The Ruins of Aeteria - Hardcore D&D 5e (closed)

[pdragon]

The Ruins of Aeteria

Aeteria, the Eternal City. Once thought unconquerable, the island kingdom stood strong and independent for many a century. However destiny does not deal in absolutes, and so the "unconquerable" would indeed be conquered, becoming the prized trophy of a mighty Empire, a living monument to their power.

However that was not the end of the kingdom's prosperity, just the start of a new chapter.

The true end of Aeteria came not at the end of a climatic battle, but in the middle of a quiet night. One by one the stars blinked out of the sky, and then even the moon itself faded away. Then in the darkness appeared a

New Moon

, and in its wake came madness and monstrosities beyond mortal comprehension. Its citizens found themselves plagued with twisted immortality, their bodies regenerating so they could suffer death after death by the twisted creatures, each time coming back more warped until they were monsters themselves. It took mere days for the city to fall to ruin, and fearing a spread of the calamity the Empire locked off the city, cutting off all connection to the outside world save for a single port under their control.

This was 100 years ago, and now to most folk Aeteria is nothing more than a passing curiosity, a historical oddity subject to many a frightful tale, but little real concern. It has since become a sort dumping ground for the Empire, a place they can ship off criminals and undesirables as a cruel death sentence thinly veiled as "reclamation efforts".

You are a group of such criminals, shipped off to the city of the damned for your heinous crimes. Your sentence is as simple as it is cruel: slay monsters, clear the city. None expect you to actually accomplish this task, or accomplish much of anything besides dying a series of painful deaths...but perhaps this is a chance for you yet...

Hey everyone, pdragon here. I'm looking to start up a new DnD game, set in my own homebrewed setting: The World of Averta. More precisely it takes place on the continent of Varus, exploring the ruined city of Aeteria. I'm seeking a group of 4, maybe 5, players to play a group of criminals who have been sentenced to explore the city and clear out whatever monsters they can manage.

This game is heavily inspired by both the Dark Souls and Fear and Hunger game series. These games are known for their dark settings, tragic stories, horrific imagery, and punishing difficulty, and as such I'm looking to run the game using a set of experimental hardcore rules. This will make combat and exploration quite difficult, but the added Souls-esque respawn mechanic will make it so the party won't just get wiped out and immediately lose their characters. Still the game very much isn't for everyone, being both mechanically difficult and dark in terms of subject matter. I'm not against taking first time players, but the content will generally be geared towards more experienced players (at least that's the idea, I'm not actually that experienced in running super difficult campaigns)
 

The game will start at Level 1, and is open to all official sources as well as third party/homebrew upon approval (including my own homebrew races and subclasses).


Below is a list of general rules, including the homebrew rules I apply to all games, as well as a separate section detailing the new hardcore rules specifically.

Rules

Rules
1. Be cool

2. DM has final call

3. Post frequency will preferably be at least 2 posts a week, 3 during combat scenes.

4. If you are unable to post I'll keep the scene moving forward with a minimal amount of puppeteering. In combat I'll have your character attack/assist with a non-resource expending move (or as little resources expending as possible).

5. Illustrated art for characters only

6. Some rolls, such as saves, will be rolled for the players by the DM for the sake of speed and efficiency. Any abilities or special modifiers that can be applied to these rolls may be applied retroactively at the player's request.

7. Initiative will be handled as such: When combat begins I shall roll initiative on everyone's behalf. Any PCs who roll above the enemies will be allowed to go first in any order. After that we'll be using block initiative, with enemies all taking their turns together and PCs able to post in any order. Please do not wait on another player to post in combat unless you are specifically cordinating for an attack/strategic set up.

8. Characters are all criminals who are being sentenced to what is considered an especially cruel death sentence. As such your crimes should be fitting of such a charge. Whether or not your character actually committed those crimes, however, is up to you. So while this game would naturally lean towards evil characters, you can make a character of any alignment if you can justify them being there.

