u/Extra-Inflation-925

Original post: https://www.reddit.com/r/DnDAITA/s/0eUv8ljrjq

---‐‐-----------

Thanks everyone for the support and advice. I figured I'd give an update, and this will probably be the only one this post gets.

Things resolved themselves. One of the two players messaged the group earlier saying that they were dropping out of my campaign so they could run their own. Fair enough. No hard feelings there.

Except they invited everyone in the group except me to join their new campaign. Which would be running on the exact same day and time as mine. So it wasn't really an invitation so much as:

"Them or me."

That didn't go the way they expected. The rest of the party pretty much immediately chose to stay in my campaign and told the player where they could stick their new one. There were some considerably less polite words involved.

The player who sent the message left the group almost immediately, and the other player whose character died left with them. So... I guess that's that.

Now that I know what their endgame was, I'm starting to wonder whether the whole character-death ultimatum was really about the characters at all.

The campaign they suddenly announced they were going to run is something they've been talking about wanting to run for weeks. Looking back, I get the feeling they might've been getting bored with my game and wanted to do their own thing. Which is completely fine!

If you're not enjoying a campaign anymore, tell me. If you want to DM your own game, go for it. I'm not going to hold anyone hostage at my table. But trying to use the existing group to effectively replace my campaign, on the same schedule, while specifically excluding me is... (deep breath).

Either way, it's pretty much out of my hands now. The remaining players are still excited to continue, and one of them has a couple of friends who might be interested in joining the campaign.

Thanks again, everyone.

Context: The current party has been playing together for about a year at this point. During our last session, they were exploring a sorcerer’s tower.

The sorcerer in question was someone they needed help from in order to continue the main quest. He is, admittedly, an asshole. My players decided this made it perfectly reasonable to rob him.

He had several magic items on display throughout his tower. What they didn’t know was that every item was enchanted with Alarm. The sorcerer would immediately know if anyone touched or moved one.

The players started stealing things and spell went off. The sorcerer came downstairs, caught them, and told them to put his stuff back.

At this point I figured the players still had options: they could apologise and return the items, or try to talk their way out of it. Instead, two of them attacked him.

The sorcerer was significantly more powerful than the party, so I had him use Plane Shift. I twinned the spell and targeted the two characters who were attacking him. He hit both of them and both failed their saves.

They were sent to the Nine Hells, because the rod he used for the spell's component (and pretty much everything else in his collection) was from Avernus.

The rest of the party immediately went from:

"Fuck this guy, let's kill him."

to:

"Let's work something out."

They bargained with the sorcerer to bring their friends back. Even if I thought he wanted to, he couldn't. He had zero eason to follow them and no ability to retrieve the characters anyway.

The two players who were thrown into the Blood War then had to deal with some very tough enemies. They died, pretty quickly.

The players who still have their characters are pissed off at the situation, but they're also perfectly happy to continue the campaign. They've basically accepted that the two characters made some extremely questionable decisions and paid the price.

The two players who lost their characters, however, are furious. They're saying I need to bring their characters back or they'll drop out of the campaign.

I don't want to undo the consequences. Resurrection exists in the setting, but it isn't something the party currently has access to, and I don't want death to become meaningless just because someone is unhappy with the outcome.

I also don't think I deliberately targeted their characters. The sorcerer was defending himself in his own tower after they attempted to rob him and then attacked him. Plane Shift was a logical response in my opinion. It used up a big chunk of his resources but it made the point.

But now I'm being told that I'm the asshole because I "killed their characters over a joke."

So, Reddit:

Am I The Asshole?

Should I just resurrect them and move on?

Or just let them drop out?

I’m an experienced 5e DM with some experience in 5.5e and a few other systems. I’m currently running three one-on-one play-by-post campaigns over Discord and have room to take on another two or three.

These are private, text-based campaigns built around your character. There’s no party to balance around, so the story can focus entirely on your character’s goals, backstory, relationships, and the kind of adventure you want to play.

