Chapter 9
Flaws
A Flaw is you promising the table that your character will make things harder for themselves, and the system promising to pay you for it.
This is the part of 20 Below that most needs saying out loud: the game gets better when things go wrong, and it’s built to reward you for letting them. A Flaw isn’t a penalty you swallowed for points. It’s a hook you handed the GM, and every time they pull it, you get paid.
Flaws are chosen at creation and hand points back to spend elsewhere. Taking one means it’s going to come up, and it’ll cost you something real when it does. If a Flaw never once inconveniences you, it wasn’t a Flaw - it was a discount, and somebody at the table should say so.
Flaws are Boons in a mirror - the complications, quirks and bad hands you pick on purpose.
Every Flaw is Leveled, 1 to 5, the same way Resources are, and the Level is the price. Take Amnesia at 3 and you get 3 points back; at 5, you get 5. Nothing here is bought flat.
They’re rarely a number. A Flaw is usually a complication or a restriction rather than a minus-something on a roll. The few that do carry numbers say so themselves.
You take them at creation, and only at creation. This is a bargain you strike while you’re building, not one you can come back for.
A Flaw that never bites is worth nothing. If it doesn’t actually make life harder, it isn’t a Flaw and it doesn’t pay - the one-eyed character with no depth perception problem and no trouble it has ever caused them, which is a common enough trope, doesn’t collect for Impaired Senses on the strength of an eyepatch.
The Flaws
Amnesia
There is a hole where a piece of your life used to be. You know it’s there the way you know a tooth is gone - you keep checking. Sometimes something surfaces. A smell, a name, a room you have never been in. Then it’s gone again.
Part of your past is missing.
1A single traumatic event is missing - one specific memory gone, everything else intact.
2A cluster of related memories is missing - the days or weeks around a specific incident, or one relationship entirely forgotten.
3A significant span of time is missing - months or years, not just one moment. Name, identity, and abilities are intact, but real gaps exist in personal history and relationships.
4Most personal history is gone - only fragments remain. Still knows their own name and can act normally, but life before a certain point belongs to a stranger.
5Forgotten their entire identity - may not know what Skills or Boons/Gifts they have.
Antagonist
Somebody out there is thinking about you right now, and they are not wishing you well. They know your name. They know where you eat lunch. You made an impression on exactly the wrong person, and they are patient.
Someone or something is set against you - a rival, an enemy, a hunter who doesn’t give up.
1A minor rival - someone who competes with or needles you personally. Low capability, mostly a nuisance.
2A capable individual enemy, or a small hostile group/local authority keeping an eye on you.
3A well-resourced enemy or organized hostile group actively working against you.
4A powerful, dangerous enemy or organization with real reach, actively hunting you.
5A nemesis-tier antagonist - extremely powerful, far-reaching, and personally invested in your downfall. Relentlessly hunts you as a top-priority target.
Anxiety
Your brain runs a threat assessment every waking second and it never files a clean report. The stove. The email. The look somebody gave you four years ago. You know most of it isn’t real. Knowing has never once made it stop.
Anxiety that doesn’t need a reason and doesn’t switch off.
1A specific, narrow fear or recurring nightmare - unsettling, but rarely interferes with function.
2A phobia that actively triggers avoidance or hesitation when confronted with its source.
3Generalized anxiety - chronic worry and disrupted sleep color everyday decisions, not just one trigger.
4Panic attacks - sudden, incapacitating episodes of panic under stress, not just avoidance.
5A pervasive anxiety disorder - constant hypervigilance, frequent panic attacks, and deeply entrenched avoidance that fundamentally limits day-to-day life.
Berserk
There is a switch, and you are not the one who flips it. Once it’s thrown you are a passenger - swinging until there is nothing standing and nobody left to swing at. Afterward, other people tell you what you did.
Once you’re going, you don’t stop until it’s over.
Each level’s effect is cumulative - it keeps every lower level’s restriction and adds its own.
1Once triggered by real danger, cannot voluntarily disengage from the current fight - must keep engaging until an enemy is defeated or flees.
