Difference between revisions of "Mental Illness"

Revision as of 20:35, 11 November 2007

You suffer from a particular mental illness such as Dissociative Identity Disorder, some type of Schizophrenia, Depersonalization, Conversion Disorder, etc. The exact nature of the illness should be researched by the player and discussed with the GM to come to an agreement on effects and points value. Abnormal Psychology Journals and dictionaries provide excellent information. Sadly, the list to choose from is very long.

Some less serious disorders include:

Paranoid

1 point

You have vague but intense fears that someone or something is out to get you. You never sit with your back to a doorway or window, always suspect you're being spied upon, feel unsafe in crowds, and have a hard time trusting anyone (+2 bonus on opposed Influence rolls). Everyone except the Twitchy, Cowardly, or other Paranoiacs reacts negatively towards you (-2 difficulty on rolls to Influence others). Have fun muttering to yourself and looking over your shoulder every two seconds.

Goes very well with Hyperactive and Twitchy.

Incompatible with Everybodys Best Friend.

Masochist

2 pts

Pain isn't so bad. It's actually kinda... fun. This attitude, should it become apparent, will be considered anything from a minor quirk to a serious and repulsive sexual deviation, depending on the individuals and cultures you encounter. Anyone aware of your fetish (and for fun's sake, don't hide it too well) will react negatively towards you (-4 penalty to Social rolls), except Nymphomaniacs and other Masochists. Sadists will be particularly irritated by you, since you take all the joy out of being vicious.

Phobia

2 pts

You irrationally fear a specific object, activity, or situation. You are paralyzed whenever confronted with the object of your Phobia. A Fate point must be spent to overcome terror and get past the phobia, else you will seek the easiest and quickest way directly away from the object. Common Phobias include Agoraphobia, fear of wide open spaces; Arachnophobia, fear of spiders and arachnids; Necrophobia, fear of corpses and death; and Zoophobia, fear of animals.

Sadist

3 pts

Blood holds a strange fascination for you, and causing others pain gives you an illicit thrill. In any situation where you must stay your hand against a foe, you must make a Self-Control check at a -4 penalty. If the foe is unarmed, unaware of your presence, or otherwise helpless, the Difficulty is -6. If this fault is taken in conjunction with Callous, Short Fuse, or Berserker, you must spend a Fate point to spare the lives of those you fight, once you've been roused to anger. Most reasonable beings will react to your sadism with fear and revulsion (-4 penalty on Social interaction), but those disdainful of mercy will approve (+2 bonus on Social rolls).

Incompatible with Soft Hearted and Peacemaker/Pacifist.

Other Mental Illnesses

• Narcissistic personality disorder (1 pt), a preoccupation with one's pride, vanity and self-importance;

Dependant personality disorder (2 pts), an excessive need to be taken care of leading to submissive and fearful behavior

• Chronic Depression (2 pts)
• Hypochondriasis (2 pts), the diagnosis of yourself as persistently sick
• Obsessive-Compulsive disorder (3 pts), which causes you to compulsively perform actions not of your volition very frequently
• PTSD (Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder, 4 pts), under which you may be reminded of a horrible past event and irrationally relive your actions
• D.I.D. (Dissociative Identity Disorder, 5 pts), the fluctuation of consciousness between two or more separate, functioning identities. If your GM is feeling generous, he or she might allow you to actually have different character sheets for each personality (in this case, all physical attributes and Trumps/Faults would be the same.)