Post/Author/DateTime	Post
ErodirTheSwift 04-28-08, 08:57 PM	I want to play a character with multiple personalties and don't know how to do it does anyone have any ideas how I could do this... One idea I had was that I could play him with different character classes and he could level each of them up at a different rate but they may get to be to much work... if anyone has any ideas please let me know.
Xart 04-28-08, 09:10 PM	Make him have a personality for each problem he occurs. Such as if he needs to be diplomatic to get people to join him or such make that side. If he needs to be ruthless make him go to an evil personality You may even be able to make one a girl!
Drenack 04-28-08, 09:12 PM	I did this once and the way we did it was to have a d% before each battle to determine which personality became in control and will saves to force a different personality in its place I forget what the DC was. It was fun but frustrating when I got the wrong personality for what was happening. The GM also made me do this at random during non-combat situations. *edit: also one of the personalities was a psychopathic killer (GM's idea) he was 1-45 on the d% and that got annoying in diplomatic situations.
sonofzeal 04-28-08, 09:33 PM	One of the better systems I've seen for prediction the nature of Multiple Personalities in people who legitimately have them states that the most "natural" splitting for most people usually involves six Aspects, organized into three pairs (with more profound splittings having some or all of the six subdivide further). The pairs are usually opposite of eachother, and often the opposite gender. A male "righteous wrath" Aspect might be balanced by a female "nurturing" Aspect, male "quiet wisdom" might be balanced by female "childish exhuberance", and male "nerd" might be balanced by female "socialite". Action is then decided either by consensus between the Aspects (who should usually be treated as distinct individuals aware of eachother and able to communicate freely), or by a single Aspect who has been triggered strongly enough to take sole control for a limited period of time. For example, the six aspects described above would usually collaborate most of the time and balance out to form a relatively cohesive whole, acting as a normal unified person. However, a bouncing rubber ball or a pile of skittles would be a trigger for the "childish exhuberance" aspect, who would then gain dominance relative to the other five. Given enough strong triggers, that Aspect would take total control and a perceptive observer might notice a distinct change in manerisms and behaviour. Each Aspect (as well as the base person) has its own name, and that name is usually also a trigger for it... meaning if one is in control, saying another's name will tend to loosen that control slightly and may provoke negative behavior if the one that is in control doesn't like that. But, all have access to the same skills and abilities (although one or more may contain memories the others have no access to). So yeah, hope that helps!
Fireclave 04-28-08, 09:33 PM	Mechanically, the Chameleon (http://www.wizards.com/default.asp?x=dnd/iw/20041210b&page=1) prc seems like a perfect fit for you.
nighttree 04-28-08, 09:40 PM	I have played around with the same idea. Six different personalities (and classes). Roll random for the personality each morning, and re-roll whenever a personality is in an extremly stressfull situation. I started the build with a Factotem, then into Chameleon......:D
VulcanStormwrath 04-28-08, 09:53 PM	One idea is to pick two classes with similar strengths but a different focus and opposing execution. An example of this would be Paladin/Hexblade. You still fulfill the same role and benefit from the same stats, (making it easier on the party) but for very different reasons and go about things in very different ways. Your trigger could be stress (the % before combat), mental agitation (anytime you're forced to make a Will save), daily switch (waking up next to the wrong person can be awkward), or trauma (taking a certain amount of damage). Ask yourself this....Does each personality know about the other? Do they want to be rid of each other? Does the rest of the party know at first? Does he hide this fact or make it public knowledge? How do their styles clash? (Diplomacy vs Intimidate)? How do they compliment each other (Divine Grace/Arcane Resistance)? What makes each character tick? And most of all, what sort of Psychological trauma/ Magical Curse/Accident caused this state? Remember this needs to be something that a Cure or Restoration spell won't fix. Good luck and happy Roleplaying.;)
Contrast 04-28-08, 10:00 PM	I'm aware that this book is nigh-impossible to find, but the Ultimate Alien Anthology has official D20 rules for multiple personalities listed under ther ratial traits for the Thakwaash species.
