How U Handle - 39 points of Sanity Damage

[Jwfortune]

Practically speaking, how do you handle it when a PC gets 39 pts of sanity damage, assuming they had enough to absorb it.  Are they out of the game for a month while they recover?  Do they have to find another character so the game can continue without having to role play a month of recovery?  Do you hand wave it and give them a paranoia and go on?

 

Just curious.

 

Thanks - John

 

[MJ Sadique]

First, you PC rocks... my best player only lose so much after meeting a ghoul, a sorcerer, being exposed to the red mist and meeting a Shoggy... (a three sessions scenarii)

Assuming CoC v7 and the guy have 60% in base carac and have get a phobia each 12 pts...he is at 12+12+12+3 SAN loss = 3 Phobia rolls + 3SAN.

In the scenarii, I'll have him get a -3D (auto fail) for each action : mean he cannot do anything unless he have a dice bonus in the skill he want to use. Depending on the game rules and options, he will have to get out of his bad trip step by step (one for each -1D). Fleeing from the cause of SAN loss is a sine qua non condition and

For after the scenarii, I will let him choose between :
-Getting 3 minors Phobia at -1D each if the phobic factor is meet.
-Getting 1 medium Phobia at -2D and one minor at -1D ...
-Getting 1 major Phobia at -3D ... and assuming he will be out of game if the phobia is trigger ....

And did he want to stay out of the game to recover, I always let the player choose and usually give him a double rate recovery if he pay a huge amount of money for a week in a Deluxe Sanitorium. If you can rack his money and his sanity, you must do it ! (any Sadistic Master should do this)

[Numtini]

According to 7th edition that would be indefinite insanity. More than 20% of San in a single day. In real time, you play it out. I roll on the bought of madness table as a way to get direction, which may have them act in an unsafe manner or gain a phobia or mania. (A phobia is not mandatory.) They are out of the players control either until other players intervene or if no other PCs are present the madness lasts for 1d10 hours and you roll on the table. 

Once you are indefinitely insane, any San loss,  even one point, results in another bought of madness, and another roll on the bought of madness table. So you really want to get treatment, which gives you a chance at recovery (not indefinitely insane and a small number of san points--not the whole number) after the scenario ends and then once per month. 

[Jwfortune]

So in real time if you role play it out, that player is effectively out of the game for the rest of the session.  What if there are still a couple of hours to go - that is not much fun for that player is it? 

[Numtini]

Well that'll depends on how Many SAN checks and whether they pass them. I ended up with a character in this situation in a game recently and it was tense, but fun. Beats being dead. 

[Mike M]

See pages 156 - 165 of the Call of Cthulhu Rulebook (7e).

A bout of madness  - real time - lasts for 1D10 rounds followed by indefinite insanity (for losses over 1/5 of Sanity points). The character may suffer from delusions thereafter. The character is not out of the game, and the player controls the character after the bout of madness (and perhaps during it, depending on the situation and the Keeper). 

I also recommend reading the section on Failed Sanity Rolls on page 209 to understand the difference between 'madness' and underlying insanity.

Edited February 28, 2017 by Mike M