Xull'rae Zauviir

[2 Pts.] Difficult to Conceal: Your character's permanent mark is positioned so that it may be hidden beneath relatively long clothing (full-length shirts and trousers), but will be revealed by anything less. Your character suffers a -2 circumstance penalty to disguise checks.

[2 Pts.]: There are four cardinal principles articulated by this code of conduct:

• Never go to the authorities when you have been wronged by another; never inform the authorities of wrongdoing by another. Personal insults and affronts must be settled personally– to ask someone in power to protect or compensate you is unworthy and cowardly (as is offering true testimony before a magistrate or a similar figure of authority)
• Justice must be of an equal measure to the crime; injury for injury, theft for theft, death for death. A direct personal insult (to one's manhood, womanhood, or sense of honor) must be met with a duel or with murder if a duel is not accepted
• Never, under any circumstances, forgive any insult or injury on anyone's terms but your own, after full satisfaction has been achieved. The sole exception is when you are forced to extend forgiveness by a figure in authority over you
• Never betray a close friend; Never reveal information to anyone that would be harmful to a friend; In turn, never forgive a betrayal by a former friend or ally

[2 Pts.]: Your character is not necessarily murderous, nor does he even necessarily like his cruel streak. Nonetheless, he feels a definite thirst for cruel, punishing solutions to his life’s problems– he desires those who interfere with him to suffer a commensurate degree of aggravation, pain, and loss before he overcomes them. A straightforward and sporting victory is an empty one, according to his heart. Clever cruelties fill him with joy– after all, he is not a mindless brute, but rather a shaper of punishments to fit the nature of each crime.

[2 Pts.]: Moderate Debt: Over the course of the unfolding campaign, your character will be called upon to perform three substantial services for an NPC. These services will test the character’s abilities and will contain assorted challenges and dangers. If your character fails to heed the call when his services are requested, something unfortunate will happen to him– he and his friends will very likely be targeted for violence by the character he has spurned.

Special Handicap [Certain Weirdness, +2 Pts.]: Oh, gods. The nature of the NPC (master thief, powerful noble, mysterious sorcerer, etc.) should be such that he feels no real emotional connection to your character. Your character will therefore have no idea how much of a risk he is facing when he undertakes each service. The nature of each service will also probably be contrived to minimize potential reward for your character, especially when the NPC wants something of value retrieved or an enemy wiped out. These missions are duties to be discharged, not opportunities to acquire loot and glory.

Special: The NPC won’t mind at all if other characters accompany yours out of friendship or duty, but he won’t offer them a single copper in compensation for their time and effort.

[2 Pts.]: Your character can feign temporary disinterest in his driving obsession, but it really is his reason for living. He will not long tolerate any distraction from it, and he will tolerate no sarcasm or teasing as a result of it. If your character attempts to set aside his driving goal, he will find himself tormented by everything from nightmares to waking hallucinations--at the DM's discretion, this psychological punishment will make life increasingly unlivable until the character resumes the duties dictated by his obsession. This obsession will definitely come between your character and the long-term relationships most of us take for granted--especially love and family.

[2 Pts.] Unchallenging/Occasional Duty: Your character either carries out his duties only part of the time or has an extremely unchallenging duty, requiring him only to carry out orders and assignments.

Curiously enough, once he’s got his hands on a new pile of cash, he tends to do with it as he pleases and thinks no more of it. It’s the acquisition of riches that sets his blood on fire, not the hoarding of them.

At the GM’s discretion, your character may be forced to make a Will Save against a moderate DC (12-16) to successfully turn down a money-making opportunity unless pressing, life-or-death business is keeping him occupied.

[2 Pts.]: When something happens to make your character angry, he must succeed at a Will Save (DC set by the GM based on circumstances, ranging from moderate to near-impossible) to avoid flying completely off the handle. While he’s bad enough when he makes that save, he’s a terror when he fails it. He will kick objects, throw things, threaten his friends and allies, disorder everything around him, start fights, and throw himself heedlessly into potentially foolish combat. After a temper tantrum has spent itself, your character will generally sulk, making himself miserable company for an hour or two.

[2 Pts.]: Your character is extremely sensitive about small things that he imagines reflect the contempt others feel for him. If asked to take the lead on the trail, he’ll assume it’s because he’s thought unimportant enough to be risked. If asked to take the rear, he’ll assume it’s because they think him boring. If asked to take the middle, he’ll assume it’s because they don’t think he’s skilled enough to handle himself in the front or the rear.

