Ladies of Dungeons & Dragons

Art Credit: Alamut by thegryph.

Art by Dragos Florin Stanculescu

Jalana Domine

1st Level - Human (Turami) - Neutral Good

Wizard - School of Divination

Sage - Researcher

Adventure League Faction: Harpers

Personality Trait: I’m used to helping out those who aren’t as smart as I am, and I patiently explain anything and everything to others.

Ideal - Knowledge: The path to power and self-improvement is through knowledge.

Bond: I’ve been searching my whole life for the answer to a certain question.

Flaw: I am easily distracted by the promise of information.

Character Backstory

Exploring the secret passages and cubby holes throughout the “thousand thousand” hiding places in ruins beneath the city of Alaghon is a favorite pastime of the city’s children. This was also true of Jalana and her younger brother Anton. One day Anton disappeared into these same nooks and crannies and never re-emerged. Their distraught parents spent their life savings paying adventuring groups to attempt to find their child only to have those quests end in failure. Jalana was not one to give up. She sought out a divination wizard in the city and begged him to tell her of her brother’s fate. Taking pity on the child he divined for her and found that her brother was alive but in some sort of stasis somewhere deep underneath the city. Armed with this knowledge Jalana apprenticed herself to the wizard for the next few years. She learned all she could from him and then set out to adventure abroad, continuing her studies in divination and the arcane in hopes of one day being powerful enough to return and rescue her younger brother. She refuses to even consider failure as an option.

Character Sheet

Mara Brightwood

1st Level - Human (Illuskan) - Chaotic Good

Wizard - School of Conjuration

Sage - Discredited Academic

Adventure League Faction: The Harpers

Personality Trait: I am horribly, horribly awkward in social situations.

Ideal - Self-Improvement: The goal of a life of study is the betterment of oneself.

Bond: My life’s work is a series of tomes related to a specific field of lore.

Flaw: I can’t keep a secret to save my life, or anyone else’s.

Character Backstory

A young scholar of Candlekeep, Mara was destined for the life of a mediocre wizard. Even her cat familiar, Baldur, was unimpressed with her conjuring, when she summoned celestial mice for his daily exercise her efforts were often just met with a baleful stare. Her studies in conjuration also often led nowhere and her social awkwardness led her to spend more time hiding in the stacks than risk seeking out the monks of The Avowed when she had a question. That all changed the night she discovered she could conjure a small flame. In her excitement she set fire to her scrolls, which set fire to her books, which set fire to... By the time the flames were put out a small section of rather specific and esoteric lore was completely destroyed. The next day saw Mara thrown out on her ear with a stern warning to not return until she could replace all that was lost. Now on her own with just Baldur for company Mara must make her own way in the world, and attempt to not burn down any more libraries, if she can possibly help it.

Character Sheet / Familiar Sheet

Rowan Evenwood

1st Level - Human (Chondathan) - Chaotic Neutral

Barbarian - Path of the Berserker

Outlander - Origin: Bounty Hunter

Adventure League Faction: Lord’s Alliance

Personality Trait: I’m always picking things up, absently fiddling with them, and sometimes accidentally breaking them.

Ideal - Change: Life is like the seasons, in constant change, and we must change with it.

Bond: I suffer awful visions of a coming disaster and will do anything to prevent it.

Flaw: I am slow to trust members of other races, tribes, and societies.

Character Backstory

A Chondathan from Arrabar, Rowan has spent her life serving in the Order of the Sapphire Crescent. When she isn’t working as a mercenary she is sparring with fellow members of her company or sitting in quiet meditation in the Temple of Waukeen, the patron deity of her order. One day Waukeen gave her a vision of a dark and impending doom that left her shaken to the core. Leaving the city and heading out into greater Faerun, Rowan hopes to find answers on how to stop what is about to happen. Barring that, she hones her skills as a bounty hunter and an adventurer so that she can be ready should the worst come to pass.

Character Sheet

Sariel Liadon

1st Level - Half-Elf (Calishite mother / High Elf father) - Chaotic Good

Wizard - School of Transmutation

Noble

Adventure League Faction: Lord’s Alliance

Personality Trait: My eloquent flattery makes everyone I talk to feel like the most wonderful and important person in the world.

Ideal - Independence: I must prove that I can handle myself without the coddling of my family.

Bond: I will face any challenge to win the approval of my family.

Flaw: By my words and actions, I often bring shame to my family.