ArochanoX 04-29-08, 03:38 PM	I personally find it quite stressful if all the individual personalities had their own classes, feats and skills. It makes one character much better than the others as one can "choose" between the multiple personalities. So. I think that the best option is to divide skill points over several skills (even cross-class skills, or use factotum) and make a list of skills of what different personalities like to use. For example a personality "artisan" likes to use appraise and decipher script manically on everything (thus few ranks to those), but another personality "brute" likes to intimidate and jump (and few ranks to those too). But unlike other "normal characters" artisan wouldn't intimidate or jump unless really enforced to, and brute wouldn't use appraise or decipher script. So. Skills are fairly easy to match different personalities. Feats and even classes are much much harder as they're more limited. It often isn't an option to take few levels of wizard and few levels of barbarian to match artisan and brute personalities. So the best option actually is to concentrate on a class that offers much to every one. For example factotum. Where brute would use all his inspiration points to power his melee attacks, artisan would use the inspiration for skill checks and spells. Some psionic abilities work quite well too as does incarnum. Binder is also very cool. Feats are tough. Either use very general feats or choose feats so that both (or every) personalities gain benefit from them. Or take feats in order for every personality. Ultimately easiest way to play multiple personalities is to choose a very general class and roleplay the rest. Even though a child's personality might pop out, a character with ranks in intimidate could use intimidate even if he was thinking as a child. It's like "I don't know how I can do this so well, but I just can. It's like I've done this in another life."
ErodirTheSwift 04-29-08, 06:53 PM	okay I am going to use sonofzeal's idea to use 6 personalities all that is left is picking which personalty goes with which. SO far I have two the brute and the child. I was thinking of using a rogue for the base class do to how verstile he can be, On top of that I was thinking of using one of 4 races Human, Wood elf, Dwarf, or an Aasimar. On the wood elf or dwarf I thought about having one of his personailties to be a brutish orc or goblin named... Fluffy. this is because of the hatred the races have for each other. I thought of his childish personality to be that of a little 5 year old girl named Rachel. as for the rest I still need your help.
VulcanStormwrath 04-29-08, 09:05 PM	okay I am going to use sonofzeal's idea to use 6 personalities all that is left is picking which personalty goes with which. SO far I have two the brute and the child. I was thinking of using a rogue for the base class do to how verstile he can be, On top of that I was thinking of using one of 4 races Human, Wood elf, Dwarf, or an Aasimar. On the wood elf or dwarf I thought about having one of his personailties to be a brutish orc or goblin named... Fluffy. this is because of the hatred the races have for each other. I thought of his childish personality to be that of a little 5 year old girl named Rachel. as for the rest I still need your help. One should be courageous to the point of recklessness, often getting into situations which others would never ever consider, making it all the more interesting when the switch happens in the thick of it. Another could be a cold-blooded assasin, the repository for his darkness and hatred, perhaps motivated to kill because he only sees the worst in people and it disgusts him.
sonofzeal 04-29-08, 09:15 PM	okay I am going to use sonofzeal's idea to use 6 personalities all that is left is picking which personalty goes with which. Thanks! And as popular as the idea of having a different class for each is, that really isn't how things work in real life - as I said, each personality has access to the same set of abilities, they just apply them differently. Hmmm.... Rogue works, although Factotum might be better for this - more sheer versility, and spending Inspiration in different ways will help make different Aspects more effective within their chosen idiom. I'm going to assume Factotum for this, but most would carry over for Rogue with UMD too. I like the Brute, althought I think calling him "Fluffy" will be distracting and get old really fast, and I'm assuming you want to use this character for more than one session. Anyway, do you see the Brute and the Child as an opposed pair? If not, let's start there. "The Brute" epitomizes anger and savagery, and probably stupidity as well. The most natural counterpart to me seems to be "The Fop" (http://www.blakeneymanor.com/images/carryon/fop.jpg), whose worst weapon is his dry, condiscending sarcasm. In combat The Fop would play like a low-level wizard, focussing on his limited arcane abilities and otherwise trying to avoid getting messed up. Out of combat, The Fop would focus on diplomacy, complain endlessly if the situation demands getting dirty, and act like he's the party leader whenever you're meeting nobility, to the point of disparaging and distancing himself from the less "civilized" party members. "The Child" is a bit fuzzier, but might epitomize innocence, exhuberance, and openness. A potential counterpoint there would be "The Vet" (http://images.art.com/images/-/Sean-Connery---First-Knight--C10101642.jpeg) - old, grizzled, steadfast, determined, jaded. The Vet would fight much more tactically than The Brute, only engaging when victory is sure, and focusing more on defence and battlefield control. Out of combat he'd be quiet and contemplative. As for two more.... mmm... well, there should be one to contain whatever trauma initially caused the split. I'd call this one "The Broken", and have it be equally useless inside and outside of combat, only capable of hiding and whimpering for the most part, although a very gentle character might be able to coax something out of it. Its counterpoint can be almost anything, but if you go with the Factotum I'd have it be "The Healer" (http://www.cenjaotl.org.uk/images/Healer-prepares-a-limpia-2.jpg), who focuses on support and curative magics in combat (but usually tries to stop the fighting if at all possible), and empathy and calmness out of combat.
