GURPS - Basic Set 3r..

his characters. Whenever the GM determines that an enemyshould show up, he must decide how and where he will becomeinvolved. If an enemy is very powerful, or if several characters'enemies show up at the same time, the whole adventure may beinfluenced.If you take a very powerful enemy, you are likely to be jailed orkilled before long. So it goes. You can get a 60-point bonus by takingthe FBI as a "quite often" enemy, but your every adventure will bethat of a hunted criminal, and even with the extra 60 points, yourcareer may be short.On the other hand, if you start with a weak enemy or play cleverly,you may manage to kill or eliminate your foe, or permanently changehis attitude toward you. But there ain't no such thing as a free lunch!When you eliminate an enemy this way, you have three choices:(a) Pay enough character points to "buy off the original bonusyou got for that enemy.(b) Take a mental or physical disadvantage to make up for thepoint bonus. For instance, you might have been kicked in the headduring the final battle, leaving you partially deaf. Or you mighthave been attacked by a giant spider, leaving you with a phobiaabout bugs. The new disadvantage should have the same point costthat the enemy did (or less, if you want to buy off part of the disadvantage).If you cannot think of a good substitute disadvantage, theGM should supply one.(c) Take another enemy of the same type and start over. Youmay have destroyed the fiendish Dr. Scorpion - but his brother iscontinuing his evil work.Since too many enemies can disrupt a game, no character maytake more than two enemies, or total more than 60 points bonusfrom enemies. (If the whole U.S. Government is out to get you, thefact that your old college professor has lost his mind, and is alsoafter you, will pale to insignificance.)The GM always has the right to veto a player's choice of enemy, ifit seems silly or if it will be too hard to fit into the campaign.Notes on DisadvantagesNegating Disadvantages. GMs should never allow players totake a disadvantage (or a quirk) that is negated by an advantage!For instance, no one may take both Hard of Hearing and AcuteHearing.Dramatic Villains. Some disadvantages - Sadism, for instance -are not at all suitable to a "heroic" player character. But they areoften found in the more fiendish villains of adventure fiction. So, inthe interest of good NPC creation, they are included.Tragic Heroes. Many of the greatest heroes of history and literaturehad a "tragic flaw." Alcoholism, great ugliness, missing limbs, andeven drug addiction - all are found in the heroes of fact and fiction.So don't assume that your heroes have to be perfect... try givingthem a significant problem to overcome.New DisadvantagesGMs (and players, with GM approval) are welcome to developnew disadvantages. The only constraints are:(1) If the character is not penalized in some way, it's not a disadvantage!(2) Make sure that the point bonus allowed is fair with regard tothe existing disadvantages! Suppose you want to introduce "allergies"as a new physical disadvantage. It would be ridiculous tomake an allergy a 20-point disadvantage! The exact level of disadvantagewould depend on the physical effect of an allergy, but 5points, or 10 for a really crippling one, would be more reasonable.(3) Make sure that the disadvantage isn't just another kind ofOdious Personal Habit, easily covered by a reaction penalty.Example of DisadvantageSelectionWe know that Dai Blackthorn will need some disadvantages.When we left him on p. 25, after selecting his advantages, he was at-5 character points. He will need to take some disadvantages . . .because he still needs character points to gain some skills.We are limited to 40 points of disadvantages. (We could take asingle massive disadvantage, worth more than 40 points, but wedon't want to do that - it would make Dai too unusual.) Our quirksdo not count toward these totals.Poverty is a natural social disadvantage for a thief or rogue. Wealready decided to take "poor" back on page 18; it was good for -15points, which we've already counted into our point total for thecharacter.Most of the physical disadvantages seem crippling, and we pictureDai as being healthy and of average appearance. So our seconddisadvantage will be another social disadvantage ... an enemy.We've already decided that Dai is a thief. Let's say that he's a freelanceoperator, not affiliated with the local Thieves' Guild.Naturally, they object! The guild is a very powerful organization -normally a 30-point enemy. But Dai is a trivial nuisance by theirstandards, and they don't often bother with him; they will intrude in agiven adventure only on a roll of 6 or less. That halves theirvalue, making this a 15-point disadvantage.Mental disadvantages are a lot of fun; there's a lot of roleplayingpotential here. Greed? Too obvious. Honesty? Contradictory.Cowardice? Doesn't go with the character conception. How aboutOverconfidence? That goes well with Dai as we see him. It's goodfor another -10 points.That makes up our limit of 40 points worth of "bonuses." We'dalready counted 15 of them. The other 25 add to our current total of-5, to bring Dai back up to 20 points.