Character Backstory

By all appearances, to outsiders, Sariel seems to be a wealthy young woman belonging to the affluent noble house of Jassan. Headed by a pasha of emperor Ralan el Pesarkhal’s court, her family’s patriarch Sudeiman is a guildmaster of trade in Calimport. A closer look reveals a truth the family is ashamed of, Sariel is the bastard child of one of the younger daughters of the Jassan clan, and is obviously so being half-elven. Even if she were to cover her pointed ears her blue eyes in a family of dark eyed Calishites would give her away. A high-elf trader, Adran Liadon, seduced her mother Seipora and left her pregnant at only 16. The family were too proud to give Sariel away and so gave her an elven name to separate her from the clan and kept her out of the public eye as much as possible. Sariel was kept occupied by a wizard tutor and took a fancy to transmutation. In an attempt to impress her family she transmuted her raven familiar Bryn into the family symbol of a peacock. Unfortunately neither she nor her tutor were sure how she did it or how to transform him back. Being a raven he was ecstatic with his shiny new feathers so Sariel was happy to keep him that way. Her family was less than pleased. Though a noble looking peacock by all appearances, on the inside he was just a filthy scavenging raven, much like Sariel herself. Devastated, Sariel left a note for her family before sneaking out in the dead of night to strike out on her own. She wants to prove herself to her family and perhaps find a place to belong.

Character Sheet / Familiar Sheet

Ceidil Khalid

1st Level - Human (Calishite) - Neutral Good

Bard - College of Lore

Sage

Adventure League Faction: Harpers

Personality Trait: I’m willing to listen to every side of an argument before I make my own judgement.

Ideal - Knowledge: The path to power and self-improvement is through knowledge.

Bond: I have an ancient text that holds terrible secrets that must not fall into the wrong hands.

Flaw: I am easily distracted by the promise of information.

Character Backstory

A bard from the city of Derlusk, Ceidil enjoyed performing folk songs and telling stories of lore and history in the taverns and inns throughout the port known as the City of Music. During the days she could be found in dusty libraries and book stores pouring over old history books and tomes searching for new material. That is when she came across the text that started all of the trouble. She knew on reading the first few lines that here was knowledge that must not fall into the wrong hands. That night she bundled up her belongings and took the book out of the city in hopes of finding the key to destroy that which might otherwise bring ruin to all that she holds dear.

Character Sheet

Andry Brushgather

1st Level - Lightfoot Halfling - Chaotic Good

Ranger - Beast Master

Folk Hero

Adventure League Faction: Emerald Enclave

Defining Event: I stood alone against a terrible monster.

Personality Trait: Thinking is for other people. I prefer action.

Ideal - Freedom: Tyrants must not be allowed to oppress the people.

Bond: I protect those who cannot protect themselves.

Flaw: I’m convinced of the significance of my destiny, and blind to my shortcomings and the risk of failure.

Character Backstory

The day the giant came Andry was out hunting in the woods. The hill giant was alone and starving and demanded a tribute from the terrified halfling villagers in the form of food, any food, or else he would crush the village and all who lived within with boulders. When Andry returned with her game only to find that a great deal of the food supply was depleted she was furious. Without a second thought - despite vehement objections and outright fright from her fellow hin, not to mention good old common sense - she mounted up on her mastiff Lucky and rode out to where the giant had set up camp in the hills. Once she found the giant she laid into him, insulting his family, dishonoring his tribe, even making insinuations about his mother. It was only when she was winding down from this tirade that she realized that he was fast asleep. Andry was having none of it. After kicking him, punching him, and throwing a stone at him did nothing she had Lucky bite him in a place men aren’t likely to ignore. When he awoke he became enraged and picked up the nearest boulder to hurl it at the unlucky dog. Andry already had him in her sights. Pulling back her bow string she sent an arrow flying straight for his heart. She missed and clipped his elbow which resulted in him dropping the boulder on his own head and causing a death blow. Andry returned victorious to her village. Just one giant wasn’t enough though. The village was certain the rest of his tribe had to be nearby and were terrified she had angered them. Ignoring the odds, Andry has set out for a life of adventure. After all, thinking is for others, especially when there are giants to kill!

Character Sheet

Hama Rein

1st Level - Human (Calishite) - Chaotic Neutral

Sorcerer - Wild Magic Origin

Urchin

Adventure League Faction: The Harpers

Personality Trait: I bluntly say what other people are hinting at or hiding.

