Can somebody explain them to me?

On 4/19/2020 at 1:18 AM, Sedda said:

Can somebody explain them to me?

That is a somewhat broad question... I am unsure which part you do not understand.

Each character begins play with a Distinction, a Passion, an Adversity and an Anxiety. Distinctions and Adversities are similar, as are Passions and Anxieties.

Distinctions and Adversities are things the character is good at vs. bad at. If you do something you are good at, e.g. listening to a whispered conversation when your Distinction is Keen Hearing, you can reroll two dice of your roll, improving your chance of success. If instead you have the Deafness Adversity, you have to reroll two of your successful dice, lowering your chances.

If you do something that is your Passion, often as a downtime activity, e.g. looking after your horse if you have the Animal Bond Passion, you heal 3 Strife. (That is one of the few ways to heal Strife below half your max, so important). If you are forced to do something that is your Anxiety, e.g. wait for something when you have the Impatience Anxiety, you take 3 Strife.

The Advantages and Disadvantages are further linked to certain Rings and are triggered only if the check involves said ring, but that often does not work well, and we ignore it. For example, Keen Smell (Fire) would almost never happen, as there are few ways for a theorize approach with smelling. It is generally accepted that Advantages and Disadvantages should not often activate in combat, as that would make them too powerful. E.g. Ambidexterity when you wield 2 weapons should not trigger with each attack you make.

Most Advantages and Dosadvantages also have a descriptive effect that should be kept in mind. For example, Keen Balance says you can cross rooftops without a check, and Dangerous Allure means you always make an impression. That is independent of any rolls, but should be kept inm mind in developing situations.

An easily overlooked point is that Disadvantages give you a Void Point when they trigger, and Void Points are VERY powerful things that can easily save your life. So players actually have an interest in choosing Disadvantages that trigger regularily, in contrast to many other systems where players often choose the most obscure disadvantages possible.

Generally, I really like Harzerkatze's explanation, I just wanna offer the perspective that, depending on the group, it can totally be fine to have advantages basically apply on every attack in a fight.

Also, something that Harzerkatze hasn't mentioned yet is that both Advantages and Disadvantages can be inverted under certain circumstances (often by spending a void point, or getting one from the GM). Taking the Dangerous Allure example - yes, you've made an impression but the person you're supposed to impress hates flashy people and so you'll have a harder time in this specific moment .

Or, as we did in our campaign, a Doji trained in the Kakita Duelist school used the target's large stature against herself. So he re-rolled two die when striking her in a duel.

And I mostly agree with @Harzerkatze that if the advantage/disadvantage makes sense on that point, it doesn't matter the ring. Heck, my character had to re-roll two die when looking for the history of his family ancestor's sword (that apparently is cursed) because he was haunted by a Hiruma ghost, even though the roll was Culture/Water.

Short version, they're how you represent little details, interests, minor skills, specialist fields of study and physical attributes.

There's no single "strength" stat - it's some combination of.....I guess Fire and Earth?

Large Stature, or some custom 'previously strong' advantage would apply to all 'lift heavy things' check.

Equally, let's say you took the advantage Shogi Expert instead of a rank of the games skill. The latter is more general, but if your picture of the character is that they learned shogi, not dice, or cards, or whatever, then the advantage may be more fitting.

Equally, they can define relationships. Ally, scorn of, blackmail, support of, betrothal, etc, help your character mechanically connect to the individuals and groups in the story's world.