D&D 3E/3.5 Need help coming up with some 3.5 insanity rules.

[Oryan77]

I'm creating some rules for "insanity" which would be a condition that a PC might have for a short period of time. These are not meant to be severely bad or really good. It is mostly meant to entice roleplaying and give a little effect for representation.

Here are two examples:

Craven: You become a coward. When casting, you must cast defensively. When attacking, you must fight defensively.

Frantic: Your mental stress causes you to be fast paced throughout the day. Your speed increases by 5-ft.

Listed are the other conditions I have so far. I just need rules to go with each one and maybe an explanation of the condition if you want to write something.

Accident Prone:
Amnesia:
Animal Senses:
Barking:
Vortex Prone (loses things a lot):
Compulsive Liar:
Conspiracy Nut:
Contrariness (refusing to do things):
Dancing Mania:
Delusional (thinks he can do things that he can't):
Foreign Accent:
Forgetful:
Fussy (nothing is ever right):
Greedy:
Hallucinations:
Howling:
Hypochandriac (thinks he has a disease):
Jaded (has a chip on shoulder):
Kleptomania:
Laughs Too Much:
Melancholy (nothing matters):
Messiness:
Mistaken Identity (thinks he is a specific person that he knows or has heard of):
Multiple Personality:
Mute:
Narcolepsy (falls alseep at random):
Neatness:
Nerves:
No Sense of Direction:
Nudist:
Obsessive (has to make sure everything is done correctly):
Pacing:
Paranoia:
Permanent Cynicism (won't believe anything anybody says):
Possessed (thinks something is making him do things):
Pyromania (starts fires):
Quick Tempered:
Rabid Optimism (always thinks everything will work out for the best):
Rabid Pessimism (always thinks everything will work out for the worst):
Racist:
Scratching:
Seizures:
Sharpening (has to keep sharpening blades):
Shaving Mania:
Stunned:
Talker:
Visions (thinks he sees visions):
Xenophobia (doesn't like things he is not familiar with):

 

[HoboGod]

There's already a bunch of conditions to choose from, but more doesn't sound like a bad idea!

Accident Prone: 15% chance to fall prone when moving more than 5ft or if mounted, whenever mount is moving. Falls prone at end of move action.
Barking: -5 to all move silently and hide checks.
Contrariness: 10% chance to take no action during each round of combat.
Distracted: -3 to all Reflex Saves.
Hallucinations: as Confused
Howling: -5 to all move silently and hide checks.
Hypochandriac: -3 to all Will saves.
Timidness: 20% chance to take no action during the first round of combat.
Stunned: As Stunned

I'm not so good with the positive effects occurring from insanity disorders, sounds fairly foreign to me.

 

[Celebrim]

I rather like the 3.X Ravenloft rules for horror and madness. Granted, they don't quite produce as many different symptoms as yours do, but it is extensible (and I have done so slightly).

Some effects include:

Aversion
Frozen
Fearstruck
Nausea
Nightmares
Rage
Obsession
Revulsion
Fascination
Mental Shock
Haunted
System Shock
Blackout
Horrified
Denial
Unhinged
Delusions
Paranoia
Depression
Mania
Hallucinations
Lasting Horror
Amnesia
Schizophrenia
Multiple Personalities
Suicidal Thoughts
Megalomania
Monomania
Catatonia
Hebephrenia

I won't quote the rules in their entirety, but here is an example that I think is my own:

