This introduces an element of dark horror into the game. This statistic functions like an ability score in some ways, but it has its own unique mechanics that represent the character’s descent from a stable and healthy mental state into confusion, dementia, and mental instability. As a character encounters monsters, witnesses horrible acts, masters forbidden knowledge, his Sanity score, and his corresponding ability to function as a normal member of his race, deteriorates. This gradual descent is balanced in part by the powers that characters gain each time they overcome a horrific foe or grow in skill and expertise, but even as those characters grow in power, they know or fear that an even greater peril lies ahead - the threat of becoming permanently insane.
Because it affects the way that characters interact with the creatures and objects that they encounter on their adventures in many different and profound ways, this can alter the entire feel of a campaign; characters feel more vulnerable, for no matter how powerful they become, the dark gods are always greater. Religion is not only a source of comfort or succor, but also a dangerous enemy. Characters are suspicious, even paranoid, for a seemingly innocent commoner could secretly serve a cult. And yet, with such dark challenges come the opportunities for greater heroism.
Sanity is the natural mental state of ordinary life. Normal mental balance is endangered when characters confront horrors, entities, or activities that are shocking, unnatural, and bewildering. Such encounters cause a character to lose points from his Sanity score, which in turn risks temporary, indefinite, or permanent insanity. Mental stability and lost Sanity points can be restored, up to a point, but psychological scars may remain.
Insanity occurs if too many Sanity points are lost in too short a time. Insanity does not necessarily occur if Sanity points are low, but a lower Sanity score makes some forms of insanity more likely to occur after a character experiences an emotional shock. The character’s Sanity may be regained after a few minutes, recovered after a few months, or lost forever.
A character may regain Sanity points, and even increase her Sanity point maximum.
The Sanity rules assume that some knowledge is so alien to human understanding that simply learning of its existence can shatter the psyche. While magic and nonhuman races form an everyday part of a character’s life, even a seasoned adventurer cannot conquer or understand some things. Knowledge of these secrets and creatures is represented by a new skill that goes hand in hand with a character’s Sanity score: Knowledge (forbidden lore).
This type of knowledge permanently erodes a character’s ability to maintain a stable and sane outlook, and a character’s current Sanity can never be higher than 99 minus the modifier the character has in the Knowledge (forbidden lore) skill. This number (99 minus Knowledge [forbidden lore] ranks) is the character’s maximum Sanity.
You know That Which Should Not Be Known. You have had horrible supernatural experiences and read forbidden tomes, learning truly dark secrets that have challenged everything you thought you knew. Since these revelations defy logic or commonly accepted fact, it does not matter how intelligent or wise you are when using this skill—only how much exposure to these dark secrets themselves you have experienced.
You can use this skill to identify monsters and their special powers or vulnerabilities.
Usually none. In most cases, making a Knowledge check doesn’t take an action—you simply know the answer or you don’t.
No. The check represents what you know, and thinking about a topic a second time doesn’t let you know something that you never learned in the first place.
You cannot gain ranks in this skill by spending skill points. You can only gain ranks by reading forbidden tomes or having experiences with horrible creatures. Each rank you gain in this skill permanently reduces your maximum Sanity by 1 point: The more you know about the horrible truths underlying reality, the less capable you are of leading a normal life.
You cannot take the Knowledge (forbidden lore) skill during character creation. However, the skill has no maximum rank; your level does not limit the number of ranks in Knowledge (forbidden lore) that you can acquire.
Sanity points measure the stability of a character’s mind. This attribute provides a way to define the sanity inherent in a character, the most stability a character can ever have, and the current level of sane rationality that a character preserves, even after numerous shocks and horrid revelations.
Sanity is measured in three ways: starting Sanity, current Sanity, and maximum Sanity. Starting and current Sanity cannot exceed maximum Sanity.
A character’s starting Sanity equals his Wisdom score multiplied by 5. This score represents a starting character’s current Sanity, as well as the upper limit of Sanity that can be restored by the Heal skill (see The Heal Skill and Mental Treatment, later in this section). After creation, a character’s current Sanity often fluctuates considerably and might never again match starting Sanity. A change in a character’s Wisdom score changes his starting Sanity in terms of what treatment with the Heal skill can restore. Current Sanity, however, does not change if Wisdom rises or falls.
A character’s current Sanity score fluctuates almost as often as (and sometimes much more often than) his hit points.
When a character encounters a gruesome, unnatural, or supernatural situation, the GM may require the player to make a Sanity check using percentile dice (d%). The check succeeds if the result is equal to or less than the character’s current Sanity.
On a successful check, the character either loses no Sanity points or loses only a minimal amount. Potential Sanity loss is usually shown as two numbers or die rolls separated by a slash, such as 0/1d4. The number before the slash indicates the number of Sanity points lost if the Sanity check succeeds (in this case, none); the number after the slash indicates the number of Sanity points lost if the Sanity check fails (in this case, between 1 and 4 points).
A character’s current Sanity is also at risk when the character reads certain books, learns certain types of spells, and attempts to cast them. These Sanity losses are usually automatic (no Sanity check is allowed); the character who chooses to undertake the activity forfeits the indicated number of Sanity points.
In most cases, a new Sanity-shaking confrontation requires a new Sanity check. However, the GM always gets to decide when characters make Sanity checks. Confronting several horribly mangled corpses at one time or in rapid succession may call for just one Sanity check, while the same corpses encountered singly over the course of several game hours may require separate checks.
Losing more than a few Sanity points may cause a character to go insane, as described below. If a character’s Sanity score drops to 0 or lower, she begins the quick slide into permanent insanity. Each round, the character loses another point of Sanity. Once a character’s Sanity score reaches -10, she is hopelessly, incurably insane. The Heal skill can be used to stabilize a character on the threshold of permanent insanity; see The Heal Skill and Mental Treatment, below, for details.
A GM’s description of a Sanity-shaking situation should always justify the threat to a character’s well-being. Thus, a horde of frothing rats is horrifying, while a single ordinary rat usually is not (unless the character has an appropriate phobia, of course).
Ranks in the Knowledge (forbidden lore) skill simulate a character’s comprehension of aspects of the dark creatures at the edges of reality. Once gained, this horrible knowledge is never forgotten, and the character consequently surrenders mental equilibrium. A character’s Sanity weakens as his comprehension of these hidden truths increases. Such is the way of the universe.
A character’s current Sanity can never be higher than 99 minus the character’s ranks in the Knowledge (forbidden lore) skill. This number (99 minus Knowledge [forbidden lore] ranks) is the character’s maximum Sanity.
Characters ordinarily lose Sanity in a few types of circumstances: when encountering something unimaginable, when suffering a severe shock, after casting a spell or when learning a new spell, when being affected by a certain type of magic or a particular spell, or when reading a forbidden tome.
