How do I portray a mentally unhinged NPC without them just coming

The best way to make an insane character is to make them not seem insane at first, just eccentric. They have to believe that what they're doing is not an act of insanity, but something that they do after reaching a (il)logical conclusion that that is what they should do. It's also important for the character to have a goal in mind, something that they believe in or are working towards, something that all their actions can be linked back towards in some obscure way.

depends on what you mean by mentally unhinged, in some cases you would classify a schizophrenic as mentally unhinged, and a very ironic and interesting thing is they can come off and act VERY structured, appear suave and proper, but the things they do can be the unhinged part. killing for a failed job, absorbing their power to make use of waste... etc... if that makes sense
But GO CHAOS!!!

>>53402023
I think that's a pretty reasonable approach to characters in general. I try to make sure my NPCs have a clear goal- even if only clear to me, the DM that sees everything and has all the information, because understanding a character's priorities is just as important than understanding their personality when it comes to RPing them.

Most of the time, I want some of that to shine through to my players when they interact with the NPC. It might not be immediately laid bare to the PCs, but eventually the players should learn more about an NPC that's sticking around in the campaign and be able to understand the justification behind their actions.

But insanity often means there's a disconnect between a character's justifications for their actions and their actual actions. That's not the only way to portray insanity, of course, but for the sort of character that just has some screws loose you'd expect that they might be doing things that don't logically follow from their motivations, expecting those things to help them towards their goal even if they're obviously wrong in expecting so.

Make a random table and roll to determine his moment-to-moment decisions. Obviously not anything specific, obviously, but more like feelings you could apply to what you want him to do anyway. Then you could avoid being wacky random while still making his behavior unpredictable.

>become hostile
>become friendly
>dismiss entirely
>change subject
>become violent
>attempt to flee
>say nothing
>act "normal"

>>53402616
This can work, but it's awfully frustrating when plot development is hindered by NPCs getting killed because they have a 1/8th chance of turning violent every few rounds.

I prefer to address different players around the table in wildly different tones and voices, making direct eye contact for some and maybe grabbing hands or shoulders for others (which I understand might not be chill with all groups). It helps if you can hint at underlying themes while having multiple superficial conversations at once.

So, you know, do it sparingly.

Give them some habit that's completely harmless like keeping all of their shit in jars. And by shit i mean their feces. The NPC is 100% normal otherwise.

Make it so the character drifts. They talk to themselves, they talk to imaginary people, they talk to people who are real but aren't there. They see things others don't and integrate them into what they're actually seeing, but they can just as easily get lost in their own thoughts on a whim and disregard both reality and the fantasies they're seeing.

An inability to control the flow of the thought process and the emotional reaction to that out of control thought process is my favorite way to portray a crazy character.

The "insane" part of an "insane" person usually comes from psychotic episodes. Generally unless the person is experiencing an episode they will just be strange or disconnected. Maybe they'll talk to themselves when they think no one is listening, or have strong, nonsensical beliefs, but they'll usually still be able to function. Then, seemingly at random, they'll make destructive, impulsive, inexplicable decisions and choices. The best way to envision it would be to imagine how you react to the chaos of a nightmare.

Unless you mean people without empathy or restraint when you say "mentally unhinged." In that case it's more straightforward, and you shouldn't have trouble imagining what you would act like if you were incapable of feeling those things. All humans have intrusive thoughts; what if you acted on them?

The biggest thing is just to remember that only the severely brain damaged act out at random for no reason at all. Don't RP a retard.

>>53401776
Make a normal NPC with normal behaviour and normal beliefs. Then take one belief and switch it to something random. Then bend the rest of their behviour to adapt to that belief.

For example : Joe average believes that toasters toast bread with heating elements. Joe Insane believes toasters toast bread by opening a portal to hell. At first, both Joes look pretty normal. Then Joe Insane try to convince you not to use toasters, or attempt to break your toaster. He will not force you because he knows you are brainwashed into believing that a toaster is just a box with a heating element. But he knows. He has to save you. He has to save everyone even if they don't believe them. Maybe if he burns down the toaster factory...

Have him ramble on about a cruel and vindictive god who controls everything in the world including what he's saying at that very moment.

>>53403583
This is the correct answer, OP. The fun part about it is it allows for "socially" insane characters. They don't have anything wrong with their brain, they could just be taught something really wrong, believe it fully, and are forced through standard dissonance reduction to adapt their less strong beliefs and behaviors around it. It works well for any false religion, cult, memetic virus, or just plain stupid theory.

>>53401776
Just make the character normal but do horrible acts non-chalantly without any remorse as do normal psychopaths. If you want to really fuck with people's heads just push a normal character to certain extremes and claim "that human nature is itself insane" by using a Hobbesian / Machievellian critique of human nature woven into the character.

>>53401776
You should do a Kafka-esque character where the nature of the story you tell itself makes you question the sanity of the listener as well by mixing in anti-realist/ absurdist elements into the character.

>>53403617

I've always wanted to do this, just to see if the players would even pick up on what I was talking about.

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>>53403583
Why would Joe have a problem with hell toast?

I included a schizophrenic NPC in my campaign who had a simple goal: leave the city and build a shack to live off the grid in. He was a clever guy who knew enough about nature to realistically achieve his goal but the problem is he was suffering delusions that the city guards were part of a conspiracy to keep him inside his house and that the mayor was a powerful mage who put a forcefield around the city to only prevent him from leaving freely.

The PCs believed every word he said and started to see the conspiracy too even to the point of interrogating the mayor himself. All it took was a few too many glances from a walking guard to cement his mad ravings into their minds.

>>53401776
if you've ever met someone who is actually insane they don't immediately come off as a crazy person. it's a subtle thing that isn't readily apparent. They might seem odd and talking to them you might get a feeling there is something wrong with them but they aren't blatantly insane.

Thanks!
>>53402616
>>53403583

I was wondering how I should RP my character. At most he's come off as a strange person that likes to arrange cutlery in weird fire pyres.

He's a Cthulu worshiper with an unquenchable thirst for carnal desires/ Always keeps to fashion trends. Pretty much a fuckboi.

He saw a vision of Cthulu after he paid a courtesan to drown him for sexual pleasure. So he had this vision after fading in and out of consciousness many times. He knows Cthulu doesn't care about him, or anyone. Existence means nothing, there's no afterlife. So he reaches out by doing random stuff like collection different spoons and arranging them in a pyramid and lighting a fire under it. Claims it's a command from Cthulu.

But I think I'll use one of your methods, or both.