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Idiosyncrasy descriptions
- Absentminded – An absentminded character has an uncanny knack for misplacing
items of all sorts. He tends to leave personal belonging sitting
on store counters and often puts items in odd locations (for example,
putting a quill in his cupboard).
- In game terms the character must roll an Intelligence check each
time he wants to find an item in his backpack (or anywhere the
item might be stowed), if he fails the check the item has been
temporarily misplaced (95%) or permanently lost (5%). In either
case it will take the character 1d8 turns to determine what happened
to the item.
- Typically people who are absentminded are fairly intelligent,
so the character gains a +1 bonus to Intelligence.
- This idiosyncrasy has no effect on spell casting.
- Addiction – The character who has an addiction is either mentally or physically
addicted to a substance such as alcohol, drugs or tobacco. He
must spend 1d6 gp a day to support his addiction. Substances that
cause an intoxicating effect should cause the ability scores of
the character to be modified, as specified on page 82 of the first
edition Dungeon Masters Guide, for 1d4 hours (minimum) each day.
- If the character is prevented from obtaining the substance that
he is addicted to, he must make a saving throw vs. poison each
day at a -1 cumulative chance or fight at a penalty of -4 to hit
and damage and -4 to AC. During this period of withdrawal, the
character suffers a -4 penalty to Charisma reaction modifiers
to reflect his irritability.
- If the character refrains from using the substance that he is
addicted to for a number of days equal to twice his Constitution/Health
+ 1d6 he will have conquered his addiction. If the character should
ever use even the smallest amount of the addictive substance in
the future, he will again become addicted.
- Albino – Albinos have pale milky white skin, pink eyes and light colored
hair. This effect is caused by the lack of body pigmentation.
They stand out in a crowd and can always be easily identified.
- Direct sunlight causes 1d2 points of damage to the albino every
hour (sufficient covering will cancel this effect). Albinos have
a 10% chance of having ultravision.
- Allergy – Many people are allergic to many things, but usually an allergy
has no real effect except to cause minor discomfort. The character
with this idiosyncrasy has a severe allergy to one or more things
in his environment. Typical allergies include: insect bites, dust,
pollen, fur, specific foods, etc.
- The character will have 1d4 severe allergies. In game terms, when
ever he comes in contact with the substance he is allergic to
he must make a saving throw vs. poison each round, with a -1 cumulative
penalty to his saving throw for each round he remains in contact
with the substance. If the saving throw is failed he will experience
a severe allergic reaction and will be affected as if he had suffered
a “useless hit” (i.e., he will be unable to take any action except
defense until the substance he is allergic to is removed or passes
from his body in 1d8 hours).
- If he rolls an unmodified one for his saving throw, he has experienced
a traumatic and possibly fatal reaction. If he fails a system
shock survival roll, he will die in 1d3 hours unless a neutralize
poison or heal spell is administered. In any case, a character
who experiences a traumatic allergic reaction will fall unconscious,
unable to take any action, for 1d8 hours.
- The player or the DM can pick the substance(s) the character is
allergic to. They do not necessarily have to be common substances.
- Bigot/racist – The character with this idiosyncrasy despises all who are different
from him. Members of other races, religions, nationalities, social
classes and character classes can all be included in this hatred.
- This character experiences a -3 reaction modifier when interacting
with those who are not of his background. When interacting with
other bigots/racists of his own background, however, he receives
a +3 reaction modifier.
- This character has no inhibition against physically harming or
even killing those who do not fit into his own scheme of rank
and superiority, as long as he thinks he can do so with impunity.
- The player may decided the degree to which his character is a
bigot. Human characters with this idiosyncrasy make good League
of Human Supremacy members.
- Braggart – The braggart maintains an inflated sense of self-worth. He constantly
finds time to extol his own virtues, and in general believes himself
to be an exceptionally fine example of his class, race and sex.
- This inflated sense of self-worth gives the character the advantage
of a +1 bonus to Ego, but this advantage may be outweighed by
the negative affect his boastings have on others, resulting in
a -2 reaction modifier when dealing with others.
- Cleaning – The character with the idiosyncrasy doesn't just believe that
“cleanliness is next to godliness,” he believes that “cleanliness
is the meaning of life.” This character constantly bathes and
tidies himself. His pack is always organized and he never looses
anything. Characters of other than Lawful alignment react to this
character as if his Charisma was one less than normal. This penalty
does not apply to Lawful characters. This character will always
be Lawful.
- In combat this character suffers a -1 penalty to AC (he's too
worried about soiling his clothes with messy blood). To his advantage,
it never takes this character more than a single round to recover
an item from a backpack or belt pouch, as long as he packed it
himself. Characters with this idiosyncrasy halve their chance
to contract a natural (non-magical) disease.