When people perceive creatures and entities of unspeakable horror, this experience costs them some portion of their minds, since such creatures are intrinsically discomforting and repellent. We never lose awareness of their slimy, fetid, alien nature. This instinctive reaction is part and parcel of humans, elves, dwarves, and other humanoid races. In this category, we can include supernatural events or agents not always recognized as specifically devoted to these dark gods, such as hauntings, zombies, vampires, curses, and so on.
No character should need to make a Sanity check when encountering an elf, dwarf, or other standard humanoid race, or for encountering domesticated or otherwise commonplace animals, or even humanoid races such as orcs and goblins. In all cases, what causes Sanity loss for a specific creature is in the hands of the GM.
Bizzare or ferocious animal or humanoid: 0/1
Construct, magical beast: 0/1d3
Elemental, plant, vermin: 1/1d4
Ooze, undead, insect: 1/1d6
A shocking sight of a more mundane nature can also cost Sanity points. Severe shocks include witnessing an untimely or violent death, experiencing personal mutilation, losing social position, being the victim of treachery, or whatever else the Game Master decides is sufficiently extreme. The following list gives some examples of severe shocks, and the Sanity loss each one provokes.
0/1D2: Find mutilated animal corpse.
0/1D3: Find a fresh corpse or body part; witness a killing.
0/1D3: A human being tries to harm you; witness torture
0/1D4: Grisly corpse or crime scene; human being attacks you with intent to kill; you kill someone in a fight, witness acts of torture.
0/1D4+1: See many corpses or a large battle; find out a loved one has died; week in solitary confinement; bitten by a vampire.
1/1D4+1: Kill someone in cold blood; torture someone; find the corpse of a loved one; attacked by a loved one (who wouldn’t attack you normally)
1/1D6: Witness death of friend; torture for an hour or longer; discover you have committed accidental cannibalism; awaken trapped in a coffin, see hundreds of corpses or witness a large battle
1d2/1D6+1: Talk to someone you know to be dead; be possessed by an outside force.
1d3/1D6+1: Witness gruesome death of friend; kill friend; undergo torture for over eight hours.
1d3/1D8: see a shapechanger change shape.
1d3/1D10: Undergo severe mutilation/torture.
1d4/1D10: See a corpse rise from its grave.
1D5/1D10: see mythical entity or bizarre, mythic creature from another plane.
1D6/1D12: Witness gruesome, incomprehensible, supernatural event.
1D10/1D100: See Great Old One.
The following types of magic and specific spells have different or additional effects when the Sanity variant is in use. For the effects of healing spells and magical means of recovering sanity, see Restoring Sanity with Magic, later in this section.
Whenever a spell, creature, or other factor produces a fear effect that causes its target to become shaken, frightened, or panicked, a failed saving throw to avoid the effect can result in a Sanity check.
Illusions, when they are believed, cause Sanity loss just as if the real horrific monster or event were present.
When using the Sanity variant, this spell can cause a Sanity check; If the victim fails the Sanity check, he loses 3d6 points of Sanity.
Obscure tomes add ranks to a character’s Knowledge (forbidden lore) skill. Studying and comprehending these books causes all that we know to become like shadows. The burning power of a greater reality seizes the soul. Whether we try to retreat from the experience or hunger greedily for more, it destroys our confidence in what we once believed, opening us up to the all-encompassing truths of dark deities.
Such books may cause 1 - 1d10 / 1d4 - 3d6 Sanity loss upon reading them.
Never underestimate the ability of the sentient mind to adapt, even to the most horrific experiences. Reading and rereading the same bit of disturbing text or seeing the same horrible image over and over eventually provokes no further loss of Sanity. Within a reasonable interval of play, usually a single session of the game, characters should not lose more Sanity points for seeing monsters of a particular sort than the maximum possible points a character could lose from seeing one such monster. For instance, if the Sanity loss for seeing a single human zombie is 1/1d6, then, in the same game day or in the same play session, no character should lose more than 6 Sanity points for seeing any number of zombies. Keep in mind that the interpretation of “reasonable interval” must vary by GM and situation. When it feels right, the GM should rule that the horror is renewed and points must be lost again.
However, things the player does willingly is an exception to this; the Sanity loss is always the same. For example, if brutally murdering a friend costs 2/1d10 Sanity, this loss is incurred each time, even if the character loses the maximum possible points (10) after the first such murder he commits.
Character insanity is induced by a swift succession of shocking experiences or ghastly revelations, events usually connected with dark gods and creatures from the Outer Planes
Horrifying encounters can result in one of three states of mental unbalance: temporary, indefinite, and permanent insanity. The first two, temporary insanity and indefinite insanity, can be cured. The third, permanent insanity, results when a character’s Sanity points are reduced to -10 or lower. This condition cannot be cured.
Whenever a character loses Sanity points equal to one-half her Wisdom score from a single episode of Sanity loss, she has experienced enough of a shock that the GM must ask for a Sanity check. If the check fails, the character realizes the full significance of what she saw or experienced and goes temporarily insane. If the check succeeds, the character does not go insane, but she may not clearly remember what she experienced (a trick the mind plays to protect itself).
Temporary insanity might last for a few minutes or a few days. Perhaps the character acquires a phobia or fetish befitting the situation, faints, becomes hysterical, or suffers nervous twitches, but she can still respond rationally enough to run away or hide from a threat.
A character suffering from temporary insanity remains in this state for either a number of rounds or a number of hours; roll d% and consult Table: Duration of Temporary Insanity to see whether the insanity is short-term or long-term. After determining the duration of the insanity, roll d% and consult either the Tables to identify the specific effect of the insanity. The GM must describe the effect so that the player can roleplay it accordingly.
Successful application of the Heal skill (see The Heal Skill and Mental Treatment, below) may alleviate or erase temporary insanity.
Temporary insanity ends either when the duration rolled on Table 6-8 has elapsed, or earlier if the GM considers it appropriate to do so.
