Experiment

Whether you were captured and tortured, raised in a laboratory environment, or volunteered to participate in an experimental research program, you have endured dangerous experiments at great risk to yourself. Countless procedures have been performed on you that yielded strange or powerful results that have forever shaped your life. You may have gained unique abilities through these experiments, or you may have been deemed a failure with unanticipated "side effects." You may have developed desirable traits necessary for the research of a powerful necromancer, and thus were kidnapped to be studied, or you may have signed up for a study with an organization you respected, hoping to contribute to a cause you supported. Whatever you went through, it changed you irrevocably, for better or worse, and now you are out in the world where most have no understanding of what you went through. You may have escaped with the use of a clever plan, the help of another person, or when authorities found and arrested your captor. Or you may have been discharged when you didn't yield the desired results, or funding and resources for the research dried up. Or perhaps, it was a great success, and now field experimentation is required for the next stage of the study. 

Skill Proficiencies: Choose two from the following: Arcana, Athletics, Insight, Medicine, and Survival

Tool Proficiencies: one set of Artisan's Tools of your choice

Languages: one language of your choice

Equipment: a set of artisan's tools (one of your choice), a set of common clothes, a dagger, a trinket from your time at the research facility (you may roll for a random trinket on the Trinkets table in chapter 5), and 5 gp

Suggested Characteristics

People who have endured painful and traumatic experimentation likely harbor a multitude of complex emotions surrounding their experiences. Many might become meek or timid, hoping to not stir up trouble and make themselves a target of ire. Others might grow larger-than-life personalities to distract from the terrors that reside in their memories, and to prevent others from peeking too far behind the veil. And others might experience a strange pride in their survival or voluntary participation in a research project that they believed in, whether or not it turned out the way they had hoped. The specific experiences experiments go through define their trauma responses and coping mechanisms, which may inform much of their daily lives and personalities.

d8	Personality Trait
1	I am overly appeasing to those around me, fearing that being disagreeable will cause people to turn on me.
2	I am suspicious of anyone who tries to help me.
3	Whenever the conversation becomes too serious, I try to make a joke or change the subject.
4	I tell elaborate stories of people I admire as if they happened to me.
5	I am extremely forgetful.
6	I never eat a meal I didn't make myself.
7	I am often very flirtatious, but I never romantically engage with anyone.
8	I always make sure I know where the exits are when I walk into a room.

d6	Ideal
1	Chivalry. I will protect those who may be at risk of what I went through at all costs. No one should suffer like I did. (Good)
2	Independence. I can't rely on anyone but myself. (Chaotic)
3	Power. I will find the people who did this to me and use the results of their research for my own gain. (Evil)
4	Live and Let Live. As long as I keep my head down and don't rock the boat, everything will be fine. (Neutral)
5	Pride. I can't expect help from others if I'm not going to help myself. (Lawful)
6	Faith. One day, everything I have went through will have meant something. (Any)

d6	Bond
1	Someday I will get revenge on the ones who did this to me.
2	I will forever be indebted to the person who saved me.
3	I must complete the experiment or I will never feel whole again.
4	I must find my family and let them know that I am safe now.
5	The research they were doing on me will lead to terrible things. I must find the research notes and destroy them so no one can replicate what was done to me.
6	I left someone behind when I escaped. I don't know if they survived.

d6	Flaw
1	I mask my fear with violent bursts of anger.
2	I am afraid of being trapped in small, enclosed spaces.
3	I attempt to justify the behavior of evildoers, believing there must be a logical reason behind their actions.
4	I am always looking over my shoulder, worried I am being followed.
5	I give myself a new name every time I enter a new town.
6	Ale is the only thing that helps me forget.