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Message: <blockquote data-quote="CapnZapp" data-source="post: 6800376" data-attributes="member: 12731">To pick up this thread now that people have more experience...I restrict the mechanic to the direct and indirect encounters with Demon Lords, since that's where I feel a separate madness/insanity mechanic to be justified. For all other cases, not so much - there I simply describe the nightmares and feelings of dread but otherwise leave it up to the players to roleplay as they want, including ignoring it (perhaps because their vision for their character is a robust hero that doesn't crumble in the face of adversity?)Iserith's simple rule, quoted below. But also: note how Demon Lords get individualized tables for madness effects, superseding the DMG table. Just saying: look at the stats of the demon lords for ideas on replacements.A good one. Although "three strikes and you're out" strikes me as a tad simplistic, meaning that all players have the same number of "mental hit points" (though different "AC" meaning Wisdom saves). The player can't really control his or her ability to withstand madness, and it doesn't get better with level (much). Obviously there's the Wisdom save, but you can't expect a Fighter or Wizard to focus on what would otherwise be their dump stat.To really work for me, ideally Madness/Sanity was its own statistic, like a seventh ability presented to players already at character creation. This way it would be up to the player if he wanted to start with Sanity 15 or 8. And all classes would be impacted equally - a Fighter might sacrifice a bit of Strength for a high Sanity while a Cleric would go with lower Wisdom. Most importantly, it would leave the choice in the hands of the player (even if he or she doesn't truly know the significance of the stat). I don't like the original rule's way of saying "oh, so you generated a low-Wis character? Bad choice!"That said, I fully realize a seventh stat is probably too big a change. Perhaps the easiest change is to not base the madness saves on any particular ability stat (much like death saves)?QFT <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f642.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":)" title="Smile    :)"  data-smilie="1"data-shortname=":)" />Also QFT!</blockquote>

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