Not sure how I'd go about doing this but I'm thinking of making a character based on Shallan Davar and the lightweavers from Brandon Sandersons Stormlight archives.
In the books she has multiple personalities that can all interact and have different skills/backgrounds. I'm thinking that it would obviously be too much, and kind of broken to have 4 separate character sheets all with different abilities, but maybe a multiclassed character that has different backgrounds (would probably still be 4 separate sheets so that the backgrounds could be calculated differently as needed)
Anybody have any better ideas for how to make that work? And what about switching personalities? Maybe during combat it would be an action to change? (Thinking the character would be a changing and each personality would have a unique appearance)
Yeah, just stay in one class and then act as multi personalities, based on what you wrote play as a fighter through and through, and have them fight using different weapons for each personality. Eg. Dual Whips for Personality One. Shield And Sword for Personality Two, Long Bow for Personality Three, and Great Weapon For Personality Four. For the background get yourself the faceless background or choose from charlatan or just make a custom one. No need to have an action to change personalities, just change the weapons. Making feats on those personality is up too you, but recommend to have a high score for it so you can focus around building the character ideally rapier for the sword and shield meaning using mostly dexterity and the great weapon is rarely used. Otherwise you need high ability scores. You are correct to follow a KISS method if you aren't still sure about it or else you will overcomplicate it to the point you would take so long to creating a singular character. Trust me took me a week once, only for it to not be played at all. Otherwise you have too level up four different character sheets together, heck I don't even know if the DM will allow that.
Sanderson is a great author. (Good book choice!) In my opinion, Shallan would be a illusionist wizard capable of casting mirror image, disguise self, and other illusion magic, as well as some basic transmutation spells. (For an always-usable self illusion, you could have her be a changeling stat-wise) She would have the noble background, and her alternate personalities would actually use different skills (Veil using sleight of hand and deception, for instance), not have different backgrounds. (Your Shallan character would have all the skills, but only use them with the relevant personas.) Find familiar would cover Pattern, but a shardblade would be hard to convince your DM to give you.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
You could have them be an Eladrin and each season is a different personality. The Phantom rogue has a bunch of features like Whispers of the Dead that could be fluffed into representing different personalities. There is also the FACELESS background that has switching between different identities. Not sure if that fits your character concept but its a start.
I would ask you to be careful playing characters with disabilities like Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Everyone should be free to explore their own ableness in their character (& bravo for wanting to) & It can be done with love and care, but can become ableist quite quickly (even unknowingly) if you aren't careful. Character depictions can become exaggerated, inaccurate, and stigmatizing & can degrade into any number of ableist tropes that appear in movies, books, comics, etc. because thats how most people experience people with disabilities.
Things from Villainous Disability (think Captain Hook or Darth Vader) to Inspirational Disability (where a character functions just to teach the other characters important life lessons or serve as a metaphor about life) can be equally dehumanizing to disabled people.
You are making a character you are passionate about, want to play and love and enjoy, so knowing how to avoid ableist tropes and stereotypes will help that. And it's not hard.
Sounds like a fun character for you. I hope you get to play and enjoy them.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Check out my Disabled & Dragons Youtube Channel for 5e Monster and Player Tactics. Helping the Disabled Community and Players and DM’s (both new and experienced) get into D&D. Plus there is a talking Dragon named Quill.
As much as I’d love to see this concept as each identity having its own class, it’s probably broken to allow you to change and have access to all the possible abilities.
BUT, you might be able to convince a DM to allow you to swap subclass and/or Feats of your class as your personality changes?
I’d be down for that after watching Moon Knight. I wouldn’t have known how to RP this sorta thing otherwise.
I've thought about doing something similar to this. The concept is a multiclass Hexblade Warlock/Redemption Paladin and the two entities (pact/oath) would be vying over control of the character. The plan is in combat to roll a D20 at the beginning of each turn and use the result to decide which entity is in control. Higher than 10 and the Paladin (a pacifist) takes over, but lower than 10 the Warlock (violent) is in charge. Similar approach out of combat, but to reduce the volatility the D20 would only be rolled at the end of a long rest and the result lasts until the next one. Might extend that to a longer period of time though.
Additionally, I'd keep track of which entity won more rolls between levels and upon leveling up the one that was more "in control" would be the class that gets the level.
I want to try it in a One Shot to see how it goes, but seems like it would be fun to run long term.
Overall, I think using dice to introduce randomness into the process is a solid way to approach the personality shift. Trying to manage more than 2, maybe 3, classes is probably going to be a challenge though and should be restricted to multiclassing imo. The different backgrounds would probably be okay, especially if the personality decision is random and you can't really just switch back and forth at will to suit a given situation.
