You were subjected to a harrowing experience like no other, having been captured by feared and reviled beings known as Mind Flayers (or Illithids), only escaping through sheer luck or a turn of fate. What you experienced during this time is considered by many to be the stuff of nightmares, yet for you it was all too real, a terrible experience that has likely left you far more scarred than most, both physically and mentally.
- Skill Proficiencies: Choose two from Survival, Perception, Athletics, Stealth, or Sleight of Hand
- Tool Proficiencies: Thieves' tools
- Languages: One of your choice
- Equipment: A small knife, a shovel, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp
Your Mind Flayer captors did not abduct you without reason, as much as you might not agree with them. You can roll on the following table to determine what their purpose for you was, or determine which one best fits your character's story.
| d6 | Nature of Your Captivity |
|---|---|
| 1 | I was turned into a thrall and served as a slave within my captors' lair against my will. |
| 2 | I was turned into an armed thrall that helped capture more victims for my captors against my will. |
| 3 | I was experimented on, to what ends I do not know, and it has changed me both mentally and physically. |
| 4 | An Illithid tadpole was inserted into my head, yet for reasons unknown to me, the Ceramorphosis failed. |
| 5 | An Illithid tadpole was inserted into my head. However, for some reason, it has yet to transform me. |
| 6 | I have very little memory of my time in their clutches, meaning I know very little of what they did to me. |
Regardless of what your captors might have done to you, the influence of the Mind Flayers has altered your mind in such a way that you cannot easily resolve. You are unnaturally adept at perceiving psionic abnormalities long before others would, especially those caused by certain aberrations. What you are able to notice might be something as vague as the feeling of something unusual being afoot, or something as specific as outright recognizing the influence of a Mind Flayer or other powerful psionic on people you see or the surrounding area.
Beyond this, any creatures that connect with you mentally or that use any psionic abilities on you can easily sense the invasive, unnatural influence of your former Illithid captors on you, and maybe even the exact extent.
Suggested Characteristics
Not everyone who finds freedom after being taken by Illithids comes out the other side quite the same, making each person who survives such horrors unique.
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I am constantly wary of my former captors hunting me down and taking my freedom from me again. |
| 2 | I can't help but see authority over me as a threat now. |
| 3 | Very little of what inflicts others with crippling fear even fazes me anymore. I've seen far, far worse. |
| 4 | Life can come to too awful an end too quickly for me to let the little things drag me down. |
| 5 | Survival is what must come first. All else is secondary. |
| 6 | Every time I even think of an Illithid, my blood boils. |
| 7 | I find myself forgetting a lot more than others might, or even finding memories that aren't my own. |
| 8 | Sometimes I just sense things no one else can. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Unity. The threats lurking within the darkness cannot lay claim to us if we all stand together. (Lawful) |
| 2 | Greater Good. I cannot let others experience what I have experienced, even if it costs me dearly. (Good) |
| 3 | Power. If I can grow stronger than I was before, no one can take control from me again. No one. (Evil) |
| 4 | Freedom. Everyone deserves to have a say in their own lives. To take that away is wrong. (Chaotic) |
| 5 | People. What matters is everyone staying safe from the evils around us, not personal ideals. (Neutral) |
| 6 | Aspiration. Now that I'm free again, I can be something far greater than some Mind Flayer's spawn. (Any) |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | Revenge is all that I want. It is all that I need. |
| 2 | Others weren't as lucky as me. I hope to change that. |
| 3 | Whatever's gone wrong with my head, I have to fix it. |
| 4 | All who enslave others must fall. No one deserves to go through what I had to go through ever again. |
| 5 | To those who secured me my freedom, I owe my life. |
| 6 | My mind is my own, not anyone else's. |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I'm always jumping at shadows, fearful of the worst. |
| 2 | My hatred of those who might control me is blinding. |
| 3 | My life is the only one that really matters. Mine. Me. |
| 4 | My mind is broken, and I fear that it might get worse. |
| 5 | Deep down, I feel some strange desire to return to those who once took me, and that's terrifying. |
| 6 | I'd rather die than be taken against my will again. |
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