Quirks: Basic Rules

by Firebomb

Quirks are things that a player can use to customize a new character. It is a completely optional system; a player can use quirks to customize a character, but he doesn't have to.

The way the system works is quite simple: Each positive (good) quirk a player wants costs them one point. Each negative (bad) quirk a player takes gives him one point. The system is balanced, as the character must have a point balance of zero by the time he is done.

Instead of taking one positive and one negative quirk, the player has the option of taking only one, in exchange for some previously rolled perks already gained. In other words, he can sell contacts, talents, or even powers to gain more points, as follows:

Table 1: Quirk Points Conversion Table
Contacts | One Quirk Point	Talents | Two Quirk Points	Powers | Three Quirk Points

Now, this chart works both ways. A character could take two positive quirks and pay them off by sacrificing one talent. Or, the character can burden himself with three negative quirks, in order to gain him/herself another power.

Players can take as many quirks as they desire, within reason.

Also, some quirks have more than one level; in other words, multiple levels of the quirk can be taken, which have a much greater effect in play. These quirks are marked with an asterisk (*).

Further, some quirks are quite powerful, in either a helpful or harmful way; these are usually worth two quirk points. These quirks are marked with an exclamation point (!).

Table 2: Quirk Types
01-33	Physical Quirks	34-66	Mental Quirks	67-00	Personal / Social Quirks

 

Table 3: Physical Quirks (positive)
01-07	Acceleration Tolerance	08-13	Adrenal Surge	14-20	Ambidexterity
21-27	Fighting Logistics	28-33	Gravity Tolerance	34-40	Hardiness !
41-47	High Pain Threshold	48-53	Learned Resistance *	54-60	Natural Talent *
61-67	Omnidexterity	68-73	Rank Increase !*	74-80	Rapid Healing
81-87	Sensory Increase	88-93	Strong bones *	94-00	Sturdiness

 

Table 4: Mental Quirks (positive)
01-08	3-D Sense	09-15	Alertness	16-23	Cyber-immunity
24-31	Fortitude	32-38	High Stress Capacity	39-46	Karmic Shell !
47-54	Magical Potential	55-61	Mechanical Aptitude	62-69	Psionic Potential
70-77	Quick Learning	78-84	Rank Increase !*	85-92	Sanity
93-00	Static

 

Table 5: Personal / Social Quirks (positive)
01-09	Ally	10-18	Assistant	19-27	Attractiveness *
28-36	Benefactor	37-45	Cash Flow	46-54	Charmed
55-63	Fame *	64-72	Fan Club	73-81	Likeability *
82-90	Luckiness	91-00	Reputation *

 

Table 6: Physical Quirks (negative)
01-06	Acceleration Intolerance	07-12	Albinoism	13-18	Allergy *
19-24	Colorblind	25-30	Dwarfism	31-36	Epilepsy
37-42	Feebleness	43-48	Gigantism	49-54	Gravity Intolerance
55-60	Lameness	61-66	Low Pain Threshold	67-72	Missing Parts
73-78	Rank Decrease !*	79-84	Reduced Healing	85-90	Sensory Decrease *
91-95	Weak bones	96-00	Weakness !

 

Table 7: Mental Quirks (negative)
01-03	Absent-minded	04-05	Action Addict	06-08	Allergy *
09-11	Attitude *	12-13	Bloodlust	14-16	Bluntness *
17-19	Bully *	20-21	Combat Paralysis *	22-24	Compulsiveness *
25-27	Cowardice *	28-29	Cyber-neurosis	30-32	Delusions *
33-35	Dyslexia	36-37	Fanatic *	38-40	Greed *
41-43	Gullibility *	44-45	Honesty *	46-48	Impulsiveness *
49-51	Inept *	52-53	Insanity !	54-56	Insomnia
57-59	Jealousy *	60-61	Karma Deficiency !	62-64	Laziness *
65-67	Mania *	68-69	Multiple Personality *	70-72	Pacifism *
73-75	Paranoia *	76-77	Personal Code *	78-80	Phobia *
81-83	Pushover	84-85	Rank Decrease!*	86-88	Rudeness *
89-91	Shyness *	92-93	Stubbornness *	94-96	Temper *
97-00	Vow *

 

