# D&D character with multiple personalities



## Dungannon (Jan 26, 2010)

So, how would this situation work and would it even be legal according to the RAW?  A character has MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder), the personalities are not aware of each other.  They may be of different alignments/genders.  Could they also be of different classes?  And if so, how would that play out as far as prereqs for feats and such?  More questions to come as I think of them.


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## Tale (Jan 26, 2010)

If it had different classes it wouldn't be LFR legal.
   Unless you're doing a hybrid or MC character.
If it simply had different alignments, you could put down unaligned on the character sheet.


I've toyed with trying to get a DM to let me do something like this.  A Changeling Rogue that occasionally gets possessed by a Tiefling Warlock.  The idea would be that they did both have completely different classes.


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## Oryan77 (Jan 26, 2010)

One of my favorite characters from D&D novels is Sorak from the Dark Sun novels Tribe of One. He had 9 different personalities that were all different classes, races, and sex. I've always wished I could play a PC like that, but I just don't see it being possible.

I think most players would completely take advantage of it. Maybe there could be some kind of random dice roll to determine which personality takes control and for how long. But it just seems like a lot of work and I can see it being very problematic.

But maybe it would be fun to at least try. But as a DM, I would in no way let the player decide which personality comes out, when, and for how long.


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## Tale (Jan 26, 2010)

One idea I liked for changing between characters is that everytime one of them went to sleep, the other one would be the one that ends up waking up.  Extended Rest?  Change characters.  0HP and making Death Saving Throws?  Change characters.  Any sort of attack described as rendering the character unconcious or asleep, such as a second failed saving throw from sleep?  Change characters


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## Barastrondo (Jan 26, 2010)

Oryan77 said:


> I think most players would completely take advantage of it. Maybe there could be some kind of random dice roll to determine which personality takes control and for how long. But it just seems like a lot of work and I can see it being very problematic.




There are some serious advantages to be gained, but both characters would probably be less than standard effectiveness unless the DM gives this one PC twice the number of magic items that everyone else is getting. Some combinations could elude this (amulets wouldn't have to vary, and the rogue/warlock could use the same armor, for instance, and although a pact blade isn't an ideal rogue weapon it could work for both). But generally if it were me I'd say "You're going to get a weapon for Personality A or an implement for Personality B, but not both." 

It could potentially work, but I would only allow it in a game if I really trusted the player. I wouldn't want gameplay to slow down every time the personalities switched, unless all the other players cited dealing with the personality shifts as one of their favorite things to roleplay. 

A much simpler hack that one of my players has used is close. Essentially, he plays an elf who's swapped out elven accuracy for one of the shifter encounter powers. When he's bloodied, sometimes (when he activates the power, essentially), the other personality emerges and acts up for the rest of the encounter. Once he's healed back above the bloodied mark, he reverts. The class remains the same, as do the attributes, but we get some of the alternate personality roleplaying in a reasonably elegant fashion.


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## Marius Delphus (Jan 26, 2010)

The RAW (any edition) don't even contemplate this situation, AFAIK. I can't think of a book or supplement that supports a character who can "flip-flop" between classes (etc.) based on what I will call "alter egos."*

 * Let's just say I'm very uncomfortable tossing around real-life clinical diagnoses when talking about make-believe characters.

I once played in a "wahoo" sort of 1E game where all the characters were built strangely in some way (DRAGON Magazine races and classes featured heavily in this party). One of the characters had exactly the proposed setup: two alter egos, each with a different class and alignment, and diametrically opposed to boot. It seemed like fun to start out with, but the DM eventually put the kibosh on the whole thing, forcing one alter ego to take over permanently when evidence of the other's existence became incontrovertible through play.

Looking back on it (it was a long time ago), it was just the end result of all us players wanting to have the goofiest build so as to give the DM the most trouble. Even though we were taking up a challenge the DM issued (we were specifically told to crank up the goofiness), in the end the "double character" setup was too much trouble for both the other characters and the DM.


Each time the character switched alter egos, we all had to pause while the player switched character sheets and the character switched equipment.
The idea that the two alter egos were unaware of each other in the adventuring environment was completely untenable, given that each one "woke up" wearing the wrong equipment (which happened to be a dead giveaway as to the other alter ego's character class).
This was the main reason the DM shut the whole thing down. In the DM's defense, having to do this was discussed ahead of time.

Switching back and forth was fairly easy (a decision made in an effort to make the setup viable and interesting), but the end result was the player could usually switch to whichever character was "needed" (i.e., whichever was most fun to play) at a particular moment.
This necessarily increased the amount of attention the DM needed to pay to this particular player, because the "double character" was at the forefront of events more or less all the time.
The alternative, making the switch difficult and/or rare, would probably have just created a great deal of frustration in the player, who would have thus been mostly denied the fundamental "goofiness" of the character.

