A character option I wanted to share. Feel free to add some ;-)
Weaknesses (Optional rule)
A character is allowed to choose one Weakness if you use this optional rule. He gains one (additional) feat if he does so which he may choose from the feat list. In addition the character gains inspiration if he acts in accordance with his weakness. Mainly weaknesses are supposed to be roleplayed.
The sources stated are only examples.
Truthbound
The Character is not able to lie. It is not only that he does not want to lie, he just cannot do it. If the player accidently has his character lie, the character blurts out the truth unintentionally.
Source: The source of his condition could be something laid upon you by your god or it could be an affinity to the fey.
Gain inspiration whenever telling the truth would have dire consequences and you manage to speak about the topic without revealing the truth.
Competitor
The character is competitive to a degree that he is not able to turn down anything he perceives as a challenge. If challenged, he will accept. And he feels challenged quickly. If a challenge seems either no challenge at all or outright suicidal, the DM might allow the player to make a Wisdom ability check against an appropriate difficulty (usually 15+).
Source: It can be something about his socialization or belief or it could be forced on the character by some third power.
Gain inspiration if you accept a challenge when accepting seems very dangerous and/or foolish.
Curious
The character is alarmingly curious. A dark corridor, a whispered conversation or somebody telling him he is not allowed to go to a specific place. Bet he will go there, no matter how dangerous.
Source: Some people are born that way. Or maybe the character has feyblood or was raised by fey.
Gain inspiration whenever your curiosity brings you and/or your friends in danger.
Obnoxious
The character is just that. Nobody really likes him. If a character chooses that the group should think beforehand what ties he has to the rest of the crew that he is not just left behind. Because of his foul moods humanoids do not help the character choosing the help action. This includes the group of the character. The character may benefit from the help action normally though, so a familiar or such may use the help action to give the character advantage on a roll.
Source: The character might have been raised that way, he may hate other people or he may have been disappointed by others in general.
Gain inspiration whenever the rude behavior of the character is harmful for him or his friends.
Pacifist (usually only characters of good alignment)
The character is only aggressive against evil creatures showing aggression against him and/or his friends. Also if the character kills a non-evil creature with an intelligence greater than 4, he suffers one level of exhaustion from the stress. The character loses this kind of exhaustion only if he atones somehow for his deed (DMs judgement).
Source: It may be a way of life or a stricture of some god.
Gain inspiration whenever the character or his friends loose a significant advantage because the pacifist does not attack.
Heroic (usually good or neutral characters)
The character is unable to turn down a plea for help. He sees maidens (or princes) in distress everywhere.
Source: The character might be just goodhearted or live by some knightly or divine codex.
Gain inspiration whenever helping somebody in need (or somebody convincingly pretending to be) prevents the character’s or his friend’s plans or is very dangerous without much to gain.
Vengeful
The character has to avenge every (perceived) slight. If substantial the character tends to react violently or in less obvious but also harmful ways (depending on his predisposition).
Source: Usually this Weakness is rooted in a character’s personality.
Gain Inspiration whenever the character has to gout of his way getting revenge or if it is very dangerous and harmful.
Fanatic
The character is fanatic about something, most often his race, his origin or his faith. Not only will the character become aggressive if somebody makes negative comments about the object of the character’s fanaticism. He also challenges people around him with his view that the object of his fanaticism is the greatest. Also he would never betray the object of his fanaticism.
Source: The character might hail from a proud and traditional family or be a zealot of a god.
Gain inspiration whenever things get messy because the character aggressively promotes his religion, race or faith.
Cowardly
The character does not like to take risks. He advertises plans that avoid dangers and physical conflict. Also in combat if there is an enemy with a level or challenge rating higher than the character’s level the character has disadvantage on attack rolls during the first turn of combat unless he attacks from a position where opponents were not able to see him.
Source: Most often the reason for the cowardice lies in the childhood of the character or some harm that befell him in the past.
Gain inspiration if you avoid violence while endangering your friends.
This seems like it takes the concept of flaws, and then gives players a free feat for doing those flaws. I get that it's supposed to be a more extreme version, but it's so similar that it's hard to look past it
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I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
They are supposed to be kind of Flaws+. Less vague than Flaws with an additional mechanical effect Weaknesses give more customization options during character creation without - imho - breaking anything. In my experience added mechanical hindrances like this often have the effect that flaws/weaknesses are played out. Also because of the added incentive to be able to choose an additional feat players are motivated to add a weakness; flaws tend to be overlooked.
