Sergeant Ringo

[Oathkeeper]

Name: Sergeant Domon Ringo

Age: 30

Gender: Male

Race: Human

Alignment: Neutral

Power Level: 2 [standpoint now] / 3 [military knowledge and once he finds a way to heal his leg]

Time line: Modern Futuristic

Appearance: Sergeant Ringo is 5'11, weighs 145, and has some body build, which has been degrading since his war days. He has a flawless complexion from his snake body, and he is usually seen wearing a set of combat boots, cameo pants, a red tank top, and suspenders. He sometimes has a brown leather coat over it, and has a pair of glasses to see anything farther than a foot from his face. They are the newer kinds, turning up shades in the light. He also wears his dog tags with him constantly. His nickname was Dr. Ringo, no one knows why really.

Personality: He is a loyal person, has a socio-phobia in the fear of crowds, and is a schizophrenic

History: Domon was born in southern Nevada. He grew up on a farm becoming a strong worker. He was a B-Average in school, and joined the marines soon after graduating. He raised the ranks quickly, earning the nickname doctor for his quick thinking in simple farm knowledge of fixing cuts or hurts. Dr. Ringo became a Sargent and for three years studied for a college entrance exam. He received a purple heart and was released from the service after a bullet from a patrol ambush pierced his leg. He got into drinking, and drugs, until he was caught and sent to rehab. He was soon diagnosed with Schizophrenia, inherited from his grandfather apparently, and he became clinically paranoid. He left and moved away from anyone who ever knew him, and began enveloping himself in the occult to find a way to cure his leg. He still is a heavy drinker.

Powers: Military Prowess - He was a Sergeant, a good soldier, and very smart with his weaponry. He was in the marines to boot.

Paranoia - Because of his paranoia, he is constantly on guard.

Occult Knowledge - He has a high knowledge of the occult, and has even tried a few of the spells in the occult teachings... tis resulted in the ability to manipulate his skeletal structure to that of a snake, eventually being able to shed impurities and shallow wounds.

Equipment: A cane with a sword in it, and two rust colored band on his forearm containing Pata blades.

Weakness: He is human, mortal, able to be killed, and has excessive pain from his leg. He is also a socio-phobic schizophrenic.

[Ninmast]

Schizophrenia is not a side-effect of Vicodin. The closest thing is hallucinations, which would be EXTREMELY rare (i.e. you should probably find another cause, because this would realistically never be a side-effect he would actually experience), and he would have been taken off the medication immediately, not to mention it would form a significantly larger impediment to his ability to function normally. Also, the maximum dosage for an adult is only 4 grams (4,000 milligrams), so in the dosage he's been taking it, he would have died of acute liver and kidney failure by now. In conclusion, the drug you have him on would not have caused his symptoms, and if it did, he would immediately have been taken off of them, not just given additional drugs to patch it over, which really wouldn't work, and if he popped them like you have him doing, he'd already be dead.

In the future, it's probably a good idea to check your data on perscription drugs before slapping them onto your characters.

[Oathkeeper]

Huh.. oh wait.. that was where I edited it. I will change that. My bad... and yeah, I know. I never said he pops them cponstantly, just he is usually on them.

[Ninmast]

If he's taking them enough to have Pain Immunity as an ability as a result, he's OD'ing. To be in such a constant state of numbness requires significantly more than standard dosages, not to mention it loses effectiveness as time goes on, so the amount to keep that up would be more and more. Taking alcohol with the vicodin would definitely kill him. And still, they would have immediately taken him off of it the moment schizophrenic behavior (again, NOT a side-effect in the first place) or any other psychiatric issues emerged, for two reasons. One, they'd be immediately removing the cause of the problems and two, vicodin interacts severely with psychiatric drugs. Again, your guy would be dead.

So far, you've found three ways to guarantee your guy should be dead, none of which would have caused the result you described, anyway. I recommend you take another route altogether with the character, instead of trying to come up with some reason for him to be a paranoid schizophrenic crippled war veteran with a bladed cane and a lethal addiction to narcotics.

