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Attribute Down (-7)
You may start play with an attribute at negative one with all of the requisite negatives. This is a serious flaw. It may be bought off through roleplay and ten XP.
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Beholden (-3)
You owe a powerful person or organization a favor. You may buy this flaw off in game through appropriate story, otherwise you are expected to deliver on favors asked of you. If you do not, this could result in the Enemy flaw or serious backlash and revenge.
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Craven (-4)
You are unused to danger, or perhaps a little too used to it, and when danger arrives, you look out for number one. You will never willingly enter a combat situation. If you are forced to go into a dangerous situation, you automatically gain Terror until the danger has passed.
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Thrice-Damned (-4)
You have offended a deity or spirit and have been cursed by them. All rites you officiate or participate in gain one vulgarity, and you are unable to use Prayer or Confidence even if you are not a priest. This is permanent and cannot be removed. Cursed can stack with Faith in Self.
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Dainty (-3)
You are not one for rough treatment and hard work. Taking a Strike to any of your limbs is enough to Down you.
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Dark Secret (-1)
You have a secret that you never want anyone to find out about. By taking this flaw it means that while whatever it is remains basically secret, it was not a perfect crime and there are witnesses, conspirators or other lingering evidence that a dedicated person might still discover if they really looked into it, and thus, you are more at risk of it being brought up. For this flaw to be effective, the secret must be something that will cause you serious hardship should it be found out.
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Dirt Poor (-3)
You begin the game with no items, equipment or property and nothing but the clothes on your back.
You may not take this flaw and Well Off or Sponsored.
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Entitled (-1)
If anyone questions your word, honor, or authority, you must immediately set them in their place and never let them forget it.
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Flashback (-3)
You suffer from an intense avoidance of violence and trauma, at the end of any scene in which violence took place or was described vividly you suffer a flashback to your previous trauma and are traumatized.
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Flamboyant (-2)
Your bombastic personality, your exaggerated dress, or some other feature about you makes you impossible to forget. You should costume this flaw. You are unable to use any Stealth powers or any powers that defend against Streetwise.
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Grudge (-3)
You have offended a dangerous or powerful person or group who wishes you harm. They are about as powerful as you, but they have a network, and will do whatever they can to destroy you and those things you care about. You can only take this flaw once.
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Haunted (-3)
You have done something in your life that has caused a specific malefic or monster to follow or haunt you. Maybe you did something that attracted the attention of a monster and now it stalks you. Maybe you committed a deep wrong that won’t stay in the past. Maybe you were simply very unlucky and were in the wrong place at the wrong time. But regardless, something awful walks in your footsteps.
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Hedonist (-3)
You struggle mightily to avoid the temptations in life. You must spend Discipline to avoid indulging in any level 1 Sin when you have a chance to do so.
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Hunted (-4)
You have offended an exceedingly dangerous or especially powerful person or group who wishes your downfall. They are much more powerful than you, and will do whatever they can to destroy you and those things you care about. You can only take this flaw once.
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Illiterate (-2)
Illiterate characters never learned to read or write. They may never copy schematics and need someone to read them schematics, rituals, lores, spells, or any document with writing if they wish to interact with those documents.
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Hollow (-2)
You start play with one less touchstone memory that you cannot replace. Staff can dictate this as needed and can be connected to other items on your sheet. You can take this flaw up to two times.
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Honor Code (-1 to -5)
The character is honor sworn to a specific set of principles or rules. You determine a number of Beliefs, which are “Always” or “Never” statements with no qualifiers such as “unless or” “except when” about your character’s personal ethics. Violating these precepts works exactly as if you were violating your Devotion, causing a Personal Failure.
Given that breaking these tenets results in a personal failure, for each tenet you provide you must also provide an explanation of why this tenet is so important to your character it would result in a personal failure and list some examples of failure states.
