Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 CulveDaddy Jan 02, 2015 4:03:06	Character Flaws Flaws are like the flip side of feats. Whereas a feat enables a character to be better than normal at performing a task (or even to do something that normal characters can't), a flaw restricts a character's capabilities or imposes a penalty of some sort. A player may select up to two flaws when creating a character. After 1st level, a character cannot take on additional flaws unless the game master specifically allows it. Each flaw a player selects entitles his character to a bonus feat. In other words, when you create a character, if you select two flaws, you can also take two bonus feats beyond those your character would be normally entitled to. If you negate the effect of a flaw, you also temporary lose your chosen bonus feat.   Flaw Descriptions Each of the flaws described here has a specific game effect. Some flaws can only be taken by a character who meets a special requirement.   Blind Your vision is heavily obscured. Effect You have the blinded condition.   Deaf Your hearing is heavily muffled. Effect You have the deafened condition.   Feeble You are unathletic and uncoordinated. Effect You have disadvantage on Strength-, Dexterity-, and Constitution-based ability checks.   Frail You are thin and weak of frame. Effect Subtract 2 from the number of hit points you gain at each level. This flaw can reduce the number of hit points you gain to 0 (but not below). In addition, when you roll a Hit Dice to regain hit points, the maximum number of hit points you regain from the roll is 2 less. Special You must have a Constitution of 4 or higher to take this flaw.   Inattentive You are particularly unaware of your surroundings. Effect You have disadvantage on your Wisdom (Perception) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks.   Noncombatant You are relatively inept at combat. Effect You have disadvantage on all attack rolls.   Pathetic You are weaker in an attribute than you should be. Effect Reduce one of your ability scores by 4. Special You cannot take this flaw if the total of your ability modifiers is 8 or higher.   Slow You move exceptionally slowly. Effect Your base land speed is halved (round down to the nearest 5-foot interval) and you can't benefit from any bonus to your speed. Special You must have a base land speed of at least 20 feet to take this flaw.   Unreactive You are slow to react to danger. Effect You are always suprised at the start of an encounter. In addition, you have disadvantage on your initiative checks.   Vulnerable You are not good at defending yourself. Effect You take a -2 penalty to Armor Class. In addition, you provoke an attack of opportunity when enter another creature's reach.   Weak You are meager at avoiding harm. Effect You have disadvantage on your saves.
#2 CulveDaddy Jan 02, 2015 4:05:51	This is a conversion of 3e flaws to 5e. I'm thinking of using them in my campaigns.
#3 EzechielDantan Jan 02, 2015 4:40:48	not a big fan, it encourages  min / max, optimizing / specialized builds.   I do not like the idea that a blind / deaf character has to make up for it in some other way, it does suspend credibility a little.
(Reply to #3) CulveDaddy	EzechielDantan wrote:
(Reply to #4) EzechielDantan	CulveDaddy wrote:
#6 Mecheon Jan 02, 2015 6:25:51	When even a non powergamer like me sees the obvious thing is to go Noncombatant/Vulnerable and just reap the rewards on a spellcaster, yeah, there's -blatently- balance issues there   Flaws should be an RP thing, not something the game rewards you for mechanically.
#7 OoftaMeg Jan 02, 2015 6:50:26	Why would a spellcaster not take noncombatant, or inattentive for my character that already has a bad perception?   Flaws can be fun - I had a 2.5 barbarian who thought deception of any kind was a sign of weakness (he had a special variation of the silence spell created by the party's mage cast on him on a regular basis), but these flaws feel too narrowly focused.
