Let's start close and intimate, shall we?

Family

• Where did Hannah grow up?
• Is Hannah's family well-off, poor, somewhere in between?
• Are both of her parents still in the picture?  If not, why, what happened, and how did that affect Hannah?
• Does she have any siblings?  If so, how many?  What's her position in the birth order?  What are her siblings like?  What's her relationship like with each of them?

Give me names for each of the family members you end up detailing.

If you have no clue, I'd suggest rolling dice, and then just build the story around what you roll.

Depending on what you've picked for a homeland, the family size might be different.  If you need to, roll on the Eastern Wynandir Settlements table to determine a homeland, then roll on either the Family Size (Village) or Family Size (City) tables.

Roll 1d3 for the number of significant relationships in the family, and then roll once for each of these on the Family Relationships table on p194.  Note that it does not have to be immediate family either.  Aunt/Uncles/Cousins/Grandparents are all fair game for these.  The idea here is that the relationship is close, personal, and too powerful on the emotional scale to discount entirely.

Note that you may gain Allies and Rivals as a result of the family relationships rolls.  These allies and rivals do NOT have to be within the family (though they might end up that way) -- just note how many you end up with; we'll discuss these further down the track in the history.

---

I have shared all my sourcebooks on dndbeyond with the players in the campaign.  If you've joined the campaign when submitting your character sheet, these links should work for you.  Let me know if they don't.

https://www.dndbeyond.com/sour...sses#HeroicChronicle
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sour...-subclasses#Homeland
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sour...ndirSettlementsTable
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sour...milySizeVillageTable
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sour...#FamilySizeCityTable
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sour...lyRelationshipsTable

Where did Hannah grow up?
Hannah Grew up in a noble house in Syngorn. She rarely ventured outside of the city, maybe only once or twice.

Is Hannah's family well-off, poor, somewhere in between?
Hannah came from a very rich and proper family of nobles. They spent much of their time at important social gatherings like fancy dinners and balls (ballroom dancing to be clear). They were even occasionally seen with the Wardens of Syngorn, and their name was known all throughout the city.

Are both of her parents still in the picture?  If not, why, what happened, and how did that affect Hannah?
Hannah was born as the result of an affair. Her father, Elasalor, was an elf and her mother, Delila, was human. All her many siblings are half elves, yet she was born human. Her mother disliked her as she viewed her as the reason for the divorce, and her father distanced himself from her and practically ignored her as she was not his child. She does not know who her biological father is. But her parents pretty much both resent her and each other. This obviously impacted Hannah a lot, and it prompted her to partly dissociate with her noble family, spending more time with the commoners of the city, and a few of her family that loved her.

Does she have any siblings?  If so, how many?  What's her position in the birth order?  What are her siblings like?  What's her relationship like with each of them?
Hannah has 14 siblings. (7 sisters and 7 brothers) Most of them followed suit of their parents, resenting Hannah as she was the only pure blood in the family. She is also the youngest of her siblings, as she is the cause for their parents' divorce. Most of her siblings were raised to be proper and well mannered. A few resisted though, developing kind and charming personalities. Her siblings in order of age are Alfin (m, 38), Yllaerys (f, 36), Vichomin (m, 34), Kira and Arzira (f, 33, twins), Eirros (m, 32), Vylsis and Kysona (f, 31, twins), Phayedove (f, 29), Ulqinor (m, 27), Nildyr (m, 26), Xavenas and Mavis (25, twins, Xavenas is male, Mavis is female), Lorixian (m, 23), and Hannah (my pc), 23 years old, female. Again, most of them resent her.

Significant relationships
This family member caused you to have a horrible accident when you were a child. They still feel incredible guilt, which they would do anything to assuage. You gain one ally.
This family member left long ago for reasons you don’t understand or won’t talk about. Before they left, they promised you that they would return in your hour of greatest need. You gain one ally.
You have always been better than this family member at a particular activity. They grew jealous and abandoned you, so that they could return and best you one day. You gain one rival.

Nice, I see some possible opportunities for a childhood interaction story between Hannah and Klaven, if you're open for it.

If Klaven performed for Noble houses a lot I can definitely see how he and Hannah might have crossed paths before
This message was last edited by the GM at 09:31, Thu 17 Mar 2022.

Klavin's Circus performed many times on invitation from nobles for private showings. He would have been little more than a boy back then.

Maybe they hung out for a bit after the show? Hannah didn't have a lot of friends and was always desperate to make new ones. I could totally see her trying to have a conversation and interact with the closest person to her age.

Or maybe if the show happened when she was really little, maybe she got too curious and tried to climb onto the circus things before/after a show and got stuck or something and Klaven helped her?

