Under raging storm clouds, a lone figure stands silhouetted against the ancient walls of Castle Ravenloft. The vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich stares down a sheer cliff at the village below. A cold, bitter wind spins dead leaves about him, billowing his cape in the darkness.
Lightning splits the clouds overhead, casting stark white light across him. Strahd turns to the sky, revealing the angular muscles of his face and hands. He has a look of power—and of madness. His once handsome face is contorted by a tragedy darker than the night itself.
Rumbling thunder pounds the castle spires. The wind’s howling increases as Strahd turns his gaze back to the village. Far below, yet not beyond his ken, a party of adventurers has just entered his domain. Strahd’s face forms a twisted smile as his dark plan unfolds. He knew they were coming, and he knows why they have come—all according to his plan. He, the master of Ravenloft, will attend to them.
Another lightning flash rips through the darkness, its thunder echoing through the castle’s towers. But Strahd is gone. Only the howling of the wind—or perhaps a lone wolf—fills the midnight air. The master of Ravenloft is having guests for dinner. And you are invited.
Welcome! Thank you for checking out my ad for Curse of Strahd. My name is Nyx, and I have been DYING to run this module. Please read the following information if you would like to apply for this game. It will be held here on D&D Beyond. OOC chat will be handled in PMs. Again, thank you for your interest.
Application Deadline: end of day April 21stwith players selected by end of day April 22nd
Tentative Start Date of Game: April 23rd or 24th
Game Info / House Rules
Levels 1-10
Looking for 6 players. In case of dropouts, we will proceed with at least 4 players, but less than that and I will return to this thread for re-recruitment.
Mature Content Warning - This module deals with some dark content. If you think you may have a problem with topics such as violence/death of children, goriness, death in general, etc. then this probably isn't the right module for you!
Optional flanking rules will be in play. An enemy is only flanked if an attacker is directly in front of and directly behind it.
Cover rules are in play as well. Enemies will use cover but that means you can and should as well!
Drinking a potion is a bonus action but administering it to another character/NPC is a full action.
Character Creation Rules / App
Go ahead and roll for your stats. Do not re-roll 1s. If you get a bad roll, you may choose either Standard Array or Point Buy instead.
All official sources are allowed (no UA).
Multi-classing is allowed but only once.
All alignments are allowed except Chaotic Evil.
You may choose one uncommon magical item.
Your characters do not necessarily need to be from Faerûn. They may be from another plane of the multiverse if you wish. Nothing too crazy though. I'm not likely to pick a Humblefolk character for this campaign, although that would probably be amusing.
Backstory: Victoria woke up on a slab, with scars that suggested she'd been the victim of a tragic accident -or an autopsy. The fragments of memory that come to her make her think she'd been reassembled from parts, but that can't be right. Can it? Victoria is searching for the answer to the question "Who is she?" Or "Who WAS she?"
Name: Victoria.....Race: Reborn.....Class: Barbarian.....Background: Haunted one.....Alignment: N
Uncommon Magic Item: +1 Maul
Backstory: Victoria woke up on a slab, with scars that suggested she'd been the victim of a tragic accident -or an autopsy. The fragments of memory that come to her make her think she'd been reassembled from parts, but that can't be right. Can it? Victoria is searching for the answer to the question "Who is she?" Or "Who WAS she?"
Ability scores: 1591891417
forgot the magic item
Using 5th level unless you want her higher (or lower)
Used starting equipment plus the uncommon magic item. Is there an allowance for other purchases like armor? Originally she was worked up for an Ebberron campaign.
