Non-Combat Confusion (3.5e Variant Rule)

Author: Eiji-kun (talk) Date Created: 1-14-15 Status: Complete Editing: Clarity edits only please

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Non-Combat Confusion

Confusion works in battle, but fails as an out of combat mechanic. Especially for insanity, which lasts forever. And then there are items and events which cause confusion or insanity to where "run away from caster" may not make sense. When out of a stressful combat situation and under a confusion effect, consider the following.

Out of Combat

Roll on the following table at the beginning of each subject’s turn every 10 minutes (or until a stressful event occurs, reverting to normal confusion rules) to see what the subject does for the duration.

d%	Behavior
01–10	Become aggressive, treating all creatures as unfriendly (if not already hostile).
11–20	Act normally.
21–50	Do nothing but babble incoherently.
51–70	Become paranoid, seeing things which aren't there. Treat as if haunted by a major image only they can see, with no save to disbelieve.
71–100	Be overwhelmed by their senses, rendering them staggered.

A confused character who can’t carry out the indicated action does nothing but babble incoherently. In addition, you may want to consider this optional rule for insanity specifically as shown below.

Insanity Quirks

When you first acquire insanity, roll twice on the following table to pick up various quirks which remain with you as long as the insanity lasts.

d%	Behavior
01	Roll an additional time, ignoring results of 01.
02–04	Mind simply shuts down, dazed for duration.
05–10	When you fall asleep you immediately awaken with your personality switched (such as from LG to CE). You act as normal otherwise, and when you "wake up" you return to normal. You are still considered resting as long as you do not engage in strenuous activity.
11–15	You lose focus on any task lasting more than 1 round.
16–20	Everything must be in pairs, including performing the same action twice (when possible).
21–25	Roll 1d12. When presented with this number or number of things (such as "6 kobolds" or "6 arrows") you are shaken until it is out of your sight.
26–30	You speak in tongues, babbling in a language no one understands. You may still use vocal components normally.
31–35	You gain a fear of the next person you see, and are always shaken as long as they are in line of sight.
36–40	You become paranoid about little things and form complex conspiracy plots which don't exist.
41–45	Constant itching bothers you. Lose 1 natural armor, to a minimum of 0.
46–50	Choose a random, common item. You become obsessed with obtaining all of these items, such as copper coins, garlic, or books.
51–55	You become convinced you suffer from various highly infectious diseases which you do not have, acting accordingly but with none of the penalties.
56–60	You become easily distracted, and are rendered fascinated by anything whenever you are at rest for more than 1 minute.
61–65	Choose a random, common item. You become convinced contact with this item will result in grave damage, such as melting in water or bursting into flames on contact with iron. These things won't happen, of course.
66–70	Choose a random race and/or gender. You become convinced you are someone else of said race and gender, trapped in your current body. This doesn't change your motives or outlook otherwise.
71–75	You become obsessed with the next person you see, and you preference all positive actions towards them before any others.
76–80	You constantly see things covered in something horrifying, such as spiders or decay. You must make a DC 15 Will save to touch anything that isn't yourself or on you.
81–85	You act as if the temperature is opposite of what it really is, shivering when hot and sweating when cold.
86–90	You have no volume control over your voice. Choose one, either whispering at all times or shouting at all times, with the problems which come of each.
91–95	You become unable to recognize anyone visually. You see them, but you need to identify them in some other manner to realize who they are. You show no memory of appearances.
96–99	You act normally out of combat (but are still affected in combat), no quirk.
100	No quirks, no need to roll further.

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