Table 8: Personal / Social Quirks (negative)
01-07	Alien Customs *	08-13	Bigotry *	14-20	Disgusting Personal Habits*
21-27	Dependent	28-33	Enemy *	34-40	Illiteracy
41-47	Jinxed	48-53	Loner *	54-60	Nerd
61-67	Repugnant Personality *	68-73	Snob	74-80	Social Dependent *
81-87	Unattractiveness *	88-93	Unluckiness	94-00	Weirdness Magnet

Physical Quirks (positive)

• Acceleration Tolerance: Characters with this quirk are able to handle rapid changes in acceleration. In essence, this allows a character to accelerate at one additional area per turn, without harm to themselves (their clothing / equipment may be another story...).
• Adrenal Surge: This quirk allows the character to have minor control over his adrenal gland, able to bolster the production of adrenaline if necessary. In game terms, this allows said character to bolster his Strength by +1CS for 1d10 turns a day.
• Ambidexterity: A character with ambidexterity can use items in either hand, without penalty (I recommend a character normally be at -2CS if using an item in his 'off' hand). This can come in handy in all sorts of situations.
• Fighting Logistics: This character has a naturally tactical mind. In combat, after the character fights another for 1d10 rounds (not turns), he can acquire a +1CS to all Fighting FEATs concerning said opponent. This plus will last until this foe undergoes radical changes...
• Gravity Tolerance: Characters with this quirk have added resistance to gravitic effects, such as heavy gravity worlds, or even the crushing effect produced by the gravity manipulation power. The added gravity may immobilize the character, but it will cause less damage. Basically, the character makes Endurance FEATs required when subject to extreme gravity changes at +2CS. Furthermore, any damage caused by heavy gravity will be reduced by 2CS. It may immobilize the character, but it will inflict less damage per turn.
• Hardiness: This character is much more durable than most of equivalent body type. What hardiness will do for you is give one 20% more health points than his F, A, S, and E rank numbers could provide. This quirk costs two quirk points to acquire. !
• High Pain Threshold: The character with a high pain threshold can resist Stun results rolled against him, and any minuses that result from powers and attacks that are quite painful, at +2CS to his Endurance rank.
• Learned Resistance: This quirk represents intensive training by a character to acquire some small form of immunity to some form of harmful substance or energy. Each level taken bolsters Endurance FEAT rolls used to resist the named phenomena (drugs, poison, etc...) by +1CS. *
• Natural Talent: This character has a natural disposition towards some skill or another. When using said skill, the character has a +1CS to any FEAT roll required by its usage, in addition to any normal plusses provided by the talent. This quirk can be applied multiple times... *
• Omnidexterity: Similar to ambidexterity, omnidexterity allows a character to use all of his extremities as well as he could his normal action limb. If this is physically improbable (firing guns effectively with feet, per se), there is still a -1CS applied to the action. This quirk costs a player two quirk points. Though expensive, it can come in handy, especially if the character has more than one set of arms, legs, tentacles, etc...
• Rank Increase: Using this quirk, a player can raise any physical ability score or power rank by +1CS during character generation. This is a very powerful quirk, and should cost the player two quirk points, as it can be easily abused. !*
• Rapid Healing: Those characters with rapid healing will recover lost hit points as if their Endurance rank was +4CS higher than it actually is. This can come in handy if the character is in a high damage environment, such as a super hero team...
• Sensory Increase: The character with an increased sensory range can make Intuition FEAT rolls concerning that sense at a +1CS. This can apply to any of the 'normal' five senses (hearing, sight, smell, touch, taste), or any super human sensory power the character has.
• Strong bones: This quirk enhances a character's bone structure by +1CS for each level taken. The standard human skeleton is considered to be a Typical (6) material strength object. This quirk is more potent than it sounds. For instance, Strong bones can reduce damage inflicted by blunt attacks. Blunt attacks that are equal to or less than the material strength of the strong bones are reduced in damage by a number of column shifts equal to the number of levels in this quirk. Nifty, eh? *
• Sturdiness (NH): Characters with sturdiness are allowed to calculate their Negative Health score as if their Endurance rank was +1CS. This will result in a much higher Negative Health score, especially if the character already has a high Endurance rank.

