Advantages and flaws are popular aspects of many role playing games. They are also not part of the d20 fantasy system. For those who aren't familiar with the idea, they are usally part of a point-buy based character creation system. "Advantages" (or merits, perks, etc.) usually cost points that could usually spent on other things like skills or powers in exchange for some sort of miscellanious bonus. "Flaws" (or drawbacks, disadvantages, etc.) are penalties a character can take in order to gain more points. There are several understandable reasons for not including this sort of thing in the main game, mostly due to the fact that these systems are easily abused and 3rd Edition is absolutely rabid about game balance.
The Book of Distinctions and Drawbacks is an attempt to add a bonus/penalty system to d20 fantasy games. While the author seems to think of it as a potential deficiency, I would have to say this is definately not for everyone. However, there is some really good stuff in here that could be a lot of use to the right people - this review will hopefully help match good material with the right people.
Appearance - I'll admit my bias right here: in PDF products, the less art the better. With the exception of the front cover and an ad in the back, there really isn't any art at all. Truth be told it looks like something anyone could make with Microsoft Word. If this is something that matters to you then you may be a little bit disappointed; personally, I would have been happy with an actual Word document. This PDF does take advantage of the bookmark function but that doesn't really help if you print it out, and this is very printer-friendly.
Flaws - Several types of flaws are introduced in the book and the divisions made are a very good thing. The author understands how this sort of system has been abused in the past, primarily by players gaining tangible point-based benefits from role-playing based flaws. Additionally, role-playing based flaws require lots of attention by the GM in order to be effective. These role-playing based flaws are called Secondary Flaws and are of optional use by the GM. Primary Flaws are drawbacks that have concrete, in game effects to compensate for the concrete benefits they provide. Many of these Primary flaws are like feats in reverse - Fragile for example bestows a -2 to your Fortitude saving throws; the exact opposite of the Great Fortitude feat. The only real balance issue I can see here is that some flaws can be taken to penalize aspects of a character that are never used.
The Secondary Flaws, while not laser precision balanced with game rules, are still very good for the GM willing to invest the time or a player looking for a little spice. In addition, a number of these flaws do have suggested in-game effects. My favorite is Blasphemous, where besides the obvious role-playing problems associated with the clergy 25% of all beneficial divine spells cast on the character will fail. These are the kind of things a cruel Ravenloft GM would make his players take without any benefits...
Speaking of Ravenloft, there are also two sets of flaws called Taints and Curses. While the Curses are okay, they aren't really anything special. However the Taints are just plain cool. Akin to the paths in Ravenloft or Mongoose's Chaos Magic, these flaws can potentially progress as you level and will most likely result in a horrible fate for the character. Definately not a the first choice for someone trying to abuse the system, these flaws are for those looking to play a darker hero. The one that struck me most was the Cursed Artifact Taint, where an obsession with a family heirloom takes on a very Lord of the Rings-esque tone with its progrssion into being claimed by what you seek. If I have any complaint about the taints, it that there are just too few of them. Web enhancement? Please?
There are also some Racial and Class specific flaws. The Racial Flaws are actually kind of neat as they both play off the stereotypes of the PHB races and also allow you to counter them. Condecending elves, half-orcs who are more orcish than anything and agraphobic dwarves. For some reason, though, these work much better than the Class Flaws that are almost identical in concept and execution. Perhaps this is because many of the flaws involve losing a particular bonus of a race or class. When people play a race, they often play up the stereotypes and use everything that comes with it. However, most people who play a particular class tend to play it despite the way they envision their character, so removing parts of a class as part of this system just seems sort of redundant. So many of my players seem to ignore aspects of their class anyways. (For example, no one ever seems to want a familiar - of what use is the No Familiar flaw then?)
Advantages - Many of the material advantages listed in this book are ones you might really want to think about before letting them into a game. They could be very unbalancing for some campaigns. On the other hand, if you think letting the characters start off with their own keep or private business is a wonderful way to establish setting then these advantages are for you. Personally, I can see my own group pooling their points together so they can all bum around in their own tower at first level. Nothing says group cohesion like a mutually owned piece of realestate.
There are also social advantages. Most of these run the standard gamit of contacts, allies and titles. These are more like the Secondary Flaws in that they require a little more attention to be truly useful, but since they tend to be player driven it isn't as much of an issue. They are also good for establishing setting - just how important is your cleric in the church? Does the Theives' Guildmaster even know your name? Then again, some of the social positions availible are completely inappropriate for a first level character to have. Using the right point system, your first level character could start out as king, so be careful...
Seasoning - This little section isn't very big, but its a great thing to include. I remember creating a character for Twilight 2000 once and having to go through this series of dice rolls to determine the character's career up until the present. I believe Traveller T20 has a similar system. Seasoning With Age is this book's way of doing something similar for fantasy d20. You can age your character, determining what he did before he became an adventurer.
While there is potential for abuse here as each age increment bestows some bonus, it is also possible to be hit with a penalty. In addition, remember the aging charts in the PHB - age your character too much and his stats will begin dropping early. The nice thing about this system is that it allows a player to help form in their mind who the character was before following the call to adventure and then have this tangebly reflected in his stats. If you're a sucker for well-developed backgrounds like me, this section is almost worth the price of admission.
Conclusion - You may have noticed I haven't mentioned exactly how the rules for these advantages and flaws work. That is because the rules aren't set in stone. The author makes some suggestions on how to buy these traits, mostly involving the give and take of a feat or 4 skill points, and then includes a long list of other options. These range from limiting the number of flaws a character can take to spending future experience points for advantages. Warnings abound about how things could be abused or unbalanced if these varients are used. This is both a strength and weakness of the book - one could easily just follow the suggested rules and have a happy experience, but the traits themselves suggest so many other potential uses that it just begs for house rules. Once again, your milage may vary depending on how much you prefer toolboxes to use-out-of-the-box products. I'm a toolbox man myself, so I love it.
While I would rate this book a 5 for myself, these types of rules aren't for everyone. They can be easily abused and GMs really have to keep an eye out to keep things balanced. However the ambitious will find a wealth of role-playing opportunities in here and I would highly reccomend it to anyone who is looking to add another level of depth to their fantasy d20 game.
