Hindrance: Phobia

Value:
4

Description:
This is a hindrance for ponies who are terrified of something specific. If they’re terrified of everything, see the cowardly hindrance, located previously in this section. Note that these two hindrances don’t preclude one another, though, so you can have a coward who is particularly afraid of certain things. For this hindrance to work, characters must be afraid of something that isn’t omnipresent in the galaxy, but isn’t so rare that they never encounter it. A fear of heights for an earth pony (or certain ground-raised pegasi) would be a reasonable phobia. For station-dwellers, agoraphobia is likewise logical. For planet settlers, claustrophobia is quite common. If your pony almost drowned at some point, fear of deep water might make sense as well. As long as there is some explanation for how your character came to be afraid of something, there is very little that doesn’t work. Ponies with a phobia of something take a -2 penalty on all rolls attempted while their phobia is active, i.e. when they’re being afraid.