D&D is a lot like an action movie. Fake combat + acting, after all. Only you don't have to be in good shape to do it. Trying to play not one character, but multiple ones via side kicks alone is difficult. Adding in them all being a single person is the pinnacle. It's the equivalent of trying to get an Oscar. If you have not been playing D&D for a decade, I would recommend not attempting it.
What typically happens is that you do a poor job for all, and end up making the game a lot less fun. It slows everything down, annoys other players, is often disrespectful to those with the real disease, and makes you look like a child wishing for an over-powered character that has multiple abilities.
If you really want to be realistic, I would actually have 4 character sheets made up but rule that each individual personality needs to take rests separately. That is, if your Wizard uses his spell slots, then he does not get them back until the WIZARD rests. No using all your Wizard Spells, switching personalities to a Cleric and using all of their spells, then waking up after an 8 hour rest with both sets of spells back. Cleric rested for 8 hours, cleric gets his spells back, not the Wizard. Wizard rests for 8 hours, he gets his spells back, not the Cleric. When the personality is not 'active' that is not them getting a free rest, it is them not being present.
Split personality disorder is a problem not a power.
In addition, I would come up with a list of circumstances that have a probability of triggering a personality change. That is, you do not get to decide which character to play, it comes up naturally. Scared = character A, Hurt = character B, Angry = character C, Happy = character D. Give a Charisma Check (based on current character) with a DC 15, disadvantage if the emotion is 'very strong', to prevent the change. Perhaps let them pick their choice of personality if a natural 20 is rolled, and have a random choice on a natural 1.
Hi! Alright, I’m going to put my imput into this as someone who has DID (previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder). It basically boils down to “do this carefully and respectfully.” But yes, it is possible. I would say that doing it by splitting up the character into separate sheets or classes is not the way to do it. Instead, try making it so the proficiencies or languages your character can speak are split up. For example, I am playing a changeling rogue in a game who has DID and multiple personalities. The only one of their personalities that can speak elvish is the elvish one, the only one who knows how to use the poisoners kit is the human trapper, etc. This is a good way of being able to show it without the difficulty of mechanically separating your sheet into multiple sheets.
For me personally, it’s a lot easier, because me and some of my alters have control over one or two of my characters alters, which makes it easier for us to rp and such. But, here’s my big thing for a singlet playing a plural character. Be careful. Please do research beforehand and don’t lean into any stereotypes. It can be extremely harmful and do more harm than good if you do it wrong. So please. Be careful to do it right and do it respectfully.
A few other things before i go. Great book choice, Stormlight is what made me realize that DID was a thing people had and that I wasn’t just crazy or whatever, but that it’s an actual thing. Very good depiction there. Again, someone in the comments said this: being plural is not a power! It’s just something people have, it doesn’t give you anything special or whatnot, it’s just… being plural. However, someone in the comments said it is a problem. While that might be technically true, I disagree on saying that it’s a problem, and would affirm that me and my alters would not exchange our plurality for anything. We like the way we are and are happy/working just fine together. Alright, thanks! Hope this helps! Feel free to talk to me if you have any more questions or need advice on this character.
Provide DM with a list of personalities and triggers. Some personalities should be fairly useless. DM should have fun with that. "You see children playing in the field near the inn. Your vision goes blurry and suddenly Rosie the Halfling Tween emerges from the depths of your mind. Such a shame you are meeting with the king today."
As a player in a game with another player doing just this, I need to say…
Don't.
It's just not fun for all the other people at the table (including the DM).
To go off of this: As someone who -has- a form of DID - Don't.
You are more likely to do something offensive or "stereotyping" unless you do a hell of a lot of research. And that's just for the RP, let alone having other people interact with the character as well.
And if you try and tie mechanical changes to it... bleugh.
You wanna do this? play a changeling who adopts the persona of the form they are in. Don't make it a personality disorder.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
As a player in a game with another player doing just this, I need to say…
Don't.
It's just not fun for all the other people at the table (including the DM).
To go off of this: As someone who -has- a form of DID - Don't.
You are more likely to do something offensive or "stereotyping" unless you do a hell of a lot of research. And that's just for the RP, let alone having other people interact with the character as well.
And if you try and tie mechanical changes to it... bleugh.
You wanna do this? play a changeling who adopts the persona of the form they are in. Don't make it a personality disorder.
Real quick, as someone else who has DID (well, a sub-type of it), I'm interested in hearing what you have to say about this.
I would agree with singlets not playing a character who is plural, or at least, not without a ton of research and making sure that they are doing it properly. And I would absolutely agree. Don't make any mechanical changes to it. However, I'm wondering what you would think if someone who is plural (such as me or you) plays a plural character. Would you say that we still shouldn't do it, or is it different because we are systems and actually have experience with this disorder?