After an episode of temporary insanity ends, traces or even profound evidence of the experience should remain. No reason exists why, for instance, a phobia should depart from someone’s mind as quickly as a warrior draws his sword. What remains behind after a brief episode of temporary insanity should exert a pervasive influence on the character. The character may still be a bit batty, but her conscious mind once again runs the show.
| Table: Duration of Temporary Insanity | ||
| d% | Temporary Insanity Type | Duration |
| 01-80 | Short-term | 1d10+4 rounds |
| 81-100 | Long-term | 1d10×10 hours |
| Table: Short-Term Temporary Insanity Effects | |
| d% | Effect |
| 01-20 | Character faints (can be awakened by vigorous action taking 1 round; thereafter, character is shaken until duration expires). |
| 21-30 | Character has a screaming fit. |
| 31-40 | Character flees in panic. |
| 41-50 | Character shows physical hysterics or emotional outburst (laughing, crying, and so on). |
| 51-55 | Character babbles in incoherent rapid speech or in logorrhea (a torrent of coherent speech). |
| 56-60 | Character gripped by intense phobia, perhaps rooting her to the spot. |
| 61-65 | Character becomes homicidal, dealing harm to nearest person as efficiently as possible. |
| 66-70 | Character has hallucinations or delusions (details at the discretion of the GM). |
| 71-75 | Character gripped with echopraxia or echolalia (saying or doing whatever those nearby say or do). |
| 76-80 | Character gripped with strange or deviant eating desire (dirt, slime, cannibalism, and so on). |
| 81-90 | Character falls into a stupor (assumes fetal position, oblivious to events around her). |
| 91-99 | Character becomes catatonic (can stand but has no will or interest; may be led or forced to simple actions but takes no independent action). |
| 100 | Roll on Table 6-10: Long-Term Temporary Insanity Effects. |
| Table: Long-Term Temporary Insanity Effects | |
| d% | Effect |
| 01-10 | Character performs compulsive rituals (washing hands constantly, praying, walking in a particular rhythm, never stepping on cracks, constantly checking to see if crossbow is loaded, and so on). |
| 11-20 | Character has hallucinations or delusions (details at the discretion of the GM). |
| 21-30 | Character becomes paranoid. |
| 31-40 | Character gripped with severe phobia (refuses to approach object of phobia except on successful DC 20 Will save). |
| 41-45 | Character has aberrant sexual desires (exhibitionism, nymphomania or satyriasis, teratophilia, necrophilia, and so on). |
| 46-55 | Character develops an attachment to a “lucky charm” (embraces object, type of object, or person as a safety blanket) and cannot function without it. |
| 56-65 | Character develops psychosomatic blindness, deafness, or the loss of the use of a limb or limbs. |
| 66-75 | Character has uncontrollable tics or tremors (-4 penalty on all attack rolls, checks, and saves, except those purely mental in nature). |
| 76-85 | Character has amnesia (memories of intimates usually lost first; Knowledge skills useless). |
| 86-90 | Character has bouts of reactive psychosis (incoherence, delusions, aberrant behavior, and/or hallucinations). |
| 91-95 | Character loses ability to communicate via speech or writing. |
| 96-100 | Character becomes catatonic (can stand but has no will or interest; may be led or forced into simple actions but takes no independent action). |
If a character loses 20% (one-fifth) or more of her current Sanity points in the space of 1 hour, she goes indefinitely insane. The GM judges when the impact of events calls for such a measure. Some GMs never apply the concept to more than the result of a single roll, since this state can remove characters from play for extended periods. An episode of indefinite insanity lasts for 1d6 game months (or as the GM dictates). Symptoms of indefinite insanity may not be immediately apparent (which may give the GM additional time to decide what the effects of such a bout of insanity might be).
Table: Random Indefinite Insanity is provided as an aid to selecting what form a character’s indefinite insanity takes. (The mental disorders mentioned on this table are explained later in this section.) Many GMs prefer to choose an appropriate way for the insanity to manifest, based on the circumstances that provoked it. It’s also a good idea to consult with the player of the afflicted character to see what sort of mental malady the player wishes to roleplay.
The state of indefinite insanity is encompassing and incapacitating. For instance, a schizophrenic may be able to walk the streets while babbling and gesticulating, find rudimentary shelter, and beg for enough food to survive, but most of the business of the mind has departed into itself: She cannot fully interact with friends, family, and acquaintances. Conversation, cooperation, and all sense of personal regard have vanished from her psyche.
It is possible for characters with indefinite insanity to continue to be played as active characters, depending on the form their madness takes. The character may still attempt to stumble madly through the rest of an adventure. However, with her weakened grasp on reality, she is most likely a danger to herself and others.
As a general rule, a character suffering from indefinite insanity should be removed from active play until she recovers. At the GM’s discretion, the player of the character might be allowed to use a temporary character until the end of the story. Whether this “stand-in” character is an incidental NPC in the adventure, a character of the same level as the rest of the group, one or two levels below the rest of the characters, or even a 1st-level character, is up to the GM. Different GMs have different ways of handling this transition.
If a character goes indefinitely insane near the end of an adventure, the GM may decide to set the next adventure to begin after the insane character has recovered.
Characters suffering from indefinite insanity are in limbo, unable to help themselves or others. The Heal skill can be used to restore Sanity points during this period, but the underlying insanity remains.
After recovery, a victim retains definite traces of madness. For example, even though a character knows he is no longer insane, she might be deathly afraid of going to sleep if her insanity manifested itself in the form of terrifying nightmares. The character is in control of her actions, but the experience of insanity has changed her, perhaps forever.
| Table: Random Indefinite Insanity | |
| d% | Mental Disorder Type |
| 01–15 | Anxiety (includes severe phobias) |
| 16–20 | Dissociative (amnesia, multiple personalities) |
| 21–25 | Eating (anorexia, bulimia) |
| 26–30 | Impulse control (compulsions) |
| 31–35 | Mood (manic/depressive) |
| 36–45 | Personality (various neuroses) |
| 46–50 | Psychosexual (sadism, nymphomania) |
| 51–55 | Psychospecies |
| 56–70 | Schizophrenia/psychotic (delusions, hallucinations, paranoia, catatonia) |
| 71–80 | Sleep (night terrors, sleepwalking) |
| 81–85 | Somatoform (psychosomatic conditions) |
| 86–95 | Substance abuse (alcoholic, drug addict) |
| 96–100 | Other (megalomania, quixotism, panzaism) |
A character whose Sanity score falls to -10 goes permanently insane. The character becomes an NPC under the control of the Game Master.
A character with permanent insanity may be reduced to a raving lunatic or may be outwardly indistinguishable from a normal person; either way, she is inwardly corrupted by the pursuit of knowledge and power. Some of the most dangerous cultists in the world are characters who have become permanently insane, been corrupted by forbidden knowledge, and “gone over to the other side.”
A character might be driven permanently insane by forces other than dark gods or forbidden knowledge. In such cases, moral corruption need not necessarily occur. The GM might decide to consider different sorts of permanent insanity, rolling randomly or choosing from among the mental disorders on Table: Random Indefinite Insanity, above.
A character who has gone permanently insane can never be normal again (in some campaigns, a permanently insane character can be cured with the aid of powerful magic). She is forever lost in her own world. This need not mean a lifetime locked away from society, merely that the character has retreated so far from reality that normal mental functions can never be restored. She might be able to lead, within restricted bounds, a more or less normal life if kept away from the stimulus that triggers strong responses in her individual case. Yet a relapse may come quickly. Her calm facade can be destroyed in seconds if even the smallest reminder of what it was that drove her mad disturbs her fragile equilibrium. In any event, the eventual fate of a permanently insane character is a matter for individual Game Masters and players to decide.
A character’s Sanity score can increase during the events of a campaign. Although a character’s Sanity score can never exceed 99 minus her Knowledge (forbidden lore) ranks, her maximum Sanity and current Sanity can exceed her starting Sanity.
