FOREWORD 2

INTRODUCTION 3

SELECTING FLAWS, GAINING COMPENSATION 4

MASTER LIST OF FLAWS 5

PRIMARY FLAWS 7

SECONDARY FLAWS 14

DM OPTION: FLAW SYNERGY 24

ADVANTAGES: SELECTION AND USE 25

MASTER LIST OF ADVANTAGES 25

ADVANTAGES 26

THE EXPERIENCE TITHE 36

RANDOM FLAW TABLE 36

OPEN GAME LICENSE TEXT 37

Howdy! This PDF contains the bulk of the original Book of Distinctions& Drawbacks, originally released for the 3.0 version of the d20 System inFebruary, 2003. With an all-new, 3.5-compatible revision of the BODDnow available, there seems little purpose for me to cling tenaciously tothis older system, so IÕve released almost all of it as freeware. Distributethis PDF as you see fit— pass it out to your grandparents, your pets, yourRabbi, etc. Please remember that any re-use of this material will be lim-ited by the terms of the d20 System Trademark License and the OpenGaming License; other than that, I relinquish my claim to sole control overthe game-related content of this PDF and release that content into thepublic domain.

This system is relatively simple and almost ÒbinaryÓ in nature; thoselooking for a more flexible and granular drawback/advantage system forfantasy d20 should check out the Revised edition of the BODD, a blatantcommercial plug for which may be found on page 38. Hey, IÕm an author ,not a saint.

Cheers and best!

SL

St. Paul, MinnesotaNovember 3, 2003

Table of Contents Foreword

Requires the use of the Dungeons & Dragons Player’sHandbook, published by Wizards of the Coast, Inc. Thisproduct utilizes updated material from the v.3.5 revision.

’d20 System’ and the ’d20 System’ logo are Trademarks ownedby Wizards of the Coast and are used according to the terms ofthe d20 System License version 1.0. A copy of this License can

be found at www.wizards.com.

Dungeons & Dragons and Wizards of the Coast are trademarksof

Wizards of the Coast, Inc. in the United States and other countries and are used with permission.

This product is not published or endorsed by Wizards of theCoast, Inc.

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The Book of Distinctions & Drawbacks is a Òcharacter embellishmentÓsourcebook— that is, a set of character flaws and advantages for the d20system that is designed to allow the customization of characters beyondthe degree allowed by the combinations of race, class, and occupationalone.DMs thinking of using this book in planning their next campaignshould be advised of two things:

1. The use of this book will add a layer of additional com-plexity to the character creation process.

One admirable feature of character creation in the d20 system is itsswift and efficient ÒchecklistÓ approach— a character can be generated rel -atively quickly just by rolling a few dice and making a few choices. Thereis usually little need to waste time balancing extreme minutiae; simply rollthe bones and fill in a few blanks and youÕre done... unless you decide touse this book, too. If you do, you should also understand:

2. The use of this book will require a heightened degree ofoversight on the part of the DM.

One of the rules of thumb of the d20 system is that a character caneventually have just about anything (trait, item, weapon, exotic classlevel, spell, etc.) the player wishes, though there will be a trade-off or aprice for it. Many powers and abilities arenÕt available until higher levelsof experience; every feat or special ability selected carries a Òlost oppor -tunityÓ cost (as other feats or special abilities must be skipped); everyracial bonus is countered by some sort of racial limitation. In short, ÒthereainÕt no such thing as a free lunch.Ó

The use of any flaw/compensation system, even the one presented inthis book, will be viewed by some players (for reasons innocent or other-wise) as an excuse to strive for that nonexistent free lunch, by wringingmaximum benefit from the least damaging or hindering set of choicespossible. I have tried to make this as difficult as I could without turning thesystem utterly dreary and draconian. DMs, please remember that the firstand only valid defense against that sort of system abuse is your own vig-ilance and oversight.

Types of EmbellishmentsThis book is all about embellishments, good or bad— elements that help

or hinder a character in a way not already addressed by existing charac-ter creation rules.

Primary FlawsThis set of character flaws is meant to be as clearly and explicitly

defined as possible. Their drawbacks are predominantly mechanical innature. As a result, most of them require very little roleplaying Òmainte -nanceÓ or obtrusive attention from the DM. Thus, they may generally beused the most freely and with the least amount of DM oversight.

Secondary FlawsThese are flaws of personal inclination or flaws representing back-

ground difficulties. Although they can be just as debilitating as primaryflaws, they tend to require continual roleplaying attention and/or a greatdeal of thought on the part of the DM. Without such attention, many sec-ondary flaws will become nothing more than words on paper and willcease to penalize a character. DMs are cautioned to study them thor-oughly before allowing their use.

AdvantagesAdvantages are background benefits, material goods, and other awards

or inheritances that can be of great use to a character. Unlike feats, whichrepresent intrinsic qualities or trained abilities, advantages have nothingat all to do with the character himself and can be lost, stolen, or taken bya variety of means.

Advantages are loosely divided into social, material, and special cate-gories.

3.5 Revision NotesSome flaws contain notes describing new or modified guidelines for use

with the 3.5 revision of the d20 System; otherwise, you may assume thatall text refers to the 3.0 version but need not be changed for use with 3.5.

Introduction: Messing with Characters for Fun and Profit

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The simplest method of flaw use is this: A single flaw of any sort maybe redeemed for either of the following at 1st level:

- A single feat; or- Four additional skill points

This method is meant to keep things extremely simple. As mentioned,one of the positive features (in our estimation) of the d20 character cre-ation process is its relative lack of minute mathematical adjustments. Allthe flaws listed herein are designed to be more or less as ÒbadÓ as anyother flaw, with the exception of a rare few that are so limiting that theyÕreworth two ordinary flaws.

Flaws should generally be chosen and applied only at 1st level, beforeactual play begins.

Maximum Flaws PermittedThe default recommended limit is two flaws per character— the fewer

flaws a character possesses, the more contained will be any potentialdisruption to the balance of a d20 campaign.

As flaws are heaped upon a character, not only does he gain compen-satory feats, skill points, or advantages— the amount of attention thatmust be paid to those flaws by the DM and the player alike increases. Acharacter with one or two flaws is interesting; a character with eight ornine is a disaster waiting to happen.

However, if the DM sees fit, a campaign may allow a higher maximumnumber of flaws per character:

Flaw Maximum Number PermittedConservative 2Controlled 3Generous 4Very Generous 5-6

It is strongly recommended that characters be allowed to take morethan 6 flaws (or the equivalent) only in games of an experimental or Òone-shotÓ nature. Too many flaws, no matter how finely-balanced and deli-cately played, can turn an ongoing d20 campaign silly in a variety ofways.

When creating characters higher than 1st level, this system may still beused in a rewarding fashion, but the DM should watch out for attempts to

render flaws totally meaningless by the calculated purchase of magicitems. Characters are quite free to seek out magical compensations fortheir handicaps as a campaign goes on, of course, but starting play withsuch compensations already in their hands is a bit contrary to the spirit ofthis system.

Variation: Flaws for ExperienceIf the DM sees fit, he may allow characters to gain XP in exchange for

flaws. Players may therefore elect to create beginning-level characterswith no handicaps, or somewhat more experienced characters with sig-nificant disadvantages. If used without much supervision or cooperationbetween players, this method can generate some very strange andunbalanced parties. DMs beware.

Flaws Taken XP Granted1 7502 1,5003 2,2504 3,0005 3,7506 4,500

Selecting Flaws and Gaining Compensation

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Primary FlawsFlaw Brief Description of Impairment

Albinism Character suffers from a rare lack of skin and hair pigmentationAnimal Antipathy Animals dislike the character rather intenselyBad Shot Dex modifier is not added to character s Ranged Attack BonusBlindness Character cannot see at all, nor may his sight be restoredButterfingers Character is seriously lacking in manual dexterity.Climate Aversion Character is extremely uncomfortable in either cold or hot climatesClumsy Dex modifier is not added to character s base Armor ClassDeaf Character suffers standard penalties for deafnessDull Reflexes -2 to all of character s Reflex SavesEasily Slain Character doesnÕt cling to life as tenaciously as most doEasily Winded Character lacks the endurance for long-duration physical activitiesFlinching Character suffers a limit upon his attacks of opportunityFragile -2 to all of character s Fortitude SavesGlass Jaw Too much subdual damage knocks character out coldGuileless Character lacks a substantial amount of wit and social perception.Gullible Character is far too credulous for his own good.Hobbled Character may not run or chargeIll-Educated Character receives fewer skill points at 1st levelImpaired Vision Character is not blind, but his vision troubles him.Impaired Voice Character has suffered permanent damage to his vocal chordsImpatient Character may never take 10 or 20 on a skill checkInattentive -2 to Listen, Search, and Spot checksInflexible -2 to Escape Artist, Jump, and Tumble checksLight-Headed Character suffers increased effects from stun and sleep attacksLoathed Adversaries Character is unable to deal with certain varieties of monsterLummox Str modifier is not added to character s Melee Attack BonusMagic Vulnerability -2 to all saving throws vs. spells and spell-like effectsMiddle-Aged Character is older than most beginning adventurersNervous -4 penalty to Will Saves vs. fear, horror, and demoralizationOafish -2 to all Hide, Jump, and Move Silently checksObese Character could stand to shed a few dozen pounds.Old Injury Character suffers ability damage from critical hitsOld Injury (II) Character suffers increased damage from critical hitsOne-Handed Character s off hand is entirely missingPoor Fighter Character s fighting ability is obviously sub-par.Predictable Fighter Character cannot charge, fight defensively, or aid anotherPsionic Vulnerability* -2 to all saving throws vs. psionic abilities and effectsPug Ugly Character has a face like week-dead roadkill.Slow Healing Character s rate of hit point recovery is diminishedSlow-Moving -10 feet to character s base speedSlow-Witted -4 to character s Initiative checksSpecific Magic Vulnerability Character is exceptionally vulnerable to spells of a single schoolUnathletic -2 to Climb, Jump, and Swim checks

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Uncoordinated Character is seriously lacking in agilityUnexceptional Character s maximum number of skill ranks is decreasedUnhealthy Doubled fatigue penalties and diminished carrying capacityUnlucky Bad things happen when character rolls a natural 1Weak Constitution Character is unusually vulnerable to poisons and diseasesWeak-Willed -2 to all of character s Will Saves

Secondary FlawsFlaw Brief Description of Impairment

Aggressive Character trusts his sword too much and his wits too littleBinding Honor Code Character is sworn to live his life by a strict code of behaviorBlasphemous Character is openly disdainful of the gods and their servantsBoastful Character is a compulsive exaggerator and often an outright liarCold Fish Character is markedly stiff, emotionless, and aloof Cowardly Character values his skin much more than he values his dignityDark Desire Character secretly years for vast cosmic power at any priceDebt of Honor Character owes favors to a powerful NPC and must repay themDelusional Character experiences hallucinations at regular intervalsDrunkard Character would live in the bottom of a bottle if he liked booze any moreDuty-Bound Character is compelled to serve an NPC at occasional intervalsEnemy/Hunted At some point in his travels, character has acquired a bitter foeEstranged Character is emotionally alienated from his family and societyExplosive Temper Character blows his top with a frightening lack of controlGrandiloquent Character is pompous, overly formal, domineering, and melodramaticGreed Character covets material possessions with an unhealthy lack of cautionHaunted Character suffers the attentions of a poltergeistHumorless Character is utterly without the slightest comprehension of humorInconvenient Oath Character has sworn to never do something very, very usefulInferiority Complex Character is a show-off, overly sensitive about any perceived mistreatmentIntolerant Character has an extremely regrettable streak of racial prejudiceLecherous Character chases his compatible sex with single-minded zealLone Wolf Character dislikes working in a group and is a grating, divisive presenceMacho/Spartan Character laughs at displays of weakness and shuns all creature comfortsMelancholy Character is brooding, introspective, and morbidMiser Character is obsessed with hoarding the treasured he has accumulatedMonetary Debt Character owes a small fortune to a powerful NPCNightmares Character suffers from recurring bouts of sleep-destroying visionsOutlawed Character has been branded a criminal in a large, patrolled areaOverconfident Character doesnÕt seem to realize that heÕ s not invinciblePhobia Some common situation or encounter gives the character quite a frightPoor Reputation Character is reviled and disparaged by quite a few peopleProvincial Character is a Òhick,Ó even by the standards of the standard fantasy worldRisk-Addicted Character loves to consign his fate to the hands of Lady LuckTongue-Tied Character is shy and socially unpolished

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Vain/Dandy Character is image-obsessed, and possibly foppish or a clotheshorseVindictive Character has a revenge complex and cannot forgive any slight or injuryWard Character must protect and care for a relatively helpless NPC

*This flaw may only be selected in campaigns where psionics are a fairly common hazard

Flaw DescriptionsPRIMARY FLAWS

ALBINISM[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character suffers from an inherited condition that lowers theamount of pigmentation in his skin and hair, making them anywhere frommerely pale to snowy white.

Drawback: Your character suffers a -4 circumstance penalty toDisguise checks due to the difficulty of concealing his condition. He alsosuffers an inherent -1 penalty to Search and Spot checks, as albinisminevitably causes complications in the eyes.

If your character suffers lengthy exposure (12 hours or more) to tropi-cal sunlight with little or no protection, he must make a Fort Save (DC 18)or suffer painful burns across the exposed areas of his body. Theseburns will cause the temporary loss of 1d4 points of Dexterity, which willreturn at the usual rate with rest and care.

ANIMAL ANTIPATHY[ Primary Flaw ]

Although your character can make limited use of pack and riding ani-mals, neither they nor their wild counterparts have any affection for him.

Drawback: Your character suffers a -2 penalty to all Animal Empathy,Handle Animal, and Ride checks. Those skills will be forever consideredcross-class should he wish to improve them.

3.5 Revision: Your character suffers a -3 penalty to all Handle Animaland Ride checks. Those skills will be forever considered cross-classshould he wish to improve them.

Limitation: A character with this flaw may not possess any of the fol-lowing feats: Mounted Combat, Mounted Archery, Trample, Ride-By

Attack, or Spirited Charge. Furthermore, he may not possess any featwhich grants any sort of bonus or benefit where animals are concerned,save fighting or killing them.

BAD SHOT[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character is either woefully unpracticed or naturally handicappedwhen it comes to the use of ranged weapons.

Drawback: Your character s positive Dexterity modifier is not appliedto his Base Attack Bonus whenever he uses a ranged or thrown weapon.

