hi all.... new to the forums

im looking at running an anima game with the adventure from the GM kit, and one of my players is wanting to take amnesia as a disadvantage.

i havent been able to find it in the core book and was wondering at 1,2, and 3 points how severe you would make the amnesia?

any help is muchly appreciated tthanks heaps

sorry... forgot to ask also what game affects it would have.... ie 1 point forget who you are, 2 points forget how to use some skills etc. thanks

First, careful not to be too cliche about it. Understand that some amnesia doesn't reduce the character's... ability. It affects roleplay more than anything. For a crippling case of amnesia (unable to use particular skills because of memories that were shut away, can't function independantly as a normal human would, etc), compare it to the deadly disease disadvantage in the core book. Any lighter case of amnesia I might only give 1 point, if any at all. Light amnesia is... hindering (whoops, I forget some things), but it doesn't really affect your survival skills (non-specific memories. you still can fight like a practiced swordsman, carry on a normal conversation, etc), which is what disadvantages usually do (make survival more difficult)

Certainly let your player's character have a light case of amnesia without requiring them to take it as a disadvantage, if that is a quality that they want to have.

First of all, never do a 3 point disadvantage. There are none in the Anima books for a reason, two points is rather major. Amnesia is the sort of disadvantage I hate. The reason is it's a easy excuse for most players to not come up with a backstory and even get a bonus for it! If you are going to allow amnesia i'd say a 1 point would account for your basic amnesia, forget name, past, ect. While a 2 point would be a severe case, like people whom can't retain memory (think of ten second tom from 50 first dates) and would probably give a heafty penalty to knowledge based abilities. Keep in mind, two points on a disadvantage is major, look at Blind. 2 points and you get a -100 to attack and - 80 or so to defensive and physical skills! Ouch, Ouch is the term for a two point disadvantage.

sweet.... thanks for the replies, very helpful

the good thing about the character is that he has come up with a backstory for the character AND for the amnesia (linked to his artifact in both cases) a relativly basic one which he would flesh out a lot if i asked him to but he has also left it to me to have some fun with

his amnesia is at the point where he cant remember anything before X time (even where he is or what history of gaia is known) and has taken/been given a new name.... at 2 points how severe would the penalties be to knowledge based skills, and, would this also affect skills like acrobatics and hide (forget the technequies) and attack/defense abilities etc?

thanks again

Well Moridin, I think we might all give you different answers to this last question. How severe should the penalties be...This is gonna require alot of thought for your game. Reference the penalties given by other 2 point disadvantages. Blind, unlucky destiny, damned, slow reactions, slow learner, ect. I'd say the pen. should be merely knowledge based. Muscle memory would inhibit penalties to attack so I wouldn't give any of those. Being in martial arts and swordfighting myself, I can attest that muscle memory is a major factor in combat skill. Knowledge skills would probably recieve a -100 and perhaps skills like persuasion and other Int based abilities. Looking at the secondary abilities, I see a logic that many abilities would'nt be harmed by forgetting. I see alot of muscle memory inherit in skills, and even abilities forgotten , like the ability to dance or forage, should come back soon as someone tried them. In order for a 2 point to be worthy for the character it needs to inhibit them greatly. A warrior would not be inhibited by penalties to Int abilites more than likely and thus it would'nt be a "worthy" 2 point disadvantage for that character. A wizard or loremaster archetype however, ouch. LOL. So theres some of my thoughts for ye. Take what ye will.

Avoid amnesia entirely. It's more interesting for NPC's to have amnesia than it is for players, since it provides possible plot developments.

If you insist for players, then don't make it a disadvantage in the game mechanics, merely fluff for a character. Just remember that being amnesic doesn't necessarily mean that the character forgets everything he has learnt, merely that he is unable to remember a particular range of things, probably all relating to his identity, and even then he might remember fragments. Consider it that he has forgotten just enough to not remember who he is/what he has been doing...

hrm.... much to think on... thanks heaps for the answers guys

i may be able to nock it down to a 1 point as ive been thinking about how his artifact works and i think 1 or 2 points he has in advantages can be built in to his atrifact.... ill have to talk it over properly with him

again thanks heaps guys

Just keep in mind the general trend that a disadvantage (in Anima terms) is something that makes you less effective, usually in combat or challenges. Lowering your resistances, removing your ability to cast spells if you can't speak, huge action penalty for a minute if you're awakened into combat, penalties if your vice isn't satisfied, etc. Depending on the amnesia desired, and I agree with the most recent suggestion, you should probably make it knowledge-oriented. Selective memory loss (voluntary) would be easier to work with (a penalty for recalling bad memories, and things related to those memories, for instance). Whatever... it sounds like you're working it out with your player (that is good). You'll be fine.

My point was more that he shouldn't make it a disadvantage using the CP system at all. If the character's amnesic, then it's purely character fluff. I just mentioned how amnesia can be specific just to avoid him putting unnecessary penalties on the player.

I agree with what has been said. Amnesia, doesn't feel like the other disadvantages that are listed in the book. I mean, compare it to withered limb, or suseptable to magic. The CP you get for disadvantages should really cost you.

Amnesia seems to be more of a role playing element. Like, "my character had a bad run in with an inquisitor in the past" They can make the game fun and your character more fun to play, but they don't really make you any weaker.

That being said, as role playing elements go, Amnesia seems to be pretty uninteresting. If you like it then that is fine, but from my point of view, I agree that it seems seperate the character from the world more than it does draw them in. I like my characters to feel like a part of the world. Like they really live there. If I were GM and a player wanted to have amnesia I would make a unapproving face at him and say "really, that's what you want to do really."

Now you could make it work, like a character has lived for the past five years in the forest where he has become a ranger, but he has no memory from before that, all he has is a fine sword and a birthmark in the shape of a crown. (okay the birthmark in the shape of a crown might be going to far, but I had to do my Terry Pratchet shout out when I could) and now he has finally set out to find his true heratige. Or perhaps his forgotten past has finally caught up with him. The important thing is that he does have a past that he remembers. He has those years becoming a ranger. He has some role playing elements to his character.

Now, I freely admit that the depth of characters required from one gaming group to another varies wildly. And Where I thing Amnesia seems lame, someone else might find it the coolest thing ever. But be careful, because it does seem to take away from character development rather than add to it.

In short. I would never allow a player to get CP for the disadvantage Amnesia unless it seriously hurt them in some other way, like penalties to common skills, like has been mentioned by by others. I also would not be to thrilled about a character who wanted to use amnesia as a character background, because it actually seems to strip a character of role-playing rather than add to it.