Roleplayer #25, August 1991

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New Advantages and Disadvantages

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More Options for Character Creation

### Bad Back . . . . . -15/-25 points

(suggested by C.J. Carella and Joanne Fry)
You have suffered an accident that has somehow hurt your spine. During strenuous physical labor, you may "throw your back" and suffer crippling, intense pain or even further injury.
Every time the character needs to make a ST roll, he must roll against his HT. Modifiers: any ST modifiers applied to the roll, including Extra Effort; +2 if the character makes an IQ-2 roll to try to put the least strain on his back. In combat, if the character rolls a 17 or 18 on any attack or defense roll he must also make a HT roll in addition to any other Critical Miss results.
On a failed roll, the character has thrown his back. If he has a light condition (-15 points), he will be at -3 DX until he rests or someone helps him (a First Aid-2 roll will reset his back); IQ is reduced by 3 for the next round only. On a critical failure he is at -5 DX and must make a Will roll to perform any physical action.
A severe back problem (-25 points) is more serious. All HT rolls are at -2. On a failed roll, DX and IQ are at -4 until rest or help are provided; the character is in constant agony. A critical failure causes 1 d-3 damage and the character is at -6 DX and -4 IQ.
High Pain Threshold halves all DX and IQ penalties, rounding down.
Characters can acquire this condition during play. If a natural 18 is rolled on a ST roll, check against HT. A miss indicates the character has strained his back; if the roll is missed by 4 or more, the condition is severe. Recovery is as per any crippling injury (see p. B129).

### Migraine . . . . . -5 to -20 points

(suggested by C.J. Carella and Joanne Fry)
You are plagued by severe headaches that hamper your life. They can happen as often as once a day, and while they last your abilities are reduced and you are not a fun person to be with. A bad case is a serious condition; it can be truly crippling.
Once a day, roll against the Migraine's frequency of appearance number (see below). If you roll below the number, your character suffers a migraine attack. DX and IQ are reduced by 1d; Will rolls to resist Bad Temper, Berserk and similar disadvantages are reduced by the same amount -- someone in pain is more likely to lose his cool. After the onset of the headache, the GM rolls against the character's HT: if the roll is made by 3 or more, the attack lasts 2d minutes; a roll made by less than three results on the headache lasting one hour. On a failed HT roll, the migraine lasts an hour; at the end of the hour a new roll is made as above. On a critical failure, the headache lasts 1d+2 hours!
Cost of the disadvantage is based on the migraine's frequency of appearance:

  Infrequent: the migraine appears on a roll of 6 or less. -5 points.
  Common: the migraine appears on a roll of 8 or less. -10 points.
  Frequent: the migraine appears on a roll of 11 or less. -15 points.
  Constant: the migraine appears on a roll of 13 or less. -20 points.

### Favor . . . . . Variable

(suggested by John Ross)
You saved someone's life, kept silent at the right time, or otherwise did someone a good turn. Now they owe you one.
Think of a favor as a one-shot version of the Ally, Patron, or Contact advantages (for information on Contacts, see Roleplayer 15, GURPS Cliffhangers, or GURPS Cyberpunk). You have one of these for one time only, for each time you buy the advantage. Work out the point cost for Favor exactly as you would the parent advantage, and divide the cost by 5. Round up to the nearest full point. Any time that you wish to "collect" on the Favor, the GM rolls against the "Frequency" of the advantage. If it is successful, you get what you want, within the limits of the advantage. Remove the advantage from your character sheet unless you rolled a critical success; on a critical success, your "friend" still feels indebted to you.
If the roll is failed, you couldn't reach them in time, or they couldn't comply. The favor is still owed. You may try again in another adventure. Favors gained in play are treated as all other advantages, and should be paid for, but the GM may also wish to include it as part of the general reward for a successful adventure, in addition to earned points.
(Back to Roleplayer #25 Table of Contents)