Limitation: This flaw may only be applied to characters with a Dexterityscore of 12 or higher. If at any time the character s Dexterity falls per-manently beneath 12, apply a -2 penalty to all ranged attack rolls instead.

BLINDNESS[ Primary Flaw— Worth Two Flaws ]

Your character s eyes do not function at all, and magical healing is inca-pable of reversing the condition.

Drawback: In addition to the obvious effects of blindness, your char-acter suffers a 50% miss chance in combat, loses any Dexterity bonus toAC, grants a +2 bonus to opponentsÕ attack rolls, moves at half speed,and suffers a -4 penalty on most Dexterity and Strength-based skillchecks, at the DMÕ s discretion.

Limitation: This flaw cannot be applied to a character that makes nat-ural use of Blindsight or any other power that effectively replaces thevisual sense.

BUTTERFINGERS[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character tends to fumble and slip when he grasps at objects inmoments of stress.

Drawback: Unsheathing a weapon and retrieving/stowing an item from

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a pack are both treated as full-round actions for your character. Yourcharacter suffers a -1 penalty to Pick Pockets checks.

3.5 Revision: As above, save that the penalty is applied to the Sleightof Hand skill.

Special: This flaw is incompatible with the Quick Draw feat.

CLIMATE AVERSION[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character s body has a hard time adjusting to the rigors of eithervery hot or very cold climates.

Drawback: If your character is averse to cold climates, he suffers a -2penalty to all saving throws and skill checks in temperatures at or belowthe freezing point of water. He also suffers an inherent -2 penalty to sav-ing throws made against cold-based magic or area effects. Cold-weatherclothing alone cannot negate this flaw; it can only prevent the characterfrom actually freezing to death. HeÕll still be miserable.

If your character is averse to hot climates, he suffers a -2 penalty to allsaving throws and skill checks in tropical or desert conditions (or in arti-ficial conditions of extreme heat, such as steam baths). He also suffersan inherent -2 penalty to saving throws made against heat-based magicor area effects.

Special: A character may possess both types of climate aversion,meaning that he will be comfortable only in relatively temperate climates.

Limitation: This flaw may not be taken by a character with any sort ofintrinsic resistance to the range of temperatures he is supposed to beaverse to. For example, a PC fire mephit or magmin could hardly beexpected to have an aversion to tropical or desert heat.

CLUMSY[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character s defensive footwork needs a great deal of polish. Hisopponents find him somehow quite hittable.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -2 penalty to his ArmorClass rating. Furthermore, if your character wears armor of any sort, hisArmor Check Penalty is increased by -1.

Special: This flaw may be taken twice, with the DMÕ s permission. Itseffects are cumulative.

DEAF[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character is stone deaf (whether thanks to birth or misfortune), andmagical healing is incapable of reversing the condition.

Drawback: Your character automatically fails any Listen check, suffersa -4 penalty to Initiative, and has a 20% chance to miscast any spell witha verbal (V) component. Nothing less than a full Wish spell can restoreyour character s hearing.

Limitation: This flaw may only be applied to characters without a nat-ural power or ability that effectively replaces the sense of hearing. A deafcharacter may not possess the Blindsight power.

DULL REFLEXES[ Primary Flaw]

Your character isnÕt as fast as he could or should be when attemptingto dodge incoming disaster.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -2 penalty to his Reflexsaving throw.

Limitation: This flaw may not be taken in conjunction with the LightningReflexes feat, as the two cancel each other out entirely.

Special: This flaw may be taken twice, with the DMÕ s permission.

EASILY SLAIN[ Primary Flaw]

Your character s will to live is weaker than usual, and when seriouslyinjured his natural inclination is to give up the ghost rather than fight tostay alive.

Drawback: Your character dies at -5 hit points rather than at -10 hitpoints. Furthermore, he suffers a -2 penalty to any Fort Save made toavoid instant death (as from massive damage, for example).

Limitation: This flaw may not be applied to characters with regenera-tion or fast healing as natural powers.

3.5 Revision: This flaw is incompatible with the Diehard feat.

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EASILY WINDED[ Primary Flaw]

Your character s ability to engage in lengthy bouts of physical activity issomewhat limited.

Drawback: Your character suffers a -4 penalty to all skill checks orsaves made to reflect exertion over an extended length of time.Furthermore, when holding his breath, he is treated as though hisConstitution score were 4 points lower than it really is.

3.5 Revision: Your character suffers a -4 penalty on the following spe-cific checks and saves: Swim checks made to resist nonlethal damage,Constitution checks made to continue running, Constitution checks madeto avoid nonlethal damage from a forced march, Constitution checksmade to hold your breath, Constitution checks made to avoid nonlethaldamage from starvation or thirst, Fortitude saves made to avoid nonlethaldamage from hot or cold environments, and Fortitude saves made toresist damage from suffocation.

Limitation: This flaw may not be taken in conjunction with theEndurance feat.

FLINCHING[ Primary Flaw]

Your character tends to flinch and hesitate when opponents press closein combat, meaning that his attacks of opportunity are poorly directed.

Drawback: When an opponent triggers an attack of opportunity withinthe area threatened by your character, your character suffers a -4 penal-ty to his attack roll.

FRAGILE[ Primary Flaw]

Your character suffers from a certain exceptional lack of vitality.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -2 penalty to hisFortitude saving throw.

Limitation: This flaw may not be taken in conjunction with the GreatFortitude feat, as the two cancel each other out entirely.

Special: This flaw may be taken twice, with the DMÕ s permission. Itseffects are cumulative.

GLASS JAW[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character tends to wobble and swoon when an opponent lands asolid blow to his head or chin.

Drawback: When an opponent scores a successful critical hit againstyour character with an unarmed attack or a bludgeoning weapon, yourcharacter must make a Fort Save, [DC 10 + points of damage taken], orbecome stunned for 1d4+1 rounds.

Limitation: This flaw may not be taken by a character naturally immuneto critical hits.

GUILELESS[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character is somewhat deficient in shrewdness and social aware-ness.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -2 penalty to all Bluff,Innuendo, and Sense Motive checks.

3.5 Revision: Your character suffers a -2 penalty to Diplomacy checksrather than Innuendo checks.

GULLIBLE[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character is far too credulous— not only does he tend to swallowlies, exaggerations, and tall tales put forth by others, he does so withenthusiasm.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -3 penalty to all Bluffchecks and Sense Motive checks. ItÕ s against his nature to challenge theword of others except when he has direct proof that theyÕre wrong, andhis friends and allies will have many occasions to swat their foreheads inembarrassment at his gullibility.

HOBBLED[ Primary Flaw ]

Although he does not show it when moving at an ordinary rate of speed,your character has suffered permanent knee or ankle damage, wellbeyond the ability of magical healing to correct.

Drawback: Your character may not run, overrun, or charge. He maystill take a double move, though his curious skipping gait when he does

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so will immediately betray his condition.

Limitation: Your character may not take the Improved Bull Rush feator the Run feat.

3.5 Revision: This feat is also incompatible with the Improved Overrunfeat.

ILL-EDUCATED[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character might be bright, enthusiastic, and talented, but his for-mal training is sadly lacking.

Drawback: At 1st level, your character suffers the loss of 4 skill points.All Knowledge skills are thereafter treated as cross-class skills should hewish to place ranks in any of them.

Limitation: Although this flaw could be exchanged for four bonus skillpoints, why would anyone ever do that?

IMPAIRED VISION[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character isnÕt completely blind, but his vision is a constant sourceof trouble to him. Magical healing will not suffice to alleviate this condi-tion.

Drawback: The character suffers a -1 penalty to all attack rolls and alsosuffers a -2 penalty on all Spot and Search checks.

Limitation: This flaw may not be taken in conjunction with theBlindness flaw (page 7). Blindness is so total that the effects of this flawwould be superfluous.

IMPAIRED VOICE[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character has suffered extensive damage to his vocal cords, viainjury or disease. Magical healing cannot correct this condition.

Drawback: Your character is unable to talk above a harsh whisper andcannot shout or sing. This should be role-played at all times. Your char-acter suffers a 25% chance of spell failure when casting any arcane spellwith a verbal component, save when that spell has been prepared withthe Silent Spell metamagic feat. Any Perform check involving a verbalelement (save for singing, which is already totally precluded) suffers a -4

circumstance penalty.

IMPATIENT[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character is notoriously incapable of focusing his attention longand hard enough to accomplish tasks requiring great dedication.

Drawback: Your character may never Ôtake 10Õ or Ôtake 20Õ on any skillcheck.

INATTENTIVE[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character is frequently oblivious to the fine details of whatÕ s hap-pening all around him.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -2 penalty to Listen,Search, and Spot checks.

Limitation: This flaw may not be taken in conjunction with theBlindness flaw (page 7). If taken in conjunction with the Deafness flaw(page 8), the character suffers no penalty to Listen checks (since he canÕtperform them anyway) and a -3 penalty to Search and Spot checks.There is little point in taking this flaw in conjunction with the Alertnessfeat.

INFLEXIBLE[ Primary Flaw ]

Whether itÕ s due to age, an old injury, or simple lack of exercise, yourcharacter isnÕt as lithe and nimble as he really should be.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -2 penalty to Balance,Escape Artist, Jump, and Tumble checks.

LIGHT-HEADED[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character has serious trouble remaining steady on his feet whensubjected to a stunning attack or a knockout effect.

Drawback: When your character would normally become staggereddue to the accrual of subdual damage, he instead falls unconscious.When he suffers a successful stun attack, he must make a Fort Save (DC13) or instead fall unconscious for the appropriate number of rounds.Your character suffers a -2 penalty to all saves vs. sleep-inducing spells,magical effects, and drugs.

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Special: If this flaw is taken by an elf, it removes his immunity to sleepspells and effects, but does not grant a further -2 penalty to savingthrows.

LOATHED ADVERSARIES[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character finds certain types of monstrous creatures so gruesomeor frightening that he has difficulty confronting them.

Drawback: Select one of the following types of creature. Against allcreatures of that chosen type, your character suffers a -2 morale penaltyto all attack rolls and spellcaster level checks. Furthermore, the chosencreatures gain a +2 circumstance bonus to all attack rolls made againstyour character.

The allowable choices are:

-Aberrations-Aquatic creatures-Beasts-Dragons-Elementals-Giants-Humanoids-Magical Beasts-Monstrous Humanoids-Plants-Undead-Vermin

LUMMOX[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character s firm muscles are a testament to his physical strength,but heÕ s never really learned how to control that strength when swinginga weapon.

Drawback: Your character s positive Strength modifier is not applied tohis Base Attack Bonus whenever he uses a melee weapon or makes anunarmed attack.

Limitation: This flaw may only be applied to characters with a Strengthscore of 12 or higher. If at any time the character s Strength falls perma-nently beneath 12, apply a -2 penalty to all melee attack rolls instead.

MAGIC VULNERABILITY[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character is unusually vulnerable to the deleterious effects of hos-tile magic.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -2 penalty to all savingthrows against spells and spell-like effects.

Special: This flaw may be taken twice, with the DMÕ s permission. Itseffects are cumulative.

MIDDLE-AGED[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character is quite a bit older than usual as he first steps out thedoor and into his adventuring career.

Drawback: Your character is just entering middle age. Calculate hiscurrent age by adding 1d6 years to the minimum age listed for hisspecies under ÒMiddle Age.Ó Subtract 1 from his Strength, Dexterity, andConstitution scores and add 1 to his Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charismascores.

NERVOUS[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character has some difficulty dealing with the horrors of battle,dark magic, and supernatural manifestations.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -4 penalty to Will Savesmade to resist fear, horror, shock, or demoralization.

Special: This flaw may be taken twice, with the DMÕ s permission. Itseffects are cumulative.

OAFISH[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character is about as light on his feet as a sleepy owlbear.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -2 penalty to all Hide,Jump, and Move Silently checks.

OBESE[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character is substantially overweight. Although his mother might

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insist that heÕ s just stocky, sheÕ s wrong.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -1 penalty to his ArmorClass rating, as he has difficulty moving nimbly when he needs to.Furthermore, he cannot wear most armor and clothing found in thecourse of an adventure without having it taken to a craftsman to beadjusted to his size first. Lastly, he suffers a -4 penalty to Disguise checksbecause his corpulence is a rather memorable trait. On the positive side,he does gain a +2 circumstance bonus to all Swim checks.

OLD INJURY[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character suffers from an old wound, long healed on the surfacebut ready to flare up again when aggravated by new injuries.

Drawback: Whenever your character sustains a successful critical hit,he suffers a -1 penalty to both Strength and Dexterity. These lost abilitypoints must be recovered at the ordinary rate, with rest and care.

Limitation: This flaw may not be taken by a character with the naturalability to rapidly regenerate lost ability points, nor by a character natural-ly immune to ability point loss or critical hits.

OLD INJURY (II)[ Primary Flaw ]

This is another form of old injury.

Drawback: Whenever your character sustains a successful critical hit,the damage multiplier of that critical hit increases by 1 (x2 becomes x3,x3 becomes x4, and so forth).

Special: This flaw may be taken in conjunction with Old Injury.

Limitation: This flaw may not be taken by a character naturally immuneto critical hits.

ONE-HANDED[ Primary Flaw— Worth Two Flaws ]

Your character s off hand was completely severed from his wrist, leav-ing him with nothing but a rounded and useless stump.

Drawback: This flaw has a variety of effects:

-Your character cannot wield a weapon in his off-hand, nor use any

shield with that hand, save a buckler which can be strapped to his fore-arm;

- Your character may not wear rings or bracelets on his off hand.Magical items in the form of gloves or gauntlets may not be used if bothmust be worn to achieve the magical effect;

- Your character suffers a -2 circumstance penalty to all Climb, Craft,Disable Device, Open Lock, and Use Rope checks; and

-Your character may not use ordinary bows, although he may load andfire crossbows as per normal.

Limitation: Your character may not possess the following feats:Ambidexterity, Two-Weapon Fighting, or Improved Two-WeaponFighting. Your character may not have a Weapon Focus or a WeaponSpecialization for any two-handed weapon.

3.5 Revision: Your character may not possess the Greater Two-Weapon Fighting feat.

Special: The DM may see fit to assign penalties to actions notdescribed here if the lack of an off-hand could be reasonably determinedto hinder those actions.

