Retired Hero

Once, you were a hero. Your name carried weight, your deeds became stories, and others looked to you when danger came.

That life ended long ago. Whether through age, disillusionment, loss, or simple exhaustion, you walked away and built a quieter life for yourself.

The years have taken much of what you once were, but not everything. Experience lingers, old instincts remain, and somewhere beneath the ordinary life you chose stands the person you used to be.

You have no desire to become a legend again.

Unfortunately, legends have a habit of being needed.

Ability Scores: Choose three ability scores that reflect both the hero you once were and the life you built afterward. Increase one by 2 and another by 1, or increase all three by 1. None of these increases can raise a score above 20.

Feat: Years of hardship, adventure, and survival have left their mark. Whatever skills or talents defined your former life, some part of that experience remains with you even after leaving the adventuring life behind.

Skill Proficiencies: Your former adventures taught you to read danger and deal with difficult people, while your quieter years gave you practical experience far removed from the life of a hero.

Tool Proficiencies: The quiet life you chose after adventuring taught you a practical trade, giving you skills meant for building and maintaining rather than fighting and destroying.

Languages: A lifetime of travel and encounters with different peoples may have exposed you to languages beyond those of your homeland.

Equipment: Your possessions reflect the quiet life you built after your adventuring days rather than the weapons and treasures of your former glory. They include practical tools, simple clothing, and a modest amount of coin.

Suggested Characteristics

Retired heroes are shaped by both the lives they once led and the quieter lives they chose afterward. Some remember their adventures with pride, others with regret or exhaustion. Most have learned to value ordinary things that once seemed insignificant.

Their greatest struggle is often deciding how much of the person they once were should remain part of who they are now.

d6	Personality Trait
1	I rarely speak of my past, and when I do, I make it sound far less impressive than it was.
2	I have little patience for people who romanticize adventure and heroism.
3	I find more satisfaction in simple work done well than in praise or recognition.
4	Old habits die hard; I instinctively watch exits, assess threats, and keep an eye on those around me.
5	I treat extraordinary dangers with an unsettling calm born from having seen worse.
6	I deliberately cultivate an ordinary appearance and manner. Being underestimated makes life simpler.

d6	Ideal
1	Peace. A quiet life freely chosen can be worth more than all the glory in the world. (Neutral)
2	Responsibility. If I have the power to prevent suffering, I cannot simply look away. (Good)
3	Independence. No crown, god, cause, or desperate stranger has the right to decide how I spend my life. (Chaotic)
4	Duty. I gave my word once, and hardship does not release me from a promise freely made. (Lawful)
5	Compassion. Heroism means protecting people, not earning glory for doing it. (Good)
6	Self-Preservation. I sacrificed enough for others. This time, my own life comes first. (Evil)

d6	Bond
1	The home I built after retiring is the first place I have ever truly considered mine.
2	Someone taught me that I could be valued for who I am rather than for what I could accomplish.
3	I still carry a small keepsake from my adventuring days, though I rarely explain its significance.
4	Somewhere in the world is an old companion I would answer without hesitation, no matter how many years have passed.
5	I owe my peaceful life to a community that accepted me without caring about who I used to be.
6	There is one unfinished matter from my old life that could make me leave retirement behind.

d6	Flaw
1	I insist that other people's problems are not my responsibility, right up until I see someone suffering in front of me.
2	I resent being relied upon and sometimes push away people who genuinely need me.
3	I have survived enough disasters to underestimate dangers that would terrify a less experienced person.
4	I can be condescending toward inexperienced adventurers, even when their ideas deserve consideration.
5	Asking for help still feels unnatural. For too long, I was the person everyone else asked.
6	Part of me fears that if I return to my old ways, I will once again lose myself in what everyone expects me to be.

Contacts

A long life leaves connections behind. Former companions, old rivals, grateful families, military or religious orders, and even descendants of people you once helped may still remember your deeds—or at least the stories told about them.