Madness on the Planes

True, the Bleakers are the most prone to sliding into madness, but no planar is completely immune to going mad. Even the modrons can go rogue, proving in an odd way that beings of pure logic can become mad. And some claim the disillusioned are mad themselves. No one can claim with certainty that anyone on the Outer Planes is sane when you get to the heart of the question.

Unless noted otherwise, consider a character to be sane. Characters whose philosophies that place them at odds with the multiverse at large are more prone to going mad, such as the Bleakers. Residents of the chaotic gate towns, especially those residing close to the Lower Planes (Curst through Xaos), are just as susceptible to madness as are philosophies strongly tied to chaos. To show as much, some templates and/or prestige classes either impose a penalty to Will saves or a mandatory Madness Rating increase for advancing in levels.

Madness affects the afflicted character in a variety of ways. The most unfortunate aspect is the increasing number of attacks the individual suffers as his madness deepens. Will saves become increasingly more common and are more likely to be failed. But, such is life on the Planes.

There are a number of ways for a character to begin the road to madness besides templates and prestige classes. The plane of Pandemonium is an example of a location where madness can strike otherwise well-grounded individuals. Below is a list of various acts that can lead a character to develop a Madness rating.

A successful Will Save means the character is immune to that source of madness for 24 hours.

The margin of failure of a Will save determines the number of Madness points a character gains. Any character with 16 or more Madness points begins to accrue 1d4 points per level gained thereafter.

Failure Margin Result

1-5 points +d4 to Madness rating

6-10 points +d6 to Madness rating

11-15 points +2d4 to Madness rating

16+ points +2d6 to Madness rating

Characters who gain more than 16 points for their Madness rating, or have a Madness rating increase as part of their philosophy or class do not make Madness checks according to the rules above, instead they follow those given below.

As the rating increases, insanity may begin to take over the character or NPC. Eventually, if the Madness rating grows high enough, a character may become permanently insane and fall to disilluisionment.

Early on, the character might have to make Will saves to prevent momentary outbursts or bouts of insanity. Stressful situations in particular might trigger these crises. As the madness tightens its grip, these saves grow more frequent and difficult. The table below gives the conditions that can trigger a bout of madness, depending on a character’s Madness rating.

Madness

Rating Trigger Condition

0-15 Nothing

16-30 Injury

31-40 Will save

41-50 Contradiction

41-60 Threat

61+ Constant

Explanation of Trigger Conditions: At each threshold point, a new trigger condition is added to those already in effect. For example, a hero with a Madness rating of 38 would have to check for madness (see below) whenever he suffers an injury or whenever a Will save is requires.

Injury: Whenever the character takes damage in combat or in dangerous noncombat situations, such as a fall or the effect of disease, he must check for madness.

Will Save: Whenever the character is required to make a Will saving throw (such as against a spell’s effect or a creature’s special ability). He must check for madness, whether or not he succeeded at the initial save.

Contradiction: Any construed event that seemingly disproves the character’s philosophy or is contrary to it, the character must check for madness.

Threat: Any stressful situation, whether real or imagined, might drive the character to insane behavior. He must make an immediate check for madness.

Constant: By this point, madness is so far gone in the character that it is a permanent condition. A check for madness is no longer required, the character is irredeemably insane.

Check for Madness: When a triggering condition occurs, the character makes a check for madness. This is a Will saving throw against a DC equal to his Madness rating. If the save succeeds, the character suffers no ill effects. If the save fails, roll 1d20, subtract the result from the character’s Madness rating and consult the table below. The result indicates with symptom of madness the character suffers at this time. A symptom of madness remains with the character for the duration given on the table.

Madness Rating

-1d20 Symptoms Duration

05 or lower Delusion 2d6 minutes

06-15 Suspicion 2d6 hours

16-25 Panic 2d6 rounds

26-35 Withdrawal 2d6 hours

36-45 Fury 2d6 rounds

46-55 Disillusionment See text

56+ Dementia See text

Explanation of Symptoms: If the character fails his check for madness, he behaves in an erratic manner. The symptoms are described below in general terms; the exact manifestation is up to the DM.

Delusion: The character suffers from hallucinations – auditory, visual, or both – and is difficult to convince that these delusions are not real.

Suspicion: The character has a deep distrust of everyone, even friends, and suspects them of secretly plotting against him, causing him harm, even being fiends in disguise in extreme cases.

Panic: the character is convinced that he is in mortal danger and does his best to flee the threatening situation. If he cannot flee, he attacks desperately.

Withdrawal: The character becomes depressed, argumentative, stubborn, and unwilling to interact with the world.

Fury: The character files into an insane fit of temper. He lashes out at the nearest available target if in combat, or goes on a violent rampage in other situations. Thereafter, he overreacts dangerously to events that would make others irritated, frightened, or otherwise stressed.

Disillusionment: When madness has progressed this far, the character falls prey to disillusionment (Will save DC 20). The character, no matter how resolutely adherent to his philosophy, becomes disillusioned with his philosophy. If you are using the optional Belief point system, all of the character’s Belief points are immediately converted to Disbelief points.

Dementia: The character’s personality has been lost entirely to madness. A player character becomes an NPC and is forever beyond saving.

Special Madness Events

There are a few methods to madness that are worth mentioning. The three listed below are the most typical found in Planescape that can have serious detrimental effects on a character given the themes involved. The DCs for the Will saves are done on a case-by-case basis as given below.

Mental Contact: If a Madness save is prompted by contact with an alien or insane mind, the DC is 10 + 1/2 the contacted creature’s HD + contacted creature’s Wisdom modifier.

Psyching: Psyching comes in two varieties. If an opponent tries to drive a character mad with a spell or other magical effect (such as bestow curse or wish), then default to the saving throw indicated by that spell (typically a Will save). That saving throw stands in for the Madness save.

One character can also psyche another through nonmagical means. To accomplish this, the perpetrator must gain the target’s trust and remain in the target’s company for thirty days. The time is used to slowly convince the victim that their beliefs are wrong by showing examples of the philosophy’s flaws in such a way that leeches away the character’s sanity.

Come the end of the thirty days, the perpetrator makes an opposed Bluff check against the victim’s Sense Motive check. If the victim fails the check, he has been driven mad; as with other such Madness saves, the degree of failure determines the result (subtract the victim’s Sense Motive roll from the perpetrator’s Bluff roll).

If the target’s Sense Motive check defeats the Bluff check, nothing happens. However, if the Sense Motive succeeds by 10, the target immediately becomes aware of the perpetrator’s psyching. If the psyching goes undetected, another thirty days can be spent to try again.

Total Catastrophe: Madness saves can be called into account when the character suffers some personal catastrophe of staggering proportions. As this can vary from character to character, the DM is often required to come up with an ad hoc DC. You can use the modifiers above to help assist in determining the DC for the situation.

Why: I wanted to have a creepier feel to the Bleakers and the effects of Pandemonium.Pro: It makes the effects of crushing someone's beliefs and/or sanity have tangible consequences.

Con: Some minor bookkeeping on the DM's part. Players may not relish the idea that their character is insane without knowing it.