Mental Quirks (positive)

• 3-D Sense: The 3-D sense quirk is indicative of the ability to think in 3-D, as opposed to the normal 2-D that folks normally resort to. The character with this mental quirk isn't ever at a disadvantage against foes simply based on their position relative to him/herself.
• Alertness: This quirk demonstrates a preternatural awareness of one's surroundings. Characters with this quirk are rarely surprised by others, even when confronted by trained sneaky-folk or any stealth technology. Furthermore, the alert character is a terminally light sleeper; it is almost impossible to sneak up on them, even if they are asleep! If the alert character passes a yellow Intuition FEAT when asleep, he will wake up automatically if someone tries to get him...
• Cyber-immunity: Should the character ever receive cybernetic implants, his Psyche will be considered to be +2CS for the purpose of determining how well the character mentally handles the alterations his body has undergone.
• Fortitude: Characters with fortitude are allowed to calculate their Mental Health score as if their Psyche rank was +1CS. This will result in a much higher Mental Health score, especially if the character already has a high Psyche rank
• High Stress Capacity: This quirk shows that the character knows how to keep his cool, even in the face of great danger or frustrating circumstances. The character has a +2CS when attempting to maintain a cool demeanor in the face of adversity.
• Karmic Shell: This mental quirk allows a character to have 20% more Karma than the sum of his R, I, and P rank numbers would normally indicate. This is a powerful mental quirk, and costs the player 2 quirk points to buy. ! Note - this assumes that the Judge is using a certain optional rule that I myself do. Basically, this allows the characters to start out with an initial sum of Karma each adventure, a sum equal to the sum of their R, I, and P rank numbers, at the beginning of each game. It does stretch the rules a bit, sure, but the players didn't mind all that much. They invariably ended up using it up right away, as the game evolved into a high-level game after a few years, and things got sort of ... hectic. If you don't use this, just ignore this quirk.
• Magical Potential: A character with this quirk has great potential. In other words, he's got magical ability, should he choose to develop it to any extent. He might not choose to, mind you, but he may be looked upon in a favorable manner by any mage looking for an apprentice. If the character is (or tries to become) a sorcerer, this quirk has the benefit of making any spells cast by the character act as if they were +1CS in rank; the spells aren't actually higher in rank, it's just that factors such as range, etc..., are treated as such.
• Mechanical Aptitude: The mechanical adept is a techno-whiz, one of the know-it-all electronics gurus that apparently grow on trees in the comics. Characters with this quirk can build, use, and repair high tech devices as if their Reason was +2CS in rank.
• Psionic Potential: A character with this quirk has great potential. In other words, his mind is primed for schooling in the disciplines of psionic power. He may never use this potential, but if he does, he'll have some benefits. One benefit of this quirk is an easy out; if the character wants to buy additional powers at a later date, he can do so without excessive risk to his person. He always had potential, after all, and it only took so long for his 'latent' powers to emerge. But that's not all.
• Quick Learning: The character is a quick learner. In game terms, he can acquire new talents at half the normal rate, and at 75% of the original cost. This also applies to powers that are learned talent-equivalents, such as magic spells...
• Rank Increase: By spending two quirk points, a player can enhance the rank of any one mental ability or power rank by +1CS. S/he can do this as many times as s/he chooses, but this can get awfully expensive, awfully quick... !*
• Sanity: While this sounds like something we all should normally have, in full strength, this mental quirk instead denotes the character's ability to hold his mind together in the face of sanity bending phenomena; Psyche FEATs required to maintain sanity are made at a +2CS.
• Static: Bordering on psionic ability, this quirk demonstrates a character's ability to ... deflect psionic assaults aimed in his general vicinity. Any attempt to affect the mind of the character or anyone in a 10' radius must be made at a -1CS.

Personal / Social Quirks (positive)