9.  Assessment Checks: this is a custom mechanic that will allow the party to reveal information on the enemies they're fighting, from stats to powers to unique mechanics for boss fights. Fights will often be more difficult/complex than more typical 5e encounters, so use of this check may prove crucial.

Assessment

As a bonus action on your turn you may choose to make an assessment check on an enemy you're fighting. This check will usually be a perception or investigation roll, but may require a different skill depending on the type of enemy.

There are two DC's for this check: A minor success, and a major success.

If you manage to beat the minor success DC you can reveal one piece of information about the enemy, whether that be its ability scores, its HP, what attacks it has, etc. etc. that is then shared to the rest of the party. If you beat the major success DC you can reveal two pieces of information about the enemy. In addition there may be some traits of an enemy that can only be revealed with a major success, and will be marked as "(Major)" accordingly.

10. Inspiration: If you have inspiration, you can expend it when you make an attack roll, saving throw, or ability check to give yourself advantage on that roll.

Inspiration is normally rewarded by the DM for good roleplay, but can also be gained in the following ways.

-If you roll a natural 20 on an attack, ability check, or saving throw, you may award inspiration to another player.
-If any enemy rolls a natural 20 on an attack, ability check, or saving through, they may award inspiration to another enemy.
-If an enemy makes an attack, ability check, or saving throw against you and rolls a natural 1, you gain inspiration.
-If you roll a natural 1 on an attack, ability check, or saving through against an enemy, they gain inspiration.

11. Spoiler Checks: When you see a spoiler tag marked with a skill and accompanying DC (ex.

History 12

hello there

), you are free to roll that skill and then click the spoiler so that you and your character gain that information. If you fail your check please refrain from looking at the spoilered info (scout's honor).

Adjacent Spoiler Checks: When you see multiple spoiler checks for the same skill adjacent to each other (ex.

History 10

Hey

,

History 12

how ya

,

History 14

doing?

), this signifies a single check with different tiers of information based on your result. Roll the skill check once and then read through the spoilers of all the DCs your roll passes (ex. if you roll a 13 for History, you can check both History 10 and History 12, but not History 14).

12. ASI/Feat: Your ability score improvement/feat is based on your total character level, not your class level. As such multiclassing does not effect your ASI progression. The bonus ASI's granted by the Fighter class are still given at the corresponding class levels.

13. Smut: While the game can/will feature smut of various kinds, it will not have a constant focus on it. Consider it to be a mostly normal game with occasional spikes of smuttiness, rather than a purely smut focused game. Ofcourse PCs can choose to engage in sexual activity with each other, within side threads/discord channels, and can always attempt to solve problems with seduction during otherwise non-smut missions.

14. The exact levels and types of smut content can be decided on as a group. The majority of NPCs with smut scenes will be females and futas, though men and monsters may also be involved on occasion.

15. Smut aside, the game will be placed in the Extreme category, due to violence, gore, and dark subject matter. During the game you may end up exposed to (and even requested to partake in) any of the following: murder, torture, mutilation, transformation, body horror, vore, kidnapping, slavery, sexual abuse, and rape. Many of these things will be threats in the world that can only be avoided through mechanical success, not by opting out above table (though in some cases descriptions and playing out of these things can skipped over). If you are uncomfortable with any of these subjects, please do not apply.

16. The game will have a discord which will be used for OOC chat, updates/announcements, and dice rolls (though E's dice roller can also be used). The discord will also host an in-character chat channel. This channel can be used for characters to have quick exchanges or conversations that would otherwise take a long time to play out post by post, and will sometimes be used during quests. As such having and using the discord will be mandatory.

17. You do not need a full character sheet prepared to apply for the game. However your application will not be considered until you have at least a basic concept, race/class, and image picked out for your character.

18. The game is not first come first served, though I will cut off applications early if we get around 8 to 9-ish character submissions.

19. If you have any issues with how a scene is playing out, or with someone else as a player or character, PLEASE talk to me and/or them about it right away.

20. You are free to play your character however you please, have them think or feel whatever you want, but I'd ask that you limit how often that reflects in your writing. Posts that are filled with nothing but negativity, even if it's just in character and not aimed OOC, can be draining for other people to read, and make the game less fun. Try to write around it in a way that doesn't disrupt the mood or the game in general.

