Have you ever screamed, “OK, so he’s insane! Now how do I
handle it?"? If you have, then chances are you are a little bit bonkers
yourself. Nonetheless, I herewith have the definitive answer to the
musical question, “Just how crazy is he, Doc?“.

Here’s how to find out.

First, we must develop a saving throw for insanity. For the sake of
ease, let me define intelligence as simply the ability to learn or understand
an object or situation; and wisdom as the ability to think and act
with judgment and clear reason. Therefore, the healthiest mind is one
with a high wisdom and an equal amount of intelligence. In the case
where intelligence is less than wisdom, there is lesser knowledge and understanding,
and is therefore more vulnerability to insanity. On the
other hand, if a character has a higher intelligence than wisdom, there
is even a greater susceptibility due to an understanding of facts without
the necessary judgment to put things in their proper perspective. (Ever
hear of a “mad scientist”?)

Now that you presumably understand my reasoning (if any), you
are prepared to use it. When encountering something that would cause
insanity, you must make your insanity saving throw. Refer to the INSANITY
SAVING THROW CHART and cross-index your wisdom
score (on the left side) with your intelligence score (along the top). This
will give you your unadjusted saving throw number. Now, simply add
your level (which is at least 1) to that number and roll a 20-sided die. If
you roll that number or less, you have avoided insanity. If not, go on to
the INSANITY CHART and roll a 12-sided die.

You’ll notice that there are many types of “odd behavior” listed
on the INSANITY CHART, giving us an interesting spread of psychoses.
Note: None of these psychoses will be evident immediately unless
otherwise stated.

1. Nutty: Slightly silly behavior. Generally becoming an odd
person with odd ideas and plans. Eccentric.

2. Kleptomaniac: Compulsive thief, with no thief abilities.
Sneaks away small objects without real regard to value.

3. Perverse:Takes pleasure in the gruesome or grotesque. Perhaps
a little too bloodthirsty when dealing with enemies. Dismemberment
is a casual result. Mad laughter in some cases.

4. Psychotic hatred: Violent hatred and immediate, deadly actions
when dealing with the type he has a Psychotic hatred of: choose
— Magic users, warriors, clerics, thieves, monks or rangers of same or
opposing alignment, men, women, elves, dwarves, hobbits, giants,
royalty, police-type, witches, tall people, short people, bearded people,
rich people, peasants, leaders, everyone of opposing alliance, etc.
Choose one that best fits the tendencies of the character.

5. Childlike Trusting: total gullibility. Believes ANYONE.

6. Schizoid: Split Personality. Roll 10-sided die each turn. If a
“1” is rolled, personality reverts to the other personality. One personality
does not remember the other personality and will often not believe
it when told. There are no physical changes, it is all in his mind
and actions. Choose from: young man-old man; violent-gentle; arrogant-
shy; confident-unsure; brave-coward; male-female; lawful-chaotic;
good-evil; generous-greedy; trusting-paranoid; honest-secretive;
trustworthy-untrustworthy, or any combination thereof.

7. Severe Paranoia: Thinks everyone is after him. Does not
trust anyone, even friends. If someone makes a sudden, possibly dangerous
move near him, he may kill him “in self defense”. Whenever
anyone is whispering, they are talking about him!

8. Acute Paranoia: Convinced that everyone wants to kill him
immediately, and tries to escape from them, or kill them, obviously immediately.

9. Gibbering: Just as it says. Victim can walk, eat and sleep. He
is totally useless otherwise, and gibbers all day. Cannot look for his
own food. Obvious immediately.

10. Suicidal: Whenever the victim meets up with a harrowing or
deadly problem, will attempt to kill himself on the roll of “1” on a 6-
sided die.

11. Violent: Tries to kill as many people as he can as quickly as
he can. Not clever, just deadly. Obvious immediately.

12. Catatonic: Just sits there doing nothing. Won’t eat, talk or
move. All thoughts are turned inward and ignores all outside stimuli,
including pain. Obvious immediately.
In the above cases, all magic or clerical abilities are functional except
when gibbering or catatonic.

The cause of insanity is usually up to the Dungeon Master, and is
often caused by such things as chests, rings, horns, etc., but may also
be caused by the strain of a failure of responsibility, meeting of particularly
mindbending creatures such as a lich or demon, or many other
interesting reasons.

ENJOY!

INSANITY SAVING THROW CHART
        
                                       INTELLIGENCE (horizontal)

WISDOM (vertical)	Less than 3	3-8	9-12	13-15	16-18	Over 18
Less than 3	7	5	3	1	-2	-5
3-5	8	9	7	5	2	-1
6-8	9	10	8	6	3	0
9-12	10	11	12	10	7	4
13-14	11	12	13	14	11	8
15-16	12	13	14	15	12	9
17	13	14	15	16	17	14
18	14	15	16	17	18	15
Over 18	15	16	17	18	19	20

Add character’s level to number and roll 20-sided die.
 

1.	Nutty
2.	Kleptomaniac
3.	Perverse
4.	Psychotic Hatred
5.	Childlike Trusting
6.	Schizoid
7.	Severe Paranoia
8	Acute Paranoia
9.	Gibbering
10.	Suicidal
11.	Violent
12.	Catatonic