• Ally: This Quirk states that somewhere in the character's past, he has cultivated an ally. More than a mere Contact, this ally is a true friend of the character, and will go out of his way to help out when necessary. He'll even risk great harm for his buddy...
• Assistant: Essentially a side kick, the assistant helps the character out when necessary. He might be a behind the scenes assistant, like a techie or butler, or a more hands-on aide, such as a partner in crime (so to speak) who assists in battle.
• Attractiveness: The character is attractive. Particularly attractive, in fact. For each level he takes in this quirk, he has a effective Popularity boost of +1CS, when dealing with folks that would tend to find him or her attractive. *
• Benefactor: Often, characters will find themselves with financial backing of some sort or another, a backing which isn't necessarily their own. This benefactor sympathizes with the character's cause, throwing money (and sometimes, stuff) his way, in order to help the Cause.
• Cash Flow: This simply means that the character has a higher Resources rank than he originally rolled. He has some sort of money making machine in the corporate world that rolls in the bucks, with little maintenance necessary (especially if an Assistant runs it). *
• Charmed: This quirk is like luckiness, below, in that it alters die rolls for the better. Fortunately for the friends of the charmed character, this improvement affects their die rolls, instead. The character to benefit from this help must be determined randomly, after the originally charmed fellow has his tenth die roll affected.
• Fame: The character is well-known to the public, so much so that he is famous. He regularly appears in the newspapers, as well as magazines and the tabloids. This has the effect of raising this character's Popularity by 1CS for each level taken, either in a positive or negative manner. *
• Fan Club: Often, but not always accompanying Fame, the Fan Club represents the oodles of fan boys and girls that follows the career of the character. The character's popularity is usually treated as being +3CS to members of his fan club, +4 if he gives them autographs...
• Likeability: If anything else, this character has charisma. When interacting with others, the character receives NPC reactions that are one place more favorable, unless they are already counted as hostile (per the Using Popularity rules on page 17 of the Player's Handbook).*
• Luckiness: Things just seem to go this character’s way. All the time. This is because every tenth time he rolls the dice, the roll is altered. The higher die will sit in the tens place, and the lower die will sit in the ones place.
• Reputation: The character has a good rep in his community. This grants him an effective +1CS to reaction rolls based on his Popularity, concerning folks that know of him. The only problem is that this rep can backfire, especially if the character acts counter to said reputation. *

Physical Quirks (negative)

• Acceleration Intolerance: Characters with this quirk find that they cannot pick up speed as quickly as others with similar ability. The character accelerates at one area per turn less than his Endurance indicates, with a minimum acceleration rate of 1/2 area per turn.
• Albinoism: While this may look cool, albinism is a quirk that does have it's disadvantages. While no damage will occur, the character is nonetheless uncomfortable when exposed to direct sunlight, and will have a -1CS penalty applied to all his actions until out of the sun.
• Allergy: A character with an allergy resists certain attacks or substances at a -1CS, or if he has no intrinsic resistance, takes +1CS from certain attacks or substances, for each level s/he has in this quirk. Choose your poison. *
• Colorblind: In real life, this is simply the loss of one's ability to distinguish one color from another, as in red-green color blindness, for instance. In game terms, however, the character simply sees things in black and white (unless the player wants to do his homework).
• Dwarfism: This does not refer to the axe-wielding dwarves of lore. In reality, this describes a condition where the character is disproportionately short. This is disadvantageous mostly in that the character must have all gear and clothing custom made.
• Epilepsy: Characters with this quirk are subject to random fits of uncontrollable shaking, usually at the most inopportune times. Most of the time, this can be dealt with, but in a superhuman firefight, this condition can be downright deadly! In game terms, the character will feel the shaking coming on, and can resist the fit if he makes a red Endurance AND Psyche FEAT roll; failure indicates a seizure that will continue for 1d10 turns, during which time all actions will have a -4CS penalty applied to them.
• Feebleness: Characters with feebleness must calculate their Negative Health score as if their Endurance rank was -1CS. This will result in a much lower Negative Health score, especially if the character already has a high Endurance rank.
• Gigantism: A character with this quirk is not merely tall; rather, he is disproportionately tall. This can be all sorts of annoying, as any clothing and gear will need to be custom tailored to the character. Never mind that most places aren't built for exceptionally tall people.
• Gravity Intolerance: Unfortunate characters with this quirk have lesser resistance to gravitic effects, such as zero g states, and heavy gravity worlds. This translates into a -2CS to all Endurance FEATs called for by changing gravity situations.
• Lameness: This quirk indicates that one of the character's parts is operating at less than premium condition. This can apply to any extremity or organ, the exact penalty depending on exactly what part has been lamed.
• Low Pain Threshold: Characters with a low pain threshold are more likely to buckle under physical duress. This translates into a -2CS to Psyche or Endurance FEATs that require resistance to pain, such as that inflicted by torturers, or artificially induced neural stimulation...
• Missing Parts: Put bluntly, the character is missing some body part or another. This can be a sensory instrument, extremity, or internal organ. As is the case with lameness, the specific detriment to a character with missing parts must be determined on a case by case basis.
• Rank Decrease: When a player takes this quirk for a character, one of his physical ability or power ranks are reduced by 1CS. This is a potent negative quirk, and by taking it, a player can gain two quirk points. !*
• Educed Healing: Characters with this quirk find that they heal at a much lesser rate than is normal; they recover lost health points as if their Endurance rank was -4CS. This has a minimum healing rate of Feeble rank, however.
• Ensory Decrease: This quirk describes a lessening of one of the character's senses. For each level taken against one sense, it will function at -2CS effectiveness. If enough levels are taken on this quirk, it can completely nullify the sense. *
• Weak bones: Characters with this quirk have a weakened skeletal structure. Normally, human bones are of Typical material strength, but this character's bones are only of Poor material strength. This has a dangerous effect on a character. First, he will take an additional 20% damage from Blunt attacks, as his body is less able to resist such damage inflicted upon it. Since this is quite debilitating in combat, this quirk is worth two points to the character who takes it.
• Weakness: The unfortunate character that has this dangerous quirk finds that he has 20% less Health points than his F, A, S, and E rank numbers would normally indicate. This is a rather painful quirk, and is worth two quirk points to the player that takes it. !

