Roleplaying Madness

[Dr. Cliché]

One of my characters has been afflicted with Madness:

'Madness. The character has disadvantage on ability checks and saving throws that use Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, and gains the following flaw: "I can't tell what's real anymore."'


The thing is, it seems rather vague. I'm struggling to work out whether my character is supposed to be hallucinating or suffering from some weird from of Solipsism.

Can anyone offer me suggestions as to how to actually roleplay this?

[the_brazenburn]

Whenever something interesting or important happens, act like you think it's a hallucination. Then do something completely random, or close your eyes and repeat "this isn't happening, this isn't happening".

Or ask your DM to pass you notes telling you what you think is happening whenever an event happens.

[Magzimum]

It is up to your imagination. I would go with both: Hallucinations and Solipsism. Add some imaginary conspiracies if you like.

[saucerhead]

Whenever someone addresses you ask a third party if they can see them.

Walk around with a carrot (greens and all) tucked into your belt. (magic wand that runs out of charges in a few days, so you eat it and buy another)

Pretend everything is a big ongoing stage production. Boo the villains, cheer the heroes, eat popcorn, tell others to be quiet because you can't hear the dialogue etc.

[Quoxis]

While the solipsism idea is neat it’s A) difficult to roleplay, at least while keeping it relevant to the game, and B) afaik the term describes the feeling that you’re the only real thing while everything and everyone around you is imaginary - not exactly what the madness description says, that’s more akin to hallucinations imo.

An easy way to rp that would be ignoring minor things that happen around you („oh, sorry, i thought i just imagined you“), insisting that you heard something in total silence or saw something in the corner of your field of vision, or talking to an imaginary familiar.
Bonus points if your GM gives you an imp or quasit familiar that only speaks to you and is invisible 24/7.

[solidork]

Personally, I would avoid playing it for laughs.

[Dr. Cliché]

Personally, I would avoid playing it for laughs.

Any particular reason why?



Whenever someone addresses you ask a third party if they can see them.

Walk around with a carrot (greens and all) tucked into your belt. (magic wand that runs out of charges in a few days, so you eat it and buy another)

Pretend everything is a big ongoing stage production. Boo the villains, cheer the heroes, eat popcorn, tell others to be quiet because you can't hear the dialogue etc.

Not sure about the last one, but I like the first two. Could be amusing to start collecting random crap, thinking that it's all magical gear.




Or ask your DM to pass you notes telling you what you think is happening whenever an event happens.

That's not a bad idea.


Cheers for the suggestions so far, guys. :smallsmile:

[Sigreid]

I would just run with it. Attack foes that aren't there, hit on hags convinced they are beautiful young women, act suspicious around Tyr's Paladins and generally entertain myself until the DM and party get tired of it and cure me.

[Angelalex242]

See: The Joker (Dark Knight)
Also see: Drusilla (Buffy/Angel)

Go nuts. Literally.

[willdaBEAST]

See: The Joker (Dark Knight)
Also see: Drusilla (Buffy/Angel)

Go nuts. Literally.
Personally I'd avoid using this as an opportunity to be chaotic evil. Unpredictable and occasionally violent, sure, but you have to tread delicately around being a psychopath in most player groups and campaigns.

One option is to randomize your characters reactions a bit, come up with some kind of chart.

roll a d6

1. behaves normally
2. says what they're thinking out loud
3. makes a wild accusation
4. starts behaving erratically (disrobing, making animal noises, etc)
5. exhibits OCD like behavior
6. starts hallucinating or addressing an imaginary person

Those are just examples, you could come up with a list much more tied to "I can't tell what's real anymore".

[Angelalex242]

I always figured, the more disruptive you make your insanity, the quicker they'll fix it.

[solidork]

Any particular reason why?

It just seems in poor taste, and undercuts the seriousness of whatever it is that happened to give you the madness.(Assuming it was something serious, at least)

We had a similar situation where our already hotheaded sorcerer got their hands on a powerful dagger that gave her the flaw that made her super impulsive. The gradual realization that maybe she was being more reckless than normal and the eventual confrontation over getting her to give up the dagger was one of the high points of the campaign.

Something that might be interesting is to "give up" some of the control on how the madness manifests by working with your DM on some kinds of ways you want it to manifest and then having them just insert that kind of stuff into the results of things like Insight/Perception/Investigation checks. If done well, it can create situations where you as a player don't know whats real either.

[SpanielBear]

I have to second the notion that portraying madness be done somewhat sensitively. Statistically, there's a high chance someone you're playing with or close to them will have experienced mental health issues at some point; and even if they're a friend they may have kept it quiet. I'm not saying don't do it it's a good dramatic trope, but it's worth giving it more nuance than just yelling "Oogitieboogitieboogitie!!!!" and stabbing random strangers.

(I don't think the op planned on doing that either, just thought I'd say it so it's in the thread).

That being said, I guess the other thing to think about is who you are acting mad for- yourself or the rest of the group. If you are doing it for in character development, working with your DM so they can throw unexpected things at you is a good suggestion. Magic items that whisper so you have to decide if they're cursed, npcs saying things to you out of nowhere then denying they said anything, insects crawling over your friends that only you can see. Give you the chance to react in character.

If you are doing it so the whole group gets drawn into it, the trick would b doing something noticeable but not too disruptive. Responding to voices is a good one, occasionally saying out loud a fragment of an internal conversation. Or your character has moments of catatonia where they need someone to shake them out of it (out of combat probably, although you can bet the rest of the party would notice!). What I *wouldn't* do is mimic behaviours that are notably traumatic in real life, like self harm. That's not something you want to spring on a group out of nowhere.

This feels very preachy, so I'm gonna stop. Like I say, I'm not saying don't explore this theme or anything, it's not that problematic. But I do know that it's worth being careful.

[MoiMagnus]

One of my characters has been afflicted with Madness:

'Madness. The character has disadvantage on ability checks and saving throws that use Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma, and gains the following flaw: "I can't tell what's real anymore."'


The thing is, it seems rather vague. I'm struggling to work out whether my character is supposed to be hallucinating or suffering from some weird from of Solipsism.

Can anyone offer me suggestions as to how to actually roleplay this?

As said by others, you can play a "random madness".
But if you have a background big enough, you can make a "determined madness".

Here is an example:
Your character lost a friend/compagnon/... in a tragic way.
During his madness, the friend come back as a ghost, and your character experience a "day-to-day life" with him. He see 2 reality at the same time (the true reality, and its madness), but does not know which one is the true.
He will alternate phases:
-where he is lucid, and know that the ghost of his friend is fake, and try to ignore him
=> This should be most of the time, in order to not disturb too much the session
-where he is convinced that his friend is still alive, and talk to him
-where he is convinced that his friend is alive but missing, so searching for him
-where he think the other PCs are imaginary ghosts, and complaining to his friend about them
-where he think the other PCs are dead in the same way as his friend, and consider everything as a ghost

[Sariel Vailo]

Get meta with it grab a 20 sided polyhedral dice in character and say "these dice control the outcome of all our fates."