222 Oddities [Archive] - Wizards Community

222 Oddities [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Chrono Nexus
04-09-06, 12:53 AM Plenty of people play characters with unusual traits... a scar, only one ear, scales, etc. For the most part these features are completely harmless, and are only a way to personalize and identify a unique character. Many people tie their char's appearence with how that character acts and interacts in the setting...

Everyone please post your own (unique) visual character traits- I'll start

1 Does not cast shadow (attention grabber)
2 Has a sixth finger on one hand (+1 on sleight of hand checks with that hand)
3 Hair is multiple colors (multiple strands of different colors)
4 Eyes are different colors
5 Skin is an unusual color
6 Fingers lack finger nails (djin heritage)
7 Vestigial wings (+1 on balance checks)
8 Tail (+1 on balance checks or +1 on climb checks)
9 Eyes glow and shed light as a candle
10 Motes of magical energy appear and dissapear around you
Frostbrand
04-09-06, 01:39 AM 11 Can't grow Hair.
12 Has dark colored skin, Bluish Grey.
13 Solved Hair problem by having Continual Flame cast on the the Ink used to in the Elaberate Tatoo on his head, and the Tatoo eyebrows, giving the Effect of Blue Specteral Flame Hair(offten mistaken for some type of Fire Elemental Being suck as a Planetouched, hides in the Dark with special magic Beanie.)
Shadowfax7
04-09-06, 09:23 AM 6 Fingers lack finger nails (djin heritage)

Is this something you made up or read about in some RPG books or actual legend (eg. Arabian Nights) ??

Also, . . .

7 Vestigial wings (+1 on balance checks) . . . I would say +1 on jump checks.

8 Tail (+1 on balance checks or +1 on climb checks) . . . definitely +1 on balance checks as that is the purpose of a tail on most animals.
The_WhiteRabbit
04-09-06, 09:50 AM I wouldn't give a +1 for any of this stuff--if you want to be better at slight of hand, put ranks in it and make dex your high stat. Sure, you can have six fingers on one hand, but that's strictly flavor. No mechanical benefit.

The same would go for all the rest of the stuff, and if a character wanted wings or a tail, he'd have to have a damn good reason for having them.
Mysticaloctopus
04-09-06, 11:02 AM You can get some feats like this in Lords of Madness. It's the Abberant Blood feat chain: You take Abberant Blood and get a minor bonus from that, then you can take more abberant blood feats as your traits 'emerge' with age. The most powerful, like Starspawn (Wings give fly speed, maximum0 10 minute flight without resting), require 1 or 2 other abberant blood feats before you can take them. These feats would, I'd houserule, impose penalties on diplomacy or make people distrustful if their society wasn't high-fantasy with humans and strange creatures mixing happily in bars together.

Just 'giving' a character something like that would be a bit unbalancing and also take some clever roleplaying to explain to people. Just picture it: "No, you see, I really am human, I'm just different!" wouldn't quite cut it if a purist gang decided to kill you for being 'impure'.
Seeker95
04-09-06, 05:09 PM I second WhiteRabbit's comment. Let your quirk be a quirk. Not a no-consequence justification for a bonus. Now, if you managed to give disadvantages that offset the bonus, that might be more acceptable.
Chrono Nexus
04-10-06, 05:12 AM A +1 bonus in a single skill (and only in certain conditions) is not a world-breaking bonus. Besides, if a character is going to receive a negative backlash from purists for having these traits, I can't see why they should not include some minor benefit.

8 Tail (+1 on balance checks or +1 on climb checks) . . . definitely +1 on balance checks as that is the purpose of a tail on most animals.
I was thinking of lizards vs. monkeys here

The same would go for all the rest of the stuff, and if a character wanted wings or a tail, he'd have to have a damn good reason for having them.
Why? I mean, of course I understand that not any character has a tail, or lacks eyebrows, but a pc is unique. This falls in line with oddball players' choices of flavor. These qualities don't make a broken character... a player makes a broken character by taking all of them. If a +1 to a single skill really hurts your sessions that much, just make them all play pure-blooded humans.