Mental Quirks (negative)

• Absent-minded: The character with this quirk is, as described, absentminded. He has a tendency to forget names, schedules, appointments, etc..., at the most inopportune times. If necessary, the absent-minded character must make Reason FEATs to remember things at -2CS.
• Action Addict: The action addict finds himself bored if not doing anything not 'exciting'. If not fighting or doing something that isn't tedious in nature, he'll start fidgeting uncontrollably, complaining about how bored he is, and eventually wander off in search of action. In other words, if caught in a boring, apparently useless situation, the action addict must make a Psyche FEAT roll at a -1CS, or start fidgeting and such. If this continues for an extended period of time, he must pass another FEAT roll at -3CS, or wander off in search of fun...
• Allergy: A character with a mental allergy resists any sort of mental power or attack as if his Psyche rank was -1CS, for each level taken with this quirk. This allergy applies to all sorts of mental attacks, such as mind control, psionic assaults, emotion control, etc... *
• Attitude: This character has a bad attitude. It permeates everything he says, and everything he does. Most importantly, it colors others' perceptions of him. In order to act 'nice', this character must pass a Psyche FEAT roll at a -1CS, lest he be his normal self... *
• Bloodlust: The rare and dangerous character with this quirk is truly a dangerous foe, as he lives for battle and the hurting of others, to the point of killing, even. In combat, the character with this quirk must pass a Psyche FEAT roll at -2CS, or succumb to his/her bloodlust. This is a bad turn of affairs. While in a bloodlust, the character does have an effective +1CS to his Fighting rank, but the perks end there. If he fells an opponent in combat, the character will have an overwhelming urge to kill him. Unless the character can pass another Psyche FEAT roll, this time at a -4CS, he will do his best to kill his enemy. If anyone interferes with his goal, that person will suddenly find himself subject to the character's homicidal rage as well. A blood lust will last for the duration of any battle, plus 1d10 additional turns. A character can terminate an active blood frenzy by making a red Psyche FEAT roll, and spending all of his Karma. If it gets to this point, he's probably is about to lose it all, anyway... 
• Bluntness: The character with this quirk doesn't see the need to mince words, or simply isn't aware that what he's saying is rather... direct. In game play, the character must pass a Reason FEAT roll at -1CS to prevent himself from saying the first things that pop into his head. *
• Bully: Characters with the bully quirk find great pleasure in putting people in their place, especially those that can be easily pushed around. A bully must pass a Psyche FEAT roll at a -1CS to resist the urge to cow those weaker than himself, if he chooses not to. *
• Combat Paralysis: This quirk causes a character to freeze in battle; he isn't scared, necessarily, he just becomes confused in a firefight, especially a superhuman one. In battle, the character must make a Psyche FEAT roll at a -1CS to act, each turn there is conflict. *
• Compulsiveness: The compulsive character has a habit, usually bad, that he finds himself doing all the time. Chewing nails, twiddling thumbs, and so on. To stop himself from subconsciously fiddling around, the character must pass a Psyche FEAT roll at a -1CS. *
• Cowardice: Danger is not this character's middle name. Thanks to this quirk, he finds himself fleeing from danger at all times, real or imagined. To persevere in the face of danger, the character must pass a Psyche FEAT roll at a -1CS. *
• Cyber-neurosis: Characters with this quirk are especially susceptible to mental illnesses brought on by the implantation of cybernetic devices in their bodies. For the purposes of resisting such maladies, this character's Psyche rank is considered to be -2CS less than normal.
• Delusions: This character lives in a world all his own. He sees things and he hears things. He talks to stuff that isn't there. Sometimes, it talks back. To ignore the influences of his own damaged mind (should he want to), the character must pass a Psyche FEAT roll at -1CS. *
• Dyslexia: The character with this quirk finds it difficult to get a handle on new things, typically finding new information a big jumble in his head. When studying new facts, the character's Reason score is effectively -2CS. That's not all, however. Another added detriment to the character is the time and Karma point cost to purchase new talents. Learning new skills takes twice as long for this character, and the talents learned cost 50 % more to purchase.
