History BlessedWithSuck / TabletopGames

** ''TabletopGame/{{Eberron}}'': One of the Cataclysm Mage prestige class' features is a self-related prophecy. Said prophecy has a 1/4 chance of being fatal. It is possible to survive all but one of those prophecies (the exception being one that requires you to die). You get a special benefit for fulfilling these prophecies. At the DM's discretion, the prophecies have to be fulfilled in order for you to advance in the prestige class.

** Humans mages can command the Winds of Magic to do their bidding, but are feared and hated by the people and distrusted by most religions, and are at constant risk of leaving themselves open to DemonicPossession.

** Psykers, especially amongst humans. The fate of the overwhelming majority of psykers in [[TheEmpire the Imperium]] is to die at their hands of their fellow humans, who hate and despise them. If they're ''lucky'', said death will just be a bullet through the brainpan or being burned at the stake. If they ''aren't'' caught and killed (or controlled by the Imperium, not a nice fate either), they usually go [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity insane]]. [[FateWorseThanDeath Or worse]]. Given the fact that Psykers gain their powers because they have a gate to the realms of soul devouring demons and endless, sanity shredding horrors in their brains, they're practically the living embodiment of this trope.

** And if you think the fate of a psyker is bad, try being a blank. Blanks are people who have no warp presence whatsoever, meaning that Warp-energy cannot affect them, rendering them immune to psyker powers and daemonic possession. It also means that they are effectively soulless. This in turn means that ordinary humans are repulsed to the point of instinctive hostility by them, as all humans have some slight degree of psychic presence. Meaning they can't hold a job, can't have sex, unless they are willing and pay someone to dope themselves out of their skull and do it, can't have a family because no-one can stand to be around them, and if they walk into the same room as a psyker, the psyker will immediately double over in pain... Oh, and if one is caught by the Necrons, they immediately rebuild the blank in question into a biomechanical super-soldier. Being burned at the stake by your family suddenly doesn't seem so bad. Oh, and if the Imperium finds out about you, they'll put you in the Inquisition, and you can spend the rest of your (probably brief) life escorting Inquisitors on the most dangerous missions, where you can almost certainly count on encountering demons, witches, and other nightmarish monstrosities. [[Literature/CiaphasCain Unless your name is Jurgen]], in which case you get to be the assistant to one of the most legendary heroes of the Imperium, with all the potential perks that would involve.
** The Eldar were the most psychically gifted species in the galaxy, which helped bring about the downfall of their civilization when their decadence and perversion so disturbed the [[HyperspaceIsAScaryPlace Immaterium]] as to give rise to a Chaos god of, well, decadence and perversion. Then they got it again when Slaanesh, in addition to destroying their civilization, driving them to the brink of extinction, and also killed most of their gods, including the king of the Eldar pantheon, Asuryan. Asuryan, in his last act, distributed his power among the surviving Eldar, vastly increasing their already long lifespans and their already prodigious psychic powers, but also suppressing their fertility. As a result, they have been unable to come back from the brink of extinction, even after ten thousand years.

** The Tau have almost no warp presence, much like Blanks, but also do not creep people the hell out. It also means they do not fall prey to Chaos (at least not as easily as other races) because they flat out can't hear the whispers of the gods. The downside is that they have absolutely no concept of the Warp at all and are unable to utilize warp-based technologies, such as Warp Jump on starships. They can get close and "skim" on the rim of the Warp, but this means that they're basically playing hopscotch across the galaxy while everyone else are in racecars.
** The Astronomican allows for plotting of the Warp, which allows for safer routes for Imperial forces that minimizes daemon attacks and can adhere to some semblance of a schedule. It's why the Imperium can still function despite the galaxy-wide empire. However, it's also ''really'' bright in the warp, which is implied to be the reason the Tyranids (a highly psychic-sensitive race) are invading the galaxy.

* ''TabletopGame/{{Deadlands}}'': The Harrowed. Not many people get a second shot at life, even if it is in the "crawling your way out of the grave" sort of way. Being harder to kill (again) and manifesting some of the game's strongest powers sounds great... until your [[JekyllAndHyde personal demon]] takes over, often resulting in deaths among your [[TrueCompanions posse]]. The only player character type that has ''more'' power has ''even more'' [[IncrediblyLamePun suck]]: [[OurVampiresAreDifferent vampires]].

*** ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'': The various vampire clans often have nice perks but serious drawbacks. Malkavians have the ability to prophetize and mind-whammy others, but they're all insane -- every last one. Nosferatu are masters of stealth, but are ugly as sin and can never go among humans without various tricks. Ventrue often have good connections, charismatic, etc. But have to drink only a specific type of blood so they can't feed on animals in an emergency, and depending on what they feed on they will have to do quite a bit of planning to keep up their supplies. Toreador are charismatic, utterly charming artists who can blend into society but suffer CreativeSterility, their artwork while technically great comes off as soulless -- they also get sidetracked by pretty things (and "pretty things" can include the rising sun...and pain isn't enough to end the trance, so they'll just stand there going "ooh, shiny!" as they burn to death). Tzimisce are terrifying flesh-crafters and lords of the damned, but if they can't sleep with at least two handfuls of their native soil, depending on the edition they either lose half their dice pool until they have only a single die for every action, or lose massive amounts of Willpower--and once a character hits 0 Willpower, they take an automatic -2 penalty to every mental and social roll. Ravnos are masters of subtlety and deception (along with a few powers of the UsefulNotes/{{Romani}}), but they are keyed to a specific vice, which they must pursue whenever possible. Either that, or, in V5, they must constantly be on the move, lest the psychic echoes of their progenitor's firey destruction catch up to them and burn them to death from the inside. (Mechanically, this is up to ''ten dice'' of aggravated damage, the worst and hardest to heal type of damage you can take, if a Ravnos sleeps in the same place more than once in seven days.)

*** ''TabletopGame/PrincessTheHopeful'': Princesses are gifted with holy magic literally running on ThePowerOfLove, which they must use to smite evil and [[HopeBringer bring light and hope back to the world]]. Problem is, they must do so in the ''[[CrapsackWorld World of Darkness]]'', where evil has pretty much already won. Their main opponent is [[TheCorruption the All-Consuming Darkness, a mindless cosmic force made of everything evil festering in all the places it has tainted to corrupt people, gradually warping them in mindless monsters]]; its minions include a multitude of vicious, dangerous opponents with {{Lovecraftian Superpower}}s who will gladly attack your loved ones if that can help them win. Princesses themselves have to lead an exhausting double-life that leaves no room for a normal life, and they are empathic to such a level that [[AllergicToEvil evil and corruption literally causes them pain and suffering]]. Oh, and if they cross the DespairEventHorizon, they lose their powers and will eventually turn into [[FallenHero Dethroned]], a warped, monstrous parody of their former selves which [[HorrifyingTheHorror even the forces of Darkness run away from]].

* ''TabletopGame/MouseTrap'': Rolling small numbers and advancing slowly is advantageous, as it keeps that player away from the dreaded Cheese space. The players that roll big numbers and arrive at the end loop thereafter run a 1-in-6 chance of landing on the Cheese space, where they can only pray no other mouse lands on the Turn Crank space once the trap is completed.

*** ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'': The various vampire clans often have nice perks but serious drawbacks. Malkavians have the ability to prophetize and mind-whammy others, but they're all insane -- every last one. Nosferatu are masters of stealth, but are ugly as sin and can never go among humans without various tricks. Ventrue often have good connections, charismatic, etc. But have to drink only a specific type of blood so they can't feed on animals in an emergency, and depending on what they feed on they will have to do quite a bit of planning to keep up their supplies. Toreador are charismatic, utterly charming artists who can blend into society but suffer CreativeSterility, their artwork while technically great comes off as soulless -- they also get sidetracked by pretty things (and "pretty things" can include the rising sun). Tzimisce are terrifying flesh-crafters and lords of the damned, but if they can't sleep with at least two handfuls of their native soil, depending on the edition they either lose half their dice pool until they have only a single die for every action, or lose massive amounts of Willpower--and once a character hits 0 Willpower, they take an automatic -2 penalty to every mental and social roll. Ravnos are masters of subtlety and deception (along with a few powers of the UsefulNotes/{{Romani}}), but they are keyed to a specific vice, which they must pursue whenever possible. Either that, or, in V5, they must constantly be on the move, lest the psychic echoes of their progenitor's firey destruction catch up to them and burn them to death from the inside. (Mechanically, this is up to ''ten dice'' of aggravated damage, the worst and hardest to heal type of damage you can take, if a Ravnos sleeps in the same place more than once in seven days.)

* ''TabletopGame/UnknownArmies'': Becoming almost any kind of magician requires developing obsessions and taboos that make it near-impossible to have anything resembling a normal life. How serious this gets depends on what specific path you follow. For example, Plutomancers gain magic by acquiring cold, hard cash -- then have to live like paupers because spending it nukes their powers. Personamancers master identity and masks by destroying their own sense of self. Dipsomancers find power in booze and cirrhosis -- and have no power unless they're drunk. Pornomancers enslave their sexuality to a porn star who seemed to ascend to a higher plane; they can only ever have sex by reenacting her sacred film scenes or to make a profit, with sex for love or casual gratification draining their magical stores. These are some of the saner Adepts.