13 Lacks eyebrows.
Lilt
04-10-06, 07:55 AM Why is this on the magic and spells board?

Something akin to this already exists. They're in UA and they're called traits. You take a negative in exchange for a smaller positive.
Seeker95
04-10-06, 08:00 AM if a character is going to receive a negative backlash from purists for having these traits, I can't see why they should not include some minor benefit.Then turn that "negative backlash" into an in-game mechanic.

Example
PC gains a +1 bonus to jump rolls. Subject also has a -1 penalty to all charisma-based checks when interacting with creatures of its own race. Half-versions of its race count as members of its own race.
Chrono Nexus
04-10-06, 08:00 AM This is in magic because for the most part these qualities are taken by casters to define their focus in magic and spellcasting.

These are not "traits" as in giving a benefit in return for a drawback. Those are called flaws. These traits are mostly only part of a pc's image.

to seeker's: of course

14 Hands are backwards (rakshasa heritage). You receive a +1 bonus on feint attempts in combat.
15 Big nose. BIG
Dessirris
04-10-06, 02:15 PM This is in magic because for the most part these qualities are taken by casters to define their focus in magic and spellcasting.

These are not "traits" as in giving a benefit in return for a drawback. Those are called flaws. These traits are mostly only part of a pc's image.

to seeker's: of course

14 Hands are backwards (rakshasa heritage). You receive a +1 bonus on feint attempts in combat.
15 Big nose. BIG

No, Flaws are one-sided things which give you a bonus feat. Traits are additional abilities which give you a small bonus, in exchange for a slightly larger penalty. Such as the focused trait, which gives you a +1 to concentration, at the cost of -1 to spot and listen checks in one package.
Doopliss
04-10-06, 06:36 PM 1 Does not cast shadow (attention grabber)Over on the Monsters' Lair forum, that's called Vampirism. ;)

16: Double-jointed legs.
Chrono Nexus
04-10-06, 10:16 PM No, Flaws are one-sided things which give you a bonus feat. Traits are additional abilities which give you a small bonus, in exchange for a slightly larger penalty. Such as the focused trait, which gives you a +1 to concentration, at the cost of -1 to spot and listen checks in one package.

I see. Well, those sound nice, but these qualities are really mostly tied to appearance, they are not mini power boosts.

17 Overbite
18 Tongue so long you can lick your back
19 A third eye (+1 on spot)
20 Fangs
21 Perfectly Normal (looks completely average, no esp. dist. features- +1 to hide in a crowd.)

22 Believes he is a dwarf (dresses as a dwarf, talks, acts, and speaks as one, but is not a dwarf- +1 diplomacy with dwarves).
Lilt
04-11-06, 09:18 AM I see. Well, those sound nice, but these qualities are really mostly tied to appearance, they are not mini power boosts.
Unless you give them mechanical; advantages, as you are doing. If something gives a mechanical advantage then it should give a mechanical disadvantage too. In the cases where the traits don't give a mechanical advantage, no balancing disadvantage is nessecary.

Some example advantage/disadvantage balances are:
6-fingered hand +1 to sleight of hand but -1 to escape artist checks because the hand is wider.
Third Eye +1 on spot but -2 on saves against gaze attacks
Bland-looking +1 on hide checks in a crowd, -1 on intimidate checks and -1 leadership score.
Tail (non-prehensile) +1 on balance checks, -1 on hide checks

A prehensile tail (the sort that might aid in climbing) is worth a bit more than the positive side of a trait as there are many repurcussions to what is essentially adding another limb.This is in magic because for the most part these qualities are taken by casters to define their focus in magic and spellcasting.Using examples from your last post, does your caster really focus on overbite magic? Yes, a player could use it to further define their caster character but these traits are absolutely nothing to do with spells or magic and thus should be in a different forum.
Seeker95
04-11-06, 09:31 AM they are not mini power boosts.With the number of +1 to X, how can you say with a straight face that these "are not mini-power boosts"? It makes me wonder what you might consider to be a major power boost, if these do not even count as minor ones?