#8 SilentSin Jan 02, 2015 6:51:21	Either you're letting players pick flaws, making them pick ones they don't care about and encouraging min/maxing, or you're handing them out randomly and some players get to min/max while others quit the group because you're forcing them to play a blind person.   Blind is far worse than any of the other options. It gives auto fail on sight based perception, advantage on enemy attacks against you, and disadvantage on all of your attacks. Compare that to only disadvantage on your ranged attacks or only -2 AC.   Half of them are significantly less meaningful to moon druids than other characters.   Also, flaws are already a part of your personality so you'd need to use a different name.   If you want to allow feats at first level, just let players trade one for about 5 points during point buy. Then let their low abilities represent physical flaws.   I don't think playing a blind character would be fun at all. It'd be like giving greater invisibility to every enemy automatically, except that it applies to terrain as well. You wouldn't be allowed to see the battle grid and you'd have to waste time figuring out what you actually know because most of what the DM tells everyone else is gained by sight. But if you really want to do it, then you should talk to your DM and come up with a specific mechanic just for that character rather than a general set of rules that are supposed to resemble loosely balanced options.
#9 lawrencehoy Jan 02, 2015 7:16:03	Flaws are already part of the personality rules; so, you would have to use another name (maybe defects?).   In general, I don't mind this type of negative trait; but, I don't like the idea of giving out feats in exchange for choosing them. These types of traits should be overcome through role-playing, or not used at all.
#10 draegn Jan 02, 2015 9:09:13	The positive and negative quirks in Talislanta and the edges and flaws in Shadowrun are a superior system. Both produce a "cost" for choosing.
#11 DungeonKrusher Jan 02, 2015 9:47:10	Aside from players who will seek a character profile, rather than numbers, I suggest the only way to use these and keep people honest is to make them random. Even so, it would be easy to min/max just about any of these. I'd stay away.   Side note: On the rare occasion I had a concept and brought it to my DM, we would corroborate and come up with a way to work it into the game, along with a minor numerical adjustment to the character. Usually it would be a -1 to a stat or saving throw, and then a bonus on skills or a minor magic item or something like that. Once you introduce a tangible (sizable!) reward to having a flaw, players are more apt to change their concept to get the extra feat, etc.
(Reply to #8) CulveDaddy	SilentSin wrote:
(Reply to #12) DungeonKrusher	CulveDaddy wrote:
(Reply to #13) CulveDaddy	DungeonKrusher wrote:
(Reply to #14) DungeonKrusher	CulveDaddy wrote:
#16 BRJN Jan 02, 2015 16:21:43	The older Gamma World rules had PCs roll randomly for Mutations, most of which were beneficial Powers but some of which were Defects.  The result almost always was hard to play, because the few Defects were made much worse than the Mutation powers, in a kind of "statistical counter-balance".   When I wrote my own homebrew charts, I had PCs roll one Defect from a separate table, roll three Mutations, and pick one Mutation.  If they had rolled the "Blind" defect, they could pick "Sonar" so they could still operate in the world, just work it like a bat instead of a hawk.  If they had rolled a less-restrictive Defect they could pick a Mutation that sounded cool, or one that seemed to round-out their character's abilities.
(Reply to #15) CulveDaddy	DungeonKrusher wrote:
#18 MechaPilot Jan 02, 2015 16:42:43	I like the idea of flaws and advantages (whatever they would actually be called), but I think that the flaw-for-feat concept doesn't work so well because it attempts to balance various things against each other with a single level of cost.  For example, being deaf is far less of hindrance than being blind.  A blind adventurer is virtually incapable of participating in the combat pillar, and she can only participate in the exploration pillar in a very limited way (listening and feeling for things).   Additionally, I don't like the way that it puts the wishes of the player in opposition to the wishes of the character regarding cures for impairment.  A blind or deaf character would almost definitely want to be cured if possible, especially if the impairment was something the character wasn't born with, but the player will be incentivized to not make that decision because of the feat loss.   I think that the flaws would be better if they were more robust, having positives in addition to negatives.  For example, the blind flaw could also grant advantage or double prof bonus with Wisdom (Perception) checks related to hearing, smelling, and feeling.  Or, an ugly flaw could grant advantage on checks to intimidate while granting disadvantage on all other Charisma checks.  Flaws can also impose non-mechanical things: an ugliness flaw might predispose people to think the worst of the character, while an attractiveness flaw could predispose people to think the character isn't smart.  Also, both strikingly ugly and strikingly attractive characters would have a harder time blending into a crowd without a hood or veil.
