How would the phenomenon of disassociation affect a char's development? [Archive] - Wizards Community

How would the phenomenon of disassociation affect a char's development? [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Mysterian
07-13-05, 10:36 PM Okay, for those of you who aren't familiar with this, disassociation is a mental disorder in which the mind fractures under the impact of severe trauma into a series (often several, depending on how badly the mind fractured) of parts, or 'altars', which, when triggered, completely alter the person's normal behavioral patterns, often in negative ways.

Now, my question is this: How would this phenomenon be translated in D&D lingo, and how would it specifically affect characters?
Berzerker_prime
07-14-05, 01:59 AM Well, I don't know of any rules on the books out there, but I did try playing a character sorta like this once.

I had four different personalities for the character and worked it out with the GM that he would, from time to time, tell me to roll a D4. Whatever number it landed on would determine which personality was dominant at the time. He would tell me to do that in times of great stress or when he thought one of the personalities might try to assert control.

Each personality had various different things they were good and bad at, too. In fact, I had separate character sheets for each personality so I could alter dice rolls accordingly.

That game, unfortunately, didn't got for very long so I didn't get a real good feel for how the system worked.

Hope that helps.

Berz.
DBoot
07-14-05, 02:15 AM Berzerker_prime's suggestion of alternate character sheets works fine. How alternate depends on your concept and your DM's leniency.

That being said, I had a character with dissociative personality disorder (a pacifist theif/merciless assassin). I gave him up eventually because I found it all to be a bit to gimicky. Your mileage may vary.
Need_A_Life
07-14-05, 06:43 AM Int, Wis and Cha should change with each personality

Single minded personalities

If your DM is nice you could use a sort of gestalt character so that one personality is a sage (bard/loremaster) and another is a savage (Barbarian/[perhaps dwarven defender, otherwise Barb14/Sorc1/Survivor5 (SS)]). In this case BAB and saves changes accordingly.

The concept is not hard... also realize that you might have different alignments for each part of your mind, making alignment restrictions very very dangerous (you're neutral so any good feats are tempoarily unavaliable).
Todd
07-14-05, 04:22 PM The reality is that DID is a very sad and horrible thing. I always get a little angry when I see folks treat is as “fun” ... but then again I’ve known someone like this in real life. I realize that many folks have not and don’t realize just how terrible it is.

Real DID isn’t like you ever see in the games. The “personalities” are really more like fragments than complete “persons”. Each one has some bit of the whole but is not complete itself. Some personalities are ... more complete than others. Some may exist only to do one small job like drive a car and have little thought or ability outside that. Some DID personalities may have been programmed by their abusers to destroy the “body” or do other self harmful acts.

Most DID folks have some sort of “gatekeeper” personality who is in charge of making sure that the right personality is out at the right time ... but things don’t always work smoothly. The “out” personality might not want to “go back in” or the needed personality might not want to go “out.”

If I wanted to portray this in game I would simply make a single normal character and then divvy up the skills and abilities. Only a multiclass character would have personalities with different classes. Known skills, classes, and mental attributes represent the "maxium" that one personality could know. Some might have the max in one or two things but no more than that. Most personalities would have less than the max in most things.
guarnasco
07-15-05, 11:54 AM Real DID isn’t like you ever see in the games. The “personalities” are really more like fragments than complete “persons”. Each one has some bit of the whole but is not complete itself. Some personalities are ... more complete than others. Some may exist only to do one small job like drive a car and have little thought or ability outside that. Some DID personalities may have been programmed by their abusers to destroy the “body” or do other self harmful acts.

.

I agree, a complete change of sheet is in order only to extreme skizophrenia, tha implies the creation of whole alternate personalities.

mental ilness is not fun at all, and gaining game advantages is inappropriate, but it could be taken as a set of flaws (3 to 5) enforced by the DM in change of extra feats...

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Mysterian 07-13-05, 10:36 PM	Okay, for those of you who aren't familiar with this, disassociation is a mental disorder in which the mind fractures under the impact of severe trauma into a series (often several, depending on how badly the mind fractured) of parts, or 'altars', which, when triggered, completely alter the person's normal behavioral patterns, often in negative ways. Now, my question is this: How would this phenomenon be translated in D&D lingo, and how would it specifically affect characters?
Berzerker_prime 07-14-05, 01:59 AM	Well, I don't know of any rules on the books out there, but I did try playing a character sorta like this once. I had four different personalities for the character and worked it out with the GM that he would, from time to time, tell me to roll a D4. Whatever number it landed on would determine which personality was dominant at the time. He would tell me to do that in times of great stress or when he thought one of the personalities might try to assert control. Each personality had various different things they were good and bad at, too. In fact, I had separate character sheets for each personality so I could alter dice rolls accordingly. That game, unfortunately, didn't got for very long so I didn't get a real good feel for how the system worked. Hope that helps. Berz.
DBoot 07-14-05, 02:15 AM	Berzerker_prime's suggestion of alternate character sheets works fine. How alternate depends on your concept and your DM's leniency. That being said, I had a character with dissociative personality disorder (a pacifist theif/merciless assassin). I gave him up eventually because I found it all to be a bit to gimicky. Your mileage may vary.
Need_A_Life 07-14-05, 06:43 AM	Int, Wis and Cha should change with each personality Single minded personalities If your DM is nice you could use a sort of gestalt character so that one personality is a sage (bard/loremaster) and another is a savage (Barbarian/[perhaps dwarven defender, otherwise Barb14/Sorc1/Survivor5 (SS)]). In this case BAB and saves changes accordingly. The concept is not hard... also realize that you might have different alignments for each part of your mind, making alignment restrictions very very dangerous (you're neutral so any good feats are tempoarily unavaliable).
Todd 07-14-05, 04:22 PM	The reality is that DID is a very sad and horrible thing. I always get a little angry when I see folks treat is as “fun” ... but then again I’ve known someone like this in real life. I realize that many folks have not and don’t realize just how terrible it is. Real DID isn’t like you ever see in the games. The “personalities” are really more like fragments than complete “persons”. Each one has some bit of the whole but is not complete itself. Some personalities are ... more complete than others. Some may exist only to do one small job like drive a car and have little thought or ability outside that. Some DID personalities may have been programmed by their abusers to destroy the “body” or do other self harmful acts. Most DID folks have some sort of “gatekeeper” personality who is in charge of making sure that the right personality is out at the right time ... but things don’t always work smoothly. The “out” personality might not want to “go back in” or the needed personality might not want to go “out.” If I wanted to portray this in game I would simply make a single normal character and then divvy up the skills and abilities. Only a multiclass character would have personalities with different classes. Known skills, classes, and mental attributes represent the "maxium" that one personality could know. Some might have the max in one or two things but no more than that. Most personalities would have less than the max in most things.
guarnasco 07-15-05, 11:54 AM	Real DID isn’t like you ever see in the games. The “personalities” are really more like fragments than complete “persons”. Each one has some bit of the whole but is not complete itself. Some personalities are ... more complete than others. Some may exist only to do one small job like drive a car and have little thought or ability outside that. Some DID personalities may have been programmed by their abusers to destroy the “body” or do other self harmful acts. . I agree, a complete change of sheet is in order only to extreme skizophrenia, tha implies the creation of whole alternate personalities. mental ilness is not fun at all, and gaining game advantages is inappropriate, but it could be taken as a set of flaws (3 to 5) enforced by the DM in change of extra feats...