Each time a scary or tense situation happens, the DM can ask for a Sanity (Intelligence)check
Each sanity situation will have a DC level determined in the DM's head
Players that fail a sanity check will reduce their sanity by 1
Players that roll nat 20 on sanity checks receive a Moment of Courage : +1 sanity, and roll on the Heroic Courage table
Players that roll nat 1 on sanity checks, receive -2 sanity instead
Intimidation (Charisma) or Intimidation (Strength) can be used on an NPC or monster to force them to do a sanity check
New stat called Sanity (like HP)
Sanity can have values between 0 and 20
Sanity starts at 10+INT
For each even sanity number below 10 (i.e. 8, 6, 4, 2, 0), the character will receive an Insanity debuff for 1 turn (roll Insanity table)
When your Sanity reaches 0, roll a DC10 check. If you fail it, you experience a Heart Attack, and your HP drops to 0. If you succeed, you gain permanent Madness (flaw).
Any failed sanity check at 0 sanity incurs insanity directly
Sanity checks apply when monsters are afraid also
Sanity flavors:
The world is a dangerous place, and our adventures have to be quite insane and have their share of problems to venture far from civilization
Sanity also roughly represents levels of Morale, Stress and Courage a character has, for roleplaying purposes
Sanity applies to dumb monsters too, you can really scare them if you are creative, since their INT is so low
Monster sanity checks always apply an insanity debuff (instead of tracking their sanity)
Sanity is a buff for the INT stat for non-wizards
Sanity is also a buff for Strength stat for intimidation sanity tactics
Situations where sanity can be restored:
Prayer (or similar activity)before/during/after a short rest
You can now spend 1Inspiration to give the entire party 1 sanity
Bard song (with a Charisma check)
An inspiring sight
A victory (depending how big)
Finding loot
Meeting people and going in civilization
Eating a good meal
Having sex
Drinking booze
Carousing events
Ally reinforcements coming in
Situations where insanity can occur:
A friendly ally was killed DC20
A friendly ally is unconscious DC10
The monster(s) are overwhelmingly powerful DC15
Wolf howls in the distance DC5
A surprise attack DC10
An undead munching on a corpse spotted DC10
Alone in the forest at night DC10 every 1h
Direct contact with a divine being DC15
A banshee scream DC15
Seeing a dragon fly toward you DC20
(many more can be improvised)
Insanity table d20 (all for 1 turn)
Fearful - Freightened by the enemy
Paranoid - No ally can help or buff you.
Selfish - Cannot assist or help any ally
Abusive - Grapple nearest ally, and stay behind him
Hopeless - Drop your weapon (and shield) and back away slowly for half your speed
Stressed - Ability check disadvantage
Antipathy - Apply Antipathy spell effect to source of fear (WIS check when seen, or freightened)
Shaken - Tremors in hand, dex attack disadvantage
Weakened - Half damage attacks and Strength check disadvantage
Terror - Cannot move for one turn
Babble - Intelligible speak, and verbal spells cannot be cast
Confused - The creature uses all its movement to move in a random direction. To determine the direction, roll a d8 and assign a direction to each die face.
Misery - Take 1d4 psychic damage, multiplied by your level
Delusion- Hallucinate apparitions around you (all monsters have a mirror image effect for you)
Amnesic - You forget the class or race abilities you can take and cannot use them
Discouraged - Next attack has disadvantage
Irrational - Lose your turn performing an action that is not rational or useful to the situation at hand
Faint - Become unconscious
Horrified - Fall prone on your back and scream or cry
Fury - Attack the nearest target
Heroic Courage table d8 (all for 1 turn)
Leadership - Entire party receives +1 sanity
Courageous - You go first on the next combat turn
Focused - You have advantage on your next ranged attack
Stalwart - +2 AC temporarily
Powerful - Next melee attack if it hits, you gain critical on it
Vigorous - Double your speed
Bravery - You may choose up to 3 enemies to focus their actions on you
Respite - You may spend one hit dice for healing, due to an adrenaline surge
This is a ton of fun for the group, and we have other house rules that can balance the difficulty spike.
Let me know if you have the chance of playing with it.
