Drawbacks

Either in childhood or later in life, you were subject to physical abuse. This has left you flinching at the slightest aggressive movement.

Effect: You take a -3 penalty to Armor Class.

You have a notorious fear of heights.

Effect: When climbing or making a Reflex save to avoid falling, you must roll twice and take the lower result. Additionally, when you are climbing, flying, or within 10 feet of a dropoff of at least 15 feet, you are shaken.

A character with the Addiction quality is hooked on a substance. Physiological Addictions affect the Body’s functions, producing pain, nausea, shakes, and other side effects that can impair the character, particularly during withdrawal.

Effect: The effect of the Addiction quality varies dependent on the severity of the addiction. Addictions come in four tiers: Mild, Moderate, Severe, and Burnout. Each of these tiers determines how frequently your character must indulge in their addiction, and the effects thereof. Addictions get worse over prolonged periods of time without treatment. Each level of Addiction has a Starting Dosage level that tells the character how much of a substance or activity they must use for a craving to be sated. The more severe a character’s Addiction, the more substance or time devoted to the activity he needs to satisfy his cravings. Depending on the level of Addiction, the character will need to periodically make a Will save (DC 20 + 2 per tier of addiction) if they haven't indulged (however, rolling a 1 on this save is an automatic failure). This DC may be adjusted by the GM depending on the situation.

At the lower end of the spectrum for the Addiction quality (Mild, Moderate), it is easier to hide the effects of an Addiction. At the most severe levels (Severe, Burnout), there are noticeable physical and mental signs of Addiction. These signs negatively impact the character even if he is not suffering the effects of withdrawal.

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You can barely keep track of what you’re doing, let alone important details or facts.

Effect: You suffer a -4 penalty to saves against spells and effects that are memory related, and your character may often forget important details or facts. If the information is sufficiently valuable (such as a specific weakness of a terrible foe, or something equally important), the DM may award Hero Points, at their discretion.

You have a genetic disorder that results in a partial or complete lack of pigmentation in the eyes, skin, and hair. While the lack of pigment in the hair and skin results in white coloration, lack of pigment in the eyes results in pink or crystal blue irises, with bright red pupils. Due to the lack of melanin, the compound that provides the pigmentation, characters with this quality lack ultraviolet light protection, making them very photosensitive and prone to sunburn.

Effect: Characters with Albinism suffer from Light Sensitivity. In addition, they are vulnerable to fire damage, meaning they take 50% more damage from fire effects.

You are allergic to a particular and relatively common element in the environment.

Effect: When within 30 feet of your allergen, you are nauseated. What you are allergic to must be decided between the player and GM, but it must be a relatively common factor (silver is a good selection, albino beavers are not). This Drawback is worth 5 Experience for an uncommon allergen, or 10 for a common allergen (such as silver in the aforementioned example).

The creatures of the natural world have an unnatural aversion towards you.

Effect: You suffer a -5 penalty on all Handle Animal and Ride skill checks, and cannot take 10 with these skills. Additionally, animals and magical beasts select you as a target in preference to other targets (as long as doing so does not put the attackers into an obvious additional risk), and such creatures gain a +2 morale bonus to their attack rolls made against you.

You never seem to know what you’re doing in combat.

Effect: You always move last in combat, regardless of whether it is normal Initiative or a Surprise round.

After suffering terribly for not being tight-lipped enough as a child, you developed a habit of being overly cautious with your words.

Effect: You take a –4 penalty on Diplomacy checks and must speak slowly due to the concentration required. Unless stated otherwise, you are assumed to not be speaking at a volume above a whisper. You cannot gain Diplomacy as a Key Skill.

You suffer from chronic asthma attacks, which may be onset by physical duress or airborne pollutants.

Effect: When exposed to airborne pollutants (small airborne particles), you may suffer an attack. You must make a DC 20 Fortitude save or be nauseated for 1d6 rounds (rolling a 1 on this save is an automatic failure). This may be triggered by appropriate spells, such as Glitterdust, cloud spells, or natural causes such as a sandstorm.

Secondly, your asthma inhibits your physical abilities - anytime you double move or charge more than once within a single minute, or take the run action, you become exhausted for 2d4 rounds.