I'm asking because I just begun playing a changeling with DID, and two of my alters are playing two of the characters alters. That way, we can all get a little bit of fun playing. And I mean, sure we could cofront playing a singlet character, but they want to actually play on their own. Do you think that this is alright for me to do, or would you still object to this? I think its fine because this is a character that represents a pretty important part of me and my system as a whole. And also, I'm not doing any mechanical stuff with it.
As a player in a game with another player doing just this, I need to say…
Don't.
It's just not fun for all the other people at the table (including the DM).
To go off of this: As someone who -has- a form of DID - Don't.
You are more likely to do something offensive or "stereotyping" unless you do a hell of a lot of research. And that's just for the RP, let alone having other people interact with the character as well.
And if you try and tie mechanical changes to it... bleugh.
You wanna do this? play a changeling who adopts the persona of the form they are in. Don't make it a personality disorder.
Real quick, as someone else who has DID (well, a sub-type of it), I'm interested in hearing what you have to say about this.
I would agree with singlets not playing a character who is plural, or at least, not without a ton of research and making sure that they are doing it properly. And I would absolutely agree. Don't make any mechanical changes to it. However, I'm wondering what you would think if someone who is plural (such as me or you) plays a plural character. Would you say that we still shouldn't do it, or is it different because we are systems and actually have experience with this disorder?
I'm asking because I just begun playing a changeling with DID, and two of my alters are playing two of the characters alters. That way, we can all get a little bit of fun playing. And I mean, sure we could cofront playing a singlet character, but they want to actually play on their own. Do you think that this is alright for me to do, or would you still object to this? I think its fine because this is a character that represents a pretty important part of me and my system as a whole. And also, I'm not doing any mechanical stuff with it
If you are a system yourself, and everyone is *very very clear* on that... then so be it? That's like saying someone can't play a gay character despite themselves being gay. The difference between DID/System/Plurality and some... other character who just *identifies* differently is that there is a deep psychological change that leads to a stigma. See Shamylama-dingdong's movie Split. Good movie on its own for what is. Terrible representation of DID.
I don't want anyone to take a single and use their (poor) performance of a system and use that to show "lol DID is always bad and should be stigmatized" because that is inevitably what happens within groups like that.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
As a player in a game with another player doing just this, I need to say…
Don't.
It's just not fun for all the other people at the table (including the DM).
To go off of this: As someone who -has- a form of DID - Don't.
You are more likely to do something offensive or "stereotyping" unless you do a hell of a lot of research. And that's just for the RP, let alone having other people interact with the character as well.
And if you try and tie mechanical changes to it... bleugh.
You wanna do this? play a changeling who adopts the persona of the form they are in. Don't make it a personality disorder.
Real quick, as someone else who has DID (well, a sub-type of it), I'm interested in hearing what you have to say about this.
I would agree with singlets not playing a character who is plural, or at least, not without a ton of research and making sure that they are doing it properly. And I would absolutely agree. Don't make any mechanical changes to it. However, I'm wondering what you would think if someone who is plural (such as me or you) plays a plural character. Would you say that we still shouldn't do it, or is it different because we are systems and actually have experience with this disorder?
I'm asking because I just begun playing a changeling with DID, and two of my alters are playing two of the characters alters. That way, we can all get a little bit of fun playing. And I mean, sure we could cofront playing a singlet character, but they want to actually play on their own. Do you think that this is alright for me to do, or would you still object to this? I think its fine because this is a character that represents a pretty important part of me and my system as a whole. And also, I'm not doing any mechanical stuff with it
If you are a system yourself, and everyone is *very very clear* on that... then so be it? That's like saying someone can't play a gay character despite themselves being gay. The difference between DID/System/Plurality and some... other character who just *identifies* differently is that there is a deep psychological change that leads to a stigma. See Shamylama-dingdong's movie Split. Good movie on its own for what is. Terrible representation of DID.
I don't want anyone to take a single and use their (poor) performance of a system and use that to show "lol DID is always bad and should be stigmatized" because that is inevitably what happens within groups like that.
Alright, just wanted to get your thoughts on that. I would agree, the problem is that a lot of people don't fully understand or have a stigma against DID. I can already think of tons of movies and pieces of media that stigmatize systems. I mean, even the Lord of the Rings movies has Gollum/Smeagol portrayed as a system and, even though I love those movies and Andy Serkis's performance, its a terrible representation of DID that reinforces such stigma. So yeah, a bad representation could absolutely cause that to happen.
However, I disagree with you on the point that no singlet should play a character with DID. I would highly suggest they don't, but if one were to do their research and try their best to portray them in an accurate and realistic light, as well as a sympathetic light, just like how we plural people are... I wouldn't disagree with them doing that. But it would have to be done very carefully, and most likely while talking to a system for advice and feedback on how they are doing.