EDIT:
I made a DND Beyond Homebrew Sanity Feat that you can use to track Sanity score on your characters sheet here, but it is not publishable since it is technically "not a feat" by mods, but a new stat.
I like the idea, though I wonder if parts of it could be streamlined a bit further.
Firstly I'd maybe treat Sanity as an ability score and have the checks simply be straight Sanity checks; no need to penalise lower INT players. Basically if you have Sanity 20 then you've got +5 to the check, whereas if your Sanity is beginning to ebb down at 8 you have -1 and so-on. This means it's easier to hold onto your Sanity while it's strong, and harder when it's low, meaning loss of sanity is more tense. To balance this a natural 20 should always pass a check, and natural 1 always fails.
I'd maybe do away with the heroic courage table personally, or just have it be optional, as fewer things to remember and tables to roll on is usually better. Not being insane should be reward enough, just as not being poisoned is your reward for passing a Constitution save. Alternatively have it just be one effect, I was thinking something like your Sanity goes up by +1 or is set to 10, whichever is better. So that natural 20 for a character on 0 Sanity suddenly becomes a very big deal.
It looks interesting, but the dungeon master guide already contains rules for sanity and horror systems. But I'm a sucker for things like this so I think I'm going to try play testing both systems side-by-side and seeing which one works more cleanly.
I like the idea, though I wonder if parts of it could be streamlined a bit further.
Firstly I'd maybe treat Sanity as an ability score and have the checks simply be straight Sanity checks; no need to penalise lower INT players. Basically if you have Sanity 20 then you've got +5 to the check, whereas if your Sanity is beginning to ebb down at 8 you have -1 and so-on. This means it's easier to hold onto your Sanity while it's strong, and harder when it's low, meaning loss of sanity is more tense. To balance this a natural 20 should always pass a check, and natural 1 always fails.
I'd maybe do away with the heroic courage table personally, or just have it be optional, as fewer things to remember and tables to roll on is usually better. Not being insane should be reward enough, just as not being poisoned is your reward for passing a Constitution save. Alternatively have it just be one effect, I was thinking something like your Sanity goes up by +1 or is set to 10, whichever is better. So that natural 20 for a character on 0 Sanity suddenly becomes a very big deal.
Just some things to consider anyway.
Yes, you can use a custom stat, but most tools have issues tracking that (like how I use DnD Beyond)
Also, INT is a dump stat generally, and this one makes it much more usable (in combat as well)
Hi! Do you still have the Charakter Sheet somewere? I want to use your System in an upcoming Campagne of mine (a Fusion of Darkest Dungeon and Mortheim/Dungeons of Drakenheim) and it would be great if I could use it for my Players :)
Hi! Do you still have the Charakter Sheet somewere? I want to use your System in an upcoming Campagne of mine (a Fusion of Darkest Dungeon and Mortheim/Dungeons of Drakenheim) and it would be great if I could use it for my Players :)
I have a feat that I created, but I cannot share it because the Homebrow mods don't allow it (it is not considered a feat)
Just create a custom feat, starting from the "Lucky" feat, and call it Sanity, and increase charges to 20.
Put this text inside it
Bonus: You can go to your character skills and add a new INT based stat called Sanity
You have a limited capacity to resist stressful situations.
You start out with 10+INT sanity points.
Every time you encounter a stressful situation, you must roll a Sanity (Intelligence) check (DC determined by the DM) and on a failed save, you lose 1 sanity point. When you lose sanity points and you land on an even sanity number below 10 (i.e. 8, 6, 4, 2, 0), roll a d20 on the Insanity table once for a 1 turn effect : [1] Fearful - Frightened by the enemy [2] Paranoid - No ally can help or buff you. [3] Selfish - Cannot assist or help any ally [4] Abusive - Grapple nearest ally, and stay behind him [5] Hopeless - Drop your weapon and back away slowly for half your speed [6] Stressed - Ability check disadvantage [7] Antipathy - Apply Antipathy spell effect to source of fear (WIS check when seen, or freightened) [8] Shaken - Tremors in hand, dex attack disadvantage [9] Weakened - Half damage attacks and Strength check disadvantage [10] Terror - Cannot move for one turn [11] Babble - Intelligible speak, and verbal spells cannot be cast [12] Confused - The creature uses all its movement to move in a random direction. To determine the direction, roll a d8 and assign a direction to each die face. [13] Misery - Take 1d4 psychic damage, multiplied by your level [14] Delusion- Hallucinate apparitions around you (all monsters have a mirror image effect for you) [15] Amnesic - You forget the class or race abilities you can take and cannot use them [16] Discouraged - Next attack has disadvantage [17] Irrational - Lose your turn performing an action that is not rational or useful to the situation at hand [18] Faint - Become unconscious [19] Horrified - Fall prone on your back and scream or cry [20] Fury - Attack the nearest target
If you roll a critical 1 on your Sanity (Intelligence) check, receive -2 sanity points instead.
