Rolemaster Classic: Background Options (Option 8)

Wow, 4-6 picks on the options tables? Check pages 62-69 in Character Law, and unless I am reading this wrong, this option seems really overpowered. Considering the sample characters used as creation examples only have one of these bonuses each, I would consider doing the same for characters I create.

You get one positive bonus, just like the sample characters.

But there are negative options in these tables as well, as rolled results on the tables - but you can still pick (?) on these tables so why would you ever pick those negative results? If I were allowed to pick 6 I would load up on +10 skill bonuses to primaries and some special abilities as well.

Take a Negative Bonus, Get an Extra Positive!

So why take negative traits, like criminal backgrounds? I would houserule you get an extra positive bonus, so two of them, if you take a negative trait. One positive trait otherwise. This way, you can create characters like the sample characters, or ones with an extra positive trait for the cost of a negative trait.

Spell Adders?

I seen this on table 06-02 Set Options Category and at first I could not figure it out. I honestly seen this and thought, it must be a magical snake. Later, via a text search of the PDF, I realized this was a magic item that assists in casting spells, like a magic wand. It is a slightly strange name for these items, I feel something more conventional like spell focus or spell power item would be a little more obvious.

I like the idea of a talking, magical snake though. If it were me, if a player wants a magic snake as a background option, they can have a magic snake. That is my illustration by the way, not in the book.

Spell adders are strange, they aren't like power points, which are consumed at one per level of spell, spell adders are "1 spell of any level." I am so used to having unified rules for these things, once designers create a system like power points, they tend to integrate them into everything, like making some wands have 5 PP, and others 10 PP to tweak power levels. These are wonderfully strange and the mechanics are different, a quirk, and also reflective of the times when unifying systems and rules wasn't such an important goal.

There are times I feel games optimize themselves too much, like we are shipping a software product and every mechanic should be part of a hierarchical whole.

But this funny misunderstanding does highlight the fact that these bonuses should be "make them up based on background!" And really should not be limited by a table. If a person really, really wanted to play an angel-like race with wings...guess what? Let them have wings and flight as their character bonus. I would not limit myself to these charts, nor present them to players as options to choose from. I would rather have the players use their imagination, rule it as a gamemaster, and use these options as guidelines for power level.

That is old-school to me. Be creative, let the players dream up cool stuff, and rule it in with the best balance you can come up with based on other choices.

Now if that angel character wanted an extra holy-type power, they will have to take a disadvantage to offset it. What is fair is fair, and we balance things with equal offsets.