Stoney
4:55pm, August 27, 2012
[Edit]
[Delete] | Psychological Flaws:
The psych flaws here are described in more specific detail, and arranged into Minor, Major, and Player Choice. The psych flaws are taken from the d20 SRD Sanity Rules, and have been adapted for freeform.
Minor Psych Flaws:
(Anxiety) Phobia/Philia (examples)
Acrophobia heights (formerly known as vertigo)
Aerophobia wind
Agoraphobia open places
Ailurophobia cats
Androphobia men (males)
Astrophobia stars
Autophobia being alone
Bacteriophobia bacteria (“germs”)
Ballistophobia bullets
Bathophobia deep submerged places
Bibliophobia books
Blennophobia slime
Brontophobia thunder
Cenophobia empty rooms
Chionophobia snow
Claustrophobia enclosed spaces
Demophobia crowds
Dendrophobia trees
Entomophobia insects
Equinophobia horses
Gephyrdrophobia crossing bridges
Gynephobia women (females)
Hamartophobia sinning or making an error
Haphephobia being touched
Heliophobia sunlight or the sun
Hematophobia blood or bleeding
Hydrophobia water
Hypnophobia sleep
Iatrophobia doctors (healers)
Ichthyophobia fish
Maniaphobia going insane
Monophobia being alone
Musophobia mice (and rats)
Necrophobia dead things
Nyctophobia night or nightfall
Odontophobia teeth
Onomatophobia a certain name, word, or phrase
Ophidiophobia snakes
Ornithophobia birds
Pediphobia children
Phagophobia eating
Phonophobia noise, including one’s own voice
Pyrophobia fire
Scotophobia darkness
Spectrophobia mirrors
Taphephobia being buried alive
Teratophobia monsters
Thalassophobia the sea
Tomophobia surgery
Uranophobia the heavens (“the horrible gaping sky!”)
Vermiphobia worms
Xenophobia foreigners or strangers
Zoophobia animals
Impulse Control Disorders
These disorders include compulsive gambling, pathological lying, kleptomania (compulsive stealing), and pyromania (the compulsion to set fires).
Intermittent Explosive Disorder
The character is recognizably impulsive and aggressive, and at times gives way to uncontrollable rages that result in assault or destruction of property.
Personality Disorders
These long-term disorders have almost constant effects on a character’s behavior, making it difficult for him to interact with others and often making him unpleasant to be around as well.
Personality disorders are classified in the following categories.
Antisocial
Short-sighted and reckless behavior, habitual liar, confrontational, fails to meet obligations (job, bills, relationships), disregards rights and feelings of others.
Avoidant
Oversensitive to rejection, low self-esteem, socially withdrawn.
Borderline
Rapid mood shifts, impulsive, unable to control temper, chronic boredom.
Compulsive
Perfectionist, authoritarian, indecisive from fear of making mistakes, difficulty expressing emotions.
Dependent
Lacks self-confidence; seeks another to look up to, follow, and subordinate herself to (“codependent”).
Histrionic
Overly dramatic, craves attention and excitement, overreacts, displays temper tantrums, may threaten suicide if thwarted.
Narcissistic
Exaggerated sense of self-importance, craves attention and admiration, considers others’ rights and feelings as of lesser importance.
Passive-Aggressive
Procrastinator, stubborn, intentionally forgetful, deliberately inefficient. Sabotages own performance on a regular basis.
Paranoid
Jealous, easily offended, suspicious, humorless, secretive, vigilant; exaggerates magnitude of offenses against oneself, refuses to accept blame.
Schizoid
Emotionally cold, aloof, has few friends; indifferent to praise or criticism.
Psychosexual Disorders
Recognizable disorders of this type include transsexualism (a belief that one is actually a member of the opposite sex), impaired sexual desire or function, nymphomania and satyriasis (inordinate and uncontrollable sexual appetite in women and men, respectively), and paraphilia (requirement of an abnormal sexual stimulus, such as sadism, masochism, necrophilia, pedophilia, exhibitionism, voyeurism, fetishism, or bestiality).
Most of these disorders could make players of the afflicted characters uncomfortable and thus are not appropriate for most roleplaying groups, although they can make for striking (if unpleasant) NPCs.
Psychospecies Disorders
The victim believes that she is a different type of creature. A victim might believe that she is a specific alien or other creature that she has encountered.
Substance Abuse Disorder
A character with a substance abuse disorder finds solace in using a drug, becomes addicted to it, and spends much time maintaining, concealing, and indulging the habit. Drugs include alcohol, amphetamines, cocaine, hallucinogens, marijuana, nicotine, opium (especially morphine and heroin), sedatives, and more fantastic substances present in the campaign world (see Sample Drugs, earlier in this section).
Major Psych Flaws:
Generalized Anxiety Disorder
The character suffers from a variety of physical and emotional symptoms that can be grouped into certain categories (choose one or more of the following).
Motor Tension
Jitteriness, aches, twitches, restlessness, easily startled, easily fatigued, and so on. All attack rolls, Fortitude and Reflex saves, and all checks involving Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution take a -2 penalty.