If you roll a critical 20 on your Sanity (Intelligence) check, you gain 1 sanity point instead of losing one and you roll 1d8 on the "Moment of Courage" table for an extra courageous effect (1 turn): [1] Leadership - Entire party receives +1 sanity [2] Courageous - You go first on the next combat turn [3] Focused - You have advantage on your next ranged attack [4] Stalwart - +2 AC temporarily [5] Powerful - Next melee attack if it hits, you gain critical on it [6] Vigorous - Double your speed [7] Bravery - You may choose up to 3 enemies to focus their actions on you [8] Respite - You may spend one hit dice for healing, due to an adrenaline surge
You can regain your sanity points when you partake in situations that can soothe your stress, like drinking alcohol, praying, winning a battle, seeing reinforcements arrive to your aid, etc.
Intimidation (Charisma) or Intimidation (Strength) can be used on an NPC or monster to force them to do a sanity check.
When your Sanity reaches 0, roll a DC10 check. If you fail it, you experience a Heart Attack, and your HP drops to 0. If you succeed, you gain permanent Madness (flaw).
Thanks! I dont realy use DnD Beyond for gaming, more for Research so what I thought I could get was a Char Sheet to fill in manualy on paper :) The system for Sanity looks so gut that i realy want to use it :)
This is a ton of fun for the group, and we have other house rules that can balance the difficulty spike.
Let me know if you have the chance of playing with it.
EDIT:
I made a DND Beyond Homebrew Sanity Feat that you can use to track Sanity score on your characters sheet here, but it is not publishable since it is technically "not a feat" by mods, but a new stat.
Character Sheet Example
Darkest Dungeon-like DnD Insanity System
Let's put a meter to that foolish bravery, for both you and the NPCs.
(and help give the INT stat more uses)
Thank you for this. My party will not know what hit them
This will be perfect for a shore Cthulhu style thing I am planning.
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Epic Boons on DDB
This punishes people with low int
This is stupid, as the barbarian should be less likely to be affected by seeing horror, but will instead fail all their insanity checks
It is a fun concept but very flawed
If you add the optional Sanity Ability score and replace the Int from this with the Sanity from that it would work fine.
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Epic Boons on DDB
I like the idea, though I wonder if parts of it could be streamlined a bit further.
Firstly I'd maybe treat Sanity as an ability score and have the checks simply be straight Sanity checks; no need to penalise lower INT players. Basically if you have Sanity 20 then you've got +5 to the check, whereas if your Sanity is beginning to ebb down at 8 you have -1 and so-on. This means it's easier to hold onto your Sanity while it's strong, and harder when it's low, meaning loss of sanity is more tense. To balance this a natural 20 should always pass a check, and natural 1 always fails.
I'd maybe do away with the heroic courage table personally, or just have it be optional, as fewer things to remember and tables to roll on is usually better. Not being insane should be reward enough, just as not being poisoned is your reward for passing a Constitution save. Alternatively have it just be one effect, I was thinking something like your Sanity goes up by +1 or is set to 10, whichever is better. So that natural 20 for a character on 0 Sanity suddenly becomes a very big deal.
Just some things to consider anyway.
Characters: Bullette, Chortle, Dracarys Noir, Edward Merryspell, Habard Ashery, Legion, Peregrine
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Please don't reply to my posts unless you've read what they actually say.