POOR FIGHTER[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character, whether because of a lack of training, natural ability, orsimple enthusiasm, does not fight as skillfully as he should.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -1 penalty to all attackrolls.

Limitation: With the DMÕ s explicit permission, this flaw may be takentwice. Its effects are cumulative.

PREDICTABLE FIGHTER[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character fights in a woefully limited and straightforward fashion.

Drawback: Your character is incapable of using the full defense, aidanother, trip, or disarm actions in combat.

Limitation: Your character cannot possess the Expertise feat or anyfeat requiring it as a prerequisite.

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3.5 Revision: Your character cannot possess the Combat Expertisefeat or any feat requiring it as a prerequisite.

PSIONIC VULNERABILITY[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character is unusually vulnerable to the deleterious effects of hos-tile psionic powers.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -2 penalty to all savingthrows against psionic powers and effects.

Limitation: This flaw may only be taken by characters in campaignswhere psionic abilities will be encountered relatively frequently.

Special: This flaw may be taken multiple times, with the DMÕ s permis-sion. Its effects are cumulative.

PUG UGLY[ Primary Flaw ]

Although his friends would probably be quick to point out that he has asparkling personality, your character s face looks like someone put it onan anvil and tried to beat it into a wall decoration.

Drawback: Your character suffers a -4 penalty to all Diplomacy andDisguise checks. At the DMÕ s discretion, his appearance may alarm orupset NPC strangers, creating tension or complication where none wouldotherwise exist.

SLOW HEALING[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character finds that recovery from serious injury is a slow andaggravating process.

Drawback: Your character recovers 1 hit point per day of rest per twocharacter levels (or fraction thereof). If he receives complete bed rest, herecovers 1 hit point per day of rest.

Limitation: This flaw may not be taken by any character for whom fasthealing is a natural condition.

SLOW-MOVING[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character is something of a laggard, forever unable to keep up withothers when forced to rely on his feet for transportation.

Drawback: Your character s base Speed is reduced by 10 feet.

SLOW-WITTED[ Primary Flaw ]

When danger looms, your character is slower to react than thosearound him.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -4 penalty to his Initiativechecks.

Limitation: This flaw may not be taken in conjunction with theImproved Initiative feat, as the two will simply cancel each other out.

Special: This flaw may be taken twice, with the DMÕ s permission. Itseffects are cumulative.

SPECIFIC MAGIC VULNERABILITY[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character is extremely vulnerable to the effects of one specificschool of magic.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -4 penalty to all savingthrows against spells and spell-like effects from one of the followingschools of magic:

-Enchantment-Evocation-Illusionism-Necromancy-Transformation

Special: This flaw may be taken twice, with the DMÕ s permission. Iftaken again, it is applied to a second school. Its effects are cumulativewith the penalty inflicted by the Magic Vulnerability flaw (page 11).

UNATHLETIC[ Primary Flaw ]

Whether your character is out of shape, aging, or just disinclined tothrow himself around is up to you.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -2 penalty to Climb,Jump, and Swim checks.

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UNCOORDINATED[ Primary Flaw ]

ÒRight foot in front of left foot, then repeatÓ is about the most compli -cated action your poor, clumsy character can undertake without trouble.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -2 penalty to Balance,Ride, and Tumble checks. Any Perform check involving dexterousmoment (dancing or juggling, for example) also suffers a -2 circumstancepenalty.

UNEXCEPTIONAL[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character displays no particular brilliance or excellence in any ofhis abilities.

Drawback: Your character may never have any natural ability scorehigher than 13. He may place a maximum number of ranks in any classskill equal to his current level +1. Cross-class skills may be given no moreranks than his current level.

UNHEALTHY[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character suffers from a variety of physical ailments that could bethe result of age, injury, disease, or even plain old hypochondria.

Drawback: All numerical fatigue penalties (to Strength and Dexterity)are doubled for your character. His allowed light load is decreased by 10pounds, his medium load is decreased by 20 pounds, and his maximumload is decreased by 30 pounds. He suffers an inherent -1 penalty to allsaving throws against poison and disease.

UNLUCKY[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character might not be fortuneÕ s fool, but heÕ s almost certainly for-tuneÕ s rubber chew toy.

Drawback: Any time your character rolls a natural 1 on a skill check,that skill check fails in the most picturesque and potentially complicatingfashion possible, at the DMÕ s fiendish discretion. Whenever your charac-ter rolls a natural 1 on an attack roll, he drops the weapon he used tomake that attack roll. If he is incapable of dropping the weapon (for exam-ple, if it is clenched inside a locked gauntlet), he will instead injure him-self for 1d4 hit points.

WEAK CONSTITUTION[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character lacks resistance to pathogens and harmful substances.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -2 penalty to all savingthrows made to resist poisons, drugs, and diseases.

Special: This flaw may be taken twice, with the DMÕ s permission. Itseffects are cumulative.

WEAK-WILLED[ Primary Flaw ]

Your character lacks the mental fortitude one might wish to have beforeventuring out into a world full of giant monsters, supernatural horrors, andbizarre enchantments.

Drawback: Your character suffers an inherent -2 penalty to his Will sav-ing throw.

Limitation: This flaw may not be taken in conjunction with the Iron Willfeat, as the two cancel each other out entirely.

Special: This flaw may be taken twice, with the DMÕ s permission. Itseffects are cumulative.

SECONDARY FLAWS

Secondary flaws are divided into two types: Personality Conflict flaws,which arise from your character s psyche or nature, and ExternalTrouble flaws, which deal with forces or events in the world around thecharacters.

AGGRESSIVE[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character is impulsive and belligerent, favoring threats and com-bat over all other means of problem-solving.

Drawback: Your character tends to strike first and think later; heassumes hostility on the part of strangers and unknown beings, and hebelieves that they are logically expecting hostility in return. He knows nomeans of negotiation save threats and demands, and he responds poor-ly to anything less in turn. Your character is not necessarily murderous—his friends and allies can talk him out of foolish courses of action, but they

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had best do so with extreme swiftness, or your character will pull steeland lead the way to glorious chaos!

Special: Your character suffers a variable circumstance penalty to anyDiplomacy check made against any character used to more civilizedmethods of persuasion than overt threats and warlike banter.

Limitation: This flaw may not be combined with the Cowardly flaw.

BINDING HONOR CODE[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character is sworn (before the god or gods he holds dear) to holdto a system of personal honor that precludes certain forms of behavior.Your character would sooner die than violate this code.

Drawback: Two sample codes of honor are provided below. Playersand DMs are free to define new ones. The only requirement of the codeis that it firmly constrain character behavior in several respects— thisplaces the character at a disadvantage in certain situations by removingthe choices left available to characters not bound by a code of honor. Allcharacters possessing such a binding code should shun, abhor, or open-ly seek the death of those that swore to the same code and then brokeit.

Vindictive/Criminal Code of Honor-Never go to the authorities when you have been wronged by another;

never inform the authorities of wrongdoing by another. Personal insultsand affronts must be settled personally— to ask someone in power to pro-tect or compensate you is unworthy and cowardly;

-Justice must be of an equal measure to the crime; injury for injury, theftfor theft, death for death. A direct personal insult (to oneÕ s manhood,womanhood, or sense of honor) must be met with a duel or with murderif a duel is not accepted;

-Never, under any circumstances, forgive any insult or injury on any-oneÕ s terms but your own, after full satisfaction has been achieved. Thesole exception is when you are forced to extend forgiveness by a figurein authority over you; and

-Never betray a close friend; Never reveal information to anyone thatwould be harmful to a friend; In turn, never forgive a betrayal by a formerfriend.

Chivalrous Code of Honor-Never lie for any reason— to do so is an affront in the eyes of the gods;

-Never back down or flee from any fight in a righteous cause; die will-ingly and honorably in a futile fight before turning your back to evil;

-Never speak anything against the honor of a lady, and never questionthe word of a nobleman or woman save when you have clear and directproof of wrongdoing; at all other times bite your tongue and be humble;

-Never show disrespect to your god(s), or to the servants of those gods;

-Be generous and charitable; do not hoard what has come to you.Share everything you have with those in need.

-Never break a promise to anyone, living or dead; die before forsakingyour sworn oath.

Limitation: This flaw may be incompatible with a variety of flaws basedupon the specific code selected. DMs should pay careful attention toflaws selected in concert with Binding Honor Code.

BLASPHEMOUS[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character doesnÕt take the gods or their power seriously at all— hemakes them the butt of jokes, and he finds their servants misguided atbest or contemptible at worst.

Drawback: Your character has no faith, or has lost that faith through aseries of misfortunes. He trusts no god and has a hard time trusting anygodÕ s servant. He curses loudly and frequently, abusing the name of anygod that springs to mind. Indeed, discovering new ways to take thenames of a god or gods in vain is one of his favorite means of passingthe time.

Special: There is a 25% chance that any beneficial divine spell cast onyour character will fail to work. There is also a chance (at the DMÕ s dis-cretion) that blasphemy on the part of your character in places of holy orunholy power may result in some misfortune. Nothing so obvious aslightning bolts from the sky, but some subtle or annoying setback that willcause your character grief. Curiously, this continued affirmation of thegodsÕ power only makes your character more annoyed with them. Lastly,as you might expect, your character gets along less than famously withmost priests and clerics.

BOASTFUL[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character is full of hot air concerning everything about himself, his

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deeds, his horse, his drinking capacity, his skills at fishing and carpentry,the important people he knows, his personal weapons, his romantic con-quests, his close friends, and his aspirations in life.

Drawback: Your character cannot discuss himself or his friends with-out embellishing the facts and exaggerating the details. Unlike most vet-eran soldiers and ale-house regulars, he doesnÕt regard this behavior asa playful sort of game— heÕ s a compulsive liar with some personal defi-ciency or thirst for attention. He cannot bear to be upstaged, and willexaggerate his stories to the point that demands will usually be made forhim to prove his claims. Your character can no more back gracefullydown from such a challenge, even a foolish one, than he can ceasetelling stories in the first place.

Special: If your character must bite his tongue when discretion is obvi-ously called for, he may attempt a Will Save (DC set by the DM, moder-ate difficulty) to do so. If he must bite his tongue as a matter of life ordeath, he can swallow his pride for a short while without a Will Save.

COLD FISH[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character is an unusually taciturn and emotionless person. He hasno interest in sports, wagers or amusements (save those of the quietestand most cerebral sort). He has little flair for personal interaction andseems decidedly uncomfortable around celebrants, drunkards, children,attractive members of the opposite sex, and open displays of emotion.

Drawback: Your character isnÕt necessarily condescending or disdain -ful about the habits of other people. HeÕ s just far removed from any abil-ity to appreciate those habits. Imagine him as an alien presence, forevertrying to comprehend whatÕ s going on around him and forever failing.Frequently, itÕ s more comfortable for him to withdraw from contact withothers than to tolerate exuberance, rashness, relaxation, and cama-raderie. Although he may value others, he has few ways of expressingthis value. He gives praise only rarely and matter-of-factly, because hedoes not grasp that others might enjoy it. His emotional displays are gen-erally limited to anger and its near-cousins.

Special: At the DMÕ s discretion, your character may suffer a -2 cir-cumstance penalty to certain Charisma-based skill checks made againststrangers or new acquaintances.

Special: If your character has the Leadership feat, he does not add hispositive Charisma modifier (if any) to the Leadership check total.

COWARDLY[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character has an excessive fear of personal injury, death, failureand abandonment. He is not inclined to take risks, hates to enter a dan-gerous situation before others, and will often engage in pitiful displays ofcowardice that would shame a character made of sterner stuff.

Drawback: Your character will frequently attempt to maneuver himselfphysically to place others between himself and danger. He has very littleshame about cringing displays of cowardice. While he wonÕt completelyabandon close friends in need, he certainly wonÕt step boldly forward torisk his neck on their behalf. HeÕll do the minimum necessary (fleeing withan unconscious friend over his shoulder, for example, as opposed tofighting the monster that knocked the friend unconscious). Wheneverpossible, he will fight in the least honorable and risky way imaginable,taking cover or using potent magical weapons even if such actions arenÕtstrictly necessary.

Special: This flaw exerts a powerful pull on your character s actions. Itmay be combined with other personality conflict flaws, provided thatwhen one cancels out the other the character will still suffer some penal-ty. For example, a cowardly character would never imagine leaping intoa freezing river to save a drowning pack animal. However, a cowardlymiser would do so in an instant if that pack animal carried his bags oftreasure, exposing himself to extreme risk without thought of his usualcowardice. While the character s cowardice is temporarily subsumed, hisbehavior could by no means be termed healthy.

Limitation: This flaw may not be combined with the Aggressive flaw,nor may a Cowardly character be Overconfident or Risk-Addicted.

DARK DESIRE[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character s innermost desire is to possess some unimaginablypowerful or evil thing, or to transcend his mortal condition by ascendingto a higher level in the celestial scheme of things... perhaps even bybecoming a god.

Drawback: This is not an idle fascination of your character— it is thecore of his very existence, a black secret that he shares with no one. Atall times, your character is pondering, scheming, seeking information,and carefully moving himself in what he believes to be the proper direc-tion for his goal. He will seek out forbidden and dangerous tomes ofmagic lore, quest after artifacts and treasures that have driven othersinsane, and enter into bargains with any supernatural being that can

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advance his cause or lead him to the next step in his grand plan.Although your character is infinitely patient, at the very end of his quest,when the goal is in sight, there is no betrayal he will not make and nobond he will not forsake to grasp what he has always desired.

Special: If your character attains his dark desire, it wonÕt happen aftera month or two of adventuring. It will happen after years, or, more likely,decades. The attainment of a dark desire will almost certainly turn yourcharacter into an antagonistic NPC under the DMÕ s control, so it is essen-tial for full dramatic impact that this flaw be kept as utterly secret as pos-sible.

DEBT OF HONOR[ Secondary Flaw: External Trouble ]

Your owes a debt to a powerful NPC, and that debt is to be repaid withservice rather than with goods or gold.

Drawback: Over the course of the unfolding campaign, your characterwill be called upon to perform three substantial services for an NPC.These services will test the character s abilities and will contain assortedchallenges and dangers. If your character fails to heed the call when hisservices are requested, something unfortunate will happen to him— hewill be branded an oath-breaker or outcast, and will very likely be target-ed for violence by the character he has spurned.

