Norseman Central
 Weakness

Version 4.0
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Cause
Effect
Duration

Weakness Generation

(I'm only including this section in the interest of completeness.  From what I've seen, most characters in the Marvel Universe don't have any special weaknesses that this section represents.  Some do, and there are some interesting possibilities presented here.)

Everybody has an Achilles' Heel, a weakness that can really mess up his day. The nature and severity of the weakness varies with the individual, race, or class. Normal Humans have so many we don't even think about them, aside from heeding such warnings as "Poison" or skull-and-crossbones symbols.

A Weakness is a cause-and-effect situation. A specific stimulus causes the Weakness to appear. Its effect is what actually occurs to the hero as a result of being exposed to the stimulus.

The final consideration is the duration of the Weakness. This is the length of time the hero is affected.

Okay, why should you, the player, even pay attention to this section? As I said, everyone has a weakness. For Normal Humans, the standard stimuli are Elemental Allergy, Molecular Allergy, and Energy Allergy with Fatal Effects. Super-powered heroes possess an enhanced resistance to all of these stimuli but retain a special Weakness to a specific stimulus. Normally, the effect is limited to Negation and Incapacitation, but if the hero possesses any Power with a rank exceeding Remarkable, there is a possibility that a Fatal Weakness exists.

To determine cause, effect, and duration, the player must make three separate percentage-dice rolls, one for each factor. If all of the hero's Powers are of Remarkable rank or lower, the player can convert a Fatal Weakness to an Incapacitating Weakness.

Heroes and villains should do their utmost to prevent anyone except their most trusted companions from learning the nature of their Weakness. Barring that, the hero should try to find ways to avoid the Stimulus or circumvent the Effect.

Players and Judges should work together to develop a playable Weakness. The more Powerful the character, the more common the Stimulus should be. For example, when I was testing the character generation system set out in this book, I rolled up a character I named "Godling." Godling was a Normal Human who had been Reborn into an Entity of Great Power. He possessed 30 different Powers, but had one tragic flaw. Magnetism completely negated his Powers. (He spent all his days and nights trying to escape Earth's gravitational Pull.)

The Nemesis Power can be used to simulate Stimuli, but this should be used as a last resort. Judges who do this should be penalized by the players. (It has been suggested that withholding munchies for the next month is acceptable)