As a player in a game with another player doing just this, I need to say…
Don't.
It's just not fun for all the other people at the table (including the DM).
To go off of this: As someone who -has- a form of DID - Don't.
You are more likely to do something offensive or "stereotyping" unless you do a hell of a lot of research. And that's just for the RP, let alone having other people interact with the character as well.
And if you try and tie mechanical changes to it... bleugh.
You wanna do this? play a changeling who adopts the persona of the form they are in. Don't make it a personality disorder.
Real quick, as someone else who has DID (well, a sub-type of it), I'm interested in hearing what you have to say about this.
I would agree with singlets not playing a character who is plural, or at least, not without a ton of research and making sure that they are doing it properly. And I would absolutely agree. Don't make any mechanical changes to it. However, I'm wondering what you would think if someone who is plural (such as me or you) plays a plural character. Would you say that we still shouldn't do it, or is it different because we are systems and actually have experience with this disorder?
I'm asking because I just begun playing a changeling with DID, and two of my alters are playing two of the characters alters. That way, we can all get a little bit of fun playing. And I mean, sure we could cofront playing a singlet character, but they want to actually play on their own. Do you think that this is alright for me to do, or would you still object to this? I think its fine because this is a character that represents a pretty important part of me and my system as a whole. And also, I'm not doing any mechanical stuff with it
If you are a system yourself, and everyone is *very very clear* on that... then so be it? That's like saying someone can't play a gay character despite themselves being gay. The difference between DID/System/Plurality and some... other character who just *identifies* differently is that there is a deep psychological change that leads to a stigma. See Shamylama-dingdong's movie Split. Good movie on its own for what is. Terrible representation of DID.
I don't want anyone to take a single and use their (poor) performance of a system and use that to show "lol DID is always bad and should be stigmatized" because that is inevitably what happens within groups like that.
Alright, just wanted to get your thoughts on that. I would agree, the problem is that a lot of people don't fully understand or have a stigma against DID. I can already think of tons of movies and pieces of media that stigmatize systems. I mean, even the Lord of the Rings movies has Gollum/Smeagol portrayed as a system and, even though I love those movies and Andy Serkis's performance, its a terrible representation of DID that reinforces such stigma. So yeah, a bad representation could absolutely cause that to happen.
However, I disagree with you on the point that no singlet should play a character with DID. I would highly suggest they don't, but if one were to do their research and try their best to portray them in an accurate and realistic light, as well as a sympathetic light, just like how we plural people are... I wouldn't disagree with them doing that. But it would have to be done very carefully, and most likely while talking to a system for advice and feedback on how they are doing.
But overall, I would suggest against it.
We're more or less in agreement, I'm just harder on the "It's not worth it to do in DnD." side of things, I suppose!
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
As a player in a game with another player doing just this, I need to say…
Don't.
It's just not fun for all the other people at the table (including the DM).
To go off of this: As someone who -has- a form of DID - Don't.
You are more likely to do something offensive or "stereotyping" unless you do a hell of a lot of research. And that's just for the RP, let alone having other people interact with the character as well.
And if you try and tie mechanical changes to it... bleugh.
You wanna do this? play a changeling who adopts the persona of the form they are in. Don't make it a personality disorder.
Real quick, as someone else who has DID (well, a sub-type of it), I'm interested in hearing what you have to say about this.
I would agree with singlets not playing a character who is plural, or at least, not without a ton of research and making sure that they are doing it properly. And I would absolutely agree. Don't make any mechanical changes to it. However, I'm wondering what you would think if someone who is plural (such as me or you) plays a plural character. Would you say that we still shouldn't do it, or is it different because we are systems and actually have experience with this disorder?
I'm asking because I just begun playing a changeling with DID, and two of my alters are playing two of the characters alters. That way, we can all get a little bit of fun playing. And I mean, sure we could cofront playing a singlet character, but they want to actually play on their own. Do you think that this is alright for me to do, or would you still object to this? I think its fine because this is a character that represents a pretty important part of me and my system as a whole. And also, I'm not doing any mechanical stuff with it
If you are a system yourself, and everyone is *very very clear* on that... then so be it? That's like saying someone can't play a gay character despite themselves being gay. The difference between DID/System/Plurality and some... other character who just *identifies* differently is that there is a deep psychological change that leads to a stigma. See Shamylama-dingdong's movie Split. Good movie on its own for what is. Terrible representation of DID.
I don't want anyone to take a single and use their (poor) performance of a system and use that to show "lol DID is always bad and should be stigmatized" because that is inevitably what happens within groups like that.
