You scarce remember your childhood - only sensations of agony as waves of pain washed over your body. You have been mutilated - physically, mentally, or magically - to be granted your current powers, or lack thereof. The shadows from your past constantly haunt you, threatening to seize control over your mind and your persona, devolving you into a creature of madness, hysteria, and utter, breaking, shearing torment. You vie to conquer your throes and put an end to that which tortures you - or, if it is painless, succumb to it.
- Ability Scores: Your haunted past leaves your mortal senses scarred, but your resilience and esprit d'etre increased.
- 1 to your Wisdom score
+ 2 to your Constitution and Charisma scores, up to a maximum of 20.
- Feat: Your shadows never truly leave you. Every time that you go to sleep (magically or nonmagically), roll a d100 and address the consequences below:
ROLL DESCRIPTION EFFECT
1 Shearing Torment. The memories become You awaken violently. You gain 1 level of
indistinguishable from reality. You feel every wound, Exhaustion, and cannot gain inspiration until
every hand upon you, every moment of helplessness again. your next Long Rest.2 - 20 The Sapphire Burns. Old scars feel like they've been burnt in You take 1d4 psychic damage upon waking,
all over again, and memories seem more painful than the reality. this damage cannot reduce you below 1 HP.20 - 80 Restless Sleep. As usual. No voices whisper to you, no No mechanical effect.
incorporeal shapes haunt your dreams.80 - 90 Lucidity. For a few precious moments, you realise that you're You gain Heroic Inspiration when you
dreaming, and dreams can't hurt you. The nightmare becomes awaken. If you already have it, you gain
yours to torment. temp HP equal to twice your Proficiency modifier instead.90 - 99 I Am Still Here. Despite the pain, despite the harrowing trauma, You gain Heroic Inspiration when you
you stand defiant to the shadows and make your own destiny. awaken and you gain temp HP equal
The pain will return, but this night it has no dominion over you. to thrice your Proficiency modifier.100 T̵̮͖̐̉͋͜ḥ̸͚̰̾e̷̖̱̬͆̽̀͝ ̴̢̫͚̼̋̾P̸̖̰̘̆͜ä̶̫̎͘ḯ̵̞̬̈͗́n̵̹͚͋̐͝ ̷̳͊̊̎̕i̵̻̫̹̮̽̊̾͗s̶̟͇̋̾ ̴̛̝̏̓N̶̦̘̜̟͗o̷̧̖̬̘͊͗ţ̴̡̝̫̒ ̶̰̇M̴̠̬̞̫͐͒̀ì̴͕͓͒̃́n̷̜͒e̶̙͓̦̩̋͐. S̷̠̖̜͍̎u̷͓͔̻̲͂̎͋͋c̶̺͙̺̽͗c̸͇̝̦̈́̕ų̸̘͍̓̑̽͘ͅm̸̛̱̮̦̾͜b̵̲̺͐͐̾͑ S̷̠̖̜͍̎u̷͓͔̻̲͂̎͋͋c̶̺͙̺̽͗c̸͇̝̦̈́̕ų̸̘͍̓̑̽͘ͅm̸̛̱̮̦̾͜b̵̲̺͐͐̾͑.̶̞͗̓ S̷̠̖̜͍̎u̷͓͔̻̲͂̎͋͋c̶̺͙̺̽͗c̸͇̝̦̈́̕ų̸̘͍̓̑̽͘ͅm̸̛̱̮̦̾͜b̵̲̺͐͐̾͑.̶̞͗̓ ̵͔͇̫͔̈́̎̚S̷̠̖̜͍̎u̷͓͔̻̲͂̎͋͋c̶̺͙̺̽͗c̸͇̝̦̈́̕ų̸̘͍̓̑̽͘ͅm̸̛̱̮̦̾͜b̵̲̺͐͐̾͑.̶̞͗̓ ̵͔͇̫͔̈́̎̚ You want to give in. Re-roll the d100. If you
S̷̠̖̜͍̎u̷͓͔̻̲͂̎͋͋c̶̺͙̺̽͗c̸͇̝̦̈́̕ų̸̘͍̓̑̽͘ͅm̸̛̱̮̦̾͜b̵̲̺͐͐̾͑.̶̞͗̓ ̵͔͇̫͔̈́̎̚S̷̠̖̜͍̎u̷͓͔̻̲͂̎͋͋c̶̺͙̺̽͗c̸͇̝̦̈́̕ų̸̘͍̓̑̽͘ͅm̸̛̱̮̦̾͜b̵̲̺͐͐̾͑.̶̞͗̓ ̵͔͇̫͔̈́̎̚S̷̠̖̜͍̎u̷͓͔̻̲͂̎͋͋c̶̺͙̺̽͗c̸͇̝̦̈́̕ų̸̘͍̓̑̽͘ͅm̸̛̱̮̦̾͜b̵̲̺͐͐̾͑.̶̞͗̓ ̵͔͇̫͔̈́̎̚S̷̠̖̜͍̎u̷͓͔̻̲͂̎͋͋c̶̺͙̺̽͗c̸͇̝̦̈́̕ų̸̘͍̓̑̽͘ͅm̸̛̱̮̦̾͜b̵̲̺͐͐̾͑.̶̞͗̓ ̵͔͇̫͔̈́̎̚S̷̠̖̜͍̎u̷͓͔̻̲͂̎͋͋c̶̺͙̺̽͗c̸͇̝̦̈́̕ų̸̘͍̓̑̽͘ͅm̸̛̱̮̦̾͜b̵̲̺͐͐̾͑.̶̞͗̓ ̵͔͇̫͔̈́̎̚S̷̠̖̜͍̎u̷͓͔̻̲͂̎͋͋c̶̺͙̺̽͗c̸͇̝̦̈́̕ų̸̘͍̓̑̽͘ͅm̸̛̱̮̦̾͜b̵̲̺͐͐̾͑.̶̞͗̓ ̵͔͇̫͔̈́̎̚ roll this thrice in a row, something dark
S̷̠̖̜͍̎u̷͓͔̻̲͂̎͋͋c̶̺͙̺̽͗c̸͇̝̦̈́̕ų̸̘͍̓̑̽͘ͅm̸̛̱̮̦̾͜b̵̲̺͐͐̾͑.̶̞͗̓ ̵̈́S̷̠̖̜͍̎u̷͓͔̻̲͂̎͋͋c̶̺͙̺̽͗c̸͇̝̦̈́̕ų̸̘͍̓̑̽͘ͅm̸̛̱̮̦̾͜b̵̲̺͐͐̾͑.̶̞͗̓ ̵͔͇̫͔̈́̎̚S̷̠̖̜͍̎u̷͓͔̻̲͂̎͋͋c̶̺͙̺̽͗c̸͇̝̦̈́̕ų̸̘͍̓̑̽͘ͅm̸̛̱̮̦̾͜b̵̲̺͐͐̾͑.̶̞͗̓ ̵͔͇̫͔̈́̎̚S̷̠̖̜͍̎u̷͓͔̻̲͂̎͋͋c̶̺͙̺̽͗c̸͇̝̦̈́̕ų̸̘͍̓̑̽͘ͅm̸̛̱̮̦̾͜b̵̲̺͐͐̾͑.̶̞͗̓ ̵͔͇̫͔̈́̎̚S̷̠̖̜͍̎u̷͓͔̻̲͂̎͋͋c̶̺͙̺̽͗c̸͇̝̦̈́̕ų̸̘͍̓̑̽͘ͅm̸̛̱̮̦̾͜b̵̲̺͐͐̾͑.̶̞͗̓ ̵͔͇̫͔̈́̎̚S̷̠̖̜͍̎u̷͓͔̻̲͂̎͋͋c̶̺͙̺̽͗c̸͇̝̦̈́̕ų̸̘͍̓̑̽͘ͅm̸̛̱̮̦̾͜b̵̲̺͐͐̾͑.̶̞͗̓ ̵͔͇̫͔̈́̎̚. happens. - 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 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.
