Alternate Form that's a Split Personality?

[JCurwen3]

Originally Posted by Not another shrubbery

That should not be takes as a mandatory requirement that the Delusion be bought off. It would be perfectly fine (possibly even more sensible in some cases) to allow the player to take a related disadvantage to replace the old one.

Actually, depending on the nature of the Delusion (not what it was about as much as how closely it was roleplayed to match clinical Delusional Disorder), I'd frequently let it be replaced by one or more other Delusions of equal total value. I think this makes sense because people prone to such psychotic strongly held beliefs (whether they're right or not) won't suddenly be cured of that mental disease if proven right. Generally, being proven right will just reinforce their tendency.

Think about a conspiracy theorist with several distinct (some even mutually exclusive) Delusions being told by an authority "you were right" - their first reaction might be "About which conspiracy??" and their next reaction after everything plays itself out will be to give a lot more credence than they already gave before to every belief they already had, taken some 0-point feature beliefs to the level of quirks, and quirks to the level of Mild, etc. The Delusion was only a symptom, a belief their mind more or less just sort of happened to fixate its psychosis on, in these cases... and psychosis doesn't rest peacefully without an outlet for long...

[JCurwen3]

Originally Posted by KevinJ

You could give the entire party a delusion. No one is going to believe them when they say their friend is possessed by a demon, unless that is a fairly common circumstance in the game world...

And don't forget stress atavism as a possible Disad.

I think there is warrant for the entire party to get at least a quirk level Delusion for believing this thing about their friend that they know to be true but others won't. Depending on how things play out, I may decide that's sort of a price they pay as a whole for living with "the beast" and benefiting from it in dire emergencies just as much as the character that struggles with it (and arguably facing far fewer drawbacks from its existence).

As for the Stress Atavism, although it isn't a perfect fit, the player and I definitely will be "borrowing" some ideas from the description of its effects, so thanks for this.

[jeff_wilson]

Originally Posted by JCurwen3

It affects cost because big parts of the cost involve (1) being perceived as crazy by your peers and others and (2) acting crazy as a result of a false belief.

If the condition (1) does not hold because the players know it "isn't really him" and condition (2) doesn't hold because (a) it's not a false belief and (b) his functionality and ability to act according to his own nature (as defined by the mental traits of the Alternate Form) aren't impaired at all and his actions - although malicious - can't honestly be called "crazy", then where is the "delusion" aspect of this? It'd fit none of the requirements to be a Delusion.

This is explains the difference between having the Delusion and not having it. I still don't see why or how, when you still have the Delusion, the future need to buy it off affects the original point value. Even if the core Delusion is discovered to be true, the character may still be deluded as to how acceptable it is to discuss the issue with non-believers.

[JCurwen3]

Originally Posted by jeff_wilson

This is explains the difference between having the Delusion and not having it. I still don't see why or how, when you still have the Delusion, the future need to buy it off affects the original point value. Even if the core Delusion is discovered to be true, the character may still be deluded as to how acceptable it is to discuss the issue with non-believers.

First, in this scenario the belief of the "beast" that it is a different person is not only true but obviously true to anyone who is involved at all. The beast would even hide the fact to be able to pass as the "real" character (easy enough with his memories), either by pretending the physical transformation had no effect on the mind, or by using appearance alteration (in which case it's belief would be more a Secret). None of this fits with a Delusion - I only flirted with that idea to try to model its personal identity being distinct (a belief, albeit a true and obvious one).

[Sunrunners_Fire]

New rules! Wee! (Horror, pg 18): Shapeshifting: Disadvantageous Alternate Form ... appears to be a published method of achieving this effect.

[Not another shrubbery]

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

New rules! Wee! (Horror, pg 18): Shapeshifting: Disadvantageous Alternate Form ... appears to be a published method of achieving this effect.

Official now. They originally appeared in the Powers Designer's Notes, with a slightly different syntax that seemed to me a bit easier to understand.

[JCurwen3]

Originally Posted by Sunrunners_Fire

New rules! Wee! (Horror, pg 18): Shapeshifting: Disadvantageous Alternate Form ... appears to be a published method of achieving this effect.

Awesome!!!