Split personality

[Oxe]

Hey!

This is my first post ever on this forum, even though I've been around since I think 2010-ish when a user called Ku'Reshtin or something like that introduced me to OOTS. Anyways!

I'm playing D&D alot and I was wondering if anyone has ever attempted to play a character with a split personality? For example during the day you're a ranger and at night you turn into a murderous rogue.

You're unaware of this split only recieving hints here and there with blood on your hands or waking up somewhere you didn't go to sleep. I was thinking of letting one of my players try this (the one who came up with the idea) and let him have two separate character sheets and rework the exhaustion system seeing as he doesn't sleep as much as needed. Waking up every day with a penalty of some sort until reaching a certain level of exhaustion where he collapses completely and must sleep for 24 hours or something.

Any suggestions from DMs with perhaps a bit more experience than me in this field? :) The first thing that comes to mind is removing one fifth of his con every day so after day 5 he needs the 24 hours of rest.

[pwykersotz]

The first question I have is does he intend to murder the PC's? Because that way lies madness. I only ask because screwing over the party is what a majority of people I've seen are trying to do with requests like these.

If not, it can be fun, though easy to metagame perhaps. I've only had two sessions where I let a player do something like that, and it went pretty well.

[Yorrin]

I had a guy with two minds in one Wizard once, but it was all the same character sheet. He eventually merged the two personalities into a cohesive whole. It works best when the two personalities aren't completely opposed in their goals, merely their methods/morals/motivations.

[Toadkiller]

I'm playing my Warlock as having two "people" in his head. One of them is "him" the other may either be his patron or simply his own imagination. It isn't clear which yet.

But later the secondary personality is going to "drive" a bit more directly. It is all one character sheet though. I thought about trying to limit certain abilities (spells mostly) to one personality but it would be too disruptive to our table to play that out I think.

[Oxe]

The first question I have is does he intend to murder the PC's? Because that way lies madness. I only ask because screwing over the party is what a majority of people I've seen are trying to do with requests like these.

If not, it can be fun, though easy to metagame perhaps. I've only had two sessions where I let a player do something like that, and it went pretty well.

Ah, no that would not be his goal. It would be more in situations like the party being denied something and them being good letting it go. Then the evil personality will sneak back at night to get whatever he was denied.

[ruy343]

I had a player ask if he could make a character for a mid-level campaign that had, for example, 6 levels of cleric and 6 levels of wizard when the party as a whole was level 6. I really wasn't sure how to approach the idea, so I told him that it felt like it would be overpowered, since if a personality switch occurred, he'd reboot and get all the perks of the other class. That just felt unfair to the rest of the party.

If they can do it all with one character sheet, with the same number of levels as anyone else in the party, then I think it'd work. If they want to play the same class, then you can certainly let them do it: roleplaying is their choice. Just don't hand out any veiled advantages/disadvantages: make it entirely about roleplay.

That's my $0.02

[Myzz]

Yeah... same class played differently... by differing personalities is good.

Completely different classes, each with the same level as the rest of the party... not good. Especially resetting dynamics such as per short or long rest...

An exception to the above rule "could work" for pure spell casters like the Cleric on one side and a Wizard on the other... But the spells prepped would need to be cut in half, and spell slots used by one personality would burn an equal slot for the other personality...

I "might" even let the personalities share the same class but with differing archetypes... (not feasible on a ranger and only feasible on a cleric where the Deity has 2 domains). But resources used on 1 personality should burn an equivalent resource on the other personality).

I'd also make some sort of concrete trigger a requirement... not just when the player wants to RP and get better advantages in that given situation...

Another option would be to divide his XP up amongst his personalities and have them level seperately..

[calebrus]

Yeah... same class played differently... by differing personalities is good.

Completely different classes, each with the same level as the rest of the party... not good. Especially resetting dynamics such as per short or long rest...

An exception to the above rule "could work" for pure spell casters like the Cleric on one side and a Wizard on the other... But the spells prepped would need to be cut in half, and spell slots used by one personality would burn an equal slot for the other personality...

It works fine for casters. But you don't control who is in charge at the moment. The DM does. You trade sheets with him when he tells you to, upon stressful situations, or whenever else he chooses.

[Myzz]

It works fine for casters. But you don't control who is in charge at the moment. The DM does. You trade sheets with him when he tells you to, upon stressful situations, or whenever else he chooses.

hence the call for an actual concrete trigger...

<edit add: and if the 2 personalities are about equivalent in power... perhaps another trigger to revert>

[Oxe]

Hey!

Thanks for all the input guys! Makes me feel really good!

I think I'll have him somehow trade sheets and actually use two. But both character suffer the same detriment over time. Seeing as a con removal every day because a lack of sleep will also lower hitpoints the character will most likely easily die. I'll work on some other ideas!

Thanks again a bunch!

[Person_Man]

My 2cp:

1) Neither of the split personalities should be hostile or an anathema to the other players. Working together as a team is a requirement for D&D, unless everyone is completely aware of the fact that you're working against each other and is ok with that kind of a game.

2) The player should always be aware of what their character perceives and experiences, otherwise all trust breaks down between the players and DMs, which blows up the game. If a character has a split personality, it needs to be a player choice, and they need to talk to the DM and the other players about it before the game, not during a game, or after a game as a way of explaining your insane character choices.

3) If the different personalities have different class abilities, then you the player should not be in control of when you change classes. It should be treated more like Lycanthropy or archetypical portrayals of the Incredible Hulk, where triggers beyond your control cause you to change personalities.

4) There are other RPG specifically geared towards roleplaying madness or character dysfunction that you might enjoy, like Call of Cthulhu or Paranoia. D&D is really more of a hidden map encounter game with a strong tradition of roleplaying.