The setting is generally high fantasy, though I’m happy to adjust the tone. It can be light and adventurous, more grounded and realistic, darker, or somewhere in between. We’ll work out what suits you before the campaign begins.

Everything runs through Discord. Rolls can be made through Avrae using a D&D Beyond character sheet, or manually if you prefer to keep your sheet on Roll20. Beginners are welcome, and I’m happy to help with character creation, rules, Avrae, or anything else involved.

Characters begin at level 3. Most official content is allowed, and you have a lot of freedom with species, classes, feats, and equipment since there are no other players to compare against. I just ask that you check with me before using Unearthed Arcana or third-party material. The full character creation rules are available on the server.

I’m based in Queensland, Australia, and I’m usually most active between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. AEST. I respond whenever I can throughout the day rather than running fixed sessions, so the game is fully asynchronous.

The price is $5 AUD per week or $15 AUD per month, paid through PayPal by invoice or through the QR code on the server.

One quick disclaimer: I use AI-generated images for things like characters, locations, creatures, and items. I’m not an artist myself, and I’d rather not use someone else’s artwork without permission in a paid game.

AI-generated images are used only as optional visual aids, and anyone uncomfortable with that is entirely free to pass on the game.

Send me a message with a little about yourself, your experience with D&D or PBP games, and the kind of character or campaign you’re interested in. You don’t need to have a finished character ready. We can work that out together.

I’m an experienced 5e DM with some experience in 5.5e and a few other systems. I’m currently running three one-on-one play-by-post campaigns over Discord and have room to take on another two or three.

These are private, text-based campaigns built around your character. There’s no party to balance around, so the story can focus entirely on your character’s goals, backstory, relationships, and the kind of adventure you want to play.

The setting is generally high fantasy, though I’m happy to adjust the tone. It can be light and adventurous, more grounded and realistic, darker, or somewhere in between. We’ll work out what suits you before the campaign begins.

Everything runs through Discord. Rolls can be made through Avrae using a D&D Beyond character sheet, or manually if you prefer to keep your sheet on Roll20. Beginners are welcome, and I’m happy to help with character creation, rules, Avrae, or anything else involved.

Characters begin at level 3. Most official content is allowed, and you have a lot of freedom with species, classes, feats, and equipment since there are no other players to compare against. I just ask that you check with me before using Unearthed Arcana or third-party material. The full character creation rules are available on the server.

I’m based in Queensland, Australia, and I’m usually most active between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. AEST. I respond whenever I can throughout the day rather than running fixed sessions, so the game is fully asynchronous.

The price is $5 AUD per week or $15 AUD per month, paid through PayPal by invoice or through the QR code on the server.

One quick disclaimer: I use AI-generated images for things like characters, locations, creatures, and items. I’m not an artist myself, and I’d rather not use someone else’s artwork without permission in a paid game.

AI-generated images are used only as optional visual aids, and anyone uncomfortable with that is entirely free to pass on the game.

Send me a message with a little about yourself, your experience with D&D or PBP games, and the kind of character or campaign you’re interested in. You don’t need to have a finished character ready. We can work that out together.

I’m an experienced 5e DM with some experience in 5.5e and a few other systems. I’m currently running three one-on-one play-by-post campaigns over Discord and have room to take on another two or three.

These are private, text-based campaigns built around your character. There’s no party to balance around, so the story can focus entirely on your character’s goals, backstory, relationships, and the kind of adventure you want to play.

The setting is generally high fantasy, though I’m happy to adjust the tone. It can be light and adventurous, more grounded and realistic, darker, or somewhere in between. We’ll work out what suits you before the campaign begins.

Everything runs through Discord. Rolls can be made through Avrae using a D&D Beyond character sheet, or manually if you prefer to keep your sheet on Roll20. Beginners are welcome, and I’m happy to help with character creation, rules, Avrae, or anything else involved.