Your idea is fine, but I reject the bonuses you are adding. Keep listing descriptive traits, but the plusses will end up on the cutting room floor.
Chrono Nexus
04-11-06, 08:47 PM The mechanical bonuses are the DM's call.
As for every other complaint... put up or shut up.

23 Cat's Eyes (+1 spot in low-light conditions)
24 Hair always stands straight up
25 Body is covered is small patches of scales
26 Nice dresser (+1 on diplomacy with those of taste)
27 Clothes are tied in 56 different places (+1 on use rope (based off of Hennet))
nordyboy
04-11-06, 10:20 PM The mechanical bonuses are the DM's call.
As for every other complaint... put up or shut up.
Um, You probably shouldn't start a thread, and then yell at people for dissagreeing with you in it. In your first post you specified that these were pretty much "only a way to personalize and identify a unique character".
If in your campaign, people are fine with giving small bonuses with no drawbacks, that's fine, but that's not the case in most.
Anyways, here's mine...
28. Noticibly long neck.
29. Balding as a teenager.
30. Excessivly "poppy" joints. Wherever the character goes, they are accompanyed by quiet snapping noises from their joints.
31. Smells horrid for no good reason.
32. Smells really good, see 31 for cause.
33. Always appears to have wind blowing around him. (hair, cloak, etc, look windblown.)
Lilt
04-13-06, 11:45 PM The mechanical bonuses are the DM's call.
As for every other complaint... put up or shut up.Observe: These are public forums so unless you're going to accuse someone of harassing you or another moderator-worthy complaint then you can't make such requests. If you did report someone, I suspect the admins would just move the thread to an appropriate forum and do little else.

Mechanical bonuses are at the DM's call, as are mechanical disadvanatges. If you're going to list one then at-least list the others to make them useable in campaigns where DMs aren't willing to give something for nothing.
Chrono Nexus
04-13-06, 11:54 PM Good point. I was just a little pist that no one was contributing to the thread in a positive way. Ever. It seems to be a serious problem here on the boards. My request is that people post a trait, or don't post. That was the original plan of the thread, to make a list of creative additions to play... but I feel that many people were more interested in proving themselves to be correct rather than promoting and expanding the game meaningfully. If the DM wants to drop a penalty on a trait, it is an easy process. I leave it to the DM to balance play. The benefits are really just an insentive for players to take a greater interest in their character's appearence and role in the game, rather than a free for all power banquet.

34 The character has a strand of tentacles instead of a tongue (mark of Cthulu.)
Seeker95
04-14-06, 07:42 AM I feel that many people were more interested in proving themselves to be correct rather than promoting and expanding the game meaningfully.and thenIf the DM wants to drop a penalty on a trait, it is an easy process. I leave it to the DM to balance play. The benefits are really just an insentive for players to take a greater interest in their character's appearence and role in the game, rather than a free for all power banquet.Many people evidently includes present company. No interest in "proving yourself right" here at all, eh?

35. Jaundice.
36. Hyper-didactic. PC over-explains everything.
Lilt
04-14-06, 07:58 AM Well you seemed completely disinterested in heeding any of our advice so we persisted. I'll happily add my own additions in the form of UA traits with both positive and negative effects.

35: Stone Bones (Earth descent, +1 on bull rushes, -1 on jump, swim, and tumble checks)
36: Vestigial Gills (Aquatic descent, can breathe water but take 1d6 subdual per round from the pain, -2 on saves versus inhaled poisons, -2 on disguise checks)
37: Light breath (Air descent, only take subdual damage from asphyxiation, can hold reath 4 times longer than usual, 3/4 carrying capacity)

Any ideas for fire?