Hardcore Rules

Ability Scores: All ability scores are rolled with 3d6 in order: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma. After rolling you are able to roll 1d6 and add the result to a single ability score of your choice (you cannot increase an ability score past 18 this way, any excess is lost)

Hit Points: Characters start with max HP, and must roll for HP on subsequent level ups.

Short Rest: During a short rest a character can only spend a single hit die to regain health.

Long Rest: After a long rest, instead of healing to full HP, the character rolls their hit dice and heals for the resulting amount.

Dying: Instead of dropping to 0 HP, a character can be reduced to negative HP based on the amount of damage dealt. Death saving throws are made as normal, but the character instantly dies if their negative HP equals their Constitution score.

Healing Dying Characters: Healing does not automatically save someone from dying and bring them back to full consciousness. The healing applied must first heal their current negative HP to save them, and bring them above 0 HP to restore their consciousness.

Injuries: Characters are able to incur injuries in the following ways:

-Taking a critical hit from an enemy
-Rolling a nat 1 on a saving throw against a physical danger
-Being reduced to 0 HP or below

Incurred injuries are rolled on the Lingering Injuries Table

Resurrection: Due to the curse placed upon the city, characters are doomed to rise again after death, each time coming back more and more "wrong", until eventually they lose their humanity entirely. Only once someone has become a monster, having lost every last part of themselves, can they truly die.

After dying, a character is revived after the next long rest, their body regenerating from the topmost part of their head down. Reviving in this way fully restores their HP and heals any lingering injuries, however they come back changed in some way, becoming more monstrous with each resurrection. Roll on the Mutations Table and gain the resulting ability.

The character then rolls 1d20, and on a 1 the character fully warps into a mindless monster, immediately attacking the rest of the party and losing the ability to further ressurect (the player may then create a new character). Each time a character resurrects, increase the range of triggering a transformation by +3 (1-4 on the second resurrection, 1-7 on the third, etc. etc.).

[pdragon]

Basic Lore

While the full world build page has a pretty extensive list of stuff to go through, I figured I'd throw out a spattering of essentials that would be good to understand when making a character.

World: Averta

Continent: Varus

Setting: The game takes place within the Karrakin Empire, a nation of tieflings who have steadily conquered most of the continent over the course of two thousand years. The kingdom of Aeteria is an island off the mainland of Varus, with the Empire controlling the only port in and out. This gives them full control of who comes and goes into the city. It is mostly used as a dumping ground for criminals, but they do on occasion allow regular civilians into the city, either as hunters, looters, or researchers.

Races: Tieflings make up the majority of the population on Varus, about 40%, with the next largest populations being humans (20%) and sect (15%)

Gods: The Karrakin Empire primarily worship The Three: the sun goddess Sol, the moon goddess Lun, and the star goddess Twi. While other religions are tolerated, all citizens are expected to at least acknowledge The Three as the dominant faith.
-Full list of Gods and warlock patrons

Current Major Events: The Karrakin Empire recently (50 years ago) annexed the southern kingdom of Aahotep under their rule, and has spent the past few decades populating and gentrifying it to their tastes.

The Karrakin Empire is currently in the midst of a war against the northern orc nation of Grazneguul, the only remaining country not under their control. Progress with the war has been slow, with both sides mostly building up their forces and waiting for the other side to start the first major engagement. So far it has stuck to small skirmishes and sieges along the mountain border between the two lands.

