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<blockquote data-quote="Thomas Shey" data-source="post: 9181109" data-attributes="member: 7026617">But again, if its necessary to have a system to show you're dumb (the Intelligence attribute) why is deaf different?&nbsp; Its a characterization factor, but its also something that can make the game play of the character harder, so if you just expect people to take it on a character without any reason but characterization, in the context of a game you've created a perverse incentive for doing so.The reason GURPS (and more specifically the Hero System before it) had the construction of Disadvantages as they were was to offset that perverse incentive; to permit character defining flaws in a way that paid you back in mechanical terms, the same way it penalized you in mechanical terms.&nbsp; This was particularly desirable with superheroes (where various kinds of flaws are endemic) but it applies to a lot of the characters, where you want to encourage taking them, but its often a bridge too far to expect people to &quot;die for their art&quot; mechanically.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Thomas Shey, post: 9181109, member: 7026617"] But again, if its necessary to have a system to show you're dumb (the Intelligence attribute) why is deaf different? Its a characterization factor, but its also something that can make the game play of the character harder, so if you just expect people to take it on a character without any reason but characterization, in the context of a game you've created a perverse incentive for doing so. The reason GURPS (and more specifically the Hero System before it) had the construction of Disadvantages as they were was to offset that perverse incentive; to permit character defining flaws in a way that paid you back in mechanical terms, the same way it penalized you in mechanical terms. This was particularly desirable with superheroes (where various kinds of flaws are endemic) but it applies to a lot of the characters, where you want to encourage taking them, but its often a bridge too far to expect people to "die for their art" mechanically. [/QUOTE]

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