> The group I game with most regularly is very much
> into Champions and the
> Hero System. One thing that will probably not go
> well with them is the idea
> that you don't get "points" back for taking Flaws.
Here's my take on flaws in the character write-up. I have no involvement with the design team at all, so this is just some random guy's opinion :-/
All the characters should be reasonably balanced. As was pointed out, it is easy to use the description to make very powerful characters. You can say the character has a sword, an iron sword, or the iron sword of a fallen star captain.....granted the more powerful things tend to take more words, but still there is a power level thing. Ditto with horse, war horse, and demon horse, and with so many other things that you might want a character to have.
The only thing that controls these uses (abuses?) of the system is the GM's approval of the character write-up. I'd assume that most GM's will be more willing to let through some adjective abuse if the character write-up also includes some interesting and possibly appropriate flaws. In other words, as a player you need to come up with a character that the GM likes and considers believable and appropriate. Did the character literally go to hell and back to get that demon horse and iron sword of the fallen star captain? Well maybe the description includes that he or she is still haunted by demons, and normal animals are now scared of him or her. Personally I'd buy that a lot more than a simple statement that the character happens to have these things.
To step back just a little farther, almost every great Gloranthan hero has paid a price to achieve some of their power. So it should be for the player characters. They should have flaws to go with their benefits. I think GMs should be liberal about reading character descriptions and deciding that some things should have associated flaws even if the player didn't think so. If the character has powerful allies or followers, perhaps the GM can say that implicitly the character will share the ally's or followers enemy, if they have a powerful item, the previous owner, or other would be owners want it, if they know unusual legendary feats, well every legendary feat is in legend because a hero or god used it to overcome opposition, and maybe along with the feat you aquired similar opponents, and so on.
In other words, writing clear flaws into the description is not just to justify other powerful stuff, it is also akin to carrying a lightning rod--sure you have to deal with a lot of lightning, but at least you know where it will hit and can be ready for it!
As I said before, this is all just in my opinion. Others may well play the game differently, and who knows what the designers intended.
--Bryan
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