Some folk become questers and heroes because they yearned for adventure, for combat, for danger and excitement - to wander and to see the world. You ... are not one of those people. You never wanted this life. You would've been quite happy to remain at home, living the day-to-day workaday life of a normal person.
But then, one day ... you started hearing a voice in your head. A grand, majestic voice telling you that you carried an important destiny and it was your fate to stand against the tyrants and monsters that threaten the common folk everywhere. You were destined to be a hero, the Voice said. So pack your bags and hit the road.
And no matter what you tried to do to resist - it seemed like this voice really, really wanted you to pursue your destiny. It wouldn't leave you the hell alone, no matter how many times it refused.
And then some of the things it said started to come true.
And so, your journey began. Unwillingly, reluctantly, you had to leave it all behind because the stupid voice told you to. Sleeping rough or in dirty taverns, risking your life fighting monstrous creatures, traveling into the unknown.
You'd really prefer to be back home. And you're not entirely sure you haven't just gone mad. This - apparently - is your destiny.
- Skill Proficiencies:
Pick one of Investigation, Insight, Perception: Say one thing for having a voice inside your head that won't leave you alone - it definitely heightens your intuition. Maybe it's that you've become a more introspective person, or maybe your magic imaginary friend sometimes points out things you missed. But your ability to notice patterns, pick out clues, and make deductions has improved.
Pick one of Animal Handling, History, Medicine, Nature, Performance, Religion: You started out as a normal person. Normal people have to learn things in order to earn a living and contribute to society. Sure, maybe it's a skill that's not much use in your new life as a roaming vagrant/criminal/tomb raider - but it was an honorable profession, dammit.
- Tool Proficiencies:
Pick a skillset appropriate to your former profession: Alchemist's Supplies, Brewer's Supplies, Calligrapher's Supplies, Carpenter's Tools, Cartographer's Tools, Cobbler's Tools, Cook's Utensils, Glassblower's Tools, Jeweler's Tools, Leatherworker's Tools, Mason's Tools, Navigator's Tools, Painter's Supplies, Potter's Tools, Smith's Tools, Tinker's Tools, Weaver's Tools, Woodcarver's Tools, Vehicles (Land), Vehicles (Water)
- Equipment:
A set of tools (pick one), a set of clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp
So, how did you become aware of the voice in your head? Maybe there's a clue there.
| d20 | Background |
|---|---|
| 1 | The voice came to me gently and calmly, coaxing me onto my path of becoming an adventurer. It told me I had a special destiny to fulfill. I was hesitant at first, but I've tentatively decided to trust what the voice tells me, gave up everything, and took to the path of adventure. |
| 2 | Like many kids, I had a childhood imaginary friend. Later on, I realized other people don't have an imaginary friend that talks back. Later still, my imaginary friend told me it was time for us to depart on our journey. We travel together now. Where to, I don't know... |
| 3 | I was deeply religious - so when I first heard voices, I knew immediately that it was an angel. A messenger or the actual voice of a god. I am blessed to be the recipient of this miracle, and I travel the world as their pilgrim and champion. |
| 4 | I was deeply religious - so when I first heard voices, I knew immediately that it was a demon. An evil spirit taken possession of my mind. No amount of exorcism has managed to rid me of this curse. I travel the world to find someone who can free me from its curse. |
| 5 | I always felt close to the dead, the spirits, and the veil between life and death. So it didn't alarm me when I started hearing voices. It's the spirits from beyond death - trying to communicate with me. I am their medium, traveling and solving their unfinished business. |
| 6 | When I first heard a voice saying my destiny was to be a hero - I reasonably concluded that I'd lost my mind. So I tried to ignore it and live my life, while the voice kept returning to tell me to leave. Then one day, the voice tells me that if I don't leave now, it'll burn my house down. I get back that night and it's all burned down. I'm still pretty sure I'm insane - maybe I set the fire myself? - but I figure it's safer to do what the voice tells me. |
| 7 | I saw something once. Something that shouldn't exist. Something that shattered my sense of reason. I witnessed a reality that defied real, an impossible geometry, a thing that could not be. I know something that the world is not ready to know, a secret that would break the world. And the voice ... it haunts me now. Reminds me of the horror. It mocks me. It will not leave me. It whispers to me in darkness. |
| 8 | Our nation is in crisis. We need a savior. And a voice tells me that I - I will be our savior. I have been chosen to bring triumph to our country. And so, I depart on my journey, to bring hope to our army and glory to our flag. Victoire! Arise, children of the fatherland, for the day of glory has arrived! |
| 9 | Once, I was extremely disrespectful to a mysterious, wizened, old fortuneteller woman. That was probably a mistake. |
| 10 | When I first started hearing a voice, I told my town elders about it. They did not take it well. Some time later, I was exiled as a witch, into the hinterlands, tied to the saddle of a mule with a bucket on my head. I try not to tell people about the voice anymore. |
| 11 | Call me a skeptic - but I don't believe anything this voice is telling me about prophecies or destiny. Look, we live in a world of magic - the obvious explanation here is that some wizard, psychic, or other magical being is just screwing with me. I'm off to find out (a) how to get them out of my head and (b) how to get revenge. |
