Why the high chance for Drawbacks?

[salintar]

Drawbacks seem way to common to me. I rolled up a mutated animal got 4 physical muation and 2 where drawbacks. I'll probably do like the old gamma world did and have a separate table for drawbacks with a smaller chance of getting one say 10%. Just wondering if anyone else thought this was way to high or am I missing something?

[Atomic Ray]

It does seem rather high...the easiest way to work around it is to apply a house rule...maybe something like if you get a drawback then you get another mutation that is not a drawback?

[Blood axe]

I thought the same thing.

[salintar]

As I get time I'm reworking the tables for my own campaign, I'll share them for those interested. Not sure if these are the right abbreviations but (CoW) for Creatures of the Waste, (CoTW) for Creatures of the Tropical Wastes.

D100 Physical Mutations
01 Aberrant Form
02 Aberrant Form (Adaptive Organ) (CoW)
03 Aberrant Form (Xenochemistry) (CoW)
04 Anesthetic Venom (CoTW)
05 Asexual (CoTW)
06 Burning Blood (CoW)
07 Clinging (CoTW)
08-09 Chameleon Epidermis
10 Chemical Communication (CoW)
11 Complete Wing Development
12 Density Alteration (Self)
13-14 Dermal Poison Slime
15 Dual Headed
16 Dwarfism
17-18 Echolocation
19 Energy Absorption (CoW)
20-21 Energy Ray
22-23 Energy Retaining Cell Structure
24-25 Epidermal Photosynthesis
26 Extreme Body Adjustment (CoTW)
27 Extended Life Span (CoTW)
28 Flexible Skeleton (CoW)
29-30 Fragrance Development
31 Genetic Doppleganger (CoTW)
32 Genetic Recall (CoW)
33 Genetic Replication (CoW)
34-35 Gigantism
36 Gliding Wings (CoW)
37 Hollow Fangs (CoW)
38 Ice Cocoon (CoW)
39-40 Increased Balance
41 Increased Physical Attribute
42-43 Increased Sense
44 Induce Mutation (CoW)
45 Internal Clock (CoW)
46 Kinetic Absorption (CoW)
47 Limb Cloning (CoW)
48-49 Metamorph
50-51 Natural Armor
52-53 Night Vision
54-55 Optic Emissions
56 Organic Radio (CoW)
57 Oxygen Storage (CoW)
58-59 Parasitic Control
60 Parasite Host (CoW)
61-62 Prehensile Tail
63-64 Quickness
65-66 Reflective Epidermis
67-68 Regenerative Capability
69 Replicate Physical Mutation (CoW)
70 Scent Tag (CoW)
71 Shapeshift (CoTW)
72 Shriek
73 Skeletal Structure Modification (CoTW)
74 Sonic Roar (CoTW)
75-76 Spiny Growth
77 Sticky Hairs (CoW)
78-79 Thermal Vision
80-81 Toxic Weapon
82 Toxic Weapon, Activated (CoW)
83 Toxic Weapon, Narcotic (CoW)
84 Toxic Weapon, Specific Target (CoW)
85-86 Ultraviolet Vision
87-88 Unique Sense
89 Webbing (CoW)
90-00 Drawback

[salintar]

d00 Physical Drawbacks
01-03 Albinism
04-06 Aberrant Form (Altered Body Shape) (CoW)
07-10 Bizarre Appearance
11-13 Clinging Skin (CoW)
14-16 Dietary Requirement Change (CoTW)
17-20 Epidermal Dependency (CoTW)
21-23 Epidermal Susceptibility
24-26 Floats (CoW)
27-30 Frailty
31-33 Genetic Memory (CoW)
34-36 Heat Sink (CoW)
37-40 Hemophilia
41-43 Increased Caloric Needs
44-46 Lightning Rod (CoW)
47-50 Obese
51-53 Pain Insensitivity
54-56 Pain Sensitivity
57-60 Pituitary Deformation
61-63 Poison Susceptibility
64-66 Predatory Scent (CoTW)
67-70 Prey Scent
71-73 Reduced Immune System
74-76 Reduced Oxygen Efficiency
77-80 Sensory Deficiency
81-83 Simian Deformity
84-87 Slow Mutant
88-90 Transparent Skin (CoW)
91-93 Twisted Hands (CoW)
94-97 Vestigial Wings (CoW)
98-00 Vision Impairment

[sniderman]

My quick House Rule - only one drawback per PC. If the PC rolls all beneficial mutations, yay and hazzah! But if he rolls a drawback, he receives that one, but I ignore future drawback rolls and let him roll again. So now the PC has a high chance of getting ONE drawback, but no chance of multiple hindrances.