[Oathkeeper]

The vicoden was not the first drug they put him on. And yeah, he could ALSO build a tolerance, to where 4000 mg doesn't become lethal, and the psychiatric drugs can prove a problem, yes... but my grandpa was schizo, and his pills were not a short term affair like the vicoden would prove.

[shinaobi]

Tolerance doesn't build up that fast. You take super doses, you still die. And lethal dose usually means you have to be lucky and born with a system that is naturally more resistant to those sorts of drugs to not die, but, with everything else he's on, it'd still kill him.

[Ninmast]

If your grandfather was schizophrenic, it was not due to his vicodin. It was far more likely to be hereditary, and if the doctors put him on vicodin with his psychotropic medications, they didn't have him on what you think they did, because all the information on the topic says that you do not mix the two. And what was the first drug the good sergeant was on? And no, there's only a certain amount the liver and kidneys can handle. Once you pass that, you pass it. And you die. Sometimes slowly, sometimes quickly, but you die just the same.

Now, don't get me wrong, I like the character in concept. But in execution, he's an impossibility, both in symptoms and in even being alive. Doing your research on the things you put into your characters, especially on things like medications, can greatly improve your character and avoid situations like these.

[Oathkeeper]

I do research. My grandpa wasn't on vicoden, but he was on psychiatric pills for schizophrenia, and he did not have to take it like other meds, it was once a day.

Vicoden I do not know much about, but I know it is a very strong painkiller, and that it is easy to overdose on. Considering Domon is on vicoden for 7 or 8 years, it is probable he has some tolerance, so say 1 1/2 or 2. If he takes it normally, and combined with it's strong effects, it is possible for him to be on it without oding or taking it all the time.

As for the psychiatric drug for the schizo problem, nothing says he takes it all the time, or like he is supposed to, then again it also does not say what he does with the pill at all.

And while believed genetical, neurobiology and pyschology play factors, so that it does not HAVE to be hereditary, although that is one of the biggest factors.

[Ninmast]

I'm going to give you a piece of advice, Oath. I've done my research, you haven't. It's not a good idea to try to debate me about it.

If your grandfather wasn't on Vicadin, then you can't use that he was on schizophrenic medication as evidence that it wouldn't interact poorly with Vicadin.

Vicadin is a very strong painkiller, yes, but normal use does -not- result in the lack of any and all pain. You have to OD on it to get that effect, and if he's been on it for 7 to 8 years, it would require a very substantial overdose, BECAUSE of his tolerance. Tolerance decreases the medication's effectiveness, not the other way around.

Even if he takes the schizophrenic medication (and PLEASE stop calling it "schizo") only once a day, it would be because it's a substantial enough dose to do the job, and would thus interact with the Vicadin, and besides IF some drug he was on caused the schizophrenic problems, he would have been taken off of it immediately and the symptoms would have died off as the medication made its way out of the blood stream, so the issue of him being schizophrenic is a moot point, anyway, but if he was and he wasn't taking the medication as you say, then it wouldn't even be part of the profile.

I am well aware of the causes of paranoid schizophrenia, Oathkeeper, but you, apparently, are not. While symptoms can be caused by imbalances in the neurobiology, these imbalances are frequently rooted in genetic origins. You are correct, hereditary sources are the biggest influence on developing schizophrenia, and thus you counter your own argument. As by far the biggest contributor, it is statistically extremely plausible to conclude that a given case of schizophrenia is more likely to be genetic than anything else.

Now, we can keep doing this all day, or we can address the errors in your otherwise excellent character here. Which would you like to do?

[Oathkeeper]

SHall you just delete him then? That sems it would solve this little delimma sufficely.

[Ninmast]

I don't want to delete him. I just want him to conform to the Reality Rule.

[Oathkeeper]

There.

[Ninmast]

I am sorry to see that you slaughtered your character's background and personality out of frustration.

[Oathkeeper]

uuugh... Fustration and food poisoning... I feel better today but my head is pounding... I will see what I can do with personality and stuff later when I can think better....

[Ninmast]

Alright, I look forward to seeing what you come up with!