You were awoken one day with no memory of who you once were, knowing only your first name, the deity/deities you worship (if you worship one at all), and your abilities and skills. You don't know where you are, you don't know what to do, and you don't know why you are where you are. You can feel the gaps in your memory like the pained scars of a war veteran or the phantom pains of an amputee, filling your mind with searing pain whenever you try to access the information. Your memories may have been sealed away, or maybe your mind has been damaged, or perhaps some other arcane influence is blocking you from accessing the memories of who you once were.
This background requires a massive amount of cooperation with your Dungeon Master since your background feature requires events linked to your past for it to trigger. It is also a good background for campaigns in which the characters start with no class or items.
It is recommended to make a fairly detailed backstory for your character as to make the Rememberance ability of this background easier to use.
- Skill Proficiencies: You are proficient with two skills of your choice. You also start with one extra feat, which must be manually added to your character sheet.
- Tool Proficiencies: You are proficient with one tool, musical instrument, or game set of your choice and one weapon of your choice (this proficiency must be added manually).
- Languages: You can read, write, and speak one language of your choice.
- Equipment: You start with tattered travelling clothes, an explorer's pack that is missing half of the rations and 8 of the torches, the weapon with which you chose to be proficient, an empty scroll case, a compass, and a small wooden runestone with your name carved into it.
This table provides a few examples of the location in which you woke up and what is/was happening around you when you awoke.
| d8 | Circumstances of Awakening |
|---|---|
| 1 | You awake in a forest leaning against a tree, with an animal lying in your lap. |
| 2 | You awake in a graveyard with a spirit floating close to you. |
| 3 | You awake in a cave with little light that is provided by an almost extinguished torch. |
| 4 | You awake floating in a pool of water, seeing both the real and fey world. |
| 5 | You do not remember waking up, you just did. |
| 6 | You awoke chained to a post in a tent with the noises of a jungle coming from outside. |
| 7 | You are jolted awake by an explosion like sound (either lightning, an explosive, or a gun) with a person standing over you. |
| 8 | You woke next to a portal and stare out at the expansive dimension before you, but are suddenly pulled through the portal to the material plane. |
You may slowly start to regain the memories of your past life. At certain moments, or in certain places, you might remember an event from your past after having made a "Memory check", which is a d20 roll + your Intelligence or Wisdom modifier, with a DC of 15. Failing a memory check in a location doesn't mean that the information there is lost to you forever, but you do have to wait one in game week - however long that may be depending on the setting - before you can attempt another memory check at that location. Successful memory checks can reveal all sorts of information such as the solution to a puzzle - or a clue to its solution - the directions to a certain place in or near a city or town, and even obscure lore about notable people or monsters.
It is up to you and your Dungeon Master to concoct the instances in which you might remember things and what information you could gain in this way. It is also important that you work with your Dungeon Master to determine how many memory checks will be set across a campaign, as you may want to eventually regain all of your memories as a part of your character's journey.
Suggested Characteristics
These characteristics are only recommendations. You may create your own if you wish.
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I see good in everyone I meet, I treat everyone with kindness until it is proven to me that someone deserves my wrath. |
| 2 | I occasionally copy the behavior of others. |
| 3 | I am quick to forgive people for things that they have done wrong. |
| 4 | My eyes are filled with joy at the discovery of something new. |
| 5 | I often pretend to understand the things that others tell me. |
| 6 | I often stare off into space, pondering who I was and what caused me to lose my memory. |
| 7 | I always examine my surroundings when I enter a room. |
| 8 | I am slow to trust others, you never know who could be trying to use you. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Forgiveness. I grant forgiveness to anyone who has wronged me, there is no point in holding grudges. (Good) |
| 2 | Freedom. I do not care for the rules of society, I will not let them bind me. (Chaotic) |
| 3 | Equality. I treat all that I meet in the same way for I have few preconceptions. (Neutral) |
| 4 | Order. The rules of society are a factor of balance against the chaos of the world around it. (Lawful) |
| 5 | Excitement. I look at the world with wonder and amazement, overjoyed to learn new things. (Any) |
| 6 | Greed. I will have whatever I want of this world that I have awoken in. (Evil) |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | I will always be loyal to my friends, they ground me and make me feel more real. |
| 2 | I love the language I get from my background and use it whenever I can. |
| 3 | I swear I will have my revenge on the person that took advantage of me when I first awoke. |
| 4 | I retain one specific memory from my forgotten life, and must find out what it means. |
| 5 | I desperately want to find something to dedicate my life to, a purpose. |
| 6 | I owe my life to the person that found me when I first awoke. |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I would sacrifice far too much to find the truth of my past. |
| 2 | I am overly trusting of anyone who offers me help, especially regarding my forgotten life. |
| 3 | I'm terrified of who I might have been and refuse to acknowledge what's I've forgotten. |
| 4 | Deep down, I fear that everyone around me is out to get me. Who did I wrong in my past, and what if they want me dead? |
| 5 | I do not understand common social customs. |
| 6 | I fastidiously record events and I am annoyed when other forget things. |
You had once lost your memory but have regained it. When you have regained all of your memories from the Remembrance feature of the main Amnesiac background, change your background to this one. You keep the secondary feature of the Remembrance feature and gain the feature of this variant.
Even after recovering from your amnesia, you still get flashes of rememberance, usually having to do with information about other creatures. Once per long rest, you may ask your DM one thing about a creature that you are fighting or observing using your bonus action. That question may be about:
- The creature's HP maximum.
- The creature's Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution score.
- The creature's resistances.
- The creature's weaknesses.
- One of the creature's special abilities (if it has any).
- Notable lore about a specific creature or species of creature.
Your DM is allowed to answer your question with a lie or half truth, so do not take the given information as complete fact.
Previous Versions
| Name | Date Modified | Views | Adds | Version | Actions |
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6/15/2020 11:12:08 PM
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2144
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41
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1.0
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Coming Soon
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Posted Jun 15, 2020I have heavilly refined this background using the feedback that I recieved. I also removed the luck points aspect of the variant because that seemed pretty busted to have as a feature for a background. I also minorly changed some text in the suggested characteristics and the "Circumstances of Awakening" table. In addition, I made it so the equipment that this background gives is actually added with your starting equipment. I couldn't get the background to just let you choose from every weapon, so I split it into choosing out of simple and martial weapons.
One thing I had an issue with is that a few things need to be manually added to your character sheet, such as the feat and the weapon proficiency that you gain. It is honestly a pretty minor inconvenience though, since it is easy to add proficiencies and feats to your character. You'll also need to manually reduce the number of torches and rations in your inventory, since you don't start with the normal amount in your pack.
I hope you all enjoy the updated version of this background.