Odd character idea... tips to make it work

[jayaint]

For all the EN'ners who've seen the David Fincher movie "Fight Club" I was wondering how one could go about translating the Tyler Durden/Narrator characters into a single PC for a DnD game.

Some Ideas my gaming group and I have had:

-Flaw: Multiple Personalities: Character is unaware of the seperate facets of his/her personality, even so far as alter egos. When confronted with information relating to a seperate personality, the character is stunned.

-Flaw-based-Feat: (Only available with Mult. Pers. Flaw) Insomnia: Character can run on less sleep, to the point of constant wakefulness, so long as the time is split between seperate psychological entities that believe they rest/sleep. If the lesser personality goes more than two sun-events without switching, they will "nod off" at some point. (i.e. sunrise, then sunset... before the next sunrise they will be forced to make the switch.) The Dominant personality will act just a "normal" PC in regards to tiring and sleeping.

-Minor ability score adjustments. CON and INT scores would be the same. DEX and STR points can be exchanged on a one for one basis, the same process for WIS and CHA.

-Alignments must be different.

-If the character makes a Spot check to believe that he/she is alone, then both characters may become active, and a domination battle may occur. (Some kind of opposed rolling, like with an intelligent magic item trying to doiminate its wielder)

-The lesser personality suffers a -1 to attack rolls and damage, and to skill checks, but gains a +1 to saving throw rolls for 1 day after a domination battle. (The dominant personality watches over the lesser one while it is adjusting)

-The "switch" occurs at the moment of sleep. Conan, the fighter, lays down and is awoken a few hours later for his turn at watch, however, it is actually character Merlin, the wizard, who is awakened, and he may need instruction as to what is going on.

Just looking for some feedback... I know this is very rough, but I think it could be fun to play, as our DM would use and abuse this (in a good way) and the characters would have fun role-playing opps.

Thanks

 

[Miles Pilitus]

I think it really depends upon how much control you give the players over their ability to change between personalities. If you give them a great deal of control, then you have the potential to cheese it and have a character willing hop between personas to get the right one. That would require instituting a level adjustment for the character.

But in general, I don't think it's that great an idea. The reason it worked so well in Fight Club was that we only saw the world through Jack's eyes and had no idea about the duality of his nature for the better part of the story. I think you would be very hard pressed to carry that same type of feeling in a D&D game if you give the player control of both persona. Replacing an alternate personality with a Demonic Possesion, something much more in the D&D milleiu would work better, and have the potential to drop the surprise upon the remaining party members.

 

[Kisanji Arael]

I've seen this done extremely well, but only once out of the five times I've seen a player try it. Without exception, the other four used psychic chiurgery or heal to get rid of it almost instantly.

The one time I saw it done well, the character would radically switch from LG to CE any time that he got hit on the head. His DM had so much fun with that one. He also switched from paladin to barbarian.

No offense, but I don't think that flaws and feats are the way to resolve your issue. One- that flaw is extremely overpowering, and allows for two completely full sets of powers to arise (god, imagine that with a psionic personality). It can't just be something where the character will always be awake.

I think what you're talking about is a concentration check to see if he's alone, not a spot. But I don't particularly like the idea that failing a check will decide it. I think it should be much more specific.

If you want my advice, let them be (except for HP) two completely separate characters. Let them each roll up separate stats and spend skill points differently. For it to work out well, the two should never become aware of each others' existence. Maybe the entire party knows about them, and has figured out a way to force a switch when they need the sorcerer or the ranger.

Overall, I recommend that you treat the two characters as separate persons, don't worry so much about making up various rules, and recognize that it is strong roleplaying and a supportifve cast that will make this succeed, not deciding the game-mechanics. If Merlin needs instruction every time that he awakes, then it will become a hindrance. Just remember.

 

[jayaint]

Thanks for the input, folks.

Basically, to address the main concerns that you both seem to be tracking on... This "possible" character idea would be one for me, and I don't want it to be game breaking, I would rather it was a kind of hindrance. I don't want the group or the character hitting the reset button to try and get to the "other" persona when they need it. In the natural course of gameplay, whichever one is awake will deal with the task at hand.

I just think that later down the line, it would be an interesting dynamic... You know, a la Fight Club, one persona has Leadership, and the other persona wonders why this ragtag group of followers keep bowing and saluting to him, and reporting in to him with orders that he doesn't understand.

KA- I agree that the characters will be two completely seperate entities. Two character sheets, two paths through the game... other than when he is alone. When he is alone, he will "envision" both characters there talking, possibly hopping from one side of a table to the other to provide the conversation. At that point, the lesser persona could attempt to become the dominant persona.

MP- You say hard pressed. I would like to test my role playing skills by not metagaming this character, and actually allowing each persona to have its own experience in the game, quite possibly unaware that the other side of the persona existed.