After trying out the original V&V rules, then going back to D&D, my friends and I knew we had to pick up the revised V&V rules when we saw the ad for Skyhawk in Dragon magazine.

Why? Because the art was great. Why else? Because the solar-powered mutant had a comic-book weakness!
Special Requirement: Needs exposure to stellar radiation to regain Hit or Power Points.


After reading all of the V&V modules and most of the articles, I've come to appreciate those weaknesses that show some creativity and enough detail.


Billed as a phobia, this next power-draining weakness from Pentacle Plot is arguably a psychosomatic side effect (rather than a physical vulnerability). It's a nice touch.
Phobia: MoonFlash refuses to go out into direct sunlight unless the moon is also visible. During the day, all of her spells cost twice as much to use, moon in sky or not.


Of all the villains with emotional problems in the published materials, I like the well-stated game-mechanics Opponents Unlimited gives to the confused villain Arnold Kisling (Proditor Cappela), as a result of his intelligent super-suit.
Psychosis: Due to the consistent nagging of the suit and its alien masters, Arnold is highly gullible and open to suggestion. If two people are shouting orders at him, he will listen to the most charismatic of the two and begin to follow their orders, even if that person is a hero! Arnold spends much of his free time buying all sots of junk that is persuasively advertised. If more than four people are ordering him, Arnold may curl up into a little ball and whimper.


In Pre-Emptive Strike, Glacia has a weakness well-suited for her lost/hidden undersea heritage.
Physical Handicap: Finned feet, reduced movement rate on land of -30 inches per turn.


SuperCrooks & Criminals not only tells us a werewolf-like villain's weakness but also clarifies what isn't his weakness.
Vulnerability: All Flame attacks made upon the Wrereworg cause double damage. Legend states that silver is also an Achilles' Heel, but this is nothing more than legend.


That rule-breaking Psi-Demon from Opponents Unlimited has two weakness. I posted one of them in the thread about Psionic Possibilities. Here's the other.
Special Requirement: To maintain his powers, Chuck Floop/Psi Demon requires a dose of the drug which first released his psi-energy, and costs are $300 per day synthesized.


Next up is Miragi from Dawn of DNA.
Special Requirement: Drug addition. You name it, she takes it. GM's option to have her freak out whenever convenient.

As someone who has never been big on GM fiats, I like the way this weaknesses gives the most even-keel among us permission to use Miragi as a plot device.

Here are three examples showing how a similarly sounding weakness can have different repercussions for different characters.

In Dawn of DNA, the villain Dr. DNA has this Weakness: Very susceptible to bright lights, 5x normal chances of blindness from light attacks, and must shy away from any bright light source.

The subterranean Slavers from This Empress Earth have this Weakness: Vulnerable to Light attacks. Slavers are blinded by light with only one roll needed to hit. Saves to recover from blindness are always 5%. Slavers take +6 damage from light blasts.

Organized Crimes presents the Black Empress.
Vulnerability: Contact with direct sunlight causes 1d20 damage per turn. The Black Empress will also be temporarily blinded for 1d6 turns unless a save vs. endurance is made on 1d100. Light control attacks do double damage, requiring the same saving throw as above when a blinding flash is used against her.

When I read that weakness for R.I.N.G. I couldn't help but laugh.  Reminded me of a session we played WAY back, with one of the characters being mute.  After a good deal of violence (and an episode where a great many flower beds were blown up...but that's another story) the character proceeded to hold a fairly abusive phone call with the chief of police.  And I, being completely caught up in the fun of it...DIDN'T EVEN NOTICE...

Needless to say a good five to ten minutes of ranting later someone pointed out to me that the character was mute.  After we all had a good laugh I revised the entire conversation to the character tapping out morse code down the phone, and the chief of police not really understanding any of it...

Here are a few more weaknesses that I like for creativity and game-dynamic workability.

In HONOR, the villain Komodo Dragon has halved detection rolls with sight/hearing as part of his Diminished Senses under Reptile Powers. His additional, customized weakness is Reduced Speed: Komodo Dragon has a slow movement rate, as does the real lizard. He is given half of his normal movement rate and agility.


In T.O.T.E.M., the hero Tomahawk has Special Requirement: Must be within 92 inches of ancient tomahawk or loses his powers until he possesses the artifact again.

The artifact itself is not a special weapon, it's simply the source of the hero's powers.


In Great Iridium Con,  the mystical villain Devilspawn has Special Requirement: Devilspawn's spells can only be cast at night, and most effects (except damage, devitalization, and death) will be undone at sunrise.


In Alone into the Night, the Garrote's weakness of Psychosis compels him to be a serial killer. But the psychosis also limits his Telekinesis, giving him only one-quarter TK capacity.

Since villains do villainous deeds (with or without a weakness), I like how this weakness significantly limits one of Garrote's powers.


Of all the characters battle-crazed weaknesses, you have to appreciate how From the Deeps of Space turns an advantage into a disadvantage.

The Psy extraterrestrials have this Weakness: Berserking: If hurt by an opponent in HTH, or when a fellow warrior goes down, or if insulted, Psy tend to go berserk and charge into HTH recklessly. This gives them a +1 to hit, +2 damage bonus, but attackers are also +2 to hit them. Battle-crazed Psy are not very selective about what they attack while under 'the spell' (tanks, already-dead enemies, etc.)

Here are some of my favorite weakness from the recently published V&V materials:

Mole of Into the Sub-Realm suffers from Agrophobia, which is the fear of wide open spaces. He will suffer from this unless the area is in total darkness.

Also from that adventure, Mol-TON has the version of Flame Powers the requires activation and normally includes flight. But with his Weakness: Mol-TON does not gain the ability of flight with his flame powers.


While some water-breathing villains in V&V history have Ice Powers, Elisa Fathom from Danger in the Depths #1 instead has Vulnerability: Ice attacks receive +5 to hit.

Display Name wrote on Jun 3^rd, 2012 at 1:30am:


A number of the published characters list Weakness without specifying the category. I agree that this sounds most like Low Self-Control. But I could see a player and GM negotiating this this same effect from several of the other weaknesses.

Our group is seriously considering revamping the entire Weaknesses list.  There's so many good ones that are missing, and yet a number of them (the reduced Basic Characteristic) can often give you such a negative that you're nearly guarateed to drop them.

Indeed. None of the BESM "Defects" are Astonishing - but they are fun, and about 30 years newer than V&V...

Ezzackly! I use these more as ideas for applying weaknesses. Like I said the V&V weaknesses are pretty broad, and encompass pretty much the whole shootin' match.

Who gives a crap about weaknesses. Nukenin from Vigilantes International found a way to get rid of all of them and get like 20 plus powers to boot!

polarboy wrote on Jun 11^th, 2012 at 6:34pm:


Agreed, but then there's so many that aren't covered in V&V.  What is a dependent like Aunt May?  What is a dark secret/mysterious past like Spider-Woman has?  How does one signify that a person is (to use a Champions term) "Hunted" by an organization (like the Army after the Hulk)?

Those are just three really quick ones off the top of my head.  Over the years we've found many that just aren't covered very well by the existing weaknesses.

I applaud the effort and loyalty to the original set of rules but I think you might be stretching it a bit Polerboy. I'm not saying I want to scrap the system altogether, but I think even Jeff saw the need to expand Weaknesses when he built Living Legends.

I always figured that if a player rolled a "Reduced XXXX" that was too much of a penalty, I (as the GM) would fudge it a little.

something like that. it might be as high as -5.