Alright, just wanted to get your thoughts on that. I would agree, the problem is that a lot of people don't fully understand or have a stigma against DID. I can already think of tons of movies and pieces of media that stigmatize systems. I mean, even the Lord of the Rings movies has Gollum/Smeagol portrayed as a system and, even though I love those movies and Andy Serkis's performance, its a terrible representation of DID that reinforces such stigma. So yeah, a bad representation could absolutely cause that to happen.
However, I disagree with you on the point that no singlet should play a character with DID. I would highly suggest they don't, but if one were to do their research and try their best to portray them in an accurate and realistic light, as well as a sympathetic light, just like how we plural people are... I wouldn't disagree with them doing that. But it would have to be done very carefully, and most likely while talking to a system for advice and feedback on how they are doing.
But overall, I would suggest against it.
We're more or less in agreement, I'm just harder on the "It's not worth it to do in DnD." side of things, I suppose!
I'm not familiar with the source material, so what I would say is, ableism aside (which I think is already well covered) the key thing will be to have a very clear idea in your mind of what these different personalities are intended to represent, and what their role is meant to be for your character and their story. In a fantasy setting we have the luxury of doing things that are weird and wonderful, so these personalities could actually be beneficial or malign entities in their own right for story purposes.
I'd definitely say to avoid homebrewing anything mechanical and definitely avoid multiple character sheets, it'll just get way too complicated and you shouldn't need to do it; if you want changing appearances then we've got the Changeling race plus various spells (disguise self or alter self). For different capabilities, Rogue Phantom can freely swap a skill proficiency, though if you do want to homebrew you could optionally just add that to any other class (if your DM is happy to). But there are also vanilla spells that work for representing alternating/enhanced skills such as guidance, enhance ability and so-on.
One other thing is, if this is intended as a way to enable you to essentially play several characters in the same campaign, while I could see the appeal of that (more variety) it could also result in you not really developing the character very well. With most of my characters it takes several sessions to really get into the swing of playing them, and what they're like, so if you try to do that with however many different characters all rolled into one, it might mean you don't really click with any of them. Might not happen, but just thought it might be worth thinking about; it might be better thinking about what the first personality will be like, playing that for a while, and then if your DM is onboard have others surface later? That might make it easier to RP for everyone, as you can introduce them one by one that way, it also gives opportunities for them to be tied in some way to the story events.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
I'm not a huge fan of the dea of multiple personalities in dnd for a few reasons.
First and foremost, too often it is portrayed by someone who is trying to portray a real-life affliction ina fictional world, without sensitivity or empathy. People think "It would be so cool to have multiple personalities, think of the roleplay" and forget to consder whether it actually is cool to have multiple personalities.
Secondly, it will either result in a character being too powerful (IE one player having 2 characters), or one player being too weak ("Too bad you can't pick the lock, you're the wrong you right now").
That being said, one can get around the first issue somewhat by magicking it up. in the real world, people have split personalities for a variety of reasons and few of them are good things. In fantasy, you have so many more options, which immediately removes the concerns over sensitivity because you're no longer roleplaying as someone with a real world disorder, you're roleplaying as a fictional character with a fictional reason for having more than one personality:
You're an Ettin who was transformed into a >insert humanoid here<, so you have a personality for each head.
You're actually two people who were accidentally combined in a magical accident, and you even physically change between them.
You're a regular person who picked up a magical item which tried to possess you, but made a poor job of it.
You're two versions of yourself from different timelines who both died at the same time and tried to inhabit one clone to be reborn.
You're a warforged who was repaired using two or more warforged
You've been cursed with a second head which pops up from under your normal one
You've got a magic item which tun you into a parody of yourself (the Mask)
You were bitten by an accountant on a full moon, and now can transform into a small man with glasses and a briefcase.
You're a mannequin which was used to display two different sentient items, which now fight for control of ther new puppet.
There are so, so many options for dnd reasons for multiple personalities, so using one of them will make things a lot less of an issue, because you'll no longer be representing people in the real world (except perhaps accountants).
The second issue means your best bet is roleplay - make a new set of flaws, possibly even alignment, for the second personality. Don't change anything else mechanically ,but do change tactics - one might be all about defending their allies, whilst the other is about driving the enemy back. How you act in combat/roleplay will change, but what you're capable of doing will not.
Not sure how I'd go about doing this but I'm thinking of making a character based on Shallan Davar and the lightweavers from Brandon Sandersons Stormlight archives.
In the books she has multiple personalities that can all interact and have different skills/backgrounds. I'm thinking that it would obviously be too much, and kind of broken to have 4 separate character sheets all with different abilities, but maybe a multiclassed character that has different backgrounds (would probably still be 4 separate sheets so that the backgrounds could be calculated differently as needed)
Anybody have any better ideas for how to make that work? And what about switching personalities? Maybe during combat it would be an action to change? (Thinking the character would be a changing and each personality would have a unique appearance)
LMK what you guys think!
