Character Generation

CHARACTER CREATION

The following rules sources are legal for the campaign: Basic Rules, Player’s Handbook, Volo’s Guide to Monsters, Mordenkainen’s Tome of Foes, Xanathar’s Guide to Everything, Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything, and Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft. Other sources will be allowed as well. Check with your DM.

1. Choose your character’s race or choose a lineage from Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft if you’d like to begin play as someone already touched by the darkness. Note that the “Customizing Your Origin” section from Tasha’s Cauldron of Everything is an approach you can use for character creation.

2. Choose your character’s gender.

3. Choose any notable features of your character’s appearance.

4. Choose your character’s domain (see below for a summarized list of the domains). Note that all characters in this campaign come from a Domain of Dread, not from a world beyond the mists.

5. Choose your character’s background.

6. Choose your character’s name. See the domain list for a list of appropriate naming inspirations for each domain. These match the naming guides in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything.

7. ·Choose your ability scores. You’ll select the default array or use the customizing Ability Scores in the Player’s Handbook. Modify your ability scores based on your selection of race or lineage.

8. Choose your class.

9. Choose your character’s ideal, using the chosen background for inspiration.

10. Choose your character’s bond, using the chosen background for inspiration.

11. Choose your character’s flaw, using the chosen background for inspiration.

12. Choose a few personality traits. These can be chosen at the end of character creation, or whenever you find a good reason to add one.

13. Choose your Dark Gift if you’d like to begin play with one. See below for a summary of the Dark Gifts available.

14. Choose or roll a trinket for your character, either from the table in the Player’s Handbook or more appropriately, from the “Horror Trinkets” table in Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft.

15. Your character’s equipment is provided by your class and background. The rules for rolling for gold aren’t used.

16. Fill in any other details about your character, and double check your ability score modifiers. Use the fixed hit point value provided in the class’s entry; characters don't roll their hit points.

17. Choose an accomplishment that explains what your character is known for.

18. Choose a question that the chararacter is seeking the answer to.

19. Choose a secret the character would rather nobody know.

Table 1: Domains of Dread

Domain Naming Inspiration(s) Genre of Horror

Barovia Slavic Gothic horror, undead despot, tragic resurrection

Borca German, Slavic Gothic and psychological horror, political intrigue, poison, revenge

The Carnival Any Body horror, dark fantasy, fey bargains, misfits, wandering exiles

Darkon Any Dark fantasy, disaster horror, magical ruins, ongoing supernatural catastrophe

Dementlieu French Dark fantasy, psychological horror, social decay, imposter syndrome

Falkovnia German Disaster horror, dwindling resources, hero worship, totalitarianism, zombie plague

Har’Akir Egyptian Dark fantasy, ancient tombs, desert perils, lost gods, mummies

Hazlan Any Dark fantasy, disaster horror, amoral spellcasters, magical experiments, wild magic

I’Cath Chinese Body and cosmic horror, endless labyrinth, inescapable dreamworld

Kalakeri Indian Gothic horror, dark fantasy, monstrous leaders, family intrigue, war-torn nation

Kartakass German Dark fantasy, gothic horror, hidden identities, dangerous performances, werewolves

Lamordia German Body horror, gothic horror, amoral science, bizarre constructs, mutagenic radiation

Mordent Celtic, English Ghost stories, ancestral curses, haunted mansions, vengeful spirits

Richemulot French Disaster and gothic horror, contagion, crumbling infrastructure, rats and vermin

Tepest Any Folk horror, fey bargains, nature worship, rural festivals, secret sacrifices

Valachan Mesoamerican Gothic and slasher horror, diabolical traps, hostile wilderness, survival games

Table 2: Dark Gifts

Dark Gifts Benefit Drawback

Echoing Soul Can draw on past experiences Soul’s memories sometimes overtake your perceptions

Gathered Whispers Spirits can aid you Spirits’ voices can overwhelm you

Living Shadow Your shadow is animate Your shadow exerts its own will

Mist Walker You can traverse the mists You cannot stay in one place for long

Second Skin You have an alternate form Your form manifests involuntarily when presented with a catalyst

Symbiotic Being You host a being invested in your survival Your symbiote has its own agenda

Touch of Death Your touch is a painful weapon You cannot touch anyone without inflicting pain

Watchers Ethereal creatures are always near you Yheir presence is unsettling to others

Additional Truths

For this campaign, you will need an additional step in character generation: three additional truths. You will need to determine an accomplishment, a secret, and a question.

Accomplishment. You did something extraordinary in your past that warrants some praise. This can be an element from your background (such as standing up to tyrant or being promoted in a war) or it can be unique to your story. A few suggestions are listed below.

D6 Accomplishment

1 I am considered to be a prodigy in a field of study, such as history, medicine, performance, or art.

2 I was part of an expedition that discovered some long-lost place or object thought gone forever.

3 I helped in some way defend my home from a dangerous monster that was terrorizing it.

4 I gained infamy for a crime that had the local people talking about it for days.

5 My theories on some academic topics were published by a local institute of higher learning.

6 My fetes for charity have made me an up-and-comer in high society’s social circles.

Question. Something gnaws at your soul, a question you cannot answer. You seek to find some answer to these questions that eludes you. A few suggestions are listed below.

d6 Question

1 A family member or loved one disappeared one day without a trace. I often wonder what became of them.

2 Why, if there are charitable deities in this world, do they let us suffer?

3 A fortune-teller once gave me a cryptic omen of my future. I have yet to find anything that can decipher her riddle.

4 What I thought I knew of my life has been a lie. I seek to know the truth of my origin and family.

5 I have never wanted for anything and have all I need. Why do I still feel unsatisfied?

6 At night, I have the same reoccurring dream about a place and people I’ve never met. I seek to find out why.

Secret. There is something you keep hidden from others. A shame, a personal failing, or some bit of you that you fear the repercussions of if it was to be learned. Only a few ever learn of your secret, and it could ruin you if the wrong people knew.

d6 Secret

1 I may appear normal, but I secretly am something very different. If my unnatural nature was known, I would be shunned and feared.

2 I took part in a heinous crime or blasphemous act. While I regret it now, I take pains to make sure no one knows what happened.

3 I am distantly related to an infamous villain whose evil is notorious throughout the lands.

4 I bear a mark, scar, or deformity that was bestowed upon me by a being of terrible evil. It marks me as one of theirs.

5 I struck a deal with a truly heinous person or being, and I now fear that the tab will come due.

6 I had a romantic liaison with someone who was of a different social class, which can never be spoken of lest it bring scandal our families.