Bleach extreme
Flaws/Weaknesses
Psychological flaws
Psychological flaws are behaviours that occur when the mind is forced to confront intolerable or conflicting feelings, such as overwhelming terror or profound guilt. When your character is faced with impressions or emotions that he cannot reconcile, his mind attempts to ease the inner turmoil by stimulating behaviour such as megalomania, schizophrenia or hysteria as an outlet. People unwittingly tormented, persecuted and preyed upon by incomprehensible beings, often develop these ailments by the mere fact of existing. Alternatively, regret, guilt or remorselessness for inflicting abuses eats away at mind and soul.
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Otherwise, the Game Master may decide a circumstance to which your character is exposed is too much for him to bear and he breaks under the pressure. The GM decides if a more spontaneously inspired condition is temporary or permanent. A spontaneous ailment might be temporary, lasting until the character resolves the situation that triggered the condition. It might become permanent if reconciliation is refused, the condition goes untreated or the trigger that caused it is insurmountable. Spontaneous ailments developed during play might be represented in-game as evolutionary Flaws, not ones established at character creation. It must be noted that people who are “crazy” are neither funny nor arbitrary in their actions. Insanity is frightening to onlookers who witness someone rage against an unseen presence or hoard rotten meat “to feed to monsters.” Even something as harmless-sounding as constantly talking to one’s self can be disturbing to observers. The insane respond to a pattern only they grasp, to stimuli that they perceive in their own minds. To their skewed perceptions, what happens to them is perfectly normal. A character’s derangement is there for a reason, whether she committed a crime or saw her own children devoured. What stimuli does her insanity inflict upon her, and how does she react to what happens? Work with the Storyteller to create a pattern of provocations for your character’s derangement, and then decide how she reacts.
Each of the following ailments is defined in terms of mild and severe. The first might apply to your character if an action or experience imbalances him, but he remains functional. The second can apply if a previously mild condition intensifies with more irreconcilable behaviour or spectacles, or if a single act or scene is so mind numbing that only full-blown insanity and dysfunction can result. If treatment or reconciliation occurs and ailments are alleviated, a severe case of a condition must be addressed and overcome before a mild case of the same derangement.
* Your character must experience a life-altering trauma or supernatural tragedy to acquire one of these extreme derangements. They cannot normally be acquired unless the sin performed is truly gut wrenching or horrific, such as murdering one’s own children.
Depression (mild): If your character fails to achieve a goal (not just fails a roll, but fails to accomplish some personal, desired like saving a friend’s life), he might go into a bout of depression for the remainder of the game session. A dramatic failure that occurs in any activity might also bring on a bout of depression. Regardless of the circumstances, make a Will save roll.
Effect: If the roll fails, your character gets -1 to all saves for the duration of the session.
Melancholia (severe): Severe depression. In addition to the above effects of a failed Will save roll, you suffer a -2 penalty to all saves for the duration of the session.
Phobia (mild): Your character is scared of a particular type of person, place or thing such as fire, heights or spiders. When that trigger is encountered, a reflex save roll must be made successfully or your character suffers a bout of fear.
Effect: Your character moves away from the object of her phobia. If she must be near it, she can tolerate being no closer than her Speed in distance. If it approaches her, she must move away at least her Speed in distance in her next action. She cannot easily target the trigger with close combat or ranged attacks. Such attacks suffer a -2 penalty as your character shakes just looking at it. If space or circumstances don’t allow her to maintain her distance, she freezes like a deer in headlights until she finds an opening by which to escape.
(Her Defense still applies if attacked and she can choose to dodge and can take cover from range attacks, but she can take no other actions while “frozen.”)
