Why the D20 system has no merits and flaws system ?

[Psion]

If you want flaws, take them. Nobody is stopping you. Go right ahead.

Heh. No joke. That reminds me of the internet-inspired house rule of mine that basically says "you are not required to take any benefits (BAB, feats, hp, whatever) that your character has coming to you." Inspired by a frothing poster over on RPGnet that was bent out of shape that his wizard didn't suck in melee enough compared to a commoner.

 

[Kichwas]

If I were going to create a new flaws system, the benefit gained from the flaw would be just low enough that the only players that would take them would be those that really wanted them.

Give each flaw a CR of some kind, then when it comes up in play it just becomes an XP reward to roleplay through it.

The question there becomes figuring out n appropriate CR. For a level 1 character, you probably don't want it to be worth more than 10 to 50 XP. For a level 10 you'd have to think about scaling it up porpotionally, or letting it becomes a lesser factor as that 10 to 50 XP no longer means as much.


All that said, I have no desire to impliment such a system in a game like DnD where lethality is so high and character death is so routine. The more work you make a player do on a character before they get to play the more that character begins to feel you owe them some script immunity so they can keep playing that character despite how play should have gone. So at this point when running DnD I've decided to encourage a develop in play style. About all I ask before play is that you name it. Player's just don't have the tolerance for work that GMs do - even good players are lazy.

 

[Desdichado]

Is there some reason that merits and flaws should be official? If you think it's a good system, just go ahead and use it. Develop your own, or yoink the system of your choice.

If they are merely roleplaying (as opposed to mechanical) aids, I'd actually welcome a list of such and some guidelines for GMs on when to use them. But I hardly need that; if I'm stuck for ideas, I can just browse my GURPS or White Wolf books for those.

 

[Psion]

Give each flaw a CR of some kind, then when it comes up in play it just becomes an XP reward to roleplay through it.

That's basically the Vigilance system.

 

[Nightfall]

Which doesn't mean it's not a good idea for some Psion.

 

[Kichwas]

First place I saw it was in 7th Sea, by John Wick. In that system, you had to give up 10% of your points to buy a weakness - but it gave you XP when it came into play.

 

[Wombat]

As some people have noted, D&D3.5 is going to lead to lots of house rules, since essentially that was all that was printed for 3.5 -- one person's set of house rules.

I have used Flaws in D&D3.0 in a horror based campaign -- the flaws were tied specifically to the campaign and if a character took one they knew they had a MAJOR disadvantage. It worked there, but that was one campaign, one set of rules.

My top game has been Ars Magica for years. Big Virtue/Flaw system there, and I like it. Then again it is integrate into the system as a total. I saw people take major flaws, minor flaws, and everything in between (though no one ever took Leper in my games...).

Would Merits & Flaws work in in D&D? Possibly. Depends on the campaign and the specific rules.

In other words, whatever floats your boat

 

[Cybern]

Awright then, I only asked a question (simple enough) and got the answers to go with it. I did not asked for "Are merits/flaws good for you, or for me?", just why.

I know of how "broken" they are, but I guess with all those broken things in 3.X, there'd be place for more

Anyhow, I won't include them IMC, because I tend to be loose about such things. But I guess people who played WoD first will miss it when they start D&D.

And yes, I was lucky, and people who abused flaws often ended up dead because of them.

Power to the DM!

 

[buzz]

But what about a one-legged character? I'd like to play one (maybe even a Monk!), but how is it to be balanced? I'm not talking house rule or DM's judgement, but how to? For newbies?

Well, you could use the race creation guidelines in the DMG and technically classify your PC as the race "One-legged Human." Said race would have the drawbacks of missing a leg, such as not being able to move faster than a hustle, a stiff penalty on skills like Balance, etc. Then, you simply compensate them for it somehow using ability score adjustments or some other type of race-approved bennie.

Which still begs the question of why the PC should have an advantage in X for having a disadvantage in Y. Not to mention the fact that they'll probably have access to magic that can restore their leg in a few levels anyway.

IMHO, a reasonable XP bonus seems like the best way to handle flaws.

As for your rich princess, go ahead and make her rich. The DM then just needs to compensate by having your group face more powerful opponents (to counter all of the expensive gear you'll have access to because of her wealth). Or force the PC to take levels of aristocrat, which is weaker than the average PC class; sort of balances out... kinda.

 

[Cybern]

Yeah, that seems to be the problem with D&D, if I play a blind character, the other PCs will just say : "Don't worry, we'll get that fixed." Or: "Look how crazy he his! He refused that free offer by that cleric to get his eyes back!"

just ranting.,.. ignore me