** Paladins are sometimes depicted as being such [[SlaveToPR Slaves To PR]] as to have little free will. Thus, they must do the most obvious "LawfulGood" action to any situation, even if the end result will obviously be bad, or else lose their powers or [[ThePunishment worse.]] Many have called this interpretation "[[LawfulStupidChaoticStupid Lawful Stupid]]". An important bit of GameplayAndStorySegregation; often it's not the paladin BlessedWithSuck but the ''player'', as it's the player who might want to cheat the system, and it's the player who might have to deal with a KillerGameMaster who will take any opportunity to force the Paladin to Fall, including forcing moral dilemmas and stripping powers at the slightest hint of an alignment infraction.

** Words, which both Archangels and Archdevils have, and which give power to their bearers at the cost of needing them to act in accordance with them. Angels' Words tend to be limited by BeingGoodSucks, while demons are sometimes given Words meant specifically to screw them over, like Taking Credit for Others' Work, or Stale Bong Water.
** Undead are physically powerful, supernaturally powerful, and undying. However, most become saddled with powerful Needs and cannot stand beneath the sun. Even those without these drawbacks simply buy the immorality of their bodies at the cost of that of their souls; the spirits of the undead cannot survive their bodies' destruction, and simply stop existing where living humans would pass on to the afterlife.

*** ''TabletopGame/GeniusTheTransgression'': Geniuses can make [[WeirdScience wonders of impossible science]] to do almost anything... but as soon as a [[{{Muggle}} mortal]] gets their hands on it, it'll [[GoneHorriblyWrong break, explode or worse]]. Aside from that though they don't have it ''too'' bad, at least until they [[WithGreatPowerComesGreatInsanity become more powerful]] and have to control the burning light of [[TouchedByVorlons Inspiration]]. Because if they don't [[ComesGreatResponsibility show restraint]], [[HeroicRROD things]] [[JumpingOffTheSlipperySlope can]] [[MoralEventHorizon get messy]].

*** ''TabletopGame/MageTheAwakening'': Being a Mage isn't, in and of itself, a bad thing. The world the Awakening opens up, however, is a different matter. The world you knew was a Lie, created by dark gods. Its rulers want the world's magic all to themselves. There's a gaping hole in the universe that's inimical to all existence. And then there are the Banishers, mages who blame magic for everything that's wrong with the world, and seek to eliminate it whenever they can...

* ''TabletopGame/InNomine'' has Words, which both Archangels and Archdevils have, and which give power at the cost of needing to act in accordance with it. Angels' Words tend to be limited by BeingGoodSucks, while demons are sometimes given Words meant specifically to screw them over, like Taking Credit for Others' Work, and Stale Bong Water.
* ''TabletopGame/InNomineSatanisMagnaVeritas'': Most scenarios take the form of discreet, undercover investigations amongst {{Muggles}}, and the {{Masquerade}} is sacrosanct (heh). So when one of your possible "powers" is "Incarnation in the body of a famous CEO/TV anchor/Rock star/Politician", well... Have fun trying to explain this paparazzi shot of you shooting holy lightning out of your eyeballs is really stage effects ''sans'' stage, or something. Or infiltrating the BigBad's lair with groupies in tow.

* ''Tabletop/{{Rifts}}'' has Cosmo Knights, mortals who were TouchedByVorlons and turned into cosmic crusaders powerful enough to go toe to toe with starships. The drawback? They have to adhere to a very rigid code of ethics, which is overseen by a nigh omniscient entity who will not hesitate to strip the Cosmo Knight of their powers [[CantGetAwayWithNothing on the first offense]].

*** ''TabletopGame/VampireTheMasquerade'': The various vampire clans often have nice perks but serious drawbacks. Malkavians have the ability to prophetize and mind-whammy others, but they're all insane -- every last one. Nosferatu are masters of stealth, but are ugly as sin and can never go among humans without various tricks. Ventrue often have good connections, charismatic, etc. But have to drink only a specific type of blood so they can't feed on animals in an emergency, and depending on what they feed on they will have to do quite a bit of planning to keep up their supplies. Toreador are charismatic, utterly charming artists who can blend into society but suffer CreativeSterility, their artwork while technically great comes off as soulless -- they also get sidetracked by pretty things. Ravnos are masters of subtlety and deception (along with a few powers of the UsefulNotes/{{Romani}}), but they are keyed to a specific vice, which they must pursue whenever possible.

* ''TabletopGame/UnknownArmies'': Becoming almost any kind of magician requires developing obsessions and taboos that make it near-impossible to have anything resembling a normal life. How serious this gets depends on what specific path you follow. For example, Plutomancers gain magic by acquiring cold, hard cash -- then have to live like paupers because spending it nukes their powers. Personamancers master identity and masks by destroying their own sense of self. Dipsomancers find power in booze and cirrhosis -- and have no power unless they're drunk. Pornomancers enslave their sexuality to a porn star who seemed to ascend to a higher plane. These are some of the saner Adepts.