You have a strong emotional attachment to a person or object that you’re terrified of losing.

Effect: Work with the GM to determine an object or person who you are attached to. Whenever the object of your attachment is either threatened, in danger, or in someone else’s possession, you take a –3 penalty on Will saves and a –4 penalty on saves against fear effects (these penalties stack, if the fear effect in question requires a Will save). If the person or object to which you’re attached is ever lost, killed, or destroyed, exchange this drawback for the Paranoid Drawback.

You are exceptionally unlucky, and it comes through at the worst times.

Effect: When you spend a Hero Point, roll 1d6. If you roll a 1, the Hero Point is spent, and the exact opposite effect happens (the nature of this is up to the GM).

You suffer from what is commonly known as Brittle Bone Disease, leaving your bones hollow and fragile.

Effect: A character with this Drawback suffers from vulnerability to Bludgeoning damage. In addition, you treat all wind effects as if you were one size category smaller than you actually are. Lastly, whenever you are subject to a hostile combat maneuver, you suffer an additional 1d6 + your opponent's STR in damage, even if the maneuver would not inflict damage normally.

You are blind, either from birth or an accident later in life, and must deal with all the consequences. You wish you were Ichi right now.

Effect: You’re blind.

Special: This flaw can’t be taken if you are already blinded from another source. This flaw cannot be removed through magical means, outside of GM permission.

Your time draws near, and there's nothing you can do about it.

Effect: Your character has a limited time to live, whether due to an incurable illness, a looming threat, or similar circumstances chosen by you. At the beginning of the campaign, the Game Master rolls 1d%, and adds 30, to determine your date of death. You are aware of the rough timeframe (such as about a month, about 2 months, etc), but nothing more precise. When your time is up, you permanently die - no resurrection, no Hero Points, no reincarnation - the character is permanently and irrevocably dead. Choose this Drawback with caution.

The wounds of old battles never fully healed on you.

Effect: When you are at half of your total hitpoints or less, you are staggered. When you reach zero hitpoints, you fall unconscious as if you had taken Wound Damage.

You often trip over your own feet.

Effect: Any time you fail a Reflex save, an Acrobatics check, or an Athletics check, you fall prone.

Special: You may not take the Path of Mobility as long as you possess this Drawback.

You are a known criminal in a given area relevant to the campaign, and are wanted by the appropriate governing body for a crime you previously committed.

Effect: You are constantly at risk of being found and incarcerated or killed for your crimes (whether you actually committed them or not). The GM has the final say on the severity, influence, and issues that this brings. You must be a criminal in the eyes of a major nation within the campaign (for example, this Drawback cannot be taken for a nation on the opposite side of the world which will never come into play during the course of the campaign). This Drawback requires GM approval and consultation.

You can’t seem to ever get used to the carnage of the battlefield.

Effect: You are always flat footed for the first round of combat, even after moving. This applies even if you have uncanny dodge or a similar effect which would prevent you from being flat footed.

You have a psychological need to perform a specific action whenever you are presented with the opportunity.

Effect: In every game session, the character must act upon their habit whenever they are presented with the opportunity, else they suffer a -3 penalty to all d20 rolls until the action is completed. Work with the GM to determine an action appropriate to the character, as well as the resulting Experience value of this Drawback (most fall between 3 and 10). Common habits include collecting specific items, counting windows in a room, holding doors open for crowds, and obsessive cleaning of themselves or their possessions. The cost of this Drawback should correspond to how much time the character wastes fulfilling it each day.

You can’t help but spew bullshit constantly, even against your better judgment.

Effect: Any time the character attempts to tell the truth about a situation, they must lie, at a -10 penalty to the corresponding Bluff check.

A common affliction amongst Warforged.

Effect: You are vulnerable to electricity, causing you to take 50% more damage from such effects. In addition, whenever you are stunned by any effect, you are shaken for one round afterwards.

You likely come from an influential, high lifestyle, and must continue to have the luxuries you grew up with, or you become miserable.

Effect: You cannot go without an extravagant life; you must sustain a minimum Lifestyle of Gentry. If you fail to do so, or lose access to your luxuries, you become sickened for the duration. This condition falls upon you any time that you must function outside of civilization capable of providing you these luxuries, and does not stop until you return to civilization to have a bath and eat gold-leaf cherries.

