Banes: Anti-powers used by the DM

[Asmor]

Just a quick inkling of an idea I had. Basically, there are "bad" powers, called Banes, which characters might have. They'd typically be daily powers, but rather than the character the DM would choose when to use them.

Just a couple quick examples off the top of my head:

Forgetful - Bane - Daily - You automatically fail an intelligence- or wisdom-based skill check.

Uncouth - Bane - Daily - You automatically fail a charisma-based check, and for the rest of the encounter the target of the check is hostile towards you.

Arthritis - Bane - Daily - You automatically miss with an at-will or encounter power, and take damage equal to your level.

So it occurs to me that having something like this would present an interesting dynamic in that it gives a way for the DM to "punish" players for taking too many extended rests, and it also gives a way to bring into play character faults which is something 4th edition doesn't really touch on at all.

The question then becomes how to distribute banes. You could give players an extra power or feat or something for taking one, or perhaps banes could be feats unto themselves, slightly more powerful than normal feats and related to the bane, perhaps even some way in which the character has learned to make up for his foible (e.g. the forgetful bane above could come with some kind of bonus related to writing things down).

Just a thought I had, and not one I've given much time to.

 

[Kzach]

Although I really like this idea personally, I doubt it would fly in most groups.

4e got rid of the whole idea of penalties really, so it'd kinda be a step backwards.

As for balance, you could have it like you said, a feat dynamic where you take a feat that gives you something powerful but you cop bane as well. They would have to be linked otherwise people would take banes that are counteracted by their feat choice.

The other thing you could do is limit it to one per character. Otherwise you get min-maxing hell.

 

[the Jester]

You know, this could be a great way to deal with curses in 4e.

 

[eriktheguy]

Curses that reward characters for taking longer adventuring days...
In general, I advise you not to punish the players for taking many extended rests during an adventure. If the adventure allows that much time, they should make the best use of their resources.
The banes could be another way to make them stay on the move though. Giving them as feats might work (guess you have to try to be sure). In any case, if you apply a bane to a character against their will, always give them a way to get rid of it (adventure hook if ever there was one).

 

[the Jester]

Curses that reward characters for taking longer adventuring days...

Only if they all work as dailies. It might be interesting to make them "milestone recharge" abilities.

 

[Cwheeler]

I experimented with something like this a while ago.

Rather than doing the 'you fail a check' route, I went for 'Roll-twice and take the lowest'.

To me, that approach feels a little less like rail-roading, but still gives a statistical variation.

(it works especially well in situations where the DM rolls the dice - such as in social interaction)