Backstory: Zilly grew up in the Underdark city of Blingdenstone. When he was young, his father, a tough and quiet man, was killed when his expedition accidently dug into an Umber Hulk lair. Shortly after, his mother took him and his younger sister, and left the Underdark for the lands above. His mother never wanted to stay in one place for too long. They lived with a dwarven clan in the mountains, with a group of elves worshipping the goddess Mielikki, and with a small band of hobgoblin nomads for a time. One thread that bound all these groups together was music. Zilly learned to play drums, strings, and wind instruments, as well as sing, though he has never cared for his own voice. It didn't matter if the source is Goblin, Human, Devil or other, if it is a song, he will learn it and perform it. Now, decades after he left, he wants to return to the Underdark, to learn songs from his birth land. So alone, Zilly sets out on a mission to, eventually, make it to the Underdark. What happens along the way, we'll he knows it will be grand! With his sword and the special Cittern he was given as a gift from, Drrax, leader of the Hobgoblin band, he says bye to his mother and sister, and sets off into the misty morning, humming an old goblin lullaby.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Ability scores: 1089101115
Name: Corwin Krezkov
Race: Shifter (A human who was cursed)
Class: Barbarian
Background: Noble
Alignment: LN
Uncommon Magic Item: Eldritch Claw Tattoo
Backstory: Born to a minor branch of the Krezkov family, Corwin was brought up to envy what was "rightfully his". His father especially wished to elevate his small section of the family to greater heights. To that end, Corwin's father brokered a deal with a dark power (either a literal Dark Power, or one of the hags). The family saw the benefits, wealth, notoriety, power, but they very quickly felt the cost. One by one all of Corwin's family members died horrifically, went insane, or simply disappeared until it was just him and his father left. In a fit of rage, Corwin confronted his father about his actions, striking him down and, unknowingly, taking the full force of the curse onto himself. Now whenever his emotions get out of hand, he transforms into a giant monstrous raven beast focussed only on destruction. Corwin hopes to find a way to break his curse and restore his family (at least those that still live).
Edit: Ah crap, I edited the post to add the magic item and it rerolled the ability scores. Happy to just take standard since I did not take note of what the original scores were.
This post has potentially manipulated dice roll results.
Ability scores: 14121212411
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
"grandpa" Salkur, Gnome Arti/Sorc: Forged in Chaos | Pepin, Human Arti/Cleric: Goblin horde | Mixtli, Volc Genasi Arti: Champions of the Citadel | Erix Vadalitis, Human Druid: Rising from the last war |Smithy, Human Arti: Night Ravens: Black orchids for Biscotti | Tamphalic Aliprax, Dragonborn Wizard: Chronicles of the Accursed | Doc, Dwarven Cleric (2024): Adventure at Hope's End | Abathax, Tiefling Illriger: Hunt for the Balowang | Gorin Mestel, Human Arti: Descend into Avernus
Backstory: Dark fey are rarely born outside of the Enclave of the Feywild or the pits of the Feydark, save for hags. Unfortunately, the result is often unbridled animosity. So came Sprygen, a child of the feywild born beyond its reach, hated from the moment he first drew breath.
In such cases, cruelty or corruption is oft inevitable. In Sprygen's case, it was a touch of both. Spurned by both man and common fey alike, he found kinship amongst darker bedfellows, eventually falling into the service of a powerful coven -- hags, to be specific. He's since done terrible things for his patrons, but in his eyes, it's no worse than has been done to him.
Name: Sylnan Swiftmoon Race: Wood elf Class: Wizard (Bladesinging) Alignment: Chaotic good Background: Haunted one Uncommon magic item: Rapier +1 Backstory: Sylnan learned how to swing a blade by the best of the wood elfs in his city, who took him in when he became an orphan. One day, however, a monster came to the bladesinging training grounds, just outside the city. The monster slaughtered everyone there, every teacher, every friend Sylnan had. He himself, however, was not slain, was not taken, was left alone; He doesn't have a clue why. He knew he couldn't stay in his city so he left taking the magical rapier of his beloved mentor. He is haunted by the events and is worrisome on why he, alone, is still alive.
"grandpa" Salkur, Gnome Arti/Sorc: Forged in Chaos | Pepin, Human Arti/Cleric: Goblin horde | Mixtli, Volc Genasi Arti: Champions of the Citadel | Erix Vadalitis, Human Druid: Rising from the last war |Smithy, Human Arti: Night Ravens: Black orchids for Biscotti | Tamphalic Aliprax, Dragonborn Wizard: Chronicles of the Accursed | Doc, Dwarven Cleric (2024): Adventure at Hope's End | Abathax, Tiefling Illriger: Hunt for the Balowang | Gorin Mestel, Human Arti: Descend into Avernus
Backstory: Valdemar was left at his monk temple as an infant. He has no clue about his parents, neither do the monks, but they took him in and taught him everything that they could - languages, martial arts, history, religion, art, music. He was quite educated, but lacked real life experience. Monks did not want him to leave, but one day he just snuck out in the night and went away to see the world. Now he is just wandering and absorbing experiences and spreading the goodness of his temple wherever he goes. He did not have a last name, because monks only gave him "a name". So he just picked up first one he heard that he liked, because "everyone has a last name".