- Clown – The clown manages to make a joke out of almost any situation.
He constantly “cuts-up” and will try almost any shenanigan to
garner attention from others. In game terms, this character receives
a -1 penalty to Ego (he tries to gain attention through humor
to compensate for low self-esteem), but gains a +1 bonus to Charisma
(his attempts to gain attention from others usually work in a
positive way).
- Color blindness – The character who is color blind see only in black and white.
He cannot distinguish other colors. This handicap can present
problems when the character is trying to distinguish between gems,
different colored potions, etc., (the DM will determine applicable
penalties). But, this character finds it easier to find concealed
or camouflaged objects and people hiding in shadows, receiving
a bonus of +2 (-10% to thief's hide in shadows roll). He also
has an enhanced ability to locate secret doors, finding them with
a 5 in 20 base chance.
- Control – The character with this idiosyncrasy attempts to maintain control
over all things that affect his life. He will insist on grooming
his own horse, preparing his own food, and making his own decisions
when ever possible. The character tries to maintain control because
something in his past made him feel out of control and on a subconscious
level he refuses to let this happen again.
- This character tends to run himself ragged trying to keep up with
all the things that need to be done, so his Constitution is penalized
by -1. On the other hand, his sense of control allows the character
to receive a +1 bonus on all saving throws vs. charm magic and
psionic disciplines that affect the mind.
- Deformity – The character with this idiosyncrasy was born with a physical
deformity. The player may choose his character's deformity with
the DM's approval. The deformity may be something as simple as
a hair lip or as dramatic as having two pupils. In any case the
characters Charisma will be penalized by zero to 5 (DM's discretion).
- Dreg – The dreg has decided to forgo the normally accepted ways of society
to live as a street urchin. He generally wears ragged clothing
and seldom if ever bathes. He is allowed to keep wealth, but it
will usually be hidden, and in any case, has little meaning to
this character. He would rather eat out of a garbage can than
at the finest inn in Fälgorna.
- This character receives a -4 reaction modifier when dealing with
anyone other than other dregs. He has the advantage of being virtually
invisible to normal people (they ignore him) and often overhears
or sees things, that are not supposed to be seen or heard.
- Driven – The character who is driven has a specific goal that he constantly
strives to obtain. He will stop at nothing and let no one get
in the way of the achievement of this goal.
- Due to his ability to manipulate others into helping him achieve
his goal, he is able to recruit 1d4 additional henchmen. If for
some reason his goal becomes completely unobtainable, the character
must make a saving throw vs. spells or commit suicide. Once his
goal is obtained he may pick a new goal or simply choose to disregard
this idiosyncrasy.
- Dwarf – The character with this idiosyncrasy is 27-65% (2d20 +25) shorter
than normal. Dwarves (not the same as the dwarf race) receive
their choice of a +1 bonus to Strength or Constitution.
- Epileptic – The character with this idiosyncrasy suffers from epilepsy. Whenever
the character encounters an extremely stressful situation or takes
a hit to the head, he must make a saving throw vs. paralyzation
or be affected as if by a muscle spasm spell. This character never
receives a saving throw against the muscle spasm spell.
- This character receives a +1 bonus to Constitution.
- Extrovert – The extrovert enjoys talking with other people. He is very friendly
and can always find a common interest with just about anyone he
meets.
- This character gains a +1 bonus to Charisma.
- Fetish – The fetichistic character compulsively uses some inanimate object
(a shoe, lock of hair, undergarment, etc.) to achieve sexual excitement
and gratification. This character will always carry an example
of the object with him, and will fight (+1 to hit) to retain the
item if any person or creature attempts to take it from him.
- Giant – The character who is a giant is 27-45% (1d20 +25) taller than
normal. He gains a +1 bonus to Strength and a +1 hit point per
die bonus to his hit points. The giant has a shorter life span
than others of his race, living only half as long, and all items
the giant purchases costs 1.5 times as much as normal.
- Glutton – The glutton has a problem with indulging excessively. Most often
this weakness for overindulgence concerns food, but other possibilities
include: a particular hobby, athletics, sex, etc.
- A glutton must make a saving throw vs. death magic each time he
encounters the object of his indulgence in order to refrain from
indulging in it. Other disadvantages related to this idiosyncrasy
should be devised by the DM on a case by case basis.
