The Haunted Stranger 2 Image

You are haunted by something so terrible that you dare not speak of it. You’ve tried to bury it and run away from it, to no avail. Whatever this thing is that haunts you can’t be slain with a sword or banished with a spell. It might come to you as a shadow on the wall, a bloodcurdling nightmare, a memory that refuses to die, or a demonic whisper in the dark. The burden has taken its toll, isolating you from most people and making you question your sanity. You must find a way to overcome it before it destroys you.

Because of this you're an oddity living in a world that struggles to understand you, a shadow in the hearts and minds of those you inspire and terrify. To most, your existence is a myth, created from the awed murmurs of those who have witnessed you, and curious imaginations of those who've heard those rumours. Although many people wouldn't understand just exactly who - or what - you are, you are very real, and you have your own reasons for doing what you believe needs to be done.

Your journey is one that follows what people like you name 'The Stranger's Call'. This call gives you precognition of where you need to go and who you need to find. You wander for days and nights, following a call only you know how to answer. Then when the time is right, you appear like a ghost and strike. Just when everyone thinks they understand you, you're gone as quick as you came, already answering another call.

 
Skill Proficiencies: Choose three skills
Languages: Choose one exotic language (Abyssal, Celestial, Deep Speech, Draconic, Infernal, Primordial, Sylvan, or Undercommon)
Equipment:  A Pack, a set of common clothes, a set of melee weapons shortswords, a dagger and arapier or aquarterstaff and one trinket of special significance.
 
Harrowing Event

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.
 
Feature: The Call and Heart of Darkness

The Call

The Stranger's Call is not just the urge to strip away an identity and fulfill a mission. Every call is unique, and it is your guide in a trying world. It is unique to each person who interprets it. This table is a list of ideas you can choose from or use to help you come up with your own.

d8 The Call
1 There are people in the world who need my help.
2 A terrible tragedy happened to me, and everybody I once knew thinks I'm dead.
3 I caused a great pain to many people in my past life.
4 I've never been comfortable in one place, but I move around so much that nobody remembers who I am.
5 I am haunted by a mysterious force that threatens everything I know and love. I must keep moving and fight it on my own terms.
6 I was called on by a strange entity to carry out its will, though I don't understand what its ultimate goal is yet.
7 I came across a powerful artifact that revealed a hidden secret that changed my life forever. I can find no comfort in my past life because of this discovery.
8 I've lost my memories, and I travel to find any semblance of my past life so that I may remember who I once was.

 

Heart of Darkness

Those who look into your eyes can see that you have faced unimaginable horror and that you are no stranger to darkness. Though they might fear you, commoners will extend you every courtesy and do their utmost to help you. Unless you have shown yourself to be a danger to them, they will even take up arms to fight alongside you, should you find yourself facing an enemy alone.

 

 
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 When I enter a new area or building, I like to analyze my surroundings in case something goes wrong.
3 I prefer to stay quiet, and let my mood and actions speak for me.
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 have my own reasons for doing what I do and don't like talking about them, but I seem trustworthy enough.
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 have my own reasons for doing what I do. (Any)
3 I kill monsters to make the world a safer place, and to exorcise my own demons. (Good)
4 There are powerful forces in the world that go against what I believe in, and I will not rest until they have been dispatched. (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 There are powerful forces in the world that go against what I believe in, and I will not rest until they have been dispatched. (Chaotic)
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 carry a terrible burden on my shoulders, and it makes me slow to trust people.
4 I have an addiction.
5 I fought a powerful enemy, and they want me dead for my transgressions.
6 I talk to spirits that no one else can see.
 

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