Split personalities

[Scavar]

This is actually about PnP DnD, we don't have a section for it, so yeah.


I just happen to like the character I'm currently playing. First though let me talk about my group. Our DM, created his own world basically following all the normal rules and such though. We are pretty small(I'm talking like four people including the DM) and we aren't like deadly hardcore or anything. We goof around all the time too, but we really get into our characters speech wise and action wise, RP for the win you know.


Ok so anyways, I play a Silver Half-Dragon Fighter, currently level 10. Grew up with my mother, the dragon. Blah blah stuff happens history and all that. basically when he was young though, he got experimented on by a group of wizards(who got their ass beat by an angry dragon, yay mommy)Anyways, when certain conditions are met...im not telling!...two transformations happen. He goes from a NG personality to a CE personality, and physical transformation where he gets taller and large, his scales get more pronouced, grows a tale and his eyes glow. When it first happens he goes into like a rage(similar to barb rage) Even when the rage is over though, he has to stay in that personality for 1 minute per level, so right now its 10minutes. Its almost impossible for me to not intimadate people, and diplomacy just doesnt happen for me.



I so totally switch between the two personalities when I'm playing(the NG personality is not aware of the change, hes just trying to figuure out why he blacks out and shit happens)CE one knows, and the group is just like, wtf. Its awesome. So yeah, thought I'd share.


Anyone else ever do an RP like that, with an extremely distinct personality shift?

[Scavar]

Well I think that's awesome Scavar!

*cries himself to sleep at night*

[Darkended Blade]

I did this once on another server, also my personalities were much more subtle.

On one side, the normal side most people saw, my PC was just a timid, terrified, weak little man with ammbitions to open his own restaurant. But what most people didnt see, and who only a select few saw, was that he was a heartless, systematical killer with a somewhat crusade-like belief that all those who killed another man, whether banite/Cyric, murderer, self defence or whatever, deserved to die.

Havent done it on this server yet

[GodBeastX]

Given the nature of split personalities, I would say, all personalities within a person equate to that person. We had people trying to play split personalities before. Essentially then, you generally wind up an evil character if one of your personalities are evil, possibly neutral if you try to attone for the evils committed through other personalities.

Each personality doesn't have it's own alignment is my bottom line.

[undeadsteak]

I did this once on another server, also my personalities were much more subtle.

On one side, the normal side most people saw, my PC was just a timid, terrified, weak little man with ammbitions to open his own restaurant. But what most people didnt see, and who only a select few saw, was that he was a heartless, systematical killer with a somewhat crusade-like belief that all those who killed another man, whether banite/Cyric, murderer, self defence or whatever, deserved to die.

Havent done it on this server yet

O_O, but if your guy killed the murderer ,then he'd be a murderer, and then wouldnt he try killing himself....?

[Scavar]

It doesn't work so well I don't think in the computerized version of the game as it does for the PnP. In this case, the spilt personalities are not the same person. They have different alignments because they are completely different. There are no similarities between the two people, they don't even look the same.

It's more like Jeckal and Hide I guess?

[rustediron]

Hyde. and Jekyll. Though I admit I had to look the latter up lol

[Scavar]

Thanks for that, I thought something was wrong with those spellings

[Darkended Blade]

O_O, but if your guy killed the murderer ,then he'd be a murderer, and then wouldnt he try killing himself....?

Hense the bottom right image in my sig, mate :P

[Dark presence]

Well what GBX is saying is that alignment is a game mechanic. It doesn't matter what the personalities are, you have to sum them up for the character's true alignment. Alignment does not define personality, and vice versa. Totally separate things. Smite evil/good and detect alignment among other things can't just stop working from one personality to the next.


So like he said if you have some kind of evildoer in one personality and another personality who does all kinds of goodie goodie things, they will probably balance out to neutral. And in your character's case, if he does switch between being NG and CE it could balance out to CN.

Just because the personalities may have changed doesn't mean alignment changed at all. Just because someone believes they are good/evil/whatever doesn't mean they are, except maybe in the outer planes, but thats another thing.

Of course its up to your DM how that works, but I think GBX was just saying that for Sundren, if you wanted to do multiple personalities, it would be summed up for your real alignment.

[Scavar]

It was decided by my DM, but I do disagree with GBX on how he is viewing it in that respect, not for Sundren specifically, just for my case.

It has nothing to do with belief. How can one believe anything when they don't even know it exists.

[Blue_Wyrm]

My opinion is that you might be mistaken about alignments, in the sense that what you think and believe in is totally meaningless regarding your alignment and the global balance of Good/Evil/Law/Chaos; Alignment is about your acts. A mind-controlled paladin who slays children and punts kittens is considered as performing evil acts and loses his paladin status until he atones, even after coming back to his senses (if he did it on purpose, no atonement would be possible). A split-personnality character will, likewise, get an alignment which reflects the overall effect of his actions on the world (i.e. if his good part doesn't work like a martyr to repair what his evil part does, his character is Evil for all intent and purposes).

[Scavar]

I understand how it is supposed work, but for us specifically(myself and my DM)disagree about it for this situation, or even most situations.

Even in todays world in the states, you can plead insanity in the court system to account for actions, and yes you still the one charged, but it's different than just being charged. In my personal situation, it is as close as you can get to two different characters. When the second personality is out, it's impossible to locate the first one, it's as if he doesn't exist, not to mention that unless you saw the transformation, you'd have no idea it was the same person.

There's a lot of factors going into it, but saying that alignment is based only on just the single physical existence I think is being a little silly. And you can still use the alignment system to give a basic description of a personality. If I told you someone was acting NG, without actually telling you anything, you couldn't determine anything but you could take guesses about what sort of actions they are doing.

[GatorPhD03]

I played a NWN1 campaign with a guy who played a split personality. He alternately was a narcoleptic ranger, a bard and a CE fighter. He used to summon a creature as his "animal companion" as a ranger and named it Mr. Bungles. I neared died laughing one night when he walks up to this hostile giant crab and says "My Mr. Bungles! How you have grown!"....The crab kicked his butt...

[An'ggrathTheUnbound]

As to the Original Post, Split personalities in real life can be both VERY VERY Diffrent, or sublte diffrences. People that are close to those with the sublte shifts can easily pick out "Who" they are talking to.
Also, When someone with a Dual nature like that has the "shift" the memories ussualy dont overlap. Say Bob gets punched and his personality shifts into Jane, Jane doesnt remember that Bob got punched. But may react to the situation in her own way. dealing with the problem then "resting" shifting back into Bob who only remember getting punched and waking up with the issue resolved