2Level 1, plus: while triggered, cannot declare a Slow Action Bracket - full aggression only, no called shots or concentration.
3Levels 1-2, plus: must always act against the nearest hostile target - no picking tactically who to engage.
4Levels 1-3, plus: the trigger doesn’t end just because the original threat is gone - any new hostile that appears keeps the fight going.
5Levels 1-4, plus: keeps fighting even when badly hurt - won’t retreat or stop to protect themselves, only stopping when physically unable to continue (unconscious, restrained, or no hostiles remain).
Code of Conduct
You have a line. You drew it yourself, nobody else is obligated to respect it, and that is exactly why it counts. It has cost you money, opportunities and at least one friendship. You would draw it again tomorrow.
A rule you set yourself and won’t break, even when breaking it would help.
1A minor, low-stakes personal restriction - inconvenient, rarely costly. Strict vegetarian/vegan; never tells even a white lie; always pays a debt the moment it’s owed; won’t enter a home uninvited.
2A real behavioral rule that occasionally costs something. Never draws a weapon first; refuses payment for helping someone in genuine need; never abandons a task once started, however small; always keeps a promise made to a friend.
3A binding code that actively shapes major decisions. Once I draw my blade, it must taste blood; any promise made must be kept regardless of personal cost; a formal challenge, once accepted, can’t be walked away from; a secret entrusted to them is kept even under real pressure.
4A severe restriction that limits options in dangerous or critical moments. Refuses to harm anyone significantly weaker than themselves; an enemy must always be given a chance to surrender before a killing blow; cannot break a vow even to save their own life.
5An absolute, life-defining restriction. I cannot kill anything, no matter the cost; a vow that cannot be broken under any circumstance, even to save the people they love; can never refuse a genuine request for help, regardless of personal danger.
Dependent
Somebody needs you. A kid, a sibling, an old friend who never got their feet under them - whoever it is, they can’t do this without you, and they don’t get a vote in what you’ve gotten yourself into. Every plan has to include them.
Someone relies on you, and has to be protected or provided for.
1A dependent who mostly manages on their own - checks in occasionally, needs a little financial or emotional support now and then.
2A dependent who needs regular, real support - time, money, or care on a recurring basis, though not helpless.
3A dependent who can’t protect themselves and needs real intervention when trouble finds them - a young child, an elderly parent, someone seriously ill.
4A dependent who is a frequent liability - regularly endangered by your own life (enemies, work, reputation), requiring real risk to protect.
5A dependent who is entirely helpless without you and a prime target - enemies know exactly who to threaten to get to you.
Destitute
Money is something that happens to other people. You know which places let you sit for hours over one coffee, which shelter has the fewest rules, and exactly how far what’s in your pocket will stretch. You are very good at arithmetic you never wanted to learn.
You have no money - anywhere from a bad patch to nothing at all.
Each level’s effect is cumulative - it keeps every lower level’s complication and adds its own.
1A rough patch. Creation-Wealth is 0 instead of the default 2 for gear shopping at creation, and no Resources Pool or Discretionary points may be spent on Wealth while this Flaw is held - buy it off first - see Everyman Gear Packages for what’s still available at Level 0. Doesn’t follow you past creation; whatever put you here (a lost job, a bad breakup, a bad month) is already turning around.
2Chronically tight. As Level 1, and it doesn’t go away - living paycheck to paycheck, or with no paycheck at all, is an ongoing fact of your life, however your Resources ended up built.
3Real precarity. As Level 2, and something concrete is currently unstable - unreliable housing, an unreliable income source, or a debt actively being chased.
4Genuinely impoverished. As Level 3, and it’s visible enough that people react to it on sight - shapes first impressions the same way Notable Appearance or Notoriety do, just for money instead of looks or reputation.
5Nothing left. As Level 4, and there’s no safety net at all - no one to call for a loan, no fallback plan, and whatever put you here is bad enough to be a real, ongoing story hook (GM’s call on specifics).
Directionless
North is a rumor. Everyone else seems to have a map running somewhere behind their eyes and you never got issued one. You have been lost inside a building you work in. “It’s two blocks that way” means nothing to you.
You get lost. Reliably.
