Quirks

Quirks are personality traits, physical characteristics, or other eccentricities of fate that differentiate characters of similar backgrounds, profession, or station in society. Some Quirks are restricted to a single Race or Path (like Dual Encephalon for Sindarans), while others are open to all characters. Which Quirks a character is able to select is dependent upon their Race and Path selection. Many Quirks give the character situational bonuses or penalties, while others allow the character to bend the rules of the game in some fashion.

Acquiring Quirks

Many races automatically receive one or more Quirks at character creation. These are Quirks that all members of the race possess, like an Aeriad’s stutter (Speech Impediment) or a Thrall’s fearlessness (Immune to Fear).

In addition to racial Quirks, each Path has a list of available Quirks. Players may opt to exchange some of their allotted skill ranks to acquire any of these Quirks (see Character Generation).

Like Skills, Quirks can also be acquired through the expenditure of XP. Not all Quirks are available for acquisition beyond the Character Creation stage of the game, however. Quirks like Attractive, High Born, and Stench are all Quirks a character is born with. Others, like the various fighting styles (Mandaquan, Tazian Combat, etc.), may be learned.

Learned Quirks that are among the available Quirks open to the character’s Paths cost a number of XP equal to the Training Time to learn the Quirk and must be accompanied by an in-game reason the Quirk is being learned. In other words, a character cannot simply learn a Quirk like Danuvian Riding; they must first seek out a master Danuvian rider, convince them to train the character, and spend the time actually learning the style. The same process used to find an instructor to acquire a new Skill is also used in acquiring a new Quirk.

Learnable Quirks that are not among the available Quirks to the character’s Paths cost 2 XP per week of training time required. Once the necessary XP and time have been expended, the player may add the new Quirk to their character sheet.