[pdragon]

Applicants

Shengami - Fiven (Gnome Warlock)
FoxgirlJay - Nerra (Shadar-Kai Ranger)
Rummy - Lunric (Sect Barbarian)
Ian Temero - Calliope (Human Fighter)
Xerial - Manheim (Halfling Cleric)
c0i9z - Kystryn (Elf Cleric)
Hexed - Creyis (Tiefling Warlock)
Terian - Neiya (Half-Elf Artificer)
Sparklemuffin - Kalli (Orc Rogue)

[pdragon]

(reserved)

[shengami]

Strength: 11
Dexterity: 14
Constitution: 8
Intelligence: 9
Wisdom: 15
Charisma: 9
Bonus: 5

Fiven's Sheet

Fiven was a pretty standard gnome in many ways: curious, creative, and incautious. The problems started when he began to become fascinated with how living things worked. How did the parts fit together, where did the life coem from, where did it go after something'died.' Being a gnome and incautious, he started trying to figure it out. Problem was, people didn't like you digging up their relatives and stealing shin bones. Even gnomes could only take so much of his morbid curiosities. He was exiled from his settlement. Then, when his proclivities were discovered by some humans, he was shipped off to the Eternal City. But that's alright. It's full of weird things that are interesting to study. Oh, and somewhere along the way, someone started whispering the secrets he was hunting into his ears. Fiven might be truly insane, perhaps, but he's having a wild time of it for sure.

Skills: spell slinging, can pick locks (doesn't have the tools currently), and knows some magical stuff.

[Rafael]

Ability Scores: All ability scores are rolled with 3d6 in order: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma.

This gon probably ruin any basic concept I come up with. I guess is smarter to roll forst and then deliberate character  :D

[shengami]

This gon probably ruin any basic concept I come up with. I guess is smarter to roll forst and then deliberate character  :D

For sure, it's a littel fun if you go into it that way. Like, here is what fate gave me, now what can I make of it. I ended up going with my original concept with slightly less than ideal stats. Fun!

[ShadowFox89]

Planting my flag here, dice results:

Str: 11    At 2023-08-25 03:58:10, ShadowFox89 (uid: 26413) rolls: 3d6 Result: 11
Dex: 9    At 2023-08-25 03:58:21, ShadowFox89 (uid: 26413) rolls: 3d6 Result: 9
Con: 11 At 2023-08-25 03:58:35, ShadowFox89 (uid: 26413) rolls: 3d6 Result: 11
Int: 10 At 2023-08-25 03:58:43, ShadowFox89 (uid: 26413) rolls: 3d6 Result: 10
Wis: 7 At 2023-08-25 03:58:50, ShadowFox89 (uid: 26413) rolls: 3d6 Result: 7
Cha: 16    At 2023-08-25 03:58:57, ShadowFox89 (uid: 26413) rolls: 3d6 Result: 16
Bonus die: 3 At 2023-08-25 03:59:34, ShadowFox89 (uid: 26413) rolls: 1d6 Result: 3

I guess I'm making a warlock, putting the 3 into dex so I have at least one other stat that isn't an 11 or lower.

[pdragon]

For those playing a cleric/paladin/warlock there is a list of existing Gods and Patrons in the setting. If none appeal to you let me know and we can work out a new one instead.

[shengami]

For those playing a cleric/paladin/warlock there is a list of existing Gods and Patrons in the setting. If none appeal to you let me know and we can work out a new one instead.

Oh snap! Sexy skeletor aka the Lady of Bones! Yup!

Also, high charisma also is good for Sorcerer.

[c0i9z]

 At 2023-08-25 05:55:05, c0i9z (uid: 61584) rolls: 19d6 Result: 79

Rolled all my dice at once!

6, 2, 4,
6, 5, 4,
5, 6, 3,
3, 5, 6,
2, 6, 5,
1, 4, 1,
5,

Strength: 12
Dexterity: 15
Constitution: 14
Intelligence: 14
Wisdom: 13
Charisma: 6
Bonus: 5

Well, I can be just about anything I'd like that doesn't require charisma. Wisdom or int based would take full advantage of my bonus, though. Cleric, druid, monk, wizard, artificer... lots of good choices.

[ShadowFox89]

Oh snap! Sexy skeletor aka the Lady of Bones! Yup!

Also, high charisma also is good for Sorcerer.

True. I've got a hexblade rolled up who is probably gonna die a lot. 8hp and 12AC are not for a durable character.

[FoxgirlJay]

Rolled up 10, 13 10, 11, 12 and 9. With a bonus 3.