1A mildly unreliable sense of direction - occasionally turns around even in familiar places, rarely costs more than a moment.
2A poor sense of direction - regularly gets turned around in unfamiliar areas, needs to double-check directions rather than trust instinct.
3Actively bad - gets lost even in semi-familiar places without a map, guide, or other aid to follow.
4Severe - cannot reliably navigate even short, familiar routes without external aid; easily disoriented under any pressure or unfamiliar layout.
5No functional sense of direction whatsoever - completely dependent on others or tools to get anywhere; could get lost in their own home under stress or darkness.
Fragile
Other people get a bruise. You get a hairline fracture. Whatever everybody else’s body does to absorb a hit, yours never learned. You break easily, you heal slowly, and you have built your whole life around knowing both.
The body works against you.
1Mildly delicate - bruises easily, tires a bit faster than average, but functions fine day to day.
2Noticeably weaker - real physical exertion (lifting, running long distances) is harder, minor injuries take a bit longer to heal.
3Frail - the body struggles under real exertion or stress; a condition flares up under pressure; recovery from harm is markedly slow.
4Seriously compromised - sustained exertion risks real harm; even routine physical demands can trigger a flare-up or setback; wounds that would be minor for others become serious.
5The body is failing - barely able to sustain ordinary physical demands without real risk; any injury is dangerous and slow to heal; a single hard fight could be life-threatening regardless of what actually connects.
Gun-Shy
The moment it kicks off, there is a gap. Everyone else is already moving and you are still catching up to the fact that this is happening. It isn’t cowardice - you get there. You just get there late, and late is expensive.
When violence starts, you falter.
Each level’s effect is cumulative - it keeps every lower level’s penalty and adds its own.
1First round of combat, act last within your declared Action Bracket, regardless of Initiative.
2Level 1, plus: for the first round, Fast actions are treated as Normal and Normal actions are treated as Slow - Slow actions can’t be taken that round at all.
3Levels 1-2, plus: unless 1 Ki is spent, they don’t act at all in the first round of combat.
4Levels 1-3, plus: while in combat, they act at Disadvantage.
5Levels 1-4, plus: the Ki-to-act requirement from Level 3 applies every round, not just the first - without spending Ki each round, they’re frozen entirely; when they do act, it’s at Disadvantage throughout.
Illiterate
The letters are right there and they don’t come together. You have built an entire life around not needing them to - you memorize, you ask, you get somebody else to check the form. It works right up until someone hands you something and waits.
You can’t read, to one degree or another.
1Illiterate only in the local language/script - fully literate (possibly exceptionally so) in their own.
2Illiterate in every language/script they’re likely to encounter while traveling, though still fully literate at home - the gap is broader than just “here.”
3Only semi-literate even in their native language on top of that - basic reading/writing is possible, but real fluency isn’t there anywhere.
4Functionally illiterate everywhere, including their own native language - cannot meaningfully read or write at all.
5No concept of written language whatsoever - doesn’t register that symbols represent language in the first place.
Impaired Senses
One channel is down. You have rerouted around it well enough that people forget, and you let them. It stays forgotten until somebody speaks up from your bad side, or the thing you needed to notice was over there.
One of your senses is dulled, or gone.
A reminder of the general rule above: if the impairment doesn’t actually impair you - no depth-perception penalty, no missed cues, nothing a compensating sense or trained-around habit doesn’t fully cover - it isn’t worth points. This Flaw is the most obvious anime-trope case for that rule (the one-eyed swordsman who fights exactly as well as anyone with two eyes).
1A minor gap in one sense - reduced but functional (mild nearsightedness beyond normal correction, slight hearing loss in one ear, a dulled sense of smell). Real but manageable.
2A significant impairment in one sense - noticeably worse than normal, actively affects tasks that rely on it, but not total loss (poor low-light vision, muffled hearing, no sense of smell at all).
3Total loss of one sense - fully blind in one eye, fully deaf in one ear, or a complete loss like smell/taste. Other senses compensate, but real gaps remain.
4Total loss of a primary sense - fully blind or fully deaf, relying entirely on other senses and/or tools/training to compensate.
