Quick Note – Working on a New Sanity System for Modern Basic

I got a hold of Call of Cthulhu d20 and found that the sanity system is amazingly complex. Being that I dislike complex things and knowing that my previous sanity system was a tad bit broken I decided to go back to the drawing board as it were.

Sanity is derived from the the combination of the player’s intelligence and wisdom scores. The base sanity of a player can never exceed this score and the score does not increase with time or level. When a player is confronted by something that could cause his or her sanity to waver the the Game Master will ask for the player to roll a Wisdom Check with an SR of determined by the Game Master. Should the player fail the Wisdom Check he or she loses sanity equal to the level of event that has occurred (see table below). When the player reaches half of their sanity he or she can start to experience delusions and breaks from reality. These episodes are the realm of the Game Master and should be handled delicately.

Sanity can be recouped by either extended rest or psychological aid over a period time at a rate of 1d6 per week of rest or psychological session. Should the player reach a sanity of zero he or she is hopelessly insane and cannot recover from the psychological damage and is removed from play as a PC.

Sanity Events
Success Rating
Sanity Loss
Nil Event
06 – 10
1d4
Minor Event
11 – 15
1d6
Major Event
16 – 20
1d8
Epic Event
21+
1d10

If a character is brought under half of their Sanity more than three times they are inflicted with a permanent insanity marker and take an insane condition as listed on the table below.
D20 Permanent Insanity
1 – 2 Sociopathic
3 – 4 Paranoia
5 – 6 Night Terrors
7 – 8 Delusions
9 – 10 Impulse Control
11 – 12 Extreme Phobia
13 – 14 Dissociative
15 – 16 Manic/Depressive
17 – 18 Quixtism
19 – 20 Megalomania

If a player acquires more than 3 permanent insanity markers then he or she is considered hopelessly insane and removed from play as a PC.
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