I hated to walked alone and when I whether I walked a dark road at night, or strolled through the park, when the light began to change and I would always fell a little strange, I grew anxious when it was dark with a constant fear something was near, a phobia you might say, that someone was always there. Whenever I was alone I'd hear footsteps from behind and turn around to find no-one there, I'd quicken my pace but find it hard to look again becasue I was sure someone was there. I studied the horrors from the nights of yore, debated sages about witches and folklore but was always plagued by a troubled mind that played tricks and even now I sometimes fix on dancing shadows, always creeping up on me from behind.
*Another bit of inspiration from a song, this time Fear of the Dark by Iron Maiden
For the iron maiden inspired backstory, I'm not sure as to a class but I was leaning towards something non-magical, the only thing I could say for certain would be haunted one for background and after that I'd nab the Alert feat asap because i like the thought of the character always casting furtive glances over their shoulder and being hyper aware of their surrounding which may or may not explain their slight paranoia about being crept up on.
For the iron maiden inspired backstory, I'm not sure as to a class but I was leaning towards something non-magical, the only thing I could say for certain would be haunted one for background and after that I'd nab the Alert feat asap because i like the thought of the character always casting furtive glances over their shoulder and being hyper aware of their surrounding which may or may not explain their slight paranoia about being crept up on.
Phantom rogue could fit if you wanted non-magical, but that might be a fun riff on a Light cleric too -- less "I bring you purity/beauty/truth" and more "I'm terrified of what happens after the light fades"
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
For the iron maiden inspired backstory, I'm not sure as to a class but I was leaning towards something non-magical, the only thing I could say for certain would be haunted one for background and after that I'd nab the Alert feat asap because i like the thought of the character always casting furtive glances over their shoulder and being hyper aware of their surrounding which may or may not explain their slight paranoia about being crept up on.
Phantom rogue could fit if you wanted non-magical, but that might be a fun riff on a Light cleric too -- less "I bring you purity/beauty/truth" and more "I'm terrified of what happens after the light fades"
I like the idea of a rogue for it as Uncanny Dodge and Evasion can also fit in nicely to reflect reflexes honed by a constant paranoia, otherwise I'm rather take with Fighter Echo Knight as well.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
I love doing Echo Knights where the echo isn't just a straight copy of the character, but is something Other... there could be a lot to work with there
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Maybe multiclass in Warlock and use your spells when you Echo- imagine casting, idk, Hunger of Hadar and it's just a thousand demonic copies of yourself feeding on the souls of your foes
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Maybe multiclass in Warlock and use your spells when you Echo- imagine casting, idk, Hunger of Hadar and it's just a thousand demonic copies of yourself feeding on the souls of your foes
If you dont mind tying up 3 levels for a multiclass then Babraian Path fo the Ancestral Guardian could be interesting with echo knight, a couple of times a day you spawn lots of echoes to hinder an opponent.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
You are a lucky kid from a poor, tiny village to have been placed in a loving and well-off foster family who treated you as one of their own three other children in a wonderful, friendly small city after your father fled from an accusation of murder and your mother, instead, was imprisoned for it when you were a mere 4 years old.
During a holiday to a grand Elven city in a forested mountain when you were 20, you became targeted by a ruthless, well-feared, but hidden organization without any known provocation, forcing you to leave your foster family for their own safety.
You stay on the move, learning anything you can to survive and why you're on some unseen person's **** list.
Simply put: Happy, but almost sheltered, childhood ruined by D&D drama. (Isn't that how it always goes?)😜
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I was an apprentice at a guild of artisans when some friends of mine invited me to join them for a weekend away in a remote cabin where a stupid mistake, where we read a book that we should have left alone, led to my friends deaths, me losing a hand and then being sucked through a portal. I now find myself in a land, strangely familiar but also different in many ways and I am lucky our carriage was sucked through that portal as I have been able to use some of my guilds texts to fashion a new hand and help out the locals. Now all I have to do is find a copy of that book and see if I can get home and then everythign will be groovy!.
*Some combo of: Guild Artisan or Haunted One background + Fighter/Gunslinger or Artifcer/Artillerist stat wise be higher in Intelligence and lower in Wisdom but what ever you....do not take the Keen Mind feat because you may need to forget an incantation at an important moment "Klaatu Barada.... Necktie?...Nicturn?....Nicol??.....it was definetly an "n" word!?. Also you might need to start with a common magic item:' Prosthetic LImb, from TCoE to represent a lost hand and a replacement you made.