5Total loss of multiple primary senses - both blind and deaf, or similarly extreme. Complete reliance on remaining senses and outside support.
Incantations
It doesn’t work if you can’t say it. Something out there is listening for the specific words and it is not interested in what you meant. A hand over your mouth is enough to stop you. So is a room where being heard would be a disaster.
A Gift of yours only works if you can say a specific phrase out loud.
A Gift only answers to a spoken word - distinct from a Gift’s own Limiters like Animal Friendship’s Vocal Component: this is a full character-creation Flaw, its points added to the general Flaws total like any other, chosen against one or more Gifts you already have.
1One specific Gift requires speaking a short trigger phrase aloud to activate - audible to anyone nearby, and it simply doesn’t work if you’re unable to speak (silenced, gagged, underwater, and the like).
2The phrase grows more specific - a full sentence, verse, or exact wording - long and distinct enough that garbling or rushing it fails the activation outright.
3Two or more Gifts each require their own spoken incantation to activate.
4Every Gift you have requires its own spoken incantation - none of your capability works if you can’t speak clearly.
5As Level 4, and the incantation must be spoken clean, with no other exertion that Round - sprinting, grappling, or taking a hit while attempting one fails it outright, forcing you to start over next round.
Item of Power
What you can do isn’t entirely in you. Some of it lives in an object - a ring, a coat, a beat-up guitar case - and objects get lost, stolen, confiscated and left in somebody else’s car.
A Gift of yours lives, at least partly, in something you carry rather than in you.
Your capability isn’t fully your own - it lives, at least in part, in something you carry. Distinct from a Gift’s own Limiters (which discount that specific Gift’s point cost): this is a full character-creation Flaw, its points added to the general Flaws total like any other, chosen against one or more Gifts you already have.
1One specific Gift only works while you’re in possession of a particular item - well-secured or hard to casually separate from you (a tattoo, an implant, something bonded to you), but losing it locks out that one Gift entirely until it’s recovered.
2As Level 1, but the item is a real, ordinary object - a ring, a blade, a pendant - that can be stolen, confiscated, or lost in a struggle like any other possession.
3Two or more Gifts are bound to the same item instead of just one - losing it locks out everything tied to it at once.
4Every Gift you have depends on retaining the item - lose it, and you’re left with nothing but your ordinary Skills, Boons, and Attributes until it’s recovered.
5As Level 4, and the item itself is something genuinely easy to take, damage, or lose - not secured, not bonded, not hard to separate from you at all. Anyone who thinks to try has a real shot at disarming you completely.
Lame
The distance hasn’t changed. What it costs you has. Stairs are a decision. “It’s not far” is something other people say. You get where you are going - you just get there later, and you pay for it that night.
An old injury or condition took some of your mobility and kept it.
1A minor limp or stiffness - noticeable, doesn’t slow them down in any real way.
2Reduced mobility that costs something under exertion - slower over distance, real effort on stairs or rough terrain.
3A significant mobility loss - needs a cane, brace, or similar aid for anything beyond short, easy movement.
4Severe impairment - mobility is a constant limiting factor; sustained or fast movement is difficult even with aids.
5Effectively immobile without significant support - a wheelchair or equivalent, or unable to move under their own power at all in a fight or chase.
Notable Appearance
People remember you. Every time, whether that’s useful or not. The witness description is never vague and the bartender never has to ask twice. You have never once been “some guy” and you never will be.
Something about how you look draws stares and reactions.
1A minor, easily-overlooked trait - noticed only on close attention, rarely commented on.
2A distinctive feature that people notice and occasionally remark on, but doesn’t follow them.
3A memorable appearance that people recognize and remember on sight - recall and gossip travel with them.
4A striking appearance that draws stares and comment everywhere, actively makes blending in impossible.
5An unmistakable, singular appearance - described in wanted posters and rumors alike; anyone who’s heard of them would recognize them on sight.
Notoriety
Your name gets to the room before you do, and it has already said something you would rather it hadn’t. Some of what they heard is true. The rest has been improved in the retelling, and nobody is interested in your correction.
