Whoever you once were is long lost to you now, having let yourself go to the voices and ravings to which you are prone. You may have been a king or a peasant, a soldier or a cleric or anything inbetween, the past is unclear, and more so irrelevant to you now as insanity changes the rules of your reality from moment to moment. Each day is a new experience, as how you react to it changes with the days as well. What brought you to this condition may or may not be something you recall; the loss of a loved one, a spell gone awry, or the learning of a secret that a mortal was not meant to know. You may be relatively stable with a trigger that sets you off, or you may be constantly babbling. You find it difficult to communicate with others for obvious reasons, but your mind is not necessarily weak. Many of the strongest magic users, especially those of any Wild or Chaos magic orders have traded in their so-called sanity to open their minds more fully to the raw power of the universe. Telepathy often alleviates some of the communication problems, but those lost to madness often speak in riddles, so not all of them.

Skill Proficiencies: Choose two from among Arcana, Religion, or Survival Tool Proficiencies: Choose one from tool proficiency with either Brewers supplies or the Alchemists supplies. Languages: Choose one exotic language (Abyssal, Celestial, Deep Speech, Draconic, Infernal, Primordial, Sylvan, or Undercommon). The voices in your head often speak in this language. Equipment: A monster hunter’s pack, a set of tattered fine clothes or rags, and one trinket of special significance (choose one or roll on the Gothic Trinkets table below). Gothic Trinkets When rolling for a trinket, consider using this table, which is designed to help you choose an item with a nefarious history. Trinkets D100 TRINKET 01–02 A picture you drew as a child of your imaginary friend 03–04 A lock that opens when blood is dripped in its keyhole 05–06 Clothes stolen from a scarecrow 07–08 A spinning top carved with four faces: happy, sad, wrathful, and dead 09–10 The necklace of a sibling who died on the day you were born 11–12 A wig from someone executed by beheading 13–14 The unopened letter to you from your dying father 15–16 A pocket watch that runs backward for an hour every midnight 17–18 A winter coat stolen from a dying soldier 19–20 A bottle of invisible ink that can only be read at sunset 21–22 A wineskin that refills when interred with a dead person for a night 23–24 A set of silverware used by a king for his last meal 25–26 A spyglass that always shows the world suffering a terrible storm 27–28 A cameo with the profile’s face scratched away 29–30 A lantern with a black candle that never runs out and that burns with green flame 31–32 A teacup from a child’s tea set, stained with blood 33–34 A little black book that records your dreams, and yours alone, when you sleep 35–36 A necklace formed of the interlinked holy symbols of a dozen deities 37–38 A hangman’s noose that feels heavier than it should 39–40 A birdcage into which small birds fly but once inside never eat or leave 41–42 A lepidopterist’s box full of dead moths with skull-like patterns on their wings 43–44 A jar of pickled ghouls’ tongues 45–46 The wooden hand of a notorious pirate 47–48 A urn with the ashes of a dead relative 49–50 A hand mirror backed with a bronze depiction of a medusa 51–52 Pallid leather gloves crafted with ivory fingernails 53–54 Dice made from the knuckles of a notorious charlatan 55–56 A ring of keys for forgotten locks 57–58 Nails from the coffin of a murderer 59–60 A key to the family crypt 61–62 An bouquet of funerary flowers that always looks and smells fresh 63–64 A switch used to discipline you as a child 65–66 A music box that plays by itself whenever someone holding it dances 67–68 A walking cane with an iron ferule that strikes sparks on stone 69–70 A flag from a ship lost at sea 71–72 Porcelain doll’s head that always seems to be looking at you 73–74 A wolf’s head wrought in silver that is also a whistle. 75–76 A small mirror that shows a much older version of the viewer 77–78 Small, worn book of children’s nursery rhymes. 79–80 A mummified raven claw 81–82 A broken pendent of a silver dragon that’s always cold to the touch 83–84 A small locked box that quietly hums a lovely melody at night but you always forget it in the morning 85–86 An inkwell that makes one a little nauseous when staring at it 87–88 An old little doll made from a dark, dense wood and missing a hand and a foot 89–90 A black executioner’s hood 91–92 A pouch made of flesh, with a sinew drawstring 93–94 A tiny spool of black thread that never runs out 95–96 A tiny clockwork figurine of a dancer that’s missing a gear and doesn’t work 97–98 A black wooden pipe that creates puffs of smoke that look like skulls 99–00 A vial of perfume, the scent of which only certain creatures can detect