Characters begin at level 3. Most official content is allowed, and you have a lot of freedom with species, classes, feats, and equipment since there are no other players to compare against. I just ask that you check with me before using Unearthed Arcana or third-party material. The full character creation rules are available on the server.

I’m based in Queensland, Australia, and I’m usually most active between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. AEST. I respond whenever I can throughout the day rather than running fixed sessions, so the game is fully asynchronous.

The price is $5 AUD per week or $15 AUD per month, paid through PayPal by invoice or through the QR code on the server.

One quick disclaimer: I use AI-generated images for things like characters, locations, creatures, and items. I’m not an artist myself, and I’d rather not use someone else’s artwork without permission in a paid game.

AI-generated images are used only as optional visual aids, and anyone uncomfortable with that is entirely free to pass on the game.

Send me a message with a little about yourself, your experience with D&D or PBP games, and the kind of character or campaign you’re interested in. You don’t need to have a finished character ready. We can work that out together.

I’m an experienced 5e DM with some experience in 5.5e and a few other systems. I’m currently running three one-on-one play-by-post campaigns over Discord and have room to take on another two or three.

These are private, text-based campaigns built around your character. There’s no party to balance around, so the story can focus entirely on your character’s goals, backstory, relationships, and the kind of adventure you want to play.

The setting is generally high fantasy, though I’m happy to adjust the tone. It can be light and adventurous, more grounded and realistic, darker, or somewhere in between. We’ll work out what suits you before the campaign begins.

Everything runs through Discord. Rolls can be made through Avrae using a D&D Beyond character sheet, or manually if you prefer to keep your sheet on Roll20. Beginners are welcome, and I’m happy to help with character creation, rules, Avrae, or anything else involved.

Characters begin at level 3. Most official content is allowed, and you have a lot of freedom with species, classes, feats, and equipment since there are no other players to compare against. I just ask that you check with me before using Unearthed Arcana or third-party material. The full character creation rules are available on the server.

I’m based in Queensland, Australia, and I’m usually most active between 7:00 a.m. and 7:00 p.m. AEST. I respond whenever I can throughout the day rather than running fixed sessions, so the game is fully asynchronous.

The price is $5 AUD per week or $15 AUD per month, paid through PayPal by invoice or through the QR code on the server.

One quick disclaimer: I use AI-generated images for things like characters, locations, creatures, and items. I’m not an artist myself, and I’d rather not use someone else’s artwork without permission in a paid game.

AI-generated images are used only as optional visual aids, and anyone uncomfortable with that is entirely free to pass on the game.

Send me a message with a little about yourself, your experience with D&D or PBP games, and the kind of character or campaign you’re interested in. You don’t need to have a finished character ready. We can work that out together.

Hey all, I’m looking for players interested in a 1-on-1 play-by-post D&D campaign set in my long-running homebrew world. The campaign will be just you and me as the DM, with the story tailored around your character and the kind of adventure you want to play.

The game will use D&D 5e, with both 2014 and 2024 official content allowed. We’ll play through Discord, with character sheets and rolls handled through D&D Beyond + Avrae. Combat will be entirely theatre of the mind, with NPC and creature rolls handled by me behind the scenes to keep things moving smoothly.

This is an 18+ game. NSFW content and ERP are allowed if discussed and agreed on, but they are not intended to be the main focus. The campaign itself will still be focused on character-driven roleplay, exploration, and conflict

I’m most active between 6 AM and 6 PM AEST, so this will suit someone who is comfortable with asynchronous play-by-post. There may occasionally be chances to organise a short focused live session if timing works out, but the main format will remain PBP.

The game is $5 AUD p/week ($3.50 USD), paid through PayPal. Refunds are available within 48 hours of payment if you change your mind. If you can’t pay for a week, the campaign can simply be put on hold until you’re ready to continue.

No huge amount of experience is required.

If you’re interested or have questions, feel free to add me on Discord: nekozzie.