You are deaf - the GM may allow you to mitigate some of the penalties through various means, but this is entirely up to them.

Effect: You’re deaf, and suffer all of the penalties thereof.

Special: You cannot take this Drawback if you are already deafened from another source. This Drawback cannot be removed through magical means, outside of GM permission.

You are fully responsible for another’s well being.

Effect: A character with the Dependents flaw has one or more loved ones who depend on them for emotional support and financial aid. Dependents may include children, parents, a spouse or lover, a sibling, or an old friend. Meeting the needs of a dependent should take up a fair amount of the character’s time, as well as some of the character’s money.

In addition, the dependent is a regular inconvenience: needing attention and commitment on a regular basis, getting involved in the character’s affairs, or even sharing living space. Examples of dependents include: a live-in lover/wife/husband or family member, a child for whom the character shares custody, or a young child or close sibling for whom the character is responsible.

The dependent will not or cannot assist the character in any way, shape or form - they are purely a leech on the character’s time and resources. What manner this fully takes is up to the GM, but common manifestations involve taking the player’s time (in and out of downtime) and money. Experience values for Dependents vary, though they are usually between 5 and 15 Experience points.

This character is prone to dark moods and harsh introspection.

Effect: At the beginning of a game session, make a DC 20 Will save (rolling a 1 on this test is an instant failure). Upon failure, the character suffers a depressive episode, resulting in them being fatigued for the next 2d6 hours. This fatigue may only be cured with time.

You are pledged to a specific cause, moral code, organization, or similar entity.

Effect: You must follow the tenants of your code, organization, or other cause, even in the face of certain death. Failure to do so (but not attempting, and then failing) permanently removes one Hero Point from the character.

You can’t seem to keep yourself together in a stressful situation, and end up choking.

Effect: When making any skill check during combat, you suffer a -3 penalty to the skill in question. In addition, you cannot take 10 or 20 on a skill during combat under any circumstances.

Perhaps you were traumatized, perhaps you were whisked away to a Faerie court as a baby, either way you are what some would call…touched.

Effects: You frequently and habitually see things that aren't there, hear voices in your head that don't belong to you, or other such hallucinations. The player and GM should discuss the exact nature of this Drawback in respect to the character before selecting it, though its impact should be significant enough to make the character unreliable as a source of information, distractable in a stressful situation (such as combat), or both.

You are unathletic and uncoordinated.

Effect: You take a -2 penalty on Strength-, Dexterity-, and Constitution-based ability checks and skill checks.

You are thin and weak of frame.

Effect: Subtract 1 from the number of Hit Points you gain from each Hit Die. You may increase this Drawback to -2 Hitpoints per Hit Die for 15 Experience in return.

Note: Characters with this Drawback may never take Toughness.

You possess an inherent need to collect as many things as you possibly can.

Effect: You may select a specific object or object type for your hoarding obsession, or it can simply be nonspecific trinkets. Regardless of this, you must always have your hoard on you; you must always carry a load of at least Medium carrying capacity, and half or more of your carried weight must be composed of your obsession item(s). If you are unable to begin the game with a sufficient number of items to qualify, you instead must always spend the first round of any combat encounter scanning the area for potential additions, regardless of how unlikely you may be to find anything.

Additionally, your items are too precious to be entrusted to a pack animal or extradimensional storage - you must physically carry them. Lastly, your hoard is considered extremely valuable, and due to this your character will not willingly part with any of it. If you are ever forcibly separated from your hoard, you suffer a -3 to all Will saves until you either get it back, or “restock” with an equivalent amount of items.

You no read good.

Effect: You can’t read.

Due to a physical injury, deformity, or similar impairment, you are unable to move about without assistance.

Effect: You may only crawl without the assistance of appropriate equipment, such as crutches, prosthetics, or a wheelchair. Crawl speed is set at a static 5 ft, and cannot be improved through any means. The character’s assistive equipment can be sundered, taken from them whilst they are grappled or pinned, and similarly made unavailable, depending upon the events of the campaign. In addition, your impaired status hinders physical movement - you take a -10 penalty on Athletics (STR) checks, and a -5 penalty on Acrobatics (DEX) checks (these penalties apply with or without your equipment).