Shattered Sanity Prior to becoming an adventurer, your path in life was torn asunder by one dark moment, one fateful decision, or one tragedy. Now you have a tenouis grasp on reality threatening to consume you, and you fear there may be no hope of escape. d10 Shattered Sanity 1 A monster that slaughtered dozens of innocent people spared your life, and you don’t know why. 2 You were born under a dark star. You can feel it watching you, coldly and distantly. Sometimes it beckons you in the dead of night. 3 An apparition that has haunted your family for generations now haunts you. You don’t know what it wants, and it won’t leave you alone. 4 Your family has a history of practicing the dark arts. You dabbled once and felt something horrible clutch at your soul, whereupon you fled in terror. 5 An oni took your sibling one cold, dark night, and you were unable to stop it. 6 You were cursed with lycanthropy and later cured. You are now haunted by the innocents you slaughtered. 7 A hag kidnapped and raised you. You escaped, but the hag still has a magical hold over you and fills your mind with evil thoughts. 8 You opened an eldritch tome and saw things unfit for a sane mind. You burned the book, but its words and images are burned into your psyche. 9 A fiend possessed you as a child. You were locked away but escaped. The fiend is still inside you, but now you try to keep it locked away. 10 You did terrible things to avenge the murder of someone you loved. You became a monster, and it haunts your waking dreams.

Feature: One Who Has Stared Into The Void Those who look into your eyes can see that you have faced unimaginable horror and that you are no stranger to darkness, having survived an infallible truth that would have driven most to suicide. People tend to be wary or you, but being dark and foreboding does have its benefits. Having faced pure evil before you have steeled yourself against the horrific, gaining advantage against being frightened by non-mortal means (i.e. you would gain advantage against being frightened by an elder god, but not against a thug physically threatening you). Being unhinged also opens your mind up to new angles and possibilities, granting you advantage when trying to decipher the meaning or use of magical writing or objects of a mysterious origin. (Optional): Every day has its own changes for those with questionable mental stability. After every long rest, roll 1d20 on the following alignment table; this will be your alignment until your next long rest. This alignment shift may cause you to be hostile or friendly to a creature you may not have been otherwise, and will cause you to act unpredictably. Alignment Fluctuation d20 Alignment d20 Alignment 01-02 Chaotic good 03-04 Chaotic neutral 05-07 Chaotic evil 08-09 Neutral evil 10-11 Lawful evil 12-14 Neutral 15-16 Lawful neutral 17-18 Neutral good 19-20 Lawful good





Suggested Characteristics

Your break from reality shows itself in one, or many, ways. You may roll or choose from the characteristics included in this background, or make your own. Suffice to say your Personality Trait, Ideal, Bond, and/or Flaw should have some distortion of logic or sanity that stems from your mental instability.

d8 Personality Trait 1 I don’t run from evil because I am often oblivious to it, or uncaring. 2 I like to read and memorize poetry. Everytime I recite it though it changes slightly, although I will never admit it. 3 I spend money freely and live life to the fullest, knowing that tomorrow I might die. Each day I awake I'm upset at the "gremlins" who take all my money at night. 4 I live for odd numbers. Even numbers make me uneasy, and I may reroll to get an odd number even for a lower roll, if I can. 5 I don’t talk about the thing that torments me, the last creature I spoke of it to hung itself by morning. 6 My paraonia knows no bounds. I cling to a single time I was correct to justify this. 7 My battle with chaos has left me craving order in my personal life, manifesting as OCD as I attempt to fight the entropy I see around me. 8 I put no trust in divine beings, having borne witness to the death of a god.

d6 Ideal 1 I try to help those in need, flinging myself into danger, as I have no concern for my own well being. (Good) 2 I’ll stop the spirits that haunt me or die trying. (Any) 3 I kill monsters to make the world a safer place, and to exorcise my own demons. (Good) 4 I have a dark calling that puts me above the law. (Chaotic) 5 I will obey any law or command given by authority, even clearly detrimental ones, and often at the worst times. (Lawful) 6 I’m a monster that destroys other monsters, and anything else that gets in my way. (Evil)

d6 Bond 1 I keep my thoughts and discoveries in a journal. My journal is unreadable for anyone sane or not touched by an otherworldly presence, appearing to them as jumbled letters and symbols of an unidentifiable script, constantly rearranging on the page. 2 I would sacrifice my life on a chance or whim. I am actively looking for a hill to die on. 3 My torment drove away the person I love. I strive to win back the love I’ve lost. 4 A terrible guilt consumes me. I hope that I can find redemption through my actions. 5 There’s evil in me, I can feel it. It must never be set free. Well, mostly never. 6 I seek to undo this cursed mental clouding, so I can return to my former life. But everyday I fall deeper into madness, and closer to the point of no return.