Roll20 listing has more info: https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/446726/write-your-legend-1-1-pbp

Hey all, I’m looking for players interested in a 1-on-1 play-by-post D&D campaign set in my long-running homebrew world. The campaign will be just you and me as the DM, with the story tailored around your character and the kind of adventure you want to play.

The game will use D&D 5e, with both 2014 and 2024 official content allowed. We’ll play through Discord, with character sheets and rolls handled through D&D Beyond + Avrae. Combat will be entirely theatre of the mind, with NPC and creature rolls handled by me behind the scenes to keep things moving smoothly.

This is an 18+ game. NSFW content and ERP are allowed if discussed and agreed on, but they are not intended to be the main focus. The campaign itself will still be focused on character-driven roleplay, exploration, and conflict

I’m most active between 6 AM and 6 PM AEST, so this will suit someone who is comfortable with asynchronous play-by-post. There may occasionally be chances to organise a short focused live session if timing works out, but the main format will remain PBP.

The game is $5 AUD p/week ($3.50 USD), paid through PayPal. Refunds are available within 48 hours of payment if you change your mind. If you can’t pay for a week, the campaign can simply be put on hold until you’re ready to continue.

No huge amount of experience is required.

If you’re interested or have questions, feel free to add me on Discord: nekozzie.

Roll20 listing has more info: https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/446726/write-your-legend-1-1-pbp

Hey all, I’m looking for players interested in a 1-on-1 play-by-post D&D campaign set in my long-running homebrew world. The campaign will be just you and me as the DM, with the story tailored around your character and the kind of adventure you want to play.

The game will use D&D 5e, with both 2014 and 2024 official content allowed. We’ll play through Discord, with character sheets and rolls handled through D&D Beyond + Avrae. Combat will be entirely theatre of the mind, with NPC and creature rolls handled by me behind the scenes to keep things moving smoothly.

This is an 18+ game. NSFW content and ERP are allowed if discussed and agreed on, but they are not intended to be the main focus. The campaign itself will still be focused on character-driven roleplay, exploration, and conflict

I’m most active between 6 AM and 6 PM AEST, so this will suit someone who is comfortable with asynchronous play-by-post. There may occasionally be chances to organise a short focused live session if timing works out, but the main format will remain PBP.

The game is $5 AUD p/week ($3.50 USD), paid through PayPal. Refunds are available within 48 hours of payment if you change your mind. If you can’t pay for a week, the campaign can simply be put on hold until you’re ready to continue.

No huge amount of experience is required.

If you’re interested or have questions, feel free to add me on Discord: nekozzie.

Roll20 listing has more info: https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/446726/write-your-legend-1-1-pbp

Hey all, I’m looking for players interested in a 1-on-1 play-by-post D&D campaign set in my long-running homebrew world. The campaign will be just you and me as the DM, with the story tailored around your character and the kind of adventure you want to play.

The game will use D&D 5e, with both 2014 and 2024 official content allowed. We’ll play through Discord, with character sheets and rolls handled through D&D Beyond + Avrae. Combat will be entirely theatre of the mind, with NPC and creature rolls handled by me behind the scenes to keep things moving smoothly.

This is an 18+ game. NSFW content and ERP are allowed if discussed and agreed on, but they are not intended to be the main focus. The campaign itself will still be focused on character-driven roleplay, exploration, and conflict

I’m most active between 6 AM and 6 PM AEST, so this will suit someone who is comfortable with asynchronous play-by-post. There may occasionally be chances to organise a short focused live session if timing works out, but the main format will remain PBP.

The game is $5 AUD p/week ($3.50 USD), paid through PayPal. Refunds are available within 48 hours of payment if you change your mind. If you can’t pay for a week, the campaign can simply be put on hold until you’re ready to continue.

No huge amount of experience is required.

If you’re interested or have questions, feel free to add me on Discord: nekozzie.

