You were a landed noble, with an ancestral seat and many serfs or freedmen in your service. Unfortunately, were is the operative word here. Through the machinations of some rival, through excommunication, or through military defeat, your lands have been taken and you've been expelled from the service of your overlord. Your lands have been reallocated and those who hold them now are no friends of yours. At best, they hold contempt for you, at worst, the seek your head for you may present a challenge to their authority. Not all is lost, however. There are many who are still loyal to you amongst the small folk of your ancestral lands. Moreover, you still have friends in high places. Bureaucrats, peers, or generals may still hold your name in high regard.
- Skill Proficiencies: Your Aristocratic upbringing gives you proficiency in two of the following:
- Animal Handling
- History
- Arcana
- Religion
- Tool Proficiencies: Your time in exile has given you proficiency in one of the following:
- Longswords
- Longbows
- Shortbows
- Halberds
- Shortswords
- Languages: You were forced to learn the language of the race of those who have displaced you.
- Equipment: You gain one martial weapon you are proficient in.
You gain a Writ of Right asserting your right to your ancestral lands.
You gain a pouch with 10 gold.
You gain a family heirloom.
|
1d8 |
Reason for Exile |
|
1 |
Ousted the political machinations of a rival at court |
|
2 |
A sibling or cousin deceived your parents or overlord into granting them your rightful lands |
|
3 |
Your parents were murdered in a peasant uprising, forcing you too flee |
|
4 |
Your lands were conquered by a foreign power |
|
5 |
You lands were seized by another vassal of your overlord after a perceived slight of their honour. |
|
6 |
You or your parents lost your lands on an ill thought out wager |
|
7 |
You or your parents were excommunicated after a wrongful accusation of religious malpractice |
|
8 |
You were disinherited by your overlord after a perceived slight to their honour |
There are many at court and who work your former lands that still see you as their rightful ruler. You gain advantage on Persuasion and Intimidation checks on Loyal NPCs. However, you gain disadvantage on these checks against anyone who is a willing collaborator with the new regime. Your DM will determine who is and isn't a loyalist.
Suggested Characteristics
You are highborn, but have been living rough since you're exile. You may be living under the hospitality of a sympathetic noble or merchant or you may be living off the land with a band of your most loyal vassals. How you've been living since exile has shaped who you are by now more than your aristocratic upbringing ever could.
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I've grown so accustomed to living rough that I've lost most of my noble manners. |
| 2 | My exile has turned me into a stoic |
| 3 | I enjoy loudly boasting about my vast tracts of land. Usually over a drink. That I don't have the gold to pay for. |
| 4 | I've never really gotten over the fact of my exile and tend to mope when people bring it up. |
| 5 | Nothing irks me more than when people say I used to be a noble. Nobility is a matter of bloodline and having been born noble, I shall always remain noble. |
| 6 | Through my exile I have endeavoured to take the moral high ground over my enemies. I retain all the grace and etiquette I learned as young person and I am polite to a fault. |
| 7 | My exile has turned me into a fanatic. My desire for vengeance is always clear, expressed not only in my speech but also through my facial expressions and body language. I am always on edge. |
| 8 | In exile, I have taken on a patron who puts me up in lavish living quarters. This has turned me even softer than my life of noble living had before. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Vengeance (Chaotic) - I will do anything to harm those who stole my land. |
| 2 | Grace (Lawful) - Even an exiled noble must act nobly. |
| 3 | Honour (Neutral) - I was taught to hold the virtue honour above all others. I will strive to act honourably and I will distain those who act dishonourably. |
| 4 | Revolution (Chaotic) - I seek to overthrow those who exiled me not only for their slight on my honour, but also for the wrongs they do the peasants of my lands. |
| 5 | Misery (Evil) - Having had everything I love torn from me, I now wish to share my misery with everyone else by taking from them what they love. |
| 6 | Restoration (Any) - By birthright, I should rule my homeland. I seek to be restored to grace. |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | There is a peasant who worked my lands with whom I fell in love. They toil in misery under those who exiled me and I must return to my home so as to rescue my love. |
| 2 | My ancestral home is a magical or sacred place. I do not know if those who reside there now know this, but I cannot allow them to control my family's secret power. |
| 3 | There is a magic artefact or a sacred relic hidden in my ancestral home. I must retrieve it before my rival finds it. |
| 4 | My parents were exiled before me and have gone into hiding. I must find them and restore them to power. |
| 5 | Before their execution, my parents commanded me to go out and do good acts so that I may prove to the gods that I am worthy to rule. |
| 6 | My people suffer under their new rulers. I must free them from their bondage. |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I've turned to the drink to cope with my losses. When drunk, I can be overly emotional or even violent. |
| 2 | My life of banditry has left me with a strange sense of personal property. If I can take it, it should rightly be mine. After all, that's how those who took my birthright seem to think. |
| 3 | I'm incredibly paranoid that someone will betray me, just as my parents were betrayed before our ancestral home was taken from us. |
| 4 | I'm quick to anger, especially when someone slights my honour. |
| 5 | Living on someone else's dime has left me lazy and unmotivated. |
| 6 | Living amongst commoners has left full of common lusts. I'm particularly given to romantic trysts at inopportune times. |
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