The other characters had no good reason to trust the "double character"... at any time. In this case, one of the alter egos was completely untrustworthy and, it turned out, had the other characters' demise as a firm goal. Even if this hadn't been the case, the other characters had reasons to know there was "something wrong" with the "double character" and probably wouldn't have added the character to the party in the first place for that reason. As time went on, these reasons multiplied until we all knew we were throwing RP considerations to the wind in keeping the "double character" in the party.
Some of these notes are idiosyncratic to the situation we found ourselves in, but overall it's left a bad taste in my mouth for the "alter egos" setup, and I have to personally hope you ultimately decide against it.

HTH. HAND.


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## Dungannon (Jan 26, 2010)

Here is what we (DM & player) are thinking.  PC has two personalities with slightly different classes (in this case, both classes would be martial) but wildly different alignments.  Personality switches would be random, probably based on failing a Will save in stressful situations.  Now the question comes, how to track XP.  My thinking is, the DM would track what personality was dominant when XP was earned by the PC and that XP would only apply to that personality's class.  Any thoughts about this?


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## Marius Delphus (Jan 26, 2010)

I'm biased against it, as I explained above. My specific thoughts based on your latest post:

"Each" character gets half (or so) XP? How far ahead will the rest of the party get, level-wise, and how fast?

Sounds like one Good personality, one Evil one. How long will the rest of the party put up with Jekyll/Hyde style behavior?


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## On Puget Sound (Jan 26, 2010)

If what you want is the rolepalying aspect of this mental weirdness, just play a Kalashtar.  Periodically let the Quori soul take over.  No need to do anything mechancically that way.  If you do want to make a mechanical difference, build it as a hybrid class and choose to use (for example) only the Ranger powers when the "human" side is in charge and only the Warlord powers when the "quori" side is in charge.  Or... have the power use actually trigger the consciousness shift.


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## Dragonhelm (Jan 26, 2010)

I once played a character with a MPD, or at least what we think of as a MPD.  Turned out to be a one-shot game.  It was some homebrew system, but essentially the character was an elementalist and had a different personality between earth, air, fire, and water.  Different situations would spark the different personalities coming out.

Basically, the character had the same ability scores and equipment, but had changes in powers.  So he could only access one set of powers at once.  

Personally, I don't advise it unless you're really good at playing multiple characters.


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## Umbran (Jan 26, 2010)

My understanding (and I am admittedly not a mental health professional, so I could be very wrong) is that real people with MPD are quite thoroughly disturbed - meaning that dealing with normal life is kind of out of the question.  The condition is rare as it is.  People who have multiple personalities, each of which is highly functioning enough to become combat-capable experts at a different skillset, are nigh unheard of.

So, if it is going to work in game, it is going to be _fantasy_ multiple personality disorder, not much like the real thing.  That means how it works is up to you.  You can go all the way to Bruce Banner and the Hulk, if you like - magical effects change the physical body of the character, not just his or her mental state.  At this point, the multiple personalities don't even need to be of the same race, much less the same class or gender.


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## Janx (Jan 26, 2010)

i agree with umbran.

Also, I just finished watching the BBC's "Jeckyl" series again.

The Hide personality had some different physical traits from Jeckyl, so you could at least justify different classes/stats.

Some ideas I'd consider:
all personalities must use the same stat scores (they could be rearranged for each PC, but use the same numbers)

PC would be of the same race

PC could be of different class

switching would occur when PC was under duress, at DM will, when other personality would be more useful (with a few round struggle to switch).  Perhaps with a die roll (so the player can't keep popping every round).

I'd also consider than the alternate is an NPC, much as DMs have handles lycanthropy in the past.  Especially in the beginning.

I see the point of the alternate personality is to build up a more complex PC backstory/forward story.  Thus, I'd be less inclined to start a PC this way, so much as make it be discovered through game play that the PC suffers from this.  The final reward for the PC is integrationm cooperation, control or eradication of the alt such that the problem aspect is solved for the player.


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## Ed_Laprade (Jan 26, 2010)

Did this once, but it was GURPS. Well, it wasn't me, but *two* other players. However, they were two of the best role players I've ever played with (if not _the_ best), so it actually worked. But even they had to work hard to make it work, and there were no alignment difficulties. Different personalities and skill sets, but both (or all four) characters were very much part of the adventuring party. The group had plenty of fun, but it did cause some minor problems from time to time. (Switching gear at certain times could keep a character out of the action for a round or two, that sort of thing.)


