The Fallen Hero

"That can't be him," Arabelle said, shaking her head.

"I'm telling you, that's him," Thoran said. "Look at the mark on his hand!"

The figure half-slumped against the bar didn't look like much. With a ragged coat and unkempt hair, and a growth of stubble just starting to turn into a beard, he looked like any of a dozen other surly drunks lost in their cups before the mid-day bells. There was no denying that the mark on the back of his left hand looked like a raven in flight, though upside down it was hard to tell. Thoran approached cautiously, sliding onto a stool a little ways down. If the man noticed, he gave no indication.

"Sir," Thoran asked quietly. "Is your name Benton?"

"S'what if is?" he asked, grunting as he poured another shot.

"Benton Ravenkill?" Thoran asked.

He stopped pouring, and frowned. While his gaze was still bleary, there was a spark in his dark eyes. A glimmer of something. He put the bottle down hard enough to make Thoran jump, and slugged back the whiskey.

"That man's dead," Benton said. "He died at the Battle of White Thrush. And I'm gonna drink to his memory until I forget him true."

Thoran had his mouth open to say something, when a big man shoved him out of the way. Three others rattled the boards behind him, heavy weapon belts criss-crossing their hips. Their buckles were worked with the bloody hawk of the Emberhearth.

"Couldn't help but overhear, friend," the leader said, baring his teeth. "But it sounds like you're the hero we've been looking for."

"I'm no hero," Benton said, taking the bottle by the neck. "Just a man, drinking alone."

The man grabbed Benton's shoulder, hauling him around. Though he looked half dead on the stool, Benton found his feet, smashing the edge of the bottle hard into captain's face. His nose cracked like frost-split stone, and a second blow drove the broken bone deeper. As he fell, Benton's whiskey-loosened fingers snatched the dead man's sword. The mark on his hand was darkling, drawing light from the room around him, casting the ragged drunk in a half shadow.

"You're looking for Ravenkill?" he snarled, wheeling on the soldiers and raising his stolen steel. "Congratulations, you found him!"

Don't push me... you won't like it when I push back.

The Fallen Hero

All too often we assume that our characters start off a game as blank slates. That whatever adventure we find them on is their first time out in the world, whether it's the farm boy hero trying to make a name for himself, or the duke's daughter fulfilling her obligation to protect her lands with spell and sword, first level characters haven't really done anything notable.

I laid out why that shouldn't necessarily be the case in Your Story Progression Doesn't Have To Be Linear (Even if Your Levels Are), but the Fallen Hero takes this idea a step further. Fallen Heroes used to be heroes... then something happened to them. Something knocked them off their pedestals, and they fell down hard enough that they haven't gotten back up. Until now, that is.

No one ever won by lying in the dirt.

 

The first step to putting this kind of character together is figuring out who you used to be. Were you a great war hero, such as a knight who defeated an enemy champion in single combat, saving the lives of everyone under your command to do it? Were you a powerful wizard, renowned for your skill and knowledge? Perhaps the leader of a gang of renegades who stole from the wealthy, and shared the take among the needy of the city? Some good places to look for background inspiration for some of these are 100 Random Mercenary Companies for the war heroes, 100 Random Bandits to Meet for scoundrels, and A Baker's Dozen of Noble Families if you're looking for a high-born kind of legend.

Once you know the hero you used to be, ask what knocked you down. This could be nearly anything, so feel free to get creative! For example, did you take a wound that nearly killed you, crippling your powerful sword arm and taking you out of the spotlight? Did the strain on your mind when using advanced magic send you into a fit, leaving you afraid to dip your fingers back into even simple spells for years afterwards? Did you swear an oath never to take the field again to a spouse or a parent, and you've tried to keep that promise even if they're no longer with you? Or for all the glory and honor heaped upon you, were you just tired of seeing your companions die around you needlessly?

Whatever happened, it caused you to stop. You put away the trappings, and went into forced retirement. Maybe you crawled inside a bottle, selling off everything you'd fought for to pay for one more round. Perhaps you tried to live a quiet life, telling yourself that all the bloodshed was behind you. You might have found yourself in an institution, or a prison cell, while the adventurer you once were grows ever more distant.

For folks who want to play a version of Thor from Avengers Endgame, this is the concept you're looking for. If that's the case, you might find How To Build Thor in the Pathfinder RPG a useful resource to start with.

The third stage, and the final one, is asking what brings you back. What lit that spark back up inside you, and gave you the courage to start the climb back to who and what you once were? Is it having the fight come to your doorstep, and feeling those old instincts come back? Is it the inability to stand by and watch others come to harm when you know you could do something about it? Or is it an old friend (or the child of an old friend) who comes to you to ask for help?

Somebody has to stop you from getting yourselves killed.

Who Do You Become?

The most important question with a Fallen Hero is asking what you become when you finally get back up. Do you become a version of the hero you used to be? Or do you try to become someone different?

If you used to be a flashing sword on the battlefield, hungry for glory, are you now more of a mentor figure? Does some of that old cunning you showed in your days as a master thief flash out from time to time when you're all planning a stealthy mission into the necromancer's fortress? Does your wizard, who barely speaks after the things she saw in the Void, slowly warm to the subject of ancient history, and helping educate her compatriots in the ways of spellcraft?

There are all sorts of options out there, and they're completely up to you!

Like, Follow, and Stay Tuned For More!

That's all for this installment of Unusual Character Concepts. Hopefully this one gave you something to chew over, whether you're a player, or a game master.

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