Major Drawbacks (3pp)

Major Drawbacks should be considered reverse feats that allow a character to receive an extra feat, as they more adversely affect the character than a Minor Drawback. GMs wanting strict control of this trade-off may restrict the chosen feat to the General category.

Although the official Drawback rules suggest only allowing up to a third Trait to be gained, Game Masters should consider allowing a character to take two Minor Drawbacks or one Major Drawback. These should be selected at 1st level, though a GM may allow a critically wounded character to take a physical imperfection later in the game as a result of incurred damage.

Where the GM deems it appropriate, characters may remove a Major Drawback by expending a feat slot gained by level advancement (but not a class granted bonus feat), or through an appropriate quest and/or roleplaying effort over time. A GM can treat the removal of a Major Drawback as being worth 5,000 gp of treasure, and reduce that from the character’s share of an adventure’s rewards. The same roleplaying that explains how the character overcame the drawback can be tied into the reasons why only that character’s rewards are reduced. Of course if all the PCs have and overcome Major Drawbacks, the entire adventure’s rewards can be reduced across the board.

Minor Drawbacks may be, when deemed appropriate by the GM, removed through expenditure of an unselected trait slot (such as those granted by the Extra Traits feat), or through an appropriate quest and/or roleplaying effort over time. A GM can treat the removal of a Major Drawback as being worth 2,500 gp of treasure, using the guidelines above.

Section 15: Copyright Notice

Christina Stiles Presents Ultimate Options – Minor and Major Drawbacks, © 2013, Christina Stiles; Authors Christina Stiles, Robert Hudson, Jr., and Mike Welham

scroll to top