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Chrono Nexus 04-09-06, 12:53 AM	Plenty of people play characters with unusual traits... a scar, only one ear, scales, etc. For the most part these features are completely harmless, and are only a way to personalize and identify a unique character. Many people tie their char's appearence with how that character acts and interacts in the setting... Everyone please post your own (unique) visual character traits- I'll start 1 Does not cast shadow (attention grabber) 2 Has a sixth finger on one hand (+1 on sleight of hand checks with that hand) 3 Hair is multiple colors (multiple strands of different colors) 4 Eyes are different colors 5 Skin is an unusual color 6 Fingers lack finger nails (djin heritage) 7 Vestigial wings (+1 on balance checks) 8 Tail (+1 on balance checks or +1 on climb checks) 9 Eyes glow and shed light as a candle 10 Motes of magical energy appear and dissapear around you
Frostbrand 04-09-06, 01:39 AM	11 Can't grow Hair. 12 Has dark colored skin, Bluish Grey. 13 Solved Hair problem by having Continual Flame cast on the the Ink used to in the Elaberate Tatoo on his head, and the Tatoo eyebrows, giving the Effect of Blue Specteral Flame Hair(offten mistaken for some type of Fire Elemental Being suck as a Planetouched, hides in the Dark with special magic Beanie.)
Shadowfax7 04-09-06, 09:23 AM	6 Fingers lack finger nails (djin heritage) Is this something you made up or read about in some RPG books or actual legend (eg. Arabian Nights) ?? Also, . . . 7 Vestigial wings (+1 on balance checks) . . . I would say +1 on jump checks. 8 Tail (+1 on balance checks or +1 on climb checks) . . . definitely +1 on balance checks as that is the purpose of a tail on most animals.
The_WhiteRabbit 04-09-06, 09:50 AM	I wouldn't give a +1 for any of this stuff--if you want to be better at slight of hand, put ranks in it and make dex your high stat. Sure, you can have six fingers on one hand, but that's strictly flavor. No mechanical benefit. The same would go for all the rest of the stuff, and if a character wanted wings or a tail, he'd have to have a damn good reason for having them.
Mysticaloctopus 04-09-06, 11:02 AM	You can get some feats like this in Lords of Madness. It's the Abberant Blood feat chain: You take Abberant Blood and get a minor bonus from that, then you can take more abberant blood feats as your traits 'emerge' with age. The most powerful, like Starspawn (Wings give fly speed, maximum0 10 minute flight without resting), require 1 or 2 other abberant blood feats before you can take them. These feats would, I'd houserule, impose penalties on diplomacy or make people distrustful if their society wasn't high-fantasy with humans and strange creatures mixing happily in bars together. Just 'giving' a character something like that would be a bit unbalancing and also take some clever roleplaying to explain to people. Just picture it: "No, you see, I really am human, I'm just different!" wouldn't quite cut it if a purist gang decided to kill you for being 'impure'.
Seeker95 04-09-06, 05:09 PM	I second WhiteRabbit's comment. Let your quirk be a quirk. Not a no-consequence justification for a bonus. Now, if you managed to give disadvantages that offset the bonus, that might be more acceptable.
Chrono Nexus 04-10-06, 05:12 AM	A +1 bonus in a single skill (and only in certain conditions) is not a world-breaking bonus. Besides, if a character is going to receive a negative backlash from purists for having these traits, I can't see why they should not include some minor benefit. 8 Tail (+1 on balance checks or +1 on climb checks) . . . definitely +1 on balance checks as that is the purpose of a tail on most animals. I was thinking of lizards vs. monkeys here The same would go for all the rest of the stuff, and if a character wanted wings or a tail, he'd have to have a damn good reason for having them. Why? I mean, of course I understand that not any character has a tail, or lacks eyebrows, but a pc is unique. This falls in line with oddball players' choices of flavor. These qualities don't make a broken character... a player makes a broken character by taking all of them. If a +1 to a single skill really hurts your sessions that much, just make them all play pure-blooded humans. 13 Lacks eyebrows.