A character’s current Sanity can become higher than her starting Sanity as a result of gained levels: Whenever a character gains a new level, she rolls 1d6 and adds the result to her current Sanity. Some GMs may feel such self-improvement to be antithetical to this variant’s dark tone, and thus may not allow it. Others may allow it if the player can roll over her character’s current Sanity points after the character gains a level. Most Game Masters should find the question to be of no consequence, since characters continue to go insane regardless of how many Sanity points they gain. This is a point for players to be aware of, but not to worry about.
The GM may decide to award increases in character’s current Sanity if they foil a great horror, a demonic plan, or some other nefarious enterprise.
The Sanity rules presented here provide a new use for the Heal skill, allowing trained healers to help characters recover lost Sanity points. The DC and effect of a Heal check made to restore lost Sanity depend on whether the therapist is trying to offer immediate care or long-term care.
When someone suffers an episode of temporary insanity, a therapist can bring him out of it—calming his terror, snapping him out of his stupor, or doing whatever else is needed to restore the patient to the state she was in before the temporary insanity—by making a Heal check as a full-round action.
A therapist can also use immediate care to stabilize the Sanity score of a character whose current Sanity is between -1 and -9. On a successful check (requiring a full-round action), the character’s Sanity score improves to 0.
Providing long-term care means treating a mentally disturbed person for a day or more in a place away from stress and distractions. A therapist must spend 1d4 hours per day doing nothing but talking to the patient. If the therapist makes a Heal check at the end of this time, the patient recovers 1 Sanity point. A therapist can tend up to six patients at a time; each patient beyond the first adds 1 hour to the total time per day that must be devoted to therapy. The check must be made each day for each patient. A roll of 1 on any of these Heal checks indicates that the patient loses 1 point of Sanity that day, as she regresses mentally due to horrors suddenly remembered.
To give useful mental therapy, a therapist must have the Heal skill. Intensive treatment can return Sanity points to a troubled character. However, Sanity points restored in this manner can never cause the patient’s Sanity score to exceed her starting Sanity or maximum Sanity, whichever is lower. A character can have only one healer at a time. See The Heal Skill and Mental Treatment sidebar for a detailed description of how this works.
Such treatment can also be used to help a character snap out of an episode of temporary insanity (for example, from an acute panic attack). It does not speed recovery from indefinite insanity, but it can strengthen a character by increasing her Sanity points.
Recovery from indefinite insanity only comes with time (typically, 1d6 months). It is not dependent upon the character’s Sanity points and is not connected to them. A character can be sane with 24 Sanity points and insane while possessing 77 Sanity points.
The way that Sanity loss and magic healing interact can greatly affect the feel of your game. At one extreme, the GM can rule that magic can easily cure Sanity loss, in which case Sanity becomes little more than a specialized version of “mental hit points” that includes some neat side effects (insanity). In such a case, characters can usually restore themselves to full Sanity with a day or two of rest and spellcasting.
At the other extreme, the campaign might be structured so that magical healing can do little or nothing to restore Sanity, and even powerful divine spellcasters capable of curing the most deadly physical malady shy away from those encounters that might drain away Sanity points. The spells that can potentially restore Sanity points are discussed below. The GM should feel free to choose which of these spell effects are present in the game, but once established, these effects should not be changed in mid-campaign.
Atonement
Although this spell does not usually restore Sanity, it can be used in those rare cases when a character’s own actions inadvertently lead to an evil act that causes the character to lose Sanity points. If a quest or geas is combined with the atonement spell, Sanity points are not restored until the task is completed. A successful use of the atonement spell can restore all Sanity lost through the direct result of the evil acts for which the character atones.
Heal
In addition to its normal effects, heal restores 10 Sanity points and removes all forms of temporary insanity.
Restoration
If the caster chooses, restoration can restore 1d6 Sanity points per two levels to the target creature (max 5d6) instead of having its normal effect.
Restoration, Greater If the caster chooses, greater restoration can restore the target creature to its maximum Sanity instead of having its normal effect.
Restoration, Lesser
If the caster chooses, lesser restoration can restore 1d4 Sanity points to the subject instead of having its normal effect.
Wish
This spell can restore a character to maximum Sanity even if his current Sanity has dropped to -10. Wish even heals permanent insanity.
Wish, Limited
This spell can restore a character to maximum Sanity even if his current Sanity has dropped to -10. Limited wish does not heal permanent insanity.
In the real world, psychiatric drugs play a key role in the modern treatment of many mental disorders. Although psychiatric drugs were administered to patients in the early part of the 20th century, only in the 1940s and later were they broadly and consistently effective in treating the symptoms of emotional trauma.
In a fantasy game, the GM should decide whether rare herbs and alchemical substances can provide the same benefits that modern psychiatric drugs can deliver. It is quite believable, for example, that the Red Wizards of Thay discovered alchemical means of isolating substances that affect the mind in profound ways, offering many of the same benefits of modern medicine. Therefore, the GM need only decide how easily he wants characters to overcome Sanity loss and insanity effects. Once the desired tone of the campaign is known, the GM can determine whether alchemical treatment is available.
As long as a character can afford the correct herbs and alchemical substances and is able to ingest them, the symptoms of indefinite insanity can be ignored. Ingesting these alchemical substances and drugs does not make a character immune or even particularly resistant to further Sanity losses. A Craft (alchemy) check is needed to accurately prepare the correct herbs and substances and administer the correct dosage.
Long-term alchemical treatment can restore lost Sanity points, just as use of the Heal skill can. For each month the character takes an accurately prescribed psychiatric medication, she regains 1d3 Sanity points. As with treatment through the Heal skill, long-term drug therapy can never raise a character’s current Sanity above her starting Sanity.
A character cannot regain Sanity from both treatment with the Heal skill and alchemical treatment in the same month.
Drugs in the d20 game follow many of the same rules as poisons, allowing the imbiber saving throws to resist their initial and secondary effects. Delay poison, neutralize poison, and similar effects negate or end a drug’s effects, but they do not restore hit points, ability damage, or other damage caused by the substance.
A creature that willingly takes a drug automatically fails both saving throws. It is not possible to intentionally fail the initial save but attempt to save against the secondary effect, or vice versa. Saves are provided for situations in which a character is unwillingly drugged.
Drugs also have some uses in treating insanity. The drugs described below all affect a character’s Sanity to some extent.
Below are examples of drugs that can be introduced into a campaign; many of them are effective against some sorts of mental disorders. Table: Drugs provides some specifics for each drug, and the text description for each one provides the following additional information.
Initial Effect
The effect of the drug if the initial Constitution saving throw is failed.
Secondary Effect
The effect of the drug if the secondary Constitution saving throw is failed 1 minute after ingestion.
Side Effect
The side effect (if any) that occurs immediately upon taking the drug.