Working on cooking up a Ranger or Rogue. A down on their luck adventurer that took a shady job from a shady person. Anything for a bit more coin to keep on living. They did the deed and got their payment all well enough. Too bad she never got to spend any of it, as she was soon caught and tried for murder, and shipped off to this hellhole.

[Ian Temero]

This looks quite interesting! Let me throw my hat in!

Rolls: 14, 9, 13, 13, 11, 7
Bonus: 6

Name: Calliope “Callie” Endarove
Race: Human (Variant)
Background: Folk Hero
Class: Fighter

STR: 14
CON: 9
DEX: 14
INT: 13
WIS: 11
CHA: 14

CS: https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/?id=2829060

Backstory:
The place Calliope called home was just a small quiet village. Her father, being in charge of the village’s defense, raised Callie with a sword in her hand. Together the two of them (along with a few volunteers) protected the village from wild animals and the occasional bandit attack. It was a simple life. It didn’t last however once the old lord of the region passed away and his son inherited the title. In no time at all the new lord began demanding higher taxes to fill his greed. Each time the tax collector came the village suffered more and more. Callie argued that they couldn’t pay any more but her father wouldn’t hear it, saying if they didn’t they would all be punished. She tried to be patient but one day upon seeing the official harassing an elder who was a few coins short, Callie snapped, taking up her sword and killing him and his guard.

Her father was obviously upset but, recognizing that it was too late, worked together with Callie to train the villagers to fight in preparation for the retaliation to come. But when the soldiers finally came they were horrified to see more troops than the had been expecting. Realizing that they couldn’t win Callie turned herself in, in exchange for the safety of the people, claiming that she was solely responsible.

Unfortunately for Callie the tax collector she had killed had been a close friend of the lord, who made sure she was sent to the worst place possible.

[FoxgirlJay]

Name: Nerra
Race: Shadar-Kai (Shadow-Elf)
Class: Ranger
Gender: Herm/Futanari. Female presenting.

Sheet: https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/107181410/zmh4uP
STR: 10 | DEX: 13(16 w/bonus) | CON: 12 | INT: 12 | WIS: 12 | CHA: 9

Nerra was an adventurer for a time. A lack of profit and ability to make ends meet pushed her towards shadier dealings, styling herself more as a mercenary sort as years passed. Her story properly begins when a contract for assassination crosses her table. The request came from a gang of Balthos, from it's seedy underbelly. A Judge of Balthos had issued down a ruling that did not fall in favor of the gang, so they sought to remind the Judge who he had messed with. And so, Nerra was hired to kill a relative of this judge, some nephew, to send a message. To Nerra, it was just business, and the promise of coin that spurred her on to take it. The hit was completed, the young adult was slain in cold blood, and Nerra received her payment.

All had gone well, and she almost believed she had gotten away with it. Weeks later, she was proven wrong. Nerra had covered her tracks well, but not well enough. And a murder done to a personal relative of an influential Judge saw Nerra's punishment heightened, as high as it could go. Revenge for murdered kin, and a warning to others. Nerra had not betrayed her contractors, but the hints of who ordered the hit could be found.

And so it was, Nerra's fate was destined towards Aeteria.

[pdragon]

STR: 8
CON: 9
DEX: 14
INT: 13
WIS: 13
CHA: 18

How did you get to this stat spread when your rolls where: 14, 9, 13, 13, 11, 7?
Your base stats should be
Str: 14
Dex: 9
Con: 13
Int: 13
Wis: 11
Cha: 7

[Ian Temero]

How did you get to this stat spread when your rolls where:
Str: 14
Dex: 9
Con: 13
Int: 13
Wis: 11
Cha: 7
?

Oh gosh, I totally missed the part where they should be in order… Oops!

[pdragon]

It's all good, it's a lot of stuff to read admittedly.