How widely, and how badly, you’re known.
1Known within a small local circle - a minor local bad reputation, occasional suspicion.
2A known troublemaker within a community or subculture.
3Regionally known for something bad - distrust follows them beyond their home turf.
4Widely infamous - recognized and reviled by strangers regularly.
5A notorious name nationwide or worldwide, actively shunned or targeted on reputation alone.
Overconfident
You have been right enough times to stop checking. That worked out beautifully, right up until the day it didn’t, and you are not convinced that day counts. You will take the odds. You always take the odds.
You underestimate danger, or overestimate yourself, and you do it consistently.
1Occasionally shrugs off a real warning - rarely costs anything, mostly just talk.
2Regularly takes on tasks slightly beyond them without checking first - real but recoverable setbacks.
3You habitually dismiss genuine danger and sound advice, and it costs you, and sometimes your allies, real setbacks.
4Reliably walks into situations that are clearly beyond them, refusing help or backup even when it’s obviously needed.
5Cannot recognize danger as danger until it’s already too late - repeatedly puts themselves and others at serious risk through sheer refusal to see their own limits.
Pariah
There is a category people drop you into on sight and nothing you do gets you out of it. Being polite doesn’t. Being useful doesn’t. Being right definitely doesn’t. You stopped waiting for the room to come around a long time ago.
People hold a specific prejudice against you. Name it with your GM.
What I have in mind is the kind this setting invented: visibly not human, known to carry a Gift, marked by something that happened and never explained. The ordinary human bigotries exist in this world too, because it is our world - but they are not what this Flaw is for.
1A minor prejudice - occasional dirty looks, mild social friction, rarely any material consequence.
2Real but limited discrimination - some doors are harder to open (served last, passed over for a room), but nothing blocks basic life.
3Active, meaningful discrimination - regularly denied service, employment, or fair treatment; public spaces mean dealing with real hostility.
4Systemic hostility - the prejudice has institutional teeth: denied legal protection, actively targeted by local authority, barred from whole industries or areas.
5Widespread, violent hostility - openly hunted, attacked, or persecuted for what they are; public life is dangerous.
Reliance
There is something you need, and the needing keeps its own schedule. It doesn’t care what else is happening. It doesn’t negotiate, it doesn’t wait for a good moment, and it always collects.
Something you need - a compulsion, a substance, or a condition that has to be managed.
1A minor compulsion or mild reaction - inconvenient, rarely costly. A nervous habit like nail-biting; a mild seasonal allergy; a harmless lucky ritual before anything risky.
2A real pull or trigger that occasionally costs something. A gambling habit that drains resources; an allergy requiring real caution (shellfish, bee stings); a compulsive need for background noise or routine that disrupts focus when broken.
3A genuine dependency that shapes daily life. Regular substance use requiring a fix on a schedule; a chronic condition needing daily management (insulin, medication); hoarding or obsessive behavior that actively strains relationships.
4A severe dependency with real danger if unmet. Hard addiction with physical withdrawal symptoms; a severe, life-threatening allergy on exposure; a compulsion strong enough to override better judgment in the moment.
5A life-controlling dependency. An addiction that incapacitates without regular access; a condition requiring constant, uninterruptible support to survive; a compulsion so absolute it defines every decision you make.
Ritual Required
It answers. It just doesn’t answer immediately. There is a procedure - words, motions, something burned, something owed - and it takes as long as it takes. Nobody has ever kicked in a door at a convenient moment.
A Gift doesn’t answer the instant it’s reached for - it has to be called, coaxed, or earned each time.
Your power doesn’t answer the instant you reach for it - it has to be called, coaxed, or earned each time. Distinct from a Gift’s own Limiters: this is a full character-creation Flaw, its points added to the general Flaws total like any other, chosen against one or more Gifts you already have.
1One specific Gift requires a short ritual - roughly a minute of chanting, gestures, or preparation - before its first use each Scene. Once performed, that Gift stays primed and usable normally for the rest of the Scene.
2The same Gift now requires that ritual before every single use, not just once per Scene - each activation costs the full minute of setup again.
