Let's start close and intimate, shall we?

Family

• I understand Shera grew up in Feolinn, on the Menagerie Coast.  Tell me about her life there.
• I understand that her father is still in the picture -- is her mother?  If not, why, what happened, and how did that affect Shena?
• 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?
• What was her family's economic status?  How successful was her father's shop?  What types of things did he sell, and what were his clientele like?
• What did Shera do when not in her father's shop?  Did she have friends?  What kind of activities would she do in her own free time?

Give me names for each of the family members you end up detailing.  I already have your father's name (Corrin Draxalia), but what about the rest?

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'm also assuming Shera's deal with her Patron happens later in life.  If not, let's talk about when, why, and what effect it had.

---

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
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:58, Wed 16 Mar 2022.

Family
I understand Shera grew up in Feolinn, on the Menagerie Coast.  Tell me about her life there.

The Draxalia family is a well known name famous for their potions and skills in alchemy. Their shop is known far and wide as the place to go to get what you need whether you be noble, commoner, sailor, or what have you. The Draxalia family is a close knit family living in a reasonably sized home which fits all of them. There is Corrin (Shera's Father), Charlotte (Shera's Mother), Trisha (Shera's Aunt (Mother's side)), Erica (Shera's older sister), and Capri (Shera's little sister).

I understand that her father is still in the picture -- is her mother?  If not, why, what happened, and how did that affect Shera?

Shera's mother has always been in the picture just like her father, but while her father was stern and strict with her, her mother was always kind and affectionate. This lead Shera to being closer with her mother than with her father and where she was open with her mother, if it wasn't about alchemy then she didn't really know how to connect with her father.

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?

Yes, two sisters. She is the middle child. Her older sister, Erica is the prodigy of the family. There's nearly no ailment she can't cure. Her younger sister, Capri is the spoiled one of the family and is a daddy's girl. Capri is still only 15 where as Erica is 27. Regardless of how their parents may have treated them differently, though Shera was close with her sisters and misses them dearly on her travels.

What was her family's economic status?  How successful was her father's shop?  What types of things did he sell, and what were his clientele like?

Comfortable. Very. Potions, elixirs, and ointments of all sorts. The clientele ranged from nobles to peasants to sailors to royalty. In the shop it didn't matter your background all that mattered was that you could pay.

What did Shera do when not in her father's shop?  Did she have friends?  What kind of activities would she do in her own free time?

It was rare when Shera was able to leave the shop. She did not have friends besides her sisters. Her family felt it was better to keep her protected and away from any outside influences. In her spare time, Shera loved to read. She loved to read about magic especially though. She longed for the chance to be able to use magic as well, but it would still be quite a while before she would get that chance. Shera wouldn't make the deal with her patron until she was already out on her own in search of knowledge to improve her craft.

Okay, that's all good.  I like it so far.

Let's challenge it a little bit.

21:00, Today: Dungeon Master rolled 64 using 1d100 ((64)).


1) Does this ring true for you?  Can it fit within your story without changing who Shera is?  If not, I can re-roll, but I am looking for a complication angle.
2) If so... let's explore.  Who in Shera's life could she have been close enough to to care that she left under mysterious circumstances?

I'm just going to pose possibilities here; nothing is set in stone.  But perhaps Shera left after she made her pact with the entity from the Shadowfell.  Perhaps this scared her badly enough that she thought if she left, her family would be safe from harm.

A rival doesn't have to be a blood-enemy level rival.  Perhaps this person thinks that Shera has gone down a path of darkness, and needs to be redeemed, and wants to stage an intervention -- at the worst possible time.

It doesn't need to be a serious threat, but it should enough to make Shera hesitant about returning home, or if she spotted this person in the street in another city, she might duck her head and try not to be noticed.

Alternatively... if could be a rival of Shera's father.  Perhaps a business rival, or a noble customer who didn't quite get what he was hoping for out of his shop, and he's decided to make things difficult.  Maybe the rival apothecary's owner has a child too, and the child has decided that their father's quarrels are their own as well.

