Character Traits Part 1

Here are a number of traits I put together for a game that I never ended up running.  Not sure how much use you'll get from it but thought you might be interested.  Personal downfalls do make a character far more interesting, after all.  They're based off the World of Darkness 'Flaw' system and some of them duplicate the ones found in the old World of Darkness - though with slight tweaks.

Wallflower

You just don’t know what to do about public attention.  The very thought of giving a speech makes you clam up.  Going to dances is a dreadful event that leaves you sitting on a chair beside the wall, hoping desperately that no one notices you.  You just wish you could do your thing in the background and it takes a Willpower roll to muster up the nerve to grab attention.

Gambling Addiction

You are addicted to games of chance where there is an opportunity to win something – ideally something big!  You find it difficult to avoid an offer at dice, a game of cards, or a chance to bet at the races and this can become a problem both financially and time-wise when your team is expecting your assistance while you’re distracted by cards.

Alcoholic

You need to have at least a few glasses of alcohol a day in order to feel human and will go to great lengths to obtain those glasses.  This Downfall assumes that you spend most of your time tipsy rather than drunk.  If you drink excessively as well as constantly and are often drunk than you should also take the Binge Drinker Personal Downfall.

Binge Drinker

While you don’t necessarily need to drink often, when you do drink you always drink to excess.  What’s the point in a single glass of wine when you can have an entire bottle?  You just really enjoy the freedom that alcohol can bring or perhaps you just want to drown your fears in a bottle whenever you can.  Either way, you will drink whenever the opportunity presents itself and you will drink to excess.  You can make multiple Willpower rolls to stop yourself at each level of drunkenness (Sober, Tipsy, Drunk, and Plastered).

Drug Addict

You need the sweetness of a drug to dull your pain and help you rise to the heights of pleasure that you have become used to.  Possible drugs might be opium, marijuana, heroin, and cocaine. You will go to great lengths to sate your drug addiction.

Phobia

Select a phobia from the list in the Insanity section however you have a mild version of this and do not have to roll to deal with it if circumstances persist.  However, you will do what you can to avoid it if it is unnecessary.  For example, an arachnophobic housewife who won’t deal with spiders if they can help it but can, and have, killed the odd spider they find if there’s no one else to do it.

Lusty

You’re like putty in the hands of anyone with a pretty face and this can make you a liability if a femme fatale sets her sights on you ... or even if a handsome man enters the pub you’re meant to be staking out.  You’re easily distracted by attractive members of the appropriate sex, after all.

Easily Tempted by Greed

There’s something about the siren song of cold, hard cash that calls to you.  Something about the beauty of printed currency.  The shining splendour of gold.  Nothing motivates you like a fancy reward and you’re always tempted to take an offered bribe.

Arrogant

You know best.  Of course you do.  There are a large number of reasons why people should listen to you and accept what you say as fact.  Anyone who disputes you deserves to be put in their place.

You can find more character traits next week in Part 2.