The nature of the NPC (crime boss, eccentric wizard, reclusive noble,etc.) should be such that he feels no real emotional connection to yourcharacter. Your character will therefore have no idea how much of a riskhe is facing when he undertakes each service. The nature of each serv-ice will also probably be contrived to minimize potential reward for yourcharacter, especially when the NPC wants something of value retrievedor an enemy wiped out. These missions are duties to be discharged, notopportunities for glory and treasure.

Special: The NPC wonÕt mind at all if other characters accompanyyours out of friendship or duty, but he wonÕt of fer them a single copperpiece of compensation for their time and effort.

DELUSIONAL[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character suffers from occasional audiovisual hallucinations,sometimes imagining events or situations that arenÕt actually real.

Drawback: From time to time the DM will feed you a description (with-out telling you that itÕ s delusional, of course) of an event or encounter that

your character will believe to be utterly real. Most of these delusions willfall apart when examined and refuted by other party members, but thereshould always be some tension about each incident. Is your charactermerely hallucinating again, or is there really a shadowy figure followingthe party through the forest?

Special: No form of magical healing or protection against illusions willsuffice to remove these delusions. They originate deep within your char-acter s mind for reasons appropriate to his background.

DRUNKARD[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

It would be something of an understatement to say that your characterlikes his booze. The pursuit and intake of alcoholic beverages is one ofthe motivating factors at the root of your character s existence.

Drawback: Whenever your character has an opportunity to get a drinkor five, he must make a Will Save (DC 20, at minimum) to pass it up, savein a life or death situation. Whenever your character has an opportunityto purchase a great deal of alcohol (at an inn, for example), he mustmake a similar Will Save to avoid drinking to the point of near-incapacity.Although his tolerance for alcohol is monumental, a monumental qualityof frothy liquid can still get him roaring drunk.

Special: The DM may assume that a bender will cost the character1d6+1 SP for every point of positive Constitution modifier he possesses(for example, a character with a Con score of 14 (+2) will drink up 2d6+2SP on his way to inebriation). If the character is a dwarf, change each d6to a d10. A roaring drunk character suffers a -4 circumstance penalty toall Dexterity-related skill checks, a -1 penalty to all attack rolls, and a -1penalty to AC. These penalties will last until the character gets eight fullhours of sleep (or absolute rest, if he doesnÕt sleep). If a character has nopositive Con modifier, just assume that a bender will cost 1d6+1 SP.

Special: On the trail or in a dungeon, your character feels no need toget roaring drunk, and will generally content himself by consuming smalland regular amounts of wine or hard liquor.

DUTY-BOUND[ Secondary Flaw: External Trouble ]

Your character is bound by a formal oath of service to an NPC.

Drawback: Compare and contrast this flaw with Debt of Honor (aboveand at left). Your character serves an NPC that does have an emotionaltie to him and wonÕt risk him heedlessly , but your character s term of serv-

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ice to that NPC is indefinite. For as long as that NPC lives, your charac-ter may be summoned to perform tasks for him. Your character will haveto leave information on his whereabouts with that NPC, and will berequired to ask permission of that NPC before undertaking missions orquests that will take him far away for lengthy periods of time.

Special: The NPC can and will attempt to be considerate of your char-acter s adventuring career, if your character has one, but it bears remem-bering at all times that your character serves the NPC on his solemnoath, and cannot break that oath without suffering dire consequences.

ENEMY/HUNTED[ Secondary Flaw: External Trouble ]

Your character has made a personal enemy with a reasonable degreeof power. This enemy should not simply be against your character s race,nation, or sworn cause— he is after your character specifically and willnever forget the enmity that exists between them.

Drawback: The DM has a great deal of leeway in the construction ofthis NPC. At a minimum, the NPC will have class levels (or power equiv-alent to class levels) equal to that of your character, and will gain experi-ence roughly as fast as your character does. If the enemy makes fre-quent appearances in your character s life, the DM may leave him as is.If the enemy makes infrequent appearances, the DM should give him abit more power to make those appearances more disruptive. The contestbetween your character and his enemy will only end in the death (or anequally final fate) of one of them, after a series of harrowing encounters.

Special: ÒHuntedÓ is an alternate version of the enemy flaw. If yourcharacter is Hunted, some external force seeks him for a pressing rea-son, but doesnÕt necessarily want to kill him. In fact, they might need himintact. Perhaps your character was forced into an arranged royal mar-riage, for example, and now flees just a few steps ahead of the agents ofboth his family and his would-be spouseÕ s family.

ESTRANGED[ Secondary Flaw: External Trouble ]

Your character is cut off from both his family and the society that rearedhim, not by formal outcasting or rule of law, but by emotional conflicts thatare too painful for either side to even confront, much less set aside.

Drawback: Your character carries a great weight of mixed frustrationand regret about this situation, and will spend much of his time contem-plating it, often at the expense of good humor or good fellowship. He willget no aid from his family or his society; indeed, he will be reluctant to go

near them, even when circumstances seem to require it. A good DM willweave this estrangement throughout an ongoing campaign, ensuring thatit rears its head from time to time to turn some satisfaction or new happi-ness into ashes in your character s mouth.

Special: While reconciliation is not impossible, it will only come at theend of a long effort by both sides-- an effort that the other side may notbe willing to make even if your character is.

EXPLOSIVE TEMPER[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

When your character gets angry, he erupts— losing control over hiswords and actions, and often making impulsive, heated decisions that hewill later have cause to regret.

Drawback: When something happens to make your character angry,he must succeed at a Will Save (DC set by the DM based on circum-stances, ranging from moderate to near-impossible) to avoid flying com-pletely off the handle. While heÕ s bad enough when he makes that save,heÕ s a terror when he fails it. He will kick objects, throw things, threatenhis friends and allies, disorder everything around him, start fights, andthrow himself heedlessly into potentially foolish combat. After a tempertantrum has spent itself, your character will generally sulk, making him-self miserable company for an hour or two.

Special: This differs from the Aggressive flaw in that your charactermight not even want to be a terribly violent person. His bouts of ragemight be accurately described as incidents of possession— his temperconsumes him, and he doesnÕt particularly enjoy it, but it happensnonetheless.

GRANDILOQUENT[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character is a staggeringly pompous, affected, and formal individ-ual.

Drawback: Your character always speaks and acts as though he ownsthe location heÕ s in and is simultaneously dispatching the will of the high-est and most puissant gods. Saying Ògood morningÓ to someone is a five-sentence affair, while cursing an enemy will cause most nearby listenersto wish they lived in a world where the Thesaurus had been invented sothey could follow what was being said. While your character might meanwell and be a perfectly lovely person, he speaks and acts in a fashionthat, while perfectly natural to him, is either ludicrous or grating to almosteveryone else.

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Limitation: This flaw may not be taken in conjunction with theProvincial flaw.

GREED[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

While most heroic adventurers enjoy the rewards of their quests andmissions, your character covets new material possessions to an extreme-ly unhealthy degree.

Drawback: The lure of wealth or treasure seems to draw a curtaindown over your character s better judgment. In the presence of treas-ures, art objects, gems, coins, or other riches ripe for the plucking, yourcharacter throws caution to the wind and disregards warnings of dangerssuch as traps and curses. Your character is overly eager to explore newdungeon rooms and fiddle with strange dungeon appliances, no matterhow many times his friends order him to be more cautious. Curiouslyenough, once heÕ s got his hands on a new treasure, he tends to do withit as he pleases and thinks no more of it. ItÕ s the acquisition of riches thatsets his blood on fire, not the hoarding of them.

Special: This flaw does not make the character a kleptomaniac. He suf-fers no compulsion to take things that are clearly owned by people helikes, fears, or respects.

HAUNTED[ Secondary Flaw: External Trouble ]

Your character suffers from the subtle but persistent attention of aninvisible poltergeist or some other minor supernatural force. This pres-ence might have been picked up as a result of looting a tomb or dungeon.

Drawback: Your character is the subject of continual mischief as aresult of this haunting— small objects will be moved or stolen, animals willbe spooked, provisions will be spoiled, and so forth. Strange noises mightwake him in the night, and vulgar or threatening notes might be writtenon maps or scrolls. While the haunting spirit doesnÕt have the power toharm your character directly, his life will be a bit messy and aggravatingas long as the spirit lingers.

Special: This supernatural presence is extremely canny and difficult toget rid of. Priestly blessings and necromantic magic can drive it away fora while, but only an extremely involving and costly divine or magic ritual(well beyond the reach of any 1st level character) will ever drive the spir-it away (DMÕ s discretion). The spirit may have difficulty following the char-acter into other planes, at the DMÕ s discretion. Then again, it might beclose at hand when he travels to another plane, and take the opportuni-

ty to slip through with him.

HUMORLESS[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character is absolutely (possibly even genetically, if nonhuman)without a sense of humor. He doesnÕt understand the concept of humor ,and attempts to explain it to him will only baffle him further.

Drawback: Your character might even be friendly, sociable, and capa-ble of enjoying himself— he simply does not laugh or grasp why anyoneelse laughs. His earnest sincerity and genuine lack of comprehension arealien and often disquieting to those who donÕt know your character .Occasionally, his failure to understand the nuances of humor will causehim to miss the subtext of an important social interaction, or give some-one the false impression that he is making fun of them.

Special: In addition to the roleplaying consequences of this flaw, yourcharacter will suffer a -2 circumstance penalty to all Innuendo checks anda -8 circumstance penalty to any Perform check where an element ofhumor is involved in the performance.

INCONVENIENT OATH[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character has sworn an oath by the gods, for as long as he lives,to avoid doing something extremely useful to himself or to do somethingthat makes him stick out like a sore thumb. This oath might have beensworn for any religious or cultural reason appropriate to the character sbackground.

Drawback: The character would sooner die than violate this oath; fail-ure to uphold it may result in social or divine punishment as the DM seesfit. Some possibilities include but are not limited to:

-The character has sworn never to wield a weapon that can kill a foefrom a distance;

-The character has sworn to always dress in mourning colors/clothesand to wear no others, even for diplomatic and religious events, evenwhen adventuring in the wilderness, even when wearing a disguise couldbe necessary for saving his life;

-The character has sworn never to wield any weapon or wear any setof armor save those that he crafts himself;

-The character has sworn to donate ten percent of his income to a reli-

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gious institution, without failure and without hesitation;

-The character has sworn never to let any healing potion or draughtpass his lips, even if his life is slipping away.

Special: This flaw may be combined only with Estranged or BindingHonor Code only if it doesnÕt duplicate a drawback already granted byone of those flaws. For example, a character with the Estranged flaw can-not swear an Inconvenient Oath to never go back to his familyÕ s lands—they wonÕt have him there anyway .

INFERIORITY COMPLEX[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character has a permanent chip on his shoulder. All his life, as hesees it, nobody has ever appreciated the true depth of his talents andabilities.

Drawback: Your character is extremely sensitive about small thingsthat he imagines reflect the contempt others feel for him. If asked to takethe lead on the trail, heÕll assume itÕ s because heÕ s thought unimportantenough to be risked. If asked to take the rear, heÕll assume itÕ s becausethey think him boring If asked to take the middle, heÕll assume itÕ sbecause they donÕt think heÕ s skilled enough to handle himself in the frontor the rear. While your character is usually able to subsume his festeringresentment beneath a layer of jagged humor or false conviviality, it occa-sionally boils over and causes extreme discomfort in everyone aroundhim. Sometimes, your character also takes foolish and unnecessary risksin an effort to demonstrate his skills.

INTOLERANT[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character is vehemently prejudiced against a certain (player-char-acter) race other than his own. Whether this intolerance springs from sim-ple ignorance or a legitimate grievance is up to you.

Drawback: Your character s overt hostility (which goes as far as name-calling, fight-picking, and boorish public behavior, but not as far as mali-cious mayhem such as arson or murder) will generally be an embarrass-ment to his friends and allies. It might also get him and the rest of theadventuring party into regular trouble with NPCs (innkeepers, criminals,guides, nobles, wizards, etc.) of the appropriate race.

Special: At the DMÕ s discretion, your character may suffer a -4 cir-cumstance penalty to certain Charisma-based skill checks made againstcharacters of the appropriate race.

Limitation: This flaw may not be taken if the prejudice it grants is heldby a large percentage of the campaign worldÕ s population. Furthermore,it may not apply to ÒmonstrousÓ races such as trolls or goblins which aregenerally assumed to be inimical to the civilizations from which player-characters come.

LECHEROUS[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character is frequently and severely distracted by his weaknessfor his compatible sex.

Drawback: Your character finds it difficult to resist the lure of a chanceto be near potential romantic entanglements. Just as a drunkard dreamsof wine bottles and ale mugs when he returns to civilization, your char-acter dreams of healthy young flesh, flirtations, and brief but passionateromantic affairs. Your character is continually hopping in and out of bed-chambers (or trying to, if his lechery exceeds his personal charm) andgetting into heated arguments with competitors and ex-lovers alike.

Special: Your character must make a Will Save (DC generally ratherhigh) to avoid the urge to try and pick up a potential partner whenever theopportunity presents itself. This can cause no end of complications forthe character and his party when time or discretion is of the essence.Furthermore, the adventuring party might occasionally find itself facingthe drawn swords of an irate parent (or noble, or barbarian tribe leader,or such) and his contingent of guards.

Limitation: This flaw shouldnÕt be taken in conjunction with theDrunkard flaw, as the downside of being a drunkard limits a character schances to be lecherous, although the inebriated state of others oftenmakes them easier targets for lechery.

LONE WOLF[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character is anything but a team player. Whether he regards thepresence of others as a hindrance to his abilities and style or just prefersto keep his own company is up to you.

Drawback: Your character has an extremely difficult time working withothers in groups and getting along in such arrangements for any lengthof time. If forced to tolerate the continual presence of others, he will be agrating, sarcastic, and generally divisive influence when heÕ s not ditchingthe others to do things his own way. He will frequently find excuses toÒscout aheadÓ or Òtake care of some personal business,Ó ensuring that hewonÕt often be close at hand when heÕ s needed in an emergency.

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Limitation: This flaw can go a long way toward splintering a group inthe most inconvenient fashion possible. DMs, be certain that playerswishing to take this flaw for their characters can be trusted not to take itso far that it ruins the game for everyone.

MACHO/SPARTAN[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character makes a point to project himself as tough, bullish, andready for anything. HeÕll have nothing but scorn for anyone with a lessertolerance for adversity and he certainly wonÕt back down from a chal -lenge.