Hysteria (severe): This condition operates as a phobia, but on a failed Will save roll your character cannot be in the same room with the object of her fear. She must run away from it immediately, and cannot tolerate being within sensory range (sight, sound, smell) of it. If the trigger comes within sensory range, she must run away at full running Speed as soon as she can take an action. She cannot target it for an attack under any circumstance. If it touches her, make another Will save roll for her to not freak out and run as far away as she can, thinking of nothing else until she’s left the subject far behind. (Even if this roll succeeds, your character must still leave the room or area.) If any of your Will save rolls suffer a critical failure or your character is unable to escape, she faints and loses consciousness for the remainder of the session. If your character is unaware of the object’s proximity until it touches her, your Will save roll suffers a -2 penalty. If it touches her where she can’t see it but she can feel it — a spider dropping on her neck or in her hair — the penalty is -5.
Narcissism (mild): Whenever your character succeeds at a goal (not simply succeeds in a roll, but achieves a desired end such as knocking a challenging opponent unconscious), it might go to his head and pump up his overweening ego. Roll a Will save to avoid a bout of vanity.
Effect: On a failed roll, your character does not work and play well with others — even if the victory that brings on a bout of narcissism was partly won with their aid. For the remainder of the session, when called upon to aid in a task your character does so only half-heartedly, unless it’s a task focused on him or his own needs or wants. He suffers a -2 penalty on his aid another rolls. And he’s such a self-obsessed bore that Charm rolls suffer a -1 penalty.
Megalomania (severe): The effects of Narcissism apply, except that the penalties intensify by one. Your character is also highly competitive. He cannot allow himself to fail a contest (even a contested roll). If he does, he obsesses about it and works to arrange a rematch when it’s most beneficial for him. If, for example, he fails to pick a lock while an ally succeeds, he doesn’t let it go. He constantly insists that he did the job and that his successor took the glory, and demands that similar efforts be tried again, even under inappropriate circumstances. If your character ever loses a contest to someone he feels is socially inferior, he loses one point in hus Will save due to shame and self-loathing (which is at the heart of his megalomania; he secretly fears that he’s a fraud).
Fixation (mild): If your character fails or succeeds at an important action such as leaping between buildings, he might fixate on his loss or victory. Make a Will save roll after such an event for him to avoid this unhealthy obsession.
Effect: If your Will save roll fails. Your character will be focused on the offending or inspiring event or task, to the possible exclusion of more important goals for the rest of the session. He fixates on what he believes caused him to lose or win his goal, whether it’s an opponent or a broken shoelace. In the case of a defeat, he cannot help but simmer in anger, cursing a circumstance or trying to devise a method of circumventing it in the future. In the case of a victory, he becomes a fanatic, spending much of his time researching, observing or acclaiming an activity or factor that allowed him to succeed. The Storyteller rules on how this derangement affects your character’s behavior. It might cause him a -1 on any task not related to his fixation, or he might refuse to engage in an activity if it doesn’t somehow tie into his obsession.
Obsessive Compulsion (severe): The trauma, guilt or inner conflict that causes this derangement forces your character to focus nearly all of his attention and energy on a single repetitive behavior or action. Obsession relates to an individual’s desire to control his environment — keeping clean, keeping an area quiet and peaceful, or keeping undesirable individuals out. A compulsion is an action or set of actions that an individual is driven to perform to soothe his anxieties — placing objects in an exact order, constantly hecking to make sure a weapon is clean, praying every few hours to give thanks for surviving that long.
Effect: Determine a set of specific actions or behaviors that your character follows to the exclusion of all else (even if doing so interferes with his current agenda or endangers his life or others’). The effects of obsessive compulsion can be negated for the course of one session by making a successful Will save roll at a -2 penalty. If your character is forcibly prevented from adhering to his derangement, he may lose control among enemies or allies and attack either (or both) indiscriminately.
Suspicion (mild): Anytime your character suffers intentional misfortune at the hands of another, he might become extremely suspicious of everyone’s motives toward him. He might crash as a result of receiving little help from assistants in a skill effort. Roll a Will save for your character to resist the suspicion compulsion. “Misfortune” is characterized as failing an important task due to the intentional intervention of another person — even if it’s a friend or ally. Those people whom your character already mistrusts for good reason can still trigger his suspicious nature if they successfully foil his task — everyone then becomes a suspect, plotting to do him wrong. Combat does not necessarily trigger this derangement. A Will save roll is made only if combat is the means by which someone intentionally prevents your character from achieving a goal. (Note: A roll for a task might fail and your character chooses to blame someone else, but that doesn’t necessarily trigger this derangement’s effect. Only if someone directly causes him to fail is a roll made to avoid triggering his suspicious nature.)
