Re: [dq-rules] Advantages and disadvantages

[William Hough <houghpt@yahoo.com>]

--- Jason Winter <Alarian@harbornet.net> wrote:
> My big problem with using advantages and
> disadvantages is that it pretty 
> much forces everyone to take disadvantages even if
> they don't want 
> them.  What happens is one (or several) players heap
> on the disadvantages 
> and get tons of advantages.  They now become way
> more powerful than the 
> "average" player.  If another player doesn't want to
> take any disadvantages 
> they are going to be at a big disadvantage because
> the GM is going to have 
> to make encounters tougher for the more powerful
> character.  In the end 
> pretty much everyone is forced to take at least some
> disadvantages just to 
> at least be close to on par with the others in the
> group.

I agree completely; it's just part of what we HERO
System folks call "mini-maxing".

"Mini-Maxing" derives its name from the path that
power-trip players take when they generate their
characters in a point-based system. Their tendency in
the case of Disadvantages/Advantages is just as Jason
said, pile on the "D"s for the sole purpose of
garnering more "A"s.

The other half is that power-trippers in HERO System
establish certain stats, which their character will
not particularly need on a regular basis, well below
their average values in order to get even more points
to raise other stats, or buy more power advantages and
other goodies; that is, minimizing certain stats in
order to maximize others more beneficial to the
character.

For example, a bad-ass wizard will probably buy his
STR down to 8 (average 10) and get back 2 points (STR
costs 1 point). If he is a mentalist basing his powers
off EGO, he will certainly buy his CON down to 8 as
well and get back 4 points (CON costs 2 points per
stat point). And there are far worse examples.

Two things will slow this down or put a halt to it
completely: HERO's rule which absolutely clamps a
limit on the total point value of Disadvantages a
character can have, and a wary and watchful GM.

I have to laugh when a power-tripper, confronted by a
powerful villian or monster created solely because he
created a mini-max badass starting character, accuses
ME of being a "Killer GM". Ha!

Off-topic a little bit: I was surprised when my group
of DQ players, who should certainly know better, got
cute at the beginning of the current scenario while
still in town, and devised schemes to make a ton of
silver pennies in the quest for more magic items. I
could have stopped them in town, but what followed is
much better.

The current scenario is none other than Paul Jaquays'
"The Enchanted Wood". Whoops! All I did was increase
the stats of the major villians (particularly Grask,
Wulgreth, and oh yeah that annoying elf bandit chick
and her ambush party) while doubling the amount of
critters that show up in random encounters.

Now they are having a tough time; not a deadly time,
but definitely challenging.

- Pat Hough

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