MuffintheTankytank 04-29-08, 09:33 PM	Have you tried playing happy gleeful characters that at random points turn into violent I'ma kill you characters for no reason? Or there's progressive insanity where the character does weirder and weirder things, just give him a different voice everytime you do something drastically different. Insane characters can be the most fun to play^^
ErodirTheSwift 04-29-08, 10:49 PM	Hmmm.... Rogue works, although Factotum might be better for this - more sheer versility, and spending Inspiration in different ways will help make different Aspects more effective within their chosen idiom. I'm going to assume Factotum for this, but most would carry over for Rogue with UMD too. I like the Brute, althought I think calling him "Fluffy" will be distracting and get old really fast, and I'm assuming you want to use this character for more than one session. Anyway, do you see the Brute and the Child as an opposed pair? If not, let's start there. I suppose the name Fluffy would get old quick and as I do plan on using him for more then one session it is best to revise the name fluffy. As for the Brute and the Child as opposing personalities I don't really see it working. I like your ideas on how it could work. Have you tried playing happy gleeful characters that at random points turn into violent I'ma kill you characters for no reason? Or there's progressive insanity where the character does weirder and weirder things, just give him a different voice everytime you do something drastically different. Insane characters can be the most fun to play^^ As for the whole Bi-polar thing I have played them and found it a little umm how should i put it flat. It was predictable when he would get angry even when being unpredictable. I have the race narrowed down to either elf or dwarf and still can't decide and as for the last 4 personalities I wish to hear more suggestions before I make my final pick.
Mad_Jack 04-30-08, 03:12 AM	As far as race, the dwarven culture is far too ordered and ritualized for this sort of mental disorder to go un-noticed for very long. And the dwarven mindset tends to reinforce traits such as perseverence and steadfastness, lessening the chance of a traumatic event having shattered the character. Although it's still possible, it seems more like a dwarf having experienced a sufficiently traumatic event would be more prone to PTSD, excessive rage, or depression... Since elves are long-lived, there's a much better chance of them developing some sort of mental disorder simply because there's so much that's occurred in their lives. Elven culture tends to take a long view of things, but if an elf didn't have a traditional elven upbringing, particularly if they were raised among the chaos of a human settlement, it may be enough to overwhelm them if they experience too many tragic moments. If the triggering event(s) occurred very early in life, the elf may not have been able to deal with it. Elves tend to mature more slowly than humans, mostly as a cultural thing but also mentally to a certain degree, so that a human of 21 years and an elf of the same age are more like a middle-aged man and a child in comparison. I'd go with the elf. From a role-playing point of view, the elf has a bit more potential, I think, especially if this condition is some sort of magical curse or something - if a dwarf was ever cured of this, or even if he was just made aware of this, there's a very good chance his cultural upbringing would most likely push him into some sort of "heroic" suicide in battle. Very dramatic, but not particularly going to last very long.
ErodirTheSwift 04-30-08, 12:26 PM	I was thinking when he was very young said something about his deity which not only angered the preists but also angered the god and as a punishment for these actions was given one body to share six minds with.
Prime32 04-30-08, 02:45 PM	The classes from Magic of Incarnum (particularly the incarnate) are well suited to this. Consider playing a changeling (MM3/Eberron CS), who also qualify for the chameleon class - the best option here.
ErodirTheSwift 05-01-08, 12:35 AM	I took time to concider all class possibilities talked to my DM and he is setteled on classes from the players handbook. which all and all is not a bad thing but really does make it kinda restricted in that sense. as for personailties I Have my childidh girl and my brutish one I am going to settle on dwarf with a slight back story of insulting one of the dwarven deities. I remain trapped with the same problem 4 personalities to go. any suggestions