Another fun idea I'd like to play, though it'd need heavy amounts of houserules, is a
Solipsism Syndrome Cleric. A character who worships himself, not out of vanity, but due to mental illness. Except, it's a fantasy game where gods really do exist and impact the world, and in philosophical terms I see no reason why one viewpoint is any more unrealistic than the other. Plus, it'd not work too well the second a real god invalidated his whole belief system or he died and the world went on and he went to some sort of afterlife. Hence the need for houserules:
- Because he is the "only truly real thing in the world" (he believes it to be so, and thus it is so!), he cannot be killed. If "killed," he's instead reduced to a catatonic state similar to the Microcosm power, finally losing all mental capabilities to the point that all he can do is lay there and blankly stare. (Unlike microcosm he would not die from lack of care, obviously. Not dying is powerful, but needing level 9 powers/spells to recover is the trade-off).
- Any Fort save vs. death, such as from massive damage, should be a will save to "disbelieve."
And so forth. Interaction with the world is still important, of course. he can very well say right to the face of Zeus, "you're just a construct of my subconsious." and, in fairness, Zeus could then strike him with lightning, sending him into "death" -- catanonic shock over how his own world has reacted to him. I've considered numerous ways to play such a character's personality and outlook:
- A shadowcraft mage illusionist, with the whole
"can't tell reality apart from illusion" angle suggested in the PrC's fluff text.
- A Book of Exalted Deeds pacifist character, that feels that since everything is a construct of his own envisioning, he can't bring himself to destroy ANY of it.
- A purely destructive personality, where he figures nothnig else is real, so let it all burn, who cares? Alternatively and less evil,
"it's all like a dream" and thus nothing that happens matters one way or the other.
- Have maxed ranks in Profession (Philosopher) and portray him as a sort of Descartes, who's reached the stage of "I think, therefore I exist." Except, unlike the real Descartes, he doesn't mess it all up with bs after that, and simply realizes he can't prove anything else is real beyond himself. And then engages the other PCs in philosophical debates, proving to them why none of them are real, likely to their annoyance
Or some combination of those.
