Former Cultist (5e Background)
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Former Cultist[edit]
You were once member to a cult, but no more. Did you escape the twisted bindings or were you exiled a heretic? Were you separated from the others by fantastic means until you found you no longer thought as you once did? Do you seek to rescue your brethren who remain? Do you seek to redeem yourself in the eyes of your peers, those within the cult or those without? Or did you delve into secrets deeper and darker than even your brethren could condone? (Was it all on the behalf of your leader?) Did your home fall victim to time and decay, as all eventually must? Was it a gradual dispersal or a sudden fire? Are you all that remains? Do you search for your comrades, or rejoice that they are ash and can no longer look at you with betrayal in their eyes? Were you raised among your brethren, a living offering from parents never seen? Have you never known any other place and are now lost without the guidance of your Advisor? Were you sent away by a senior cultist who could no longer bear to have the child they raised lost in that place? Do you even know who they were? Had you become a leader before realizing that there was something wrong with your world? Were you a victim held captive, finally set free? Will you hunt those who remain, to end or redeem them? Does the cult still search for you, do they even remember you? Who did you leave behind?
Skill Proficiencies: Arcana or Religion, and Insight or Deception
Tool Proficiencies: Choose one. Disguise Kit, Forgery Kit, Herbalism Kit, or Poisoner's Kit
Languages: A secret language used exclusively among your cult. Determine with your DM if this language bears enough resemblance to another language to allow for situational or partial understanding.
Equipment: 5 candles or 5 sticks of incense, a ritual item (blade, bells, cloth doll, etc.), a set of vestments or robes of the style worn by the cult, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 15 gp
Specialization[edit]
What was the focus of your cult? Where did you stand among your fellows?
| d6 | Cult Flavor |
|---|---|
| 1 | Debauchery. Your cult reveled in the finer things of life. Drink, coin, and fornication, all that could be enjoyed would be in excess. It was art and your cult was an artist high on paint fumes. |
| 2 | Knowledge. Your cult devoured all knowledge, but delighted in those things kept hidden away. Rituals, nightmares, and family secrets drove more than one cultist to madness. Have you been satisfied or are you hunting for yet more? |
| 3 | Violence. Your cult worshiped a god of war or maybe war itself. Did you hire out as assassins or mercenaries? Were your hands kept clean, or did you revel in the bloodshed? Did you believe that the purest form of love for others is death on the battlefield, do you still? |
| 4 | Power. Your cult sought power. Was your cult composed of a minority disillusioned, or world leaders tightening their grip? Did your cult present itself as an option for self-improvement, to give power into the hands of the people? |
| 5 | Fanaticism. Your cult was dedicated to a particular god or ideal, and believed them to be penultimate over the rest. |
| 6 | Puritanism. Your cult had strongly ascetic rules, and believed that those who failed to obey them (even those without the cult) ought to be purged as filth tainting their world. |
| d8 | Position |
|---|---|
| 1 | Leader. You led your cult for your own ends, whatever they might have been. Did they call you Master or were you simply called Teacher? |
| 2 | Captive. You didn't want to be there, you had no say in the matter! At long last you are free, is that pain in your heart grief for your captors or the consequences of your tribulation? |
| 3 | Cultist. You were simply one of many. Did you resent it or take pride in it? Were you assisting another in hopes of joining in their work? |
| 4 | Missionary. You persuaded, intimidated, or forced others into joining your cult. Did you believe it was the best for those people or did you merely take joy in cornering your prey? |
| 5 | Enforcer. You ensured the others did not fall out of line and, if they did, that the situation was dealt with. Did you enjoy your power over the others, were you highly favored for your efforts? |
| 6 | Healer. You provided discrete medical services to your brethren as needed. But was healing really all you did to them? |
| 7 | Neophyte. You were only a newly inducted member. Were you fervent or lukewarm in your devotion? How long did it take for you to make it even this far, what did you have to do only for it to no longer matter? |
| 8 | Friend. All the cultists would confide in you, trust in you. What else you did hardly matters now. |
Feature: Lone Survivor[edit]
You are the only apparent survivor of the madness that destroyed your cult, and thus heir to whatever has been left behind. Will the rituals and words of these people die with you, or will you go forth and sow once more the words which brought you to this place? You have knowledge of now-abandoned cult safe-houses, which will gradually decay and become dilapidated without anyone to maintain them.
Alternate Feature: Insider Knowledge[edit]
Your time in the cult has given you troves of hidden knowledge—more than you know—but only concerning your particular cult and its sphere of influence. Will you use this information to take down the cult, or are you more than happy to secretly profit?
Alternate Feature: The Marked[edit]
You are running, but you can't outrun whatever means of tracking you the cult possesses. Is it a magical beacon, a mark somewhere upon yourself? Or is their network simply so vast that you can never fully escape loyal eyes? Will you keep running forever or do you intend to lay a trap for your pursuers? Why are they still chasing you? Have they invested to much research upon you or did you hear something you weren't meant to? Whatever that reason, they don't appreciate others hunting their quarry
Suggested Characteristics[edit]
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| 3 | |
| 4 | |
| 5 | |
| 6 | |
| 7 | |
| 8 |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | <-Ideal->. (<-Alignment->) |
| 2 | <-Ideal->. (<-Alignment->) |
| 3 | <-Ideal->. (<-Alignment->) |
| 4 | <-Ideal->. (<-Alignment->) |
| 5 | <-Ideal->. (<-Alignment->) |
| 6 | <-Ideal->. (<-Alignment->) |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | In the darkest time of my life, the cult elevated me. |
| 2 | I was close with another cultist, they were my other half. Now, I'm incomplete. |
| 3 | I viewed those I led as my children and they betrayed me. |
| 4 | One of the cultists helped me escape. I wonder what happened to them? |
| 5 | I'm certain my brethren were the best sacrifice for our god, they were so beautiful in the end... |
| 6 |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | |
| 2 | |
| 3 | |
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| 5 | |
| 6 |
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