I was the human apprentice of a powerful dwarf artificer in a mining village when we both went into the mines to get important components for homunculi, along with a normal mining party. While my master was berating the mining party for their terrible pillar placement I came across a tunnel that was rather emphatically blocked off with planks. I heard dwarvish voices behind it coming towards the area. Suddenly, a party of duergar burst in with an umber hulk. I tried to hide behind a pillar but the umber hulk saw me and promptly bit off my arms. I fainted from pain and confusion. Luckily the duergar left me there. When my master finally defeated them, he found me, cast Spare the Dying, and dragged me to the town cleric, but the town cleric wasn't capable of healing my poor arms. With my fading strength, I called for my master, who came to my sickbed. We spent many days and nights, with me seeming at the Raven Queen's doorstep the whole time, designing robotic arms for me to use. After we attached them, my recovery was oddly fast and I got back up in about a month. I now adventure with others, with a constant hatred of duergar. I seek to constantly improve my cyborg parts.
Variant Human Armored Artificer, kinda based on Genos from OPM
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
You left a calloused orphanage in the city slums at the assumed age of 13 just before they could throw you out for being too old and unclaimed.
By stowing away in an empty carriage being sent to a faraway county, you discovered that it was hardly empty but being used for smuggling money, tools, and weapons somewhere.
Pockets full and geared up, you quietly quit the carriage during the journey to carve out a bright future for yourself... but after being surrounded by friends in the same boat as you for all your life, do you really want to go at it all by yourself?
Obvious possible story hooks can sink into the actual purpose of the carriage's bounty and the character's true heritage. Traits and flaws probably involve having a lack of education, needing coconspirators, and naïveté of etiquette.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider. My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong. I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲 “It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I first learned magic at a young age when, although I regret to admit it, I found it made up for a lack of natural talent I had in the arts of petty larceny. Some may call me a thief, ne'er do well or worse but I prefer to think of myself as a practioner of Kleptomancy; the art of theft through magic. I have no uncontrolled desire to steal things but merely a desire to test myself by obtaining that which is kept safely locked away and in my eyes: the greater the risk, the greater the reward!.
*Some sort of magic user with all spells themed to being a thief, Arcane Trickster would probably be the easiest as you could also potentially steal spells at higher levels but most spell casters could work.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
* Need a character idea? Search for "Rob76's Unused" in the Story and Lore section.
Folks round here spend all their time thinkin’ bout how unfortunate they are to be stuck in this here Domain of Dread, but I don’t see it that way. Sure there are a slew o’ monsters and haints that want to git you kilt, but I grew up here and I reckon I would be all lonesome at night if there weren’t no boogeyman out in them woods. So while you all go bout screamin’ and wailin’ and tryin’ to find ways to escape, I’ll be here plantin’ apple trees and killin’ any booger that shows his ugly mug on my property.
You hear that Strahd? This ain’t yer Domain no more, it’s mine!
Ten years ago, Poppa went out to buy a pack of smokes.
Three days ago, Momma said go get him and bring him back, dead or alive.
Tomorrow, i plan to walk into the Inn where he's playing cards and doing exactly that.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities .-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-. An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more. Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
I was once in an order of paladins with my wife Chysila. After breaking their oaths to follow a tyrant king they killed her in cold blood. I picked up her blade with my own oath of vengeance against, on slow nights I hear my wife speaking to me, telling me that she'll give me the power to face them again.
(Artillerist artificer with the Failed Merchant background from AcqInc)
For years I tried to make a living as a humble vendor of vegetables, only for my produce to be destroyed time and again as war swept the Four Nations and I found myself in the wrong place at the wrong time. Finally I realized it wasn't just bad luck, but a plot targeting me personally like I was the butt of some cosmic joke, and I vowed revenge. Now my cart has undergone some... upgrades using scavenged Fire Nation tech, and anyone who messes with me is going to get a face full of exploding cabbage
It's time to play... Guess the Famous Character I've Turned Into a PC!
(Path of the Juggernaut barbarian)
My pa split town a-fore I was born, leaving nothing behind but an unsavory reputation and this curse of a name that I hate more than the Seven Hells hate the heavens. I was bullied without mercy by the other kids in town because of both, but that just made me stronger and meaner. Now that I'm old enough, I'm going to track down and kill the dirty mangy dog that gave me that awful name.
Last answer: Cai, the cabbage merchant from Avatar: the Last Airbender
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock) Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric) Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue) Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
To post a comment, please login or register a new account.
