Tossing this one around with a wacky concept, a friend of mine pointed out the 3.5 Insanity feature on evil clerics in Return to the Temple of Elemental Evil. While it works nicely on NPCs, his argument is against giving that kind of power to players.
An idea I want to kick around is tying the feature to a prestige class' levels only. Make it like a 5-level prestige class, enough to give some "oomph" and cool toys for the madness but not enough so the player walks away with a +10 to the attribute, DCs, etc. (frex a base 18 Wisdom would mean a 28/8 effective Wisdom, which would be...scary).
Under my idea then, the character adds their PrC level in *that class* to their Wisdom and uses that value for the sake of the DCs, bonus spells, etc. and subtracts that class level in from their Wisdom and uses that score for all else. Cap that prestige class at 5th level. This is different from the RttTEE method of +1/2 their level, including Cleric AND evil cultist class, which could end up with the aforementioned ten point swing.
A further method of limiting the usefulness, if it is too powerful yet, is to tie that bonus to one field; I'm aiming for a mad druid, for example, so limit the bonus to spells from the animal domain, or summon spells; DC bonus applies only to those, bonus spells must be from that field.
Any thoughts?
Intriguing concept, but until seeing a template about this PrC to better conceptualize what you're describing, I'm having trouble seeing how this would be for a PC class to take something that would make them 'mad'/'insane'.
Intriguing concept, but until seeing a template about this PrC to better conceptualize what you're describing, I'm having trouble seeing how this would be for a PC class to take something that would make them 'mad'/'insane'.
I'm still trying to spec it out; idea in mind, as I said, is for a "mad druid" modeled after the "Deranged Hermit" card from the Magic: The Gathering game; blame my fiance, she loves her squirrel deck and when we bandied about the idea she latched on to a squirrel-loving mad person as a PC (and she has a phobia of RP'ing, despite the fact we were both involved in competitive drama in High School, so anything to get her excited about table-top RP'ing is a good thing).
This PrC would basically require a Druid base-class character. The "Insanity" feature would amp up the particular spells related to the concept, hence the possibility of limiting it to particular domains or spell types. In this case, also likely attach it to a signature ability for the squirrel-hermit class involving summoning and using a swarm of squirrels to do her bidding.
The RttTEE "Insanity Score" (1/2 Cleric+Cultist levels) is added to Wisdom for the use of bonus spells and DC, and subtracted from Wisdom scores for the purpose of skills and saving throws. Such that a character with an 18 Wisdom at level 20 (prolly higher yes, but easy math this late at night for me ^_^) would have a 28 (+9) Wisdom for the purposes of bonus spells and spell DC, entailing 3/2/2/2/2/1/1/1/1 bonus spells, and an 8 for the purposes of skills and saving throws (-1). My arrangement would max it out at five, such that it would come out to 23 (+6) and 13 (+1) respectively.
Either way, its a healthy boost in spell-casting options, but is the ToEE method too much? Or is my method not enough?
What would be the prereq to enter this PrC (other than assuming the PC is a druid?)? I guess I'm trying to imagine how the PC is going to select this (other than getting a nice boost for the spellcasting in trade for a slight loss to skill checks). But it doesn't seem ... chaotic enough, I guess. Perhaps we're having a different concept of 'insanity' here.
I don't have a 3x version of ToEE to refer to, so I can't compare.
What would be the prereq to enter this PrC (other than assuming the PC is a druid?)? I guess I'm trying to imagine how the PC is going to select this (other than getting a nice boost for the spellcasting in trade for a slight loss to skill checks). But it doesn't seem ... chaotic enough, I guess. Perhaps we're having a different concept of 'insanity' here.
I don't have a 3x version of ToEE to refer to, so I can't compare.
Well, its an existing mechanic I glomed on to, and I generally try to do so, or at least use said mechanics as a base, whenever possible. I like baselines, not always inventing material out of whole cloth.
As to your question, do you mean "why" as opposed to "how"? Because "why" I can answer; for the most part, I want to build it as a focused option and a character concept. Spell-progression I figure I'd keep at +1 Level of Existing Class (restricted to Druid), you'd trade some druid-features for some features that allow you to do flavorful things with commanding, in this case, squirrels, and make you a beefy Wild-Shaped Squirrel.As to ToEE, the idea behind the insanity score was that touching the darkness drove the cultists to insanity; they'd be REALLY good at their dark art, but out of touch with reality. It does discuss erratic behavior, but on the basis of that mechanic alone. It'd theoretically work if the character had, say, a 12 in Wisdom, which would be a 22 (+6) and a 2 (-4) respectively.
What then speaks of more "insanity" that's relatively simple to encompass? UA has a huge stretch on insanity/Sanity Points, while maybe a similar hit to Charisma could be a neat package that showcases mental instability AND the social stigma that comes from talking to squirrels...