ToME: the Tales of Maj'Eyal

. . . as an automatic skill selection upon startup. Only because the game will not allow that point to be redistributed elsewhere. Unless, did I miss somewhere, what a discussion held to decide that this generic skill was to be mandatory on all cursed?

The downside of the skill is meant to be a property(both in gameplay and theme) of the classes, and, I think, largely a negative skill overall.

You can argue if it's a reasonable thing or not, but the classes(well, Doomed at least, Cursed might be okay with a straight up buff) would require being rebalanced if it was removed. Solipism on Solipist is the same way.

They are called the "Afflicted" metaclass.

Mandatory on all Cursed, then. Well, that makes sense as a way to do it - that's just not immediately obvious from an ignorant gamer's viewpoint like mine.