These tenets should be “above and beyond” normal behavior, be action oriented rather than thought oriented, something that a player would regularly encounter in the game space, have an obvious failure condition, and be a meaningful tenet that carries emotional weight. Some good examples include: I will always pray for at least one minute before engaging in any combat AND I will never allow a non-Benalian to touch a Benalian artifact.
For each point this flaw awards, two Beliefs are required.
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Maimed (-2, -4, or -6)
You bear the old scars of previous conflict, having some injury from a previous encounter that haunts you to this day. You begin play with a Maim. Take one Maim from the Body Modification system. Mild Maims are worth two Experience, Severe are worth four Experience, and Crippling Maims are worth six Experience. Find out more about maims and our body modification system here: Age of Ashes: Changes of the Body
This can be purchased multiple times for a max of three times.
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Missing Memory (-1)
You start play with one less touchstone memory than usual. This can be replaced, however, you do not know what you are missing and staff can dictate this as needed and can be connected to other items on your sheet.
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Naive (-3)
You’re very trusting of people and cannot defend against any of the Logos tree social skills.
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No Return (-8)
You will not return if you are killed. Any death is your final death.
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Oblivious (-2)
You are not very observant and cannot purchase any skills that require perception, such as skills from the Natural Philosopher list. This means that you cannot read Perception-based tags at game.
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Off-Putting (-2)
You have something that means that people don’t want to be in your presence. This could include missing teeth, layers of grime, a certain stink, maybe a weird hunch, or a scratchy voice. You must costume and roleplay this flaw, and you must wear a yellow band in an easy to see place to indicate it. People do not want to talk to you for more than a minute, which means you cannot use the skill Hear Me Out or any following abilities from the Ethos tree.
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Outspoken Defender (-2)
If someone insults your religion or your culture you cannot let it stand. They must either recant or you will demand satisfaction in the form of a duel or recompense.
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Pure of Heart (-5)
You are a virtuous and innocent person, and when you fail to live up to your ideals you are harmed. Whenever you gain at least one new Depravity from committing a sin, you gain Despair.
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Rivals (-2)
Some dangerous or powerful person or group has decided that you are their adversary, and they wish to compete with you and beat you in some arena, be your superior, or constantly out-do you. This rival is about as powerful as you, and while they may not wish you death, they do wish to see you brought low. You can only take this flaw once.
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Sheltered Upbringing (-2)
Select a talent tree branch to remove from your self teach list. You cannot spend points in that branch with your starting XP, and will need a teacher if you wish to purchase it in the future.”
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Sick In the Head(-2 or -4)
Your character has something in their life that has driven them mad. The character begins play with a Mild or Severe Insanity that cannot be bought off with therapy and must be chosen from our list. Find information about insanities and our list of available starting insanities here: Age of Ashes: Insanity
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Stranger (-2)
Your character cannot speak the common trade language and can only speak their native culture’s language.
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Vainglorious (-2)
Everyone loves it when their egos are stroked; you just like it much, much more. You can not counter any social power while being complimented.
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Vendetta (-3)
You cannot stand to lose a competitive contest or be upstaged. If you are upstaged or publicly lose face because of someone else, that person becomes your Vendetta. Any time you have an opportunity to act against them and don’t take the opportunity, you gain Despair. Your acts against them should be in the same arena you were bested in, physical, social or otherwise, though you can always escalate to violence. This person remains your Vendetta until someone else becomes your Vendetta, even if you have already proven your superiority.
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Wicked (-2)
You have lived your life in a way that most people would disagree with, but you don’t really care. For each level you choose of Wicked your character begins play with 1 depravity in a sin group that your character cannot, and is not interested in, atoning for. These points cannot be removed without buying off the flaw, and the flaw can be taken more than once. However, you may not take Wicked if it causes you to enter play above your depravity threshold.
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Wyrd Loathing (-5)
Magic is terrible and wrong and against the natural order of things. You will not willingly work alongside a magician, accept magic being cast upon you, and if beneficial enchantments do get cast upon you, you gain Despair. You also gain Despair if you knowingly use any magical object, touched and tainted by wicked sorceries.