Effect: Your character’s trust is undermined for the remainder of the scene, regardless of whether or not the person or persons who did him wrong meant any harm. He questions everyone’s sincerity and doubts that anyone tries to help him, even if someone saves his life. He suffers a -2 penalty on all Will rolls. Note: He gets no special bonus to resist their attempts to sway him even though he suspects them of being as bad as everyone else.
Paranoia (severe): Your character believes that her misery and insecurity stem from external persecution and hostility. Paranoids obsess over their persecution complexes, often creating vast and intricate conspiracy theories to explain who torments them and why. Anyone or anything perceived to be “one of them” might be subjected to violence.
Effect: A character who suffers from paranoia automatically suffers a -2 penalty on Paranoia rolls. The character is distrustful and wary of everyone, even close friends and family. The slightest hint of suspicious behavior is enough to provoke a Will save paranoia roll to retain control (made at a -2 penalty). A failed roll indicates that your character flees or attacks an offender.
Inferiority Complex (mild): Whenever your character is subjected to a stressful situation in which the result of a single choice or dice roll can determine success or failure, she might be overcome with such self-doubt that she threatens the outcome. She might need to tell a convincing lie to get out of a dangerous situation. Roll your Will save for her to remain composed.
Effect: If your roll fails, the weight of the momentous choice is too much for your character and she is flustered, doubting her ability to choose correctly or to perform adequately. Once in this state, any skill rolls made for the remainder of the session—including the momentous act itself — suffer a -2 penalty.
Anxiety (severe): As Inferiority Complex, but your character’s general anxiety plagues things so badly that she suffers a -2 penalty on all rolls for the remainder of the session.
Vocalization (mild): Whenever your character is stymied by a quandary and must make an important decision about a course of action, or is under extreme stress, she might talk to herself without realizing it. Roll a Will save to avoid this discomforting habit. Examples of important decisions include: Trying to figure out which fork in the road to take so that the invaders don’t get to the village first. The wrong choice means arriving precious minutes late and finding innocents killed or kidnapped.
When your character faces two foes, both of whom prepare to strike lethal blows against two separate friends. Which should be kill?
Effect: On a failed save, your character vocalizes her internal monologue but only realizes it if it’s pointed out by others, at which point she can stop for one turn per dot of Spirit that she has. After that period, she forgets herself and starts doing it all over again. This behaviour persists for the remainder of the session. Your character vocalizes even if opponents or rivals can hear. It’s hard to keep her thoughts and feelings secret when she speaks them aloud. For example, a rival might demand that she reveal the location of a hidden location. She smirks and think to herself (and unwittingly speaks aloud), “You’ll never find it east of the river!”
Schizophrenia (severe; extreme): Conflicting sets of feelings and impulses that cannot be resolved can cause your character to develop schizophrenia, which manifests as a withdrawal from reality, violent changes in behaviour and hallucinations. This derangement is the classic sort, causing victims to talk to walls, imagine themselves to be the King of Souls, or to receive murderous instructions from their pets. R o l e p laying this derangement requires careful thought. The Storyteller must determine a general set of behaviors relevant to the trauma that causes the condition. Hallucinations, bizarre behavior and disembodied voices stem from a terrible inner conflict that the individual cannot resolve. Establish a firm idea of what that conflict is and then rationalize what kind of behavior it causes.
Effect: A character with this derangement is unpredictable and dangerous. He automatically suffers a -2 penalty in all social situation and may be aggressive or violent toward people who confront him with trauma such as accusations, disturbing truths or heated arguments. Make a Will save for your character to avoid escaping or attacking the source of trauma.