Roll20 listing has more info: https://app.roll20.net/lfg/listing/446726/write-your-legend-1-1-pbp

Hello. I’m a long-time DM looking to run a few Play-by-Post D&D 2024 games through Discord, set in my own long-developed homebrew fantasy world.

The game is 18+ and may include mature themes, NSFW content, horror, romance, sexual content, and other adult subject matter. It is also heavily inspired by anime and manga, including the typical tropes that come with that.

This is a paid game: $5 USD per week, paid through PayPal by Sunday each week.

Gameplay will take place on Discord, character sheets will use D&D Beyond, and rolls will be handled by a bot. This is a story-driven Play-by-Post game, so I am looking for players who enjoy descriptive writing and collaborative storytelling rather than short mechanical posts.

Potential players must read the full details and submit an application through the Roll20 listing.

I’ve been GMing for about ten years now, and I’m running into a bit of trouble with my current paty. Or maybe the party is running into trouble with each other. Probably both.

Without dumping the entire campaign backstory in case any of them happen to read this, I’m running a heavily changed spin-off of Curse of Strahd. Strahd himself has been replaced, and I’ve changed and expanded the story and setting so much that it’s basically become its own Barovia module at this point.

We’ve been playing for nearly 50 sessions over the past year and a half, and overall it’s been great. There have been a few bumps along the way, but we’ve usually been able to talk things out and move past them. After the last couple of sessions, though, I’m starting to feel like something is really off.

I’m not even sure exactly when it started. At first, I thought the tension between the characters would lead to some interesting RP and maybe even good party development. But now the characters are basically at the point where it feels like they’re ready to go their separate ways.

Over the last four or five sessions, multiple characters have done things that put the party at risk, and the rest of the party has called them out for it. We’ve been trying to separate character feelings from player feelings, but in some cases that doesn’t seem to be working as well as I’d hoped.

I think the biggest issue is that the characters are all very different and have very different ideas about how problems should be handled. Nobody is trying to ruin the game. Nobody is “the problem player.” Everyone is just playing their character the way they want to. And usually, I think that’s one of the best parts of D&D. But when those choices constantly clash with the party’s goals, methods, and general alignment, it starts creating a lot of tension both in-game and above table.

We’re planning to have a sit-down before the next session to talk about the party’s goals and methods, and hopefully get everyone acting more like a unit going forward. I have no idea how that conversation is going to go.

For context, we just finished our first real boss fight, and one of the major villains showed up afterward to “congratulate” the party and mess with them a bit. The reaction from the players was extremely quiet. Like, almost no engagement at all. The fighter made one attack, missed, and then everyone pretty much went silent for the rest of the session.

There have also been some mentions or suggestions of maybe doing a soft reset of the campaign. Probably not starting over completely, but some kind of reset to get things back on track. I’m not sure how I feel about that yet.

So I guess I’m looking for advice from other DMs or players who’ve dealt with this. How do you handle a party where no one is necessarily doing anything “wrong,” but the characters are clashing so much that it’s starting to hurt the game? Is a soft reset a good idea, or should we try to work it out in-character and above table first?

I like that each of the Ten-Towns has three “snowflake ratings” for Services, Friendliness, and Comfort. It's a neat little guide, sure, but as written it's mostly just flavour text. It doesn’t really give you anything to do with the towns mechanically.

So I decided to make these ratings actually have rules. Probably not super original, but thought it was worth a share.

For simplicity, I just call them stars instead of snowflakes. Each town has 1 to 3 stars in the three categories: Services, Friendliness, and Comfort.

Services represents the town’s wealth and access to supplies. A 1-star town is poor, so merchants have very little coin on hand and only sell cheaper, basic goods. A 3-star town has better-stocked shops, wealthier merchants, and access to more expensive items. This gives my players a reason to care about where they buy and sell stuff.

• 1 Star: Merchants have up to 100 gp worth of coin to buy stuff, commoners typically have 5 gp on their person, and items worth up to 50 gp can be found easily, roll for anything else.

