move or suffers a -2 due to being insulted or disgusted by your character’s be-
penalty to both Speed and any other action performed (he uses havior. Note: This Flaw does not preclude your character
one arm to spin a wheel). An electric wheelchair has a Speed of from having the Empathy Skill, but barring successful Skill
3 and allows for other actions in a turn without penalty (your rolls, he cannot figure out other people’s moods.
characters’ hands are largely free). Deformity: Your character has a misshapen limb, a ter-
Dwarf: Your character is much shorter than the av- rible visible scar or some other physical affliction that might
erage person. His adult Size is 4. This Flaw awards points cause revulsion in others. You suffer a -2 penalty on Social
only if the character’s short size causes him physical or rolls when your character makes new acquaintances.
social problems (besides the obvious problem of having a Embarrassing Secret: Your character has a secret
low Health score). about her past that she must hide or else suffer shame and
Hard of Hearing: Your character’s hearing isn’t so
good. Subtract two dice from any hearing-based percep- ostracism from her peers. An experience point is awarded
only if your character harms her other causes by working
tion rolls. Even though he suffers this penalty on all hear- to keep her secret. Perhaps she misses an important meet-
ing rolls, you get an experience point at the end of a ses- ing with an ally so that she can distract a reporter from
sion only if this Flaw caused him notable trouble. looking into her past. Extra experience can be awarded if
Lame: Your character has a leg or foot condition that the secret gets out, at which point this Flaw might be ex-
impedes his movement, slowing him down. His basic changed for Notoriety at the Storyteller’s discretion.
Speed factor is 2 (instead of 5). Add this to his Strength + Notoriety: Your character, like O.J. Simpson or Michael
Dexterity to determine his Speed trait (see p. 95). You get Jackson, is renowned for some heinous deed, regardless of whether
an experience point at the end of a session only if this he committed it or not. This Flaw could derive from his infa-
Flaw causes your character notable trouble. mous family or from his association with a scandalous organiza-
Mute: Your character cannot speak and must com- tion such as the Mob or a company known for environmental
municate through hand signs, gestures or by writing. infractions. If recognized, he inspires a negative reaction in oth-
One Arm: Your character is missing an arm, which ers. An experience point is awarded only if the negative reac-
makes it hard to perform certain tasks. At the Storyteller’s tion causes some harm to your character’s goals.
discretion, tasks that normally require two hands take Racist/Sexist: Your character has biased opinions of
twice as long to perform or are impossible. If your charac- other races, genders, gender-preference groups or cultures.
ter attempts to perform a challenging task in the normal Unfortunately, he also has trouble keeping those opinions
amount of time, he suffers a -3 penalty. to himself, even in the presence of such people. Experience
One Eye: Your character is missing an eye. He has is gained when your character acts on his biases and is con-
no real depth perception, so all penalties for ranged at- fronted, dismissed, ignored or even attacked for them.
tacks are doubled. If he attempts to drive in heavy traffic, Speech Impediment: Your character has trouble
any 1’s rolled on any die cancel out successes on a one-to- speaking properly. This might be due to a lisp, stutter or
one basis, and you may not re-roll 10’s. wound. This Flaw should be roleplayed whenever your
Poor Sight: Your character’s sight isn’t so good. Sub-
tract two dice from any sight-based perception rolls. Even character speaks. If you consistently forget to do so, the
Storyteller may warn you that your character’s condition
though she suffers this penalty on all seeing rolls, you get is improving and might soon be cured.
an experience point at the end of a session only if this
Flaw causes your character notable trouble.

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CHARACTER FLAWS