designing a reincarnated being that goes insane

[fba827]

Just fishing for ideas to help flesh something out ...

Imagine a being (who looks human, blending in with society, raised in 'normal' societies/environments) that has been reincarnated over and over to live through multiple lifetimes. Typically, he does not remember his past lives though occasionally he gets moments of de ja vu or understanding how to do something that he didn't have knowledge of in this lifetime, as well as vivid dreams that he writes off as dreams but in fact are sporadic memories that he lived through before.

Now, pretend that being has gone crazy...

How would this twist him?

* Is he a sociopath or psychopath who has full access to all memories and talents he's learned?
* Is he somewhat set on suicidal type activities to test theories as to whether he'll actually ever die?
* Does he decide his life is a gift making him somewhat of a superior being and others should bow down to him if not out-right worship him?
* Does he enjoy killing people as a science experiment of sorts to see the different ways death affects other/normal people?
* Does he end up with some sort of multiple personalty disorder where he thinks he is some past life (and only has access to that particular past life) until various triggers happen that snap him in to different past life manifestations and personalities?

(yes, some of the above ideas do overlap)

Or, how else could this work - any other ideas I am not thinking of right now?

Thanks in advance

Edit: Or do any of these potential ideas seem so obvious and uninspired that i shouldn't even consider it? or general thoughts on the over all concept? etc.

Edit 2: I should clarify and say I want the insanity to some how reflect his reincarnated nature, either access to all past life knowledge at once or switching between personalities. And I want some form of mental madness as a result of what happens to him. Just a matter of trying to figure how this madness will manifest with his recently opened flood gate of past life memories.

 

[Gilladian]

Just because he's gone insane, why does that mean he's gotten access to memories of his past?

Perhaps he's just truly gone schizophrenic, or manic depressive, and still has no idea about his past.

He lives like an ordinary street person, struggling to survive; but he has these momentary flashes of some sort of clarity, when his memory comes up. Unfortunately, each time it is some different past life memory, which confuses and frightens him even more.

Most insane people, especially those who are "far gone", aren't very likely to be demanding worship or plotting cruel actions. They're hiding, fleeing, trying to escape their own personal hell.

If you DO want them to have the ability to "tap" their past, you need something more than "they're insane" to justify it. They may be insane or at least mentally damaged BECAUSE of what is allowing them to tap the memories (nasty magical ritual went awry?) or merely because of the weight of all the memories (I think that would be enough), but then you can't say they're totally unaware of what they are. I think.

 

[GandalfMithrandir]

I would look at Berem from the Dragonlance chronicles, he was cursed and was forced to never die but still feel pain etc. but just regenerate back to health, he gradually took to avoiding society and trying to blend in and not get killed, he would run away from high level clerics and generally avoided society, but that was because he remembered all the times that people got freaked out because he didn't die, just a thought of potential usefulness or not.

 

[fba827]

Just because he's gone insane, why does that mean he's gotten access to memories of his past?

Perhaps he's just truly gone schizophrenic, or manic depressive, and still has no idea about his past.

He lives like an ordinary street person, struggling to survive; but he has these momentary flashes of some sort of clarity, when his memory comes up. Unfortunately, each time it is some different past life memory, which confuses and frightens him even more.

Most insane people, especially those who are "far gone", aren't very likely to be demanding worship or plotting cruel actions. They're hiding, fleeing, trying to escape their own personal hell.

If you DO want them to have the ability to "tap" their past, you need something more than "they're insane" to justify it. They may be insane or at least mentally damaged BECAUSE of what is allowing them to tap the memories (nasty magical ritual went awry?) or merely because of the weight of all the memories (I think that would be enough), but then you can't say they're totally unaware of what they are. I think.

Yeah, valid points; crazy does not automatically mean his past lives will manifest.

I just was trying to keep my post simple and not go in to gritty details. ::shakes angry fist for making me have to type more::

The short version of it is, something happens that taps in to his past life memories and that flood in turn is how he goes crazy.
(i.e. while crazy does not automatically mean his past lives will manifest, I want his insanity to reflect his past life incarnations in some way... just trying to figure out what way that is)

 

[Gilladian]

Well, then perhaps if the weight of the memories is part of what drives him insane, you need two things:

1. A clear idea of what he's like when he's not remembering.

2. A clear idea of what each set of memories he pulls up IS, and how it affects his madness.

3. What the event that released his memories is.

Each of these depends a LOT on your campaign setting, but it might be fun if he were not JUST the "bum on the corner" but instead maybe he's being "used" by someone who realizes his memories are important/true. He's being kept somewhere, in good or terrible conditions, and used like an oracle. Or he's given a home, but forced to endure constant tormenting questions about his memories.