• 2 Stars: Merchants have up to 250 gp worth of coin to buy stuff, commoners typically have 15 gp on their person, and items worth up to 150 gp can be found easily, roll for anything else.

• 3 Stars: Merchants have up to 500 gp worth of coin to buy stuff, commoners typically have 25 gp on their person, and items worth up to 300 gp can be found easily, roll for anything else

Friendliness affects the general mood of the town. It represents morale and how locals tend to treat outsiders. In a 1-star town, DCs for social checks are higher because people are distrustful or just too miserable to be helpful. In a 3-star town, people are more open and more willing to offer information. This doesn't usually effect named NPCs, since they still have their own personalities and agendas, but it gives me a baseline for the general population.

• 1 Star: DC 20 for social checks.

• 2 Stars: DC 15 for social checks.

• 3 Stars: DC 10 for social checks.

Comfort is the big one. It affects resting inside town. A 3-star town gives bonuses to short and long rests taken indoors, regardless of where in town the party is staying. A 1-star town makes resting worse. Mechanically, this affects hit point and hit die recovery, with 3 star towns also granting a small amount of temp hp for the next 24 hours.

• 1 Star: Reduce HP regained by 2 for any hit die spent as part of a short rest (minimum of 1). Recover half as many hit die (rounded down) at the end of a long rest.

• 2 Stars: No effects on short or long rests.

• 3 Stars: Regain 2 extra hp for any hit die spent as part of a short rest. Gain temp hp at the end of a long rest equal to proficiency bonus + Con modifier. This temp hp lasts for 24 hours.

Sure, with a 1-star town, the party can say,

“This town sucks, let’s camp outside instead,” and that is totally valid, but then they'd be trading shelter for wilderness. The town might be miserable, but it's usually safer than sleeping in the tundra, where anything can happen (cue the evil DM laugh.)

So far, I like the idea because it makes the Ten-Towns feel different without adding too much bookkeeping. No idea yet if it will play out well at the table, but I love the concept.

I didn't like most of the Character Secrets in the module. Some of them seemed alright, but most just seemed very "meh". Instead, I've made up a d20 Roll Table of secrets, and had each of my players roll twice on it. They can then choose to use both, or just one, to use as a building block for their backstories (or just come up with their own).

Here's what I've got at the moment:

1. Slaad Survivor

During your journey to Bryn Shander, you encountered a red slaad. You survived the attack, narrowly escaping with your life, but not without a few scratches. The wounds healed strangely, and something about the encounter still gnaws at you. Whether from shame, fear, or the sense that the creature may still be out there, you have told no one what really happened.

2. Lost Heir

You come from nobility, or from a bloodline of leadership within your community. Your family has since been killed off, scattered, or erased, leaving you as one of the last surviving heirs. You have hidden your true name and heritage, either to avoid those who slaughtered your kin or to escape the burden of what your bloodline expects of you.

3. Yeti Whisperer

You once saved a yeti tyke from death. Since then, you have found it strangely easy to communicate simple ideas with yetis through gestures, sounds, and instinct. Not all yetis are friendly, but some seem to recognise you as something other than prey. You have kept this secret, knowing most folk would call you mad, cursed, or worse.

4. The Sacrifice

There was a moment when you had to choose between your life and someone else’s. You chose yourself. No one knows the truth except you, and perhaps the dead. Maybe you have justified it a hundred different ways, but the memory remains, cold and sharp, waiting for the next time survival demands a price.

5. The Thief

You stole a spellbook or research notes from a wizard connected to the Arcane Brotherhood. You may not understand what it is you took, but you know enough to know it's valuable.

6. Midwinter Child

You bear a mark believed to be a sign of the Frostmaiden’s favour, such as pure white hair, icy blue eyes, a snowflake-shaped birthmark, or skin that feels strangely cold to the touch. Once, this may have been seen as a blessing or curiosity. Now, with Auril’s endless winter choking the Dale, it has become something people fear, resent, or hate.