Overdose
What (if anything) constitutes an overdose and its effect on the character.
| Table: Drugs | |||
| Name | Type | Price | Addictability |
| Arthorvin | Ingested | 5 gp | Low |
| Carthagu | Drunk | 5 sp | Low |
| Mertoran leaf | Smoked | 1 gp | Negligible |
| Zixalix | Drunk | 15 gp | Medium |
Arthorvin
A fragrant gray powder made from rare magical plants, the drug called arthorvin is an appropriate alchemical treatment for anxiety, mood disorders, and dissociative disorders.
Initial Effect
1 point of Charisma damage.
Secondary Effect
The user is in a calm, peaceful mental state for 2d4 hours and gains a +1 alchemical bonus on Will saves.
Side Effect
Arthorvin causes a general dulling of the imbiber’s emotions and reactions. While the drug is in effect, the user takes a -1 penalty on all initiative checks.
Overdose
n/a.
Carthagu
Carthagu is a thin green tea served warm. It is an appropriate alchemical treatment for impulse control problems, eating disorders, and sleep disorders.
Initial Effect
2 points of Strength damage.
Secondary Effect
Carthagu soothes a wide range of mental disorders, providing relief from the symptoms of the indicated disorders for up to 8 hours.
Side Effect
n/a.
Overdose
n/a.
Mertoran Leaf
When mertoran leaf is dried, treated, and smoked, it provides appropriate alchemical treatment for personality disorders, and substance abuse disorders.
Initial Effect
1 point of Dexterity damage.
Secondary Effect
The user becomes more confident, gaining a +2 alchemical bonus to Charisma for 1 hour.
Side Effect
While the drug is in effect and for 12 hours thereafter, mertoran leaf relieves the most severe symptoms of the listed disorders.
Overdose
n/a.
Zixalix
A potent combination of many rare herbs and alchemical substances, zixalix provides appropriate alchemical treatment for somatoform disorders, psychotic disorders (including schizophrenia), and psychosexual disorders.
Initial Effect
1d4 points of Intelligence damage.
Secondary Effect
Zixalix staves off the most severe symptoms of the indicated disorders.
Side Effect
n/a.
Overdose
If more than three doses are taken in a 24-hour period, the imbiber takes 1d4 points of Constitution damage.
Drug addiction functions much like diseases. The characteristics of certain forms of addiction are summarized on the table below. Upon initial exposure (any time a character takes a drug with an addiction rating), the character must succeed on a Constitution save or become addicted. A drug has a satiation period, which is the length of time a single dose remains effective in a character’s system. Addiction, if not satisfied by further doses of the drug, proceeds like a disease—the character takes ability damage each day unless he succeeds on a Constitution save.
| Table: Addictions | ||
| Addiction Rating | Satiation Period | Damage |
| Negligible | 1 day | 1d3-2 Dex (can be 0) |
| Low | 10 days | 1d3 Dex |
| Medium | 5 days | 1d4 Dex, 1d4 Wis |
| High | 1 day | 1d6 Dex, 1d6 Wis, 1d6 Con |
| Extreme | 1 day | 1d8 Dex, 1d8 Wis, 1d6 Con, 1d6 Str |
Each drug is rated according to its addictive potential, from lowest (negligible) to highest (extreme).
Each time a user takes a drug to which he is addicted, he is satiated and staves off withdrawal symptoms for the period of time indicated on the table. Whenever the satiation period expires before the user takes another dose. The dose that causes a character to becomes addicted counts for the purpose of tracking the satiation period.
An addicted user who is not satiated takes the indicated amount of ability damage each day unless the character succeeds a saving throw.
If a character makes two successful saving throws in a row, he has fought off his addiction and recovered, and takes no more damage from withdrawal symptoms.
A lesser restoration or restoration spell might negate some or all of the ability damage caused by an addiction, but the next day the victim may take more ability damage if he continues to fail his saves. Remove disease immediately causes a user to recover from an addiction, but it does not heal ability damage. Greater restoration or heal causes recovery and restores all ability damage from the addiction.
Temporary insanity ends so quickly that schedules of treatment are essentially pointless; it runs its course soon enough that one merely need protect a deranged character from further upset or harm. On the other hand, treatment of permanent insanity has no real meaning. By definition, a permanently insane character never recovers, no matter how good the therapist or the facility. Thus, indefinite insanity is the only form of mental illness that might be addressed by intervention and treatment.
After 1d6 months, if undisturbed by further trauma and with the agreement of the Game Master, an indefinitely insane character finds enough mental balance to reenter the world. Three kinds of nonmagical care may help the character regain Sanity points during this recovery period. When choosing among them, the GM and player should consider the character’s resources, her friends and relatives, and how wisely she has behaved in the past. In most campaigns, the magical treatments described above (see Restoring Sanity with Magic) allow the character to reenter play after a shorter time or with less expense.
Private Care
The best care available is at home or in some friendly place (perhaps a small church or the home of a wealthy friend) where nursing can be tender, considerate, and undistracted by the needs of competing patients.
If mental healing or alchemical medications are available, roll d% for each game month that one or the other is used. A result of 01-95 is a success: Add 1d3 Sanity points for either mental therapy or alchemical medications, whichever is used (a charac ter cannot benefit from both in the same month). On a result of 96-100, the healer fumbles the diagnosis or the character rejects the alchemical treatments. She loses 1d6 Sanity points, and no progress is made that month.
Institutionalization
The next best alternative to private care is commitment to a good insane asylum, but these are extremely rare in most d20 campaigns, if they are present at all. GMs are free to rule that institutionalization is simply not available.
In those campaigns that include such institutions (usually located within the bounds of a temple devoted to a deity of healing), asylums may be said to have an advantage over home care in that they are relatively cheap or even a free service provided by a government or a powerful church. These institutions are of uneven quality, however, and some may be potentially harmful. Some are creative places of experiment and magic-assisted therapy, while others offer mere confinement. In any setting, concentrated and nourishing treatment by strangers is rare.
Therapy using the Heal skill is usually the only treatment available, but in most cases, primitive institutions offer no treatment at all. Sometimes an institution can convey an uncaring sense that undermines the useful effects of alchemical medications, leaving the character with a sense of anger and loss. He is likely to be distrustful of the organization and its motives. Escape attempts are common by inmates, even in the most enlightened fantasy settings.
Roll d% for each game month a character is in the care of an institution. A result of 01-95 is a success; add 1d3 Sanity points if therapy with the Heal skill was available, or 1 Sanity point if no treatment was present. On a result of 96-100, the character rebels against the environment. He loses 1d6 Sanity points, and no progress can be made that month.
Wandering and Homeless
If no care is available, an insane character may become a wandering derelict struggling for survival. Such a wanderer gains no Sanity points unless he is able to join a group of the homeless and find at least one friend among them. To find a friend after joining such a group, the character can make a DC 15 Charisma check once per month. If a friend appears, the character recovers 1 Sanity point per game month thereafter.
