To begin with, I'm new to D&D. I've done one adventure with pre set characters, and we're making our own characters for the next adventure.
I was thinking of doing a warlock with the old ones as a patron. So in my research, i saw that meant I'd be like mad and stuff which sounded cool. I also found an idea where each session you roll a d4 and pick from 4 different personalities of your character to play with for that session. Originally, i thought it was a cool idea as a somewhat subtle way of acting mad and not over the top dramatic and take the spotlight - depending on how different the personalities were. I was thinking like one could be a pacifist, one could be more aggressive, another could be obsessed with magic and use it at every occasion, and then the last could like have weird logic like 5+5 = 55 and just be a bit wacky.
However i also noted in my research that for a similar idea of different personalities except each was a different class, lots of people said it was insensitive for like mocking a mental disorder. Would that be true for my idea?
There's some level of insensitivity to it, but it depends on how you play it... I think if you lean more into the idea that the different personalities are manifestations of magic, rather than the result of mental illness it wouldn't be quite so bad. But overall I think it's mostly harmless, and has the potential to be fun.
Although, to be honest, it also has the potential to be an unfun burden, especially if you're new to D&D, having to manage a homebrew personality swap mechanic on top of playing a character and class could be very difficult and could slow things down for your fellow players. If you were to do this, I would limit it to two personalities, and use some kind of in-game trigger to differentiate between them. I think you could use that to emphasize your unique game mechanic as a Great Old One Warlock... since your character is able to communicate telepathically, you could do something where your default character personality is a reasonable, normal person but any time you communicate telepathically that voice is deranged, maybe the deranged personality kicks in during combat but fades away when there's no one to attack. That way you're not stuck in the middle of a combat-heavy session and you randomly landed on the pacifist personality, so now you either have to be useless in battle or struggle to explain how you're contributing to combat while still maintaining a pacifist personality. Alternatively, you might be in a sensitive social situation, but you're stuck in the violent, deranged personality and now you're either actively sabotaging your allies' actions or you have to just force yourself to sit and shut up because you can't explain what your character would do in that persona.
Nowhere does it say as a GOO warlock you have to be mad. If you want to play your character that way that’s fine. But I agree with Transmorpher, it can be insensitive (depending on how well you know the other players in the group) or it could be fine. And a more limited scope would probably be best starting out.
I would also add, that it could be burdensome on the other players if they have to keep guessing who you are during game play. It might be fun for everyone, it might not.
It could be challenging to RP, but interesting if you like unconventional characters. I suggest that you think of it as more Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde than true multiple personality disorder like Moon Knight. A trigger like TransmorpherDDS suggested is one way to do that. Maybe casting your leveled spells changes you from meek and orderly to brash and chaotic until the next short rest because of your channeling the Far Realm?
Unless your group likes intra-group conflict I suggest you pick personalities that are not too far from what your group would be friendly with. Morphing into a chaotic evil, blood thirsty lunatic is not going to be fun for long. Also, you’ll probably want to have a recollection of what the other personality did or the group will be bored filling you in all the time.
If your DM will let you, your personalities could have minor differences like tool proficiencies or languages understood. Even different backgrounds. Nothing game breaking. But that could be a fun way to play up the differences.
I always viewed the whole cthulo 'madness' is due to their alien nature. They don't understand our world, we don't understand theirs. Neither side has the same goals.
To roleplay this I would come up with 3-4 nonsensical goals and 3-4 nonsenicals 'sins'. Things like:
Goal: Touch a member of every single plant species.
Goal: Find the shiniest material possible and place samples of it at the top of 4 specific mountains, inside a barrel, covered in magical darkness.
Goal: Talk to every Hermit named "Carl" in the world
Sin: Being detected by any dwarf whose name begins with an F, TH, P, or B sound. They cannot see, hear, or smell you.
I do not believe it is insensitive. You are not playing a schizophrenic or a bipolar or anything else specific. (And it’d be okay if you were as long as you made an effort to do it accurately).
But, to do what you are trying to do, you need to have several personalities to switch between. “Pacifist” is not a personality. “Violent” is not a personality.
“Little Timmy, the shy boy with an allergy to magic, who dreams of one day becoming a wizard, and who thinks his big sister is mean is a character. He thinks Mind Flayers are the absolute coolest.and enjoys the fact that he likes them while nobody else does.”
”Sister Sarah, the prostitute, who believes she could have been a Paladin if only.. She protects Little Timmy. Note that she is NOT a nympho. She might not even like sex, then again, she might. She makes a habit of learning everybody’s secrets and is a great conversationalist, though she doesn’t understand courtly mannerisms at all. She is fearless. She protects street people.”
That kind of thing gives you enough of a personality to play with.
Also note that contrary to TV and movies, crazy people are much more likely to be victims than victimizers. Being sane is a HUGE advantage. You don't get into a shouting match with your shoes while trying to sneak up on people. You use your most powerful abiltiies on the main bad guy, not the henchmen. You can make plans that do not rely on the ghost that is always laughing at you.
If you truly want to be crazy, I would penalize you if you didn't screw things up for yourself. That is for yourself, not your party. If your insanity screws things up for the party, they should either kick you out of it or relegate you to be the protected person, not the hero.
To begin with, I'm new to D&D. I've done one adventure with pre set characters, and we're making our own characters for the next adventure.
