User blog comment:Njalm2/Nanja's Classroom: Weaknesses/@comment-1493741-20160525210936

ShonenChicoBoy Wrote: Good blog N, although I kind of wish you had gone more in-depth into why weaknesses are needed. While I agree that giving a character a weakness so that their strengths become evident IS important, one of the biggest reasons why I think weaknesses are important is that it creates actual excitement for an RP. One complaint I’ve heard a lot from people with… very powerful characters, is that they don’t feel the same excitement they once did in RPing. Granted it is satisfying to have an RP at high levels and not be forced to “scale down” in order to make things challenging, but weaknesses are a good way to add a wild card into the mix. Because it creates suspense, as there is a chance the character might lose or die or whatever. And suspense is interesting.

On a side note, here’s the excerpt I was looking for from one of my past blogs: "Now, I think most people hear the word “flaw” and cringe because they often confuse flaws for weaknesses. Most of the time flaws ARE weaknesses, but they don’t have to be necessarily. A weakness is something that can be exploited: whether that is a virtue (such as a character being too trusting), a vice, a secret, a desire, etc. One of the most abused things I’ve seen is psychological disorders and things like PTSD. While these things most definitely can serve as weaknesses for a character, they should not be seen as personality flaws because they are outside the character’s control."

(Speaking to the difference between a personality flaw or defect and a weakness, as in “that which may be exploited in an RP.” Although I suppose it is entirely possible if a character had particular weaknesses that arose directly from their inner flaws, but I can’t think of an example at the moment.)

One thing that did confuse me though: what did you mean by “power budget?”