- Gossip – The gossip finds satisfaction in spreading rumors and poking
his nose into other people's business. On the positive side, this
can be a very handy trait to have if your looking for ideas for
adventuring. On the negative side the character has a 1% cumulative
chance per week he stays in one local to angry someone who responds
by challenging him to a dual. If the character wishes to gather
information through the grape vine, he does so at a percentage
chance equal to his Charisma/Appearance time four plus 2d12%.
The information gathered in this manner won't always be accurate.
- Hiccupping – The character with this idiosyncrasy has a serious hiccupping
problem. This problem usually manifests itself during stressful
situations. Whenever the DM determines that a situation is stressful
(combat, meeting the king, a rendezvous with a beautiful princess)
the character must make a saving throw vs. poison or begin to
hiccup for 2d6 rounds. While hiccupping the character surprises
opponents with a -2 penalty and fights at -1 to hit, -1 AC, and
-1 initiative.
- Honesty – The character with this idiosyncrasy will never willingly lie
or deceive, nor will he every willingly break a law. This character
is always of Lawful Good or Lawful Neutral alignment.
- If the character feels that a law is unjust or needs to be broken
for some greater cause, he must make a saving throw vs. death
magic to force himself to do so. He may chose to turn himself
in for his “crime” at a later date or attempt to pay for his crime
in some other appropriate way.
- The character's word is his bond. He always keeps his word, no
matter the consequences. Characters with this idiosyncrasy who
lie will be penalized for poor roleplaying.
- To the character's advantage, he has an a percentage chance equal
to his Intelligence plus his level to detect when others are being
dishonest. In an area where he is known he receives a +1 reaction
modifier bonus a +3 bonus when his honesty is in question.
- Impulsive – The impulsive character seldom has the patience to wait around
to find out what an opponent is going to do next. He wants to
take action now and ask questions later. This character is almost
always Chaotic in alignment, usually Chaotic Neutral.
- Despite the obvious disadvantages of this trait, it does give
the character the advantage of a +1 bonus to initiative.
- Insomniac – The insomniac has a great deal of difficulty getting a good night's
sleep. He constantly volunteers for guard duty and can be found
awake at the campfire during the wee hours of the morning.
- His lack of sleep usually makes him cranky and irritable, modifying
his Charisma reaction rolls by a penalty of -1, but he has a special
resistance to sleep spells and other attacks that cause a victim
to sleep, resulting in a +4 bonus to his saving throw vs. these
forms of attack.
- Introvert – The introvert is a loner, he likes his solitude and talks to
other people as little as possible. He is shy and quiet.
- This character is penalized by -1 to his Charisma and receives
a +1 bonus to his Wisdom (he has more time to contemplate life
in his solitude).
- Irreverent – The irreverent character believes in the deities, but questions
their authority to rule. He resents divine intervention and the
representatives of deities (i.e., priests). Most of all he questions
the supposed powers of the deities and attributes priestly spell
casting ability to the priest's own inner power.
- The irreverent's vocal opposition to the gods can cause him some
problems, especially in pious communities. Priests and other characters
strongly associated with a particular deity (i.e., paladins, temple
guards, etc.) react to the character with a -4 reaction modifier.
Normal citizens of a community which exhibits above average piety
will react to the character with a -1 to -4 reaction modifier.
- Due to the character's strong belief in inner power, he has a
+10% chance to have a wild psionic talent. A psionicist with this
trait gains 10 bonus PSPs.
- A priest, paladin, etc., who rolls this idiosyncrasy should roll
again.
- Jealousy – The character who is jealous has a problem with others who are
better in some way than himself. He will always reject their ideas
and attempt to discredit them. This idiosyncrasy may at the DM‘s
option be directed toward one individual.
- Know-it-all – The know-it-all believes that he has a greater understanding
of almost every subject than anyone else around him. He constantly
interrupts conversations to correct the “misconceptions” and “ignorances”
of others. He will always pretend to know something about any
subject he is questioned on, but the information he provides will
not be completely correct, it will however, be based on factual
information.
- The know-it-all tends to irritate people unintentionally, reflected
by a -1 penalty to Charisma, but he also truly has a greater knowledge
of many subjects than others, as reflected by a +1 bonus to Intelligence.
- Lazy – The character who is lazy has an extreme disinclination to work
or exertion. He will try almost any excuse to gain an extra hour
of sleep, and pay almost any price or try any trick to get out
of doing work.
- This character receives a +2 bonus to Charisma when trying to
get someone to do work for him, but is penalized by -1 each to
his Strength and Dexterity (reflecting his unconditioned and sluggish
physical state).
- Lecher – The lecher has an immoderate interest in sexual indulgence. He
is prone to make lewd remarks to members of the opposite sex and
often causes embarrassing situations for more conservative members
of the party.