Ability Scores:91211141313 Name:Hazel Harkness Race: Reborn Class: Warlock (The Undying) -///- Sorcerer (Shadow Magic) Background: Witherbloom Student Alignment: Neutral Uncommon Magic Item: Broom of Flying Backstory: Hazel Harkness once walked the hallowed halls of Witherbloom College as a bright-eyed acolyte, her fascination with the life sciences marking her as a prodigy among her peers. Yet, her thirst for knowledge had a cost; in the midst of a forbidden experiment that sought to blur the line between life and death, tragedy struck. Her last memory before the darkness was a flash of pain, and the sensation of her own voice being forcibly stolen away, an echo of a scream that would never be heard. (Continued in Spoiler)
Awakening to her new existence, Hazel found herself reborn, her body a mosaic of disparate lives stitched together, her mind a cauldron of swirling memories not entirely her own. This second chance at life was a puzzle—a question written in the scars that now adorned her lips and the pallor of her skin, a testament to the potent and strange magics that had refused to let her slip away into the abyss.
In the posthumous solitude of her grave, a whisper came—a voice as soft as a shadow, as commanding as the night itself. Vespertilio, the Night Whisperer, became her arcane patron in this reanimated life. It was he who offered her the power of the Undying in exchange for her service. It was an offer made in the liminal space between death's door and the realm of the living, and Hazel accepted, binding herself to him with chains forged of shadows and whispers.
Now, as a dual practitioner of shadow magic and the undying arts, Hazel drifts through the world as both a remnant of what was and a harbinger of what might be. Her motivations are her own—a tapestry of curiosity and a need to understand the forces that wove her back into the fabric of the world. The arcane currents of her dual nature flow through her, and she is driven to explore the thresholds of existence, to understand the mysteries of life and the quietus of death.
Since her reawakening, Hazel's existence has been marked by a stark contrast to the cloistered life she once knew within the walls of Witherbloom. The grandeur of academia is a ghost of the past; she now walks the alleys and hidden byways of the world, her silhouette a specter of want and endurance. She now appears in the eyes of others as a simple beggar girl with eyes that have seen beyond the veil, a figure of sorrow and mystery wrapped in tattered cloaks and soiled garments.
Hazel now finds solace in the shadows of crumbling edifices and the hollows of forgotten places as she serves her undying patron she finds her new life among the living one of survival against the biting lash of the elements, the sneer of the fortunate. Yet, in her heart, there remains a spark—unquenched and defiant—nurtured by the knowledge that her path is hers alone to shape.
In this wretched state, Hazel's cunning and resourcefulness are her most valued allies, honed not in classrooms or lecture halls, but in the harsh tutelage of the streets. Crawley, ever her silent accomplice, assists in her scavenging and serves as a reminder of the supernatural pact that binds her to forces beyond mortal kin.
Hazel's journey is not without its own cruel grace—a beauty found in the resilience of her spirit, in her unyielding search for meaning amidst the fragments of her reborn soul. Her wretched circumstance is but a chapter in a larger saga, one that speaks to the core of her indomitable will.
Memory: Hazel recalls a physically painful moment just before her death that relates to the scars located on either side of her mouth.
Hazel's Reborn Origin: Stitches bind her body’s mismatched pieces, and her memories come from multiple different lives.
Character Portrait:
Appearance: Hazel Harkness is a rail-thin, gaunt, and petite reborn human female, her unique lineage marked by an almost ghoulish corpse-like complexion that whispers of her hardships. Her demeanor is that of a young, haunted beggar girl, radiating a creepy youthful innocence marred by life's cruel embrace. Her skin, pale and ashen, seems almost translucent, like the delicate surface of a ghost. Hazel's eyes, pale blue and bottomless, carry the sorrow of endless nights, drawing those who dare gaze into them into an abyss of eternal struggle. Her hair is a wild, unkempt mane of shoulder-length strands split into two stark shades; one side is raven black, and the other, a dead white, hanging loosely around her face like curtains veiling a desolate world. Stitch marks, old and healed over yet still glaringly evident, line either side of her small mouth, pulling at the scars whenever she speaks or grimaces—a silent testament to her turbulent past. Hazel's attire is nothing more than a patchwork of scavenged rags and dirty clothes, pieced together from what little she can find or what’s reluctantly given by pitying hands. These garments hang loosely on her thin frame, often soiled and tattered, signaling her desperate state to any onlooker. She lives day-to-day with no place to call home, finding shelter in abandoned barns or huddling within old crates. Her lifestyle is a constant battle against violence, disease, and hunger, making her cautious and resourceful. Despite her dire circumstances, she carries a steadfast hope, hidden deep within her heart, to one day rise above the squalor and prove her worth.
