Backgrounds, Merits, Flaws, and Traits

[Ryuka Tana]

"I have a flaw and merits (and trait) system in place in my campaign, I thought I'd post it here to let people take a look and maybe offer some ideas or see if it gives people any ideas for their own campaigns. It's not necessarily balanced, and requires some DM supervision, but I make sure to get very involved in my PCs' character creation, so, it works for me."

(Google Docs Version)

 

[Zinovia]

Nice work on the flaws and merits. I'd personally not allow the ones that let you pin your defenses to a different stat, but it does help to eliminate the one low defense issue that can arise at higher levels. I still think it could be abused, but if it works for your game, great!

Some of your flaws seem kind of harsh, but I haven't used a system like this. Do the flaws and merits need to balance each other precisely, or could you have a flaw that was a penalty to a single skill in exchange for a merit that gave you a bonus to two? Penalties have largely been eliminated from characters in 4E, so adding several at once seems kind of harsh, and more than a "minor" flaw in my book. YMMV.

Thanks for the post.

 

[Garthanos]

On a Mac here no tools for reading the Doc.... sigh. Umm you could upload to google docs... then share the page.

 

[Zinovia]

.doc is a Word file. I have Word on my Mac, which I used to read the file. I believe that Pages will read .doc as well, but I don't have a current version of that installed.

 

[Garthanos]

.doc is a Word file. I have Word on my Mac, which I used to read the file. I believe that Pages will read .doc as well, but I don't have a current version of that installed.

Yup I know, still no Doc reader on this machine at work.. used during breaks. And if you can read it great that still doesn't make a proprietary format a good way to share on the web. (beware of macros).

 

[Ryuka Tana]

"Well, if you look at past merit/flaw systems (such as Unearthed Arcana), the penalties are generally harsher than the benefits. It's the same reason it costs more to buy 18 in an ability score... PCs will pick flaws that generally have little effect on their character, I have a druid with Slight Build, which hasn't really effected her at all. I have about three players who have taken Introvert, because it was how they were going to play their characters anyway. It's just a matter of making flaws have an impact, even when chosen as an aside."

"As for the other issue, I'll work that out with this and my other thread. I'll keep them the way they are now and see if I can add a Google Docs option when I've worked that out."

 

[Ryuka Tana]

"Updated and added GoogleDocs version."

"I'm having a problem developing flaws, if anyone has any input or ideas. Particularly if you have a mechanical effect that would go along with it..."

 

[Garthanos]

Need to get the sharing set to share with everyone...

 

[Garthanos]

You might want to check out the threads on Aspects and Fate Points. Aspects are basically flaws/merits and traits merged. Some situations they are a disadvantage... and sometimes an advantage.... the useage keeps them balanced in a built in way. Fate points are largely a dynamic reward for when one of your aspects has acted in a restricting / limiting way.

You dont have to worry is this limiting enough... with the Aspects because if they arent limiting or dont come up in play? then you dont get benefit (in the form of fate points) for them. It also means that even if the disadvantage is very frequently a disadvantage you aren't gimped.

 

[Ryuka Tana]

Need to get the sharing set to share with everyone...

"Ah yes, fixed. Thanks for pointing that out."

"As for your other point, I have a similar type of system in play, but this is a little piece of simulation in a game that I don't think is simulationist (something I like about 4e). It's not necessarily supposed to be balanced, and like I said, it requires some DM input on the character development."

"This was just something I wanted to share to see if others might have ideas, and give others some ideas of mine."