Yeah, just stay in one class and then act as multi personalities, based on what you wrote play as a fighter through and through, and have them fight using different weapons for each personality. Eg. Dual Whips for Personality One. Shield And Sword for Personality Two, Long Bow for Personality Three, and Great Weapon For Personality Four. For the background get yourself the faceless background or choose from charlatan or just make a custom one. No need to have an action to change personalities, just change the weapons. Making feats on those personality is up too you, but recommend to have a high score for it so you can focus around building the character ideally rapier for the sword and shield meaning using mostly dexterity and the great weapon is rarely used. Otherwise you need high ability scores. You are correct to follow a KISS method if you aren't still sure about it or else you will overcomplicate it to the point you would take so long to creating a singular character. Trust me took me a week once, only for it to not be played at all. Otherwise you have too level up four different character sheets together, heck I don't even know if the DM will allow that.
Sanderson is a great author. (Good book choice!) In my opinion, Shallan would be a illusionist wizard capable of casting mirror image, disguise self, and other illusion magic, as well as some basic transmutation spells. (For an always-usable self illusion, you could have her be a changeling stat-wise) She would have the noble background, and her alternate personalities would actually use different skills (Veil using sleight of hand and deception, for instance), not have different backgrounds. (Your Shallan character would have all the skills, but only use them with the relevant personas.) Find familiar would cover Pattern, but a shardblade would be hard to convince your DM to give you.
Pronouns: he/him/his.
My posting scheduled is irregular: sometimes I can post twice a week, sometimes twice a day. I may also respond to quick questions, but ignore harder responses in favor of time.
My location is where my character for my home game is (we're doing the wild beyond the witchlight).
"The Doomvault... Probably full of unicorns and rainbows." -An imaginary quote
You could have them be an Eladrin and each season is a different personality. The Phantom rogue has a bunch of features like Whispers of the Dead that could be fluffed into representing different personalities. There is also the FACELESS background that has switching between different identities. Not sure if that fits your character concept but its a start.
I would ask you to be careful playing characters with disabilities like Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID). Everyone should be free to explore their own ableness in their character (& bravo for wanting to) & It can be done with love and care, but can become ableist quite quickly (even unknowingly) if you aren't careful. Character depictions can become exaggerated, inaccurate, and stigmatizing & can degrade into any number of ableist tropes that appear in movies, books, comics, etc. because thats how most people experience people with disabilities.
Things from Villainous Disability (think Captain Hook or Darth Vader) to Inspirational Disability (where a character functions just to teach the other characters important life lessons or serve as a metaphor about life) can be equally dehumanizing to disabled people.
You are making a character you are passionate about, want to play and love and enjoy, so knowing how to avoid ableist tropes and stereotypes will help that. And it's not hard.
Sounds like a fun character for you. I hope you get to play and enjoy them.
Check out my Disabled & Dragons Youtube Channel for 5e Monster and Player Tactics. Helping the Disabled Community and Players and DM’s (both new and experienced) get into D&D. Plus there is a talking Dragon named Quill.
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCPPmyTI0tZ6nM-bzY0IG3ww
As much as I’d love to see this concept as each identity having its own class, it’s probably broken to allow you to change and have access to all the possible abilities.
BUT, you might be able to convince a DM to allow you to swap subclass and/or Feats of your class as your personality changes?
I’d be down for that after watching Moon Knight. I wouldn’t have known how to RP this sorta thing otherwise.
I've thought about doing something similar to this. The concept is a multiclass Hexblade Warlock/Redemption Paladin and the two entities (pact/oath) would be vying over control of the character. The plan is in combat to roll a D20 at the beginning of each turn and use the result to decide which entity is in control. Higher than 10 and the Paladin (a pacifist) takes over, but lower than 10 the Warlock (violent) is in charge. Similar approach out of combat, but to reduce the volatility the D20 would only be rolled at the end of a long rest and the result lasts until the next one. Might extend that to a longer period of time though.
Additionally, I'd keep track of which entity won more rolls between levels and upon leveling up the one that was more "in control" would be the class that gets the level.
I want to try it in a One Shot to see how it goes, but seems like it would be fun to run long term.
Overall, I think using dice to introduce randomness into the process is a solid way to approach the personality shift. Trying to manage more than 2, maybe 3, classes is probably going to be a challenge though and should be restricted to multiclassing imo. The different backgrounds would probably be okay, especially if the personality decision is random and you can't really just switch back and forth at will to suit a given situation.
I've seen people try this and it usually sucks.
D&D is a lot like an action movie. Fake combat + acting, after all. Only you don't have to be in good shape to do it. Trying to play not one character, but multiple ones via side kicks alone is difficult. Adding in them all being a single person is the pinnacle. It's the equivalent of trying to get an Oscar. If you have not been playing D&D for a decade, I would recommend not attempting it.