- The lecher's Charisma is penalized by -1 when interacting with
members of the opposite sex and receives a bonus of +1 when interacting
with members of his own sex.
- Mental disorder – This character has a special mental disorder determined by consulting
the Types of Insanity table on page 83 of the first edition Dungeon Masters Guide. Other mental disorders may be assigned at the DM's whim.
- Obese/skinny – The character with this idiosyncrasy is either incredibly fat
or incredibly skinny (player's choice). A character who is obese
weighs twice as much as normal and receives a bonus of +1 to his
hit points per level. A character who is skinny weighs 25 percent
less than normal and receives a +1 bonus to Dexterity. Both the
obese and skinny character receive a -1 penalty to Charisma.
- Optimist – The optimist always hopes for the best outcome, he looks on the
bright side of things even when the world is apparently going
against him. In general, he believes that Fälgorna is the best
of all possible worlds and that good will ultimately overcome
evil.
- This character must be of Good alignment. Evil characters dislike
him and react to him with -2 penalty. When this character leads
troops, their morale is raised by one.
- Overconfident – The character who is overconfident believes himself to be better
equipped to handle almost any situation than he might really be.
Similar to the impulsive character he will often leap into battle
with superior foes without a second thought. Unlike the braggart,
he does not necessarily boast about his perceived abilities.
- The overconfident character receives a +1 bonus to Ego and gains
a -1 initiative bonus against characters or monsters which are
less powerful than himself (lower level or HD), but receives a
+2 initiative penalty against characters or creatures more powerful
than himself.
- Pacifist – The pacifist is opposed to violence in all forms. He will only
attack in self-defense and will only kill if absolutely necessary
to save his own life. The pacifist is almost always of Good alignment.
He gains a +1 bonus to Wisdom.
- Pack rat – The character with this idiosyncrasy collects all types of worthless
junk. He saves broken pieces of pottery, arrowheads, bits of string,
keys, etc., anything else that he might find a use for. He's often
heard saying things like: “Who knows when you might need an extra
belt buckle.”
- In game terms, this character has a 2% chance per character level
of having any needed “junk” item (1 gp value or less) in his pack.
He has an equal chance to have a piece of an item, like a breast
plate or sword hilt, that can be used to repair a damaged item.
It will take the character one phase per level to retrieve any
item from his pack.
- When a character with this idiosyncrasy builds a house or stronghold,
his chance to have an item is doubled, but it takes him one round
per level to retrieve it.
- This character has a 20% chance to have the additional special
ability of creature friend, dragon, even if he is a demihuman
or humanoid.
- Perfectionist – The perfectionist takes extra care to make sure things are done
just right. To him there is a right way to do things and a wrong
way to do things and nothing inbetween. He strives to become the
most complete, lacking in no aspect, individual possible.
- This character's great attention to detail gives him a +1 bonus
to Observation. This character will always be Lawful.
- Pessimist – This character always see events, situations, and creatures in
the most negative way possible. He never views a glass as half
full, to him it always appears half empty.
- If this character leads troops they suffer a -1 penalty to morale.
To his advantage, very few things surprise the pessimist, giving
him a +1 bonus to surprise rolls.
- Phobia – The character with a phobia has an unreasonable obsessive dread
of a creature or related group of creatures, situation, object,
etc. Some common phobias include: acrophobia (fear of heights),
agoraphobia (fear of open spaces), claustrophobia (fear of enclosed
spaces), scotophobia (fear of darkness), entomophobia (fear of
insects), necrophobia (fear of death and dying), xenophobia (fear
of strangers and the unknown), etc.,.
- Under normal circumstances, a character with a phobia will never
willingly expose himself to the object of his phobia. He may,
however, attempt to overcome his fear by making a successful Sanity
check. If the check is failed he cannot overcome the phobia in
this situation. If he makes the check, he has overcome his fear
and will fight at -2 to hit, and at a -2 penalty to AC. After
facing his fear in such a way he is entitled to a Sanity check
at one-quarter his normal sanity. If he makes the check he has
permanently overcome his phobia.
- When a character is exposed to the object of his phobia and cannot
escape it he must make a Sanity check.
- The DM and the player should decide the character's phobia by
mutual agreement. There is a 10% chance that the character will
have 1d4 phobias.
- Physical handicap – This character suffers from a severe physical handicap. Examples
include: blindness, deafness, missing limb, lameness, chronic
disease, anosmia, muteness, etc.,. The character and the GM should
mutually agree on the nature of the handicap. In all cases the
character has in some way developed measures to at least partially
offset the handicap. For example, a blind character would receive
the bonus nonweapon skill of Blindfighting. He would also be immune
to all gaze attacks.
