Lost to Madness

Whoever you once were is long lost to you now, having let yourself go to the voices and ravings to which you are prone. You may have been a king or a peasant, a soldier or a cleric or anything inbetween, the past is unclear, and more so irrelevant to you now as insanity changes the rules of your reality from moment to moment. Each day is a new experience, as how you react to it changes with the days as well. What brought you to this condition may or may not be something you recall; the loss of a loved one, a spell gone awry, or the learning of a secret that a mortal was not meant to know. You may be relatively stable with a trigger that sets you off, or you may be constantly babbling. You find it difficult to communicate with others for obvious reasons, but your mind is not necessarily weak. Many of the strongest magic users, especially those of any Wild or Chaos magic orders have traded in their so-called sanity to open their minds more fully to the raw power of the universe. Telepathy often alleviates some of the communication problems, but those lost to madness often speak in riddles, so not all of them.  

Skill Proficiencies: Choose two from among Arcana, Religion, or Survival

Tool Proficiencies: Choose one from tool proficiency with either Brewers supplies or the Alchemists supplies.

Languages: Choose one exotic language (Abyssal, Celestial, Deep Speech, Draconic, Infernal, Primordial, Sylvan, or Undercommon). The voices in your head often speak in this language.

Equipment:  A monster hunter’s pack, a set of tattered fine clothes or rags, and one trinket of special significance (choose one or roll on the Gothic Trinkets table below).

 

Gothic Trinkets

When rolling for a trinket, consider using this table, which is designed to help you choose an item with a nefarious history.

Trinkets

D100	TRINKET
01–02	A picture you drew as a child of your imaginary friend
03–04	A lock that opens when blood is dripped in its keyhole
05–06	Clothes stolen from a scarecrow
07–08	A spinning top carved with four faces: happy, sad, wrathful, and dead
09–10	The necklace of a sibling who died on the day you were born
11–12	A wig from someone executed by beheading
13–14	The unopened letter to you from your dying father
15–16	A pocket watch that runs backward for an hour every midnight
17–18	A winter coat stolen from a dying soldier
19–20	A bottle of invisible ink that can only be read at sunset
21–22	A wineskin that refills when interred with a dead person for a night
23–24	A set of silverware used by a king for his last meal
25–26	A spyglass that always shows the world suffering a terrible storm
27–28	A cameo with the profile’s face scratched away
29–30	A lantern with a black candle that never runs out and that burns with green flame
31–32	A teacup from a child’s tea set, stained with blood
33–34	A little black book that records your dreams, and yours alone, when you sleep
35–36	A necklace formed of the interlinked holy symbols of a dozen deities
37–38	A hangman’s noose that feels heavier than it should
39–40	A birdcage into which small birds fly but once inside never eat or leave
41–42	A lepidopterist’s box full of dead moths with skull-like patterns on their wings
43–44	A jar of pickled ghouls’ tongues
45–46	The wooden hand of a notorious pirate
47–48	A urn with the ashes of a dead relative
49–50	A hand mirror backed with a bronze depiction of a medusa
51–52	Pallid leather gloves crafted with ivory fingernails
53–54	Dice made from the knuckles of a notorious charlatan
55–56	A ring of keys for forgotten locks
57–58	Nails from the coffin of a murderer
59–60	A key to the family crypt
61–62	An bouquet of funerary flowers that always looks and smells fresh
63–64	A switch used to discipline you as a child
65–66	A music box that plays by itself whenever someone holding it dances
67–68	A walking cane with an iron ferule that strikes sparks on stone
69–70	A flag from a ship lost at sea
71–72	Porcelain doll’s head that always seems to be looking at you
73–74	A wolf’s head wrought in silver that is also a whistle.
75–76	A small mirror that shows a much older version of the viewer
77–78	Small, worn book of children’s nursery rhymes.
79–80	A mummified raven claw
81–82	A broken pendent of a silver dragon that’s always cold to the touch
83–84	A small locked box that quietly hums a lovely melody at night but you always forget it in the morning
85–86	An inkwell that makes one a little nauseous when staring at it
87–88	An old little doll made from a dark, dense wood and missing a hand and a foot
89–90	A black executioner’s hood
91–92	A pouch made of flesh, with a sinew drawstring
93–94	A tiny spool of black thread that never runs out
95–96	A tiny clockwork figurine of a dancer that’s missing a gear and doesn’t work
97–98	A black wooden pipe that creates puffs of smoke that look like skulls
99–00	A vial of perfume, the scent of which only certain creatures can detect

Suggested Characteristics

Your break from reality shows itself in one, or many, ways. You may roll or choose from the characteristics included in this background, or make your own. Suffice to say your Personality Trait, Ideal, Bond, and/or Flaw should have some distortion of logic or sanity that stems from your mental instability. 

d8	Personality Trait
1	I don’t run from evil because I am often oblivious to it, or uncaring.
2	I like to read and memorize poetry. Everytime I recite it though it changes slightly, although I will never admit it.
3	I spend money freely and live life to the fullest, knowing that tomorrow I might die. Each day I awake I'm upset at the "gremlins" who take all my money at night.
4	I live for odd numbers. Even numbers make me uneasy, and I may reroll to get an odd number even for a lower roll, if I can.
5	I don’t talk about the thing that torments me, the last creature I spoke of it to hung itself by morning.
6	My paraonia knows no bounds. I cling to a single time I was correct to justify this.
7	My battle with chaos has left me craving order in my personal life, manifesting as OCD as I attempt to fight the entropy I see around me.
8	I put no trust in divine beings, having borne witness to the death of a god.

d6	Ideal
1	I try to help those in need, flinging myself into danger, as I have no concern for my own well being. (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 will obey any law or command given by authority, even clearly detrimental ones, and often at the worst times. (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 unreadable for anyone sane or not touched by an otherworldly presence, appearing to them as jumbled letters and symbols of an unidentifiable script, constantly rearranging on the page.
2	I would sacrifice my life on a chance or whim. I am actively looking for a hill to die on.
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. Well, mostly never.
6	I seek to undo this cursed mental clouding, so I can return to my former life. But everyday I fall deeper into madness, and closer to the point of no return.

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 to cope with the horrors I have seen and need my daily fix.
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.