Advanced prosthetics that are not easily removed are exempt from this Drawback. If a character upgrades their prosthetics during the campaign, they must buy off this Drawback during that process.

You are particularly unaware of your surroundings.

Effect: You take a -6 penalty on Perception checks. In addition, you cannot take 10 or 20 on Perception. You may never have Perception as a Key Skill.

You are particularly bad at a set of skills.

Effect: Choose one of the following categories:

The character is exceptionally terrible at using skills in the chosen category. The character receives a permanent, untyped -5 to the listed skills, and can never take 10 or 20 on the chosen skills.

Through sickness, a naturally weak body, or even magical affliction, your physical potential is stunted in comparison to others of your race.

Effect: This drawback stunts a character’s physical Ability Scores (Strength, Dexterity, and Constitution) - when selecting this Drawback, choose the Tier (1 through 5). For each tier, the maximum value any of these ability scores may have at Character Creation is lowered by 2 (from the baseline maximum of 18). This limitation is not affected by racial or magical ability score adjustments.

You can’t seem to get a good night’s rest.

Effect: First, you have trouble resting, preventing you from naturally recovering in a timely manner - it takes you twice as long as normal to recuperate from drained abilities, Hit Point, or Wound Damage. Secondly, your restlessness is such a struggle that it impedes even magical aid - Rings of Sustenance do not provide their sleep-reduction benefits. However, they still allow you to forgo eating and drinking, if desired.

The cut of your jib is straight up squiffy.

Effect: You suffer a -3 penalty to Acrobatics and Athletics when aboard any waterborne vessel, or in water deeper than your waist, and cannot take 10 with these skills under such conditions. You may never take ranks in Profession (Sailor) or any other water-based Professions.

You can’t seem to have any sense of subtlety.

Effect: You suffer a -4 penalty to all Bluff, Disguise, and Stealth checks, as you find it difficult to conceal any aspect of your activities. Additionally, you cannot take 10 with these skills. These skills may never become Key Skills for you.

Planning is not your strong suit. Following other people’s plans is not your strong suit. Rushing in swinging with both fists is the only plan you ever need.

Effect: The character must succeed on a DC 20 Will save to resist attacking any identified threat immediately to the best of their ability (rolling a 1 on this save is an automatic failure). The character doesn’t care if the odds are against him, if the attack is downright suicidal, or if it's just plain stupid: they will attack. Crucially, they will also not bother sharing their attack plan (such as it is) with their teammates.

The character can, however, recognize they are in a losing situation and back out of the fight, but only after a minimum of 2 rounds have passed.

If the character roars his or her name as an Immediate Action right before the first blow is struck, they gain an untyped +1 bonus to their first attack. Good luck.

You have trouble holding your drink.

Effect: You suffer a -4 penalty to Fortitude saves against all ingested poisons (alcoholic or not). In addition, you’ve gotten into the habit of drinking slowly to avoid it coming out the wrong end - you must always take a Full Round Action to drink a potion or similar liquid, even with the aid of magical items.

You don’t get along well when by yourself.

Effect: When you are isolated with no other people around, you take a -2 penalty to all d20 rolls.

You’re not entirely cut out for the adventuring life.

Effect: Whenever you are below maximum hitpoints, you are sickened. When you are below half hitpoints, you are nauseated. If any of your limbs reach negative Wounds, you immediately fall unconscious from the shock.

You are plagued by magical mishaps.

Effect: You must always roll twice when making a Use Magic Device check, taking the lower result. You may not take 10 or 20 with this skill.

Special: Use Magic Device must be one of your Key Skills to take this Drawback.

Magic actively seeks to undo you at every opportunity, and poses an extreme threat to your safety.

Whenever you roll a saving throw against a magical, spell-like, or supernatural effect, you must roll twice and take the worse result. You may not avoid this Drawback through expending Hero Points, the benefits of Talents or Boons, Spells, or any other effect.

You are sickly and weak of stomach.

Effect: You take a -3 penalty on all Fortitude saves. Whenever you would normally be sickened, you are instead nauseated for the same duration.