Lifestyle: Hazel goes about her life beneath the notice of most people. Her way of living can be described as 'wretched' at best as she lives in a constant state of inhumane conditions with no place to call home. Thus she often seeks shelter wherever she can, sneaking into barns, huddling in old crates, and relying on the kindness of strangers. Hazel's living conditions as a street beggar presents abundant dangers that follow her wherever she goes.
Familiar: Crawling Claw named 'Crawley'
Undying Warlock Patron: Vespertilio the Night Whisperer
In the shadowed corridors of history, where the line between myth and reality is as indistinct as the veil between life and death, there exists a figure of enigmatic power, an undying patron known as Vespertilio the Night Whisperer. It is said that Vespertilio was once a human of great intellect and ambition, a seeker of hidden knowledge and forbidden lore. His thirst for understanding the ethereal complexities of life and death led him to an ancient ritual, one that would grant him the immortality he so desperately craved.
Through the ritual, Vespertilio transcended the mortal coil, becoming a being of neither life nor death. He exists now in the interstices of existence, a neutral entity that observes the ebb and flow of life with dispassionate interest. Vespertilio is neither benevolent nor malevolent; he is a custodian of secrets, a collector of souls who has bargained for knowledge, power, or a reprieve from death's grasp.
His visage is a tapestry of the eternal twilight he governs—a countenance fair yet with an ageless quality, eyes that hold the depth of centuries, and hair that flows like the silvered shadows of dusk. His presence is accompanied by the faintest whisper of wings, a sound that is felt more than heard, a resonance that echoes the silent flutter of a bat—a creature as comfortable in the depths of night as Vespertilio is in the realms of immortality.
The Night Whisperer dwells in a sanctum known as the Evershade Repository, a library vast and infinite, where the souls of his warlocks come to study under the cloak of eternal twilight. It is said that the knowledge within the Repository can grant insights into the most arcane of mysteries, provided one is willing to pay the price Vespertilio asks—a portion of one's life essence, a promise to serve the balance between life and death, to become an envoy of the threshold.
Hazel's pact with Vespertilio was forged out of necessity and survival. Upon awaking after her death, buried, her voice barely a whisper, she called out to the shadows for salvation. It was Vespertilio who answered, offering her a fragment of his undying essence in exchange for her servitude as his acolyte and envoy in the mortal realm. Bound by this pact, Hazel was bestowed with powers that brush against the fabric of life, standing as a guardian of the secret knowledge that Vespertilio holds within the silent halls of the Evershade Repository.
Backstory: Viktor Strazni was once a proud knight in service to the king, known for his bravery and unwavering dedication to justice. However, everything changed when he encountered a powerful vampire that cursed him with a dark magic. Since then, Viktor has been haunted by nightmares and visions, driving him to seek out the source of his curse and rid himself of it once and for all.
Viktor now travels the land, his once-shining armor now battered and scarred, his sword stained with the blood of the undead. He has honed his skills as an Eldritch Knight, blending martial prowess with the dark magic that courses through his veins. Despite the darkness that surrounds him, Viktor remains steadfast in his commitment to protect the innocent and vanquish evil wherever it may lurk.
Rolling for stats: Ability scores: Ability scores: 141114111113
Noting down scores in case DnDBeyond decide to glitch and give the manipulated dice rolls error (rolling in quotes is supposed to prevent this but not always): 14/11/14/11/11/13 Decidedly mid...
Class: Ranger (with plans to multiclass into Bard, or possibly Paladin, depending on how her story arc develops)
Background: Runagate (a reskin of Charlatan with her "false" identity actually being her birth identity), Noble, or a custom background combining the two (depending on what the DM is willing to approve)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Uncommon Magic Item: Weapon of Warning (Longsword)
Backstory: Born as "Lady Kitiara, First Daughter of House Skye" Kit had only one prospect and purpose in life, to marry and produce heirs that would strengthen her family's position. To Kit, it was a fate worse than death.
A stubborn and willful child, Kit chagrined her parents to no end by defying every expectation that was placed upon her. Her greatest delight was to best her twin brother at his own lordly lessons, whether it be archery, swordplay, or horsemanship. And beneath it all was the secret dream of breaking her chains, to run off and live a life of adventure and glory, like the heroes in the stories of old.
So the night before her coming of age, the day before her intended marriage, Kit packed a bag and snuck off into the night...and the unknown.
Curse of Strahd
Under raging storm clouds, a lone figure stands silhouetted against the ancient walls of Castle Ravenloft. The vampire Count Strahd von Zarovich stares down a sheer cliff at the village below. A cold, bitter wind spins dead leaves about him, billowing his cape in the darkness.