7. Cursed Trinket

You carry an item made from chardalyn, a dark-tinted metal found only in the Dale and believed to be cursed by old, evil magic. Sometimes the item whispers to you in a strange tongue you do not understand, but only you can hear it. You know you should get rid of it. For whatever reason, you can’t bring yourself to part with it.

8. Left for Dead

You were betrayed and left for dead. Whether it happened in the tundra, during a journey, in the aftermath of a fight, or at the hands of people you trusted, you survived when they expected you to perish. Those who abandoned you are still alive somewhere. You do not know what you would do if you saw them again.

9. The Lottery

You were once involved in rigging a sacrifice lottery. Perhaps you changed a name, protected someone you loved, or helped condemn someone. You have told yourself it was necessary, that someone would have died either way. Still, each new moon, you remember the face of the person who died because of you.

10. The Black City

You suffer recurring nightmares of a pitch-black city prowled by faceless figures with icy blue skin. In these dreams, you know you are dreaming and can act freely, but no matter what you do, they always end badly. You remember every detail when you wake. You have told no one, fearing the dreams may be a curse, a premonition, or memories from a life that was never yours.

11. The Doppelganger

You are a doppelganger who has perfectly blended into your chosen community for safety. Replace your normal racial features with the ability to cast detect thoughts at will, requiring no components, and the ability to polymorph into a humanoid you have seen. You have survived by being careful, useful, and forgettable. If people discover your true nature, they will almost certainly want you dead.

12. Escaped Prisoner

You were once imprisoned at Revel’s End for a crime you either did or did not commit. Somehow, you escaped. Strangely, no one has come after you yet. Perhaps the law has forgotten your face. Perhaps the prison has bigger problems. Or perhaps you have simply been lucky, and luck is not known to last forever.

13. The Cult

You are, or once were, part of an order known as the Knights of the Black Sword, a secretive league of cultists who serve Levistus. Whether you joined willingly, or were saved from death by the archdevil’s influence, your connection to the order remains tangible.

14. Old Flame

You have a former lover somewhere in the Dale, someone you have not seen in years. At any point during the campaign, you may designate an NPC as this person. Their reaction depends on their personality and how the relationship ended, which is up to you. They may miss you, hate you, need you, fear you, or pretend they have forgotten you entirely.

15. Awakened Friend

Accompanying you is a beast (a fox, hare, owl, or similar creature) gifted with speech and thought. You may have saved its life, or befriended it in some way. Your friend begs you, on occassion, not to reveal that it can speak.

16. The Pirate

You once served aboard a pirate ship called the Dark Duchess. Your ship wrecked along the coast of the Sea of Moving Ice, leaving the surviving crew stranded, starving, and slowly losing their minds. When talk turned to cannibalism, you fled into the tundra and never looked back. You do not know what became of the others.

17. Reghed Heir

You are the daughter of the Reghed chieftain of the Tiger Tribe, who cast you into the Sea of Moving Ice as a sacrifice to Auril. You should have died in those freezing waters, but a polar bear pulled you to shore and brought you to safety. That bear was no ordinary beast, but a goliath werebear named Oyaminartok. You have not seen her since.

18. The Witness

You once witnessed a murder within the community you came from. The culprit knows what you saw, and they know that if the truth ever comes out, it will likely be because of you. You fear them, whether because of their position, their power, their cruelty, or your personal connection to them. For now, you have stayed silent.

19. The Debt

You owe a large debt to the Zhentarim. Maybe they saved your life, covered up a crime, bought your freedom, or simply lent you coin. Whatever the reason, the debt has grown larger than you can reasonably repay.

20. Reborn

You died. How it happened is up to you, but for reasons you do not understand, you came back. When you returned, something about you had changed, physically, mentally, spiritually, or all three. You are still yourself, at least you think you are, but some part of death may have followed you back.