Cult Survivor

In your youth, you were inducted into or taken prisoner by a horrific cult. This cult worshipped an otherworldly power, perhaps a fiend or Great Old One. Despite the harrowing ordeal, you escaped and lived to tell the tale. 

Discuss the nature of this cult with your DM. Who was the cult worshipping? What sort of rituals or experiments might you have seen or experienced? Were you a member of this cult who changed their mind, or were you unwilling?

Skill Proficiencies: Arcana, Religion

Tool Proficiencies: Alchemist's Supplies

Languages: Choose one exotic language. (Abyssal, Celestial, Deep Speech, Draconic, Infernal, Primordial, Sylvan, or Undercommon)

Equipment:  A Alchemist's Supplies, one trinket of special significance (choose one or roll on the Gothic Trinkets table after this background). Also gain a set of set of common clothes and 10 gp.

Suggested Characteristics

You have learned to live with the terror that haunts you. You are a survivor, who can be very protective of those who bring light into your darkened life.

d8	Personality Trait
1	I don’t run from evil. Evil runs from me.
2	I like to read and memorize poetry. It keeps me calm and brings me fleeting moments of happiness.
3	I spend money freely and live life to the fullest, knowing that tomorrow I might die.
4	I live for the thrill of the hunt.
5	I don’t talk about the thing that torments me. I’d rather not burden others with my curse.
6	I expect danger around every corner.
7	I refuse to become a victim, and I will not allow others to be victimized.
8	I put no trust in divine beings.

d6	Ideal
1	I try to help those in need, no matter what the personal cost. (Good)
2	I’ll stop the spirits that haunt me or die trying. (Any)
3	I kill monsters to make the world a safer place, and to exorcise my own demons. (Good)
4	I have a dark calling that puts me above the law. (Chaotic)
5	I like to know my enemy’s capabilities and weaknesses before rushing into battle. (Lawful)
6	I’m a monster that destroys other monsters, and anything else that gets in my way. (Evil)

d6	Bond
1	I keep my thoughts and discoveries in a journal. My journal is my legacy.
2	I would sacrifice my life and my soul to protect the innocent.
3	My torment drove away the person I love. I strive to win back the love I’ve lost.
4	A terrible guilt consumes me. I hope that I can find redemption through my actions.
5	There’s evil in me, I can feel it. It must never be set free.
6	I have a child to protect. I must make the world a safer place for him (or her).

d6	Flaw
1	I have certain rituals that I must follow every day. I can never break them.
2	I assume the worst in people.
3	I feel no compassion for the dead. They’re the lucky ones.
4	I have an addiction.
5	I am a purveyor of doom and gloom who lives in a world without hope.
6	I talk to spirits that no one else can see.