I like the first idea. Klaven makes frirnds easily but there aren't a lot of children in the circus. Perhaps her parents were gratious and invited them to dine and stay the night. I can totally see him being very excited to explore a castle or manor house. Ghost Hunting anyone?

Ooooh, love it!  Explore that, see what you can make!

Here? In another thread?

Here works.  We'll do the whole backstories in these threads -- I appreciate they'll be a little all over the shop, but we can consolidate them after we close them out.

Hannah can you set the scene?

So what I had in mind was Hannah's family, delighted by the performance of Tobias and Sons Exocita Imporium and Daredevil Acrobat Carnival, so they invited them to stay in the family manor which is absolutely massive and more than big enough to accommodate them. Then since Hannah and Klaven had met earlier, they start talking and Klaven brings up a ghost story (because bards are always telling random stories) and Hannah is fascinated.

To make it more interesting, her siblings (who don't like her very much) listened in on the conversation and decided to prank them by convincing them there actually was a ghost in the house. Thoughts?

If the GM is okay with it, there could be a real ghost. Its appearance would be startling for her siblings. I like your ideas. ;-)

I'm okay with it.  I'm not going to suggest there's a full-on fight with a ghost and children, so... how did the situation get resolved?

Ghost wants help finding memento?
Ghost wants to tell her mom he loves her?
Ghost wants her to know he was her dad?

You mean like her biological dad? That could be really interesting.

As far as I know, ghosts only exist because they have something connecting them to reality, an "anchor point" so to speak. If Hannah's biological dad was killed after the affair, I can see why he'd still be floating around. He wouldn't have even met his daughter, so maybe once he finds and has a conversation with Hannah then he disappears and is finally at peace.

I think that's a really sweet microstory, and plays well to both the social nature of Klevan and the family history for Hannah.  Good job!

I can hit a hanging curve ball. Lol

How weird would it be if this person was also secretly a Bandit Captain?  What kind of a story can you tell here?  Who are they?  Who do they lead?  What accident, and why do they feel guilty?



This person is a scout.  Why did they really leave (even if Hannah doesn't know) -- if you'd like, I can make that up for you, and not tell you.



This person is a Knight or similar.  Who is s/he?  What activity?  What lengths id they go to try to prove they were better?

---

Random Chaos roll:

While reading through a mysterious tome once owned by Hannah's parent, she found a treasure map that points toward a place in Wildemount.

This family member caused you to have a horrible accident when you were a child. They still feel incredible guilt, which they would do anything to assuage. You gain one ally.

Luhorn Demsersk (brother to Elasalor, Hannah's father) was the leader of a bandit group named The Violet Swords. Luhorn and Hannah had always been close, as he accepted her as family, unlike most of the other Demsersk's. Hannah didn't know that Luhorn was a bandit captain, and one day saw some members of The Violet Swords stealing food from a shop. She followed them back to their hideout and was caught. Helplessly outnumbered, Hannah was defeated and injured badly, before Luhorn realised who she was and stepped in. He blames himself for the accident.

This family member left long ago for reasons you don’t understand or won’t talk about. Before they left, they promised you that they would return in your hour of greatest need. You gain one ally.

You can make this one up for me.

You have always been better than this family member at a particular activity. They grew jealous and abandoned you, so that they could return and best you one day. You gain one rival.

Hannah's oldest brother, Alfin, was a knight and one of the city guards. The wardens, they are called. However, even though he was much bigger and older than Hannah, he could never beat her in unarmed combat. They often sparred together and it infuriated him constantly losing to his youngest sibling, and a human at that. He even lost his temper a few times and attacked her with a weapon, and she still beat him unarmed. Alfin cut Hannah out after losing so many times, and hates her more than her other siblings do because of it.

Do I get to choose where in Wildemount the map points to? If so I choose the Cyrios mountains.

You don't actually, but I'll keep that in mind.

One more bit for Hannah before she's done.

Tell me about her relationship with the Platinum Dragon.  Is she part of a temple?  Is it a more personal form of worship?

We've talked a little about the catalytic event:



How does Hannah get from praying to Bahamut -- to serving as a paladin.  Specifically, I'm looking for what's known as "crossing the threshold" -- in this case, moving from a bog-standard fighter to a paladin (and the associated powers and skills).

After she was defeated by Syldithas, she was rescued by some clerics from the temple of the platiunum dragon. They nursed her back to health and taught her their ways. She clicked with what Bahamut stood for, justice and honour, and she left the temple, after being taught healing magic and was given her holy symbol. She is not a part of the temple, but worships Bahamut in her own way by imposing his will on the forces of evil and striking down those who have turned to corruption.