Hebephrenia: Hebephrenia is the classic insanity of fiction. The rational power of the mind collapses, so that character becomes unable to access normal emotions and speech. Instead, the character exhibits extremely inappropriate emotions – no emotion when it is expected, wildly out of control emotions in response to minor stimulus. The character bounces between trying to establish inappropriate intimacy to paranoid fear. Speech emerges as an apparently disconnected stream of ideas apparently only distantly connected to the present situation or any question asked of them. Often the character appears to be silly, to have an ‘antic disposition’, and to even be comical but the humorous antics can almost instantly become an alarming violent episode. Treat the character as if they suffer from mania. Additionally, the alignment of the character involuntarily shifts to chaotic neutral. As with mania, the hebephrenic may be led somewhat, but any failed attempt to humor or sway the hebephrenic immediately forces a Will save with the current DC of the madness check. Failure results in the hebephrenic experiencing an episode of Rage as per the moderate horror effect. Further, regardless of the level of interaction, anyone in the presence of the hebephrenic must conceal any unease or strong emotions (deliberately doing so requires a DC 10 bluff check). Failure to do so may cause the sufferer to become so uncomfortable as to provoke Rage in the same manner.

 

[Nebten]

There are already some Sanity rules out there, enjoy: Sanity :: d20srd.org

 

[Oryan77]

I'm not so good with the positive effects occurring from insanity disorders, sounds fairly foreign to me.

Thanks, that is the sort of thing I'm looking for. As for positive effects, I'm trying to keep this list 50% bonuses 50% penalties if I can manage it. Even a condition that sounds negative might still give a positive effect. For example, a bad condition that I created that gives a bonus would be:

Apathetic: You withdraw into yourself, occasionally losing contact with the world. All skill checks receive a +2 bonus for the day due to your narrow but focused attention to tasks at hand.

I rather like the 3.X Ravenloft rules for horror and madness.

Oh cool. I have the book but I rarely look at it. I'll have to check those out. I bet I can work them in. Thanks.

 

[Celebrim]

Accident Prone: The character may no longer take 10 when making dexterity or dexterity based skill checks, even when not under significant stress or risk. Whenever the character handles something fragile, they must make a DC 5 dexterity check or mishandle, bump, or drop the object or a similar nearby fragile object.

Amnesia: Covered in the Ravenloft rules.

Animal Senses: Not sure what this means.

Barking: Whenever the character is under stress (that is, they could not take 10 on a skill check they are attempting), they must make a DC 10 Will check to control the urge to bark loudly. This is treated as making a DC -7 Move Silently check for the purposes being heard by nearby listeners.

Compulsive Liar: Whenever the character makes a social skill check, the character must make a DC 10 Will check to control the urge to lie prolifigately. As a result of this affliction, the character recieves a +3 racial bonus on Bluff checks, but whenever forced by their affliction to lie, they will tell such an outrageous story that any opposed sense motive checks will have a 1d20 circumstance bonus.

Conspiracy Nut: The behavior is generally an annoying quirk and should be handled accordingly. For a really serious disability, treat as a special case of either Obsession, Paranoia or Megalomania per the Ravenloft rules.

Delusional (thinks he can do things that he can't): Covered by the Ravenloft rules.

Foreign Accent: The behavior is generally an annoying quirk and should be handled accordingly.

Fussy (nothing is ever right): The behavior is generally an annoying quirk and should be handled accordingly. In an extreme case, put a flat -4 penalty on all diplomacy checks.

Howling: As Barking.

Hypochandriac (thinks he has a disease): Treat as a special case of Delusions.

Jaded (has a chip on shoulder): Treat as a special case of Rage, per the Raveloft rules, except that for the duration, if the character would suffer from a more serious horror or madness effect, they may reroll the horror or madness check and take the better of the two results.

Kleptomania:

Melancholy (nothing matters): Treat as Depression per the Ravenloft rules.

Messiness: The behavior is generally an annoying quirk and should be handled accordingly. In an extreme case, put a flat -5 circumstance penalty on all diplomacy checks.

Mistaken Identity (thinks he is a specific person that he knows or has heard of): Treat as a special case of Delusions, per the Ravenloft rules.

Multiple Personality: Per the Ravenloft rules.

Mute: Normal magical healing is unable to cure this condition. Even if you shapechange, your new form will be similarly disabled. You cannot cast any spell with a verbal component. You cannot speak any language, though you are able to read them unless you are also illiterate. You may learn sign languages as bonus languages, but few people you encounter will understand them. You have a +2 bonus to the read lips and innuendo skill. The DM may restrict how you interact with the other players by forcing you to write notes, gesture, and so forth except in situations where the party has plenty of writing materials, plenty of light, and no significant time pressure.