• Fanaticism: The true fanatic believes in a cause, philosophy, or political body to extreme end. He does all he can to support his pet cause and more, often going beyond the bounds of legality to do so. This is what makes them so dangerous. In game terms, the fanatic character overwhelmingly believes that his cause is righteous above all others. If presented with an opportunity to further the cause, or if said cause is insulted, the fanatic must make a Psyche FEAT roll at -2CS to prevent himself from acting. Of course, a real fanatic wouldn't bother, and would just act, anyway. *
• Greed: This character is greed-y. He hoards his wealth and property with almost paranoid fervor, and goes out of his way to rapidly acquire as much wealth as possible. If presented with an opportunity to gain great wealth, the character is at -1CS to resist the urge to get it. *
• Gullibility: A gullible character is truly clueless in nature, believing that people are mostly honest, good folks. Shows why they're called naive. To disbelieve something being fed to him by unscrupulous types, the character must pass a Reason FEAT roll at -1CS. *
• Honesty: The character is honest. Normally, this is a good thing, but is counted as a negative quirk as it prevents the character from lying, if necessary. In order to tell a lie, or even stretch the truth, the honest character must pass a Psyche FEAT roll at -1CS. *
• Impulsiveness: An impulsive character is one that consistently jumps the gun, doing thing right as they occur to them. To resist the urge to act on a whim, the character must make a Reason FEAT roll at -1CS, the failure of which indicates that he goes with his 'bad self'. *
• Inept: The inept character is one that tends to bumble even the most simple of tasks. Everything he does seems to be marked by abject failure, for no apparent reason. To really do anything right, the inept must make a Reason FEAT roll at -1CS to succeed. *
• Insanity: The character is mad. Stark. Raving. Mad. Worse than the delusional type, this person lives in an entirely different reality, perceiving things as his warped mind presents to him, and acting accordingly. ! This unpredictable quirk isn't recommended for players to take, as it is exceptionally difficult to role-play an insane superhero. I've seen people try. Ouch. At any rate, since this is such a ... powerful quirk, it is worth two quirk points.
• Insomnia: This quirk prevents one from sleeping effectively. In order to get a decent amount of sleep, the character must pass a Psyche FEAT roll at -2CS to calm himself enough to sleep. If this fails, the character will get little or no sleep, with dire effect. For one thing, he'll be drowsy all day. This has a tendency to lower all FEAT rolls by -1CS for the duration of that day, reflecting the lack of energy and focus caused by not getting enough rest...
• Jealousy: This character tends to covet the things that belongs to others, and secretly maligns them since he doesn't have the goods. If he is determined to be jealous of somebody's stuff, the character must pass a Psyche FEAT roll at -1CS to prevent himself from revealing some sort of spite. *
• Karma Deficiency: This mental quirk lessens the amount of Karma a character would normally have, as is determined by the sum of his R, I, and P rank numbers, by twenty percent. This is a powerful mental quirk, and taking it gives the player 2 quirk points. ! Note - this assumes that the Judge is using a certain optional rule that I myself do. Basically, this allows the characters to start out with an initial sum of Karma each adventure, a sum equal to the sum of their R, I, and P rank numbers, at the beginning of each game. If you don't use it, ignore this quirk. It makes things that much easier in the long run... :)
• Laziness: Lazy characters are difficult to motivate. They don't like getting up in the morning, going to work, or doing anything in particular. Motivating himself requires he pass a Psyche FEAT roll at -1CS, the failure of which indicates that he blows off his current task. *
• Mania: These quirks are mild forms of insanity. They basically revolve around a character obsessively repeating one specific form of behavior, over and over and over... For a character to resist his obsessive urges, he must pass a Psyche FEAT roll at -1CS. Like most other mental quirks, manias can be taken at more than one level, which can make these especially dangerous to the character. Of course, this makes them so much more fun to play... Here are several 'common' forms of mania: *
