You are one of the dead who have escaped the Underworld and returned to the sunlit realm of the living. To do so, you had to give up key pieces of your identity: your memories, name, and even your face. You retain the skills, personality, and habits you developed in life, but have no recollection of the events that gave them to you. Now that you’ve made it back, you find the world unwelcoming, frightened by your deathly gray complexion, by the golden mask you wear to cover your face, by your very existence. While you can’t recall your reasons for risking everything and leaving the Underworld, you know with certainty that they were important
- Skill Proficiencies: Stealth, Intimidation
- Tool Proficiencies: One of your choice
- Languages: One of your choice
- Equipment: A personalized golden funerary mask, a set of fine clothes, 2 trinkets (you can roll for random trinkets on the Trinkets table in chapter 5 of the PHB), and 25 gp.
Returned Mask
When a mortal dies in Theros, it is customary that a clay mask be crafted which frames the most important aspects of their identity, allowing the deceased to remember themselves once they reach the afterlife. In order to escape the Underworld, a being must abandon that identity and become a blank slate, destroying the mask that was made for them. To replace it, the Returned cast new masks from gold. Often these will replicate the symbolism of the original, in the hopes that it might remind the Returned of who they were, but sometimes the individual will try to leave clues for themselves in the artistry of the mask, in order to achieve some unknown goal in the world of the living. You can choose the kind of symbolism used in the casting of your mask or roll on the table below.
| d6 |
Returned Mask |
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1
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My mask uses symbolism which alludes to the way in which I died
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2
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My mask uses symbolism which alludes to my lineage
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3
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My mask uses symbolism which alludes to my homeland
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4
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My mask uses symbolism which alludes to my favorite pastime
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5
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My mask uses symbolism which alludes to my emotional disposition
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6
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My mask uses symbolism which alludes to my purpose for returning
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Feature: Restless Dead
Since you are not truly living, you are not bound by the physical needs that hold the living back. While you still become thirsty and tire from physical exertion, your body does not require food or rest to fuel it, so you suffer no ill effects from not eating or sleeping.
Suggested Characteristics
The loss of their memories and sense of self leaves most Returned unsure of their place in the world. The unusual nature of their situation can result in highly emotional individuals, whether they are angry at their rejection, overjoyed by their freedom, or fearful of what might have killed them in the first place.
| d8 |
Personality Trait |
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1
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I feel compelled to protect even strangers from experiencing the trials death brings.
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2
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It frightens me to use skills that I don’t remember learning.
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3
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The only memory I have retained is a melody which I obsessively hum.
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4
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I refuse to choose a new name for myself since I cannot remember my own.
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5
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I find myself habitually making superstitious gestures against bad luck.
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6
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I compulsively write down everything that happens to me in this second life so that I can’t forget it like the first.
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7
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I like to talk with strangers. Learning about their lives brings me peace.
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8
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I take meticulous daily care of the equipment I carried back with me from the afterlife
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| d6 |
Ideal |
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1
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Improvement. Now that I know how suddenly life can end, I want to use my second chance to better the world while I can. (Good)
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2
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Conformity. I fought to rejoin society, so I should strive to meet its standards. (Lawful)
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3
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Instinct. Without memories to guide me, emotional whims must take their place. (Chaotic
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4
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Retribution. Since the world doesn’t want me, I choose not to care about the world. (Evil)
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5
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Closure. The ideals that I once lived by are lost to me; all that matters is the here and now. (Neutral)
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6
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Reclamation. I must recover my past life, however long it takes. (Any)
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| d6 |
Bond |
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1
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I keep the shattered pieces of my clay funerary mask and would do anything to keep them together.
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2
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I’ve noticed the value of gold to the living, so I hoard as much as I can. One day I will buy my way back into society’s good graces.
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3
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I may not recall the person I love, but I feel that love leading me to seek them out.
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4
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I came back from the underworld with nothing but the clothes on my back and the dagger on my belt, so I keep hold of them to remind me of the struggles I’ve overcome.
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5
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The town that embraced and cared for me when I first returned means the world to me.
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6
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The story I’ve pieced together from the imagery on my mask is the only clue to my identity. Anything that threatens that story threatens me.
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| d6 |
Flaw |
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1
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I don’t remember ever needing to eat or sleep, so I lack compassion for the physical needs of the living.
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2
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I can’t help but overindulge in the pleasures of life now that I have a second chance.
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3
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My anger at the world for rejecting my return leads me to lash out at others.
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4
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My jealousy towards the living and the things they take for granted can get out of hand.
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5
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I am proud to have escaped death and will not sit idle while the living slander that accomplishment.
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6
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I sometimes forget that others have lives and families at stake.
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