| 12 | I technically died, some years back. It was a major accident. I had an out-of-body experience. They tell me my heart stopped. The doctors saved me and brought me back ... but I think I brought another soul back with me. It talks to me sometimes. I don't know what it wants. I'm afraid it wants to take my body. And to do that ... it needs me gone. |
| 13 | I used to think the voice in my head was a gift. People came to me for advice and I'd let them know what the voice said. My reputation grew, until the king himself came by to ask me about a very important decision. I let him know what the voice told me. Now the king is dead, our people scattered, and the kingdom no longer exists. Since then, I've avoided going to the voice for advice. |
| 14 | I used to do a lot of drugs. Saw lots of things. Lots of trippy hallucinations. And then one of the hallucinations just didn't go away. Stuck around forever. I keep hearing it talking to me. I don't do drugs anymore. |
| 15 | I used to scam money from people by pretending I could communicate with the dead. Then one day, a real ghost started talking to me. Now he keeps bugging me about saving his girlfriend, possessing my body, and something about a pottery wheel. No one's gonna get this reference. |
| 16 | I woke up alone at midnight on a desolate plateau. I didn't know who I was, or my past. General knowledge - that seems fine. But of myself ... there's only blackness, emptiness, ... and the voice. Its laughs echo within the empty wells of my memory. The voice must have something to do with my losing my memory. I must find out. |
| 17 | I thought I had a happy life. And maybe it would've stayed that way. Then the voice started talking to me - telling me terrible things about my friends and loved ones. I didn't want to believe it, but the voice persisted. Then ... I found out that at least some of what it was telling me was the truth. I left home that night - because I didn't want to know whether the rest was true, too. |
| 18 | I ... did something I shouldn't have. I'm not going to go into details. But suffice it to say, it involved magic, I now hear a voice in my head, and there's a group of powerful people who are hunting me down. |
| 19 | I asked the soothsayer to help me with the voice. She told me that the voice is the voice of my soulmate, and I will never be complete until I find them. The voice will be my guide in my quest for true love ... unless the soothsayer was making that up ... |
| 20 | When I started hearing voices, I naturally decided to start a cult worshipping myself as an oracle, or prophet, or maybe a godling. But I tell that to people and they all just laugh at me! No one seems to be willing to join my dang cult. My quest is to find people who finally will. |
You have a voice in your head. Sometimes, the voice tells you things - maybe advice, maybe a warning, maybe it just wants to say hi. You don't know what the voice is, you don't know its motives, you don't know if you can trust what it says. And you'll have to figure out how you want to handle it.
(Anytime during a session, your DM can choose to have the "voice in your head" speak to you. The DM passes a secret message to you. What the DM writes in the message is entirely up to them - and it's up to you to figure out how to react - ignore it, take it seriously, etc. Other players are not to know what the message is or even that you've received one. You can choose to share the message with them - or not. Or, maybe lie to them about what the message contains. )
Suggested Characteristics
You're normal. Absolutely normal. Except this one thing. How much you let it impact your personality is up to you.
| d6 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I enjoy peace and quiet. And ever since this dang voice entered my life ... I value peace and quiet so, so much. |
| 2 | I'm very guarded about talking about anything personal to other people. Because I really, really don't want them to know the truth about me. |
| 3 | I'm a deep thinker. I like to think things through. And having a voice inside my head only makes me think even more. |
| 4 | I'm very suspicious of people and cautious about everything. Look, it's not paranoia if someone's actually out to get you. And I have a voice in my head! Someone definitely is out to get me. |
| 5 | I always thought I was a pretty special person. And now, I've got proof that I AM special. |
| 6 | I've decided to stop worrying so much about things. I'm just gonna sit back and relax and see where all this goes. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Peace. I want my life back, and I honestly don't care what I have to do to make that happen. |
| 2 | Power. I've become aware of what magic and power feel like. And I want more. |
| 3 | Revenge. Whoever did this to me is going to pay. |
| 4 | Freedom. The world is in need of new ideas and bold action, and I'm prepared to bring it. |
| 5 | Honor. I'm not going to let this change in my life change who I am. I will preserve who I am and what matters to me. |
| 6 | Friendship. I need more friends than ever. |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | Not a day goes by that I don't think about my friends and family back home. |
| 2 | I have family out there somewhere in the world, and now is my chance to find them. |
| 3 | The events that led me here were also led to me losing the people I cared about. |
| 4 | I've always been pretty much on my own. |
| 5 | To be frank, I'm not all that broken up about leaving my people at home. This is kind of freeing to be away from them. |
| 6 | I didn't leave my loved ones. They left me. |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I have a voice in my head. |
| 2 | I have a voice in my head. |
| 3 | Voice in my head. |
| 4 | Voice. In my head. |
| 5 | Voice! In! My! Head! |
| 6 | I have a voice in my head! |
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