Lightning splits the clouds overhead, casting stark white light across him. Strahd turns to the sky, revealing the angular muscles of his face and hands. He has a look of power—and of madness. His once handsome face is contorted by a tragedy darker than the night itself.
Rumbling thunder pounds the castle spires. The wind’s howling increases as Strahd turns his gaze back to the village. Far below, yet not beyond his ken, a party of adventurers has just entered his domain. Strahd’s face forms a twisted smile as his dark plan unfolds. He knew they were coming, and he knows why they have come—all according to his plan. He, the master of Ravenloft, will attend to them.
Another lightning flash rips through the darkness, its thunder echoing through the castle’s towers. But Strahd is gone. Only the howling of the wind—or perhaps a lone wolf—fills the midnight air. The master of Ravenloft is having guests for dinner. And you are invited.
Welcome! Thank you for checking out my ad for Curse of Strahd. My name is Nyx, and I have been DYING to run this module. Please read the following information if you would like to apply for this game. It will be held here on D&D Beyond. OOC chat will be handled in PMs. Again, thank you for your interest.
Application Deadline: end of day April 21st with players selected by end of day April 22nd
Tentative Start Date of Game: April 23rd or 24th
Game Info / House Rules
Character Creation Rules / App
Please apply with the following app template:
Name:
Race:
Class:
Background:
Alignment:
Uncommon Magic Item:
Backstory:
Extended Signature
Characters: Bryony Alderleaf (Phandelver and Below) ♦ Vesta Trevelyan (Vecna: Eve of Ruin) ♦ Ada Kendrick (Curse of Strahd) ♦ Gareth Blackwood (Dragon of Icespire Peak) ♦ Karys Velthune (Out of the Abyss) ♦ Surina Xarith (Simple, Heroic Adventure)
DM: Baldur's Gate: Descent Into Avernus
Name: Victoria
Race: Reborn
Class: Barbarian
Background: Haunted one
Alignment: N
Uncommon Magic Item:
Backstory: Victoria woke up on a slab, with scars that suggested she'd been the victim of a tragic accident -or an autopsy. The fragments of memory that come to her make her think she'd been reassembled from parts, but that can't be right. Can it? Victoria is searching for the answer to the question "Who is she?" Or "Who WAS she?"
Ability scores: 11 13 12 7 14 12
forgot the magic item
Using 5th level unless you want her higher (or lower)
Used starting equipment plus the uncommon magic item. Is there an allowance for other purchases like armor? Originally she was worked up for an Ebberron campaign.
www.dndbeyond.com/sheet-pdfs/arthuropodd_122943620.pdf
Name: Zilly Gillacheek
Race: Deep Gnome
Class: Bard (Lore)
Background: Urchin
Alignment: Neutral
Uncommon Magic Item: Instrument of the Bards, Mac-Fuirmidh Cittern
Backstory: Zilly grew up in the Underdark city of Blingdenstone. When he was young, his father, a tough and quiet man, was killed when his expedition accidently dug into an Umber Hulk lair. Shortly after, his mother took him and his younger sister, and left the Underdark for the lands above. His mother never wanted to stay in one place for too long. They lived with a dwarven clan in the mountains, with a group of elves worshipping the goddess Mielikki, and with a small band of hobgoblin nomads for a time. One thread that bound all these groups together was music. Zilly learned to play drums, strings, and wind instruments, as well as sing, though he has never cared for his own voice. It didn't matter if the source is Goblin, Human, Devil or other, if it is a song, he will learn it and perform it. Now, decades after he left, he wants to return to the Underdark, to learn songs from his birth land. So alone, Zilly sets out on a mission to, eventually, make it to the Underdark. What happens along the way, we'll he knows it will be grand! With his sword and the special Cittern he was given as a gift from, Drrax, leader of the Hobgoblin band, he says bye to his mother and sister, and sets off into the misty morning, humming an old goblin lullaby.
Ability:
12 12 14 13 12 7
Ability scores: 10 8 9 10 11 15
Name: Corwin Krezkov
Race: Shifter (A human who was cursed)
Class: Barbarian
Background: Noble
Alignment: LN
Uncommon Magic Item: Eldritch Claw Tattoo
Backstory: Born to a minor branch of the Krezkov family, Corwin was brought up to envy what was "rightfully his". His father especially wished to elevate his small section of the family to greater heights. To that end, Corwin's father brokered a deal with a dark power (either a literal Dark Power, or one of the hags). The family saw the benefits, wealth, notoriety, power, but they very quickly felt the cost. One by one all of Corwin's family members died horrifically, went insane, or simply disappeared until it was just him and his father left. In a fit of rage, Corwin confronted his father about his actions, striking him down and, unknowingly, taking the full force of the curse onto himself. Now whenever his emotions get out of hand, he transforms into a giant monstrous raven beast focussed only on destruction. Corwin hopes to find a way to break his curse and restore his family (at least those that still live).