** ''TabletopGame/ForgottenRealms'': The mad god Cyric's Seraph of Lies has been "blessed" by Cyric so that his own physical limitations cannot prevent him carrying out his god's will. This doesn't prevent him being injured or experiencing pain or hunger, it just means he can work through it.

* 'TabletopGame/{{Paranoia}}'':

* The remake of the above, ''TabletopGame/InNomine'', has Words, which both Archangels and Archdevils have, and which give power at the cost of needing to act in accordance with it. Angels' Words tend to be limited by BeingGoodSucks, while demons are sometimes given Words meant specifically to screw them over, like Taking Credit for Others' Work, and Stale Bong Water.

** Paladins are sometimes depicted as being such [[SlaveToPR Slaves To PR]] as to have little free will. Thus, they must do the most obvious "LawfulGood" action to any situation, even if the end result will obviously be bad, or else lose their powers or [[ThePunishment worse.]] Many have called this interpretation "[[LawfulStupidChaoticStupid Lawful Stupid]]". An important bit of GameplayAndStorySegregation; often it's not the paladin BlessedWithSuck but the player. The player wants the paladin's powers but not the responsibilities. A paladin, in universe, would usually consider it their privilege and duty to uphold a paladin's code, and someone who wanted to break the code usually wouldn't have been chosen by the gods to become a paladin in the first place. (Read as: they're not LawfulStupid, they're StupidGood.)

** Firstly, due to problems in the cloning vats everyone in Alpha Complex is a mutant, with powers ranging from super-strength and the like, to the truly sucky like having a perpetually runny nose. However, because the crazed computer that runs the complex refuses to accept that its methods cause mutations, being a mutant means you're assumed to be a spy and are subject to immediate termination from the computer or (more likely) your teammates (who, as mentioned are also mutants), if ever someone notices that you are using your power. And anytime you try to ''use'' your mutation, something always happens. Whether that something is what you were hoping to happen is another question entirely. You ''can'' register your mutation (Friend Computer is merciful to those whose genetic templates were damaged by Commie Mutant Traitor sabotage), preventing you from getting shot if your power is noticed, but then you're subject to every "treatment" R&D thinks might apply, with the side effects thereof. Machine Empathy is a particularly suck to be blessed with, as the computer immediately notices it, and execution - along with ''permanent erasure of your genetic template'' - is immediate.

* ''Tome of Artifacts'' features a lot of really cool artifacts with potentially nasty downsides (being a ClingyMacGuffin, having a mind of its own, or being so completely evil that only a CardCarryingVillain would bother). One of the more interesting is the Lucky Coin, which has, among other powers, the ability that betting it in a game of chance will always result in you winning, and usually in the most impressive way possible. This sounds useful - but that's the thing; you ''always'' win in a ridiculous manner if you bet that coin. After your third royal flush that game, the person gambling with you will almost definitely figure out that you're cheating somehow.

* ''TabletopGame/UnknownArmies'': Becoming almost any kind of magician requires developing obsessions and taboos that make it near-impossible to have anything resembling a normal life. How serious this gets depends on what specific path you follow. For example, Plutomancers gain magic by acquiring cold, hard cash - then have to live like paupers because spending it nukes their powers. Personamancers master identity and masks by destroying their own sense of self. Dipsomancers find power in booze and cirrhosis - and have no power unless they're drunk. Pornomancers enslave their sexuality to a porn star who seemed to ascend to a higher plane. These are some of the saner Adepts.

* ''Literature/WearingTheCape'': In ''[[https://www.wearingthecape.com/rpg RPG]]'s [[https://www.drivethrurpg.com/product/254472/Wearing-the-Cape-Barlows-Guide-to-Superhumans Barlow's Guide to Superhumans Sourcebook]], Iri Pegason, an ultra class telekinetic with a hallucinogenic drug induced breakthrough guided by childhood fantasy, is forever frozen at the age of sixteen, the age that he was when he experienced his breakthrough, and has been a homeless perpetual teenage stoner for ten years or so. Iri is ageless and biologically immortal (will not die from any natural cause) but is not fully immortal - he is not nigh invulnerable and can die from violent or un-natural causes. That's the blessing along with being a powerful and skilled telekinetic (including telekinetic flight). The suck is that he constantly in a state of the post-hyperspace ideation phase of a DMT trip. He can cloud it and gain some mental function by smoking marijuana, but that is only a partially mitigation. This means that while being an amazingly powerful telekinetic with eternal youth, his mind is constantly addled by the effects of marijuana or hallucinogenic drugs (DMT). Also, while sexually functional and 'adult enough' to function as an adult with effort, is noticeably shy of being a full grown adult and will never fully grow up (partial case of '{{Not Growing Up Sucks}}' - fuzzy zone age-wise, character doesn't think it sucks, readers might in same situation)