Source: The Book of Many Things
Everything was going so well! You had a life of luxury, love, and comfort when you suddenly lost it all. Perhaps you were framed for crimes you didn’t commit and lost your reputation, fortune, and career. Maybe a rampaging dragon or another monster wiped out everything you had in a single calamitous afternoon. Or you might have sought out a Deck of Many Things, hoping to make your successful life even more glorious—only to draw a destructive card that changed your destiny forever.
Your desperation has driven you to the career of adventurer. You don’t seek out dark dungeons and their monstrous inhabitants for excitement and glory; you do it because every other path is closed to you. But you have risen high on fortune’s wheel once before, and with luck and fortitude, you could do so again.
Skill Proficiencies: Stealth, Survival
Languages: One of your choice
Tool Proficiencies: One gaming set of your choice (such as playing cards or three-dragon ante cards)
Equipment: A cracked hourglass, a set of rusty manacles, a half-empty bottle, a hunting trap, a gaming set (matching your chosen proficiency), a set of traveler’s clothes, and a pouch containing 13 gp
You have weathered ruinous misfortune, and you possess hidden reserves others don’t expect. You gain the Alert , Skilled , or Tough feat (your choice). Your choice of feat reflects how you’ve dealt with the terrible loss that changed your life forever. If you’ve kept your senses sharp for every opportunity and climbed your way out of misery by seizing the tiniest scrap of hope, choose Alert. If you’ve redoubled your efforts to reclaim what was once yours, choose Skilled. If you’ve stoically persevered through your misfortune, select Tough.
Ruined characters were on top of the world before misfortune struck. Many were wealthy. Others come from modest backgrounds, but they were surrounded by friends, family, and loved ones. They might have been famous, or simply never encountered serious hardship before. Some were born to privilege or rose to prominence through trickery or a false reputation. Now a Deck of Many Things—or another calamity—has knocked them down like a house of cards.
If your character’s life was ruined by a Deck of Many Things, consider which card was responsible. Perhaps your character was imprisoned for years by the Donjon or Void card, and now everyone they knew has died. Maybe your character drew the Rogue card, and the person closest to them—a spouse, child, or parent—turned against them. A devil unleashed by the Flames card might have destroyed their life. The Ruin or Talons card might have stolen the character’s material goods or saddled them with vast debt.
Suggested Characteristics. Rising above misfortune shapes one’s perspective. The Ruined Personality Traits table suggests traits you might adopt for your character (and ruinous cards that might have prompted this trait).
| d6 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I’ve changed from my past, and I work to live up to my new path. (Balance, Throne) |
| 2 | Every moment is a gift I refuse to squander. (Euryale, Skull) |
| 3 | Now that I’ve overcome having nothing, I can survive anything. (Fool, Ruin, Talons) |
| 4 | I know enemies are set against me, and I always prepare for the worst. (Flames, Rogue) |
| 5 | I interpret every event as part of a larger pattern I just haven’t worked out yet. (Puzzle, Star) |
| 6 | I must make up for so much time I’ve already lost. (Donjon, Void) |
Ruined Trinkets. When you make your character, you may roll once on the Ruined Trinkets table, instead of on the Trinkets table in the Player's Handbook , for your starting trinket.
| d6 | Trinket |
|---|---|
| 1 | A rusted scrap of a once-beloved family heirloom |
| 2 | A land deed, but all the names and markings that once tied it to you have faded into obscurity |
| 3 | A bauble once imbued with powerful magic |
| 4 | A battered playing card with a hole pierced in it, its face depicting the card that affected you |
| 5 | A yellowed Humanoid tooth that whispers eerily when placed under a pillow |
| 6 | A keepsake from someone you were once close to but who is now your enemy |