Edit: Ah crap, I edited the post to add the magic item and it rerolled the ability scores. Happy to just take standard since I did not take note of what the original scores were.
Let's see if I like what I get.
Ability scores: 11 11 10 11 12 11
I do not. Standard it is.
Ability scores: 14 12 12 12 4 11
"grandpa" Salkur, Gnome Arti/Sorc: Forged in Chaos | Pepin, Human Arti/Cleric: Goblin horde | Mixtli, Volc Genasi Arti: Champions of the Citadel | Erix Vadalitis, Human Druid: Rising from the last war | Smithy, Human Arti: Night Ravens: Black orchids for Biscotti | Tamphalic Aliprax, Dragonborn Wizard: Chronicles of the Accursed | Doc, Dwarven Cleric (2024): Adventure at Hope's End | Abathax, Tiefling Illriger: Hunt for the Balowang | Gorin Mestel, Human Arti: Descend into Avernus
Name: Sprygen
Race: Fairy
Class: Warlock/Archfey
Background: Hermit
Alignment: Lawful-Evil
Uncommon Magic Item: Rod of the Pact Keeper
Backstory: Dark fey are rarely born outside of the Enclave of the Feywild or the pits of the Feydark, save for hags. Unfortunately, the result is often unbridled animosity. So came Sprygen, a child of the feywild born beyond its reach, hated from the moment he first drew breath.
In such cases, cruelty or corruption is oft inevitable. In Sprygen's case, it was a touch of both. Spurned by both man and common fey alike, he found kinship amongst darker bedfellows, eventually falling into the service of a powerful coven -- hags, to be specific. He's since done terrible things for his patrons, but in his eyes, it's no worse than has been done to him.
https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/122952215
Name: Sylnan Swiftmoon
Race: Wood elf
Class: Wizard (Bladesinging)
Alignment: Chaotic good
Background: Haunted one
Uncommon magic item: Rapier +1
Backstory: Sylnan learned how to swing a blade by the best of the wood elfs in his city, who took him in when he became an orphan. One day, however, a monster came to the bladesinging training grounds, just outside the city. The monster slaughtered everyone there, every teacher, every friend Sylnan had. He himself, however, was not slain, was not taken, was left alone; He doesn't have a clue why. He knew he couldn't stay in his city so he left taking the magical rapier of his beloved mentor. He is haunted by the events and is worrisome on why he, alone, is still alive.
"grandpa" Salkur, Gnome Arti/Sorc: Forged in Chaos | Pepin, Human Arti/Cleric: Goblin horde | Mixtli, Volc Genasi Arti: Champions of the Citadel | Erix Vadalitis, Human Druid: Rising from the last war | Smithy, Human Arti: Night Ravens: Black orchids for Biscotti | Tamphalic Aliprax, Dragonborn Wizard: Chronicles of the Accursed | Doc, Dwarven Cleric (2024): Adventure at Hope's End | Abathax, Tiefling Illriger: Hunt for the Balowang | Gorin Mestel, Human Arti: Descend into Avernus
Ability scores: Ability scores: 14 11 11 17 16 12
Name: Valdemar Voidflame
Race: Human
Class: Monk
Background: Acolyte
Alignment: True neutral
Uncommon Magic Item: Quarterstaff +1
Backstory: Valdemar was left at his monk temple as an infant. He has no clue about his parents, neither do the monks, but they took him in and taught him everything that they could - languages, martial arts, history, religion, art, music. He was quite educated, but lacked real life experience. Monks did not want him to leave, but one day he just snuck out in the night and went away to see the world. Now he is just wandering and absorbing experiences and spreading the goodness of his temple wherever he goes. He did not have a last name, because monks only gave him "a name". So he just picked up first one he heard that he liked, because "everyone has a last name".
