D&D General With enough planning could Schizophrenia be used to allow A Pc to unknowingly also be The campaigns true and final villain?

[TheSword]

It sounds like more of a Manchurian Candidate/Bourne Identity situation. Brainwashing in essence. I see no reason why this wouldn’t be possible… drop clues in as the campaign progresses. Might be fun if your team are into it.

However it’s definitely not schizophrenia. Really nothing like it at all.

 

[JMISBEST]

It sounds like more of a Manchurian Candidate/Bourne Identity situation. Brainwashing in essence. I see no reason why this wouldn’t be possible… drop clues in as the campaign progresses. Might be fun if your team are into it.

However it’s definitely not schizophrenia. Really nothing like it at all.

Clearly schizophrenia doesn't meant what I thought it meant, but I didn't know that and that's why I called it schizophrenia. I just realized that when I initially posted I forgot to say thank you and sorry for any unintended upset. So thank you and sorry for any unintended upset.

 

[Zardnaar]

You could but should you?

Bad idea.

 

[GuyBoy]

I would strongly advise against going down this route. The potential for hurt and damage is significant and for what gain? There are plenty of great campaign concepts out there.

 

[GMforPowergamers]

Schizophrenia is a real thing. What you are describing is not schizophrenia. Or even multiple personality disorder, to the best of my (very imperfect) knowledge.

You could run a similar sort of plot in a fantasy world via possession, curses, mind control, unusual magic, etc etc etc.

But just don't hijack the name of a real-world mental condition and tack it onto something you've invented for the plot. As you've said, it might confuse (or more to the point, deeply offend) players who actually know about schizophrenia or have had something to do with it in real life.

this...

Have a hidden evil in a PC is cool. Having a real world element in the game as a villain excuse is not cool

I already dislike how personalities are handled even when people say they want good representation (moon knight)

 

[Shardstone]

Absolutely not, and you should not use this mental illness in that way in your game. You can use some magical made up illness, but this is not a function of Schizophrenia, and you're basically just using its name and nothing else about it. This perpetuates weird ideas about the disease that in fact seems to be stemming from your lack of understanding.

For reference, I grew up with a mother suffering from this, and it is not what you describe. Please just making something else up for it.

 

[Professor Murder]

Possible ways to pull this off while protecting some against bad player feelings:
Future version of the PC
Alternate Dimension Variant
Clone

Beyond the bad feelings, trust that the logistics to explain how all the actions of the villain could be accomplished by the PC without them knowing is likely to be a huge headache.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I would emphasize (in addition to having it be a magical condition) having the player of the particular PC be in on it. That's the only way to make sure they aren't going to be frustrated/upset with the outcome. It will also allow them to help you keep it secret from the rest of the group. Obviously, it needs to be the PC of a player that is good at keeping a secret.

For instance, if you proposed this to me before I had finished my character concept for a campaign, I would absolutely be willing to run a character knowing his evil alter-ego/possessing force was the BBEG. Sounds like a really fun new thing to try. Very creative.

 

[JMISBEST]

Absolutely not, and you should not use this mental illness in that way in your game. You can use some magical made up illness, but this is not a function of Schizophrenia, and you're basically just using its name and nothing else about it. This perpetuates weird ideas about the disease that in fact seems to be stemming from your lack of understanding.

For reference, I grew up with a mother suffering from this, and it is not what you describe. Please just making something else up for it.

Sorry, I didn't mean any harm and I truly believed that Schizophrenia means what I said it means, clearly it doesn't mean what I thought it meant and even though I never intended to upset people its clear that I unintentionally upset at least 1 person and likely more then 1 person, my deepest apologies

 

[JMISBEST]

Possible ways to pull this off while protecting some against bad player feelings:
Future version of the PC
Alternate Dimension Variant
Clone

Beyond the bad feelings, trust that the logistics to explain how all the actions of the villain could be accomplished by the PC without them knowing is likely to be a huge headache.

I really like the alternate dimension variant but I'd call it alternate reality copy

I've just had 3 idea's

The 1st idea is that 1 of The Pcs is A Lawful Good Paladin, so I could make him the victim and have his Alternate reality copy be A Chaotic Evil Anti-Paladin

The 2nd idea is that I could have A 1 of the main villains Lieutenants be A Chaotic Evil Anti-Paladin whose from our universe, but his alternate reality copy could be A Lawful Good Paladin

The 3rd idea is that if needed, meaning it'll never be a planned part of a adventure rather it is something that will happen if needed, if the characters are losing a fight or have lost 1 but were captured and are about to be executed then they could be saved by A Lawful Good Paladin whose A Alternate Reality Version of 1 of their realities most dangerous, by which I mean its possible that's he's not the most powerful, Chaotic Evil Anti-Paladins