I am and always have been haunted by something so terrible that you dare not speak of it. I’m a fisherman. I’m also a race that is half fish, half humanoid. When I go fishing I am actually hurting my fish kinsmen. I feel so sad about it, but the thrill of the catch is irresistible. I’ve tried to bury it and run away from it, to no avail. I’ve even mentioned it during confession with my childhood pastor and he was so enraged by my fratricide that he flogged me with a flounder. Whatever this urging force is that haunts me can’t be slain with a sword or banished with a spell. It might come to me as a faint goad from my nefarious subconscious, a bloodcurdling fishing nightmare, or sometimes a demonic whisper in the dark admonishing me to get a worm in the water. The burden has taken its toll, isolating me from most of my people and making me question my sanity. I must find a way to overcome my alter ego before it destroys me.
- Skill Proficiencies: Choose two from investigation, arcane, religion, or survival :
-Religion
-Survival
- Tool Proficiencies: - fishing Rod and fishing paraphernalia
- camping tools
- booze brewing tools and equipment
- basic handyman tools
- Languages: Choose two, one of which must be Abyssal, Celestial, Deep Speech, Draconic, Infernal, Primordial, Sylvan, or Undercommon:
- native tongue to Locathah (Merfolk?)
- infernal
- 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.
Prior to becoming an adventurer, your path in life was defined by one dark moment, one fateful decision, or one tragedy. Now you feel a darkness threatening to consume you, and you fear there may be no hope of escape. Choose a harrowing event that haunts you, or roll one on the Harrowing Events table.
| d8 | Harrowing Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | You were born under a dark star. You can feel it watching you, coldly and distantly. Sometimes it beckons you in the dead of night. |
| 2 | Subconscious voice have haunted you your whole life. You don’t know what it wants, and it won’t leave you alone. |
| 3 | Your family has a history of worshipping the polemical religious sects of the fish people community. You worshipped with your family your whole life, and felt something horrible clutch at your soul, whereupon you live in terror. |
| 4 | You were cursed with substance abuse -smoking seaweed- and later cured. When you were high you fished until the sun came up. You are now haunted by the innocents you slaughtered. |
| 5 | A seahag kidnapped and raised you. You escaped, but the seahag still has a magical hold over you and fills your mind with evil thoughts. |
| 6 | One day when fishing you caught a boot , and inside the boot was an eldritch tome. You opened the eldritch tome and saw things unfit for a sane mind. You burned the book, but its words and images are burned into your psyche. |
| 7 | A merfolk creature abducted you as a child. You were locked away but escaped. The merscum memories still haunt you too this day, and you’re particularly prejudice to this rival people. |
| 8 | You did terrible things to avenge the murder of someone you loved. You became a monster, and it haunts your waking dreams. |
Those who look into your eyes can see that you have faced unimaginable horror and that you are no stranger to darkness. Though they might fear you, commoners will extend you every courtesy and do their utmost to help you. Unless you have shown yourself to be a danger to them, they will even take up arms to fight alongside you, should you find yourself facing an enemy alone.
Suggested Characteristics
You have learned to live with the terror that haunts you. You are a survivor, who can be very protective of those who bring light into your darkened life.
| d7 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | Often I don’t run from evil because evil runs through me. |
| 2 | I spend money freely and live life to the fullest, knowing that tomorrow I might die. |
| 3 | I live for the thrill of the hunt. |
| 4 | I don’t talk about the thing that torments me. I’d rather not burden others with my curse. |
| 5 | I expect danger around every corner. |
| 6 | I refuse to become a victim, and I will not allow others to be victimized. |
| 7 | I put lots of trust in divine beings. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | I try to help those in need, especially if I think I might gain some benefit. |
| 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 don’t need to know my enemy’s capabilities and weaknesses before rushing into battle. |
| 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 my legacy. |
| 2 | I would sacrifice my life and my soul to protect the innocent, but only if somebody is watching so I get the glory. |
| 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. |
| 6 | I have a community to protect. I must take my evil for their sake. |
| 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. |
| 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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