If a Non-Player Character was to go mad, how would you make them sound like they believe what they're doing, be it killing people, drinking randomly, or being scared of everything? How would you act a rapid and sudden change of personality?
Laughing or grinning constantly, switching to total monotone, or saying strange, crazy things in between their normal speech (like the Mad Hatter or Sheogorath) come to mind.
Not exactly madness, but I have a Half-Orc ex pit fighter (Monk), Atilla. Who sees himself as something of a bad-a$$.
I assembled a number of quotes you might like. Some are weaker, but there are a few gems. (Personal favourite: Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life)
# Battle Cries: Hurry it up, I want to be in hell in time for dinner - Retreat? Hell, we just got here - I think I'm becoming a god! - They've got us surrounded again - poor bastards!
# Advice for your friends: Don't be careful, you could hurt yourself - Mistakes are the portals of discovery - The best things in life make you sweaty - If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong - The early bird gets the worm, but the 2nd mouse gets the cheese - If the gods are watching us, the least we can do is entertain - Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life - Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist his flag, and begin slitting throats
# Views on life: I don't want to die without any scars - Forgiveness is between them and god; I'm just here to arrange the meeting - Losers always whine about their best; winners go home and $&@& the prom queen - The voices in my head might not be real, but they've got some good ideas - I intend to live forever; so far so good - The quickest way to a man's heart is a bilateral incision in the upper left region of the sternum
# When meeting new people: Can you see the "f-you" in my smile - I do a think called what I want - I come here to chew jerky and kill. I'm all out of jerky. - Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while that you shouldn't have f-ed with. That's me. - The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it's on the list - I don't have an attitude problem; you have a perception problem
In seriousness, though, I think some research on real disorders would be useful. Not all “madness” is of the sociopath or violence form. Sometimes it’s perception of reality or emotional issues or perspective or strange behaviour. We are limited at the table and by our individual “acting” skills, but if you are trying to show rather than tell the party that someone is slipping, I’d suggest establishing a baseline behaviour with the party, reinforce it to draw attention to it, then have quite a dramatic change manifest. This has to be pretty obvious, like clues, otherwise there is a decent chance the party won’t pick up (limitations of what can be communicated at the table and players aren’t too bright :o).
I reread the original post. If you’re looking for specific ways to act, I suggest just drawing on characters are familiar with and are pretty easy to approximate: Hannibal Lecter, the kurigan (sp?) from the Highlander, Stewie Griffin, Captain Kirk, Jax from the Sons of Anarchy. Whatever you’re comfortable with.
One way you could approach it is to have the NPC be distracted, not really listen to the players, repeat yourself or mutter. All depending the mamount of interraction your PCs will have with this NPCs as such behaviour can become frustrating to players. But if it's a short amount of time, I'd go ahead with that. Never really useful or listening. Then if you need this NPC to drop info, you randomly say it in the most innapropriate momment.
You could make their behavior more erratic, or maybe make them see visions of killing other party members, then have to make a wisdom save or carry out the vision. The DC could depend on the players level of madness. Their speech might also become more garbled and harder to understand.
Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he will eat for a lifetime. Oh, and it would be nice if you gave him a fishing rod.
So I'm wanting to make an artificer, specifically, an artillerist, who is a compulsive pyromaniac, obsessed with blowing things up and watching things burn. He is constantly twitchy, smiling or chuckling softly to himself for no apparent reason. He is a thri kreen (insect folk), and it is nigh on impossible for non insectiods to determine his emotions or thoughts. His erratic, black compound eyes serving as a barrier between the world and the twisted thoughts lying behind those never blinking eyes. His flaws are that he makes irrational and unsafe decisions, and has no concept of collateral damage. His ideal is, "Things are so much prettier when they burn." I was thinking his backstory was that he accidentally lit his home ablaze while making illegal substances for others, and the fire and toxic fumes quickly spread across the dusty village in the desert, and the rest of the locust people were going to kill him, so he fled in hot pursuit. Do you have any ideas for a bonds or things that won't make him a generic, "I'm insane so I have no discernible traits" characters?
If a Non-Player Character was to go mad, how would you make them sound like they believe what they're doing, be it killing people, drinking randomly, or being scared of everything? How would you act a rapid and sudden change of personality?
Laughing or grinning constantly, switching to total monotone, or saying strange, crazy things in between their normal speech (like the Mad Hatter or Sheogorath) come to mind.
Wizard (Gandalf) of the Tolkien Club
Pick a real insanity type, rather than the trope from movies.
Go with one of those. Pick a complusion/fear/hallucination/depression and go with it.