3The ritual itself grows heavier - roughly ten minutes, real focus required. Anything that would normally cause Distracted interrupts it outright, forcing you to start over.
4Every Gift you have requires the Level 3 ritual before its first use each Scene, not just one - priming your full capability takes real, dedicated time.
5Every Gift requires the full ritual before every single use, with no priming grace at all - full setup, every time, for everything you can do.
Secret
One fact. That is all it is. One fact, and an entire life built carefully around it staying where it is. You have gotten good at steering a conversation. You have gotten better at leaving the room.
Something you badly don’t want getting out.
1An embarrassing detail - mildly damaging to reputation if it got out, nothing more.
2A real secret - exposure would cost you something genuine: a relationship, a job, a bit of standing.
3A serious secret - exposure would cause real, lasting damage to your life, or the lives of people you care about.
4A dangerous secret - exposure invites real threats: legal jeopardy, violence, or being hunted by someone with the power to act on it.
5A world-shaking secret - exposure would be catastrophic, reshaping your life entirely, or endangering far more than just you.
Shaken Confidence
It happened once, in front of people who mattered, and some part of you never quite stood back up. Everyone else forgot about it years ago. You did not. You feel it in the room every time something similar starts.
One specific humiliation took your footing in a room, and you never got it back.
One specific, defining humiliation left a real mark - not on the body, on the nerve. It reads a lot like a Social scar, but a scar heals and this doesn’t. Take it at creation like any other Flaw.
1A specific type of social situation (public speaking, a rivalry, one particular person) triggers a flicker of doubt - costs a beat, nothing more.
2Real hesitation in that situation - a genuine, recoverable setback if pushed through anyway.
3Active avoidance of that situation where possible; forced into it, performs at a real disadvantage.
4The doubt bleeds into adjacent situations, not just the original trigger - a broader loss of confidence.
5A pervasive, crippling lack of social self-assurance - even routine interactions carry real hesitation, not just the original trigger.
Short Fuse
The distance between the provocation and your response is a lot shorter than most people’s. You are not proud of it. You have apologized for it. And the next time somebody says the wrong thing, you will be halfway through the response before you notice you started.
You anger fast, and everybody can tell.
1Snaps at minor annoyances - sharp words, nothing lasting.
2Loses composure under real provocation - says or does something they regret, with real (if recoverable) social cost.
3Hard to talk down once provoked - regularly escalates situations that a calmer head could have defused.
4A serious liability under pressure - provocation reliably leads to real damage: burned bridges, real consequences, sometimes violence.
5You can’t reliably control yourself once triggered - provocation regularly leads to serious harm, to relationships or to people, with real consequences you can’t walk back.
Soft-Hearted
You know what the smart move is. Everybody does. You have simply never been able to make yourself do it - not to somebody already down, already scared, already smaller than you. It has cost you, and you would do it the same way again.
You struggle to act against the vulnerable, even when it costs you.
1Hesitates for a moment before acting against someone clearly weaker or in distress - costs a beat, nothing more.
2Actively looks for a way to avoid harming the vulnerable, even if it costs real effort or a worse outcome elsewhere.
3Will take a genuine risk or loss rather than harm someone vulnerable - a real, recurring cost.
4Cannot bring themselves to act against the vulnerable even when the stakes are severe - will let an opportunity or advantage slip away rather than cross that line.
5Will actively endanger themselves or the mission to protect or spare someone vulnerable, every time, no exceptions.
Speech Impediment
The thought is clear. It is fast, it is complete, and it is exactly right. Getting it out of your mouth is the part that isn’t. You have watched people decide what you were going to say and then answer that instead.
A stutter, an accent, something that gets between you and being understood.
1A mild, noticeable quirk (a stutter under stress, a thick accent) - rarely actually hampers being understood.
2A real impediment that occasionally causes miscommunication or draws unwanted attention.
3A significant impediment - regularly slows or garbles speech enough that real effort is needed to be understood.
4A severe impediment - verbal communication is unreliable; often misunderstood or unable to get a full thought out under pressure.
5Effectively unable to communicate verbally in any reliable way - must rely on writing, gestures, or another person to speak for them.