Autonomic Hyperactivity
Sweating, racing heart, dizziness, clammy hands, flushed or pallid face, rapid pulse and respiration even when at rest, and so on.
Expectations of Doom
Anxieties, worries, fears, and especially anticipations of misfortune.
Vigilance
Distraction, inability to focus, insomnia, irritability, impatience.
Panic Disorder (Panic Attack)
This illness is marked by a discrete period of fear in which symptoms develop rapidly. Within minutes palpitation, sweating, trembling, and difficulty in breathing develop, strong enough that the victim fears immediate death or insanity. Burdened with the recurrence of these episodes, she fears their return. This reaction often leads to agoraphobia (see below).
Agoraphobia (Fear of Open Places)
The character becomes very nervous outside familiar surroundings and must make a DC 15 Will save in order to leave home or engage socially. May be linked to panic disorder (see above) or to a related phobia (see below), such as uranophobia (fear of the sky), baraphobia (fear of loss of gravity), or xenophobia (fear of strangers).
Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder
This illness manifests in one of two main forms, obsessive thoughts or compulsive actions; some characters exhibit both.
Obsessions
The character cannot help thinking about an idea, image, or impulse incessantly, often involving violence and self-doubt. These ideas are frequently repugnant to the character, but they are so strong that during times of stress she may be unable to concentrate on anything else, even if doing so is necessary for her survival. Obsessive impulses can be very dangerous when combined with auditory hallucinations, since the “voices” may urge the character to take some dangerous or hostile course of action.
Compulsions
The character insists on performing ritual actions, such as touching a doorway at left, right, and top before passing through it. Even in times of great stress, the character may ignore her survival in order to perform the actions.
Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder
After a traumatic event, perhaps even years later, the character begins to relive the trauma through persistent thoughts, dreams, and flashbacks. Correspondingly, the character loses interest in daily activities. She may return to normal once the memories have been thoroughly explored and understood, but that process may take years.
Dissociative Disorders
Individuals suffering from dissociative disorders cannot maintain a complete awareness of themselves, their surroundings, or time. The disorder often involves some great previous trauma that is too terrible to remember. Characters who have gone insane from an encounter with powerful monsters often suffer from some form of dissociative disorder.
Dissociative Amnesia (Psychogenic Amnesia)
This is the inability to recall important personal information, brought on by a desire to avoid unpleasant memories.
Dissociative Fugue
The character flees from home or work and cannot recall her past. Once the flight halts, the character may assume an entirely new identity.
Dissociative Identity Disorder (Multiple Personality Disorder)
The character appears to harbor more than one personality, each of which is dominant at times and has its own distinct behavior, name, and even gender. The player needs to keep track of the character’s different personalities.
Eating Disorders
These disorders can be incredibly debilitating and even lead to starvation. They are conditions that may continue for many years, sometimes continually endangering the patient.
Anorexia Nervosa
The character has an overpowering fear of becoming fat and consequently loses weight. Even when she is no more than skin and bones, the character continues to see herself as overweight. Without intervention, she may literally starve herself to death.
Bulimia Nervosa
The character frequently eats large amounts of food during secret binges. An eating episode may continue until abdominal distress or self-induced vomiting occurs. Feelings of depression and guilt frequently follow such episodes.
Schizophrenia and Other Psychotic Disorders
A psychotic character experiences a break with reality. Symptoms can include delusions, hallucinations, and cognitive impairment. In general, only alchemical substances or magic can treat these kinds of disorders. Note, however, that many psychotic characters suffer from the delusion that nothing is wrong with them, and hence they feel no need to take their medication.
Schizophrenia (Schizophreniform Disorder, Dementia Praecox)
A schizophrenic character’s attention span and ability to concentration are greatly diminished. Symptoms include bizarre delusions, paranoia, auditory hallucinations (“hearing voices”), incoherent speech, emotional detachment, social withdrawal, bizarre behavior, and a lack of the sense of self.
A schizophrenic character may fit into one of the following categories.
Undifferentiated
Impaired cognitive function, emotional detachment.
Disorganized
Inappropriate behavior, shallow emotional responses, delusions, hallucinations.
Catatonic
Mutism (loss of ability to talk), extreme compliance, absence of all voluntary movements, complete immobility (“statuism”).
Paranoid
Delusions of persecution, illogical thinking, hallucinations.
Symptoms from more than one type can occur in the same individual, along with mood disorders (see above). For example, catatonic schizophrenics sometimes have manic episodes of extreme activity alternating with periods of complete withdrawal. Schizophrenia brought on by sudden stress is called acute schizophrenia; characters who go insane and babble of vast global conspiracies usually are diagnosed as suffering from “acute paranoid schizophrenia.”
Other Psychotic Disorders
By some definitions, all severe mental illnesses are classified as psychoses, including mood disorders, dementia, and anxiety disorders. This section deals with some of the interesting behavioral syndromes that may turn up in your game.