As an added bonus, the Weakness option breaks the "dominance" of variant humans, being the best or one of the best options for quite a lot of "builds". With Weaknesses the Variant Human optional rule could easily be discarded entirely.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
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A character option I wanted to share. Feel free to add some ;-)
Weaknesses (Optional rule)
A character is allowed to choose one Weakness if you use this optional rule. He gains one (additional) feat if he does so which he may choose from the feat list. In addition the character gains inspiration if he acts in accordance with his weakness. Mainly weaknesses are supposed to be roleplayed.
The sources stated are only examples.
Truthbound
The Character is not able to lie. It is not only that he does not want to lie, he just cannot do it. If the player accidently has his character lie, the character blurts out the truth unintentionally.
Source: The source of his condition could be something laid upon you by your god or it could be an affinity to the fey.
Gain inspiration whenever telling the truth would have dire consequences and you manage to speak about the topic without revealing the truth.
Competitor
The character is competitive to a degree that he is not able to turn down anything he perceives as a challenge. If challenged, he will accept. And he feels challenged quickly. If a challenge seems either no challenge at all or outright suicidal, the DM might allow the player to make a Wisdom ability check against an appropriate difficulty (usually 15+).
Source: It can be something about his socialization or belief or it could be forced on the character by some third power.
Gain inspiration if you accept a challenge when accepting seems very dangerous and/or foolish.
Curious
The character is alarmingly curious. A dark corridor, a whispered conversation or somebody telling him he is not allowed to go to a specific place. Bet he will go there, no matter how dangerous.
Source: Some people are born that way. Or maybe the character has feyblood or was raised by fey.
Gain inspiration whenever your curiosity brings you and/or your friends in danger.
Obnoxious
The character is just that. Nobody really likes him. If a character chooses that the group should think beforehand what ties he has to the rest of the crew that he is not just left behind. Because of his foul moods humanoids do not help the character choosing the help action. This includes the group of the character. The character may benefit from the help action normally though, so a familiar or such may use the help action to give the character advantage on a roll.
Source: The character might have been raised that way, he may hate other people or he may have been disappointed by others in general.
Gain inspiration whenever the rude behavior of the character is harmful for him or his friends.
Pacifist (usually only characters of good alignment)
The character is only aggressive against evil creatures showing aggression against him and/or his friends. Also if the character kills a non-evil creature with an intelligence greater than 4, he suffers one level of exhaustion from the stress. The character loses this kind of exhaustion only if he atones somehow for his deed (DMs judgement).
Source: It may be a way of life or a stricture of some god.
Gain inspiration whenever the character or his friends loose a significant advantage because the pacifist does not attack.
Heroic (usually good or neutral characters)
The character is unable to turn down a plea for help. He sees maidens (or princes) in distress everywhere.
Source: The character might be just goodhearted or live by some knightly or divine codex.
Gain inspiration whenever helping somebody in need (or somebody convincingly pretending to be) prevents the character’s or his friend’s plans or is very dangerous without much to gain.
Vengeful
The character has to avenge every (perceived) slight. If substantial the character tends to react violently or in less obvious but also harmful ways (depending on his predisposition).
Source: Usually this Weakness is rooted in a character’s personality.
Gain Inspiration whenever the character has to gout of his way getting revenge or if it is very dangerous and harmful.
Fanatic
The character is fanatic about something, most often his race, his origin or his faith. Not only will the character become aggressive if somebody makes negative comments about the object of the character’s fanaticism. He also challenges people around him with his view that the object of his fanaticism is the greatest. Also he would never betray the object of his fanaticism.
Source: The character might hail from a proud and traditional family or be a zealot of a god.
Gain inspiration whenever things get messy because the character aggressively promotes his religion, race or faith.
Cowardly
The character does not like to take risks. He advertises plans that avoid dangers and physical conflict. Also in combat if there is an enemy with a level or challenge rating higher than the character’s level the character has disadvantage on attack rolls during the first turn of combat unless he attacks from a position where opponents were not able to see him.
Source: Most often the reason for the cowardice lies in the childhood of the character or some harm that befell him in the past.
Gain inspiration if you avoid violence while endangering your friends.
This seems like it takes the concept of flaws, and then gives players a free feat for doing those flaws. I get that it's supposed to be a more extreme version, but it's so similar that it's hard to look past it
I know what you're thinking: "In that flurry of blows, did he use all his ki points, or save one?" Well, are ya feeling lucky, punk?
They are supposed to be kind of Flaws+. Less vague than Flaws with an additional mechanical effect Weaknesses give more customization options during character creation without - imho - breaking anything. In my experience added mechanical hindrances like this often have the effect that flaws/weaknesses are played out. Also because of the added incentive to be able to choose an additional feat players are motivated to add a weakness; flaws tend to be overlooked.
As an added bonus, the Weakness option breaks the "dominance" of variant humans, being the best or one of the best options for quite a lot of "builds". With Weaknesses the Variant Human optional rule could easily be discarded entirely.