Mental Disorder [Archive] - Wizards Community

Mental Disorder [Archive] - Wizards Community

Post/Author/DateTime Post
Squall255
03-14-06, 01:22 PM I'm joining a game were my character has to have a mental disorder in order to join. I am thinking of playing a scent based shifter ranger who wields a two bladed sword. Please suggest mental disorders, and how they would affect my character stat wise.

Thanks for all your help
Need_A_Life
03-14-06, 03:06 PM Well, in the current campaign I'm in we have a crazy sorcerer (original, isn't it :rolleyes: ). Anyway he frequently:

Falls into paranoid delusions
Forgets to explain his reasonings ("That place isn't real, this is real" *points to his invisible mansion*)
Jumps to horribly wrong conclusion, with no regard for logic of any kind!
Elitist (well, now we're allowed to enter his Mordekainens Maginicent Mansion, but that just means a rude awakening when he dispels it :mad: )

I'll come with more later.
Shaggy_Shaggs
03-14-06, 03:14 PM I don't think mental disorders should make crunchy changes to characters, as a rule. But if you insist, here's one you might try.

Auditory hallucinations - you hear voices of people and things that aren't there talking to you all the time. The distraction makes it hard for you to hear real voices and other sounds, and separate them from the background noise in your head (-4 to Listen checks, -4 to Sense Motive checks), but also tends to drown out or garble incoming commands at the mental level (+2 to saving throws against all mind-affecting effects).

At the roleplay level, you'll answer questions no one asked, occasionally carry on half a conversation, probably get messages and orders wrong a lot, and may be drawn to noisy areas like battlefields in a futile attempt to drown out the voices inside your own head. You might sometimes ignore people talking to you that you aren't looking at and seeing them speak, assuming that they're just the voices and not actually there. You might get embarassed when you get caught talking to someone that isn't there.

I happen to play a character with this mental disorder, among others. He talks to his party's horses a lot (and is trying to convert them to his religion), gets into arguments with swarms and plants, and every time something goes right for him he's convinced his "spirits" (that only he can see and hear, of course) are helping him, and gives them due credit and thanks.
WhrenKehrsyn
03-14-06, 03:23 PM I agree, I dont think it should have crunchy effects. A split personality would be interesting.

I knew a guy who played a changling in an Eberron game, his schtick was every time he killed someone he took thier form (this was the only shape changing he did, and he had to deliver the killing blow for it to happen) but the experience was always so traumatic for him that he would lose himself and instead take on a personality that was his sub conscious belief of what they were like. Essentially he would become them. The player had a character sheet for every core class in the game and would work with the DM on skill and feat selections he would have while in that particular form.

It was very interesting if somewhat difficult for the group, but as a rule most of the people I know and play with discuss thier characters with the group before the game begins, so they knew what they were getting into.

You could do something similar I think. Maybe with just two personalities though, as that will be easier to deal with and difficult for your group.
MadMoly
03-14-06, 03:52 PM I was playing a CN Minotaur with INT of 13. For most of the campaign, his name was Garrick yet he was smart enough to know how most people looked on Minotaurs, so he went by "Hok-Tev." As one of the other players quoted "one cannot wear one mask in public and one in private without both becoming one", Hok-Tev actually became a person. During one travel, Garrick suddenly was treating weaker NPCs harsher and murdered without need. (Commoner deathtoll rose significantly) At that time, he insisted he was Hok-Tev even to the close friends that knew him as Garrick. Later, he approached his friend asking how they had arrived where they were. He didn't remember anything up to shortly before the mass murders. DM decided that Hok-Tev as CE, yet Garrick remained CN. It was an issue when a half-fiend attempted to stop me with an Unholy Word. A ninja had sneak-attacked Garrick earlier, and the anger and rage from being hit like that let Hok-Tev take over. He died shortly after, so I can't tell anymore.
MadMoly
Squall255
03-14-06, 08:56 PM Thanks. I'm going to go with the voices. They seem to be unique and useable. Plus the tracker who hears voices will mesh preety well with the ADD Monk.