Lilt 04-10-06, 07:55 AM	Why is this on the magic and spells board? Something akin to this already exists. They're in UA and they're called traits. You take a negative in exchange for a smaller positive.
Seeker95 04-10-06, 08:00 AM	if a character is going to receive a negative backlash from purists for having these traits, I can't see why they should not include some minor benefit.Then turn that "negative backlash" into an in-game mechanic. Example PC gains a +1 bonus to jump rolls. Subject also has a -1 penalty to all charisma-based checks when interacting with creatures of its own race. Half-versions of its race count as members of its own race.
Chrono Nexus 04-10-06, 08:00 AM	This is in magic because for the most part these qualities are taken by casters to define their focus in magic and spellcasting. These are not "traits" as in giving a benefit in return for a drawback. Those are called flaws. These traits are mostly only part of a pc's image. to seeker's: of course 14 Hands are backwards (rakshasa heritage). You receive a +1 bonus on feint attempts in combat. 15 Big nose. BIG
Dessirris 04-10-06, 02:15 PM	This is in magic because for the most part these qualities are taken by casters to define their focus in magic and spellcasting. These are not "traits" as in giving a benefit in return for a drawback. Those are called flaws. These traits are mostly only part of a pc's image. to seeker's: of course 14 Hands are backwards (rakshasa heritage). You receive a +1 bonus on feint attempts in combat. 15 Big nose. BIG No, Flaws are one-sided things which give you a bonus feat. Traits are additional abilities which give you a small bonus, in exchange for a slightly larger penalty. Such as the focused trait, which gives you a +1 to concentration, at the cost of -1 to spot and listen checks in one package.
Doopliss 04-10-06, 06:36 PM	1 Does not cast shadow (attention grabber)Over on the Monsters' Lair forum, that's called Vampirism. ;) 16: Double-jointed legs.
Chrono Nexus 04-10-06, 10:16 PM	No, Flaws are one-sided things which give you a bonus feat. Traits are additional abilities which give you a small bonus, in exchange for a slightly larger penalty. Such as the focused trait, which gives you a +1 to concentration, at the cost of -1 to spot and listen checks in one package. I see. Well, those sound nice, but these qualities are really mostly tied to appearance, they are not mini power boosts. 17 Overbite 18 Tongue so long you can lick your back 19 A third eye (+1 on spot) 20 Fangs 21 Perfectly Normal (looks completely average, no esp. dist. features- +1 to hide in a crowd.) 22 Believes he is a dwarf (dresses as a dwarf, talks, acts, and speaks as one, but is not a dwarf- +1 diplomacy with dwarves).
Lilt 04-11-06, 09:18 AM	I see. Well, those sound nice, but these qualities are really mostly tied to appearance, they are not mini power boosts. Unless you give them mechanical; advantages, as you are doing. If something gives a mechanical advantage then it should give a mechanical disadvantage too. In the cases where the traits don't give a mechanical advantage, no balancing disadvantage is nessecary. Some example advantage/disadvantage balances are: 6-fingered hand +1 to sleight of hand but -1 to escape artist checks because the hand is wider. Third Eye +1 on spot but -2 on saves against gaze attacks Bland-looking +1 on hide checks in a crowd, -1 on intimidate checks and -1 leadership score. Tail (non-prehensile) +1 on balance checks, -1 on hide checks A prehensile tail (the sort that might aid in climbing) is worth a bit more than the positive side of a trait as there are many repurcussions to what is essentially adding another limb.This is in magic because for the most part these qualities are taken by casters to define their focus in magic and spellcasting.Using examples from your last post, does your caster really focus on overbite magic? Yes, a player could use it to further define their caster character but these traits are absolutely nothing to do with spells or magic and thus should be in a different forum.