     - Kleptomania: The character compulsively steals things. He may not realize what he has done until the shop alarms go off...
     - Megalomania: The character believes that he is some sort of supreme being. Complete disregard for personal safety...
     - Monomania: More than compulsion, the character repeats one single action, ad infinitum...
     - Nymphomania: Well, um, yeah. The character continually needs ... It. If you don't know what It is, I'm not going to tell you.
     - Pyromania: The character loves fire. Loves setting it, loves watching it burn. Woo!
• Multiple Personality: Characters with this quirk aren't alone in their head; in other words, they are of two, if not more, distinct personalities. For each level taken on this quirk, the character will have an additional personality. Each of these personalities will have its own R, I, and P scores, and it should be different from the other(s), or else why bother. Furthermore, the personalities won't necessarily get along with one another; in fact they may be at cross purposes... *
• Pacifism: Characters with this quirk do not believe in fighting, for any reason. In order for them to defy this innate belief (should they find the need to, say, fight for their lives), they must make a Psyche FEAT roll at -1CS in order to act violently. *
• Paranoia: Paranoid characters truly believe that everyone is out to get them. Usually this isn't the case, but the character can become a real basket case if he gets caught in some conspiracy or another. In the long run, this can become especially annoying for the character's pals. In game play, this normally won't affect the relationship between the paranoid character and his close pals, unless they do something overtly suspicious. If they do, he must pass a Psyche FEAT roll at -1CS to retain his trust of his allies. On the other hand, paranoid characters absolutely distrust those that they do not know intimately. Changing this usually requires a Herculean feat of friendship. In order to even give others the benefit of the doubt, the character must pass the same roll indicated above. *
• Personal Code: The character with this quirk lives solely by a personal code of conduct, disregarding the laws of society unless they happen to coincide with his own. In order to disregard this code, the character must pass a Psyche FEAT roll at a -1CS. *
• Phobia: This quirk indicated that the character has an irrational fear of some thing or another. It can be fire, technology, spiders, or whatever. In order to face his fear without cowering in abject fear, the character must pass a Psyche FEAT roll at -2CS. *
• Pushover: A character with this quirk must calculate his Mental Health (MH) score as if his Psyche rank was -1CS. This will result in a much lower Mental Health score, especially if the character has a rather high Psyche rank.
• Rank Decrease: By taking this mental quirk, the character will lower one of his mental ability or power ranks by -1CS. This is a powerful quirk, and as such, it will earn the player two quirk points, not just one. !
• Rudeness: Similar to the bluntness quirk, the rude character tends to be insulting to others. Unlike bluntness, however, it's fully intentional. In order to rein in his 'bad self' and be nice to others, the character must pass a Psyche FEAT roll at -1CS. *
• Shyness: Shy characters have a hard time speaking up, for some reason or another. Fear of embarrassment, sometimes, or just fear of ridicule. If the character must speak in public, or voice a strong opinion, he must first pass a Psyche FEAT roll at -1CS. *
• Stubbornness: This character is stubborn. He is always Right, and everybody else is Wrong. Period. Should he wish to capitulate for some reason, he must first pass a Psyche FEAT roll at -1CS. But why bother anyway; after all, he was right in the first place... *
• Temper: This character has a light fuse. Just about anything can set him off. And once mad, he tends to stay that way. In order to resist his mean urges, this character must make a Psyche FEAT at -1CS to be 'nice' again. He has the same penalty when trying not to lose his temper in the first place ... *
• Vow: Not just a mere promise, this quirk denotes a solemn oath a character lives by. Perhaps to complete a task, or to obtain vengeance. If forced to go for a lengthy time without attempting to complete the vow, the character will begin to get antsy (per Action Addict). Furthermore, if the character finds some means of completing the vow, or someone acts to the detriment of his completing his vow, the character must pass a Psyche FEAT at -2CS to resist acting. This, of course, assumes he doesn't want to act...