Drawback: The central function of this Complication is that your char-acter will get on othersÕ nerves with amazing regularity. Furthermore, yourcharacter will routinely refuse to do things the easy and comfortable way.Beds? Beds are for sissies. Heavy clothing in freezing weather? Hey,freezing weather s good for you. Grin and bear it! Your character s machoassumptions may sometimes leave your adventuring party without vitaltools or clothing when entering a hazardous situation. Even when freelyoffered creature comforts, your character will utterly disdain their use.

The DM may call for a Will Save if your character attempts to back downfrom a direct challenge to his machismo. If acceptance of creature com-forts is a matter of diplomatic importance, your character will make everyeffort to appear content with them, while making every private effort toshun them that he can.

Limitation: This flaw may not be taken in conjunction with Vain/Dandy.

MELANCHOLY[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character is uninvolved in the excitement and pageantry of life—his world is introspective, bleak, and morbid. While not actively out to killhimself, he has no complaints about dying, and seems somewhatbemused by the lengths everyone around him goes to to avoid it.

Drawback: This is not merely a pose— something has happened toyour character to rob him of joy and exuberance. Although he keeps asense of humor, itÕ s wry and cynical, frequently exercised at the expenseof others. Your character often speculates on the nature of death and onthe manner of the death that awaits him, regardless of whether or notsuch talk discomforts those around him. When injured or left in a state ofextreme peril, your character is quite lackadaisical, and will be more of adetriment than a benefit to anyone struggling to survive nearby. If yourcharacter does find the will to carry on, itÕ s only because heÕ s found

something new to amuse him for a little while.

MISER[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character is obsessed not so much with the joy of discovering newtreasures as he is with hoarding and contemplating what heÕ s alreadygained. HeÕ s also a notorious skinflint.

Drawback: Your character balks at spending a single copper piecemore than absolutely necessary for anything, from the food he eats to theplaces he sleeps in and the weapons and armor he trusts to save his life.Your character has very little dignity where his coin purse is concerned,and will gladly sleep in a bale of hay and wear threads among adventur-ers clad in magic cloaks and shining armor.

Furthermore, your character will generally try to save about ten percentof all the treasure he collects so that he can bury or hide it in a safe place.The quest for a better hiding place is always burning in his mind, and heis a frequent visitor to moneychangers and counting-houses. He alsothinks nothing about sneaking out at night to bury a few sacks or trunksbeneath a local landmark, to be retrieved at a later date.

MONETARY DEBT[ Secondary Flaw: External Trouble ]

Your character owes a relatively huge sum of money to a powerful NPCthat expects repayment. Although itÕ s understood that your character willpay in installments as his adventuring career proceeds, those install-ments had better be generous and steady.

Drawback: If the NPC is a vicious and dangerous character (crimeboss, master thief, evil wizard, unscrupulous usurer with criminal con-tacts), the debt owed is 4,000 GP. If the NPC is merely firm and unfriend-ly (disapproving noble, relatively honorable moneylender), the debt owedis 5,000 GP. These sums must generally be paid off by the garnishing ofno less than half of what a character brings in (although he can alwayspay the debt off faster if he wishes). Anything less will displease the char-acter s creditor, and your character does not want that to happen.

Delaying or defaulting on repayment can have a variety of conse-quences. If the creditor is the shady sort, heÕll send assassins andenforcers after your character and his friends. If the creditor has legiti-mate authority or power, he may initiate social consequences or legalproceedings.

If your character fails to make one or more of his regular payments, or

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somehow displeases his creditor without entirely defaulting on therepayment, compound interest may begin to accrue on what he still owesand a new repayment schedule may be forced upon him.

NIGHTMARES[ Secondary Flaw: External Trouble ]

Your character suffers from recurring and nearly incurable nightmares,stemming from an extremely stressful event of encounter in his past.

Drawback: There is a 40% chance per period of sleep that your char-acter will experience extremely vivid and lengthy nightmares. The char-acter must make a Will Save against a DC of 17; failure means that thecharacter will be mentally fatigued the next day. While he can still run andcharge, he will suffer a -2 penalty to all Spot, Search, Knowledge, andConcentration checks, and he will suffer a -1 penalty to all of his attackrolls. These penalties last until he is next able to sleep undisturbed.

Special: If the character is a wizard or sorcerer, this flaw counts as twoflaws. A bout of nightmares will rob the character of a single preparedspell slot of each level he can cast for the next day. For example, if acharacter that can prepare 2 1st level spells suffers a bout of nightmares,he will only be able to prepare 1 1st level spell the next day.

Limitation: This flaw may not be possessed by elves.

OUTLAWED[ Secondary Flaw: External Trouble ]

Your character has been branded a criminal in a very large area by apowerful legitimate authority, and if caught and brought to justice, he canexpect imprisonment, torture, or death.

Drawback: Compare and contrast this flaw with Estranged (page 18).While your character might be a genuine criminal, rightly accused, hemight also be a scapegoat or a political inconvenience facing a falseaccusation. Soldiers and agents of a powerful legal authority have beeninstructed to pursue and capture your character if he is ever discoveredin their vicinity, and the individuals responsible for branding your charac-ter an outlaw pursue the matter fairly vigorously, at least near their ownborders.

Special: Generally speaking, the more people are willing to help shel-ter your character or pass him word of whatÕ s happening in the lands thathave outlawed him, the more powerful the authority that hunts him shouldbe. Thus, this flaw can be precisely balanced to fit your character s idealsituation.

OVERCONFIDENT[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character is absolutely certain that he can take any challengeset before him, even if the odds against him are ridiculous. Unfortunately,your character is also pretty much wrong.

Drawback: Your character scoffs at the idea that Òdiscretion is the bet -ter part of valor.Ó He wonÕt back down from a fight, he dislikes calling forreinforcements, and he has a habit of constantly underestimating anydanger or opponent placed in his way. Your character might be forced tomake a Will Save (difficulty relatively high) any time he attempts to with-draw from danger or back down from a challenge.

Special: Your character gains a +4 bonus to Will Saves vs. dragon fear.Astute readers will note that this is not a boon.

Limitation: This flaw may not be taken in conjunction with theCowardly flaw.

PHOBIA[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character has an unreasoning fear of a certain thing or situation.This phobia must center on an object or situation that is reasonably com-mon, yet not entirely disruptive to the ongoing game. Possibilities include(but are not limited to):

- Serpents - Enclosed Spaces - Spiders - Fire- Darkness - Crossbows- Heights - Firearms and Gunpowder- Water -Horses/Pack Animals

Drawback: When your character is in the presence of the object of hisphobia, he suffers a -2 penalty to all of his skill checks, attack rolls, andsaving throws. Furthermore, he may be required (DMÕ s discretion) toattempt a Will Save if forced to closely approach a phobia trigger orremain in its presence for very long.

Special: With the DMÕ s explicit permission, a character may possesstwo or more phobias.

POOR REPUTATION[ Secondary Flaw: External Trouble ]

Your character has an extremely unflattering reputation across a very

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wide area. Regardless of whether or not the reputation is deserved, itÕ sfirmly entrenched and all but impossible to counter.

Drawback: The precise nature of the reputation should be left to theDM, as appropriate to your character s background. If your character islaw-abiding, he might have a reputation as a suspicious and unsavoryperson. If your character is already an unsavory person, he might have areputation among other unsavory people as an oath-breaker, murderer,or informer. While this reputation wonÕt make anyone attack your charac -ter on sight, it will make virtually everything he tries to do more difficult.Contacts wonÕt take him seriously , innkeepers might refuse to rent roomsto him, constables or criminals (or both) will hassle him on the streets,and so forth.

PROVINCIAL[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character neednÕt be lacking in sheer brainpower , but he comesfrom an ethnic group or area that is considered by most ordinary folks ina campaign world or nation to be amusingly backwards.

Drawback: Your character displays the accents and personal habitscustomary to his place of origin; as a result of these traits, he is regard-ed as a Òhick.Ó Reflect for a moment on the level of sophistication dis -played by the average peasant or laborer in a fantasy campaign— thosepeople believe your character to be undereducated, superstitious, andknee-slappingly simple. Con artists and tricksters will single your charac-ter out for attention, and strangers in taverns will have plenty of choicewitticisms and taunts to throw at him. At the DMÕ s discretion, your char-acter will suffer a -2 circumstance penalty to most Charisma-based skillchecks in situations where his origin could be considered a hindrance inthe eyes of onlookers.

RISK-ADDICTED[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character is held in thrall by the surge of adrenaline he feels when-ever he stares into the gaping jaws of death or misfortune.

Drawback: This flaw is quite similar to Overconfident (page 22)— infact, in terms of effects, the two are nearly identical. The difference is thata Risk-Addicted character is totally cognizant of the extreme danger ofany given situation, and well aware that he might not be skilled enoughto take on the entire world and live, and he simply does not care. Yourcharacter never feels more alive than when his fate or fortune are hang-ing by a slender thread, and he seeks to put himself in such situations asoften as possible. In short, he will rarely retreat, surrender, or back down

from games of chance and risk. A Will Save against a fairly high DC maybe required if he ever wishes to exercise discretion rather than valor.

Limitation: This flaw may not be taken in conjunction with theOverconfident flaw, as their effects are too close to one another.

TONGUE-TIED[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Although your character frequently wishes to express himself, he is shy,hesitant, uncertain, and woefully unpolished in the social graces.

Drawback: Your character is extremely socially handicapped, in a man-ner determined by agreement between yourself and the DM. In additionto suffering a -1 penalty to your character s initial Charisma score, youmust roleplay one or more of the following— stuttering, shyness, hesi-tance, lack of assertiveness, and general submissiveness to virtuallyeveryone around you. Your character may be required to make a WillSave if he wishes to assert his presence or authority in anything but a life-or-death situation.

Special: If your character has the Leadership feat, he does not add hispositive Charisma modifier (if any) to the Leadership check total.

Special: This is a secondary flaw largely as a result of the roleplayingburden it places upon you. Playing a milquetoast is not for everyone, sothink carefully before applying this to your character.

VAIN/DANDY[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character is excessively obsessed with his clothes and appear-ance, in one of two ways:

Drawback: A character that is principally vain doesnÕt necessarily careabout the quality of the clothes he wears, but he is absolutely fastidiousabout keeping what he does have clean and presentable. He bathes atevery opportunity, washes his hair as often as possible, washes hisclothes at least as often, and polishes his boots even when on trail in thewilderness. He cannot abide the feeling of uncleanliness, even when dirton his face or clothes would help hide him from a nearby danger. He mustmake a Will Save (DMÕ s discretion) to tolerate a state of uncleanliness forany length of time.

A dandy, in contrast, is a foppish clotheshorse with a preference for thecomforts of civilization over the hard pleasures of the trail or the dungeon.While a dandy can bear a bit of grime or sweat, he can do so primarilybecause he likes to keep a change of clothes (or several) on hand. When

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setting out on an adventure, he will inevitably try to haul along as manyimprobable and unnecessary fine things as he can get away with, andwhile his friends might occasionally appreciate a rare bottle of wine whileon the trail, they wonÕt be pleased to discover that he tossed out a ropeand three grappling hooks to make room for it.

Limitation: A character with the Provincial flaw is rarely Vain and haslittle opportunity to become a Dandy.

VINDICTIVE[ Secondary Flaw: Personality Conflict ]

Your character cannot bear to let others have the last word or the lastblow. if wronged, he must revenge, no matter how inconvenient or fool-ish that may prove.

Drawback: Your character has a vicious revenge complex, and is inca-pable of bearing up with dignity under insults or injury. Likewise, he is allbut incapable of forgiving a slight or an injury, and will go to elaborate(and frequently dangerous) lengths to secure his revenge. Although hedoes not ask that his friends and allies help him achieve his vengeance,he grows highly irate when they attempt to interfere. ÒLetting it goÓ is notin his vocabulary; strung together in that order, those three words aremeaningless to him.

Special: If your character has a Binding Honor Code (page 15) thatencourages or requires revenge in some fashion, this flaw will exacer-bate that beyond any rational limits. Your character, when wronged, willbe a demon incarnate, burning for immediate settlement, preferably byblood.

WARD[ Secondary Flaw: External Trouble ]

Your character is responsible for the caretaking and safety of a rela-tively helpless NPC.

Drawback: At regular intervals, your character must call upon andassist (usually in some mundane fashion) an NPC that cannot take careof himself or herself, usually due to old age, infirmity, or young age. ThisNPC must also be provided with money, as they have no means of mak-ing a living. Your character is extremely emotionally attached to this NPC,and should an enemy ever discover the bond they share, your charac-ter s ward would become a certain target.

Special: This NPC may, with the DMÕ s permission, be a group or fam-ily of NPCs, provided theyÕre all in the same geographic location.

By now itÕ s probably occurred to you that certain flaws, in combination,have a debilitating effect greater than the sum of their parts— just as alco-hol and some drugs multiply their effects when mingled. This leads intothe concept of flaw synergy.

Flaw synergy grants a player some extra bit of compensation for hav-ing the guts needed to take a set of flaws that compound one another ina potentially gruesome fashion. Note that flaw synergy does not occurmerely because a character has a set of flaws that are thematically relat-ed— for example, while it makes sense that an Inflexible character mightalso be Hobbled, those two flaws donÕt complicate one another in adirect and particular fashion.

On the other hand, Glass Jaw and Light-Headed are potentially dead-ly in combination. The latter flaw all but ensures that your character willfall unconscious whenever the former flaw takes effect. Old Injury andOld Injury (II) are an equally dangerous match, greatly enhancing theeffect of every critical hit the character suffers.

Primary and secondary flaws may be combined to create synergy. Forexample, an Overconfident character with a Glass Jaw and an Old Injuryis simply asking for trouble.

If the DM determines that a player s selection of flaws is appropriate-ly synergistic, he may award him one of the following benefits:

- 2 bonus skill points- An inherent +1 bonus to any one (1) saving throw- 250 XP- 5d10 x 5 GP

DM Option: Flaw Synergy

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As mentioned earlier, the difference between advantages and feats isthat feats represent some intrinsic quality of a character (granted bynature, training, or experience) while advantages represent qualities ormaterial goods that can, in one way or another, be lost or destroyed. Theyexist primarily outside the character.

Advantages are best used with strict DM permission and supervision,to ensure that all of the player-characters will fit into the campaign envi-sioned by the DM. For example, a 1st-level party getting ready to enter amountain-top dungeon five hundred miles from the nearest ocean prob-ably has little use for a ship, unless they wish to turn it upside-down andcreate an expensive wooden tent for inclement weather.