Irrationality (mild): Whenever your character is threatened with violence or suffers extreme tension by being persecuted, challenged or accused, she might react without logic or reason. Roll a Will save to keep her cool. The persecution, challenge or accusation needs to bear some realistic threat to your character’s well-being, whether related to finances, emotional security or social standing. A hobo threatening to sue is no real threat, but coming from one of the noble families who says he’s going to ruin your character qualifies as a threat. Likewise, a society-page gossipmonger who threatens to expose your character’s faults is a threat if your character relies on that crowd for social acceptance.
Effect: On a failed roll, your character’s only way to comfortably deal with confrontation is to act crazy or over the top, in wild hopes that she will scare away her oppressor or at least mitigate her own fears. This behaviour persists for the remainder of the session. Ironically, she takes dangerous risks that might harm her worse than the actual threat posed. If a guard demands to know what your character is doing in an off-limits part of a castle, she might overreact and get in his face. Make a Will save roll for her to be able to take any action that removes her from the scene or that directly diffuses the situation (such as accepting a hand offered in a conciliatory handshake). The truly ironic part about this behavior is that during such a bout, your character cannot initiate violence, only respond to it if it occurs. She can threaten or cajole challengers, but can’t take the first swing. (That, in fact, is what her crazed behavior tries to avoid.)
Avoidance (mild): When confronted with a situation or person associated with a previous, significant failure or trauma (a long-term rival, an ex-wife, the house in which one suffered a painful childhood), your character prefers not to face the situation and might do everything he can to avoid it. Will save for him to master his nervousness.
Effect: On a failed roll, your character does everything in his power to avoid the situation, short of harming himself or others. He might escape the location or disguise himself as a bystander to sidle away. If he must confront (or can’t escape) the situation, any rolls made suffer a -2 penalty.
Fugue (severe; extreme): Victims suffering from fugue experience “blackouts” and loss of memory. When subjected to a particular variety of stress, your character performs a specific, rigid set of behaviors to remove the stressful symptoms. He is on a form of “autopilot” similar to sleepwalking. Decide on the kind of circumstance or exposure that triggers this state, be it the death of a defenceless person by his hand, a confrontation with a specific sort of creature or confinement in a small, dark room.
Effect: Make a Will save roll when your character is subjected to his trigger. If the roll fails, role-play your character’s trance-like state by performing a sequence of behaviors that he performs almost robotically. He might repetitively untie and tie his shoes, walk to the corner of the room and refuse to come out, or curl into the fetal position. If the Storyteller is not satisfied by your character’s reaction, he might take control of your character for the duration of the session. The effect lasts for the remainder of the session. At the end of the fugue, your character “regains consciousness” with no memory of his actions. If outsiders (including friends and enemies) interfere with or try to prevent your character’s mechanical activities, he may attack them in order to carry on.
Character Flaws
Coward: Your character is afraid to confront unknown situations, and hesitates when he should act boldly.
Forgetful: Your character doesn’t have amnesia, but she does have trouble remembering particular details. What was the name of that cursed book I was supposed to rescue from the library? The player should avoid relying on her own memory or asking for memory rolls for her character. The character doesn’t forget everything, especially not truly important details, but she should forget enough to make
things frustrating for her companions.
Mental Flaws
In addition to the mental conditions below that can be incurred by a character, he may have a derangement as a Flaw. It’s suggested that it be a mild case rather than a severe one. Unlike mental ailments developed through losses of Morality, derangements taken as Flaws can sometimes not be removed. Indeed, the GM may decide they cannot by cured at all (unless he concludes that such a Flaw is not being honored during play and he lifts it from your character).
Addiction: Your character is hooked on a certain substance or behaviour. If he doesn’t get it regularly, he gets anxious and goes out of his way to satisfy his need, even neglecting more important duties. If he goes three or more game sessions without indulging this addiction, he is assumed to have beaten it (your character loses the Flaw). The GM is free to inflict harsh withdrawal symptoms, however.
