Self-Control Rolls
Self-Control Rolls
Many mental disadvantages do not affect you constantly – you may attempt to control your urges. An asterisk (*) appears next to the point cost of any disadvantage that offers a chance to resist. For each disadvantage like this, you must choose a self-control number: the number you must roll on 3d to avoid giving in. If you roll less than or equal to this number, you resist your disadvantage – this time. Otherwise, you suffer the listed effects.
This modifies point value as follows:
| Frequency of Resistance | Roll Range | Cost Multiplier |
|---|---|---|
| Quite Rarely | Roll of 6 or less | 2 x listed cost |
| Fairly Often | Roll of 9 or less | 1.5 x listed cost |
| Quite Often | Roll of 12 or less | Listed cost |
| Almost All the Time | Roll of 15 or less | 0.5 x listed cost |
| Drop all fractions (e.g., -22.5 points becomes -22 points). |
The “default” self-control number is 12: you must roll 12 or less on 3d to avoid giving in to your problem. This lets you use disadvantage costs as written. Choose a self-control number of 15 if you wish to have a tendency toward a disadvantage instead of a full-blown case. A self-control number of 9 will regularly limit your options. A self-control number of 6 can be crippling (especially with genuine psychiatric problems).
Note your self-control number in parentheses after the name of the disadvantage on your character sheet. For instance, if you can resist Berserk on a roll of 9 or less, write this as “Berserk (9).”****
Like all success rolls, self-control rolls are subject to modifiers. Exceptionally mild or severe stimuli can give bonuses or penalties. Drugs and afflictions can make you more or less likely to give in. Other disadvantages can make you irritable, reducing your odds of resisting. See the disadvantage descriptions for details.
Example: Your self-control number is 15, but you are in a highly stressful situation that gives -5 to your self-control roll. You must roll 10 or less to resist your disadvantage.
You never have to try a self-control roll – you can always give in willingly, and it is good roleplaying to do so. However, there will be times when you really need to resist your urges, and that is what the roll is for. Be aware that if you attempt self-control rolls too often, the GM may penalize you for bad roleplaying by awarding you fewer earned points.
Optionally, the GM may permit you to use one unspent character point to “buy” an automatic success on a self-control roll. Points spent this way are gone for good, but there will be times when staying on the straight and narrow is worth the sacrifice. In this case, the GM should not penalize you for bad roleplaying, because you are penalizing yourself!
Note that high Will helps you make Fright Checks and resist supernatural emotion control, but it does not improve self-control rolls – not even for disadvantages with effects identical to these things. Mental disadvantages represent an aspect of your personality that you cannot simply will (or reason) away. This is part of what makes them disadvantages!