While your character is usually able to subsume his festering resentment beneath a layer of jagged humor or false conviviality, it occasionally boils over and causes extreme discomfort for everyone around him. Sometimes, your character also takes foolish and unnecessary risks in an effort to demonstrate his skills.

[2 Pts.]: Whenever your character is confronted with a chance to learn something new and interesting, especially if relevant to his current adventure or investigation, he must make a Will Save against a DC set by the GM in order to keep his mind on whatever else he needs to be doing.

Special: No character with this flaw is ever compelled to pry into the private lives and secrets of those he trusts, respects, and adventures with. Though surely a few questions every now and again can’t hurt a bit....

[2 Pts.]: Your character hates to wait for advice, confer on a plan or procedure, or put off any decision that can (in hisopinion) be made immediately. When his under-utilized common sense does take hold, he will still be forcefully opposedto what he thinks of as "dithering and dickering", and will tend to quickly aggravate others with his insistence upon rapid, decisive action.

[2 Pts.] Local Trouble: The organization is either very weak and overextended, or its power is confined to a relatively small area.

[2 Pts.] Occasional Nightmares: There is a 40% chance per period of sleep that your character will experience extremely vivid and lengthy nightmares. The character must make a Will Save against a DC of 15; failure means that the character will be mentally fatigued the next day. While he can still run and charge, he will suffer a -2 circumstance penalty to all Spot, Search, Knowledge, and Concentration checks, and he will suffer a -1 circumstance penalty to all of his attack rolls. These penalties last until he is next able to sleep undisturbed.

[2 Pts.] Limited Ostracism: Your character experiences occasional taunts from strangers, and often finds himself subjected to epithets or unpleasant scrutiny. Sometimes, shops or restaurants won’t admit him, but he’s relatively free from actual violence.

[2 Pts.]: Your character scoffs at the idea that "discretion is the better part of valor." He won’t back down from a fight, he dislikes calling for reinforcements, and he has a habit of constantly underestimating any danger or opponent placed in his way. Your character might be forced to make a Will Save (difficulty relatively high) any time he attempts to withdraw from danger or back down from a challenge.

[4 Pts.] Severe Phobia: When your character is in the presence of the object of his phobia, he suffers a -2 morale penalty to all of his skill checks, attack rolls, and saving throws. He will attempt to remove himself from proximity to the object of the phobia as fast as possible; each round in which he wishes to even remain in sight of the object (or venture back toward it) will require a Will Save, minimum DC 16). Failure of any such Will Save means the character will be unable to attempt another one for at least five rounds. If the need to get away from the phobia trigger interferes with other actions he might wish to take during this time, so be it--he flees first and thinks later.

[2 Pts.] Suspicious/Untrustworthy: The precise nature of the reputation should be left to the GM, as appropriate to your character’s background. If your character is law-abiding, he might have a reputation as a suspicious and unsavory person. If your character is already an unsavory person, he might have a reputation among other unsavory people as an oath-breaker, or potential informer. While this reputation won’t make anyone attack your character on sight, it will make virtually everything he tries to do more difficult. Contacts won’t take him seriously, guard officers or criminals (or both) will hassle him on the streets, and so forth.

This flaw will provide a +3 bonus to all Reputation checks made by appropriate NPCs when attempting to identify your character. If your character is successfully identified, he will suffer –4 circumstance penalty on checks involving the following skills for the duration of the encounter: Bluff, Diplomacy, Gather Information, and Perform.

[2 Pts.]: Your character is aggravatingly certain that he knows best about everything. He will fight to have his own way just about all the time, asserts his authority over others even when he doesn’t have any, and disregards the good advice of those who know better even when it’s for his own clear good. In certain circumstances, your character may be allowed a Will Save (moderate difficulty) to swallow his pride and accept someone else’s leadership without protest for some length of time.

[2 Pts.]: Your character has a vicious revenge complex, and is incapable of bearing up with dignity under insults or injury. Likewise, he is all but incapable of forgiving a slight or an injury, and will go to elaborate (and frequently dangerous) lengths to secure his revenge. Although he does not ask that his friends and allies help him achieve his vengeance, he grows highly irate when they attempt to interfere. "Letting it go" is not in his vocabulary; strung together in that order, those three words are meaningless to him.

Special (Dedicated Flaw Synergy): If your character has a Criminal Honor Code, this flaw will exacerbate that beyond any rational limit. Your character, when wronged, will be a demon incarnate, thirsting for blood. This flaw, taken in combination with Criminal Honor Code, is worth one (1) additional Flaw Point.