Amnesia: Your character cannot remember a certain period of her life. This might have been caused by physical or psychological trauma, and memories might come back at the most unexpected or inopportune moments. In addition, she might not remember allies or enemies from her past. This seeming disregard might insult others, make.
Physical Flaws
Crippled: Your character cannot walk. He has no natural Speed trait, and must rely on a wheelchair or vehicle to travel. A manual wheelchair’s Speed is equal to your character’s Strength, but he must spend an action to move or suffers a -2 penalty to both Speed and any other action performed (he uses one arm to spin a wheel). An electric wheelchair has a Speed of 3 and allows for other actions in a turn without penalty (your character's hands are largely free).
Dwarf: Your character is much shorter than the average person. His adult Size is 4. This Flaw awards points only if the character’s short size causes him physical or social problems.
Hard of Hearing: Your character’s hearing isn’t so good. Subtract two from any hearing-based perception rolls. Even though he suffers this penalty on all hearing rolls, you get an experience point at the end of a session only if this Flaw caused him notable trouble.
Lame: Your character has a leg or foot condition that impedes his movement, slowing him down. His basic Speed factor is 2 (instead of 6). You get an experience point at the end of a session only if this Flaw causes your character notable trouble.
Mute: Your character cannot speak and must communicate through hand signs, gestures or by writing.
One Arm: Your character is missing an arm, which makes it hard to perform certain tasks. At the GM"s discretion, tasks that normally require two hands take twice as long to perform or are impossible. If your character attempts to perform a challenging task in the normal amount of time, he suffers a -3 penalty.
One Eye: Your character is missing an eye. He has no real depth perception, so all penalties for ranged attacks are doubled.
Poor Sight: Your character’s sight isn’t so good. Subtract two from any sight-based perception rolls. Even though she suffers this penalty on all seeing rolls, you get an experience point at the end of a session only if this Flaw causes your character notable trouble.
Social Flaws
Aloof: Your character is uncomfortable in social settings and avoids crowds and interaction as much as possible. She dislikes being the centre of attention and recoils from centre stage. Experience is gained when she avoids attention or social environments and misses out on potential rewards as a result. Maybe she doesn’t get the job that she “deserves,” because the boss is looking for a people-person rather than a hard worker.
Behavior Blind: Your character doesn’t really understand social behaviour and is blind to common social cues that communicate other people’s basic feelings. Maybe he was raised by terrible parents, but he is socially maladapted. He can’t tell when others use sarcasm or innuendo, or if he’s boring them. An experience point is awarded only if this Flaw is directly related to a setback that delayed or prevented your character from achieving his goals. Perhaps an important contact or ally refused aid due to being insulted or disgusted by your character’s behaviour.
Deformity: Your character has a misshapen limb, a terrible visible scar or some other physical affliction that might cause revulsion in others. You suffer a -2 penalty on Social skills when your character makes new acquaintances.
Embarrassing Secret: Your character has a secret about her past that she must hide or else suffer shame and ostracism from her peers. An experience point is awarded only if your character harms her other causes by working to keep her secret. Perhaps she misses an important meeting with an ally so that she can distract people from looking into her past. Extra experience can be awarded if the secret gets out, at which point this Flaw might be exchanged for Notoriety at the Storyteller’s discretion.
Notoriety: Your character, is renowned for some heinous deed, regardless of whether he committed it or not. This Flaw could derive from his infamous family or from his association with a scandalous organization. If recognized, he inspires a negative reaction in others. An experience point is awarded only if the negative reaction causes some harm to your character’s goals.
Racist/Sexist: Your character has biased opinions of other races, genders, gender-preference groups or cultures. Unfortunately, he also has trouble keeping those opinions to himself, even in the presence of such people. Experience is gained when your character acts on his biases and is confronted, dismissed, ignored or even attacked for them.
Speech Impediment: Your character has trouble speaking properly. This might be due to a lisp, stutter or wound. This Flaw should be role-played whenever your character speaks. If you consistently forget to do so, the Storyteller may warn you that your character’s condition is improving and might soon be cured.