The Price of AdvantagesAdvantages must generally be ÒpurchasedÓ with one or more of the

drawbacks already described. Advantages are priced using a simplesystem of points, to wit:

1 Standard Flaw = 2 Advantage Points

Taking Shares in AdvantagesOrdinarily, one character will have absolute control over an advantage.

However, in the case of certain material advantages (specifically:Business, Estates, Fortification, Library, and Ship) it is possible for char-

acters to take a ÒshareÓ by placing one or more advantage points into acommon pool. For example, one character could buy a keep for 4 advan-tage points. Four adventurers could also pitch in to communally purchasethe same keep for 1 advantage point apiece.

Advantages and RealismPlayers and DMs alike should remember that the systems provided for

the use of most of these advantages are meant for use only on a micro-level within a campaign world. That is, they function very well whenexamined from the limited perspective of the characters but perhaps notso well when extrapolated to the macro-level economics of an entireregion or kingdom. Income from businesses and estates, in particular,has been much abstracted to render the concept playable. To do morewould probably require a great deal of space and yield little practicalvalue— would a discussion of the two-field crop rotation system and thethree-field crop rotation system make the gold pieces glitter any brighterin your character s pockets? Doubtful.

Adding and Subtracting AdvantagesSooner or later, someone or something is probably going to do some-

thing lamentable to one or more of your character s advantages. While itmight be hard to deal with the burning of a favorite estate or the murderof a valued ally, you should remember that one of the primary functionsof most advantages is to start your character off with a bang. By the time

Advantages: Selection and Use

Master List of AdvantagesAdvantage Brief Description

Allies Character has NPC associates willing to risk something on his behalfBusiness Character owns or controls a businessCeremonial Titles A table for generating courtesy titles and knightly ordersClerical Rank Character has political clout within a religious hierarchyConnections Character has an information network of NPCsDestiny Character has been selected by a higher power to perform some great deedEstates Character owns lands and controls or employs a number of villeinsFortification Character owns a tower or a keepGuild Rank Character holds rank within a guild of merchants, artisans, scholars, or thievesLibrary Character owns a number of rare books and scrollsMilitary Rank Character holds a position of command authority in an army or navyNoble Rank Character holds a patent of nobility and a claim to noble privilegeShip Character owns (or shares ownership of) an ocean-going vesselWealth Character has deep pockets even before beginning play

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your alter-ego has reached a moderately high character level, hisresource intake should have become substantial enough to replace orimprove upon any advantage knocked briefly out of play by enemyaction. DonÕt forget that itÕ s perfectly acceptable to take those resourcesand pump them into improving the fruits of your old advantages, too,even before anyone messes with them.

ALLIES[ Social Advantage ]

An ally is an NPC, well-known to your character, who feels some sortof emotional attachment to your character (contrast this with a connec-tion, page 29, an NPC that will provide your character with informationbut feels no loyalty toward him).

While an ally might not necessarily be a friend, he is willing to risksomething to help your character when necessary, and heÕ s also willingto offer financial or material assistance on relaxed or deferred terms. Anally in the right place can aid your character and his friends in a wide vari-ety of ways— by providing information without prompting, by providingsafe haven after an arduous journey, or even by fighting alongside yourcharacter if circumstances force him to do so.

As the DM sees fit, an ally might even serve as an adventure hook forthe entire party, by summoning your character to his aid in a time of need.An allyÕ s emotional bond to your character must sometimes be reaffirmedby action on your character s part, but you should rest assured that well-maintained alliances are the most effective alliances of all.

Special: The NPC ally will be a character of comparable (or at leastclosely compatible) alignment to your own character. The ally will be amortal from one of the PC races, as deemed appropriate by the DM(insular dwarves from an isolated mountain stronghold are not terriblylikely to be close personal friends with the High Princess of an elvenempire two thousand miles away, at least not before their adventuresbegin).

Price: A standard NPC ally costs 2 advantage points; the character willbe a prominent or powerful citizen with levels in an NPC class aboutequal to your character s number of levels in adventuring classes. Alliesage, mature and gain experience as your character does.

An unusually well-placed or capable ally costs 3 advantage points; suchan ally might be a relatively powerful noble, an experienced military offi-cer, a well-known adventurer, or a skilled wizard or sorcerer.

An extremely powerful ally, well above your character in social station

and in command of many lives and resources, will cost 4 points and mayonly be taken with the explicit permission of the DM.

Allies and Adventuring: Allies are not cohorts! If they join your char-acter on a mission or an adventure, it will be because theyÕre heeding thecall of friendship or obligation rather than the siren song of a share in thetreasure. Allies will not leave their business to run off with your characterat the drop of a hat— most frequently, theyÕll only do so when their inter -ests (or interests shared with your character) are thought to be endan-gered.

The following tables can be used to generate allies in a hurry, or to pro-vide ideas for the creation of more detailed NPCs. Roll 1d20 on theappropriate table.

Table: Standard NPC Allies*

Roll Ally1-2 City Sheriff (Warrior)3-4 Vizier or Minister (Aristocrat/Expert)5-6 Town or Village Mayor (Commoner)7-8 Wealthy Merchant (Expert)9-10 Privateer Ship Captain (Warrior)11-12 Military Captain (Warrior)13-14 Witch or Folk Advisor (Adept)15-16 Master Smith (Expert)17-18 Baron or Viscount (Aristocrat)19-20 Barbarian Family Head (Warrior)*Such a character will typically be able to call upon the services of

1d4+1 1st level NPCs at any time.

Table: Powerful NPC Allies**

Roll Ally1-2 Freelance Master Thief (Rogue)3-4 Merchant Prince (Rogue/Expert)5-6 Military General (Warrior/Expert)7-8 Master Alchemist (Wizard)9-10 Legendary Freebooter (Fighter)11-12 Lesser Prince or Princess (Aristocrat)13-14 Mayor of Large City (Expert)15-16 Captain of Small Fleet (Warrior)17-18 Famous Entertainer (Bard)19-20 Head Temple Priest (Cleric)**Such a character will typically be able to call upon the services of

1d6+1 2nd level NPCs at any time.

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Table: Very Powerful NPC Allies***

Roll Ally1-2 Royal Spymaster (Rogue)3-4 Heir to Throne (Aristocrat)5-6 Marshal of Armies (Warrior)7-8 Naval Admiral (Warrior/Expert)9-10 Duke or Duchess (Aristocrat)11-12 National Minister (Aristocrat)13-14 Regional Head Priest (Cleric/Expert)15-16 Power Behind the Throne (Expert)17-18 Barbarian Clan Chief (Barbarian)19-20 World-Renowned Scholar (Expert)***Such a character will typically be able to call upon the services of

1d8+2 3rd level NPCs at any time, and anywhere between 40-100 1stlevel NPCs, not counting troops or allies that need time to be summoned.

BUSINESS[ Material Advantage ]

Your character owns (or has a controlling interest in) a stable businessin a town or city. Your character doesnÕt actually run the business (count -ing inventory is rarely an activity appropriate to a life of heroic adventure),but he oversees its operations at the highest level and receives regularreports from the NPC employees that run it for him. These employees areconsidered loyal and friendly, insofar as they are paid to do their job.They wonÕt risk their lives for your character , nor, under any circum-stances, will they serve as cohorts on an adventure.

Your character will receive income from the business on a monthlybasis. This sum is assumed to come after all expenses have been met,to ensure that book-keeping will be kept to an absolute minimum.

Each month, the DM should roll 1d6 to determine how well the busi-ness has been doing:

1-2: Poor month3-4: Average month5-6: Excellent month

Each of the four types of business available for player-character own-ership has those three income levels listed after its description below.The initial cost of business ownership is as follows:

Prices: Small Business: 1 pointAverage Business: 2 points

Large Business: 3 pointsHuge Business: 4 points

Small Business: Most small businesses are one- or two-room shops,dealing in inexpensive goods (candles and wax products) or essentialservices (butchers, knackers, carpenters, etc.).

Income— Poor Month: 25 GPAverage month: 50 GPExcellent Month: 75 GP

Average Business: An average business deals in a more expensive orspecialized set of goods (tailoring for noble clientele, bard and tacking,well-wrought metalwork, etc.).

Income— Poor Month: 50 GPAverage month: 100 GPExcellent Month: 150 GP

Large Business: A large business is situated in a busy district, proba-bly near harbor facilities or a major thoroughfare to pick up on the busi-ness of travelers. A large and successful inn or tavern would qualify.

Income— Poor Month: 100 GPAverage month: 200 GPExcellent Month: 300 GP

Huge Business: A huge business is a rare and well-guarded affair, moreoften dealing in the handling of money itself (a usurer s, moneylender s,or counting-house, for example) than in the sale of goods.

Income— Poor Month: 200 GPAverage month: 400 GPExcellent Month: 600 GP

Special: While your character neednÕt spend any of his time oversee -ing the day-to-day details of mundane commerce, there are a number ofreasons why a business will occasionally demand some attention. Yourcharacter will be expected to deal with thievesÕ guilds and protectionschemes, tax collectors honest or otherwise, potentially violent competi-tors, and other extraordinary distractions. Generally speaking, the betteryour business does, the more attention it will attract from governmentauthorities and unscrupulous cutpurses alike.

Should your character neglect his duties as the owner and overseer ofa lucrative business (or fail to take adequate steps for good management

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when heÕ s away for long periods of time), he can expect to enjoy theadventure of dealing with arsonists, extortionists, hostile creditors, penni-less debtors, callous tax-men, and other colorful characters.

CEREMONIAL TITLE[ Social Advantage ]

Your character has been given a courtesy rank by a powerful state, city,council, or ruler. In formal courts, these titles accumulate like barnacleson the hull of a sailing vessel. In frontier outposts and rustic courts, agreat to-do is often made about them.

Most courtesy titles elevate a character to the least possible formalcourt rank, making him an attendant to court proceedings and entitlinghim to sit at one of the lowest tables available at major feasts attendedby the well-to-do and the aristocracy. A knight usually receives a courtesytitle in addition to a military rank (page 33).

The table below can be used to randomly generate a courtesy rank, ofthe form ÒAdjectiveÓ—ÓT itleÓ—ÓAdjectiveÓ (of the)—ÓGroup.Ó For example,ÒEsteemed Captain of the Household GuardÓ or ÒSworn Fellow of the

Crimson Hussars.Ó The table can also be used as a simple idea genera-tor for more customized and world-specific titles.

At the DMÕ s discretion, a courtesy title may grant a +1 circumstancebonus to certain Bluff, Diplomacy, and Intimidate rolls.

A ceremonial title costs 1 advantage point.

CLERICAL RANK[ Social Advantage ]

Your character has been invested and confirmed as a formal leader ofa temple hierarchy, responsible for the spiritual guidance of the templeÕ sworshippers, the oversight of mundane temple affairs, and the confronta-tion of the templeÕ s most dangerous enemies.

Any character with one or more levels in the cleric or paladin class isconsidered to be ordained and in the active service of a godÕ s priesthood(barring his removal or resignation from the responsibility). Characterswith this advantage also have a formal investment in the ever-shiftingdecision-making hierarchy of that priesthood, and while they may stilladventure (especially on missions for the priesthood or against the pow-

Roll Adjective Title Adjective Group

1 Sublime Chevalier Crimson Order2 Puissant Protector First Class3 Royal Defender Second Regiment4 Invincible Scholar Third Rank5 Gentle Doctor Honored Guard6 Esteemed Captain Household Council7 Enlightened Knight/Dame Silver Garter8 Honorable Commander Sable Grenadiers9 Devout Counselor Emerald Enclave10 Excellent Fellow Azure Hussars11 Grand Steward Immortal Degree12 Illustrious Companion Sovereign Dragoons13 Sworn Chief Vermilion Battalion14 Learned Initiate Black Company15 Exalted Squire Lion-Heart League16 Faithful Provost Imperial Circle17 Most Noble Adjutant Republican Court18 Able Minister Frontier Command19 Foremost Peer Shadow Cloister20 Ordained Deputy Golden Hierarchy

Table: Ceremonial Title Generator

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ers of darkness), they will from time to time be summoned back to a tem-ple to engage in relatively mundane work.

Price: There are three ranks attainable through the use of advantagepoints, each of which has a title meant only as an approximation of thecharacter s duties. Game-specific titles may be quite different.

Senior Brother/Sister: 1 pointTemplemaster: 2 pointsSenior Templemaster: 3 points

Along with the responsibilities of a position, your character will havesome discretion over the use of temple funds and may call for aid fromtemple followers. Either form of aid will be available about once permonth— a variable number of GP and a variable number of appropriateNPCs of the listed level (for a day of service). Funds and followers mayonly be used in the clear pursuit of temple goals or worthy causes.

Senior Brother/Sister: Your character stands above the average itin-erant priest or adventuring cleric in the hierarchy of the priesthood, andprobably runs a small temple in an outlying village or frontier post.

Funds: 4d6 GPFollowers: 1d4 1st level NPCs

Templemaster: Your character would be given control over a largetemple in a medium-sized city, or over several smaller temples in asparsely-populated region.

Funds: 10d10 GPFollowers: 1d8 2nd level NPCs

Senior Templemaster: Your character would be responsible for thelargest temple in a given city, or for several medium-sized temples in asimilar area.

Funds: 5d20 x 2 GPFollowers: 2d6 2nd level NPCs

Special: If the addition of clerical ranks to a game seems almost cer-tain to bog it down, consider making one or more characters with the ranka roving troubleshooter for his priesthood, traveling from temple to tem-ple, dealing with unusual problems and using his formal clout to expeditematters.

CONNECTIONS

[ Social Advantage ]A connection is an NPC contact, known to your character, willing to sup-

ply occasional information and perhaps certain services involving little orno personal risk (smuggling, fencing of goods, passage of messages,etc.)

Compare and contrast a connection with an ally— the latter is tied toyour character by a bond of friendship or loyalty, while the former wonÕtstretch out his neck for your character except when paid well and paid inadvance. A connection is a valuable resource, but he should never bemistaken for a dependable comrade.

