The Raven Queen watches over the world, anticipating each creature’s death and ensuring that it meets its end at the proscribed time and place. As the ruler of the Shadowfell, she dwells in a decayed, dark reflection of the world. Her ability to reach into the world is limited. Thus, she turns to her followers to serve her will.
The Raven Queen’s followers are expected to serve her will in the world. She concerns herself with ensuring that those fated to die pass from the world as expected, and bids her agents to defeat those who seek to cheat death through undeath or other imitations of immortality. She hates intelligent undead and expects her followers to strike them down, whereas mindless undead such as skeletons and zombies are little more than stumbling automatons in her eyes. Everything you have done, you have done for her.
- Skill Proficiencies: Choose two from among Arcana, Sleight of Hand, Insight, Stealth or Survival
- Tool Proficiencies: Proficient with thieves tools.
- Languages: Can speak Sylvan.
- Equipment: A monster hunter’s pack (containing a chest, a crowbar, a hammer, three wooden stakes, a holy symbol, a flask of holy water, a set of manacles, a steel mirror, a flask of oil, a tinderbox, and 3 torches), one trinket of special significance (choose one or roll on the Horror Trinkets table after this background), a set of common clothes, and 1 sp.
The Shadowfell clings to you. It is now part of your very being.
| d10 | Shadow Bound |
|---|---|
| 1 | Your touch provokes shivers, whether you will this or not. Holding your hand makes their hand quiver, getting a hug makes their body shake, etc. |
| 2 | On critical failures to charisma checks you forget common for 1d4 turns and only remember Sylvan. |
| 3 | Food seems to all taste the same; like mush. |
| 4 | The ash of the drained Shadowfell dead clings to you. Like glitter, you can always seem to find some. You smell like ash too. |
| 5 | When someone uses magic to detect undead there is a chance that you are targeted by the spell. |
| 6 | While standing still in dim light or darkness you appear shadowy, and wherever you touch, you sometimes produce shadows that stay there for a few seconds. A light mist seems to coalesce at your feet whenever you stand still for too long. |
| 7 | You can cause distress to nearby souls, potentially causing nightmares to those around you. |
| 8 | You hear the whispers of souls and echoes of memories when you are around a graveyard or any corpse. This may distract you and cause disadvantage when concentrating on spells or during perception checks. |
| 9 | When downed and while rolling death saves, you see no light calling to you. Instead you see the Shadowfell waiting to take you back. |
| 10 | Your body no longer can feel the warmth typical of mortals. You are always cold to touch, this may cause anyone with thermal vision or who makes skin contact with you suspicious. |
Those who look into your eyes can see that you are no stranger to darkness, and can feel their soul draw back in fear. Due to your life in the Shadowfell, you have adapted in ways many consider unnatural, and have learned to live with this, may that be for the better or worse.
Suggested Characteristics
You have learned to live with the darkness that surrounds you. You are a survivor, who can be very protective of things that bring light into your darkened life.
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I don’t run from evil. Evil runs from me. |
| 2 | I seek out ways to better stimulate emotion within myself. |
| 3 | I am always looking for trinkets that The Raven Queen may find interesting. |
| 4 | I often get lost in my own thoughts and contemplations, becoming oblivious to my surroundings. |
| 5 | I don’t talk about the thing that torments me. I’d rather not burden others with my curse. |
| 6 | I'm haunted by fleeting memories of a war a don't remember. |
| 7 | When I set my mind to something, I follow through no matter what gets in my way. |
| 8 | I put no trust in wizards or other elves, I know that they did us wrong in the past. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Responsibility. I do what I must and obey The Raven Queen. (Lawful) |
| 2 | I’ll overcome the curse that dooms me or die trying. (Any) |
| 3 | I take any measures to put an end to those who seek to cheat death. (Neutral) |
| 4 | I have a dark calling that puts me above any law. (Chaotic) |
| 5 | Sincerity. There's no good pretending to be something I'm not. (Neutral) |
| 6 | I’m a monster that destroys other monsters, and anything else that gets in my way. (Evil) |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | The Shadowfell always calls out to my soul. |
| 2 | My loyalty to The Raven Queen is unwavering. |
| 3 | I only remember fleeting memories of my past through trance. I hope one day to remember more. |
| 4 | I feel an overwhelming guilt for not saving the one who restored my soul. |
| 5 | There’s evil in me, I can feel it. It must never be set free. |
| 6 | I keep an important soul close to me in a silver dragon pendant necklace as a reminder the past. |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | As a result of my time in the shadowfell, I am an empty shell drained of emotion. |
| 2 | Sometimes I talk in my language, Sylvan instead of common. |
| 3 | I feel no compassion for the dead. They’re the lucky ones. |
| 4 | I am inflexible in my thinking. |
| 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. |
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