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## On Puget Sound (Jan 26, 2010)

Or you could just play a lycanthrope.


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## Grimstaff (Jan 26, 2010)

Sounds like an OD&D Elf.


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## bardolph (Jan 26, 2010)

Dungannon said:


> So, how would this situation work and would it even be legal according to the RAW?  A character has MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder), the personalities are not aware of each other.  They may be of different alignments/genders.  Could they also be of different classes?  And if so, how would that play out as far as prereqs for feats and such?  More questions to come as I think of them.




While I don't think RAW supports this, it'd be pretty easy to simulate. Just make a different PC for each personality, and have the DM decide when to switch. If the DM is worried about game balance, you can have each personality burn one or more feats to account for this.

An interesting variant is to give more freedom to personality switching, but require the PC to track XP for each personality separately.


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## Dragonhelm (Jan 26, 2010)

Umbran said:


> So, if it is going to work in game, it is going to be _fantasy_ multiple personality disorder, not much like the real thing.  That means how it works is up to you.  You can go all the way to Bruce Banner and the Hulk, if you like - magical effects change the physical body of the character, not just his or her mental state.  At this point, the multiple personalities don't even need to be of the same race, much less the same class or gender.




I'm glad you brough up the Hulk, as he's a prime example of what we're talking about.  I want to say the best Hulk stories I ever read revolved around the grey Hulk (my favorite).  There was an issue where Doc Samson went into Bruce Banner's mind, and saw Banner, the green Hulk, and the grey Hulk all at once.  Three distinct personalities, all of which were brought about due to Banner being abused as a child.  The end result was that all the personalities were brought together to form one of the best versions of the Hulk ever, with Banner's brains, the green Hulk's power, and the grey Hulk's attitude.

You need to consider powers and abilities, and whether those powers and abilities will conflict from personality to personality.  

Also consider what triggers the change, and whether that is DM or player controlled.  Does the change happen at night, or under the light of a moon?  Is it based on geography?  

Ask yourself what triggered the MPD to begin with.  Is it a curse, where multiple people are put in the same body?  Child abuse, ala the Hulk?  Or maybe it's something like Nikki from Heroes.  

Look at what you want the end result to be.  Do you want one personality to eliminate the others?  Do you want the personalities to merge, ala the Hulk?

Egad, I just remembered an intelligent sword I had created with a MPD back in my early gaming days.  It was called Assimilator (  ).  Nine live stealer that absorbed up to nine people's souls in it, all of whom were of a different alignment.


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## Alzrius (Jan 27, 2010)

I tried my hand at a template for this a while back over on the Skirmisher Publishing forums. Here was my result:

*MULTI-MIND*
Sometimes, a person will come across a situation that their mind is unable to handle. Whether it’s seeing something completely unbelievable, being attacked by powerful magic, or something else altogether, such an event can be shattering. When this happens, a rare few people will create an entirely new personality for themselves to get them through it. This “new” person has a mentality, personality, and abilities all their own, often emerging at times of great stress when the person’s original personality fails. These people are known to sages as multi-minds.

*Creating a Multi-Mind*
“Multi-Mind” is an acquired template that may be applied to any creature with an Intelligence of 3 or higher. A character may have this template applied more than once if they have more than one alternate personality.

A multi-mind uses all of the base creature’s statistics, except as noted here,

*Hit Dice*
The multi-mind’s Hit Dice do not change.

*Attacks*
The multi-mind's Base Attack Bonus does not change.

*Special Attacks*
All racial special attacks are retained. All of the multi-mind’s class-based special attacks are lost when it uses its multipersonality special quality (see below), and are replaced with the special attacks of its new class.

*Special Qualities*
All racial special qualities are retained. All of the multi-mind’s class-based special qualities are lost when it uses its multipersonality special quality (see below), and are replaced with the special qualities of its new class. A multi-mind gains the following special quality:

_Multipersonality (Ex):_ A multi-mind is host to multiple personalities, each with different abilities. If a character is in a stressful situation (such as being brought below 50% hit points, becoming panicked, or any other situation the GM decides), he must make a Will save (DC 16) or an alternate personality comes out. This personality has all of the character’s same statistics, but has different class features (of a total level equal to the base creature’s class levels), mental ability scores, skills, feats, and alignment. If no other stressful situation arises, the personality returns to dormancy after 1d12 hours.

*Abilities*
Same as base creature. When the multipersonality special quality is in use, determine the new personality’s mental ability scores randomly (roll 4d6 and drop the lowest die for Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma). Once determined, these are retained for the alternate personality each time it emerges.