Price: One advantage point will buy two average contacts— NPCsdescribed in cooperation with the DM. Average contacts ore people Òinthe knowÓ that are nonetheless not really in command of their situations.An average contact might be:

- A member of a thievesÕ guild- A city constable- A palace bureaucrat- A small-time smuggler or pirate- A priest of a minor temple

Alternately, one advantage point can be used to buy a major contact,along the lines of an average contact but much more powerful and well-connected. For example:

- A leader of a thievesÕ guild- A chief of the city watch- A palace majordomo- A pirate or smuggler captain- A major priest of a temple hierarchy

Generally speaking, a connection can be contacted about once perweek (by pre-arranged message service, if not in person) and a singleconversation (or the equivalent) can be held. If your character wishes topress a connection for more information in a short time period, he will beintruding upon that connectionÕ s regular routine and will have to pay (insilver, gold, gems, or information of his own) for the privilege.

A connection, if abused or mistreated, will generally slink back into thecharacter s employ in exchange for an unusually large payment by wayof an apology. It is , however,quite possible for a connection to vanish andswear off all contact with your character if he severely mistreats that con-nection!

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If your character treats a connection well, especially by dropping occa-sional gifts of gold or information in the connectionÕ s lap, that connectionmay (at the DMÕ s discretion) proactively approach your character withimportant information rather than waiting for your character to come tohim.

A canny DM can use connections to put out information leading towardadventure, or tying into the ongoing plot of the campaign.

Special: When in serious doubt as to what a connection can do for acharacter, the DM may use the following rule of thumb. By getting intouch with an average connection, your character can make a GatherInformation check with a +2 circumstance bonus to the roll. By contact-ing a major connection, your character can gain a +4 circumstance bonusto his roll.

DESTINY[ Special Advantage ]

Your character has been chosen by a higher power to complete somemighty labor or heroic task. While the gods war directly with one anotherin times and places beyond mortal understanding, they also make warupon the material plane using mortal pawns and catspaws. Your charac-ter is just such a fate-marked agent.

This advantage may only be selected with the explicit permission of theDM. A character with a destiny often has no idea what will be asked orexpected of him— all he knows is that deep within his bones he feels theweight of an extraordinary responsibility thrust down upon him.

Price: For every advantage point spent on Destiny, your character maygain a +2 divine bonus to any skill check, saving throw, or attack roll onceper game session.

You must announce the application of this bonus before rolling the diefor the action in question. Only one such bonus may be called upon perround, and they may not be stacked cumulatively. When your charactercalls upon this power, he will do so instinctively, without fully grasping thesignificance of his action.

The nature of the character s destiny will be determined by the DM asthe campaign unfolds. As mentioned previously, a gift of power and favorfrom mysterious celestial forces rarely entitles one to learn all of theirsecrets as well. Most gods are tight-lipped.

Special: Characters with the destiny advantage will often recognizeeach other via some sixth sense when they first meet, especially if they

have been chosen by opposite sides in some cosmic battle. Without real-izing why, your character will feel a linked sense of kinship and uneasi-ness for a character that bears the favor of a force acting contrary to thatwhich guides him.

A character with this advantage does not radiate any aura of magicmerely for possessing it.

ESTATES[ Material Advantage ]

Your character controls a certain amount of land, along with the villeins(serfs, peasants, free laborers, etc., as appropriate to the campaign) thatwork it for a living. If estates are granted by a higher authority (a king, forexample) they are almost always accompanied by a ceremonial title(page 28) or a noble rank (page 34).

The products of your character s estates will vary, according to thegame world and the climate. In a northern area, crops like oats and ryeare common. In southern climates, olives and grapes might be grownalong with wheat and barley.

Lands will generate a certain amount of income for your character afterall non-military expenses are paid for (including household servants andestate laborers that neednÕt any more detailed treatment). Each autumn,the DM should roll 1d6 to determine how well the annual harvest hasbeen:

1-2: Poor3-4: Average5-6: Excellent

Each of the six sizes of estate available for player-character ownershiphas those three annual income levels listed after its description below.The initial cost of estate ownership is as follows:

Prices: Lesser Manor: 1 pointManor: 2 pointsEnclosure: 3 pointsLarge Estate: 4 pointsFiefdom: 5 pointsMultiple Estates: 6 points

Lesser Manor: A lesser manor is a cluster of simple houses (one ofwhich belongs to your character) surrounded by about 15-20 acres ofarable land. Your character will also own a cart and 1d4 mules.

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Income— Poor Harvest: 20 GPAverage Harvest: 40 GPExcellent Harvest: 60 GP

Manor: A manor is a respectable grant of land by any standard, 20-35acres worked by several families. Your character owns a sturdy simplehouse with four rooms, as well as a wagon, a cart, 1d4 mules, and 1d3ponies.

Income— Poor Harvest: 50 GPAverage Harvest: 100 GPExcellent Harvest: 150 GP

Enclosure: An enclosure is a stately area, 45-50 acres overseen by agrand house. Your character will own 1d3 dairy cows, 1d4 pigs, 1d4mules, 1d4 ponies, two wagons, and two carts.

Income— Poor Harvest: 100 GPAverage Harvest: 200 GPExcellent Harvest: 300 GP

Large Estate: Your character controls more than 100 acres of arableland, overseen from a central hillock by a grand house with its own sta-ble. Your character will own 1d8 of each of the following: pigs, cows,mules, and ponies. Three wagons and three carts are at his disposal.

Income— Poor Harvest: 200 GPAverage Harvest: 400 GPExcellent Harvest: 600 GP

Fiefdom: Your character controls more than 150 acres of arable land,overseen from a central location by a well-kept grand house or a some-what weathered mansion (your choice) with its own stable. Your charac-ter will own 2d8 of each of the following: pigs, cows, mules, and ponies.Four wagons and four carts are at his disposal, when he concerns him-self with mundane details.

Income— Poor Harvest: 325 GPAverage Harvest: 650 GPExcellent Harvest: 975 GP

Multiple Estates: Your character controls more than 250 acres of arableland, overseen from a central location by a well-kept mansion with its ownstable and outbuildings. Your character also owns another 50 acres inone or more other areas, perhaps containing orchards or vineyards. Yourcharacter will own 3d8+3 of each of the following: pigs, cows, mules, and

ponies. Six wagons and six carts are at his disposal, should he care tocount them.

Income— Poor Harvest: 500 GPAverage Harvest: 1000 GPExcellent Harvest: 1500 GP

Special: If your character is a manorial lord, he will generally beexpected to maintain a standing force of armed and trained men onbehalf of his ruler. The cost of feeding, housing, and equipping these menmust be paid out of your character s pocket. The simplified annualupkeep cost for sample soldiers (1st level warriors on foot or 2nd levelwarriors on horse) is as follows:

Light Infantry (Leathers, short sword) 60 GPHeavy Infantry (Chainmail, halberd) 90 GPLight Horse (Chainmail, shortspear) 120 GPHeavy Horse (Chainmail, lance) 160 GP

FORTIFICATION[ Material Advantage ]

If your character holds a noble title (page 34) or a military rank (page33), chances are heÕll have the use of one or more major fortifications.However, these will not be Òprivately owned—Ó theyÕll be the property ofa higher lord or of the kingdom itself, and as national treasures andcommand centers they cannot be disposed of in an irresponsible fash-ion.

A private fortification, on the other hand, belongs entirely to your char-acter and was constructed (or conquered) at his behest. It sits where hewishes it to sit, either overlooking his estates or some strategicallyimportant piece of turf. Even bandits and outlaws may possess a keep.

Price: A tower costs 2 advantage points. A keep costs 4 advantagepoints.

Tower: A tower has three stories, is round or square, and is construct-ed of very solid stone. A small trench (five feet wide and deep) and apalisade of sharpened logs typically defend it at ground level. A day oflabor by a few dozen men can build up a circular berm of earth, sur-rounded by more sharpened wooden spikes, to form an outer layer ofdefense if necessary.

A tower is comfortable for up to thirty inhabitants and will typically fea-ture heavy iron-reinforced double doors, an open roof protected bycrenellations in the topmost wall, and a large torch or beacon for signal-

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ing purposes.

Keep: A keep is a heavily fortified stone building with up to twenty-fiverooms; more than sixty or seventy people can be quartered in a keepwithout much difficulty. A keep comes with outbuildings (stables andsimple houses), but those structures arenÕt very defensible if the keeplocks itself up to withstand a siege.

A keep is generally protected by a perimeter trench, ten feet wide andfive feet deep, sometimes filled with water. Keeps can also be built atophills or ravines to limit the field of an enemyÕ s approach. Keeps usuallyincorporate several towers, multiple arrow slits, and one unobtrusivesally port.

Special: At least a few dozen GP must be spent each year on main-tenance of a keep or tower. A wise ruler will pay about 100 GP per yearfor a tower and 200 GP for a keep to have master masons regularlyexamine the structure for subsidence or structural weakness. Toeschew this caution is to court eventual disaster.

Characters with gold on hand may also wish to pay to equip a fortifi-cation with one or more siege engines of their choice.

GUILD RANK[ Social Advantage ]

Your character holds a formal rank in an organization of thieves, arti-sans, scholars, or tradesmen. Since rank in a guild is very strictly con-trolled based on ability and seniority, a 1st level character can hardly beexpected to wield command authority over an entire guild. However,your character can be quite a cut above the average apprentice or low-ranking hanger-on.

A guild of thieves is an organization with informal rules of behavior yetvery strict codes of conduct regarding the disposal of loot and the prop-erty of other guild members. Throat-slittings and stranglings for failureor lack of respect are purely routine. Disagreements between membersthat cannot be mediated by guild officers are generally settled by com-bat to the death between the aggrieved parties.

A guild of scholars is a reclusive and jealous society, as bent onkeeping its secrets away from outsiders as it is on securing comfort andprestige for its members.

A guild of artisans is perhaps the strictest of all when it comes to testsof a member s abilities. ArtisansÕ guilds exist to preserve and protect asingle fine trade; those members that cannot practice that trade with

flair are usually relegated to a second-class role.

A guild of merchants is largely unconcerned with formally measuringthe acumen of its members. Its principal interest lies in the maintenanceof arranged monopolies, the manipulation of local economies, and thebankrupting of merchant guilds from rival areas.

Price: A character may be a respected journeyman for 1 advantagepoint or a special agent for 2 points.

Respected Journeyman: Your character has made a name for himselfin his chosen profession. He is thoroughly trusted by the guild, evenwith the occasional important mission, but he is not yet privy to theinner workings and secret discussions of the guild masters.

Special Agent: Your character serves as a lieutenant to one of theguild officers, and is well-known and respected within the guild. Theguild masters send your character out after problems, which he mustsolve by hook or by crook. Other guild members of senior rank usuallytreat him as an equal out of fear, though his trade skills cannot yetmatch theirs.

Special: One of the major benefits of a guild in a feudal or post-feu-dal society is that it provides a bulwark against abuse of tradesfolk bythe hereditary nobility. Legitimate guilds have a great deal of legal andeconomic clout, and thievesÕ guilds have daggers and garrotes to fallback on when their members are harassed. Your character will benefitfrom this protection and assistance if he is loyal to his guild.

LIBRARY[ Material Advantage ]

In an age when each and every book produced must be painstakinglyscribed or copied by hand, books are extremely rare and preciousthings. Most families will be lucky to ever own even one.

Price: For every 100 books, tomes, or folios in his personal library,your character must spend 1 advantage point. Each point spent on alibrary can grant your character one of the following boons:

- 1d6+1 levels of arcane spells, exact level and nature to be deter-mined by the DM. These spells are scribed in one or more grimoiresamong the collected works. They have yet to be translated, althoughyour character has some inkling that theyÕre there. Alternately:

- A +2 circumstance bonus to any Knowledge skill check, once perday, after consulting the texts in the library for at least one hour.

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Multiple points spent on this advantage will yield multiple bonuses perday, but only one bonus can be called upon at a time.

Special: Your character is going to require somewhere safe and dryto store his library— hundreds of books and scrolls are too heavy tocarry around while adventuring, and exposure to rain and humidity willquickly turn them into sorry-looking mush. No doubt many scholarly orclerical friends would love a chance to store the library for the durationof an adventure, to scribe copies of new works, and to ÒborrowÓ or Òmis -placeÓ a choice volume or two. Real scholars guard their libraries like adragon guards its hoard— beware!

MILITARY RANK[ Social Advantage ]

Your character holds a formal rank in a military organization, sworn tothe service of a hereditary noble, the defense of a nation, or the mutualprofit of a company of mercenaries.

Specialized divisions and organizations of military forces are ratherprimitive in the time-frame of most d20 fantasy campaigns.Nevertheless, a complex military hierarchy can surely be subsumed intoa setting just as easily as magic and gigantic creatures can. If the fol-lowing ranks and titles seem a bit too refined, simply change the namesbut keep the comparative levels of authority.

Price: Characters may spend from 1-5 points on a military rank, ineither the land army or the naval service. The two charts below eachhave columns for commoners and nobles. Characters with military titlesand noble titles (page 34) will generally slightly outrank commoners ofthe same military rank, unless the commoner is armed with a writ fromsome yet-higher authority.

Rank Purchase Table: ArmyPoints Common Noble1 Sergeant Squire2 Lieutenant Knight-Lieutenant3 Commander Knight-Commander4 Captain Knight-Captain5 General Knight-General

Rank Purchase Table: NavyPoints Common Noble1 Chief Squire2 Lieutenant Lord Lieutenant3 Commander Lord Commander

4 Captain Lord Captain5 Commodore Lord Commodore

A character purchasing a rank in a naval force can also choose to bea lieutenant, commander, or captain of marines, meaning that whilesubordinate to the captain of a vessel he will be in command of a num-ber of infantry soldiers trained and equipped for boarding actions. Thetactical conduct of such actions will be left entirely to your character—only general instructions will be issued by the captain of your ship.

If a titled noble character has no formal military rank, he is generallygiven the plain courtesy title of ÒLordÓ in the presence of commoner of fi-cers with command authority but is not consulted on military decisions.In most d20 fantasy campaigns, such commoner characters should berelatively rare, as few hereditary kingdoms would ever place common-ers in command over nobles (who, after all, were supposed to train andprepare for war as part of an obligation to their own rulers) save intimes of great need. With the appropriate orders from a king or othersovereign, even an inexperienced noble with no previous military rankcan rise to command of an entire army, so disputes over rank andprecedent in large parties of officers and nobles can become ratherheated! Caveat emptor— rank has its drawbacks as well as its privi-leges.

Army RanksSergeant/Squire: A sergeant or squire is generally an aide and cohort

of a higher-ranking officer or knight. In some armies, sergeants takecommand of small units of infantry or lead special teams on critical mis-sions.

