Best Story Flaws?

Same goes with lecherous, it's very much a "know your audience" kind of flaw.

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Re: Curse of Venus, I have seen this played well, it was hysterical.

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Agreed - it requires a table with a particular sense of humour, but it works well when everyone is on the same wavelength and having fun with it.

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I've had to remind players about limits on Personality and Story Flaws--a lot of players see them as a cheap way to "pay off" their Virtues instead of opportunities for roleplaying.

I had one that player who got quite huffy when I allowed another player to control the Familiar he had at outset via the Magical Animal Flaw--and the Familiar didn't simply act as an extension of the player with the Flaw. (That player also had a lot of problems with conveniently "forgetting" situational Hermetic Flaws and also trying to stretch the spell guidelines in crazy ways.)

Potential personality flaw:autism/asperger’s syndrome? Not sure how it would work in ars magica to tell you the truth.

As we are a modern audience, you could just write autistic in there and we'd have a rough idea of what was meant. In game terms it may mean people think he's a bit odd, etc. One might not allow a magi the flaw as the social effect of the gift would overlap somewhat.

It's tricky though. My daughter's been diagnosed with autism, and she claims I'm undiagnosed autistic. Maybe I am. You are going to be walking a minefield of offence if a non-autistic person takes the flaw, and arguably, if an autistic player gives it to their character, do we say, if the flaw has no effect, it's not a flaw?

The autism spectrum is broad, and gaming it is likely to be a minefield. Your character doesn't need a medical diagnosis. Think of what traits you want to roleplay and assign Virtues & Flaws accordingly.

If you want to be poor at picking up on social cues, that's Social Handciap. If you want to be a TV-style awkward genius with extremely focused specialty maybe it's Puissant Ability + Incomprehensible. If you just want it as a quirk choose a Personality Trait.

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As mentioned, autism exists on a spectrum from vaguely out of synch to severely disabled.
Perhaps instead create a Flaw based on the Village Idiot? All sorts of base reasons for the condition, significant autism being just one, such as other neuro-divergence issues, kicked in the head by a donkey and never recovered from the concussion, childhood malnutrition causing developmental delays, permanently drunk after a taste of fae wine, etc

Or is this a variation of "Difficult Underlings"?

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Yes, oh yes!!! :smiley:

My favorite flaws for new players:

  • Dependent - easy to understand, easy to set up problems.
  • Diabolic Past - easy for players to understand the flaw. Harder for the storyguide to force stories.
  • Enemies - I like this for companions but not magi. Magi politics can get too troublesome.
  • Plagued by Supernatural Entity and Supernatural Nuisance - This is by far the easiest for a storyguide to cause story in my experience.
  • Faerie Friend - Your friend can help you out, but OH MAN does he get in trouble.
  • Magical Animal Companion - Great for companions. For a magi, discuss in advance if they plan to make the animal a familiar. If they do, then the animal has requirements that must be met to earn their bond, At the very least, the Familiar Bond requires an unenchanted honest trust and friendship, and you can always cite that as something the Magical Animal hasn't gotten yet. Getting their trust is where the story is.
  • Mentor - for the oft mentioned reasons of offering guidance to newer players.

Also, I hate Animal Companion.

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