You walk the path between life and death with no attachments to the living. Gods and their followers hold no sway over you unless they are themselves aligned with the undead. You commune with spirits, study necrotic mysteries, and experiment with death without hesitation. Your presence radiates indifference, mastery over mortality, and the unnerving certainty that you serve no one but your own dark curiosity. The world reacts to you with fear, awe, or cautious interest, but you care little for their judgment. You have embraced what most fear, and in death, you see the only truths worth understanding.
- Skill Proficiencies: Choose two from among Arcana, Investigation, Religion, or Survival
- Languages: Choose two, one of which must be Abyssal, Celestial, Deep Speech, Draconic, Infernal, Primordial, Sylvan, or Undercommon
- Equipment: A scholar’s pack or [Tooltip Not Found] (containing a [Tooltip Not Found], a [Tooltip Not Found], [Tooltip Not Found], [Tooltip Not Found], and a [Tooltip Not Found]), one trinket of special significance (choose one or roll on the Horror Trinkets table after this background), a [Tooltip Not Found], and 1 sp.
Before you became an adventurer, you experienced a darkness that marked your soul and severed your ties to the living. You witnessed or caused events that revealed the fragility of life, the hollowness of gods, and the supremacy of death. Choose one or roll on the table below:
| d10 | Harrowing Event — Detached & Undead-Aligned |
|---|---|
| 1 | You witnessed mass death or destruction and felt nothing for the survivors; you alone remained, untouched, and indifferent. |
| 2 | Born under a dark omen, a spectral presence watches you, shaping your understanding of death and the void. |
| 3 | An ancestral spirit haunts your bloodline, but you serve only your curiosity and mastery over death, not the spirit’s morality. |
| 4 | You experimented with necromancy, and dark forces clawed at your soul — you emerged unbroken, indifferent to the consequences. |
| 5 | A fiend, undead, or deathless entity destroyed someone around you, and you neither mourned nor intervened, seeing only lessons in mortality. |
| 6 | You were cursed, touched by plague, lycanthropy, or necrotic magic, and now spirits and the dead seem drawn to you. |
| 7 | A hag, lich, or necrotic being shaped your upbringing, whispering dark knowledge into your mind, which you embrace without question. |
| 8 | You read a forbidden tome and glimpsed horrors beyond comprehension; the living’s morality now seems trivial. |
| 9 | A possessing spirit, undead remnant, or fiend left fragments of itself in you, driving your obsession with death and detachment. |
| 10 | In pursuit of your dark calling, you committed acts mortals call evil or cruel; the consequences haunt others, not you. |
Your bond with death and the spirit realm grants you an unnerving presence. Undead, spirits, and even mortals recognize that you are unconcerned with the living world, and they respond accordingly.
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You gain advantage on checks to communicate, manipulate, calm, or repel spirits.
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Mortals who witness your dealings with death may fear you, respect you, or keep their distance; aid is offered only if it serves their survival or curiosity, not out of compassion.
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The living sense that you are unattached, indifferent, and dangerous, while undead and spirits are drawn to your mastery of death.
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.
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I see the living as fragile, fleeting, and mostly irrelevant. |
| 2 | I prefer the company of spirits, undead, or those who cannot betray me. |
| 3 | I do not celebrate joy; it is a distraction from inevitable decay. |
| 4 | I study death and decay with fascination, not fear. |
| 5 | I refuse to show attachment; sentiment is a weakness. |
| 6 | I expect betrayal or failure from the living at every turn. |
| 7 | I distrust all deities, except those who hold dominion over death or undead. |
| 8 | I manipulate fear, darkness, and spirits to achieve my ends. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | The living are fragile and irrelevant; I act only in service to knowledge or power over death. (Neutral) |
| 2 | I pursue mastery over spirits and undeath, regardless of morality or consequence. (Any) |
| 3 | I hunt the living or undead only if it serves my understanding or strengthens my power. (Neutral) |
| 4 | My dark calling places me above mortal laws and the dictates of gods. (Chaotic) |
| 5 | Knowledge of death, decay, and weakness is the only truth I respect. (Lawful) |
| 6 | I embrace darkness, undeath, and the unnatural to survive and gain strength. (Evil) |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | My journal of forbidden knowledge is my only companion; the living are distractions. |
| 2 | I would allow anyone, mortal or divine, to fall if it does not serve my understanding of death. |
| 3 | My past ties were weaknesses; I have no desire to reclaim them. |
| 4 | I feel no remorse for lives lost, only for opportunities to learn from them. |
| 5 | Evil or corruption within me is a tool, not a curse, and must be honed. |
| 6 | I owe nothing to the living; spirits and the undead are my true allies. |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I follow my own dark rituals and obsessions, indifferent to consequences or attachment. |
| 2 | I assume the worst of mortals, gods, and spirits alike, trusting none. |
| 3 | I am consumed by obsession with death, necromancy, or the spirit world. |
| 4 | I feel no sorrow for the dead; their passing is natural and irrelevant. |
| 5 | I expect ruin and corruption at every turn, and I plan accordingly. |
| 6 | I speak to, act with, or channel spirits that mortals cannot perceive, and I care little for their warnings or opinions. |
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