Let's talk about character flaws. Are there any you really like to give your characters...

I enjoy addictions, because I feel like they're not played well in many cases. The badass loner with a perpetual cigarette never seems to deal with inconvenient coughing fits or feeling jittery because he ran out a few hours ago and there isn't a convenience store nearby. Alcohol addictions are 50/50, sometimes they're portrayed well but just as often it never gets any farther than said character taking a swig from their flask to signal how sarcastic and done with everyone's shit they are.

Additions to weirder substances are my favorite, though. I once played a starship pilot who suffered from chronic dry skin, leaving him with an addiction to chapstick and moisturizing cream. Had cream stashes all over the ship, and kept lowkey messing with the air circulators to keep the bridge more humid than the rest of the ship.

We're playing 5E. Took observant though. I imagine he's always looking around, never relaxing.

> Alcohol addictions are 50/50, sometimes they're portrayed well but just as often it never gets any farther than said character taking a swig from their flask to signal how sarcastic and done with everyone's shit they are.

tru. Also the moisturizer thing sounds hilarious.

Addiction to attention and being too nice as an actual fault. They can't sneak or hide for shit because they're constantly grandstanding and don't think to come up with real strategy, so they go down every couple of battles by taunting the wrong enemy or running ahead. They try and make friends with murderers and thieves and evil races, and keep the party from murdering if the enemy is in too weak a position.

I have an NPC who has a downplayed alcohol addiction, and I make it a point to have her drink from her flask regularly, even when not eating, or especially when she's nervous.
Is there anything else I should use to communicate that she is actually dependent on alcohol without being super overt about it?

>I just thought it'd be interesting because I have never seen anyone had a flaw like that before.

Novel =/= Interesting

As for the actual thread subject, I like making characters who are too proud for their own good.

A lot of it is down to execution, but I feel like as long as it's ever-present but not necessarily keyed to a trait that builds the character up in some way (the idea of "I'm so done with your shit" drinking being that it makes the character look jaded and therefore experienced) then it has the potential to work fine. Like, if she drinks when she's nervous, then you make sure it's apparent that said nerves are the reason--this communicates that she needs alcohol to cope with fear, which is not a "cool" flaw.

I think the best addiction stories tend to be slow-burning ones that show how insidious the problem can be, normalizing itself and then rearing its head in a big way after you think they're gone. If you take Babylon 5, for instance, it's established in season 1 (of 5) that Garibaldi is a recovering alcoholic, but aside from a one-episode flare up at the beginning to hammer that home for the audience, it's an issue that sits in the background waiting until season 4. It's always there, but never drawing attention to itself until you've nearly forgotten about it.

One thing I actually tend to do too much is make delusional characters. Not crazy randumb, but several of my characters have suffered horrific tragedies, only to come to off the wall conclusions that lead to an alternate worldview. Usually they can act like a functional, if unhinged, person, but when certain subjects come up they seem completely insane.

The first was a sorceress who was raised in Fey "social experiment" that consisted of subjecting a population to mind control in order to create a utopia where everyone loved one another. The spell was eventually broken, but when she saw people she thought loved her turn against each other, she came to the conclusion that real love didn't exist. She was childish and naive on most things, but when the subject of love came up she turned into a bitter cynic that believed people could only feel love if they were magically forced to.

Another was a guy with an unhealthy obsession with fire. At a young age he was kidnapped by bandits and experienced vague tortures and abuse he doesn't want to talk about. However, one day someone left a lantern out, which was knocked over and started a fire. Most of the bandits died in the blaze, and he himself was horrifically burned over most of his body, but he considered it the best thing that ever happened to him. In his worldview, the fire was an equalizer and bringer of justice, freeing him and punishing evildoers. He considered his burned flesh beautiful and "holy," with fire itself as the ultimate purifier.

Both of them got into a lot of trouble over their delusions, and a bit of party conflict too. They're my "most crazy" characters, but lot of them have strange ideas about the world and are just low key about it.

I've been coming up with character ideas for a LARP in my area that I'm thinking of joining, and one of them is in a similar situation. The game takes place in a dream world shared by half a dozen universes (one modern, one generic fantasy, one space opera, one post-apocalyptic, etc).

I had the idea to create a character from the space opera world, a low-class guy who doesn't speak the language very well and works in some menial job that requires years of separation from civilization with a small team, like an asteroid miner or something. And when he suddenly shows up in this dream world with people running around swinging swords and casting spells and shit, he becomes convinced that one of his buddies on the mining station has hooked him into a simulation program for a laugh, and disabled all the ingame meta-commands like pausing and logging out.

Knowing the local LARP community, the other players would probably be falling all over each other to try and prove to this guy that he's not in a simulation, and I want to see how far I'd be able to stretch his delusion.