What typically happens is that you do a poor job for all, and end up making the game a lot less fun. It slows everything down, annoys other players, is often disrespectful to those with the real disease, and makes you look like a child wishing for an over-powered character that has multiple abilities.
If you really want to be realistic, I would actually have 4 character sheets made up but rule that each individual personality needs to take rests separately. That is, if your Wizard uses his spell slots, then he does not get them back until the WIZARD rests. No using all your Wizard Spells, switching personalities to a Cleric and using all of their spells, then waking up after an 8 hour rest with both sets of spells back. Cleric rested for 8 hours, cleric gets his spells back, not the Wizard. Wizard rests for 8 hours, he gets his spells back, not the Cleric. When the personality is not 'active' that is not them getting a free rest, it is them not being present.
Split personality disorder is a problem not a power.
In addition, I would come up with a list of circumstances that have a probability of triggering a personality change. That is, you do not get to decide which character to play, it comes up naturally. Scared = character A, Hurt = character B, Angry = character C, Happy = character D. Give a Charisma Check (based on current character) with a DC 15, disadvantage if the emotion is 'very strong', to prevent the change. Perhaps let them pick their choice of personality if a natural 20 is rolled, and have a random choice on a natural 1.
As a player in a game with another player doing just this, I need to say…
Don't.
It's just not fun for all the other people at the table (including the DM).
Hi! Alright, I’m going to put my imput into this as someone who has DID (previously known as Multiple Personality Disorder). It basically boils down to “do this carefully and respectfully.” But yes, it is possible. I would say that doing it by splitting up the character into separate sheets or classes is not the way to do it. Instead, try making it so the proficiencies or languages your character can speak are split up. For example, I am playing a changeling rogue in a game who has DID and multiple personalities. The only one of their personalities that can speak elvish is the elvish one, the only one who knows how to use the poisoners kit is the human trapper, etc. This is a good way of being able to show it without the difficulty of mechanically separating your sheet into multiple sheets.
For me personally, it’s a lot easier, because me and some of my alters have control over one or two of my characters alters, which makes it easier for us to rp and such. But, here’s my big thing for a singlet playing a plural character. Be careful. Please do research beforehand and don’t lean into any stereotypes. It can be extremely harmful and do more harm than good if you do it wrong. So please. Be careful to do it right and do it respectfully.
A few other things before i go. Great book choice, Stormlight is what made me realize that DID was a thing people had and that I wasn’t just crazy or whatever, but that it’s an actual thing. Very good depiction there. Again, someone in the comments said this: being plural is not a power! It’s just something people have, it doesn’t give you anything special or whatnot, it’s just… being plural. However, someone in the comments said it is a problem. While that might be technically true, I disagree on saying that it’s a problem, and would affirm that me and my alters would not exchange our plurality for anything. We like the way we are and are happy/working just fine together. Alright, thanks! Hope this helps! Feel free to talk to me if you have any more questions or need advice on this character.
Provide DM with a list of personalities and triggers. Some personalities should be fairly useless. DM should have fun with that. "You see children playing in the field near the inn. Your vision goes blurry and suddenly Rosie the Halfling Tween emerges from the depths of your mind. Such a shame you are meeting with the king today."
To go off of this: As someone who -has- a form of DID - Don't.
You are more likely to do something offensive or "stereotyping" unless you do a hell of a lot of research. And that's just for the RP, let alone having other people interact with the character as well.
And if you try and tie mechanical changes to it... bleugh.
You wanna do this? play a changeling who adopts the persona of the form they are in. Don't make it a personality disorder.
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Real quick, as someone else who has DID (well, a sub-type of it), I'm interested in hearing what you have to say about this.
I would agree with singlets not playing a character who is plural, or at least, not without a ton of research and making sure that they are doing it properly. And I would absolutely agree. Don't make any mechanical changes to it. However, I'm wondering what you would think if someone who is plural (such as me or you) plays a plural character. Would you say that we still shouldn't do it, or is it different because we are systems and actually have experience with this disorder?
I'm asking because I just begun playing a changeling with DID, and two of my alters are playing two of the characters alters. That way, we can all get a little bit of fun playing. And I mean, sure we could cofront playing a singlet character, but they want to actually play on their own. Do you think that this is alright for me to do, or would you still object to this? I think its fine because this is a character that represents a pretty important part of me and my system as a whole. And also, I'm not doing any mechanical stuff with it.
If you are a system yourself, and everyone is *very very clear* on that... then so be it? That's like saying someone can't play a gay character despite themselves being gay. The difference between DID/System/Plurality and some... other character who just *identifies* differently is that there is a deep psychological change that leads to a stigma. See Shamylama-dingdong's movie Split. Good movie on its own for what is. Terrible representation of DID.
