Does My Brother Have "Right to Marry"?

[Citizen Keen]

So, my brother married his best friend this week. (I'm using the other form of the verb to marry, in that he didn't get married, he just officiated the wedding.) My brother didn't go to seminary or anything, nor is he a justice of the peace. He just went to one of those online churches, filled out a form, and printed off his right to marry.

 

It took him ten minutes, and that's because my parents have a slow internet connection.

 

While in a historical campaign, or a fantasy one closely based on some history, the Right to Marry may be a real perk, in modern and future ones it seems relatively useless. In theory, "Notary Public" should be worth a point as well.

 

Now, before I get the fast-forum response "In your campaign, do what you want", which is valid, and which I do, I'd just like to say that I bring this up because I'm curious if "Right to Marry" is an important enough perk to reference in the HERO main rules.

 

Is it?

[Bengal]

Re: Does My Brother Have "Right to Marry"?

 

Sure it is, but only for the reason you mention: it's important in a historical campaign.

[ghost-angel]

Re: Does My Brother Have "Right to Marry"?

 

It is in the sense that only recently has it occured that Right To Marry has not been needed by anyone.

 

In the state of Colorado in order to marry the two parties must meet the following requirements: Be of the age of Consent. No witnesses, no religious official, no court judge or anything. Two people go in, get the paper, sign it, turn it back in to the state for tax declaration purposes. No "Right To Marry" status need exist anywhere in the proccess.

 

But that has only been very recent. So, since many many campaigns are historically based, or set in different campaign worlds where that above may not be true, then it should be a Perk in the base rule systems.

[Michael Hopcroft]

Re: Does My Brother Have "Right to Marry"?

 

It depends on what you mean by the term "to marry". In soceties where a ceremony is not required to have a legally binding marriage, the perk is useless and should not really be worth points.

 

On the other hand, if all marriages require the direct sanction of a religious or governmental authority, and that sanction requires a public ceremony, then yes the perk is worth the points. This is especially true if the person holding the perk has the right to deny permission for a marriage (in other words, it is definoitely worth the points if the person has the power to tell a couple "you cannot be legally married, and I am not going to perform the ceremony").

 

So, to answer the original question, the person in the exmaple would not have the perk "Right to Marry". The marriage ceremony he performed had no bearing on whether, in the eyes of the law, the couple was actually married. If, based on the nature of the society, the character's approval did have an effect on whether the couple was legally married, then yes he would be entitled to the perk.

[Sociotard]

Re: Does My Brother Have "Right to Marry"?

 

Here's how I look at deciding what perks cost points.

 

Could this be used to create situations that would re-emphasize a players importance in a party.

 

Now, all I need to do is look at my campaign and try to think of way's that could be useful to a character. A good GM, if his player takes this perk, will try to make such situations crop up every now and then. Not too often, since its only one point, and you can only have weddings every so often. I've used it in the past after the player had some experience under his belt. He'd walk into town and, because I give reputation for really notable acts, would be told the town magistrate would be honored to have such a great hero officiate at the wedding. The player thought that was cool.

 

Another point is that, very often, I just say that 'right to marry' automatically established by having certain other perks, such as "ship captain" in Star hero.

[pinecone]

Re: Does My Brother Have "Right to Marry"?

 

My take is that "Right to marry" is a social perq. even in the middle ages there were "common law marrages" ie: I and my squeeze say we're married, and we are. Someone with this perq. might carry a little social buzz from it , but not much(likewise for the couple,many people in Eurpoe have a legal civil wedding and a social religious one the same day)...I guessing that's why its cheap.....in some cultures having this right may constitute a livelyhood so it might be worth more if thats the case...I'd just include it as part of a more expensive perq. like "Priest" or "Monk"in that cae though.....

[Chris Goodwin]

Re: Does My Brother Have "Right to Marry"?

 

So' date=' my brother married his best friend this week. (I'm using the other form of the verb [i']to marry[/i], in that he didn't get married, he just officiated the wedding.) My brother didn't go to seminary or anything, nor is he a justice of the peace. He just went to one of those online churches, filled out a form, and printed off his right to marry.

 

It would behoove your brother to check the laws of his state to make sure that he does in fact have the power to legally perform marriages. Some states don't allow the ULC (I'm assuming it was them) to do so. Cases like that are a clear indication of the need to pay points.

 

And note that it is a state by state basis.

[Citizen Keen]

Re: Does My Brother Have "Right to Marry"?

 

(Thanks, archer. Yeah, my brother's friend checked it all out before the wedding. It's all good.)

[Rapier]

Re: Does My Brother Have "Right to Marry"?

 

Well, I've never even considered, nor have I seen a character with RtM.