My favourite two characters had fun flaws to play out.
The first one was a Barbarian equivalent, and was Petty, arrogant, easily aggravated and could frenzy uncontrollably.
He had stupid strength and survivability though, so while he got a lot of problems, they never could kill him.

The second one was a dwarven merchant who had the flaws
>avarice
and
>wasteful
So basicaly his whole life was chasing opportunities to make money, and then blowing it for extravagant items, clothes, expensive alcohol, gambling and paying rounds.
It was hella fun.

Frankly, that seems like shit character flaw.

I feel character flaw should be... flaw of character. Flaw of morals, of believes and perceptions of the characters. Not physical flaws.

Playing crippled characters? Just assign some penalty to X, Y, and Z. Boring.

Now, what should we do to make this work? Tell my, what crippled your character and how does his injury changed him. Are you hobbling because goblin raider stuck his rusty spear in your thigh? So i guess you dont like goblins, right? And perhaps you learned virtue of patience. Or contrary, are unpatient and bitch about being left behind. Perhaps you try to excite mercy and play poor thing for you feel that world "owes" you something. Perhaps you are envious of the world and bitter. Resent youth and beautiful people for they have something you never will. Perhaps you're just trying to get all that treasure paying some high level cleric to heal your stupid leg.

>OP picture
Beta male character flaw for 5e. Disadvantage on charisma checks vs. attractive women.

When it's a life or death situation, it's definitely an option.

The defining point of an alcoholic is that their addiction makes them let down people they care about when they're needed most.
The addict knows they're failing them but feels they can't do anything about it, and tend to have a negative opinion of themselves because of it.

To add to this, some alcos regard their alcoholism as punishment towards themselves even to the expense of others. They take a perverse satisfaction or enjoyment of the suffering inflicted on themselves.

I make my characters unlikable pricks because then I don't have to act like something I'm not.

Maintainence drinker is a common one for me because i grew up with one as a parent so I can actually comprehend how such people can sort of function and how they can die, or just end up hospitalized and crazy, without their booze.

I have a harder time with character flaws that I don't have so much first hand experience with and insight into both from myself and from others.

Social bindness

It's easier to play what you know.

Sleepwalking.
It's almost gotten 2 PCs killed.

They are usually very vengeful. If someone slighted them in the past they will try their best to get revenge two-three times as hard.

For example, someone insulted my rogue in the presence of the king: the next day he tripped the guy so he would spill a cup of wine all over the queen. The king was pissed and gave him a very good reaming after that.

Physical disabilities are not character flaws.

An actual character flaw would be something like "is impatient", "has a very short temper", "afraid of showing weakness" or "relies on others' approval for self-worth". Some element of their character that could cause problems for them in pursuing their own goals.

You seem to not understand the difference between a character flaw and a flaw of character.

My character believes that he is the hero of the story. He thinks that no matter how bad things get, they will eventually work themselves out in his favor.

Pretty much, he believes that he has plot armor. He can't die because then the story would be boring.

He was a sick child like tiny Tim. Wasn't supposed to live past ten years old. He couldn't go outside much, so his main past time was reading adventure novels. When his father made a deal with a devil to trade his own life for his sons health, my character developed this weird "main character syndrome"

This world view has gotten us into some trouble, but due to some really dire circumstances he is learning to snap out of it, slowly but surely.

youtube.com/watch?v=CyUzUettQ2Y
So basically you play like the Rail tracer?

Good taste

For the most part, yeah. It's a very interesting character to play because I don't have to worry too much about the consequences of my actions.

Of course it's bitten me in the ass a few times, but hey, I'm still alive, so the story of Durlin Pagrax and friends continues.

>Let's talk about character flaws. Are there any you really like to give your characters?

Generally speaking no, I don't give flaws to my characters unless the system either forces me to, or rewards for doing it so hard that it might as well force me to. When I do, I try to pinpoint the one that affects my playstyle the least amount.

An exception is that if I get a character with very low intelligence or charisma, I actually attempt to roleplay those even when it severely hurts the character and the party.

> "Not pissing myself is more important than justice!"

Are you motherfucking retarded

There's not a judge in the world who wouldn't call a 10 minute break on justice to take a piss, you brainless dumbfuck.

> Trials and actively apprehending criminals are the exact same thing!

So that's a "yes," then

My group nearly got around to playing Shadowrun but the GM dropped out. That said, I really liked the diversity of flaws/negative traits in SR. The setting does make it easier to play as a more severely disabled character (ie. paralyzed, regular seizures, that kind of thing) vs your average fantasy setting, but there were tons of options to pick from and I'm kinda sad we never got to play it.

I usually go for nervous tics though because they don't slow down the game or distract much. Stuff like playing with paper, finger drumming, and so on.