Rules for playing a character with Psychological issues


Homebrew


I was creating a soldier/mercenary character, and decided to add flavor to his personality. After consulting fellow veterans and my DM, I crafted the following rules to simulate PTSD. Though I doubt they will change much, I'm open to advice. They will be tweeked by my DM as the campaign progresses.

The character always tries to avoid staying in any location for an extended period of time. He avoids any long term commitments. He also acts aloof and almost belligerent with fellow party member, though this will be less prevalent as he gets better acquainted with said characters. (Making close friends with people who may be killed soon is never a good idea.) He also had triggers that could cause undesirable actions. These triggers were all chosen after afore mentioned consultations. Obviously, other players who try these rules should define their own triggers depending on the characters past events.

Triggers for chart 1 rolls:
>Loud noise without warning. (i.e. gunshots or fireworks)
>Struck by a melee attack during the first round when surprised.
Triggers for chart 2 rolls:
>The combined smells of burning flesh and petroleum.
>Any other event the DM deems appropriate

Chart 1
% Roll : Effect
1-25 : Character is COWERING in fear. Will save required
each round until recovery. (Save DC is 10+1/2 character
level + number of previous failures. Character
automatically returns to normal 1d6+4 minutes after combat
ends)
26-75 : Character acts normally
76-90 : Character is STUNNED for 1 round.
91-100: Character is CONFUSED for 1 round.

Chart 2
% Roll : Effect
1-20 : Character is DAZED for 1 round.
21-80 : Character acts normally.
81-95 : Character is STUNNED for 1 round.
96-100: Character is CONFUSED for 1 round. (Roll twice on the
table in the core rulebook and choose one result.)

Any fellow veterans feel free to tell me where to stick these rules. (Also thank you for your service, Brothers and Sisters.) All others please give constructive criticism or advice. DM's, be advised roleplaying this concept and the associated rules will likely be very difficult.


My big advice is this: get buy-in from the other players first. Statements like "belligerent with other party members", "avoids long term commitments", and having "undesirable actions" does not really sound like a recipe for the whole group having fun. Not to me, anyway.

Also, your characters need a reason to be together, support one another, and risk their lives for each other. Unless this character had a long-standing relationship with the other PC's before PTSD developed, why would they entrust their lives to him?


I would definitely get a consensus from the other players on how they feel about having this going on in the game, mostly in regards to dealing with a potentially hostile player/pc. The tables are a neat idea I suppose, though it seems really severe for RP, while also potentially stripping any organic feeling it might have had. I'm not a fan rolling for reactions/etc in general simply because I prefer to RP more "au natural". I would recommend using the tables as a guideline rather than a hard ruleset. These are very serious penalties in some cases, solely for the sake of RP, something you could simply choose to do, or represent in other non-mechanical ways.


I gave a heads up to the group before finalizing with the DM. I received no complaints, they're OK with it so far. I should also mention that the PC's already know my character or have connection with a PC Ysoki that I took in as an orphan when his parents were killed.


karlbadmannersV2 wrote:
I would definitely get a consensus from the other players on how they feel about having this going on in the game, mostly in regards to dealing with a potentially hostile player/pc. The tables are a neat idea I suppose, though it seems really severe for RP, while also potentially stripping any organic feeling it might have had. I'm not a fan rolling for reactions/etc in general simply because I prefer to RP more "au natural". I would recommend using the tables as a guideline rather than a hard ruleset. These are very serious penalties in some cases, solely for the sake of RP, something you could simply choose to do, or represent in other non-mechanical ways.

I was going for the effect of a character that wasn't always in control of his actions. Making a conscious decision on how the character reacts actually makes sense in game terms, but doesn't reflect the more extreme cases of PTSD in RL. Therefore I was attempting to present reality over gameplay. It is kind of harsh, but wanted to portray the character based upon real life knowledge and not a rulebook. I truly appreciate the input though. Thanks.


OK. Sounds like people are willing to give it a shot, then. That's good. I'll only add this: give yourself the flexibility to scrap the tables if it isn't working out. Or, to use the tables but discard a result that would be obviously harmful or severely disruptive. Keep that in mind and you should be fine.


Telemnar1 wrote:

I was creating a soldier/mercenary character, and decided to add flavor to his personality. After consulting fellow veterans and my DM, I crafted the following rules to simulate PTSD. Though I doubt they will change much, I'm open to advice. They will be tweeked by my DM as the campaign progresses.