 

In my mind it is part of a larger Perk. If you are a priest, you get Perk: Priest that allows you to marry, hear confessions etc. If you are a justice of the peace, you get the right to marry along with all the law stuff.

 

I don't tend to granularise the Perk to that level. Perk: MD is enough. You don't need Perk: Able to Write Perscriptions, Perk: Associated with Community General Hospital, Perk: Access/Ability to Review Medical Records.

 

If a character DID want RtM, I would have no real problem with it, on it's own. But in everything but I fantasy game, I would be hard pressed to ever really use it. I can see one opportunity where someone like Captain America would officiate a wedding between two other heroes...but how often can that happen before it becomes cheesy?

[CraterMaker]

Re: Does My Brother Have "Right to Marry"?

 

Just as an interesting aside, in Alaska, anybody has the right to marry one couple in their life.. Still have to go in and file a form, but that's how I was married.

 

From what I've been told (and it might be untrue), during the Gold Rush days of Alaska, a Justice of the Peace was pretty hard to come by at times..

 

But you can only do it once, so make it count...

 

-CraterMaker

[Lupus]

Re: Does My Brother Have "Right to Marry"?

 

I've always been a little O_o at some of the perks, certainly.

 

I have to pay a character point to have a Passport? O_O

[Sean Waters]

Re: Does My Brother Have "Right to Marry"?

 

I've always been a little O_o at some of the perks, certainly.

 

I have to pay a character point to have a Passport? O_O

 

The game is American...passports just aren't that common.

 

I'd answer the original question this way: if you get something out of it then it is a perk and if you don't then it isn't.

 

By 'get something out of it' I mean that you get to be able to do something useful in game that is of advantage to you or that gets you a bonus on rolls. Being able to marry people is a laugh, but so is going to the Comedy Store, and you probably aren't paying points for your membership card for that.

 

If it just earns you money it is wealth, so it has to be more than that.

 

If it is just an interesting conversation piece, I'd buy it as a 3 point level with conversation, persuasion and seduction.

 

I don't think that your brother needs spend his points.

 

RtM is probably only going to be important in a world where you can't download perks from the internet: if everyone has easy access then no one is going to be impressed

[Sean Waters]

Re: Does My Brother Have "Right to Marry"?

 

Just as an interesting aside, in Alaska, anybody has the right to marry one couple in their life.. Still have to go in and file a form, but that's how I was married.

 

From what I've been told (and it might be untrue), during the Gold Rush days of Alaska, a Justice of the Peace was pretty hard to come by at times..

 

But you can only do it once, so make it count...

 

-CraterMaker

 

Do you have to tell them?

[Vanguard00]

Re: Does My Brother Have "Right to Marry"?

 

It might vary from state to state (within the US) and definitely from country to country, but I'm under the impression that (in legal terms) marriage is about the certificate, not about the ceremony. You can have anyone officiate a ceremony at any time. They don't have to be ordained by anyone, and you don't have to have a certificate. Of course, these marriages aren't recognized by any religious or government agency, so there ya go.

 

To me, the "Right to Marry" perk carries with it the stipulation that the person is a member of some recognized authority which is necessary for the overall social acceptance of such ceremonies. In short, you're either an ordained minister of a recognized religion, Justice of the Peace, Ship's Captain, etc.

 

EDIT: And for the record, I'm an ordained minister of the ULC, too, with 8 weddings under my belt. It's a cool thing to have a certificate that reads "Title: The Right Honorable Reverend Big Dave"

[PhilFleischmann]

Re: Does My Brother Have "Right to Marry"?

 

What does "O_o" mean?

 

Whether Right to Marry (or anything else) should cost one (or more) character points has nothing to do with how common it is or whether there is some legal or social significance to it. The only thing that matters is: how much in game benefit does it give you? IMO and IME, Right to Marry gives no benefit whatsoever and therefore is not worth any points. I've always considered that a silly inclusion in the Perks list.

 

If a marriage happens in the course of a campaign it is either (1) a plot point that happens once, regardless of individual PC's Perks (Amazing Man finally ties the knot with Spectacular Woman), or (2) not particularly significant to the PC's, just background (superfight crashing through the wall of a hotel where a wedding reception is going on). In either case, it's not worth any points.

 

And I'd say a passport isn't worth any points either, but for a different reason: any normal person in a modern setting can have one. Nor would I charge points for a credit card. "Oooh! I can buy things without cash!" "That sounds like a Perk! You have to pay points for it!"

[Blue]

Re: Does My Brother Have "Right to Marry"?

 

I probably would just roll it into something else. Like PS: Priest and PS: Captain would automatically have the right to marry. I'd allow a Justice of the Peace to marry as well, though I don't know if I'd made that a PS or a Perk.