Eunuch as a disad

[Maccabe]

This is common enough in certain backgrounds I was wondering how you would create it- Physical Limitation + Social Limit ?

[Curufea]

Re: Eunuch as a disad

 

Yep, pretty much. Depends on the society/culture. It may even include a perk.

[PhilFleischmann]

Re: Eunuch as a disad

 

Will it actually have any effect in the game/storyline? I can think of only two effects it might have, off-hand:

 

1) Social Limitation/Reputation in an environment were it isn't accepted/respected. A source of teasing and ridicule. Or a indication of a certain (disadvantaged) social class - the character can never hold certain positions within society, etc.

 

2) Physical Limitation - Unable to produce offspring - in case that's important to the plot.

 

OTOH, it might be a good justification for +10 INT (or more, and maybe EGO as well) - Mind is permanently freed from having to think about sex.

[Thia Halmades]

Re: Eunuch as a disad

 

Hence the Eunuch Sorceror concept from Chinese mythology. At the end of the day, this hinges on what my compatriots have already pointed out; what effect does it have on the plot, and are you running a PG-13+ game, where sex is common & characters get pregnant? Would an inability to have children be an in-game disadvantage. I may play a character who has no interest in having kids, but I won't take any disads for it. But really, we need to know what effect it will have on the game.

[Trebuchet]

Re: Eunuch as a disad

 

Eunuchs tend to put on weight as well due to the lack of testosterone.

 

Under the right circumstances it can be an Advantage: The character can be trusted by lords and emperors not to have sexual liaisons with women, which is why they were traditionally used to guard harems and concubines. So I'd say in most cases in games it would be neither pro nor con, but is simply a bit of character background. Of course, it can still provide fodder for Psych Lims such as "Vengeful over being castrated."

[albin]

Re: Eunuch as a disad

 

Depending on what kind of setting and how much effect you want it to have in your campain it can be several disadvantages.

 

Social limitation - Women wont have much/any romantical interest in you, men might look down on you and so on. It might also be a Secret...

 

Physical limitation - You can't have sex, children and so on. There can be problems with urinating and stuff like that. Someone mentioned that eunuchs often put on weight.

 

Distinctive Feature - Well... It's most likely easily concealable (unless your campain takes place on a nudity beach or something) and in most places it would cause a major reaction (people do like their genitals).

 

Using the golden rule for disadvantages - if it's not a disadvantage to the character, it's not worth any points - the social and/or physical limitation only applyes if the character wants to have romantic relations with women and wants to have children and so on. In most campains I would only make it a distinctive feature worth 10 pts.

[albin]

Re: Eunuch as a disad

 

I posted a reply but it seems to have gone missing... Quick version: Depending on the setting it can be one or more of the three following disadvantages:

 

Social Limitation - Females won't have much/any romatical thoughts about the character and immune to seduction and the character might be viewed as a second class human. Could also be a secret...

 

Physical Limitation - The character can't have sex, children and other stuff.

 

Distinctive Feature - The character has no genitals... Easy to conceal, major reaction.

 

There are ofc things to concider here. If it's a social status to be a eunuch (fantasy like the Belgarion series include eunuchs that are the only ones that are allowed to serve the queen) this might only be a distinctive feature (added with some perk). If the story is centered around issues like family, sex, seduction then the social and physical limitations are appropriate but in most campains that's not really an issue. If it's your basic "I blast Dr. Evil with my energyblast" type of campain, go for the distinctive feature and stop there.

["V"]

Re: Eunuch as a disad

 

In Imperial China only eunuchs were allowed to attain certain positions - why I don't know, perhaps to ensure the civil servant was not distracted by thoughts of family or sex. They were required to present their (ahem) detachments in a jar at the job interview.

[Cybernaut]

Re: Eunuch as a disad

 

Disadvantage-wise, I would allow a 5-point Physical Limitation.

[assault]

Re: Eunuch as a disad

 

In Imperial China only eunuchs were allowed to attain certain positions - why I don't know' date=' perhaps to ensure the civil servant was not distracted by thoughts of family or sex.[/quote']

 

The theory was that they wouldn't be so prone to abuse their position to advance their family's position. It didn't work. Every Eunuch had brothers, sisters, cousins, nieces, nephews...

 

While I'm not aware of any Eunuchs actually seizing the Imperial throne themselves, there were cases of their family members doing so.

[albin]

Re: Eunuch as a disad

 

Like people already said, it depends a lot on the setting. If the campain is centers around family, sex and having children, it's a huge disadvantage. In most fantasy settings those matters aren't that important. I would settle for a Distinctive Feature in most campains, easy to conceal and probably major reaction. But it could ofc be a lot of other disadvantages depending on the setting.

Social limitation - Females doesn't have much/any romatical thoughts about the character. Both females and males could veiw the character as "lesser then human". It could be a secret.

Reputation - If it's generaly known that the character is a eunuch...

Physical Limitation - The character can't have sex, children and so on.

Psychological Limitation - Any sexualy loaded situation could make the character feel uneasy. Perhaps the character really wants to have children and so on.

 

But like I said, if it's your normal "hack & slash" fantasy, I would only allow the distinctive feature. In most campains it's about the same as having a scar or tatoo that makes it easy to identify the character (assuming you know it's there...).

[Markdoc]

Re: Eunuch as a disad

 

In Imperial China only eunuchs were allowed to attain certain positions - why I don't know' date=' perhaps to ensure the civil servant was not distracted by thoughts of family or sex. They were required to present their (ahem) detachments in a jar at the job interview.[/quote']

 

For positions with access to the Imperial family the reasons are at least partly physical - you have an old emperor with 300 courtesans/wives. You want to be sure none of them produce an heir that an influential official could claim. It happened anyway - several times eunuchs adopted potential heirs and tried to set them on the Jade throne, but at least they were promoting what was supposedly the old emperor's issue (and as noted above, they still had other family members). The court used to take orphans or take kids really young to try and avoid such entanglements.

 

The other reason was to stop their appointments from becoming family fiefs - same reason the catholic church finally enforced celibacy on its priests.

 

cheers, Mark

[McCoy]

Re: Eunuch as a disad

 

As everyone else has said, it depends.

 

I have known men who were unable to procreate, and some became almost obsessed with the idea, so I think a psych limit would be approperate.

 

The eunuch may chose to be celebate, or to take a more passive role in relationships, in which case apply whatever social limitations the character would get for being Gay.

 

As has been mentioned, in some cultures eunuchs were the upper level civil servants, near Nobility. In others, only slaves were made into eunuchs. (In Impierial Rome, castration was illegal. Eunuch slaves were a status symbol, but they had to be imported from Egypt. So if you met a eunuch in Rome, they were a current or former slave, but an expensive one.)

 

I think overall the only thing we can agree on is the distinctive feature.