I was thinking of doing a warlock with the old ones as a patron. So in my research, i saw that meant I'd be like mad and stuff which sounded cool. I also found an idea where each session you roll a d4 and pick from 4 different personalities of your character to play with for that session. Originally, i thought it was a cool idea as a somewhat subtle way of acting mad and not over the top dramatic and take the spotlight - depending on how different the personalities were. I was thinking like one could be a pacifist, one could be more aggressive, another could be obsessed with magic and use it at every occasion, and then the last could like have weird logic like 5+5 = 55 and just be a bit wacky.
However i also noted in my research that for a similar idea of different personalities except each was a different class, lots of people said it was insensitive for like mocking a mental disorder. Would that be true for my idea?
There's some level of insensitivity to it, but it depends on how you play it... I think if you lean more into the idea that the different personalities are manifestations of magic, rather than the result of mental illness it wouldn't be quite so bad. But overall I think it's mostly harmless, and has the potential to be fun.
Although, to be honest, it also has the potential to be an unfun burden, especially if you're new to D&D, having to manage a homebrew personality swap mechanic on top of playing a character and class could be very difficult and could slow things down for your fellow players. If you were to do this, I would limit it to two personalities, and use some kind of in-game trigger to differentiate between them. I think you could use that to emphasize your unique game mechanic as a Great Old One Warlock... since your character is able to communicate telepathically, you could do something where your default character personality is a reasonable, normal person but any time you communicate telepathically that voice is deranged, maybe the deranged personality kicks in during combat but fades away when there's no one to attack. That way you're not stuck in the middle of a combat-heavy session and you randomly landed on the pacifist personality, so now you either have to be useless in battle or struggle to explain how you're contributing to combat while still maintaining a pacifist personality. Alternatively, you might be in a sensitive social situation, but you're stuck in the violent, deranged personality and now you're either actively sabotaging your allies' actions or you have to just force yourself to sit and shut up because you can't explain what your character would do in that persona.
Watch Crits for Breakfast, an adults-only RP-Heavy Roll20 Livestream at twitch.tv/afterdisbooty
And now you too can play with the amazing art and assets we use in Roll20 for our campaign at Hazel's Emporium
Nowhere does it say as a GOO warlock you have to be mad. If you want to play your character that way that’s fine. But I agree with Transmorpher, it can be insensitive (depending on how well you know the other players in the group) or it could be fine. And a more limited scope would probably be best starting out.
I would also add, that it could be burdensome on the other players if they have to keep guessing who you are during game play. It might be fun for everyone, it might not.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
It could be challenging to RP, but interesting if you like unconventional characters. I suggest that you think of it as more Dr. Jeckyl and Mr. Hyde than true multiple personality disorder like Moon Knight. A trigger like TransmorpherDDS suggested is one way to do that. Maybe casting your leveled spells changes you from meek and orderly to brash and chaotic until the next short rest because of your channeling the Far Realm?
Unless your group likes intra-group conflict I suggest you pick personalities that are not too far from what your group would be friendly with. Morphing into a chaotic evil, blood thirsty lunatic is not going to be fun for long. Also, you’ll probably want to have a recollection of what the other personality did or the group will be bored filling you in all the time.
If your DM will let you, your personalities could have minor differences like tool proficiencies or languages understood. Even different backgrounds. Nothing game breaking. But that could be a fun way to play up the differences.
I always viewed the whole cthulo 'madness' is due to their alien nature. They don't understand our world, we don't understand theirs. Neither side has the same goals.
To roleplay this I would come up with 3-4 nonsensical goals and 3-4 nonsenicals 'sins'. Things like:
Goal: Touch a member of every single plant species.
Goal: Find the shiniest material possible and place samples of it at the top of 4 specific mountains, inside a barrel, covered in magical darkness.
Goal: Talk to every Hermit named "Carl" in the world
Sin: Being detected by any dwarf whose name begins with an F, TH, P, or B sound. They cannot see, hear, or smell you.
Sin: Damaging any nets, including spider webs
Sin: Telling the truth to someone twice in a row.
I do not believe it is insensitive. You are not playing a schizophrenic or a bipolar or anything else specific. (And it’d be okay if you were as long as you made an effort to do it accurately).
But, to do what you are trying to do, you need to have several personalities to switch between. “Pacifist” is not a personality. “Violent” is not a personality.
“Little Timmy, the shy boy with an allergy to magic, who dreams of one day becoming a wizard, and who thinks his big sister is mean is a character. He thinks Mind Flayers are the absolute coolest.and enjoys the fact that he likes them while nobody else does.”
”Sister Sarah, the prostitute, who believes she could have been a Paladin if only.. She protects Little Timmy. Note that she is NOT a nympho. She might not even like sex, then again, she might. She makes a habit of learning everybody’s secrets and is a great conversationalist, though she doesn’t understand courtly mannerisms at all. She is fearless. She protects street people.”
That kind of thing gives you enough of a personality to play with.
Also note that contrary to TV and movies, crazy people are much more likely to be victims than victimizers. Being sane is a HUGE advantage. You don't get into a shouting match with your shoes while trying to sneak up on people. You use your most powerful abiltiies on the main bad guy, not the henchmen. You can make plans that do not rely on the ghost that is always laughing at you.
If you truly want to be crazy, I would penalize you if you didn't screw things up for yourself. That is for yourself, not your party. If your insanity screws things up for the party, they should either kick you out of it or relegate you to be the protected person, not the hero.