*Skills*
Same as base creature. When the multipersonality special quality is in use, the new personality has completely different skill ranks (determined from what class levels it has), and cannot use any of the base creature’s skill ranks.

*Feats*
Same as base creature. When the multipersonality special quality is in use, the new personality has completely different feats, and cannot use any of the base creature’s feats.

*Saves*
Same as base creature. When the multipersonality special quality is in use, the new personality's Wisdom score, feats, etc. may change their save modifiers.

*Challenge Rating*
Same as base creature +0.

*Alignment*
Same as base creature. When the multipersonality special quality is in use, the new personality has a completely different alignment.

*Level Adjustment*
Same as base creature +0.


*Example Creature*
This example multi-mind uses a Kiorin, a 4th-level human paladin, as the base creature. His alternate personality is Jessep, an immoral rogue. Neither has any idea that they are a multi-mind. Statistics listed are for both personalities unless otherwise noted.

*Kiorin/Jessep CR 4*
Male human Paladin 4 (Rogue 4)
LG (NE) Medium Humanoid (Human)
*Init* +0; *Senses* Listen +1, Spot +1 (Jessep Listen +7, Spot +7)
*Aura (Kiorin)* aura of courage 10 ft.
*Languages* Common (Jessep Common, Goblinoid, Halfling)
-----
*AC* 14, touch 10, flat-footed 14
*hp* 26 (4 HD)
*Fort* +7 (+5), *Ref +3* (+1), *Will* +3 (+0)
-----
*Spd* 30 ft.
*Melee* masterwork short sword +8 (Jessep +7) (1d6+2/19-20)
*Ranged* shortbow +4 (1d6/x3)
*Space* 5 ft.; *Reach* 5 ft.
*Base Atk* +4; *Grp* +6
*Atk Options (Kiorin)* smite evil 1/day
*Atk Options (Jessep)* sneak attack +2d6
*Special Atks (Kiorin)* turn undead 5/day
*Combat Gear* masterwork short sword
*Spells Prepared (Kiorin)* (CL 2nd)
   1 – _cure light wounds_ (DC 12)
-----
*Str* 15, *Dex* 11, *Con* 13, *Int* 8 (15), *Wis* 12 (10), *Cha* 14 (7)
*SQ (Kiorin)* aura of courage, aura of good, detect evil, divine grace, divine health
*SQ (Jessep)* evasion, trap sense +1, trapfinding, uncanny dodge
*Feats (Kiorin)* Endurance, Power Attack, Weapon Focus (short sword)
*Feats (Jessep)* Dodge, Point Blank Shot, Stealthy
*Skills (Kiorin)* Concentration +2, Diplomacy +4, Handle Animal +3, Heal +3, Knowledge (nobility and royalty) +2, Knowledge (religion) +2, Ride +2
*Skills (Jessep)* Bluff +5, Disable Device +9, Disguise +5, Escape Artist +6, Hide +8, Listen +7, Move Silently +8, Open Lock +7, Search +9, Sleight of Hand +6, Spot +7
*Possessions* combat gear plus masterwork chain shirt, shortbow, 40 arrows


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## Master Chr Smith (Sep 20, 2014)

So, I have thought of this before. A good idea for this, with any race, is to set up 2 or more character sheets. They all have the same exact stats so there is no question about that. Upon falling asleep your personalities shuffle, remember your body still needs a full 8 hours sleep for spell casters regardless of the persona having been asleep. Upon waking the DM rolls secretly and gives you your character for the day.
Of course this is not technically 'legal' but it would put in an interesting twist and for those, like me, who get easily bored with there characters gives them something to keep going.


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## Elven (Sep 20, 2014)

Dungannon said:


> So, how would this situation work and would it even be legal according to the RAW?  A character has MPD (Multiple Personality Disorder), the personalities are not aware of each other.  They may be of different alignments/genders.  Could they also be of different classes?  And if so, how would that play out as far as prereqs for feats and such?  More questions to come as I think of them.




Well if one of those many "personalities" had control long enough, Multiclassing, 

(if the DM was kind, it would not stack towards your limit (as they are in effect different people, and as long as you had no control as to who showed up (not in any way controllable) that would be weird but fair)


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## Master Chr Smith (Sep 23, 2014)

Elven said:


> Well if one of those many "personalities" had control long enough, Multiclassing,
> 
> (if the DM was kind, it would not stack towards your limit (as they are in effect different people, and as long as you had no control as to who showed up (not in any way controllable) that would be weird but fair)




Might consider treating as non standard cross class (+10%  xp/lvl to advance) to make up for the levels of the 'sleeping' personas. Particularly if you have more than one additional personality.


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