Secrets Man was Not Meant to Know
Madness, Sorcery and the Far Realm

As already established in the section on Madness, D&D has no generic sanity system such as the one to be found in games like Call of Cthulhu. To introduce such a system is to have that system dominate the game. However, I employ rules for madness in three very specific cases. These cases are completely divorced from the 'general madness' that might be encountered in the course of a campaign, and only affect the characters in question. These two special circumstances are:

1. A sorcerer whose levels of known spells has exceeded his Maximum Spell Levels.
2. An epic level spell-casters who casts more epic level spells per day than he is safely able.
3. An individual who has directly experienced the Far Realm.

Character who fall into the above categories gain a Madness Rating. This rating has very specific game related effects that are documented below. Remember individuals can become mad by other means - be they events or spells - but they do not have a Madness Rating and do not use this system. Why then have this system at all?

Well, partially because I need it. I need something to keep the number of spells a sorcerer knows in check, and this seems quite a colourful way of doing that. My rational behind this system is that there are some secrets Man was not meant to know. There are forces out there in the cosmos that are so alien that exposing the mortal mind to them immediately sets the character on the road to Madness. The sorcerer is one of the few classes who truly understands magic and this knowledge is dangerous to him. The Far Realm is a place filled with pseudonatural creatures that are profoundly different to anything else that exists in reality. Is there a link between the Far Realm and magic? Is this the reason the same mechanic is used for both? That is something that would need to be addressed by each indivdual campaign setting.

I should also point out that the Madness that comes out of having a Madness Rating is not like other insanities. It may have the same symptoms initially, but eventually it manifests itself in a very physical change in the character. This is enough to set it aside from the common maladies of the mind. In fact you might say it is more marasmus than madness. But enough of the explanations - on with the show:

The Madness Rating

The following system was largely take from the text on p210 of The Wheel of Time Roleplaying Game with a few minor modifications. This is a good and solid system that I think will work extremely well, although I do confess to never having playtested it. This system won't dominate the game, but it will give sorcerers something to think about.

The Madness Rating of a sorcerer equals the difference between the total levels of spells he knows, and his Maxmimum Spell Levels total for his class level. If this figure is positive then the sorcerer is in trouble. Exposure to the Far Realm (or the nastiest creatures of the Far Realm) will also add some points to your Madness Rating. Exactly how many points is at the discretion of the GM.

The size of your Madness Rating imposes a trigger condition on the character. When a trigger condition is met, the character must make a Check for Madness. The Madness Rating and corresponsing trigger conditions are:

At each threshold point a new trigger condition is added to those already in effect. For example, a sorcerer with a Madness Rating of 38 would have to Check for Madness whenever he suffers an injury or whenever a Will save is required. Defintions of the trigger conditions are as follows:

Injury: Whenever the character takes damage in combat (through a weapon or a spell), or is in a dangerous noncombat situation, such as a fall or the effect of disease or poison, he must Check for Madness.

Will Save: Whenever the character is required to make a Will save he must Check for Madness, regardless of whether he passed or failed the saving through. The effects of a failed madness check take predence over a spell if there is a conflict.

Casting a spell or using a magical item: Merely touching the Weave to draw the energy for a spell is enough to trigger a Check for Madness. Equally, using magical items that employ spell triggers (wands, rods) or spell completion (scrolls) will also call for a Check for Madness.

Threat: Any stressful situation, whether real or imagined, might dive a character to insane behaviour. He must immediately make a Check for Madness.

Constant: By this point, madness is so far gone in the character that it is a permanent condition. The duration of a symptom is considered permanent, although it may change if the sorcerer experiences a trigger condition.

Check for Madness

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

Delusion: The character suffers from hallucinations - auditory, visual or both. It is extremely difficult to convince him 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, and even being allied with forces of darkness.

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

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

Fury: The character flies 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 over-reacts dangerously to events to events that would make others irritated, frightened or otherwise stressed.

Disease: When madness has progressed this far, the character falls prey to a horrible rotting illness (Fortitude save DC 20). His very body decays around hm, and the stress of this situation is often enough to propel him to final destruction. The disease incubates for one week and causes 1d3 points of temporary Constitution damage each day thereafter. Unlike normal diseases, this rotting affliction continues until the victim reachs 0 Constitution and dies. It cannot be halted by any force short of divine intervention as long as the sorcerer has a positive Madness Rating.

Dementia: A character's personality has been lost entirely to madness. A sorcerer becomes an NPC and is forever beyond saving, Death usualy comes not long after this point.

Reducing the Madness Rating

The only way for a sorcerer to reduce his madness rating is to gain an experience level. His Maximum Spell Levels figure will increase, and will hopefully overtake the number of spell levels that he knows. There is no other way, short of divine intervention, to affect the Madness Rating. A Madness Rating gained by exposure to the Far Realm is permanent, and no known magic can reverse it.

Madness Rating and Taint

Although it seems quite similar in some respects the Madness Rating imposed upon sorcerers has nothing to do with Taint. Taint is evil, while the madness engendered by knowing too much magic is simply a case of cause and effect. Magic itself isn't evil, the Far Realm isn't evil - it is just too alien for the human mind to comprehend.

To take an example from the Iourn roleplaying campaign, when Ravenna cast a spell from the tainted Weave in the Great Dark she gained Taint. This affected physical changes upon her and turned her into even more of a raving maniac than she was before. This was nothing to do with her Madness Rating which was not high enough to be triggered at that time.

Of course it is possible for an evil sorcerer to be tainted and have a high Madness Rating. Such characters would certainly be a challenge to play.....

See Also:

• Madness
• Taint
• Sorcerers