Making a cursed item.

[KindOfGoodGuy]

For a while I have been thinking of adding a homebrewed cursed item to my game, but I am unsure of how to iron out the mechanics. The idea is a pair of bracers that when worn causes the person wearing them to split into 2 versions of themselves. The catch is that this would split the person's brain, so that one body is dominated by the left half and the other is dominated by the right half. Obviously this would require good RP, but my players seem capable of it. My issue like I said though is ironing out the mechanics for things like combat. Can you guys help?

[Gildedragon]

Honestly: best if one of the characters was NPC or you cribbed the Dvati

[EvulOne]

Split the alignment of the character. If he/she was Lawful Neutral, one side is fanatically lawful while the other is true neutral. Have the player choose which half to play as his player character while you run the other as an NPC. (to get them into trouble of course)

[Telonius]

I'd be very cautious about this, for all the reasons that Leadership is an extremely strong feat. You'd pretty much be giving a second character to your player. If you're doing a sort of thing where the bracers bring out a previously-suppressed version of the character, it would work with less damage to party balance.

For mechanics, I'd suggest checking out the character's Intelligence and Charisma stats, and either flip them or give +4/-4 to each stat (whichever results in the more appropriate score) in the split versions. Wisdom would be unchanged.