A circle of adventurers sit around a campfire, huddled close for warmth. From the edge of the woods, a set of eyes watches them closely, waiting. The eyes belong to you, a monster who, through birth or circumstance, awakened to a greater understanding of the world in which they live. The opportunity you wait for is not to attack, but to present yourself to them when they are relaxed and less likely to kill you. You wish to join them, not fight them, and find your own purpose in the world.
- Skill Proficiencies: Choose two from among Survival, Insight, Persuasion, or Stealth
- Languages: Choose one exotic language (Abyssal, Celestial, Deep Speech, Draconic, Infernal, Primordial, Sylvan, or Undercommon)
- Equipment: A Dagger, a pouch containing 10 gp, and one trinket of special significance (worth 5 gp or less).
Hard Upbringing
Prior to becoming an adventurer, your life was a series of near death experiences and close calls. Since awakening, your mortality haunts you in the dark hours of the night. Choose a life-threatening moment that haunts you, or roll one on the Harrowing Events table.
| d10 |
Hard Upbringing |
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1
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Immediately following your birth, you knew you were in danger. You escaped your mother's nest while she ate your siblings.
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2
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You were born under a dark star. You can feel it watching you, coldly and distantly. Sometimes it beckons you in the dead of night.
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3
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Adventurers raided your den when you were a juvenile monster. You barely escaped with your life.
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4
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Your pack was wiped out by a hunting party. Their memories combined in you to awaken your sentience.
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5
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Your first memory is falling from a great height. Above you is a large flying animal, arrows sticking from its belly. Your second memory is striking the ground. Since you woke up, you've been something... more.
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6
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You remember a lab, a pit, and fights. You remember a man screaming at you to fight your kin. You remember the lash. You remember his life leaving his body and entering yours as your mind awoke.
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7
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A hag captured and raised you. She awakened you and you escaped, but the hag still has a magical hold over you and fills your mind with evil thoughts.
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8
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You opened an eldritch tome, fallen from a dead warlock's bags, and saw things unfit for a sane mind. You burned the book after your awakening, but its words and images are burned into your psyche.
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9
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A fiend possessed you as a 'juvenile' monster. You were hunted but escaped. The fiend is still inside you, powering your increased awareness, but now you try to keep it locked away.
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10
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You simply awoke in the dead of night, the sound of what you now understood to be laughter filling your ears. You were cold, hungry, afraid, and truly aware of these things for the first time in your life. You're still recovering from the shock of it all.
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Feature: Finding Safety
You always have eyes in the back of your head, sometimes literally. When you are at the rear of your party, you cannot be taken by surprise from behind.
Suggested Characteristics
You have learned to live with the constant threat to your life. You are a survivor, who can be very protective of those who accepted your monstrous form among their ranks.
| d8 |
Personality Trait |
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1
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I'm more than the monster that I was.
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2
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I fear my own kind.
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3
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I still don't understand the concept of saving things, knowing that tomorrow I might die.
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4
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I live for the thrill of the hunt.
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5
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I don’t talk about the thing that torments me. I’d rather not burden others with my curse.
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6
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I expect danger around every corner.
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7
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I refuse to become a victim, and I will not allow others to be victimized.
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8
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I put no trust in divine beings.
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| d6 |
Ideal |
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1
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I try to help those in need, no matter what the personal cost. (Good)
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2
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I’ll find out what the spirits that haunt me want or die trying. (Any)
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3
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I kill monsters that are a threat to peace, and to exorcise my own demons. (Good)
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4
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I don't care about man or monster, I just want to live in safety. (Chaotic)
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5
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I like to know my enemy’s capabilities and weaknesses before rushing into battle. (Lawful)
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6
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I’m a monster that destroys other monsters, and anything else that gets in my way. (Evil)
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| d6 |
Bond |
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1
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I keep my thoughts and discoveries in a journal. My journal is my legacy.
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2
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I would sacrifice my life and my soul to protect the innocent.
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3
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I strive to finally start a den/tribe/nest/etc. of my own.
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4
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A terrible guilt consumes me. I hope that I can find redemption through my actions.
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5
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There’s evil in me, I can feel it. It must never be set free.
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6
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I will never let what happened to me happen to another living creature.
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| d6 |
Flaw |
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1
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I fear the sounds in the night. I must ensure safety before I can sleep.
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2
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I assume the worst in people.
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3
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I place more faith in my unenlightened kin than they deserve.
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4
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I can still remember the taste of the flesh of men, and crave it on occasion.
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5
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I am a purveyor of doom and gloom who lives in a world without hope.
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6
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I talk to spirits that no one else can see.
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