The character always tries to avoid staying in any location for an extended period of time. He avoids any long term commitments. He also acts aloof and almost belligerent with fellow party member, though this will be less prevalent as he gets better acquainted with said characters. (Making close friends with people who may be killed soon is never a good idea.) He also had triggers that could cause undesirable actions. These triggers were all chosen after afore mentioned consultations. Obviously, other players who try these rules should define their own triggers depending on the characters past events.

Triggers for chart 1 rolls:
>Loud noise without warning. (i.e. gunshots or fireworks)
>Struck by a melee attack during the first round when surprised.
Triggers for chart 2 rolls:
>The combined smells of burning flesh and petroleum.
>Any other event the DM deems appropriate

Chart 1
% Roll : Effect
1-25 : Character is COWERING in fear. Will save required
each round until recovery. (Save DC is 10+1/2 character
level + number of previous failures. Character
automatically returns to normal 1d6+4 minutes after combat
ends)
26-75 : Character acts normally
76-90 : Character is STUNNED for 1 round.
91-100: Character is CONFUSED for 1 round.

Chart 2
% Roll : Effect
1-20 : Character is DAZED for 1 round.
21-80 : Character acts normally.
81-95 : Character is STUNNED for 1 round.
96-100: Character is CONFUSED for 1 round. (Roll twice on the
table in the core rulebook and choose one result.)

Any fellow veterans feel free to tell me where to...

Just to weigh in...

I would make sure the others in your group are cool with this. I would also like though, in this case, to add my own real life experience with PTSD, because this seems too cut and dry and simple which PTSD isn't.

First of all, I'd state that PTSD can be gotten from more things than combat and there is no uniform version of it. In my case it happened by a combination of things, an injury that crippled me and then the loss of close family and friends all within a period of less than a year caused mine.

I only found out a month ago that I had PTSD and my symptoms don't match those that you're laying out. In my case it is a combination of mood swings, depression, anxiety, and a number of other things. I don't think it is just a matter of cowering in fear, or being dazed, stunned, or confused. I don't experience any of those symptoms.

With me, it is more of a feeling of not being myself, of loss of my old abilities, and then being angry with myself for having lost those abilities. My concentration, reliability, and general competence all took a nosedive. Those seem more common among other PTSD sufferers than the generic version that you listed.

I'd look into more social issues.

Common issues people with PTSD face can include:

1. Lack of personal hygiene.
This could translate in game in a form of a reduction in Charisma. Generally it is a feeling of hopelessness and lack of energy. Sometimes people stop caring, stop trying, and this is a huge result.

2. Fear of failing.
This is probably the worst one (for me) and others I have been to group with have stated the same. It feels like you are diminished and there is an underlying fear of doing something because you don't think you can, or you won't be as good as you used to be at it, and it rises to anger at yourself. In my case, more than once, since all of this happened I blew a potential job because I just couldn't bring myself to do what needed to be done because I felt I couldn't. It is a vicious cycle that doesn't really track with the symptoms that you are outlining.

3. Anger.
Seemingly random bouts of anger. Anger at yourself for being weak enough to "break" is a common one. I felt that way myself. You feel like you are "less" because you feel like you shouldn't have had the disorder, it isn't a matter of weakness of course, but sometimes that is how it feels.

-----

These are just some of the things that can happen. I'm not saying that your list is bad, per se, but PTSD isn't usually manifested as something that happens once in a while and generally lasts only 6 seconds. It is a very complex and deep thing that radically changes a person's life, at least based on my own first hand accounts of it.

Just leaving my feedback.

Edit to add:
I am not a veteran, I helped take care of my father for the final four years of his life and he was a veteran, I witnessed his struggles with PTSD and mine has nothing to do with the military at all.


HWalsh,

Your social issues are dead on for me. Personally noticed all three in my own life before. Now that you mentioned them, I'll be roleplaying them into the character.

On a personal note, I hope you have a support system to help. As for me, I found a Facebook group called "Disgruntled Vets". Having people who care and just listen will help you immensely.

Edit: I forgot to give credit to "Disgruntled Vets". Though most of them are not RPG players, they gave me a lot of input and helped design the concept.


Telemnar1 wrote:

HWalsh,

Your social issues are dead on for me. Personally noticed all three in my own life before. Now that you mentioned them, I'll be roleplaying them into the character.

On a personal note, I hope you have a support system to help. As for me, I found a Facebook group called "Disgruntled Vets". Having people who care and just listen will help you immensely.

Edit: I forgot to give credit to "Disgruntled Vets". Though most of them are not RPG players, they gave me a lot of input and helped design the concept.

I'm working on it. It's by far not easy. It's an uphill battle to get disability (which will go a long way) for the surgeries which will probably help the most. Being able to walk again would be a gigantic quality of life boost.

As for this, I'm glad my feedback helped.

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