#19 pukunui Jan 02, 2015 16:54:45	As others have said, there's no good way to balance the flaws-for-feats concept. I'd avoid it like the plague myself.   MechaPilot wrote:
(Reply to #12) SilentSin	CulveDaddy wrote:
#21 MechaPilot Jan 02, 2015 16:58:19	pukunui wrote:
#22 MechaPilot Jan 02, 2015 17:01:42	SilentSin wrote:
(Reply to #20) CulveDaddy	Blind is far worse than any other flaw in your list, as I explained above. Its literally Noncombatant + Shaky + all enemies have advantage on attacks against you + the perception thing. That's like, 4 flaws worth.
#24 pukunui Jan 02, 2015 17:11:59	@CulveDaddy: Is this something that your players have asked you to implement, or are you just developing this on your own? Have you asked your players if this is something they want? They might have some ideas of their own as to how to make it work in a balanced way.
(Reply to #24) CulveDaddy	pukunui wrote:
#26 pukunui Jan 02, 2015 17:20:30	CulveDaddy wrote:
#27 Shasarak Jan 02, 2015 17:29:00	I like flaws.  I would be tempted to look at the Hackmaster version which give you bonus Character Building points so not directly compatible.
#28 pukunui Jan 02, 2015 17:36:31	@CulveDaddy: How do you plan to address the fact that the term "flaws" is already used for one of the character personality traits?
(Reply to #22) SilentSin	MechaPilot wrote:
(Reply to #28) CulveDaddy	pukunui wrote:
(Reply to #23) SilentSin	CulveDaddy wrote:
(Reply to #31) CulveDaddy	SilentSin wrote:
#33 Unca_Laguna Jan 02, 2015 18:10:04	SilentSin wrote:
(Reply to #33) CulveDaddy	Unca_Laguna wrote:
(Reply to #33) SilentSin	Unca_Laguna wrote:
#36 MechaPilot Jan 02, 2015 19:01:47	SilentSin wrote:
(Reply to #35) Unca_Laguna	SilentSin wrote:
(Reply to #36) DungeonKrusher	MechaPilot wrote:
#39 EzechielDantan Jan 03, 2015 3:16:40	Blind Fury   You are struck blind, you might be cursed or take it as divine punishment (real or imagined) but you somehow managed to compensate by training your other senses extensively.   You can't see, but you gain blindsight 10' radius and gain advantage on perception checks involving sound.   You are still blind regarding attacks from further than 10' away and you can not distinguish color or fine detail at all. Also a silence spell or overwhelming noise, might hamper or negate your blindsight.
#40 Brock_Landers Jan 03, 2015 3:36:41	You should gain nothing from gaining a Flaw.
(Reply to #40) EzechielDantan	Brock_Landers wrote:
#42 OoftaMeg Jan 03, 2015 6:45:31	Do you really want people to go flaw by flaw and show you how unbalanced they are?  It's your game and you can do what you want (if your players agree) but your flaws (not just blinded) are, well, flawed.   They either have major impact, or they have virtually none.     Blinded really nerfs a character. Disadvantage on every roll, every attack having advantage, realistically not knowing where to cast that fireball, or if there's something between you and where you want the origin to be.  Why would anyone take this.    On the other hand, a minus 4 to charisma for my barbarian?  Sure, playing an ugly dwarf that never bathes sounds fun, sign me up!
#43 MechaPilot Jan 03, 2015 17:41:28	DungeonKrusher wrote:
#44 Noon Jan 03, 2015 22:48:58	I think the problem with how most flaws are made is that they are passive - the blind PC isn't doing anything because they are blind.   You'd really want flaws that has the PC initiating action itself (though this will get in the way of linear plots)
(Reply to #42) CulveDaddy	OoftaMeg wrote: