Complications

Complications are essentially setbacks players choose for their characters in advance, a list of potential plot hooks that GMs are encouraged to use to engage and challenge a character in a unique way. If a particular Complication causes a significant setback for a character, it's worth a hero die award.
You should choose one or two regular complications for your character, and feel free to suggest others to the Gamemaster during play. The GM decides what complications are appropriate and can overrule any particular complication, depending on the needs of the story. Keep in mind the adventure needs to have room for all the characters’ complications, so individual ones can only come up so often.
==Common Complications==
Some Complications are meaningful enough that a character with that Complication gains an additional hero die at the start of each session. Such complications tend to be a constant disadvantage for the character to struggle with, like Blindness.
At the start of each session, a character gains an additional starting Hero Die for each Common Complication, up to a total equal to half of the game's power level, rounded down. So in a power level 10 game, a character could gain up to 5 additional starting Hero Dice for Common Complications, for a total of 6 starting Hero Dice.
These additional Hero Dice are awarded for the overall difficulty a character with a particular Common Complication must endure from day to day because of it. A blind character is limited to only reading materials provided in Braile, for instance, and won't be able to assist the rest of the team in spotting a hidden enemy.
But Common Complications can still rear their heads in particularly harmful ways during the game. If a Common Complication would cause a significant setback, like any other Complication, the character gains a Hero Die as he or she would with any other Complication. For example, a blind character would gain a Hero Die if an assailant were to ambush the character alone, and a normally-sighted character would've been able to see the assailant.
===When a Common Complication Isn't Common===
Especially in games using the FX Module, it's not unusual for players to have significant powers which could let them overcome complications quite easily. Taking the example of a blind character again, it's not so much of a hindrance for a blind character who also possesses built-in sonar to get by. If a character has a Common Complication which is largely overcome by another trait he or she has, then the GM may decide that this no longer qualifies as a Common Complication, and no longer provides additional Hero Dice at the start of a session.
==Complication Descriptions==
* Addiction
* Disability
* Enemy
* Fame
* FX Loss
* Hatred
* Honor
* Involuntary Transformation
* Normal Identity
* Obsession
* Poverty
* Prejudice
* Responsibility
* Rivalry
* Secret
* Temper
* Vulnerable
* Weakness
==Changing Complications==
Complications can (and generally should) change over the course of a campaign: old enemies die or are otherwise defeated once and for all, rivalries and psychological issues are resolved, new romances and relationships begin, and so forth. Work with the GM to come up with new complications for your character as old ones are resolved. The Gamemaster may set limits on how many ongoing complications your hero can have in play at any given time.
Category:Rulebook
Category:Characters
Category:Fortune
Category:Complications