Revision [934]
This is an old revision of MMDrawbacks made by GilbertoLeon on 2010-07-22 19:51:15.
Drawbacks
Drawbacks are weaknesses for characters to overcome. They|re the flip side of a character|s skills, feats, and powers. Drawbacks serve two main purposes. First, they provide characters with additional depth and a degree of vulnerability, which can be important for heroes able to move mountains or bounce bullets off their chests. Second, drawbacks give you additional power points during character creation to spend on improving your character|s traits. The maximum number of points you can get from drawbacks is generally equal to the campaign|s power level, as set by the GM (see Power Level, page 24).
Drawback Value
A drawback|s power point value is based on two things: its frequency (how often the drawback affects your character) and its intensity (how seriously the drawback affects your character). The more frequent and intense the drawback, the more points it|s worth. Drawbacks generally range in value from 1 power point for something that comes up rarely and has little effect to 5 power points for a drawback that comes up all the time and seriously weakens the character.
Frequency
Drawbacks have three levels of frequency: uncommon, common, and very common. Uncommon drawbacks show up about a quarter of the time, every four adventures or so. Common drawbacks show up about half the time, and very common drawbacks show up three-quarters of the time or more.
Each level has a frequency check associated with it, which is a simple d20 roll with no modifiers against a DC (15, 10, or 5). A GM who wants to randomly check a drawback makes a frequency check to see if it shows up in the adventure. Otherwise, the GM can simply choose to bring a drawback into play based on its frequency.
Note that frequency represents how often the drawback comes up during the game, not necessarily how common it is in the campaign setting. Even if glowing meteors are extraordinarily rare in the setting, if they show up every other adventure, they|re still common in frequency.
| Value | Frequency: How often does the drawback come up? |
| +1 | Uncommon (every few adventures, DC 15) |
| +2 | Common (every other adventure, DC 10) |
| +3 | Very Common (once per adventure, DC 5) |
Intensity
The intensity of a drawback measures how much impact it has on the character. There are three levels of intensity: minor, moderate, and major. Minor drawbacks have a slight impact or are not difficult to overcome. Moderate drawbacks impose some limits, but can be overcome about half of the time. Major drawbacks impose serious limits and are quite difficult to overcome.
| Value | Intensity: How seriously does the drawback affect you? |
| +0 | Minor: DC 5 to overcome, less capable than the character, or slight limitation |
| +1 | Moderate: DC 10 to overcome, as capable as character, or modest limitation |
| +2 | Major: DC 15 to overcome, more capable than the character, or major limitation |
Power Drawbacks
Some drawbacks are power drawbacks, meaning they apply to a particular power rather than necessarily to the character. You can think of power drawbacks as the reverse of power feats: minor limits on the power. A power can have a total value in drawbacks equal to 1 point less than its total cost (so the power must cost at least 1 power point, regardless of how many drawbacks it has).