OOO. What's the character?
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon but better: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/subclasses?filter-name=&filter-author=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-previous=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-symbol=118590905&filter-rating=-40
I'm a social pessimist.
For the iron maiden inspired backstory, I'm not sure as to a class but I was leaning towards something non-magical, the only thing I could say for certain would be haunted one for background and after that I'd nab the Alert feat asap because i like the thought of the character always casting furtive glances over their shoulder and being hyper aware of their surrounding which may or may not explain their slight paranoia about being crept up on.
Phantom rogue could fit if you wanted non-magical, but that might be a fun riff on a Light cleric too -- less "I bring you purity/beauty/truth" and more "I'm terrified of what happens after the light fades"
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
I like the idea of a rogue for it as Uncanny Dodge and Evasion can also fit in nicely to reflect reflexes honed by a constant paranoia, otherwise I'm rather take with Fighter Echo Knight as well.
I love doing Echo Knights where the echo isn't just a straight copy of the character, but is something Other... there could be a lot to work with there
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)
Maybe multiclass in Warlock and use your spells when you Echo- imagine casting, idk, Hunger of Hadar and it's just a thousand demonic copies of yourself feeding on the souls of your foes
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon but better: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/subclasses?filter-name=&filter-author=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-previous=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-symbol=118590905&filter-rating=-40
I'm a social pessimist.
If you dont mind tying up 3 levels for a multiclass then Babraian Path fo the Ancestral Guardian could be interesting with echo knight, a couple of times a day you spawn lots of echoes to hinder an opponent.
2 levels you mean- this is a Barbarian right?
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon but better: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/subclasses?filter-name=&filter-author=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-previous=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-symbol=118590905&filter-rating=-40
I'm a social pessimist.
Barbarians get their subclass at 3rd level.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
Whoops- I was thinking of Druids.
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon but better: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/subclasses?filter-name=&filter-author=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-previous=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-symbol=118590905&filter-rating=-40
I'm a social pessimist.
You are a lucky kid from a poor, tiny village to have been placed in a loving and well-off foster family who treated you as one of their own three other children in a wonderful, friendly small city after your father fled from an accusation of murder and your mother, instead, was imprisoned for it when you were a mere 4 years old.
During a holiday to a grand Elven city in a forested mountain when you were 20, you became targeted by a ruthless, well-feared, but hidden organization without any known provocation, forcing you to leave your foster family for their own safety.
You stay on the move, learning anything you can to survive and why you're on some unseen person's **** list.
Simply put: Happy, but almost sheltered, childhood ruined by D&D drama. (Isn't that how it always goes?)😜
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I was an apprentice at a guild of artisans when some friends of mine invited me to join them for a weekend away in a remote cabin where a stupid mistake, where we read a book that we should have left alone, led to my friends deaths, me losing a hand and then being sucked through a portal. I now find myself in a land, strangely familiar but also different in many ways and I am lucky our carriage was sucked through that portal as I have been able to use some of my guilds texts to fashion a new hand and help out the locals. Now all I have to do is find a copy of that book and see if I can get home and then everythign will be groovy!.
*Some combo of: Guild Artisan or Haunted One background + Fighter/Gunslinger or Artifcer/Artillerist stat wise be higher in Intelligence and lower in Wisdom but what ever you....do not take the Keen Mind feat because you may need to forget an incantation at an important moment "Klaatu Barada.... Necktie?...Nicturn?....Nicol??.....it was definetly an "n" word!?. Also you might need to start with a common magic item:' Prosthetic LImb, from TCoE to represent a lost hand and a replacement you made.
I was the human apprentice of a powerful dwarf artificer in a mining village when we both went into the mines to get important components for homunculi, along with a normal mining party. While my master was berating the mining party for their terrible pillar placement I came across a tunnel that was rather emphatically blocked off with planks. I heard dwarvish voices behind it coming towards the area. Suddenly, a party of duergar burst in with an umber hulk. I tried to hide behind a pillar but the umber hulk saw me and promptly bit off my arms. I fainted from pain and confusion. Luckily the duergar left me there. When my master finally defeated them, he found me, cast Spare the Dying, and dragged me to the town cleric, but the town cleric wasn't capable of healing my poor arms. With my fading strength, I called for my master, who came to my sickbed. We spent many days and nights, with me seeming at the Raven Queen's doorstep the whole time, designing robotic arms for me to use. After we attached them, my recovery was oddly fast and I got back up in about a month. I now adventure with others, with a constant hatred of duergar. I seek to constantly improve my cyborg parts.