You suffer from an illness, which although luckily there is a cure, it must be constantly reapplied to avoid further complications.

Effect: Choose an Ability Score. Your condition threatens that ability score - every week you must take alchemical medicine for your illness which may only be sourced in civilized areas. The medicine costs a negligible amount of money (unless your Lifestyle is Vagrant or lower), but any week in which the character does not take this medicine, they suffer 1d3 points of Ability Damage to the relevant score. If a character goes two weeks without taking medication, the Ability Score in question permanently reduces by one from the stress.

At GM discretion, medication may be sourced elsewhere, or made independently. Determine this during character creation.

Your vision is obscured.

Effect: In combat, every time you attack an opponent that has concealment, roll your miss chance twice and take the worst roll.

And I must scream.

Effect: Through a physical condition, magical affliction, or some other effect, you are completely incapable of using your vocal cords (if they exist at all). Not to be confused with the simple lack of speaking that comes with being Deaf, this drawback actually removes you ability to vocalize. You may still communicate with sign language or telepathy, but any effort to speak, shout, or to fulfill verbal components for spells is automatically unsuccessful.

Special: You may not take this Drawback if you possess the Verbal Casting Magic Tradition Drawback.

You can’t seem to keep yourself awake and alert.

Effect: Whenever you are awake for more than 6 hours, you must make a DC 20 Will save every hour, or fall asleep (the specific timing within a given hour is at the GM’s discretion, rolling a 1 on this save is an automatic failure). For every subsequent will save in a day, the DC increases by 2.

In addition, you cannot stay awake for more than 18 concurrent hours. If you are standing at the time of failure, you fall prone. In addition, you automatically fail any save versus a Sleep effect. The GM is the arbiter of when a sufficient amount of time has passed to require a save.

You possess a mortal enemy, who will do anything to bring you down.

Effect: Someone in the character’s life will do everything in their power to ruin the character. This person may have been slighted by the character, or perhaps only believes they were slighted. They should be a constant interference in the character’s life, either as a nuisance or a legitimate threat. The GM and the player should discuss this Drawback, and who the Nemesis is, and why they exist.

You're not prone to the same circadian rhythm as everyone else.

Effect: During the daytime, you are fatigued.

You’re not the…what was the phrase? Largest tool in the pantry? Whatever it was, you’re not very bright.

Effect: You take a -4 penalty on all Intelligence ability and skill checks.

You are completely inept at melee combat.

Effect: You are not proficient with simple weapons, and may not begin the game with any other weapon proficiencies.

You’re a bit armless.

Effect: You take a -4 to Athletics checks which make use of arms, such as climbing and swimming, and also to combat maneuver checks to grapple. You may not use any weapon which requires two hands, and Disable Device checks take you twice as long.

Note: For one leg, see Slow. You may take this drawback twice at GM discretion, at the cost of a significant increase to these penalties.

You have a lot of trouble with intentionally bringing harm to another.

Effect: Any time you attack a sentient creature in an attempt to deal lethal damage for the first time in a session, you must spend a Hero Point. This spent point covers further attacks for the remainder of that game session. Dealing nonlethal damage to a creature exempts you from having to spend any points.

You can’t seem to get it together enough to work with anybody.

Effect: You can never willingly give up information about yourself to anyone. In addition, your skittish nature causes you to suffer a -5 penalty to Diplomacy.

You are weaker in an attribute than you should be.

Effect: Permanently reduce one of your ability scores by 2.

You are exceptionally afraid of a particular thing. Common phobias include darkness, vermin, magic, crowds, goblins, and other such subjects.

Effect: Whilst within 40 feet or within sight of the phobia source, the character is stricken with fear and unable to act properly - the phobia must be a relatively common sight in the campaign world. If the source of your phobia is rare, the value of this Drawback should decrease accordingly.

Depending on your level of phobia, when within sight and/or range of your phobia, you may be Shaken (5), Terrified (10), or Panicked (15).

Due to a medical condition or perhaps some vampiric origins in your ancestry, you are unnaturally affected by sunlight.