Lieutenant/Knight-Lieutenant: A character of this rank will generally beresponsible for the dispersal and conduct of a small unit— say 30-40infantry or 8-12 horse. If not given a small-unit command, characters ofthis rank are usually used as aides and couriers by more senior offi-cers.

Commander/Knight-Commander: A character of this rank will usuallybe responsible for a company-sized unit, 80-160 men on foot or 40-50mounted warriors.

Captain/Knight-Captain: A character of this rank will usually beresponsible for the command of 3-4 companies, with a handful of com-manders and perhaps as many as a dozen aides and couriers beneathhim.

General/Knight-General: A general is given overall command of a

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large body of troops, usually numbering more than a thousand soldiers.The general in final authority over a complete body of men and officersis usually given some sort of courtesy title such as ÒGeneral of theArmy.Ó

Naval RanksChief/Squire: A chief or squire aboard a ship in a fantasy campaign

might be called a Òpetty of ficerÓ in modern parlance. He will be respon -sible for overseeing a small group of sailors or marines (4-10 men).

Lieutenant/Lord Lieutenant: Most large vessels carry 3-5 officers ofthis rank, to assist the captain, oversee the employment of siegeweapons, and often to lead marines or archers during boarding actions.Lieutenants are sometimes trusted with the command of very smallcraft such as skiffs.

Commander/Lord Commander: The first mate and/or navigator of anoceangoing vessel is almost always of this rank. While the captain of avessel can easily be a political appointee with little practical knowledge,the master or first mate must know exactly what heÕ s doing. A characterof this rank might also be in charge of a marine contingent or a smallvessel such as a raiding sloop or longboat.

Captain/Lord Captain: A character of this rank is deemed fit to com-mand large vessels, including galleys, sailing ships, and warships. Nomatter how many rank- captains there are on board a vessel, only theactual master of the ship is ever referred to as Òthe captainÓ in the open.Leaders of marine contingents are sometimes referred to as ÒCaptainsof Marines,Ó and sailors are sure not to omit those last two words.

Commodore/Lord Commodore: A character of this rank will commanda flotilla of ships. Most often, he will dictate general strategy, while indi-vidual captains will have tactical authority for carrying out his broaddirectives.

Note that while a character with a command rank in a navy will beÒgivenÓ a ship, its is ÒhisÓ only on his governmentÕ s sufferance and hedoesnÕt actually own it, as he would if he took the ship advantage (page35).

A character serving in a military can expect to earn about 5 GP permonth per advantage point invested in rank.

NOBLE RANK[ Social Advantage ]

Your character holds a patent of nobility, either as a result of descentfrom a blue-blooded family or by recent decree of a hereditary authorityfigure such as a king.

Price: A character may spend 1-6 points on a noble title, using therough guide set out below:

Points Title1 Lesser Nobility, noble bastard2 Baron/Baroness, Laird, Thane, Chieftain 3 Viscount/Viscountess, High Laird, High Thane4 Count/Countess, Earl, Graf/Grafine, Mark

Graf, Margrave, Marquis/Marquess5 Duke/Duchess, Arch-Prince, Heir-in-Waiting6 Ruling Sovereign (King/Queen, Emperor/

Empress, Czar/Czarina, etc.)

Titles and ceremonial designations can be extremely varied from regionto region. The chart above attempts to offer a few relatively equivalentchoices, but game-specific rank hierarchies may be quite different.

Your character s legitimate heirs may inherit his noble rank, just as hislegitimate spouse may share it. In exchange for the privileges customar-ily afforded to royalty, your character will almost certainly be expected tohold estates (page 30) and/or a military rank (page 33) of some sort. Hewill also have to make regular tax payments to his ruler, and may berequired to attend the formal court of that ruler a specified number of daysper year.

Under all ordinary circumstances (save open rebellion by the peasantryor something equally unpleasant), your character gains a circumstancebonus equal to the number of points invested in this advantage, appliedto all Charisma-based skill checks made against commoners.

When dealing with other nobility, your character gains a similar circum-stance bonus equal to the difference between the point value of the ranksin question— for example, a Count (4 points) gains a +2 circumstancebonus to Charisma-based skill checks against a Baroness (2 points). Ofcourse, if your character happens to be the Baroness in that exchange,youÕll be on the losing end of the arrangement.

Noble bastards are an interesting conundrum— in some families theyÕrekept by the dozen as a sort of hedge against disaster. In others, theyÕrefit only for assassination and scorn. When noble bastards are acceptedinto a court, theyÕre generally used as bodyguards, ambassadors, orother specialized functionaries.

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Special: A character s noble rank can be increased by decree of hissovereign, as a reward for exceptional service or meritorious sacrifice.Likewise, his titles can be stripped from him with the stroke of a pen if hebetrays or disobeys his sovereign.

SHIP[ Material Advantage ]

Your character commands (or at least owns) an oceangoing vessel ofsome sort.

Prices: Skiff: 1 pointKeelboat: 2 pointsLongship: 3 pointsSailing Ship: 3 pointsWarship: 4 pointsGalley: 5 points

Skiff: A skiff is a small vessel, 30 feet long and 10 feet wide at most,designed for use in coastal areas, harbors, and rivers. A skiff will carry tentons of cargo or twenty-five people with ease. It has a single mast with asquare sail, four oars to supplant or replace the sail, and a top speed ofabout 1 mile per hour.

Minimum Crew: 1Standard Crew: 3

Keelboat: A keelboat is a shallow-draft vessel about 60 feet long and15-20 feet wide. Designed for both ocean travel and river travel, it carriesabout forty tons of goods or up to one hundred people. Its simple squaresail is supplemented by oars, just like its smaller cousin the skiff.

Minimum Crew: 3Standard Crew: 10

Longship: A longship is a slender, narrow vessel about 75 feet long,rowed by twin banks of twenty or thirty oars apiece. The longship is opento the elements and designed for raiding or open warfare. It can carryabout forty tons of cargo and more than 100 people. It moves at a speedclose to 3 miles per hour with the wind in its sails and its oarmen pullingas hard as they can.

Minimum Crew: 10Standard Crew: 50

Sailing Ship: A sailing ship is a sturdy oceangoing vessel with twin

masts and square sails that pull it forward at nearly 2 miles per hour. Itcan carry nearly 150 tons of cargo, as well as provisions for many monthsof lonely sailing.

Minimum Crew: 6Standard Crew: 20

Warship: A warship is a heavy single-masted coastal ship with a squaresail and thirty to sixty oars on a side. Archery platforms above the mastand in the bow provide excellent fields of fire, and the foredeck is clearfor the emplacement of heavy weapons.

Minimum Crew: 40Standard Crew: 200

Galley: A truly gigantic vessel with three masts, sixty to eighty oars ona side, 150 tons of cargo space, a ram, and stable firing platforms on thefore deck, aft deck, and amidships. Sadly, it needs to hug the coast,though its hundreds of rowers can propel it through the water at 4 milesper hour.

Minimum Crew: 70Standard Crew: 300

Special: Upon taking control of a ship (other than a skiff), it is assumedthat your character has also paid the necessary wages to secure the min-imum crew for six months. Treat this crew as friendly 1st level common-er NPCs— friendly so long as the captain seems sane, the food and waterare plentiful, the weather is tolerable, and thereÕ s plunder or a profitablecargo run lined up for the near future. Smart captains will also spendabout 100 GP per year per advantage point spent on a ship to keep it intip-top condition. Rotting timbers and torn sails must be replaced beforethey can have a lethal effect on a weakened and storm-tossed ship.

WEALTH[ Material Advantage ]

Your character enters the game at 1st level with a substantial sumalready safely ensconced in his counting-house of choice. The preciseamount of money available varies with the number of advantage pointsspent:

Prices: 1 point 500 GP2 points 1,000 GP3 points 2,000 GP4 points 4,000 GP5 points 8,000 GP

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6 points 16,000 GP

Special: A character with the Monetary Debt flaw (page 21) may notselect this advantage. DMs should be wary of players coordinating asneaky attempt to have one rich character immediately pay off the debtsof one or more other characters.

The Experience Tithe is an optional game mechanism that can beused to create reasonably balanced characters with a great many advan-tage points without the need to turn them into gasping, limping, mutilat-ed, emotionally unstable walking disasters by heaping on a ridiculousnumber of flaws.

When this system is used, every advantage point received by a char-acter that isnÕt compensated by a corresponding flaw grants the charac -ter an XP Tithe instead, according to the chart below. A character canpurchase advantage points solely with a Tithe, or he can take flaws inaddition to a Tithe.

Advantage Points Experience Tithe1 5002 1,0003 1,5004 3,0005 5,0006 7,5007 10,5008 14,000

Each time thereafter the character gains XP, one-half of the character searned XP goes into the Tithe for the purpose of paying it off, and one-half remains useful to the character for the purposes of increasing char-acter level, brewing potions, scribing scrolls, and any other activity thatcosts XP. XP placed in the Tithe are lost and serve no other function forthe character at any time thereafter.

This means that a character with an Experience Tithe will, for all intentsand purposes, level up roughly half as fast as a similar character withouta Tithe. Once the Tithe is completely paid off, all of the character s XPgained from that point on are treated normally. Thus, a character with aTithe is penalized quite subtly for being mechanically ÒimbalancedÓ by theaddition of Advantage Points. By the time the Tithe is paid off, those char-acters without a Tithe can be expected to have a level or two on the for-merly Tithed character.

% Roll Flaw01-02 Albinism03-04 Binding Honor Code05-06 Animal Antipathy07-08 Blasphemous09-10 Bad Shot11-12 Boastful13-14 Butterfingers15-16 Dark Desire17-18 Dull Reflexes19-20 Debt of Honor21-22 Fragile23-24 Duty-Bound25-26 Glass Jaw27-28 Enemy/Hunted29-30 Hobbled31-32 Grandiloquent33-34 Impaired Vision35-36 Greed37-38 Impaired Voice39-40 Inconvenient Oath41-42 Inattentive43-44 Lone Wolf45-46 Inflexible47-48 Macho/Spartan49-50 Light-Headed51-52 Melancholy53-54 Loathed Adversaries55-56 Miser57-58 Magic Vulnerability59-60 Monetary Debt61-62 Oafish63-64 Nightmares65-66 Obese67-68 Outlawed69-70 Old Injury71-72 Overconfident73-74 Slow Healing75-76 Phobia77-78 Slow-Moving79-80 Poor Reputation81-82 Slow-Witted83-84 Risk-Addicted85-86 Unathletic87-88 Tongue-Tied89-90 Uncoordinated91-92 Vain/Dandy93-94 Weak Constitution95-96 Vindictive97-98 Weak-Willed 99-00 Ward

The Experience Tithe

Random Flaw Table

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Use of Product Identity: You agree not to Use any Product Identity, including as an indication as to compatibility, except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner of each element of that Product Identity. Youagree not to indicate compatibility or co-adaptability with any Trademark or Registered Trademark in conjunction with a work containing Open Game Content except as expressly licensed in another, independent Agreement with the owner ofsuch Trademark or Registered Trademark. The use of any Product Identity in Open Game Content does not constitute a challenge to the ownership of that ProductIdentity. The owner of any Product Identity used in Open Game Content shall retain all rights, title and interest in and to that Product Identity.8. Identification: If you distribute Open Game Content You must clearly indicate which portions of the work that you are distributing are Open Game Content.9. Updating the License: Wizards or its designated Agents may publish updated versions of this License. You may use any authorized version of this License to copy, modify and distribute any Open Game Content originally distributed underany version of this License.10. Copy of this License: You MUST include a copy of this License with every copy of the Open Game Content You Distribute.11. Use of Contributor Credits: You may not market or advertise the Open Game Content using the name of any Contributor unless You have written permission from the Contributor to do so.Section X: The Azathoth Problem: Ah, you think youÕre clever with that search function, donÕt you? Well, Baron Azathoth is an incredibly experienced interdimensional master criminal, and you have to get up pretty early if you want to pull afast one on him. Last we heard, he was somewhere on Earth. Honest. The rest is up to you...12. Inability to Comply: If it is impossible for You to comply with any of the terms of this License with respect to some or all of the Open Game Content due to statute, judicial order, or governmental regulation then You may not Use any OpenGame Material so affected.13. Termination: This License will terminate automatically if You fail to comply with all terms herein and fail to cure such breach within 30 days of becoming aware of the breach. All sublicenses shall survive the termination of this License.14. Reformation: If any provision of this License is held to be unenforceable, such provision shall be reformed only to the extent necessary to make it enforceable.15. COPYRIGHT NOTICEOpen Game License v 1.0a Copyright 2000, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.Book of Distinctions And Drawbacks Revised Copyright 2003 Scott Thomas LynchBook of Distinctions And Drawbacks Modern Copyright 2003 Scott Thomas LynchModern System Reference Document Copyright 2002, Wizards of the Coast, Inc.; Authors Bill Slavicsek, Jeff Grubb, Rich Redman, Charles Ryan, based on material by Jonathan Tweet, Monte Cook, Skip Williams, Richard Baker, PeterAdkison, Bruce R. Cordell, John Tynes, Andy Collins, and JD Wiker.This document is produced under version 1.0, 1.0a, and/or draft versions of the Open Game License,the d20 System Trademark Logo Guide, and the System Reference Document by permission of Wizards of the Coast. Subsequent versionswill incorporate final versions of the license,guide, and document.The following items are hereby designated as Product Identity in accordance with Section 1(e)of the Open Game License,version 1.0a: Any and all Cryptosnark Games logos and identifying marks and trade dress, such as all CryptosnarkGames product and product line names including but not limited to ÒTheBook of Distinctions And Drawbacks Revised,Ó ÒThe Book of Distinctions and Drawbacks Modern,Ó ÒThe BODD,Ó ÒBODD Revised,Ó ÒBroadswords & BulletholesÓ and ÒTheBODD ModernÓ; names of characters and any and all stories, storylines, histories, plots, thematic elements, and dialogue; and all artwork, symbols, designs, depictions, illustrations, maps, and cartography , likenesses, poses, logos, or graphicdesigns.The above Product Identity is not Open Game Content.Subject to the Product Identity designation above,the following portions of this document are designated as Open Game Content: All new d20 game mechanics and their descriptive titles, all text and numerical information referring to any ofthe above, and anything else contained herein which is already Open Game Content by virtue of appearing in the System Reference Document or some other Open Game Content source.END OF LICENSE

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