[Xerial]

Because I'm a sucker for rolling... and playing the happiest damn Death Cleric you'll ever see:

Name: Manheim Rumblefoot
Race: Stout Halfling
Class: Cleric

S:   13
D:   8
C:   17
I:   12
W:   18
C:   10
Bonus:   6

At 2023-08-25 16:04:14, Xerial (uid: 40) rolls: 19d6 Result: 75

[Sparklemuffin]

ZOMG! I'm having flashbacks to 2nd edition! 3d6 down the line! At least we have max HP, and classes don't have stat requirements.  :P

Ok...

STR 13 At 2023-08-25 16:11:48, Sparklemuffin (uid: 110933) rolls: 3d6 Result: 13
DEX 11 At 2023-08-25 16:13:09, Sparklemuffin (uid: 110933) rolls: 3d6 Result: 11
CON 8 At 2023-08-25 16:14:21, Sparklemuffin (uid: 110933) rolls: 3d6 Result: 8
INT 11 At 2023-08-25 16:15:29, Sparklemuffin (uid: 110933) rolls: 3d6 Result: 11
WIS 8 At 2023-08-25 16:16:35, Sparklemuffin (uid: 110933) rolls: 3d6 Result: 8
CHA 12 At 2023-08-25 16:17:50, Sparklemuffin (uid: 110933) rolls: 3d6 Result: 12

Bonus: At 2023-08-25 16:19:29, Sparklemuffin (uid: 110933) rolls: 1d6 Result: 3

Well, the 3 bonus could go to Str for a melee type or Cha for a decent start towards caster. Con is going to hurt both. I'll work something up.

[Rummy Tum Tum]

Name: Lunric Faen
Race: Moth Sect
Class: Barbarian
Gender: Male

Sheet: https://www.dndbeyond.com/characters/107195027/IHj0ir
STR: 18 | DEX: 11 | CON: 12 | INT: 12 | WIS: 8 | CHA: 8

Lunric (Luney as friends call him; Loony or Lunatic as the news does) flew the hive at an early age to escape punishment for a messy slip up made in youth. He lived most of his days since after as a bounty hunter. He was very good at capturing bad guys with his natural bumbling nature, innocent looks, and freakish strength. However, by his telling, said bad guys had a nasty habit of fighting him to the death instead of coming in quietly. Honestly, he had no choice in killing these people, and none truly minded their loss. The worst consequence he faced from it was a dock in reward money--or refusal of pay.

Then came the day that he became a bounty target. The day another bounty hunter stole his kill--worse, captured it--and without a corpse to feed it, the hunger within took hold. Ironically, it was the first time he'd fought head-on, as his usual ambush tactics failed against a fellow hunter, previously injured or not. And worse, with a fight so long fought, and a victory so soaked in blood, glut, and laughter, it was all but inevitable that travelers would stumble upon the grisly sight of him feasting on the hunter's remains. He attacked, killing several innocents, but one witness survived. And so it was only a matter of time before the law descended on him.

To this day he maintains his innocence, citing possession as the cause for his crimes. After all, how could someone so sweet do something so heinous?

[c0i9z]

Name: Kystryn
Race: Elf(Shadar-Kai)
Class: Cleric
Gender: Female

https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/?id=2828349

Kystryn is an elf from Gaius, a worshipper of the Lady of Bones, a common worship there. Once a regular elf, her long years given herself to the service of her lady and blessed her and changed her. She received strange powers and had her body changed, her skin growing pale and her eyes red. She was happy enough, in her way, until she was pulled from her life into another, summoned to Varus by Fiven in a strange ritual. She was perplexed and confused at first, but soon took it as a sign from her lady that she should assist in his research, something which she did without qualms. She was well used to undead and their company, after all. However, that did mean that when the authorities caught up with him, she was taken with him. Possibly, she could have gotten a lighter sentence, given her circumstances, but her open worship of the Lady was far from favourable to her case, so she was sent along with him to Aeteria. And yet, she still believes that this is all according to the Lady's will.