For each game month during which an insane character lives as a derelict, roll d%. On a result of 01-95, the character survives. On a result of 96-100, the character dies as the result of disease, exposure, or violence.
The GM should choose how characters in the campaign world think and therefore talk about insanity before play begins. In many fantasy games, the term “insane” serves as an all-encompassing term that represents everything an inhabitant knows or understands about the full spectrum of mental disorders. In others, different forms of insanity may be identified for what they are.
This section offers descriptions of many specific mental disorders. Where appropriate, suggested modifiers to characters’ attack rolls, saves, and checks are also given.
Anxiety Disorders
Even a seasoned adventurer feels anxious before braving a dragon’s cave, and the farmers in the village might worry that their crops will not survive until harvest. These fears are a normal, natural part of living in a danger-filled environment such as a d20 campaign setting, but in some cases these anxieties overwhelm an individual, causing inactivity, distress, and even severe behavioral problems. When fear and anxiety overwhelm a character for a prolonged period of time, the character suffers from an anxiety disorder. The most common forms of anxiety disorders are described below.
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
The character suffers from a variety of physical and emotional symptoms that can be grouped into certain categories.Motor Tension
Jitteriness, aches, twitches, restlessness, easily startled, easily fatigued, and so on. All attack rolls, and all checks involving Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution take a -2 penalty.
Autonomic Hyperactivity
Sweating, racing heart, dizziness, clammy hands, flushed or pallid face, rapid pulse and respiration even when at rest, and so on. All attack rolls, saves, and checks take a -2 penalty.
Expectations of Doom
Anxieties, worries, fears, and especially anticipations of misfortune. All attack rolls, saves, and checks take a -2 penalty.
Vigilance
Distraction, inability to focus, insomnia, irritability, impatience. All saves and checks involving Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma take a -4 penalty.
Panic Disorder (Panic Attack)
This illness is marked by a discrete period of fear in which symptoms develop rapidly. Within minutes palpitation, sweating, trembling, and difficulty in breathing develop, strong enough that the victim fears immediate death or insanity. Burdened with the recurrence of these episodes, she fears their return. This reaction often leads to agoraphobia (see below).
Agoraphobia (Fear of Open Places) The character becomes very nervous outside familiar surroundings and must make a save vs Death in order to leave home or engage socially. May be linked to panic disorder (see above) or to a related phobia (see below), such as uranophobia (fear of the sky), baraphobia (fear of loss of gravity), or xenophobia (fear of strangers).
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
This illness manifests in one of two main forms, obsessive thoughts or compulsive actions; some characters exhibit both.
Obsessions
The character cannot help thinking about an idea, image, or impulse incessantly, often involving violence and self-doubt. These ideas are frequently repugnant to the character, but they are so strong that during times of stress she may be unable to concentrate on anything else, even if doing so is necessary for her survival. Obsessive impulses can be very dangerous when combined with auditory hallucinations, since the “voices” may urge the character to take some dangerous or hostile course of action.
Compulsions
The character insists on performing ritual actions, such as touching a doorway at left, right, and top before passing through it. Though she may agree that the actions are senseless, the need to perform them is overpowering and may last for 1d10 rounds. Even in times of great stress, the character may ignore her survival in order to perform the actions.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
After a traumatic event, perhaps even years later, the character begins to relive the trauma through persistent thoughts, dreams, and flashbacks. Correspondingly, the character loses interest in daily activities. She may return to normal once the memories have been thoroughly explored and understood, but that process may take years.
Phobia or Mania
A character afflicted by a phobia or a mania persistently fears a particular object or situation. She realizes that the fear is excessive and irrational, but the fear is disturbing enough that she avoids the stimulus.
Phobia
A save vs Death is required for a character to be able to force herself into (or remain within) the presence of the object of her phobia, and even then the character takes a -2 morale penalty as long as the object of fear remains. In severe cases, the object of the phobia is imagined to be omnipresent, perhaps hidden—thus, someone with severe acrophobia (fear of heights) might be frightened when in an enclosed room on the upper story of a building, even if there were no window or other way to see how high up the room was. As many phobias exist as one cares to notice or name—the lists provided below cover merely some of the more common phobias that might affect d20 characters.
Mania
Manias are rarer than phobias. A character affected by a mania is inordinately fond of a particular stimulus and takes great pains to be with it or near it. When the character’s sexuality is involved, the mania may be termed a fetish. Thus, teratophobia would be an inordinate fear of monsters, while teratophilia would be an unhealthy (possibly sexual) attraction to them. See the following lists of phobias for ideas on what sorts of disorders could manifest as manias.
Real-World Phobias
The following list provides examples of phobias from the real world that lend themselves to inclusion in a d20 campaign.
Certain real-world phobias can easily be broadened to include monstrous creatures and specific magic effects in a fantasy environment. For example, ophidiophobia (fear of snakes) could be extended to include medusae and other snakelike creatures, or ichthyophobia (fear of fish) could be extended to include all manner of aquatic creatures with fishlike qualities.
| Phobia | Fear of… |
| Acrophobia | heights (formerly known as vertigo) |
| Aerophobia | wind |
| Agoraphobia | open places |
| Ailurophobia | cats |
| Androphobia | men (males) |
| Astrophobia | stars |
| Autophobia | being alone |
| Bacteriophobia | bacteria (“germs”) |
| Ballistophobia | bullets |
| Bathophobia | deep submerged places |
| Bibliophobia | books |
| Blennophobia | slime |
| Brontophobia | thunder |
| Cenophobia | empty rooms |
| Chionophobia | snow |
| Claustrophobia | enclosed spaces |
| Demophobia | crowds |
| Dendrophobia | trees |
| Entomophobia | insects |
| Equinophobia | horses |
| Gephyrdrophobia | crossing bridges |
| Gynephobia | women (females) |
| Hamartophobia | sinning or making an error |
| Haphephobia | being touched |
| Heliophobia | sunlight or the sun |
| Hematophobia | blood or bleeding |
| Hydrophobia | water |
| Hypnophobia | sleep |
| Iatrophobia | doctors (healers) |
| Ichthyophobia | fish |
| Maniaphobia | going insane |
| Monophobia | being alone |
| Musophobia | mice (and rats) |
| Necrophobia | dead things |
| Nyctophobia | night or nightfall |
| Odontophobia | teeth |
| Onomatophobia | a certain name, word, or phrase |
| Ophidiophobia | snakes |
| Ornithophobia | birds |
| Pediphobia | children |
| Phagophobia | eating |
| Phonophobia | noise, including one’s own voice |
| Pyrophobia | fire |
| Scotophobia | darkness |
| Spectrophobia | mirrors |
| Taphephobia | being buried alive |
| Teratophobia | monsters |
| Thalassophobia | the sea |
| Tomophobia | surgery |
| Uranophobia | the heavens (“the horrible gaping sky!”) |
| Vermiphobia | worms |
| Xenophobia | foreigners or strangers |
| Zoophobia | animals |
Fantastic Phobias
With some imagination and a little knowledge about how “phobia” terms are formed (most come from ancient Greek words), it’s possible to come up with a list of phobias tailored to a fantasy setting. The following list is provided as a starting point.