Amok
“Running amok,” an outburst of violence and aggressive or homicidal behavior directed at people and property. Amnesia, return to consciousness, and exhaustion occur following the episode. During a killing spree, the character utilizes whatever weapons are on hand.
Boufee Detirant
Sudden outburst of aggressive, agitated behavior and marked confusion, sometimes accompanied by visual and auditory hallucinations or paranoia.
Brain Fog
Impaired concentration and feelings of fatigue, pains in the neck and head, a sense that worms are crawling inside one’s head.
Ghost Sickness
Weakness, loss of appetite, feelings of suffocation, nightmares, and a pervasive feeling of terror, attributed as a sending from witches or malign otherworldly powers.
Susto
A variety of somatic and psychological symptoms attributed to a traumatic incident so frightening that it dislodged the victim’s spirit from her body.
Taijin Kyofusho
“Face-to-face” phobia, an intense anxiety when in the presence of other people; fearfulness that one’s appearance, odor, or behavior is offensive.
Voodoo Death
Belief that a hex or curse can bring about misfortune, disability, and death through some spiritual mechanism. Often the victim self-fulfills the hexer’s prophecy by refusing to eat and drink, resulting in dehydration and starvation.
Wacinko
Anger, withdrawal, mutism, and immobility, leading to illness and suicide.
Wendigo Syndrome
The afflicted believes she is a personification of the Wendigo, a cannibalistic creature with an icy heart.
Shared Paranoid Disorder (Shared Delusional Disorder, Folie a Deux)
The character takes on the delusional system of another paranoid individual from being in close contact with that person.
Somatoform Disorders
A somatoform disorder may be diagnosed when a character experiences physical symptoms that cannot be explained by an actual physical injury or disease.
Somatization Disorder
The character suffers from a physical ailment or diseaselike effect, with symptoms ranging from dizziness and impotence to blindness and intense pain. The Heal skill cannot identify any physical cause for the symptoms, and magical healing has no effect. The victim does not believe that her symptoms represent a specific disease.
Conversion Disorder
The character reports dysfunctions that suggest a physical disorder but, though they are involuntary, the symptoms actually provide a way for the victim to avoid something undesirable or a way to garner attention and caring, a condition called Munchausenism. Symptoms range from painful headaches to paralysis or blindness. With the condition known as Reverse Munchausenism, a character projects ill health onto others and may even arrange injuries or illnesses for them so that she can thereafter take care of them.
Hypochondriasis
Character believes she suffers from a serious disease. No physical cause for reported symptoms can be found, but the character continues to believe that the disease or condition exists, often with serious consequences to her normal life.
Body Dysmorphic Disorder
Character suffers from perceived flaws in appearance, usually of the face, or of the hips or legs. Behavior may alter in unexpected ways to cover up the flaws or to calm anxieties.
Player Choice Psych Flaws:
With these you have some room to determine the severity of the flaw, making a disorder either major or minor.
Mood Disorders
These disorders affect the victim’s attitude and outlook. Mild mood disorders can be almost impossible to detect without prolonged contact with an individual, but severe disorders usually have noticeable symptoms.
Depression
Symptoms of this illness include changes in appetite, weight gain or loss, too much or too little sleep, persistent feeling of tiredness or sluggishness, and feelings of worthlessness or guilt, leading in severe cases to hallucinations, delusions, stupor, or thoughts of suicide.
Mania
The character has a fairly constant euphoric or possibly irritable mood. Symptoms include a general increase in activity, talkativeness, increased self-esteem to the point of delusion, decreased need for sleep, being easily distracted, willingness for dangerous or imprudent activities such as reckless driving, delusions, hallucinations, and bizarre behavior. A predisposition to use alcohol or other substances in an attempt at self-medication exists.
Bipolar Mood Disorder
The character oscillates between mood states, sometimes staying in one mood for weeks at a time, sometimes rapidly switching from one to another. Also known as manic depressive.
Sleep Disorders
These disorders include insomnia (character has difficulty falling asleep or staying asleep) and narcolepsy (character frequently falls asleep, almost anywhere and at inappropriate times).
Night Terrors
A sleeping character wakes after a few hours of sleep, usually screaming in terror. Pulse and breathing are rapid, pupils are dilated, and hair stands on end. The character is confused and hard to calm down. Night terrors are similar to ordinary nightmares, but much more intense and disruptive.
Somnambulism
Sleepwalking. As with night terrors, this behavior occurs in the first few hours of sleep. An episode may last up to 30 minutes. During the episode, the character’s face is blank and staring, and she can be roused only with difficulty. Once awake, she recalls nothing of the activity.
Other Disorders
Other disorders exist in common parlance, but most of these are actually symptoms or specific instances of disorders already mentioned above. These include quixotism (seeing the supernatural everywhere, even in the most mundane surroundings), panzaism (seeing the most extraordinary events as ordinary and rational), and megalomania (delusions of power, wealth, fame, and ability).
Edited 5:07pm, August 27, 2012 by Stoney, author. |
