The Trinket Game

[mgshamster]

The purpose of this game is to build a character around a trinket.

Roll on the trinket table, then describe your character - how did they come to possess the trinket? How has the trinket altered their life decisions? What background, race, class, and any relevant stats would you pick for a character based around the trinket?

Example:

Roll: 37 - A small weightless stone block

Character 1: Torem is a Male human Outlander. Who's mother was an adventurer. At one point in her adventures she came across a floating "mountain" and found her way up to it. She described the scene as one of true beauty. And said never again in her travels was she able to find it again. But this stone is the one piece of it she was able to return with. Torem took to the teachings of the Rangers hoping to travel the lands and one day find the flying land his mother once described to him.

Character 2: Boron is a dwarf sage investigating the mysteries of this weightless stone that he found as a child - it's been his lifelong obsession. But since researching it didn't pay, he had to get a job, and as such worked a job that didn't require thought so he could still ponder the stone while he was earning money. Hence, he was also a town guard and a trained combatant. He's a Fighter with the Sage background, high strength and Int, low wisdom.

Edit: To note - I just gave two examples for a single trinket. However, you don't have to build an entire party off of one trinket. Each character should have its own trinket, per the normal rules - just roll the trinket before anything else with the character, and build the character around that.

Then post a description of the character here! :)

For those two examples the first was my friend's first thoughts, the second was my own.

Go ahead and roll on the table right now and see what you get, then give it a few moments thought and post your ideas here.

[smcmike]

I recently used one of the more evocative trinkets as a cornerstone of a background:

16 - an old divination card bearing your likeness.

Scene: a group of rather superstitious sailors go for a reading at a shoddy old fake card reader. The first couple are normal fortunes - she clearly is just putting the same cards back on top of the deck and using a memorized script. PC's reading is ... different. And horrifying. Fill in the details, but now he isn't welcome to return to his ship.

[PoeticDwarf]

Fun idea :D

[BiPolar]

Love this idea! What a great way to add some additional fluff to your character.

[RickAllison]

Roll: 20, a glass jar containing a weird bit of flesh floating in a pickling fluid.

Race: Ghostwise Halfling

Class: Knowledge Cleric. With permission, taking proficiency in Expertise in cooking tools instead of a knowledge.

Background: Acolyte of Cyrrollalee, with Survival instead of Insight.

Skills: Survival, Religion, Medicine, History, Nature (Expertise), cooking tools (Expertise).

Since he was young, Emeril was fascinated by food, and he had a gift for it as well. At an early age, he began studying with the priests of the hospitality goddess Cyrrollalee and strove to create the perfect food worthy of the goddess he adored.

One day, he stumbled upon a rare sight: a solar locked in deadly battle with a host of demons. Though the angel won, he was wounded and a large chunk of his flesh was torn from his body that remained when the angel disappeared. Curious, the halfling took the flesh back to his solitary abode a cooked just a bit of it (halflings never being one to shy away from cannibalism :smallwink:), and he found it more delicious than any meat he had ever tasted!

Determined that this was a sign from Cyrrollalee, Emeril embarked on an adventure to find the perfect spices, the perfect vegetables, and the perfect wine to accompany the perfect meat.

[mgshamster]

73 - An egg shell with a painting of human misery in exquisite detail.

Character 1: Paladin. Family were chicken ranchers. They gave home and supper to an old crone who was travelling the road. She said an ancient prophecy would come to fruition and part of it involved the boy. One day their fattest chicken died giving an egg. It had that imagery on it. The boy took it and left. Taking up the mantle of paladin to be able to fight off whatever the prophecy meant.

Character 2: Human Warlock. Made a deal with a devil. The devil presented the egg to the man to remind him how fragile humanity was and what his fate would be when his soul would finally come to the rightful owner at the moment of his death.

[Black Socks]

D100 roll is 2- a piece of crystal that faintly grows in the moonlight
Evendur was a half-elf, raised by his elven mother. Like all half-elves raised among elves, he grew up shockingly fast. One day, he was wandering in the woods and found the crystal. He's convinced it was a sign from the elf goddess of the moon, Sehanine Moonbow, calling him to her service. Now he's a Knowledge cleric who adventures to find out what the crystal is and what Sehanine wants of him. He uses the crystal as his holy symbol.

[Black Socks]

D100 roll is 30- a blank book whose pages refuse to hold ink, chalk, graphite or any other substance or marking
Ivellios was an elven cleric devoted to his god, Boccob. He was a standard priest, wandering around furthering his god's cause, then one day, he came across this book. His temple is convinced it is an unholy object, since Boccob is a Knowledge god. They tried to figure to destroy it, but couldn't, so they sent him on a quest to destroy the book. He has the Acoltye background, high Wisdom and Strength (this is why he was selected to go on the quest) and high Intelligence (since his deity is Boccob, god of magic). His bond is "I will not return to my temple until I destroy this unholy book."

[mgshamster]

29 - A pair of old socks.

Guyver MacGnomen is an adventurer and repairman. He prides himself on being able to fix just about anything with just about anything - effectively being able to jury-rig even a steam engine with nothing but a toothpick, a pair of old socks, and some shoelace. To this day, he still carries around a pair of old socks, just to be able to prove he can do it. Rock Gnome, Swashbuckler Rogue, Sage/Soldier background mix.

[SliceandDiceKid]

Quite clever! Thanks for starting this thread!

[Addaran]

Super cool game. =D

7- A pair of knucklebone dice, each with a skull symbol
on the side that would normally show six pips

Jako is Monster Hunter fighter with the hermit feature (but not an actual hermit, more a soldier). He discovered that he's fated to become the greatest warrior of all time. During the war, he got caught in an ambush and was about to die when the time stopped and Asmodeus appeared. Knowing of Jako's fate, he offered to make sure he would never truely die so he could become the greatest warrior of all time. But for each interventions, he'll be under Asmodeus' command, body and soul for a full year, whenever He decides it. Jako took the offer, Asmodeus disapeared and time started again for him to die. A few day later, he woke up, baddly wounded but alive with one dice in his pocket. Since that time, he died another time and earned a 2nd dice.


-The discovery enabled the deal with Asmodeus ( kinda copied from V's deal in OoTS). Whenever he dies, within 6 days, at the most danger free time, Asmodeus will cast "revivify" on him and lend him another dice. (if he ever tries to lose the dice or they get stolen, they return shortly)

-The "greatest warrior" fate is a self-fullfilling prophecy. He becomes the greatest because he'll never die and will keep getting better and better. But he'll never die (through Asmodeus) because he's supposed to become the greatest warrior.

-Went with the UA variant (http://dnd.wizards.com/sites/default/files/media/upload/articles/UA%20Gothic%20Characters.pdf) cause it seems cool fluff-wise and Asmodeus will eventually use him to kill some "monster" (some champions of good like celestials and good dragons)

[mgshamster]

80 - A bronze pentacle with an etching of a rad head in the center

Gladdius was raised to be a good hearted young man. Unfortunately for his parents, his estranged grandparents were meeting with him secretly, teach him the ways of a God of Vengeance. That pentacle was its profane holy symbol. As Gladdius grew up, he became a devout worshiper; he's now a Vengeance Paladin, and his Vengeance is for hire.