Traumatic Past Char. help

[yuedarkangel]

Hello all first post here and it is kind of a whopper, need some help deciding the game mechanics behind a Character I created who has a rather traumatic past.

- One of the first is that being restrained, either physically or magically, would send her into a panic attack (as it brings up memory's of being in captivity.) Figure that if she is restrained long enough she might slip into a catatonic state, but that would be the last of maby 2-3 failed rolls.

- Second would be how she is distressed by anyone touching her (she'd rather be the toucher than the touchee,) what kind of rolls would she make against unwanted touching, and possible negative and positive effects of this condition.

- Third is a psychological attachment to her obsidian dagger. Much like a child and their safety blanket the dagger gives her comfort simply knowing that she has it, what would happen if it was misplaced, lost or at worst broken in front of her.

- Fifth is a deep rooted hatred towards Orc kind even half Orcs, a kind of hatred that can almost blind her to anything else happening around her. She sees an Orc she wants it dead.

- The last is that she suffers from acute night terrors, instead of waking up screaming as described in the book she would rather wake in an agitated state, to the extent of lashing at phantoms.

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

[Psyren]

- The last is that she suffers from acute night terrors, instead of waking up screaming as described in the book she would rather wake in an agitated state, to the extent of lashing at phantoms.

What book is that? Are you playing 3.5 or PF?


You can represent this all mechanically if you really want to (say, by desigining a custom curse/affliction and simply making it nonmagical, then applying to her) but you'll need the DM's assistance to do it. Also be aware that not every playgroup may like the idea of adventuring alongside a psychologically damaged companion, so I would discuss that up front with everyone as well if you haven't done so already.

Anyway, ideas:

- For the fear of confinement/bondage I would simply call for a will save every X amount of time (minutes? hours? days?). Failed saves could either make her go through stages like fatigued -> exhausted -> unconscious (helpess), or you could make her take nonlethal damage (represented by thrashing around and mental anguish) on a failed save until she eventually passes out.

- Not wanting to be touched is easy , force allies to hit her touch AC every time they want to touch her (including to buff or heal her.) This is similar to the Superstitious rage power from Pathfinder. If she's not preoccupied with combat, you can have her use the Total Defense action to avoid their hands actively. The negative effects would be obvious, it's harder to buff or heal her in combat. Positive effects would be largely up to you and the DM, I was under the impression that these were supposed to be all downside.

- The dagger attachment is a bit more complicated - there's a wide range of possible reactions to its loss, from a morale penalty to checks all the way to full-on insanity. So you'll have to be a bit more specific here.

- Orcs as a favored enemy or some kind of Hatred racial applying to them would work for the 4th point. (I think you labeled it 5th?)

- The night terrors depend on how acute you want them to be. Does she wake well-rested even after her visions? Would she attack anyone who woke her, and would she use lethal or non-lethal damage if so? Etc.

[Nettlekid]

Hello all first post here and it is kind of a whopper, need some help deciding the game mechanics behind a Character I created who has a rather traumatic past.

- One of the first is that being restrained, either physically or magically, would send her into a panic attack (as it brings up memory's of being in captivity.) Figure that if she is restrained long enough she might slip into a catatonic state, but that would be the last of maby 2-3 failed rolls.

- Second would be how she is distressed by anyone touching her (she'd rather be the toucher than the touchee,) what kind of rolls would she make against unwanted touching, and possible negative and positive effects of this condition.

- Third is a psychological attachment to her obsidian dagger. Much like a child and their safety blanket the dagger gives her comfort simply knowing that she has it, what would happen if it was misplaced, lost or at worst broken in front of her.

- Fifth is a deep rooted hatred towards Orc kind even half Orcs, a kind of hatred that can almost blind her to anything else happening around her. She sees an Orc she wants it dead.

- The last is that she suffers from acute night terrors, instead of waking up screaming as described in the book she would rather wake in an agitated state, to the extent of lashing at phantoms.

Any help or suggestions would be much appreciated.

These can all be roleplayed out without need for mechanics, but I'm sure we can get mechanical affects into this if we want to.

For the restraints, I'd say that the first round or two that she's restrained, she becomes Shaken. For the next five rounds, she's Frightened. In the next round she becomes Panicked, and because she can't flee, the round after that she Cowers, whimpering on the ground. If the time frame of 7-8 rounds is too short for you, up it to like minutes or something, but the rounds should do you well since once she Cowers, that's kind of it until she's freed. Note that until she Cowers, she can (and probably must) use any means at her disposal to flee from her fear, in this case get unrestrained.

For the touching thing, does it apply skin-to-skin only, or even them hitting armor? You could have her become Shaken for a round if someone succeeds on a Touch attack against her, or if the latter is the case, then if they make a regular melee attack that doesn't hit but exceeds her Touch AC, then that means the armor is what deflected it, so it still touched her. Any allies attempting to make Touch attacks, like for a Cure spell, would have to beat Touch AC as normal.

There are many feats like Ancestral Relic or Item Familiar that make an item bound to you and would make you hate to lose it. Item Familiar is probably best for this, because you can invest pieces of your life force and skills and stuff into it, meaning that you really do lose a part of yourself when it's gone.

The Orcs are pretty easy, just have a little Ranger with Favored Enemy: Orc, or a Barbarian who only Rages when she sees Orcs, or something like that.

Depending on how debilitating you want these terrors to be, maybe every night you have to make a Will save equal to 10+ the damage you were dealt by Orcs today -the damage you dealt to Orcs today, or any other trigger that connects to the trauma, and if you fail that save then you're Fatigued the next day, or maybe just until you rest peacefully for an hour, or something.

[Ultimate_Coffee]

Hello all first post here and it is kind of a whopper, need some help deciding the game mechanics behind a Character I created who has a rather traumatic past.
Hello yuedarkangel,
regarding your question, why do game mechanics need to be involved in this complicated character? This trauma that your character has experienced simply creates a persona for RPing the character.
Why don't you just roleplay these downsides, rather than actually giving them stats. If my character really likes apples, I'm not going to have to roll a will save whenever I see an apple...
Of course, if you want to have significant downsides in many situations... talk to your DM about how he/she would like to rule this.

[yuedarkangel]

Thanks for the tips guys.


What book is that? Are you playing 3.5 or PF?
The Unearthed Arcana for 3.5 talks about this a bit, as well as a few other ideas, but never went into full descriptions or mechanics.


regarding your question, why do game mechanics need to be involved in this complicated character?
I really wanted to have some game mechanics because not everyone with a mental impairment can decide how bad it's going to hit them. Like Wolverine and his night terrors sometimes he's fine other times he wakes up and stabs rogue in the chest. So having a mechanical aspect to it adds a bit of random chance that the character could roll a 20 and shrug everything off about being restrained for that instance or a 1 and fall straight into a cowering state.