What sort of words would you use for someone with the Murderhobo type flaw? Any good 'quote things' that would sound natural to use?
"Of course killing people is fun. Why else would I kill everyone I meet?"
There is no dawn after eternal night.
Homebrew: Magic items, Subclasses
Not exactly madness, but I have a Half-Orc ex pit fighter (Monk), Atilla. Who sees himself as something of a bad-a$$.
I assembled a number of quotes you might like. Some are weaker, but there are a few gems. (Personal favourite: Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life)
# Battle Cries: Hurry it up, I want to be in hell in time for dinner - Retreat? Hell, we just got here - I think I'm becoming a god! - They've got us surrounded again - poor bastards!
# Advice for your friends: Don't be careful, you could hurt yourself - Mistakes are the portals of discovery - The best things in life make you sweaty - If I agreed with you, we'd both be wrong - The early bird gets the worm, but the 2nd mouse gets the cheese - If the gods are watching us, the least we can do is entertain - Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for a day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life - Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit on his hands, hoist his flag, and begin slitting throats
# Views on life: I don't want to die without any scars - Forgiveness is between them and god; I'm just here to arrange the meeting - Losers always whine about their best; winners go home and $&@& the prom queen - The voices in my head might not be real, but they've got some good ideas - I intend to live forever; so far so good - The quickest way to a man's heart is a bilateral incision in the upper left region of the sternum
# When meeting new people: Can you see the "f-you" in my smile - I do a think called what I want - I come here to chew jerky and kill. I'm all out of jerky. - Ever notice how you come across somebody once in a while that you shouldn't have f-ed with. That's me. - The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it's on the list - I don't have an attitude problem; you have a perception problem
In seriousness, though, I think some research on real disorders would be useful. Not all “madness” is of the sociopath or violence form. Sometimes it’s perception of reality or emotional issues or perspective or strange behaviour. We are limited at the table and by our individual “acting” skills, but if you are trying to show rather than tell the party that someone is slipping, I’d suggest establishing a baseline behaviour with the party, reinforce it to draw attention to it, then have quite a dramatic change manifest. This has to be pretty obvious, like clues, otherwise there is a decent chance the party won’t pick up (limitations of what can be communicated at the table and players aren’t too bright :o).
I reread the original post. If you’re looking for specific ways to act, I suggest just drawing on characters are familiar with and are pretty easy to approximate: Hannibal Lecter, the kurigan (sp?) from the Highlander, Stewie Griffin, Captain Kirk, Jax from the Sons of Anarchy. Whatever you’re comfortable with.
One way you could approach it is to have the NPC be distracted, not really listen to the players, repeat yourself or mutter. All depending the mamount of interraction your PCs will have with this NPCs as such behaviour can become frustrating to players. But if it's a short amount of time, I'd go ahead with that. Never really useful or listening. Then if you need this NPC to drop info, you randomly say it in the most innapropriate momment.
You could make their behavior more erratic, or maybe make them see visions of killing other party members, then have to make a wisdom save or carry out the vision. The DC could depend on the players level of madness. Their speech might also become more garbled and harder to understand.
Give a man a fish, and he will eat for a day. Teach a man to fish, and he will eat for a lifetime. Oh, and it would be nice if you gave him a fishing rod.
-Trevor Noah
Current character: Daceth dococeth, moon blessed.
So I'm wanting to make an artificer, specifically, an artillerist, who is a compulsive pyromaniac, obsessed with blowing things up and watching things burn. He is constantly twitchy, smiling or chuckling softly to himself for no apparent reason. He is a thri kreen (insect folk), and it is nigh on impossible for non insectiods to determine his emotions or thoughts. His erratic, black compound eyes serving as a barrier between the world and the twisted thoughts lying behind those never blinking eyes. His flaws are that he makes irrational and unsafe decisions, and has no concept of collateral damage. His ideal is, "Things are so much prettier when they burn." I was thinking his backstory was that he accidentally lit his home ablaze while making illegal substances for others, and the fire and toxic fumes quickly spread across the dusty village in the desert, and the rest of the locust people were going to kill him, so he fled in hot pursuit. Do you have any ideas for a bonds or things that won't make him a generic, "I'm insane so I have no discernible traits" characters?
Real pyromania often involves a build up of stress till they relieve it by lighting a fire. Sometimes - not always - that relief is sexual.
Often the people feel guilty. Perhaps he likes to donate to healers, strong on charity.
I strongly suggest giving Petersen Games Cthulu Mythosbook a peek.
It has an entire 5e friendly system for exploring madness beyond Cthulu.