Or he's "using" his memories himself. He stands on a street corner and orates; sometimes it is drivel, but when he has a flashback, he can sometimes launch into long, fascinating speeches on important historical topics. People who are interested have a habit of giving him money.

2. Time to whip out a timetable of your world's history, decide what famous events he was at, and what his role was. Then write a brief scene or two that shows the highlight or lowlight of that life. And maybe a few teasers, if the PCs are going to have to pry info out of him. For example, if he lived in the Emperor's Court during the Night of Terror, having him first remember and tell about a wonderful experience at the Coronation, which happened two years earlier (and which is historically identifiable), could whet the PCs appetite...

3. What released his memory? Hmmm... falling ill and having a high fever - maybe that plague the PCs found a cure for last year?

A blow to the head during an assault or accident. Maybe the PCs witnessed it early in the campaign and rescued this poor guy from his tormenters.

He could have been a well-known person (actor, politician, wizard, hero) who famously had a nervous breakdown after he was kidnapped and held to ransom (rescued by previous adventurers, perhaps).

Anyway, I hope these ideas give you something to work with. It sounds fun!

 

[Trihelios]

Over the course of his many lives, perhaps he has had many children and there are a whole legion of people who are related to him in one of his previous incarnations.

As he becomes aware of this, he could act as something of a patron to these people. Helping them out in their day to day lives, trying to keep them all safe, maybe matchmaking them to one another. He could also have revenge plans against the children of old enemies, taking vengeance for things done hundreds of years ago.

This alone would make someone rather 'crazy' who has some arbitrary standard of people who he tries to help and people he tries to stop, which no one who wasn't aware of his reincarnation would understand.

This could involve the PCs if one of the party is a distant relative to him, and another is a distant relative to one of their enemies. He keeps interfering to keep his great-great-great-grandchild away from this 'bad influence', but at the same time refuses to simply attack and kill the other PC because of his friendship to one of his relatives.

Or he could simply hold to a morality or allegiance that is strange in this present time. As an example from the real world, if he had been in America and fought for the confederates in the civil war and kept that allegiance through his many incarnations, his modern incarnation would be seen as quite crazy to hold allegiance to a side that vanished over a century ago.

 

[saethone]

something else you'll need to think about is who keeps reincarnating him? what is their purpose? they would likely manipulate him to meet the ends. or is it some kind of glitch in the universe? Like neo from the matrix, just an inevitable outcome of an imperfect system.

 

[saethone]

So, I'm totally stealing your idea. I was thinking about it, and it makes for an awesome BBEG. Have you ever heard of the game Arcanum? The boss apparently goes to the land of the dead, sees its a paradise, and decides to kill everybody in the world so that they don't have to suffer anymore (or at least thats what my friend tells me).

In my game, Devas are reincarnated beings sent from the good-aligned deities to restore the world in times of darkness. Well, a Deva is going to be reincarnated and suffer nightmares of his previous lives, and over time come to the same conclusion - that life itself breeds suffering, and seek to destroy all life in order to destroy all suffering. Of course, he's totally going to start as an ally to the PCs and transition to an enemy later as he comes to this realization.

 

[Snoweel]

Just fishing for ideas to help flesh something out ...

To be of any real use I'd have to know how you intend to use this character. I'm assuming he's an NPC?

What role do you want him to play in the campaign?

saethone here is thinking along more practical, utilitarian lines...

In my game, Devas are reincarnated beings sent from the good-aligned deities to restore the world in times of darkness. Well, a Deva is going to be reincarnated and suffer nightmares of his previous lives, and over time come to the same conclusion - that life itself breeds suffering, and seek to destroy all life in order to destroy all suffering. Of course, he's totally going to start as an ally to the PCs and transition to an enemy later as he comes to this realization.

Excellent.

 

[Inyssius]

It is said that the soul of a deva, when slain, may not reincarnate immediately. Instead, the deva's soul (or whatever devas have, exactly, the part of them that stays apart from the trappings of mortality) can drift to a sort of metaphorical dream-plane, an echo of the world as seen through the slightly-alien eyes of the deva's motive force. There, it can take a moment to organize its past lives (not like a person would take stock of his memories, mind you, this dream-gestalt isn't human enough for that), to communicate with other such deva-souls, and to plan. And though such plans are not remembered post-incarnation, the dream-self's eyes see the world rather differently, and their plots can have lasting influence on the strands of fate.



The movie Paycheck may be vaguely relevant. Or not. I don't know.