Ok what do you think of Shera having a long lost brother she knows nothing about yet. He would be Shera's age and he would only be her half brother due to her father having an affair no one knows anything about except for the brother and his mother. He would have been trained as an alchemist too as his mother was an alchemist as well. Corrin would have been traveling and would have ended up working with the son's mother for a time and would have had the affair then. Corrin never found out that he has a son, but the son learned of who is father is and of their family and sees Shera as a rival because he is determined to see if his mother trained him better than her father trained her.

We can work with that.  I might change a few details -- or a lot of details, because this is completely out of your control.  :)

I seeing a possible connection to Rain, who grew up in Western Wynandir, but whose family made frequent trips to Nicodranas (and possibly other cities in the Menagerie Coast).  Similar opening stories with merchant families.  I'd love to see what you and Rain came come up with together as a possible childhood story.  What micro-adventures could two little girls of merchant families come up with together?

This gives you two reason to recognise and possibly know each other later on.

I could see Shera meeting Rain on one of the few occasions that Shera's family would let her go out. Perhaps at a library after Rain snuck out?

rain is more a outdoor type than library....if you were going to have some fun outside she would encourage that. maybe the tabaxi found you while some men came upon you and tried to mug you or something, and the tabaxi 'discouraged' them

And to flip the script, perhaps Rain was hopelessly lost in the city and Shera managed to help her find her way back?  Something simple, that allows both characters to know each other, and be the hero at different points in the story.

that could also work....she was trying to get home before her family found her

Use them both?  Rain got lost, Shera helped her find her way back, but they got jumped in down by the docks before they could leave the area.

and the stubborn tabaxi, showing off, used her acrobatics and throwing daggers to scare the fools away

Don't mess with an angry cat!

I like it. Sounds good to me. Then after Shera leads Rain back to a familiar area is when Rain learns whose family Shera belongs to. And they possibly exchange knowledge of whose family they each belong to? Is Rain's family famous too?

Rain's family are merchants of fine clothing (mother) with her father a former adventurer (may have met him early but now deceased) and brothers onyx and timber bound for adventure (only also deceased now but may have met him, and timber a magic user now so book smart)

Her brothers were/are very protective of her. Her mother idolises her but recognises her feelings spirit. Her father (a former soldier) taught her archery

So I'm guessing this Shera/Rain meeting happened some years before the attack that took Rain's father's life.  This would mean Shera encounters a much happier, carefree child, who's still trying to find her way out from under the (to her mind) over-protective gazes of her family.  Mischievous and carefree, with a child's ignorance of risk and consequences.

Correct me if I'm wrong here...

That sounds about right. She is younger, but a lot more care free, mischievous and a bit rebellious.

Lager on with the family tragedy she became a bit more serious, but still had thsht free spirit with a hint of mischief.

....though nothing compared to her childhood. She now has a protective streak and a sense of responsibility to her role

Cool sounding good to me.

Nice work, you two!  :)

Okay, I'm going to throw something at you.  I think it could add some interesting things to Shera's story.

This person thinks that Shera was replaced by a doppelganger or possessed by a spirit or monster. They are now trying to defeat her, so as to find or free the original Shera.

This adds some possibilities, if you're interested, and depending on how you play it.  On the one hand, it's a straight up conflict against a rival of some kind.

BUT...  WHAT IF

What if the person who's convinced Shera's been replaced is a friend?  A family member?  Given the Hexblade angle, this isn't outside the realm of possibility...  Bonus points (not really) if you make the person who's become convince a knight or someone who can't simply be faced down right away.

---

Random Chaos roll:

A famous warrior trained Shera with what has become her signature weapon. One of her weapons (your choice) was created during the Age of Arcanum, or it is tied to a champion of legend. It holds writing in a forgotten tongue or symbols whose significance is lost to the ages.  Additionally, the weapon glows softly when in the presence of beasts.

I'd ask that Shera's long sword be her 'ancient' weapon. It would also be her chosen pact weapon.