Starfinder - The Doldrums and Space Madness

[Belabras]

We are back for 2021 with a little exploration of how to incorporate the Doldrums and Space Madness into your Starfinder game!

[Metaphysician]

Not a bad idea, though I would note there is no mechanical or lore basis for thinking that a Mystic is diminished in any way by being in the Drift ( and some very good game balance reasons for assuming otherwise ). Mind, just because their Connection still works fine doesn't mean its impossible for them to have psychosomatic issues.

[Belabras]

Metaphysician wrote:

Not a bad idea, though I would note there is no mechanical or lore basis for thinking that a Mystic is diminished in any way by being in the Drift ( and some very good game balance reasons for assuming otherwise ). Mind, just because their Connection still works fine doesn't mean its impossible for them to have psychosomatic issues.

Absolutely. It's more a story opportunity than anything else. I would never penalize a player like that unless I'd worked out with them before hand the potential story.

[Goth Guru]

How about, the mystic detects a crewmates imaginary friend.

Broccoli Syndrome. They start to spend so much time with their hobby that they start to neglect their duties. May involve a novel, unfinished symphony, or holo program.

[Goth Guru]

Time brain: They become confused by 2 or more different timelines.

[Belabras]

Goth Guru wrote:

Time brain: They become confused by 2 or more different timelines.

Oooh, but what kind of in game effect would that have?

[Goth Guru]

Confusion, like the spell. Probably comes and goes.

[Metaphysician]

I don't know, if its just Confusion, I feel like that might as well just be the standard Space Madness. To represent an actual confusion between two timelines. . . how about this. The GM may, whenever the character suffering from this has to make a d20 roll, roll a second d20 in secret. On a roll of 5 or worse, the player fails their check, regardless of what they rolled, due to a confusion of different timelines. On a roll of 16 or higher, they *succeed* at their check, regardless of their roll, due to an advantage gained from the access to different timelines. Either way, the GM narrates the outcome as involving other-dimensional knowledge, and should drop some info that might only serve for flavor or might not.

Alternatively, maybe have the GM check roll only trigger on 1 and 20 at first, with the trigger numbers growing as the condition grows more severe.

[Goth Guru]

It could also delusional as they think one person is dead but they are alive, and vica versa.