Whether you were driven by personal vendetta, fueled by stories of renowned figures, or something else entirely, you’ve made a career out of hunting monsters. This is dirty, dangerous work, but not as fatal as the average person might believe—an individual skeleton or giant rat can pose a serious threat to a commoner, but with the right tools and preparation even an amatuer hunter stands a better-than-even chance. It’s a good living for those willing to put up with the risks…and the ichor.

Through intense training by a master of the art, you’ve made your body a deadly weapon and you have speed and precision to use it effectively. What called you to leave such training in favor of adventuring?

This type of skill doesn’t come lightly. How did you receive such training? Who was your teacher? What kind of combat did you study? How do you use it? Have you chosen to dedicate yourself to this path, or do you use this experience to further your studies elsewhere?

Your life has been chiefly defined by your charge to protect a great treasure or secret which must be kept from the prying eyes of outsiders. Whether you were tasked with protecting a sacred artifact, concealing the true heir to the throne, or maintaining the seal on an ancient curse, the time has come to step into the wider world.

You are a hedge witch: a soothsayer and herbalist with extensive knowledge of the plants and fungi that grow in wild places. You also often practice some mundane form of divination by way of tarot readings, casting bones, using pendulums, or other methods. You do not know which of your readings are true or false, nor do you know which are destined to come to fruition. Still, people frequently seek you out, either for medicinal aid or for you to cast your bones and soothe their troubled minds. For one reason or another you have been called away on adventure.

Spirits exist. It’s a simple fact of reality that most people forget until the specter of some long forgotten soul appears before them. But for you, it’s a constant reality. For some, the spirit that follows them has been there since childhood, as an imaginary friend or a monster in the dark. For others, the dead come at a later date, often in the wake of a terrible tragedy.

No one can be sure how a fey chooses what mortals to spare, transform, help—or simply abide for a time. Your unlikely host may have been a creepy gremlin, a stern satyr, or some similar denizen of the Dreaming. They spared you from many of that realm’s dangers all while you somehow resisted the inevitable change the Land of Faerie visits upon most mortals who remain too long. Even so, now no matter where you travel you carry a bit of the fey realm with you.

You left adventuring for your own reasons and set up to what you long considered to be an honest profession. Whether it was tending bar at a tavern, mending broken tools at a blacksmith, or some other work, it has kept you in relatively good shape, even though you may be constantly looking over your shoulder.

What caused you to quit a life of adventure? What drags you back? What are you leaving behind?

Most researchers take a very slow, methodical approach to their studies, carefully changing one variable at a time and recording every boring result. You, however, take a far more proactive approach, often to unearthly—or even explosive—results. This disturbing, unconventional, or dangerous undertaking may have cost you friends, respect, and even a digit or two. Perhaps you conducted your experiments in secret because of the stigma attached to your field of study, or maybe you joyfully invited the entire academy to view your ongoing work.

Perhaps you broke an oath or angered a god, or your parents promised their child’s soul to a fiend. Whatever caused it, you are cursed. The power that laid this upon you has not necessarily made itself known, but its effects are felt regardless. It has shaped your life and interactions with others, made you wary and careful. A tiny slip, a failed moment of etiquette, a dirty glance—any may trigger the curse.

How did you become cursed? Are there those who sympathize with your plight? What transgressions might trigger the curse’s worst effects? What does the curse do?

You were raised as a cube herder, a hard and dangerous profession with long days and lonely nights. You’ve packed it all in to seek your fortune as an adventurer, far from the familiar acrid smells of your herd.

Why have you gotten out of the saddle? What caused you to leave the range, perhaps never to return? What did you leave behind you—and whom?