[Hexed]

Name: Creyis
Race: Levistus Tiefling
Class: Warlock
Gender: Female
Sheet: https://www.myth-weavers.com/sheets/?id=2828285
Rolls: 8,13,15,9,5,11  bonus:2

With only fangs, strange eyes, and a tail Crevis bears not the look of most of her Tiefling kin. Coupled with a frailty and weakness of the mind and it's little surprise she wound up on the streets. What is a surprise is that she survived and thrived having been taken in by a small time street gang. For years she ran with them working as thief, distraction, foot soldier, and even bargaining chip. Things went well till one particular heist left them unknowingly with a bag of contraband. At night whispers kept her awake and during the day her temper shortened causing all sorts of conflicts and disasters among the group. For a month this went on with things getting worse and worse till she slipped into the gang's small loot area and went digging. Eventually she came up with a chunk of a busted blade lost in an empty sack.

With prize in hand she turned on her gang leaving them dead or dying with the blade fragment seeming to drink in each death to restore itself. Staggering out of the lair she moved onto the streets and roamed with only the late night keeping the deaths down as she made her way towards the noble's section. The guard managed to take her down with the blade only half restored and her near nonsensical ranting filling the air. Her visit to the court had her bound and gagged with them dumping everything her gang had ever done onto her head. The list of charges taking an hour to go over and ensuring she was sentenced to the Aeteria reclamation efforts.

[Terian]

Might give this a shot I think, have to head to sleep right now though, so probably character sheet tomorrow.

[ShadowFox89]

Alessia De'Tentatrice
Tiefling Warlock 1

AC 17 HP 8 Speed 30ft

Str 11 (0) Dex 12 (1) Con 11 (0) Wis 7 (-2) Int 11 (0) Cha 18 (4)

Attacks
Longsword +6 1d8+4
Eldritch Blast +6 1d10
 
 
 

Tiefling Features:
• Within 60 feet of you, treat dim light as bright, darkness as dim light
• Gain fire resistance
• Can cast the mage hand cantrip. At 3rd level, burning hands (1/day). At 5th level, flame blade (1/day) (use Cha for DCs)
Courtier Feature:
• You have inside knowledge regarding bureaucracies and noble courts
Warlock Features:
• Warlock Archetype: Hexblade
• The spells shield and wrathful smite are added to the warlock spell list for you
• 1/rest as a bonus action you can curse a creature for 1 minute, healing level + Cha mod hp when it dies, critting it on a 19, and dealing it proficiency bonus extra damage
• Gain martial weapon, shield, and medium armor proficiency
• You can use Charisma for attack and damage rolls with your pact weapons and one one-handed weapon you choose at the start of each

Alessia isn't who you would expect to be sent into what amounts to a death sentence. Charming and proper, if it weren't for her appearance, she would be the ideal representation of the daughter of a wealthy merchant family. But the lavender-blue skin, glowing yellow eyes with black sclera, and red horns curving above her brows and going straight up mark her as very definitely a tiefling.

Her family was a well to do merchant house in Balthos. But with wealth comes greed and jealousy. The Del Tentatrice family was engaged in a secret war with the other noble houses of the kingdom. Marriages for power, spying, sabotage, and blackmail were all widespread. Alessia was no bystander to the entire affair; it was a few years ago when she made her pact with the Stained Lady. She was to seduce the young patriarch of an up and coming merchant house, a potential threat to her family's power. But she had no confidence in her own abilities, knowing that failure could mean death or worse. A voice had whispered to her through the mirror as she dressed, telling her words of assurance.

Since then, Alessia has become a charismatic young woman. It was this life of backroom dealing and seduction that lead her to being sentenced to the island. No one told her that the girl she was very busily seeing to the needs of had caught the eye of one of the princes, especially not the royal guards who had stormed into the room and pulled her away. Alessia wasn't even given the comfort of being allowed to dress, the prince wishing to humiliate her, as she was thrown publicly in front of a judge and jeering crowd.

Her family was able to pull enough strings to avoid her execution right there. They couldn't stop her sentencing to Aeteria, as part of the next wave of reclamation efforts. They could, at least, have equipment and clothing ready for her once she got there.

How other characters could know Alessia:
Have had dealings buying, selling, or stealing from her family
Been a target of or know someone who was a target of her seduction efforts
Saw her 'trial'