[Atomic Ray]

I do like the house rule of considered risk...meaning you roll off the mutations chart and each mutation brings a risk of a drawback.

1st mutation 10% of a defect...roll before the next mutation roll

2nd mutation 20% of a defect...roll before the next mutation roll

etc.

If a drawback is caught then the count starts over.

3rd mutation is a 30% of getting a drawback, and catches one...so if there is a 4th mutation then that following drawback risk is at a 10%

[salintar]

d00 Mental Mutations
01 360-degree Vision (CoW)
02-03 Ability Boost
04 Absorb Knowledge (CoW)
05 Access Machine (CoW)
06 Accumulated Resistance
07 Acute Hyper Healing
08 Alter Atomic Composition (CoW)
09 Ancestral Form
10 Bend Sound (CoW)
11 Body Adjustment
12 Brainfire (CoW)
13 Clairaudience (CoW)
14 Clairvoyance (CoW)
15-16 Combat Empathy
17 Control Disease (CoW)
18 Control Light Waves
19 Control Weather
20 Crystallize (CoW)
21 Damage Turning
22 Density Alteration (Objects) (CoW)
23 Density Alteration (Others)
24 Disintegration
25 Dual Cerebellum
26-27 Empathy
28 Energy Transfer (CoTW)
29 Energy Vampiric Field (CoTW)
30 Familiar (CoW)
31 Fear Generation (CoW)
32 Flight, Psionic
33 Force Screen
34 Force Screen, Greater
35 Foresight (CoW)
36 Fuse Flesh (CoW)
37 Green Eye (CoW)
38 Heal Other (CoW)
39-40 Increased Willpower
41 Induce Nightmare (CoW)
42 Induce Sleep (CoW)
43 Insubstantial (CoTW)
44 Intuitive Lie Detection (CoTW)
45 Intuitive Translation (CoTW)
46-47 Intellectual Affinity
48 Killing Sphere
49 Know Direction
50 Life Scan (CoW)
51 Memory Erase (CoTW)
52 Mental Barrier
53 Mental Barrier, Ranged (CoW)
54 Mental Barrier, Scan (CoW)
55 Mental Phantasm
56 Mental Phantom (CoW)
57 Metaconcert
58-59 Mind Thrust
60 Molecular Intuition (CoTW)
61 Molecular Molding (CoTW)
62 Negative Energy Effect (CoTW)
63 Neural Telekinesis
64 Neural Telepathy
65 Part Water (CoW)
66 Patron Mind (CoW)
67 Plane Shift
68 Possession
69 Possession (Computer) (CoTW)
70 Precognition
71-72 Mind Reflection
73 Quick Mind
74 Re-Activation (CoTW)
75 Replicate Mental Mutation (CoW)
76 Rip Organ (CoW)
77 Speak to Animals/Plants/Fungi (CoW)
78 Submind (CoW)
79 Telekinetic Hands (CoTW)
80 Telekinetic Monster (CoW)
81 Telekinetic Wave (CoW)
82-83 Teleport
84 Temperature Control
85 Temporal Repair (CoTW)
86 Track Mind (CoW)
87-88 Vampiric Field
89 Universal Communication (CoW)
90-00 Mental Drawback

[salintar]

D00 Mental Drawbacks
01-11 Atrophied Cerebellum
12-22 Cannot Lie (CoW)
23-33 Cannot Tell the Truth (CoW)
34-44 Dual Cerebellum (Defective)
45-55 Mind Reflection (Defective)
56-66 Negative Empathy
67-77 Phantasmal Damage
78-88 Phobia
89-00 Weak Will

[kaomera]

Well aside from (and not in any way trying to bash) houserules, I think that the reasoning behind the high percentage of drawbacks is to create a situation where it isn't really feasible to view mutations as a purely beneficial thing. This is somewhat of a balance issue, although given the random nature of mutations it's effect in that respect is probably arguable. But where I would expect the inclusion of a good chance of drawbacks to be most important would be in cases were characters are able to acquire further mutations after character creation. Reading through MF I'm not sure if I spotted any really likely instances of this, but iirc in at least a few of the post-apoc games I played in back in the 80s there was an issue with players deliberately seeking out what were supposed to be dangers (specifically irradiated areas) in an attempt to ''power-up'' their characters...

(So, yeah, I'm all for house-rules limiting drawbacks at character creation, and there doesn't really seem to be a specific need for a high percentage of them during later play, either. Of course this does also serve to make mutants more attractive; but ime that's generally what players tend to want, and they're liable to try and keep making characters until they get a ''good one'', much like with ability scores.)