I don't want anyone to take a single and use their (poor) performance of a system and use that to show "lol DID is always bad and should be stigmatized" because that is inevitably what happens within groups like that.
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Alright, just wanted to get your thoughts on that. I would agree, the problem is that a lot of people don't fully understand or have a stigma against DID. I can already think of tons of movies and pieces of media that stigmatize systems. I mean, even the Lord of the Rings movies has Gollum/Smeagol portrayed as a system and, even though I love those movies and Andy Serkis's performance, its a terrible representation of DID that reinforces such stigma. So yeah, a bad representation could absolutely cause that to happen.
However, I disagree with you on the point that no singlet should play a character with DID. I would highly suggest they don't, but if one were to do their research and try their best to portray them in an accurate and realistic light, as well as a sympathetic light, just like how we plural people are... I wouldn't disagree with them doing that. But it would have to be done very carefully, and most likely while talking to a system for advice and feedback on how they are doing.
But overall, I would suggest against it.
We're more or less in agreement, I'm just harder on the "It's not worth it to do in DnD." side of things, I suppose!
Formerly Devan Avalon.
Trying to get your physical content on Beyond is like going to Microsoft and saying "I have a physical Playstation disk, give me a digital Xbox version!"
Yeah, I think so!
I'm not familiar with the source material, so what I would say is, ableism aside (which I think is already well covered) the key thing will be to have a very clear idea in your mind of what these different personalities are intended to represent, and what their role is meant to be for your character and their story. In a fantasy setting we have the luxury of doing things that are weird and wonderful, so these personalities could actually be beneficial or malign entities in their own right for story purposes.
I'd definitely say to avoid homebrewing anything mechanical and definitely avoid multiple character sheets, it'll just get way too complicated and you shouldn't need to do it; if you want changing appearances then we've got the Changeling race plus various spells (disguise self or alter self). For different capabilities, Rogue Phantom can freely swap a skill proficiency, though if you do want to homebrew you could optionally just add that to any other class (if your DM is happy to). But there are also vanilla spells that work for representing alternating/enhanced skills such as guidance, enhance ability and so-on.
One other thing is, if this is intended as a way to enable you to essentially play several characters in the same campaign, while I could see the appeal of that (more variety) it could also result in you not really developing the character very well. With most of my characters it takes several sessions to really get into the swing of playing them, and what they're like, so if you try to do that with however many different characters all rolled into one, it might mean you don't really click with any of them. Might not happen, but just thought it might be worth thinking about; it might be better thinking about what the first personality will be like, playing that for a while, and then if your DM is onboard have others surface later? That might make it easier to RP for everyone, as you can introduce them one by one that way, it also gives opportunities for them to be tied in some way to the story events.
Former D&D Beyond Customer of six years: With the axing of piecemeal purchasing, lack of meaningful development, and toxic moderation the site isn't worth paying for anymore. I remain a free user only until my groups are done migrating from DDB, and if necessary D&D, after which I'm done. There are better systems owned by better companies out there.
I have unsubscribed from all topics and will not reply to messages. My homebrew is now 100% unsupported.
I'm not a huge fan of the dea of multiple personalities in dnd for a few reasons.
First and foremost, too often it is portrayed by someone who is trying to portray a real-life affliction ina fictional world, without sensitivity or empathy. People think "It would be so cool to have multiple personalities, think of the roleplay" and forget to consder whether it actually is cool to have multiple personalities.
Secondly, it will either result in a character being too powerful (IE one player having 2 characters), or one player being too weak ("Too bad you can't pick the lock, you're the wrong you right now").
That being said, one can get around the first issue somewhat by magicking it up. in the real world, people have split personalities for a variety of reasons and few of them are good things. In fantasy, you have so many more options, which immediately removes the concerns over sensitivity because you're no longer roleplaying as someone with a real world disorder, you're roleplaying as a fictional character with a fictional reason for having more than one personality:
There are so, so many options for dnd reasons for multiple personalities, so using one of them will make things a lot less of an issue, because you'll no longer be representing people in the real world (except perhaps accountants).
The second issue means your best bet is roleplay - make a new set of flaws, possibly even alignment, for the second personality. Don't change anything else mechanically ,but do change tactics - one might be all about defending their allies, whilst the other is about driving the enemy back. How you act in combat/roleplay will change, but what you're capable of doing will not.
Make your Artificer work with any other class with 174 Multiclassing Feats for your Artificer Multiclass Character!
DM's Guild Releases on This Thread Or check them all out on DMs Guild!
DrivethruRPG Releases on This Thread - latest release: My Character is a Werewolf: balanced rules for Lycanthropy!
I have started discussing/reviewing 3rd party D&D content on Substack - stay tuned for semi-regular posts!