Hindrance: Socially Awkward
- Radecliffe
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Hindrance: Socially Awkward
Socially Awkward (Minor)
If there is a wrong thing to say at a critical moment your hero manages to say it every time. Under normal circumstances he can interact with others socially without a problem but when the pressure is on he tends to fall apart. Whenever your hero is in a stressful social situation make a Spirit roll to see if he can maintain his composure (GM's discretion.) On a success the he keeps it together and the encounter plays out normally, on a fail your hero's composure cracks. He stammers, breaks out in a cold sweat or perhaps blurts out inappropriate statements at the worst moment. Any rolls for Streetwise, Taunt, Intimidation or Persuasion are made at a -4 until the end of the encounter.
*Full disclosure, I raided Shadowrun qualities for this.
If there is a wrong thing to say at a critical moment your hero manages to say it every time. Under normal circumstances he can interact with others socially without a problem but when the pressure is on he tends to fall apart. Whenever your hero is in a stressful social situation make a Spirit roll to see if he can maintain his composure (GM's discretion.) On a success the he keeps it together and the encounter plays out normally, on a fail your hero's composure cracks. He stammers, breaks out in a cold sweat or perhaps blurts out inappropriate statements at the worst moment. Any rolls for Streetwise, Taunt, Intimidation or Persuasion are made at a -4 until the end of the encounter.
*Full disclosure, I raided Shadowrun qualities for this.
Last edited by Radecliffe on Thu Aug 03, 2017 11:14 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Hindrance: Socially Awkward
Hrm... this is the same basic penalty as Outsider or Ugly, but in more limited circumstances, and with a 'saving throw' to evade the effects for good measure. I say keep it Minor, but up the penalty to -4 to balance that out.
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- Venatus Vinco
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Re: Hindrance: Socially Awkward
hmm,
Given how often someone says "isn't this just..." maybe we need "trappings" for hindrances. A list of angles or ideas that branch of the RAW version.
Debt, socially awkward, habit, etc. Can have variations on a theme. Not only would that help differentiate characters from one another it'd make a heck of a blog series.
VV
Given how often someone says "isn't this just..." maybe we need "trappings" for hindrances. A list of angles or ideas that branch of the RAW version.
Debt, socially awkward, habit, etc. Can have variations on a theme. Not only would that help differentiate characters from one another it'd make a heck of a blog series.
VV
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- Radecliffe
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Re: Hindrance: Socially Awkward
Big Mouth is someone who talks too much all the time as opposed to socially awkward where getting anything out at all is a challenge at times. Also the character has a chance to keep it together where big mouth is "always on." When I was looking at Shadowrun qualities for inspiration I thought Uncouth was closer to Big Mouth personally.Corrigon wrote:isn't this similar to big mouth?
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Re: Hindrance: Socially Awkward
Aren't many hindrances a variation on a theme? There are several hindrances for psychological disorders, for example. Other than those that provide a specific penalty you really could boil them down to a Physical, Mental or Emotional problem that has its own description.Venatus Vinco wrote:hmm,
Given how often someone says "isn't this just..." maybe we need "trappings" for hindrances. A list of angles or ideas that branch of the RAW version.
Debt, socially awkward, habit, etc. Can have variations on a theme. Not only would that help differentiate characters from one another it'd make a heck of a blog series.
VV
Having said that if you want to just come up with alternate names/trappings for existing hindrances I'm cool with that too. Of course, then the question is can you take the same hindrance using a different name?
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Re: Hindrance: Socially Awkward
Good question!
That's part of what prompted me to ask for more hindrances. The list is pretty narrow by the time your IF complications are factored in.
What do you think?
VV
That's part of what prompted me to ask for more hindrances. The list is pretty narrow by the time your IF complications are factored in.
What do you think?
VV
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Re: Hindrance: Socially Awkward
The thing you need to watch out for are the Charisma-penalty stacking. I'd ignore the Obvious D-Bee penalty for this purpose, but otherwise I'd look askance at any PC that has more than a -4 total Charisma penalty. (After that, you've already made it clear you're not liked; there's really no point in crapping on the lily any further.)
- Radecliffe
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Re: Hindrance: Socially Awkward
Well I think it would be ok in most cases as long as taken in moderation. Charisma modifiers, for example, are already overused IMO. At some point you would figure that people would either be making fear checks when you walk down the street or start throwing rocks at you. Edit: Also what Freemage said.
From an ulterior motive standpoint I'd say letting someone have the same hindrance more than once from different sources should be an option. When I created the Wolfen race I gave them Code of Honor to represent their institutional dedication to rule of law after what happened with the 13th tribe. Then I made a Cyber-Knight which also has Code of Honor as a complication. In this case the code is similar but less formal code of the cyber-knights. My take on it was that their was a potential of conflict there as even the most idealistic institution can make demands of us that could violate our own personal code. Then the decision is which path to take and what are the consequences. I think taking a third code of honor as a character hindrance would be too much of a stretch though.
Perhaps allow hindrances to be reused (and renamed if necessary) if they are from different "levels" of the character (i.e. Racial => IF => Character) but probably not more than twice unless explicitly stated otherwise (Crazies with multiple delusions for example.) I'd also say that GM approval is a definite must as well.
From an ulterior motive standpoint I'd say letting someone have the same hindrance more than once from different sources should be an option. When I created the Wolfen race I gave them Code of Honor to represent their institutional dedication to rule of law after what happened with the 13th tribe. Then I made a Cyber-Knight which also has Code of Honor as a complication. In this case the code is similar but less formal code of the cyber-knights. My take on it was that their was a potential of conflict there as even the most idealistic institution can make demands of us that could violate our own personal code. Then the decision is which path to take and what are the consequences. I think taking a third code of honor as a character hindrance would be too much of a stretch though.
Perhaps allow hindrances to be reused (and renamed if necessary) if they are from different "levels" of the character (i.e. Racial => IF => Character) but probably not more than twice unless explicitly stated otherwise (Crazies with multiple delusions for example.) I'd also say that GM approval is a definite must as well.
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Re: Hindrance: Socially Awkward
Does this need to be repitched or are we good to vote on it?
Tales of the 17th SOG
"In so far as you are concerned, I am the right arm of High Command itself. You are my Fist, be ready to strike at any moment." Major Killian Gregor, 3rd SOG Battalion, CSSD, Chi-Town.
"In so far as you are concerned, I am the right arm of High Command itself. You are my Fist, be ready to strike at any moment." Major Killian Gregor, 3rd SOG Battalion, CSSD, Chi-Town.