GURPS - Basic Set 3r..

Shyness-5,-10,-15 pointsYou are uncomfortable around strangers. This disadvantagecomes in three grades: Mild, Severe and Crippling. You must roleplayyour shyness! This disadvantage can be "bought off one level at atime.Mild Shyness: Somewhat uncomfortable around strangers, especiallyassertive or attractive ones. -1 on any skill that requires you todeal with the public - in particular, Acting, Bard, Carousing,Diplomacy, Fast-Talk, Leadership, Merchant, Politics, Savoir-Faire, Sex Appeal, Streetwise and Teaching. -5 points.Severe Shyness: Very uncomfortable around strangers, and tends tobe quiet even among friends. -2 on any skill that requires you to dealwith the public. -10 points.Crippling Shyness: Avoids strangers whenever possible.Incapable of public speaking. May not learn any skill that involvesdealing with the public; -4 on default rolls on such skills. -75points.Split Personality-10 or -15 pointsYou have two or more distinct personalities, each of which mayhave its own set of mental problems or behavior patterns. Thisallows you to have mental disadvantages that would otherwise beincompatible (e.g., Pacifism and Berserk, or Paranoia andLecherousness).Each personality should have his or her own character sheet.There should be at least 50 points' worth of differences. Even theirbasic stats may vary somewhat (ST, DX, and HT being artificiallylowered for personalities that "think" they're weak, clumsy or sickly).IQ and skills may be different, and personality traits can be totallydifferent. The personalities' character point values should averageto 100 when you start, but they need not be the same! Distributionof earned character points between the personalities is up to the GM.In any stress situation, the GM rolls against your IQ; a failed rollmeans a switch to another personality. No more than one roll perhour (game time) is required.Any NPC who is aware of this problem will feel (possibly withjustification) that you are a dange rous nutcase, and will react at -3 toyou.If your personalities are facets of a single "individual," this is a -10-point disadvantage. If the personalities are largely unaware ofeach other, interpret their memories differently, and have differentnames, it is a -15-point disadvantage.MENTAL DISADVANTAGESStubbornness-5 pointsYou always want your own way. Make yourself generally hard toget along with - roleplay it! Your friends may have to make a lot ofFast-Talk rolls to get you to go along with perfectly reasonableplans. Others react to you at -1.Truthfulness-5 pointsYou hate to tell a lie - or you are just very bad at it. In order tokeep silent about an uncomfortable truth (lying by omission), youmust make your Will roll. To actually tell a falsehood, you mustmake your Will roll at a -5 penalty! A failed roll means you blurtout the truth, or stumble so much that your lie is obvious. (If someoneis using Detect Lies on you, you are also at a -5 penalty.)Unluckiness-10 pointsYou just have bad luck. Things go wrong for you - and usually atthe worst possible time. Once per play session, the GM will arbitrarilyand maliciously make something go wrong for you. You will miss avital die roll, or the enemy will (against all odds) show up at theworst possible time. If the plot of the adventure calls for somethingbad to happen to someone, you're the one.The GM may not kill a character outright with "bad luck," butanything less than that is fine.Vow-1 to -15 pointsYou have sworn an oath to do (or not to do) something. Thisdisadvantage is especially appropriate for knights, holy men andfanatics. Note that, whatever the oath, you take it seriously. If youdidn't, it would not be a disadvantage. The precise value of a vow isup to the GM, but should be directly related to the inconvenience itcauses the character. Some examples:Trivial vow: -1 point (a quirk). Always wear red; never drinkalcohol; treat all ladies with courtesy; pay 10% of your income toyour church.Minor vow: -5 points. Vow of silence during daylight hours;vegetarianism; chastity. (Yes, for game purposes, this is minor).Major vow: -10 points. Use no edged weapons; keep silence at alltimes; never sleep indoors; own no more than your horse can carry.Great vow: -15 points. Never refuse any request for aid; alwaysfight with the wrong hand; hunt a given foe until you destroy him;challenge every knight you meet to combat.If you make a "vow of poverty," you may not also take pointsfor being dead broke. Neither may you make a vow not to kill andthen take points for Cannot Kill pacifism ... and so on.Most vows end after a specified period of time. You must buyoff a vow's point value when it ends. Vows for a period of less than ayear are frivolous! If a character wants to end a vow before itsstated time, the GM may exact a penalty; in a medieval world, forinstance, a quest or other penance would be appropriate. (A questcan itself be a vow, too.)Weak Will-8 points/levelYou are easily persuaded, frightened, bullied, coerced, temptedand so on. For every level taken, your IQ is effectively reduced by 1whenever you make a Will roll, including attempts to resistDiplomacy, Fast-Talk, Sex Appeal, Interrogation, Hypnotism, ormagical or psionic attempts to take over, read, or affect your mind.Weak Will also affects all attempts to master phobias, to resist hostilemagic, to make Fright Checks (see p. 93), and to avoid giving in toAddictions, Berserk behavior, and the like. A character cannot haveboth Strong and Weak Will.