Variant Human Armored Artificer, kinda based on Genos from OPM
I make homebrew subclasses, usually fixes of existing ones.
Way of the Ascendant Dragon but better: https://www.dndbeyond.com/homebrew/subclasses?filter-name=&filter-author=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-previous=KyrneGnomeBarbarian&filter-author-symbol=118590905&filter-rating=-40
I'm a social pessimist.
You left a calloused orphanage in the city slums at the assumed age of 13 just before they could throw you out for being too old and unclaimed.
By stowing away in an empty carriage being sent to a faraway county, you discovered that it was hardly empty but being used for smuggling money, tools, and weapons somewhere.
Pockets full and geared up, you quietly quit the carriage during the journey to carve out a bright future for yourself... but after being surrounded by friends in the same boat as you for all your life, do you really want to go at it all by yourself?
Obvious possible story hooks can sink into the actual purpose of the carriage's bounty and the character's true heritage. Traits and flaws probably involve having a lack of education, needing coconspirators, and naïveté of etiquette.
Human. Male. Possibly. Don't be a divider.
My characters' backgrounds are written like instruction manuals rather than stories. My opinion and preferences don't mean you're wrong.
I am 99.7603% convinced that the digital dice are messing with me. I roll high when nobody's looking and low when anyone else can see.🎲
“It's a bit early to be thinking about an epitaph. No?” will be my epitaph.
I first learned magic at a young age when, although I regret to admit it, I found it made up for a lack of natural talent I had in the arts of petty larceny. Some may call me a thief, ne'er do well or worse but I prefer to think of myself as a practioner of Kleptomancy; the art of theft through magic. I have no uncontrolled desire to steal things but merely a desire to test myself by obtaining that which is kept safely locked away and in my eyes: the greater the risk, the greater the reward!.
*Some sort of magic user with all spells themed to being a thief, Arcane Trickster would probably be the easiest as you could also potentially steal spells at higher levels but most spell casters could work.
Folks round here spend all their time thinkin’ bout how unfortunate they are to be stuck in this here Domain of Dread, but I don’t see it that way. Sure there are a slew o’ monsters and haints that want to git you kilt, but I grew up here and I reckon I would be all lonesome at night if there weren’t no boogeyman out in them woods. So while you all go bout screamin’ and wailin’ and tryin’ to find ways to escape, I’ll be here plantin’ apple trees and killin’ any booger that shows his ugly mug on my property.
You hear that Strahd? This ain’t yer Domain no more, it’s mine!
Ten years ago, Poppa went out to buy a pack of smokes.
Three days ago, Momma said go get him and bring him back, dead or alive.
Tomorrow, i plan to walk into the Inn where he's playing cards and doing exactly that.
Only a DM since 1980 (3000+ Sessions) / PhD, MS, MA / Mixed, Bi, Trans, Woman / No longer welcome in the US, apparently
Wyrlde: Adventures in the Seven Cities
.-=] Lore Book | Patreon | Wyrlde YT [=-.
An original Setting for 5e, a whole solar system of adventure. Ongoing updates, exclusies, more.
Not Talking About It / Dubbed The Oracle in the Cult of Mythology Nerds
I was once in an order of paladins with my wife Chysila. After breaking their oaths to follow a tyrant king they killed her in cold blood. I picked up her blade with my own oath of vengeance against, on slow nights I hear my wife speaking to me, telling me that she'll give me the power to face them again.
It's time to play... Guess the Famous Character I've Turned Into a PC!
(Path of the Juggernaut barbarian)
My pa split town a-fore I was born, leaving nothing behind but an unsavory reputation and this curse of a name that I hate more than the Seven Hells hate the heavens. I was bullied without mercy by the other kids in town because of both, but that just made me stronger and meaner. Now that I'm old enough, I'm going to track down and kill the dirty mangy dog that gave me that awful name.
Last answer: Cai, the cabbage merchant from Avatar: the Last Airbender
Active characters:
Carric Aquissar, elven wannabe artist in his deconstructionist period (Archfey warlock)
Lan Kidogo, mapach archaeologist and treasure hunter (Knowledge cleric)
Mardan Ferres, elven private investigator obsessed with that one unsolved murder (Assassin rogue)
Xhekhetiel, halfling survivor of a Betrayer Gods cult (Runechild sorcerer/fighter)