Flaws

Heroes have flaws that they must overcome. Flaws are what make characters intriguing, and create interesting dynamics in stories.

Flaws form a pair together with traits in storytelling in Empyrean. As we established earlier, character traits are storytelling enablers, they give players a hook to spin the ongoing story in a direction of their choosing / temperament.

What can be great with role playing games, is letting the player choose the means they use to face a coming challenge, instead of expecting them to shoehorn their character into a stereotype in order to "succeed" (whilst most of the time, they succeed in enforcing said stereotype).

Flaws are what give a storyteller the ability to meaningfully challenge his players, delivering a character-oriented storyline, which is established by the challenges that it provides.

While most of the time Flaws are simply negative psychological aspects of the character, indicating a "war within", a very suitable theme in Empyrean, they can also be other types of problems, that could be the same issues, projected outwards. Thus a character could have a hidden sensitivity, highlighted by a vulnerable companion. Their knack of getting into trouble could be a tell of a hidden fear. Or their really prohibitive and inconvenient code of honor, could be just a way for them to control some hidden vice.

It's not important how a flaw is ultimately established or how it connects to the character, perhaps it can be argued away as simple "bad luck", or even as a self-imposed limitation or restriction - this is ultimately irrelevant. What is relevant is the opportunity for challenge and the powerful storytelling dynamic of flaws.

Imagine a hero who emerges victorious from a recent quest, only to discover that they've stirred a hornet's nest with even mightier foes. Or think of a knight who refuses the intimate advances of his queen out of loyalty to his king, only to earn her hatred and spite in return.

Flaws develop "naturally" as part of character development. Essentially, each time a player develops a trait, a virtue, an ideal or a power, the storyteller can also propose a suitable flaw that either already exists, and simply becomes stronger, or a newly emerging one. The storyteller may not propose negative character traits, these are provided as ways for the players to "trade" a desirable negative trait instead of some other flaw that they would prefer to avoid. Players can also choose to burn permanent willpower in order to eventually get rid of flaws, but they must play out the whole struggle into a satisfactory conclusion.

As you may have guessed, flaws are invoked by the storyteller, in a similar way that players invoke their character traits to respond to challenges. Thus we could have a situation similar to the following one:

"... Storyteller: The Dragon roars majestically and menacingly as you approach, warning you that death is most certainly imminent should you choose to confront him.
Player: That's it! I draw my weapon and attack even as the Dragon still roars boastfully. (Uses Force + Prowess to attack. Makes use of aggressive trait - adds the equivalent dice to the roll)
Storyteller: You rise to the challenge quickly, but the Dragon was cunning; as you rush towards him in full speed, he sneers at you, taunting and inciting you. Your bloodlust (Bloodthirsty flaw) makes you see red (subtracts equivalent dice from player's roll).
Player: By life, or death, the dragon will fall, I let the bloodlust take me, but I channel it into Valor to overcome my fears, and inspire my comrades. (Spends 1 willpower, gains inspiration by Valor trait which is compatible because it belongs to the Force aspect that the player is already using) ..."

So, besides the flaws we have already established, which we will repeat here, as they come relevant to each Aspect, we will also recount some flaws for each aspect that don't reflect negative character traits, but some manner of "bad luck" or issue that the character may have attracted.

• Force
• Character Flaws
• Bloodthirsty
• Brazen
• Bully
• Impatient
• Short-fuse
• Adrenaline Junky
• Cocky
• Provocations
• Hatred: Your forthright manners have provoked the hatred of one or more "powerful" people, or maybe an entire faction of people. Besides causing them occasionally to attack you, or otherwise block you, this issue also impedes your social interactions as these people exert their influence against you in all possible ways.
• Story Handicaps
• Fireheart: You find it hard tolerating yourself, as you can be too intense to handle. This inner conflict consumes your willpower causing you to begin play each day with 1 willpower per rank already spent to contain your fuming spirit. If you do not spend the willpower, your choler runs amok, and may rise against your will in inopportune moments, granting a consequent penalty in the related roll.
• Provocative: Your sheer presence brims with your aggressive attitude so much that enemies react to your antics more rapidly than usual. Everyone seems to go out of their way in order to put you down. Enemies are more prone to attack  you than  your team-mates, and then they are more inclined to utterly obliterate you, dealing bonus damage, or gaining a combat bonus based on your Provocative ranks.
• Adeptness
• Character Flaws
• Corrupt
• Craven
• Deceitful
• Selfish
• Superficial
• Vain
• Provocations
• Wanted: Whether right or wrong, you have been branded a criminal for some real or imaginary offence, and are being chased by the authorities within a certain city, province, or kingdom. The severity of the accusations as well as the power of said authorities is greater with each rank in this flaw.
• Story Handicaps
• Sleazy: It has become impossible to conceal your mercurial and cunning thoughts, to the point where your sheer presence is tarnished by them. Whether true or not, people are tipped off the wrong way by the way you look and behave, and unless you spend willpower (1 per rank) to carefully polish your manners, you suffer an equivalent penalty in all social rolls.
• Fortitude
• Character Flaws
• Cruel
• Rigid
• Obsessed
• Tyrannical
• Spiteful
• Morbid
• Arrogant
• Provocations
• Spite: You have earned the secret envy and/or spite of someone important and influential. Because of this, said people may choose to do anything within their power to tarnish your reputation and make you look like a clown.
• Story Handicaps
• Ward: You have attracted a particularly vulnerable ward, that you must protect. Your ward has a knack of getting into trouble despite your best attempts to keep them safe. In addition they have a tendency to get into harm's way in the most inopportune moments. At the very least, this becomes a distracting inconvenience, but it could become worse. If your ward dies, you gain the Doomed flaw with equal ranks to your Ward flaw, plus one additional rank.
• Fate or Chance
• Doomed: For some reason that may or may not be apparent, your fate has been sealed. You are going to die (most likely not in a particularly pleasant way) and you know it (or you are irrevocably convinced about it, somehow). Despite being filled with a repelling sense of morbidity that makes you extremely difficult company to say the least (granting you equivalent difficulty in social situations), you are also one step closer to death than everyone else. When rolling, for any purpose, and one of the potential results of your roll could be your demise, you suffer a penalty equivalent to your Doomed ranks.
• Insight
• Character Flaws
• Absent-minded
• Critical
• Impractical
• Melancholy
• Petty
• Malicious
• Provocations
• Heretic: For reasons true or alleged, you have been branded with the worst possible kind of reputation within a specific region, city, or kingdom. People have been warned to fear your poisonous tongue, because you have been established as a known deceiver, liar and malcontent. Besides the obvious social difficulties, you may have frequent encounters with crusading zealots who have sworn to burn you at the stake.
• Story Handicaps
• Wise-ass: You are hard-pressed to hold your tongue in check. You just love to know things and sharing that knowledge with everyone you meet. You are prone to speak out of turn, and thus provoke or incite someone. It is also possible to make yourself unpopular in this way. Indeed your wise-assed attitude is easily spotted and hinders most social interactions, unless you choose to keep it in check by spending willpower each day.

With that, we've established how Flaws are meant to function in a game of Empyrean. When used as suggested, they can be an immense source of fun, and impromptu storytelling.