Post/Author/DateTime	Post
Squall255 03-14-06, 01:22 PM	I'm joining a game were my character has to have a mental disorder in order to join. I am thinking of playing a scent based shifter ranger who wields a two bladed sword. Please suggest mental disorders, and how they would affect my character stat wise. Thanks for all your help
Need_A_Life 03-14-06, 03:06 PM	Well, in the current campaign I'm in we have a crazy sorcerer (original, isn't it :rolleyes: ). Anyway he frequently: Falls into paranoid delusions Forgets to explain his reasonings ("That place isn't real, this is real" points to his invisible mansion) Jumps to horribly wrong conclusion, with no regard for logic of any kind! Elitist (well, now we're allowed to enter his Mordekainens Maginicent Mansion, but that just means a rude awakening when he dispels it :mad: ) I'll come with more later.
Shaggy_Shaggs 03-14-06, 03:14 PM	I don't think mental disorders should make crunchy changes to characters, as a rule. But if you insist, here's one you might try. Auditory hallucinations - you hear voices of people and things that aren't there talking to you all the time. The distraction makes it hard for you to hear real voices and other sounds, and separate them from the background noise in your head (-4 to Listen checks, -4 to Sense Motive checks), but also tends to drown out or garble incoming commands at the mental level (+2 to saving throws against all mind-affecting effects). At the roleplay level, you'll answer questions no one asked, occasionally carry on half a conversation, probably get messages and orders wrong a lot, and may be drawn to noisy areas like battlefields in a futile attempt to drown out the voices inside your own head. You might sometimes ignore people talking to you that you aren't looking at and seeing them speak, assuming that they're just the voices and not actually there. You might get embarassed when you get caught talking to someone that isn't there. I happen to play a character with this mental disorder, among others. He talks to his party's horses a lot (and is trying to convert them to his religion), gets into arguments with swarms and plants, and every time something goes right for him he's convinced his "spirits" (that only he can see and hear, of course) are helping him, and gives them due credit and thanks.
WhrenKehrsyn 03-14-06, 03:23 PM	I agree, I dont think it should have crunchy effects. A split personality would be interesting. I knew a guy who played a changling in an Eberron game, his schtick was every time he killed someone he took thier form (this was the only shape changing he did, and he had to deliver the killing blow for it to happen) but the experience was always so traumatic for him that he would lose himself and instead take on a personality that was his sub conscious belief of what they were like. Essentially he would become them. The player had a character sheet for every core class in the game and would work with the DM on skill and feat selections he would have while in that particular form. It was very interesting if somewhat difficult for the group, but as a rule most of the people I know and play with discuss thier characters with the group before the game begins, so they knew what they were getting into. You could do something similar I think. Maybe with just two personalities though, as that will be easier to deal with and difficult for your group.
MadMoly 03-14-06, 03:52 PM	I was playing a CN Minotaur with INT of 13. For most of the campaign, his name was Garrick yet he was smart enough to know how most people looked on Minotaurs, so he went by "Hok-Tev." As one of the other players quoted "one cannot wear one mask in public and one in private without both becoming one", Hok-Tev actually became a person. During one travel, Garrick suddenly was treating weaker NPCs harsher and murdered without need. (Commoner deathtoll rose significantly) At that time, he insisted he was Hok-Tev even to the close friends that knew him as Garrick. Later, he approached his friend asking how they had arrived where they were. He didn't remember anything up to shortly before the mass murders. DM decided that Hok-Tev as CE, yet Garrick remained CN. It was an issue when a half-fiend attempted to stop me with an Unholy Word. A ninja had sneak-attacked Garrick earlier, and the anger and rage from being hit like that let Hok-Tev take over. He died shortly after, so I can't tell anymore. MadMoly
Squall255 03-14-06, 08:56 PM	Thanks. I'm going to go with the voices. They seem to be unique and useable. Plus the tracker who hears voices will mesh preety well with the ADD Monk.