| d10 | Harrowing Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | A monster that slaughtered dozens of innocent people spared your life, and you don’t know why. |
| 2 | 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. |
| 3 | An apparition that has haunted your family for generations now haunts you. You don’t know what it wants, and it won’t leave you alone. |
| 4 | Your family has a history of practicing the dark arts. You dabbled once and felt something horrible clutch at your soul, whereupon you fled in terror. |
| 5 | An oni took your sibling one cold, dark night, and you were unable to stop it. |
| 6 | You were cursed with lycanthropy and later cured. You are now haunted by the innocents you slaughtered. |
| 7 | A hag kidnapped and raised you. You escaped, but the hag still has a magical hold over you and fills your mind with evil thoughts. |
| 8 | You opened an eldritch tome and saw things unfit for a sane mind. You burned the book, but its words and images are burned into your psyche. |
| 9 | A fiend possessed you as a child. You were locked away but escaped. The fiend is still inside you, but now you try to keep it locked away. |
| 10 | You did terrible things to avenge the murder of someone you loved. You became a monster, and it haunts your waking dreams. |
They took something from you. They put something back. A sapphire sits where your mother’s heart was branded into your flesh. It has grown as you have. Sometimes it is warm. Sometimes it beats. In dreams, you swear you hear your mother screaming from somewhere behind your eyes. You have tried not to wonder why the stone pulses when you are afraid. Or why, sometimes, it pulses first.
Spell List
| Spell Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| Cantrip | mind sliver |
| 2nd | crown of madness, mind spike, phantasmal force, shadow blade, tasha's mind whip |
| 3rd | antagonize |
| 4th | phantasmal killer |
| 5th | dream, geas |
| 9th | psychic scream |
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 don’t run from evil. Evil runs from me. |
| 2 | I like to read and memorize poetry. It keeps me calm and brings me fleeting moments of happiness. |
| 3 | I spend money freely and live life to the fullest, knowing that tomorrow I might die. |
| 4 | I live for the thrill of the hunt. |
| 5 | I don’t talk about the thing that torments me. I’d rather not burden others with my curse. |
| 6 | I expect danger around every corner. |
| 7 | I refuse to become a victim, and I will not allow others to be victimized. |
| 8 | I put no trust in divine beings. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | I try to help those in need, no matter what the personal cost. (Good) |
| 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 like to know my enemy’s capabilities and weaknesses before rushing into battle. (Lawful) |
| 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. |
| 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 child to protect. I must make the world a safer place for him (or her). |
| 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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