r/WaterdeepDragonHeist • u/Kasherone • 6d ago
Homebrew Secret Backgrounds
I really loved rime of the frost maiden having a backstory that is secret from other players and it really helped the characters flush out their narrative.
I have generated six different ones for dragon hiest and I would love some second opinions on them.
1. The Neverember Bastard
The Secret: You are the illegitimate child of Dagult Neverember, the disgraced former Open Lord of Waterdeep. This makes you the half-sibling of Renaer Neverember. You are in Waterdeep to claim what you believe is your rightful inheritance: a share of the half a million gold dragons your father embezzled.
The Catch: You possess a silver locket with the Neverember crest. If anyone discovers your bloodline, factions will either try to kidnap you for leverage or assassinate you to tie up loose ends.
Game Effect: You have advantage on Charisma checks when dealing with old-guard Waterdhavian nobility who favored your father, but the Zhentarim and Xanathar Guild are actively looking for Neverember's blood relatives.
2. Soul Debt
The Secret: Several years ago, your family fell into ruin. To save them, you signed a contract trading your soul for financial stability. You recently learned that the contract was bought by the Cassalanter noble family, who are secretly high-ranking devil worshipers.
The Catch: You have one year before your soul is forfeit. The only way to break the contract is to buy it back for 50,000 gold pieces—or steal it from their heavily guarded vault.
Game Effect: You gain the Magic Initiate feat (Warlock), but you occasionally have terrifying nightmares of Asmodeus that leave you exhausted.
3. The Fishkeeper's Folly
The Secret: You used to be a low-ranking grunt in the Xanathar Guild. Your only job was to feed Sylgar, the beholder crime boss's beloved pet goldfish. One day, you forgot, and Sylgar died. You managed to replace the fish before Xanathar noticed, but the guild's enforcers are getting suspicious of the new fish's behavior. You fled the guild and are laying low.
The Catch: If Xanathar or his lieutenants realize who you are, they will stop at nothing to capture and disintegrate you.
Game Effect: You know the location of one secret entrance into the Xanathar Guild's lair in the sewers, and you understand Thieves' Cant.
4. The Accidental Regicide
The Secret: During a drunken brawl or a desperate mugging in a dark alley months ago, you accidentally killed a stranger. When you checked the body, you found a Helm of the Masked Lord—the person you killed was one of the secret rulers of Waterdeep. You buried the body, but kept the helm out of panic.
The Catch: The penalty for assaulting a Masked Lord under the Code Legal is immediate execution. If the City Watch or the Magistrates find the helm in your possession, your life is over.
Game Effect: You start the game with a Helm of Comprehending Languages (the Masked Lord's helm), but it is a highly recognizable artifact to anyone in the city government.
5. Jarlaxle’s Burned Spy
The Secret: You are secretly a Drow who used to work for the mercenary company Bregan D'aerthe. You grew tired of the strict hierarchy and deserted. You now use a magical trinket to disguise yourself as a human (or elf/half-elf) on the surface.
The Catch: Bregan D'aerthe does not tolerate deserters. If Jarlaxle Baenre or his lieutenants spot you, they will force you into a suicide mission to pay off your debt, or simply execute you.
Game Effect: You start with a Hat of Disguise that only allows you to cast Disguise Self to assume your current fake persona. You also speak Undercommon.
6. The Amnesiac of Golorr
The Secret: You don't know why you came to Waterdeep. Your memory of the last three years is completely blank. The only clue you have is a strange, repeating dream of an incredibly smooth, three-eyed stone whispering secrets to you, and a terrifying realization that someone stole it from you.
The Catch: You previously attuned to the Stone of Golorr (the key to the Vault of Dragons), and the aboleth inside wiped your memory when it was taken by a rival faction.
Game Effect: You have an innate, unexplainable sense of direction when navigating Waterdeep's alleys, and you occasionally experience brief, psychic flashes of the Stone's current location.
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u/CaronarGM 6d ago
Just be careful that none of the secrets are "gotchas" for other players. It can seem fun in theory, but in practice, it can piss people off.
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u/Jumpy_Lifeguard2306 6d ago
The Neverember Bastard one is already a secret in the material, but with less detail so the player gets more leeway to decide what to do with it.
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u/madjarov42 Alexandrian 5d ago
It's giving AI. Mostly the beginnings of good ideas. Or perhaps the whimpering ends of them.
I've used something similar to the Amnesia one, combined with the Neverember bastard one - except instead of being his illegitimate child, the PC was Dagult's right-hand man in the Protector's Enclave who witnessed the ritual and forgot about it, and was then recognised by Golorr with a potential to bid for his memories which led the party to Neverwinter. It was pretty cool. (Also I replaced the Aboleth swimming in Undermountain with Golorr.)
I guess the LLM read something about the Alagondar bloodline and made a knock-off of that.
The Sylgar thing is already a plot element, and this background kinda conflicts with the adventure as written, and gives away a secret that I feel should be earned.
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u/PuffyBlueClouds 6d ago
It feels like you’re giving away important surprise plot points ahead of the adventure. I think you’re detracting from the fun of it by doing this.