| Phobia | Fear of… |
| Arcuophobia | bows |
| Aurophobia | gold |
| Aberraphobia | aberrations and creatures with tentacles |
| Bogyphobia | demons and goblins |
| Demonophobia | demons |
| Dracophobia | dragons |
| Confodiophobia | being stabbed |
| Faephobia | fey |
| Gigaphobia | giants and Large or larger creatures |
| Hadephobia | hell |
| Hagiophobia | saints and holy relics |
| Hierophobia | priests and sacred items |
| Incantophobia | enchantment and mind control |
| Iophobia | poison |
| Manaphobia | magic |
| Materiophobia | constructs |
| Myxophobia | oozes |
| Naturaphobia | nature and druids |
| Planarphobia | outsiders and extraplanar creatures |
| Plantaphobia | plants and plant creatures |
| Phantasmaphobia | specters or ghosts |
| Pneumatophobia | incorporeal creatures |
| Uranophobia | heaven (esp. divine magic) |
Dissociative Disorders
Individuals suffering from dissociative disorders cannot maintain a complete awareness of themselves, their surroundings, or time. The disorder often involves some great previous trauma that is too terrible to remember. Characters who have gone insane from an encounter with powerful monsters often suffer from some form of dissociative disorder.
Dissociative Amnesia (Psychogenic Amnesia)
This is the inability to recall important personal information, brought on by a desire to avoid unpleasant memories. The character must make a save vs Death to recall such details or the cause of the amnesia.
Dissociative Fugue
The character flees from home or work and cannot recall her past. Once the flight halts, the character may assume an entirely new identity.
Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder)
The character appears to harbor more than one personality, each of which is dominant at times and has its own distinct behavior, name, and even gender. The player needs to keep track of the character’s different personalities. (Each one has the same ability scores and game statistics, but different goals, outlooks, and attitudes.)
Eating Disorders
These disorders can be incredibly debilitating and even lead to starvation. They are conditions that may continue for many years, sometimes continually endangering the patient.
Anorexia Nervosa
The character has an overpowering fear of becoming fat and consequently loses weight, as well as taking Constitution damage (at a rate of 1d8 points per week). Even when she is no more than skin and bones, the character continues to see herself as overweight. Without intervention, she may literally starve herself to death.
Bulimia Nervosa
The character frequently eats large amounts of food during secret binges. An eating episode may continue until abdominal distress or self-induced vomiting occurs. Feelings of depression and guilt frequently follow such episodes.
Impulse Control Disorders
These disorders include compulsive gambling, pathological lying, kleptomania (compulsive stealing), and pyromania (the compulsion to set fires).
Intermittent Explosive Disorder
The character is recognizably impulsive and aggressive, and at times gives way to uncontrollable rages that result in assault or destruction of property.
Mood Disorders
These disorders affect the victim’s attitude and outlook. Mild mood disorders can be almost impossible to detect without prolonged contact with an individual, but severe disorders usually have noticeable symptoms.
Depression
Symptoms of this illness include changes in appetite, weight gain or loss, too much or too little sleep, persistent feeling of tiredness or sluggishness, and feelings of worthlessness or guilt, leading in severe cases to hallucinations, delusions, stupor, or thoughts of suicide. All attack rolls, saves, and checks take a -4 penalty. A predisposition to use alcohol or other mood-altering substances in an attempt at self-medication exists. A character suffering from severe chronic depression may give up virtually all effort from feelings of hopelessness—for example, deciding not to get out of bed for two years.
Mania
The character has a fairly constant euphoric or possibly irritable mood. Symptoms include a general increase in activity, talkativeness, increased self-esteem to the point of delusion, decreased need for sleep, being easily distracted, willingness for dangerous or imprudent activities such as reckless driving, delusions, hallucinations, and bizarre behavior. All attack rolls, saves, and checks take a -4 penalty. A predisposition to use alcohol or other substances in an attempt at self-medication exists.
Bipolar Mood Disorder
The character oscillates between mood states, sometimes staying in one mood for weeks at a time, sometimes rapidly switching from one to another. Also known as manic depressive.
Personality Disorders
These long-term disorders have almost constant effects on a character’s behavior, making it difficult for him to interact with others and often making him unpleasant to be around as well. This is an important point to keep in mind when roleplaying— few players want to spend time with another player character suffering from a personality disorder.
In game terms, the character takes a -4 penalty on all Charisma based checks. In addition, the attitudes of NPCs the character encounters are shifted in a negative direction. When determining NPC atitudes, the player must make a Charisma check for the character. On a successful check, the attitude of the NPC in question shifts one step toward hostile; on a failed check, the attitude of the NPC in question shifts two steps toward hostile.
Personality disorders are classified in the following categories.
Antisocial
Short-sighted and reckless behavior, habitual liar, confrontational, fails to meet obligations (job, bills, relationships), disregards rights and feelings of others.
Avoidant
Oversensitive to rejection, low self-esteem, socially withdrawn.
Borderline
Rapid mood shifts, impulsive, unable to control temper, chronic boredom.
Compulsive
Perfectionist, authoritarian, indecisive from fear of making mistakes, difficulty expressing emotions.
Dependent
Lacks self-confidence; seeks another to look up to, follow, and subordinate herself to (“codependent”).
Histrionic
Overly dramatic, craves attention and excitement, overreacts, displays temper tantrums, may threaten suicide if thwarted.
Narcissistic
Exaggerated sense of self-importance, craves attention and admiration, considers others’ rights and feelings as of lesser importance.
Passive-Aggressive
Procrastinator, stubborn, intentionally forgetful, deliberately inefficient. Sabotages own performance on a regular basis.
Paranoid
Jealous, easily offended, suspicious, humorless, secretive, vigilant; exaggerates magnitude of offenses against oneself, refuses to accept blame.
Schizoid
Emotionally cold, aloof, has few friends; indifferent to praise or criticism.
GMs should realize that, while these traits may work for an interesting NPC from whom the players must extract information or a favor, their antisocial nature makes them ill-suited for members of an adventuring party.
Psychospecies Disorders
These disorders are specific to fantasy environments and involve the victim of one believing that she is a different type of creature. A victim might believe that she is a construct (and therefore immune to critical hits) or any other creature type that she has encountered. When a victim has a psychospecies disorder associated with a creature that has specific weaknesses (for example, a human thinking he’s a vampire), then the victim’s behavior changes become more noticeable (such as a fear of holy symbols and sunlight).
Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders
A psychotic character experiences a break with reality. Symptoms can include delusions, hallucinations, and cognitive impairment. In general, only alchemical substances or magic can treat these kinds of disorders. Note, however, that many psychotic characters suffer from the delusion that nothing is wrong with them, and hence they feel no need to take their medication.
Schizophrenia (Schizophreniform Disorder, Dementia Praecox)
A schizophrenic character’s attention span and ability to concentration are greatly diminished; to reflect this, use only one-half of the character’s normal skill modifier on any skill check requiring attentiveness (such as Disable Device, Spot, Search, Open Lock, and of course Concentration). Symptoms include bizarre delusions, paranoia, auditory hallucinations (“hearing voices”), incoherent speech, emotional detachment, social withdrawal, bizarre behavior, and a lack of the sense of self.
A schizophrenic character may fit into one of the following categories.
Undifferentiated
Impaired cognitive function, emotional detachment.
Disorganized
Inappropriate behavior, shallow emotional responses, delusions, hallucinations.
Catatonic
Mutism (loss of ability to talk), extreme compliance, absence of all voluntary movements, complete immobility (“statuism”).
Paranoid
Delusions of persecution, illogical thinking, hallucinations.
Symptoms from more than one type can occur in the same individual, along with mood disorders (see above). For example, catatonic schizophrenics sometimes have manic episodes of extreme activity alternating with periods of complete withdrawal. Schizophrenia brought on by sudden stress is called acute schizophrenia; characters who go insane and babble of vast global conspiracies usually are diagnosed as suffering from “acute paranoid schizophrenia.”
Other Psychotic Disorders
By some definitions, all severe mental illnesses are classified as psychoses, including mood disorders, dementia, and anxiety disorders. This section deals with some of the interesting behavioral syndromes that may turn up in your game.
Amok
“Running amok,” an outburst of violence and aggressive or homicidal behavior directed at people and property. Amnesia, return to consciousness, and exhaustion occur following the episode. During a killing spree, the character utilizes whatever weapons are on hand.
Boufee Detirant
Sudden outburst of aggressive, agitated behavior and marked confusion, sometimes accompanied by visual and auditory hallucinations or paranoia.
Brain Fog
Impaired concentration and feelings of fatigue, pains in the neck and head, a sense that worms are crawling inside one’s head.
Ghost Sickness
Weakness, loss of appetite, feelings of suffocation, nightmares, and a pervasive feeling of terror, attributed as a sending from witches or malign otherworldly powers.
Piblokto
“Arctic madness,” wherein the afflicted rips off clothing and runs howling like an animal through the snow.
Susto
A variety of somatic and psychological symptoms attributed to a traumatic incident so frightening that it dislodged the victim’s spirit from her body.
Taijin Kyofusho
“Face-to-face” phobia, an intense anxiety when in the presence of other people; fearfulness that one’s appearance, odor, or behavior is offensive.
Voodoo Death
Belief that a hex or curse can bring about misfortune, disability, and death through some spiritual mechanism. Often the victim self-fulfills the hexer’s prophecy by refusing to eat and drink, resulting in dehydration and starvation.
Wacinko
Anger, withdrawal, mutism, and immobility, leading to illness and suicide.
Wendigo Syndrome
The afflicted believes she is a personification of the Wendigo, a cannibalistic creature with an icy heart.
Shared Paranoid Disorder (Shared Delusional Disorder, Folie a Deux)
The character takes on the delusional system of another paranoid individual from being in close contact with that person.
Sleep Disorders
These disorders include insomnia (character has difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep) and narcolepsy (character frequently falls asleep, almost anywhere and at inappropriate times). Characters performing demanding tasks such as engaging in combat or casting a spell may, when stressed, need to make saves vs Death to stay awake and not put themselves in a dangerous situation.
Night Terrors
A sleeping character wakes after a few hours of sleep, usually screaming in terror. Pulse and breathing are rapid, pupils are dilated, and hair stands on end. The character is confused and hard to calm down. Night terrors are similar to ordinary nightmares, but much more intense and disruptive.
Somnambulism
Sleepwalking. As with night terrors, this behavior occurs in the first few hours of sleep. An episode may last up to 30 minutes. During the episode, the character’s face is blank and staring, and she can be roused only with difficulty. Once awake, she recalls nothing of the activity.
Somatoform Disorders
A somatoform disorder may be diagnosed when a character experiences physical symptoms that cannot be explained by an actual physical injury or disease.
Somatization Disorder
The character suffers from a physical ailment or diseaselike effect, with symptoms ranging from dizziness and impotence to blindness and intense pain. The Heal skill cannot identify any physical cause for the symptoms, and magical healing has no effect. The victim does not believe that her symptoms represent a specific disease. All attack rolls, saves, and checks take a -2 penalty.
Conversion Disorder
The character reports dysfunctions that suggest a physical disorder but, though they are involuntary, the symptoms actually provide a way for the victim to avoid something undesirable or a way to garner attention and caring, a condition called Munchausenism. Symptoms range from painful headaches to paralysis or blindness. With the condition known as Reverse Munchausenism, a character projects ill health onto others and may even arrange injuries or illnesses for them so that she can thereafter take care of them. All attack rolls, saves, and checks take a -2 penalty.
Hypochondriasis
Character believes she suffers from a serious disease. No physical cause for reported symptoms can be found, but the character continues to believe that the disease or condition exists, often with serious consequences to her normal life.
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Character suffers from perceived flaws in appearance, usually of the face, or of the hips or legs. Behavior may alter in unexpected ways to cover up the flaws or to calm anxieties.
Substance Abuse Disorder
A character with a substance abuse disorder finds solace in using a drug, becomes addicted to it, and spends much time maintaining, concealing, and indulging the habit. Drugs include alcohol, amphetamines, cocaine, hallucinogens, marijuana, nicotine, opium (especially morphine and heroin), sedatives, and more fantastic substances present in the campaign world (see Sample Drugs, earlier in this section).
A character under the sway of such a substance should feel the personal struggle daily. Saving throws might be used to resist or succumb symbolically to cravings, especially just before periods of stress (for example, just before a confrontation or likely battle with evil cultists). All attack rolls, saves, and checks take a -2 penalty because of withdrawal symptoms. Sanity losses could occur from binges or bad trips. Some characters might find that drugs promote communication with alien entities and deities, and that dreams about them become ever more vivid and horrifying, Conversely, such substances might function as medications, deadening a character’s fears and offering temporary defenses against Sanity loss.
Other Disorders
Other disorders exist in common parlance, but most of these are actually symptoms or specific instances of disorders already mentioned above. These include quixotism (seeing the supernatural everywhere, even in the most mundane surroundings), panzaism (seeing the most extraordinary events as ordinary and rational), and megalomania (delusions of power, wealth, fame, and ability). Use or ignore these as suits your campaign.
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