It looks interesting, but the dungeon master guide already contains rules for sanity and horror systems. But I'm a sucker for things like this so I think I'm going to try play testing both systems side-by-side and seeing which one works more cleanly.
Did it go well?
Yes, you can use a custom stat, but most tools have issues tracking that (like how I use DnD Beyond)
Also, INT is a dump stat generally, and this one makes it much more usable (in combat as well)
Darkest Dungeon-like DnD Insanity System
Let's put a meter to that foolish bravery, for both you and the NPCs.
(and help give the INT stat more uses)
I have created a Feat on DND Beyond that can be used to track sanity
Behold!
https://www.dndbeyond.com/feats/435090-sanity
also, Question: Anyone know how to display pretty roll tables on feats, and how to add clickable rolls inside?
Darkest Dungeon-like DnD Insanity System
Let's put a meter to that foolish bravery, for both you and the NPCs.
(and help give the INT stat more uses)
Hi! Do you still have the Charakter Sheet somewere? I want to use your System in an upcoming Campagne of mine (a Fusion of Darkest Dungeon and Mortheim/Dungeons of Drakenheim) and it would be great if I could use it for my Players :)
I have a feat that I created, but I cannot share it because the Homebrow mods don't allow it (it is not considered a feat)
Just create a custom feat, starting from the "Lucky" feat, and call it Sanity, and increase charges to 20.
Put this text inside it
Bonus: You can go to your character skills and add a new INT based stat called Sanity
Example: https://ddb.ac/characters/37437580/4tBFtg
---
Sanity v1.1:
You have a limited capacity to resist stressful situations.
When you lose sanity points and you land on an even sanity number below 10 (i.e. 8, 6, 4, 2, 0), roll a d20 on the Insanity table once for a 1 turn effect :
[1] Fearful - Frightened by the enemy
[2] Paranoid - No ally can help or buff you.
[3] Selfish - Cannot assist or help any ally
[4] Abusive - Grapple nearest ally, and stay behind him
[5] Hopeless - Drop your weapon and back away slowly for half your speed
[6] Stressed - Ability check disadvantage
[7] Antipathy - Apply Antipathy spell effect to source of fear (WIS check when seen, or freightened)
[8] Shaken - Tremors in hand, dex attack disadvantage
[9] Weakened - Half damage attacks and Strength check disadvantage
[10] Terror - Cannot move for one turn
[11] Babble - Intelligible speak, and verbal spells cannot be cast
[12] Confused - The creature uses all its movement to move in a random direction. To determine the direction, roll a d8 and assign a direction to each die face.
[13] Misery - Take 1d4 psychic damage, multiplied by your level
[14] Delusion- Hallucinate apparitions around you (all monsters have a mirror image effect for you)
[15] Amnesic - You forget the class or race abilities you can take and cannot use them
[16] Discouraged - Next attack has disadvantage
[17] Irrational - Lose your turn performing an action that is not rational or useful to the situation at hand
[18] Faint - Become unconscious
[19] Horrified - Fall prone on your back and scream or cry
[20] Fury - Attack the nearest target
[1] Leadership - Entire party receives +1 sanity
[2] Courageous - You go first on the next combat turn
[3] Focused - You have advantage on your next ranged attack
[4] Stalwart - +2 AC temporarily
[5] Powerful - Next melee attack if it hits, you gain critical on it
[6] Vigorous - Double your speed
[7] Bravery - You may choose up to 3 enemies to focus their actions on you
[8] Respite - You may spend one hit dice for healing, due to an adrenaline surge
Darkest Dungeon-like DnD Insanity System
Let's put a meter to that foolish bravery, for both you and the NPCs.
(and help give the INT stat more uses)
Thanks! I dont realy use DnD Beyond for gaming, more for Research so what I thought I could get was a Char Sheet to fill in manualy on paper :) The system for Sanity looks so gut that i realy want to use it :)
This is amazing. If I were running Curse of Strahd I'd even try it out.
The thing about this one, is that you don't have to have a horror themed campaign to utilize it.
Just keep it on the ready, and let each character sheet have this stat (just in-case)
Darkest Dungeon-like DnD Insanity System
Let's put a meter to that foolish bravery, for both you and the NPCs.
(and help give the INT stat more uses)