Campaign Premise

Evil Minds

This is an evil campaign. Your characters have a mega personality flaw that motivates them. People do terrible things everyday but they do it with a conviction that they’re doing the right thing by their family, their work, society, or upbringing.

Evil isn’t just wrongdoings, it’s not about kicking puppies or shaking down seniors. Evil is about denying universally held morality and then spitting in its face. Why should you care about the pain your test subject feels? That’s simply another datapoint which may lead you to discovery. "I went out and got my kid a Jeep Power Wheel - I always wanted one of those when I was a kid. Hey I tell you today I broke this guy’s jaw, it was funny as fuck. Dude had $400 on him."

Successful evil wears the trappings of society like a sheepskin and acts without remorse. It appears absolutely normal and has deep meaningful relationships, but then you cross an invisible line and suddenly you find yourself bleeding out on the bathroom floor. Successful evil is smart.

Necromancy

What's an untarnished soul worth when you're dead? - Poem to a Flayed Priest

Necromancy plays a heavy role in this campaign. Your character has to accept it to some degree even if it is indifference. This still signifies that your character is inherently a broken person.

Character Creation

All classes are acceptable! We can reflavor! A cleric instead of calling on divine power would instead pervert life to rapidly regrow! A druid could want to go eco terrorist and recreate Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! Maybe you’re just a fighter who gave up on life and dives headfirst into selfishness just to lose a little chunk of your soul along the way. We can accommodate it and make a great campaign. I do ask you don’t use anything outside of published content and the UA. If the UA is published then let’s use the published version when it’s available.

Feats

When creating your character take any feat you want except Great Weapon Master, Lucky, and Sharpshooter for free.

Campaign Feats

Each class, even non-necromancers, have some sort of class specific perks. One will be primarily used in dealing damage, the other more non-combat related. I’ve got plenty of ideas, just need to know what you’re going to play. Here is the necromancer and all magic user damage perks. Necromancers have both.

Philosopher's Coil

Must be a Necromancer

Combat Maneuver

Seeing past the wrongness of the world comes naturally to the trained mind of a necromancer. They may imbue their school of necromancy spells by further turning the nature of life mana on its head. The player may invoke the Philosopher's Coil after the roll to hit or save but before the outcome is determined.
You may use a number of maneuvers equal to your proficiency bonus per long rest.

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Type	Bonus Damage	Increase
Cantrips	1d4	-
Damage Spells	1d6	1d6 at Level 5, 11, and 17
Spell Save DC	-	1d4 at Level 5

Sorcery

Sorcery is available to all magic casters and counts as their damage perk.

Anyone may cast a non-healing spell as a sorcery if they want to risk having it backlash through their bodies. Perverting the nature of the spell pattern, two different types of energy attempt to mix and the results are quite often dangerous for all involved. The player may cast a spell as a sorcery prior to the roll.

Type	Bonus Damage	Increase
Cantrips	1d4	-
Damage Spells	1d6	1d6 at Level 5, 11, and 17
Spell Save DC	-	1d4 at Level 5

Backlash

You must also roll a d20. Results of a 5 or less represent a backfire.
At 1st level make a DC 23 intelligence or wisdom save to resist backfire consequences, at 8th a DC 20, and at 16th a DC 16.

Backlash Consequence

For every level of spell cast take 1d6 damage on a failed save. Subtract the amount of backlash damage from the spell damage.

• The backlash damage may be higher than the damage caused by the spell.
• Minimum creature damage is 1 per damage dice rolled.

In the case of a backlash on a non-damaging spell the bonus to DC still counts and the monster must still make the check. Backlash damage is applied regularly by spell level.

Ability Scores

Roll em in person or take the standard array.

Proficiencies

Feel free to choose proficiency that make sense for a character. Don't just min/max.

If you're a warrior jester who loves to cook for his liege then be proficient in using cooking utensils and performance. If you're sent to befriend a fire giant you can say, "Hey I'm proficient in performance and cooking and I'd like to try and entertain the fire giant while I prepare him roasted elf." Maybe it's day three of a journey and day two went pretty bad, prepare a meal and tell a campfire story to lighten the mood. I am more than down with using your ideas as alternative solutions.

Get Hooked

I require everyone to complete the worksheet documents. I have provided a Character Worksheets Guide and a completed worksheet. The purpose of this is to give me the information necessary to build an engaging campaign that will give you options for redemption or damnation and lets your character come alive.

Once completed let me see what you've got so I can poke at your history, maybe give you a bit more info to fit into the world.

Backstory

Having just completed the character worksheet you are armed with enough information to write a significant chunk of a one page backstory! For a single spaced, 12 point font, one page backstory I will reward you with any common magical item or an uncommon wondrous magical item.  This item is your choice excluding magical tattoos, gauntlets of ogre power, headband of intellect, or stone of good luck. For every level your character gains you may write one additional page of backstory and you will receive additional awards.

Send me your backstory so we can discuss it over Discord to work even better and give depth.

So what can't I do?

This is not a do everything criminally possible campaign. Excessive descriptions of torture, usage of sexual harassment or abuse (keep it light and flirty if your emo rage child character climbs out of being an incel for two seconds), or failure to maintain a party isn’t acceptable at the table. We all have to play here and have fun.
Punishment is real! As a DM I won’t hesitate to play the guards at various levels of intelligence whose main focus is keeping the law. Citizens will start rumors and report you. If the Red Spiral discovers what you are or who you associate with prepare to get more than donkey punched.
I can't stress the being a party thing the most given the nature of this campaign. On big things, like exposing yourselves or killing an off mission target make sure there's group buy in. You can be a greedy SOB all you want if you're shaking down a trader, just we're all friends around a table here so don't hog the loot!

Campaign Pace

The world lives and breathes. Unless specifically given a time to complete a task you’re free to try the patience of whatever benefactor you’re working for. Heard a rumor? Read about a mystery? Wanted board? If I introduce it it means you can go do it. Don’t feel like you have to just hammer the main objectives. Don’t feel like you can’t come back to something. Situations may change over time and could get better or worse without the party's intervention. At the end of the day if the group wants to run off and follow their own leads I'll totally run with it.

For the DM

I appreciate feedback! If a story didn’t make sense, was weird, or not fun let me know. If you want more or less of something the same applies. Hit me up on Discord.
I like using Discord for the more mundane tasks. I love using it for individual secrets! I’m down for roleplaying something out that only impacts one character and enhances your fun.
The story isn’t set in stone nor is your character. If you’re planning on doing something major let me know as soon as possible! Multiclassing to necro and shredding what’s left of your soul? Neat! Want to try and drag the party into taking over the criminal underworld you work for? Very cool! I’m all down for characters evolving. Some of you may find that the events which occur drive your character to becoming a better person; well, at least as much as society and the Divines will allow... Others may find that you had no idea the depths which you may fall in the eyes of your loved ones. I can bullshit the party deciding to jump some randoms; however, something major needs some time to write.

Next Steps

I suggest heading to the main page and start by reading the timeline.

Contents

Table of Contents