Hey all. I started watching Steveisbored on Youtube and he mentioned something that resonated with me: The roleplaying depth of species with intrinsic flaws. I wanted to call the collected experience of the forums for some optional Flaws that provide a small XP bonus at character creation. Published examples of species flaws are in the following books:

• Ishi Tib: Water Dependence-Lead by Example
• Dresselian: Primitive-Stay on Target [Can be removed for 10 XP at creation]
• Polis Massan: No Vocal Chords-Strongholds of Resistance [Can be removed for 10 XP at creation]

These should be used to an idea of balancing these homebrews. I’m thinking they should be “purchased” at creation by adding 10 or 5 starting XP. I would also add that only one Flaw may be taken and only at creation. They can either be species specific or related to one’s backstory or personality. Discussions on how it would work with the three previously-listed species that already have a “flaw.”

The problem is that in a great many cases, the introduction of a more open "Flaws" system leads to degrees of min-maxing, especially if you combine it with this system's Duty (or Obligation) mechanic, which can easily allow a PC to start with additional XP.

In an AoR game, it's probably not all that uncommon for PCs to drop their starting Duty to 0 to gain that much additional starting XP and then take the base option for an extra 1000 credits (which is plenty for the majority of PC builds), meaning the bulk of PCs start off with +10XP and +1000 credits over the listed starting norms.

Frankly, if the end goal is to give the players a bit more XP, I would suggest simply bumping their starting XP by 10 to 25 points and leave it at that.