Personal / Social Quirks (negative)

• Alien Customs: This doesn't necessarily represent alien mores and such, it simply states that the character has a different culture than that which is active where he has decided to make his home. This is only a negative quirk because it makes interacting with others... difficult. For each level the character takes in this quirk, his culture is that much less compatible with his chosen home. The character will have an effective -2CS to his Popularity, concerning anyone that finds his culture contemptuous. Again, this doesn't effect everyone... *
• Bigotry: This unpleasant trait represents the tendency of a character to look down upon some group of people for some arbitrary reason or another. The character must make a Psyche FEAT at -1CS for each level taken, or inadvertently make this dislike known. This is, of course, if the character wishes to hide this dislike at all. If present, the unliked party can usually tell, and will react accordingly. The offended party will react as if the character had -3CS Popularity, and will shift down one NPC reaction step. Multiple levels of this negative quirk can be taken, though this is not recommended, as it will undoubtedly cause conflicts with the offended party. In fact, this quirk is probably only a good idea for NPCs, as (being Evil already) they don't mind offending all that much... *
• Dependent: This quirk represents a relative or ward of some sort that the character must care for. The dependent will usually wind up draining the character's time and resources, and will invariably get him / her / itself into trouble.
• Disgusting Personal Habits: The character does something that he has no qualms about, but others find disgusting. Perhaps he picks his nose, chews his toe nails, or wears spandex when he really shouldn't... Regardless, each level taken reduces his effective Popularity by 1CS. *
• Enemy: The character has an enemy. This isn't merely an opponent who the hero opposed on one occasion. This is one hard-boiled jerk bent on extinguishing the character's life. The source of this enmity ought to be heavily tied to the character's origin. By taking this quirk at only one level, the character gains a foe that is in all aspects his equal. By taking multiple levels of enemy, he either a) acquires another enemy of similar stature, or b) still has one enemy, but said foe is increasingly more powerful... *
• Illiteracy: The character cannot read or write. In a medieval setting, this isn't such a bad thing, but nowadays, this can really suck. Of course, this is a 'curable' quirk, and the character can get rid of it with lots of work (merely buying the reading Talent isn't enough...).
• Jinxed: This quirk is like Unluckiness, below, in that it alters die rolls for the worse. Unfortunately for the jinxed character, the affected die rolls are those of his compatriots, each chosen at random for a dose of bad luck... After one character falls victim to this, another must be randomly chosen to receive bad luck on his tenth roll. Fun, eh?
• Loner: Characters with this quirk hate other people in general, and hate being around others even more. For each level they take of this negative quirk, they must make a Psyche FEAT at a -1CS in crowded situations, the failure of which indicates that they leave immediately. *
• Nerd: This character just doesn't get it. He don't understand why he isn't cool, and most likely, doesn't care. This type of person is usually concerned with other things than how to dance, music, or even good fashion sense. And it shows. Nerds have a -2CS reaction adjustment towards anyone that don't like nerds (the 'cool' people). They're used to this, and tend to get even with society on their own terms. CPAs and IRS agents are brimming with Nerds...
• Repugnant Personality: This character just grates on the nerves. He is possibly gruff, loud, boisterous, opinionated, or some combination of the above. Each level of this quirk grants the character a -1CS to his effective Popularity, demonstrating just how annoying he is... *
• Snob: The bane of nerds everywhere, snobs tend to look down on everyone save for their special little clique. This tends to get them praise from their circle of friends, but everyone else reacts towards snobs as if their Popularity (which they cherish over above all else) was -2CS.
• Social Dependent: Characters with this quirk rely upon others to feel comfortable, to socialize with, and even to make up their minds for them. For each level taken, the socially dependent character will be paralyzed by indecision if denied access to a group of peers. This is represented by forcing the character to make a Psyche FEAT roll, at -1CS for every level taken of this quirk, whenever the character tries to do something definite by himself. If this FEAT fails, the character will waffle about and do nothing unless absolutely necessary. *
• Unattractiveness: An unattractive character receives a -1CS reaction adjustment concerning others that might, if circumstances had been different, decided to find the character attractive. This column shift is cumulative for each level taken. *
• Unluckiness: Characters with this quirk just seem to have it bad. Real bad. This is because every tenth time they roll the dice, the roll is altered. The lower die will sit in the tens place, and the higher die will sit in the ones place.
• Weirdness Magnet: Folks with this quirk tend to eke through existence on the high end of the probability curve. Strange things tend to happen around them, and even stranger things happen to them. Smart people that recognize a w-magnet for what he is tend to keep their distance. Freak accidents, strange phenomena, and absolutely kooky people tend to cross paths with the character, with improbable frequency. Unfortunately, this happens to those in this character's immediate vicinity, as well, which can lead to tension if the w-magnet is in a super-team. Unless the team is into that sort of thing. It's easy to be a super hero team when all the weirdness continually blows your way; often, you don't even have to leave home! If anything else, this definitely makes life a whole lot more interesting...