Narcolepsy: Treat as a special case of Catatonia, per the Ravenloft rules.

Neatness: The behavior is generally an annoying quirk and should be handled accordingly.

Nerves: As Obsession.

No Sense of Direction: The character automatically fails all Navigation skill checks.

Nudist: The behavior is generally an annoying quirk and should be handled accordingly, though depending on the circumstances the behavior may be illegal (it may in other circumstances win approval).

Obsessive (has to make sure everything is done correctly): This is not the Obsession behavior from Ravenloft. In many cases this is merely an annoying personal quirk. In extreme cases, treat this as Megalomania per the Ravenloft rules.

Pacing: In many cases this is merely an annoying personal quirk. It may be more problimatic in a trap filled dungeon.

Paranoia: Per the Ravenloft rules.

Possessed (thinks something is making him do things): Treat as a special case of Paranoia per the Ravenloft rules. In extreme cases, treat as Multiple Personality disorder where the baseline personality has the delusion that they are possessed. Of course, they may well REALLY be possessed.

Pyromania (starts fires): Treat as a special case of Obsession. The illness is much more serious if the character is compelled to start destructive fires or to kill, and may at that point include alignment changes and the like.

Quick Tempered: As Rage.

Rabid Optimism (always thinks everything will work out for the best): For very minor cases, treat this as an annoying personal quirk. For serious cases, treat as Delusions.

Rabid Pessimism (always thinks everything will work out for the worst): For very minor cases, treat this as an annoying personal quirk. Otherwise, as Depression.

Racist: This is normally an annoying personal quirk and should be treated as such. If the racist is compelled to state his beliefs, apply a flat -5 penalty to diplomacy in situations where the beliefs would be disapproved of. In an extreme case, treat as Paranoia.

Scratching: This is normally an annoying personal quirk. There are more serious disorders possible. If the character is compelled to scratch until injuring himself, or needs to scratch or cut himself with a weapon to relieve the compulsion, treat this as Obsession, save that by inflicting at least 1 hit point of damage on oneself, the character can escape the normal symptoms for a 24 hour period. If the character has any hit points magically restored, Obsession symptoms return within 10 minutes. In the more extreme case, temporary relief requires the character inflict 1d3 damage on themselves. For more extreme cases, treat as Suicidal Thoughts.

Seizures: Treat as Aversion, except that future failed horror checks provoked by the object of the aversion automatically provoke System Shock!

Talker: Annoying personal quirk.

Visions (thinks he sees visions): Treat as a special case of Delusional.

Xenophobia (doesn't like things he is not familiar with): As Racist.

 

[Oryan77]

These are great. Thanks so much! I will add them to the ones I created myself.

I'm using these for my Planescape Faction Affiliations for the Bleak Cabal faction. They roll once per day on this chart and take that "insanity" condition for the duration of that day.

It has actually helped motivate players to roleplay their Bleaker PC. They seem to enjoy it.

 

[Celebrim]

Annoying Personal Quirk: You have something about your behavior that is a little bit odd and which you take a little too far. The behavior is compulsive and continual, and the character does it usually without realizing it. The player should role play his character accordingly, though it may be assumed that, even if the player is not acting out the tic, that it is because his character has forgot that he is doing it. In many situations, the behavior carries no particular penalty, though the DM will apply a circumstance penalty (usually -1d3) to any charisma or charisma based skill check where the behavior would be deemed inappropriate or offensive. The character may try to surpress the behavior, but this requires a DC 10 Wisdom check that must reoccur every hour or whenever the character is placed in a stressful situation and has oppurtunity to repeat the behavior. The character may make a new wisdom check if another character reminds the character to behave, but if this save also fail, no wisdom check may be made for until after the character has fully rested.