Baldr's Insanity Rules
When a character makes an horrifying encounter they must make Sanity check, which is a Charisma saving throw. Its DC can be: 10, 15 or 20. The DM determines the entity of what the character has seen, going from Unsettling, to Disturbing and ending in Devastating
The character takes psychic damage depending if they passed or not the Sanity Check and the entity of what they have seen.
| Grade | DC | Psychic Damage if succeeded check | Psychic Damage if failed check |
|---|---|---|---|
| Unsettling | 10 | 0 | 1d6 |
| Disturbing | 15 | 1d4 | 1d10 |
| Devastating | 20 | 1d6 | 2d10 |
When a Sanity check is failed, the DM can either take control of the next action's of the character (usually by making them do something related to being scared) or the DM can afflict it with a Short-Term Madness for 1d10 rounds.
Going Insane
If 5 or more HP are lost because of the result of a single Sanity check, the character risks going temporarily insane. Roll a d20, if its lower than the Wisdom score of that character, they fully understands what's happening and because of this they become temporarily insane for 1d10 hours. Roll on the Long-Term Madness table to determine what kind of affliction they have for this duration of time.
Hallucinations
While a character is temporarily insane, the DM can describe them seeing hallucinations without them knowing if they are reality or not. In this case, the player can ask to make a Reality Check. They roll 1d20, if the result if lower then their Intelligence score; they can discern reality from their hallucinations. If the result is higher instead, they fall deeper into their madness, which causes them to take 1d10 psychic damage and their Temporarily madness to be prolonged for 1d10x10 hours.
It's too late now
When a Character had continually a Long-term madness for more than one week, the character gets one Indefinite Madness. That means that the DM can give to the character a Flaw , like a phobia or psychiatric disorder. A character can see hallucinations even with an Indefinite Madness, but if they fail a Reality Check they take instead 2d10 psychic damage.
Short-Term Madness
| d100 | Effect (lasts 1d10 rounds) |
|---|---|
| 01–12 | The character retreats into his or her mind and becomes Paralyzed. The effect ends if the character takes any damage. |
| 13–25 | The character becomes Incapacitated and spends the Duration screaming, laughing, or weeping. |
| 26–38 | The character becomes Frightened and must use his or her action and Movement each round to flee from the source of the fear. |
| 39–51 | The character must use his or her action each round to Attack the nearest creature. |
| 52–64 | The character does whatever anyone tells him or her to do that isn’t obviously self-destructive. |
| 65–77 | The character experiences an overpowering urge to eat something strange such as dirt, slime, or offal. |
| 78–90 | The character is Stunned. |
| 91–100 | The character falls Unconscious. |
Long-Term Madness
| d100 | Effect (lasts 1d10 hours) |
|---|---|
| 01–11 | The character feels compelled to repeat a specific activity over and over. |
| 12–23 | The character experiences vivid hallucinations and has disadvantage on Ability Checks. |
| 24–35 | The character suffers extreme paranoia. The character has disadvantage on Wisdom and Charisma Checks. |
| 36–47 | The character regards something (usually the source of madness) with intense revulsion, as if affected by the antipathy effect of the Antipathy/Sympathy spell. |
| 46–57 | The character becomes attached to a “lucky charm,” such as a person or an object, and has disadvantage on Attack rolls, Ability Checks, and Saving Throws while more than 30 feet from it. |
| 58–69 | The character suffers from partial amnesia. The character knows who he or she is and retains Racial Traits and Class Features, but doesn’t recognize other people or remember anything that happened before the madness. |
| 70–81 | Whenever the character takes damage, he or she must succeed on a DC 15 Wisdom saving throw or be affected as though he or she failed a saving throw against the Confusion spell. The Confusion effect lasts for 1 minute. |
| 82–93 | The character loses the ability to speak. |
| 94–100 | The character falls Unconscious. No amount of jostling or damage can wake the character. |