Ability Scores: 9 12 11 14 13 13
Name: Hazel Harkness
Race: Reborn
Class: Warlock (The Undying) -///- Sorcerer (Shadow Magic)
Background: Witherbloom Student
Alignment: Neutral
Uncommon Magic Item: Broom of Flying
Backstory: Hazel Harkness once walked the hallowed halls of Witherbloom College as a bright-eyed acolyte, her fascination with the life sciences marking her as a prodigy among her peers. Yet, her thirst for knowledge had a cost; in the midst of a forbidden experiment that sought to blur the line between life and death, tragedy struck. Her last memory before the darkness was a flash of pain, and the sensation of her own voice being forcibly stolen away, an echo of a scream that would never be heard. (Continued in Spoiler)
Awakening to her new existence, Hazel found herself reborn, her body a mosaic of disparate lives stitched together, her mind a cauldron of swirling memories not entirely her own. This second chance at life was a puzzle—a question written in the scars that now adorned her lips and the pallor of her skin, a testament to the potent and strange magics that had refused to let her slip away into the abyss.
In the posthumous solitude of her grave, a whisper came—a voice as soft as a shadow, as commanding as the night itself. Vespertilio, the Night Whisperer, became her arcane patron in this reanimated life. It was he who offered her the power of the Undying in exchange for her service. It was an offer made in the liminal space between death's door and the realm of the living, and Hazel accepted, binding herself to him with chains forged of shadows and whispers.
Now, as a dual practitioner of shadow magic and the undying arts, Hazel drifts through the world as both a remnant of what was and a harbinger of what might be. Her motivations are her own—a tapestry of curiosity and a need to understand the forces that wove her back into the fabric of the world. The arcane currents of her dual nature flow through her, and she is driven to explore the thresholds of existence, to understand the mysteries of life and the quietus of death.
Since her reawakening, Hazel's existence has been marked by a stark contrast to the cloistered life she once knew within the walls of Witherbloom. The grandeur of academia is a ghost of the past; she now walks the alleys and hidden byways of the world, her silhouette a specter of want and endurance. She now appears in the eyes of others as a simple beggar girl with eyes that have seen beyond the veil, a figure of sorrow and mystery wrapped in tattered cloaks and soiled garments.
Hazel now finds solace in the shadows of crumbling edifices and the hollows of forgotten places as she serves her undying patron she finds her new life among the living one of survival against the biting lash of the elements, the sneer of the fortunate. Yet, in her heart, there remains a spark—unquenched and defiant—nurtured by the knowledge that her path is hers alone to shape.
In this wretched state, Hazel's cunning and resourcefulness are her most valued allies, honed not in classrooms or lecture halls, but in the harsh tutelage of the streets. Crawley, ever her silent accomplice, assists in her scavenging and serves as a reminder of the supernatural pact that binds her to forces beyond mortal kin.
Hazel's journey is not without its own cruel grace—a beauty found in the resilience of her spirit, in her unyielding search for meaning amidst the fragments of her reborn soul. Her wretched circumstance is but a chapter in a larger saga, one that speaks to the core of her indomitable will.
Memory: Hazel recalls a physically painful moment just before her death that relates to the scars located on either side of her mouth.
Hazel's Reborn Origin: Stitches bind her body’s mismatched pieces, and her memories come from multiple different lives.
Character Portrait:
Appearance: Hazel Harkness is a rail-thin, gaunt, and petite reborn human female, her unique lineage marked by an almost ghoulish corpse-like complexion that whispers of her hardships. Her demeanor is that of a young, haunted beggar girl, radiating a creepy youthful innocence marred by life's cruel embrace. Her skin, pale and ashen, seems almost translucent, like the delicate surface of a ghost. Hazel's eyes, pale blue and bottomless, carry the sorrow of endless nights, drawing those who dare gaze into them into an abyss of eternal struggle. Her hair is a wild, unkempt mane of shoulder-length strands split into two stark shades; one side is raven black, and the other, a dead white, hanging loosely around her face like curtains veiling a desolate world. Stitch marks, old and healed over yet still glaringly evident, line either side of her small mouth, pulling at the scars whenever she speaks or grimaces—a silent testament to her turbulent past. Hazel's attire is nothing more than a patchwork of scavenged rags and dirty clothes, pieced together from what little she can find or what’s reluctantly given by pitying hands. These garments hang loosely on her thin frame, often soiled and tattered, signaling her desperate state to any onlooker. She lives day-to-day with no place to call home, finding shelter in abandoned barns or huddling within old crates. Her lifestyle is a constant battle against violence, disease, and hunger, making her cautious and resourceful. Despite her dire circumstances, she carries a steadfast hope, hidden deep within her heart, to one day rise above the squalor and prove her worth.
