A “quirk” is a minor feature that sets you aside from others. It has a negative point value, but it is not necessarily a disadvantage. Sometimes, we don't have a feel for a character's personality until we do a scene or two with them. As such, feel free to leave up to 3 of your quirks blank, but be sure to fill them in very soon once you get started.
For instance, a major trait like Greed is a disadvantage. But if you insist on being paid in gold, that’s a quirk. You may take up to five quirks at -1 point apiece . . . and if you do, you will have five more points to spend. These do not count against your disadvantage limit! Quirks are just personality traits; the player is promising to add a bit of personality to the character, and in exchange, the character gets a few points.
You can also “buy off” a quirk later on by paying 1 point, but as a rule, you shouldn’t do that. Quirks might have a small cost, but they are a big part of what makes a character seem “real”!
Mental Quirks
Mental quirks are minor personality traits. They are a contract between you and the GM: “I agree to roleplay these character foibles. In return, you agree to give me a few extra points to spend.” However, you must roleplay them. If you take the quirk “Dislikes heights,” but blithely climb trees and cliffs whenever you need to, the GM will penalize you for bad roleplaying. A mental quirk should behave in one of the following ways:
- It requires a specific action, behavior, or choice on your part from time to time. This need not take hours, or be especially inconvenient, but it must be something that you can act out in the course of the game; it cannot be totally passive.
- It gives you a small penalty very occasionally, or to a narrow set of actions. Negotiate the game effects with the GM. You may take almost any mundane mental disadvantage at quirk level, in which case the rules for that disadvantage are used as guidelines, although the effects will be much less severe.
Physical Quirks
Physical quirks are physical disadvantages that are only mildly or rarely limiting. They do not require roleplaying, but they give specific, minor penalties in play. Unlike mental quirks, you cannot normally change physical quirks – that would make no more sense than exchanging One Eye for One Hand, under most circumstances. Also, you must define physical quirks when you create your character; you cannot use them to fill open “quirk slots” once the campaign begins.
The following are a few examples, and any that we come up with together should be comparable:
- Alcohol Intolerance: Alcohol “goes right to your head.” You become intoxicated much more quickly than normal. You get -2 on any HT roll related to drinking.
- Bowlegged: You are bowlegged. This doesn’t normally affect Move, but you have -1 to Jumping skill. This quirk may elicit a -1 reaction from those who think it looks funny.
- Cannot Float: You always sink in water. This is most applicable to machines, but it might also afflict fantasy races or result from a curse
- Distinctive Features: You have a physical feature – e.g., “Brilliant blue hair” – that makes you stand out in a crowd. This gives -1 to your Disguise and Shadowing skills, and +1 to others’ attempts to identify or follow you. Some Distinctive Features may stem from full-blown disadvantages. For instance, an albino (someone with no natural body pigment, resulting in pink eyes and pinkwhite hair and skin) would also have Weakness (Sunlight). Compare Supernatural Features (p. 157) and Unnatural Features (p. 22).
- Horrible Hangovers: You suffer an additional -3 to any penalties the GM assesses for excessive drinking the previous evening, and add three hours to hangover duration.
- Minor Addiction: You may take Addiction (p. 122) as a quirk, if you are addicted to a drug that causes physiological dependency and works out to 0 points under the Addiction rules.
- Minor Handicaps: You may take most mundane physical disadvantages at quirk level; for instance, you could use a watereddown version of Lame for a “bum knee.” Difficulties rarely crop up, but are genuinely inconvenient when they do. If you have this kind of handicap, the GM may give you -1 to attribute, skill, or reaction rolls, as appropriate, in situations where it would logically interfere.
- Nervous Stomach: You have -3 to HT rolls to avoid illness (typically in the form of attribute penalties or vomiting) brought on by rich or spicy food, strong drink, etc.
- Reduced versions of physical disadvantages.
Incompetence
An incompetence quirk is a -4 penalty to a single skill of your choice, though it must be one you plan to make relevant on occasion (don't choose Boating if you don't see your character ever being near a boat). Explain what about your character causes this incompetence with that skill, whether it's physical or mental.
Instead, you can also choose at least 5 related skills to be incompetent at. In this case, choose your penalty and apply it to all of those skills, -1 to -4.