Seeker95 04-11-06, 09:31 AM	they are not mini power boosts.With the number of +1 to X, how can you say with a straight face that these "are not mini-power boosts"? It makes me wonder what you might consider to be a major power boost, if these do not even count as minor ones? Your idea is fine, but I reject the bonuses you are adding. Keep listing descriptive traits, but the plusses will end up on the cutting room floor.
Chrono Nexus 04-11-06, 08:47 PM	The mechanical bonuses are the DM's call. As for every other complaint... put up or shut up. 23 Cat's Eyes (+1 spot in low-light conditions) 24 Hair always stands straight up 25 Body is covered is small patches of scales 26 Nice dresser (+1 on diplomacy with those of taste) 27 Clothes are tied in 56 different places (+1 on use rope (based off of Hennet))
nordyboy 04-11-06, 10:20 PM	The mechanical bonuses are the DM's call. As for every other complaint... put up or shut up. Um, You probably shouldn't start a thread, and then yell at people for dissagreeing with you in it. In your first post you specified that these were pretty much "only a way to personalize and identify a unique character". If in your campaign, people are fine with giving small bonuses with no drawbacks, that's fine, but that's not the case in most. Anyways, here's mine... 28. Noticibly long neck. 29. Balding as a teenager. 30. Excessivly "poppy" joints. Wherever the character goes, they are accompanyed by quiet snapping noises from their joints. 31. Smells horrid for no good reason. 32. Smells really good, see 31 for cause. 33. Always appears to have wind blowing around him. (hair, cloak, etc, look windblown.)
Lilt 04-13-06, 11:45 PM	The mechanical bonuses are the DM's call. As for every other complaint... put up or shut up.Observe: These are public forums so unless you're going to accuse someone of harassing you or another moderator-worthy complaint then you can't make such requests. If you did report someone, I suspect the admins would just move the thread to an appropriate forum and do little else. Mechanical bonuses are at the DM's call, as are mechanical disadvanatges. If you're going to list one then at-least list the others to make them useable in campaigns where DMs aren't willing to give something for nothing.
Chrono Nexus 04-13-06, 11:54 PM	Good point. I was just a little pist that no one was contributing to the thread in a positive way. Ever. It seems to be a serious problem here on the boards. My request is that people post a trait, or don't post. That was the original plan of the thread, to make a list of creative additions to play... but I feel that many people were more interested in proving themselves to be correct rather than promoting and expanding the game meaningfully. If the DM wants to drop a penalty on a trait, it is an easy process. I leave it to the DM to balance play. The benefits are really just an insentive for players to take a greater interest in their character's appearence and role in the game, rather than a free for all power banquet. 34 The character has a strand of tentacles instead of a tongue (mark of Cthulu.)
Seeker95 04-14-06, 07:42 AM	I feel that many people were more interested in proving themselves to be correct rather than promoting and expanding the game meaningfully.and thenIf the DM wants to drop a penalty on a trait, it is an easy process. I leave it to the DM to balance play. The benefits are really just an insentive for players to take a greater interest in their character's appearence and role in the game, rather than a free for all power banquet.Many people evidently includes present company. No interest in "proving yourself right" here at all, eh? 35. Jaundice. 36. Hyper-didactic. PC over-explains everything.
Lilt 04-14-06, 07:58 AM	Well you seemed completely disinterested in heeding any of our advice so we persisted. I'll happily add my own additions in the form of UA traits with both positive and negative effects. 35: Stone Bones (Earth descent, +1 on bull rushes, -1 on jump, swim, and tumble checks) 36: Vestigial Gills (Aquatic descent, can breathe water but take 1d6 subdual per round from the pain, -2 on saves versus inhaled poisons, -2 on disguise checks) 37: Light breath (Air descent, only take subdual damage from asphyxiation, can hold reath 4 times longer than usual, 3/4 carrying capacity) Any ideas for fire?