Lifestyle: Hazel goes about her life beneath the notice of most people. Her way of living can be described as 'wretched' at best as she lives in a constant state of inhumane conditions with no place to call home. Thus she often seeks shelter wherever she can, sneaking into barns, huddling in old crates, and relying on the kindness of strangers. Hazel's living conditions as a street beggar presents abundant dangers that follow her wherever she goes.
Familiar: Crawling Claw named 'Crawley'
Undying Warlock Patron: Vespertilio the Night Whisperer
In the shadowed corridors of history, where the line between myth and reality is as indistinct as the veil between life and death, there exists a figure of enigmatic power, an undying patron known as Vespertilio the Night Whisperer. It is said that Vespertilio was once a human of great intellect and ambition, a seeker of hidden knowledge and forbidden lore. His thirst for understanding the ethereal complexities of life and death led him to an ancient ritual, one that would grant him the immortality he so desperately craved.
Through the ritual, Vespertilio transcended the mortal coil, becoming a being of neither life nor death. He exists now in the interstices of existence, a neutral entity that observes the ebb and flow of life with dispassionate interest. Vespertilio is neither benevolent nor malevolent; he is a custodian of secrets, a collector of souls who has bargained for knowledge, power, or a reprieve from death's grasp.
His visage is a tapestry of the eternal twilight he governs—a countenance fair yet with an ageless quality, eyes that hold the depth of centuries, and hair that flows like the silvered shadows of dusk. His presence is accompanied by the faintest whisper of wings, a sound that is felt more than heard, a resonance that echoes the silent flutter of a bat—a creature as comfortable in the depths of night as Vespertilio is in the realms of immortality.
The Night Whisperer dwells in a sanctum known as the Evershade Repository, a library vast and infinite, where the souls of his warlocks come to study under the cloak of eternal twilight. It is said that the knowledge within the Repository can grant insights into the most arcane of mysteries, provided one is willing to pay the price Vespertilio asks—a portion of one's life essence, a promise to serve the balance between life and death, to become an envoy of the threshold.
Hazel's pact with Vespertilio was forged out of necessity and survival. Upon awaking after her death, buried, her voice barely a whisper, she called out to the shadows for salvation. It was Vespertilio who answered, offering her a fragment of his undying essence in exchange for her servitude as his acolyte and envoy in the mortal realm. Bound by this pact, Hazel was bestowed with powers that brush against the fabric of life, standing as a guardian of the secret knowledge that Vespertilio holds within the silent halls of the Evershade Repository.
Campaigns:
Wildemount: The Felderwin Irregulars (2020) - Balassar Silverstone - Dragonborn Fighter (Rune Knight) Lv. 5 | Rise of TIamat - Aiwin Aralana - Wood Elf Fighter/Ranger (Arcane Archer/Gloom Stalker) Lv. 9
Curse of Strahd / horror is always nice to play.
Noting down scores in case DnDBeyond decide to glitch and give the manipulated dice rolls error (rolling in quotes is supposed to prevent this but not always): 14/11/14/11/11/13
Decidedly mid...
Will brainstorm a concept to submit later.
William Brackwater: Human Fighter - The Windward Isles
Tyrgram, the Butterfly Knight: Dwarf Warlock - Secret of Greenwold
Iòlinder Corrach: Half Elf War Cleric - Allansia Adventure
Valerius Sergius Publius: Dhampir Paladin - Vae Victus
Ability scores: 17 14 8 17 16 14
Name: Kit
Race: Half-Elf
Class: Ranger (with plans to multiclass into Bard, or possibly Paladin, depending on how her story arc develops)
Background: Runagate (a reskin of Charlatan with her "false" identity actually being her birth identity), Noble, or a custom background combining the two (depending on what the DM is willing to approve)
Alignment: Neutral Good
Uncommon Magic Item: Weapon of Warning (Longsword)
Backstory: Born as "Lady Kitiara, First Daughter of House Skye" Kit had only one prospect and purpose in life, to marry and produce heirs that would strengthen her family's position. To Kit, it was a fate worse than death.
A stubborn and willful child, Kit chagrined her parents to no end by defying every expectation that was placed upon her. Her greatest delight was to best her twin brother at his own lordly lessons, whether it be archery, swordplay, or horsemanship. And beneath it all was the secret dream of breaking her chains, to run off and live a life of adventure and glory, like the heroes in the stories of old.
So the night before her coming of age, the day before her intended marriage, Kit packed a bag and snuck off into the night...and the unknown.
Let's see what I get...
Ability scores: 8 8 17 10 15 6
Ability scores: 10 7 11 12 11 9
I have an idea for a character who is from Barovia. Would it be allowed?