Help Creating Creature that Represents Anxiety

[ev.ocation]

I want to create a character who's possessed by something and said thing will pretty much represent anxiety. I have really bad anxiety but my DnD buddies don't know and I want to have a simple way of expressing it. I wasn't sure how I could bring this idea into life. I've been playing DnD for almost two years now but I know that there's a lot more people who are experienced with homebrew than I am.

One main idea I had for this was that the creature who's doing the possessing can sometimes get two powerful and overwhelming and pretty much cause a "panic attack" where the character looses touch with reality for a few minutes.

[John Out West]

If i were to describe anxiety, it would be Fear and Isolation. From how my friend describes his anxiety, there are some things he just cannot do. Whats worse, no one can help him get past it, causing isolation. (I eventually convinced him to see a doctor about it)

You didn't mention the system but i'm assuming its 5e. There are already rules for being Frightened, so that can save us some time. If we want the players to feel the fear, we would need some sort of terrible effect that makes approaching the creature extremely unnerving. People tend to be most afraid of the unknown; giving a name or prescribing a symptom will instantly reassure us, even if the name or symptom is terrible. I would, thereby, suggest that whatever the terrible effect is, it has an unknown quality to it.
If two players walked towards the creature, and one took 6 damage while the other became blind for one minute, the third player would be hesitant to see what the creature would do to them.

As for isolation, there's a few options. My first instinct is teleportation. The creature can transport their prey to its home dimension, where it can feast upon them in private. That being said, it can only affect one character.
Another option could be to "Confuse" the characters, so that all characters around them, both friend and foe, appear invisible. They are unable to hear or see anyone, and they are suddenly attacked by the mysterious force. That being said, if everyone is experiencing the same problem, it often creates a sense of comradery, and removes the isolation.

Hope that helps!

[JNAProductions]

Speaking as someone who actually has anxiety, I'd heavily advise you talk to your table first. Now, you know them better than we do, of course, but I play D&D to have fun, and having someone trying to replicate the experience of anxiety at the table to my PC... Not fun.

Basically, I'd advise caution on this-it's a neat idea, but not necessarily one you should use.

[Bjarkmundur]

Anxiety as an ongoing effect of a NPC. That's tricky.

Let's work from the bottom up.

This creature wants it's host to be unable to act, and makes sure its host doesn't partake in certain activities.

Contrast is your best friend. Have the creature possess a perfect knight-type person. The town's go to guy, the guy everyone comes to for help, the guy that's always willing to help. A man that when thanked says something like "It's protect, and serve, if I remember my oath correctly".

Then make the possessing creature actively try to stop him, and throw at him all kinds of nasty effects when he tries to do what's right.

The NPC wants to be there for his fellow men, he wants to stand in the frontline, take the hits so no one else gets hurt, but now he has to fight his demon whenever he tries.

Internal struggles are hard to externalise for players, so have the creature spawn a physical threat. Then we get to slowly experience the NPCs reactions when he realises that doing what he wants to do creates danger for himself and those around him. His despair when it gets so bad it becomes a no-win situation should really be the thing that hammers the idea home.

We can set up a timeline, where the group gets used to this NPC helping out, then after a couple of scenes of him saving the day, one per session, you can throw in the physical manifestations, and his reaction "let me be! Stop punishing me for doing what's right".

He slowly grows bitter and mean, but his will to help is still present in his eyes. He says mean things, but anyone with passive insight of 13 can tell he's not speaking the truth.

This can escalate until the group is preparing for a boss fight and go and ask him for help, where he explains that he can't. They eventually manage to convince him, but as soon as they open the door to go out of his house, the demon manifests in full, and he has a "panic attack", and is stunned while the party defeats his anxiety.

The closing monologue from the Knight is your chance to explain to your friends. They have now seen the effects of anxiety, and have had the difficulties externalised for them. Have the knight explain the feeling he got when he realised everytime he tried to go out of the house he had to fight for his life, and how important it was to have people helping him fight his demon's.

[Bjarkmundur]

Now if that idea doesn't suck, I can help you create the minor manifestations, and the embodiment of anxiety itself, if you give me your group level and number of players :)