- Political activist – The political activist character is a revolutionary. He has a
cause and fanatically does everything in his power to push that
cause forward. He tends toward anti-establishment attitudes and
is usually of chaotic alignment.
- This character gains a bonus skill in Reading/Writing (Trade Tongue),
and carries numerous bills, posters and pamphlets containing the
slogans and literature of his cause.
- The political activist gains a +2 bonus to his Charisma. He has
an exceptional ability for rallying crowds to his cause, sometimes
inciting riots, he gains a +5 bonus to Charisma when attempting
to do this.
- Some examples of causes a political activist might support are:
animal rights, democracy, intellectual freedom, an anti-magic
campaign, etc. A political activist may have more than one cause.
The DM and the player should agree mutually upon the cause(s)
the character supports.
- Practical joker – A practical joker finds humor in playing tricks on other people
and making them look foolish. He does things like sticking a “slay
me” sign on a paladin's back, pouring honey into a party member's
boots or changing signs on doors.
- This character has a chance equal to his Dexterity/Aim times three
of setting simple traps (increasable as a Physical 4 skill). He
carries simple items for setting these traps. Note that this character
can not find traps, only set them. This character's Charisma is
penalized by one.
- Procrastinator – The procrastinator always finds a reason to put something off
until another day. This often results in an opportunity being
lost. This character might take weeks to complete a simple chore
like getting his armor serviced.
- This character is penalized by a +1 modifier to initiative rolls.
He does, however, receive a second saving throw to avoid traps
(when applicable) to reflect the chance that he may have been
hanging back, waiting, and therefor not there when the trap activated.
- Servile – A servile character slavishly submits to the demands of others.
He has low self esteem and generally regards himself as worthless.
- This character suffers a -2 penalty to Ego and saves vs. charms
at a -2 penalty. To his advantage, the character gains Servility
as a bonus skill.
- Slob – The slob has no concern for his personal hygiene or appearance.
He seldom bathes and has no trouble sleeping in a filthy environment.
He keeps his gear in equal disarray. It takes a slob an additional
round to recover any item from his backpack.
- The slob's Charisma is penalized by one point. He does, however,
have twice the normal chance of finding valuables in junk piles,
trash heaps, etc.,.
- Stubborn – The stubborn character is unreasonably obstinate. He has his
own opinions and sticks to them. It may be very difficult to convince
this character that a course of action is a good one if he already
has another idea fixed in his mind.
- The obstinate nature of this character results in a +1 to saving
throws vs. illusions (he finds them hard to believe). His Charisma
is penalized by one.
- Stuttering – The player with this idiosyncrasy has a problem with stuttering.
Spellcasters who roll this idiosyncrasy should roll again.
- This character doesn't make a very good leader because people
find it hard to understand him, resulting in a -1 penalty to Charisma/Leadership.
To counter this deficiency he has developed above average listening
skills, +5% chance to hear noise.
- Tightwad/miser – The tightwad/miser values money above all other things. He would
rather hold on to a single copper coin than save his own life.
He will risk life and limb to gain treasure even if the odds are
vastly against him.
- In game terms, the character must make a saving throw vs. death
magic (at the DM's discretion) any time he views a treasure valued
at over 10,000 gp or do everything in his power to obtain it.
- The tightwad always attempts to get his equipment at a bargain
price and he gains Haggling as a bonus skill.
- Vandal – The vandal derives pleasure by destroying the property of others.
He continuously breaks window and mirrors, defaces walls with
graffiti and generally damages property.
- This character gains the bonus nonweapon skill of Artistic Ability,
graffiti.
- Wastrel – The wastrel loves to spend money, often on wasteful enterprises.
He loves to buy drinks for everyone in a bar. He wears the finest
clothes money can buy and indulges in expensive diversions. This
character needs to adventure more than any other, because after
a month or two in a town he has usually wasted all his money.
- In game terms, this character must spend at least half of his
money on diversions which do not have any lasting value. He tends
to make many contacts through his extravagant expenditures and
has many friends until his money runs out.
- Zealot – The zealot, much like the political activist, has a cause that
he fanatically supports. In the zealot's case, this cause is that
of a deity or cult (more often than not a cult).
- The zealot gains a +2 bonus to Charisma and a +5 bonus when preaching
about his religion. The zealot can attract 10 followers per level
to his religion, twice that number if he is a priest.
- Special – A special idiosyncrasy is any physical or mental idiosyncrasy
that the DM is devious enough to devise. The character may or
may not be aware of the nature and affects of this idiosyncrasy.
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