Effect: If you spend at least an hour in direct sunlight, you gain the fatigued condition. If you continue to be exposed to sunlight for an additional hour, you gain the exhausted condition, and after three hours of exposure to sunlight you fall unconscious. Resting for an hour in an area shielded by the sunlight restores the fatigued and exhausted conditions or causes you to awaken from unconsciousness (you then need an additional hour of rest to remove the exhausted condition). You may shield yourself from the sun with an umbrella or other equipment to mitigate this.

You're inherently biased against a particular group of people, perhaps to an extreme degree.

Effect: With this Drawback, your character is Prejudiced against members of a specific group of people. This is usually in the form of a particular race, but can also come through against particular groups or professions. The character is not merely intolerant — he is outspoken about his beliefs and may actively work against the target of his prejudice. Depending upon the degree of prejudice, this Drawback can get the character into trouble for expressing his views or when forced to confront the targets of his prejudice.

The Experience granted by this Drawback varies depending upon how common the hated group is, how often the character is likely to encounter members of the group, and the degree to which the character is openly antagonistic toward them. Refer to the Prejudiced Table to determine the Experience value of the quality based on the prevalence of the hated group and the degree of prejudice.

When dealing with the target of their prejudice, a character receives a –5 penalty per level of severity of the Prejudiced Drawback for all social skills (Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate).

Table: Prejudice Targets and Severity

You enjoy causing pain towards others, and find it hard to resist when given the opportunity.

Effect: When you have a clear chance to cause pain or discomfort (physical or emotional) to another person, and your character is reasonably certain that they can get away with it, they must do so. To let such an opportunity pass, the character must make a DC 20 Will save (rolling a 1 is considered to be an automatic failure). Failing this save spends one Hero Point from the character for the remainder of the session. This can happen multiple times in a given session, if the character has the Hero Points to lose. Finally, if the character has a particular dislike of their potential target (such as if they are the subject of the character’s Nemesis Drawback), the character takes a -10 penalty on the save.

You jump at your own shadow.

Effect: Any time you would normally be shaken, you are instead terrified. Any time you would normally be terrified, you are instead panicked.

Your hands are far from the steadiest.

Effect: You take a -2 penalty on ranged attack rolls, Disable Device, and Sleight of Hand checks, and you cannot take 10 with such skills. Disable Device and Sleight of Hand may never become Key Skills for you.

You are of particularly ill health, and should probably not be adventuring at all.

Effect: First, you are more easily affected than others by a strenuous situation - any time you would be Fatigued, you are instead Exhausted. Any time you would be Sickened, you are instead Nauseated. Secondly, your physical health is very easy to threaten - Fortitude must always be your bad save, and whenever you roll a Fortitude save, you must roll twice and take the worse result.

On account of a permanent injury or similar issue, you move exceptionally slowly.

Effect: Your base land speed is halved (round down to the nearest 5-foot interval).

Your body heals slowly, and receives no benefit from traditional restorative magicks.

Effect: You may not be healed by magical and supernatural effects, including Cure spells and Lay on Hands. Additionally, all healing you receive is half as effective, in terms of time requirements for recovery and the number of Hitpoints recovered.

The average backpack has more mass than you.

Effect: Your Carrying Capacity is halved from its normal value.

You have a lot of trouble focusing on a task.

Effect: The character suffers from attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, and in turn cannot focus on a single task for long. When making any check with a time interval greater than five minutes and shorter than one day, or if they must make repeated checks within a period of time (such as repeated Perception checks whilst on guard duty at camp), they must make a DC 20 Will save for every interval after the first (rolling a 1 on this check is an automatic failure). In addition, the character suffers an untyped -1 penalty to this check for each cumulative roll they are made to make.

Failing the Will save indicates that the character cannot focus on the task at hand, and must take a break for a minimum of one interval, plus any other consequences that result from this. After the break, the penalty is considered removed, until the process starts all over again.

Effect: At character creation, select two saving throws as your bad save, and one as your good save.

You are highly suggestible and easily duped.

Effect: You take a -3 penalty on Will saves, and you fail all Sense Motive checks. Sense Motive may never become a Key Skill for you.

You're pretty easy to beat the tar out of.

Effect: Your Wounds are calculated as if you are one size category smaller than your current size category. You cannot take this Drawback if you are already Fine sized.