I'm in the beginning of a campaign with a half-elf wizard, and a big part of her backstory is that her elven father is constantly disappointed in her, particularly her arcane abilities. I was inspired by Liam O'Brien from Critical Role with his PTSD Wisdom save handicap, where Caleb risks going catatonic when he kills a humanoid creature with fire (if I recall correctly). I wanted to take a similar idea for my wizard, where she has to maintain her composure and self-confidence whenever her father or a mentor expresses disappointment in her. I've decided that a charisma save would make the most sense for this; I also thought that having the DC be 15 minus half her wizard level (rounded down) would help scale/balance throughout the game. However, I'm stuck on what the consequences of a failed save should be. It could just be a roleplaying mechanic so I don't have to think so intently about how she'll react, but I think it would be more interesting if there were a handicap for a failure. Originally I was thinking she would have disadvantage on ability checks (or maybe her proficiency modifier could be halved if that would be too much) until she could take a short/long rest to center herself. My DM suggested that perhaps she would be restricted from casting any spells above a certain level until a short/long rest, though it could be complicated to figure out what this line would be, and if it would change as she leveled up. I've watched a lot of D&D through Critical Role and others, but have had little chance to play the game myself and have never leveled up a character beyond level 5, so I don't have a great idea what mechanics would be well-balanced or crippling, especially at higher levels. Any suggestions would be most welcome!
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I'm in the beginning of a campaign with a half-elf wizard, and a big part of her backstory is that her elven father is constantly disappointed in her, particularly her arcane abilities. I was inspired by Liam O'Brien from Critical Role with his PTSD Wisdom save handicap, where Caleb risks going catatonic when he kills a humanoid creature with fire (if I recall correctly). I wanted to take a similar idea for my wizard, where she has to maintain her composure and self-confidence whenever her father or a mentor expresses disappointment in her. I've decided that a charisma save would make the most sense for this; I also thought that having the DC be 15 minus half her wizard level (rounded down) would help scale/balance throughout the game. However, I'm stuck on what the consequences of a failed save should be. It could just be a roleplaying mechanic so I don't have to think so intently about how she'll react, but I think it would be more interesting if there were a handicap for a failure. Originally I was thinking she would have disadvantage on ability checks (or maybe her proficiency modifier could be halved if that would be too much) until she could take a short/long rest to center herself. My DM suggested that perhaps she would be restricted from casting any spells above a certain level until a short/long rest, though it could be complicated to figure out what this line would be, and if it would change as she leveled up. I've watched a lot of D&D through Critical Role and others, but have had little chance to play the game myself and have never leveled up a character beyond level 5, so I don't have a great idea what mechanics would be well-balanced or crippling, especially at higher levels. Any suggestions would be most welcome!