Ax Crazy
Basic Information
An ax crazy character is someone who is psychologically unstable and presents a clear danger to others. This is a very common Stock Character, who almost always works alone.
Weapon of Choice:
Related Tropes:
- Automatically Violent
- Blood Knight
- Chaotic Evil
- Creepy Monotone
- Heroic Sociopath
- Psycho For Hire
- Slasher Smile
- The Unfettered
- Unstoppable Rage
Sources
Bibliography
Game and Story Use
- Can you say Antagonist? How about Villain? Especially in the Horror genre and Cthulhu Mythos, the Homicidal Lunatic is a walking (and axe-swinging) plot device.
- The classic set-up: You're stuck somewhere remote, with no phone, and the bridge is washed out. And there's an Ax Crazy Maniac on the loose.
- In horror films, Ax Crazy's somehow seem to know if you've had sex. If you get naked, or get it on, that's pretty much guarantee that you'll be the next victim.
Building This Character
- This tends to be a solo villain, so it'll need to be high-level.
- They need at least one good attack, so that usually means Strength and Agility need to be high. However, if not literally ax-wielding, you might go with Mental Attributes and some more subtle attack power.
- Stamina, Health, etc need to be high, because you're probably facing down an entire party of adventurers.
- If your game system has solid and functional Social Mechanics, then this character needs a high rating in whatever is used to resist them. You don't want the players to talk them out of being a psychopath.
- Awareness and/or Tracking are very useful for finding your targets.
- Stealth or Shadowing will help you get close.
- Alternately, Persuasion or Acting will work instead, provided the victim doesn't know who you are. The social route works at most once per victim, whereas the stealthy mode can work again and again.
- Intimidation is a must.
- Improvised Weapons and Athletics would be helpful, because Psychos tend to run around destroying the scenery.
- If there's anything you can take that boosts your resistance to persuasion and social rolls, it'll help make the character seem extra determined - like any good maniac should.
- As with any Solo Villain, it's useful if you have powers that let you ignore stun, injury penalties, or other status/conditions. You're gonna be facing the whole party by yourself. As a nutjob, these sorts of powers seem especially appropriate.
- Some sort of Regeneration, Second Wind or Playing Possum ability would be particularly in-genre - for that scene when the supposedly dead maniac suddenly jumps up and attacks again.
- You're Ax Crazy, remember. Regardless of whether or not the game has Sanity Rules, ham it up!
page revision: 8, last edited: 30 Sep 2010 16:39