Ideal - Change: The low are lifted up, and the high and mighty are brought down. change is the nature of things.

Bond: No one else should have to endure the hardships I’ve been through.

Flaw: I will never fully trust anyone other than myself.

Character Backstory

To say that Hama’s father Zasheir was a bad man would be an understatement. In life he served as a cleric in the Church of Velsharoon. He, along with his fellow followers, committed foul sacrifices to perform acts of necromancy. He also fathered a child with a woman named Quara, a member of the Cult of the Dragon. 

When the Shaking Plague hit the city of Scardale Zasheir took ill and died and the church prepared to perform Pact of the Everlasting and sacrifice several innocents to bring him back to life. Quara discovered on the day of the ritual that one of the innocents Zasheir had instructed his fellow clerics to sacrifice was their daughter Hama. She broke into the ceremony and snatched her daughter from the altar and fled with the ritual not quite finished. The spell failed with only part of Zasheir coming back to life in the form of a shade only visible by moonlight, his magical ability was set loose and attached itself to the only closely related living flesh there was available, that of his child. 

Hama has been able to perform magic as easily as people breathe for as long as she can remember. It doesn’t always go off without a hitch though. Sometimes after casting a spell random butterflies and flowers flutter around her, or the occasional unicorn gets summoned and wanders the streets for a while, or during one memorable week, the sky was turned a vibrant blue, until Hama figured out how to reverse it. But, all in all, Hama and her pseudodragon familiar Kesi try to use magic wisely. 

After her mother passed away from the Shaking Plague when she was a small child Hama was left to fend for herself on the streets. Now that she is older she uses her magic to attempt to create a safe place for fellow orphans like herself. And if the people that would prey on orphans are foolish enough to think that it’s the dragon on her shoulder that will attack them then more fool they, she doesn’t even bite, it’s the girl you really have to look out for.

Character Sheet

Cora Thorngage

1st Level - Lightfoot Halfling - Neutral Good

Cleric - Life Domain

Acolyte

Adventure League Faction: Order of the Gauntlet

Personality Trait: I can find common ground between the fiercest enemies, empathizing with them and always working toward peace.

Ideal - Charity: I always try to help those in need no matter what the personal cost.

Bond: I owe my life to the priest who took me in when my parents died.

Flaw: Once I pick a goal, I become obsessed with it to the detriment of everything else in my life.

Character Backstory

The Thorngage’s were once a large and exuberant halfling family that lived on the outskirts of Scardale. Their ancestors had been part of the uneasy alliance against Lord Lashan’s invasion of the city. Unfortunately, in the generations since, the city has become increasingly unstable, but its fate was truly sealed when disaster struck in the form of the Shaking Plague. The plague hit the Thorngage family hard. Two sisters, Callie and Cora Thorngage, were the only survivors from their family. Their mother sent them out of the city to find safety. Disastrously, following an ambush by former members of the Zhentil Keep, the two were separated. Cora ended up being found by a priest on a pilgrimage from the nearby city of Harrowdale. She was taken back to the temple and taken into the service of the goddess Tymora, also known as “Lady Luck”. Thankful for the stroke of good fortune, Cora threw herself into aiding the temple in any way she could, training as a cleric, and serving as an acolyte of the goddess as soon as she was of age. She doesn’t know if her dear sister Callie is alive or dead, she only hopes that if she survived that she had as much luck in life as Cora did.

Character Sheet

Callie Thorngage

1st Level - Lightfoot Halfling - Chaotic Neutral

Rogue - Thief

Urchin

Adventure League Faction: The Harpers

Personality Trait: I sleep with my back to a wall or tree, with everything I own wrapped in a bundle in my arms.

Ideal - People: I help the people who help me - that’s what keeps us alive.

Bond: I owe my survival to another urchin who taught me to live on the streets.

Flaw: It’s not stealing if I need it more than someone else.

Character Backstory

The Thorngage’s were once a large and exuberant halfling family that lived on the outskirts of Scardale. Their ancestors had been part of the uneasy alliance against Lord Lashan’s invasion of the city. Unfortunately, in the generations since, the city has become increasingly unstable, but its fate was truly sealed when disaster struck in the form of the Shaking Plague. The plague hit the Thorngage family hard. Two sisters, Callie and Cora Thorngage, were the only survivors from their family. Their mother sent them out of the city to find safety. Disastrously, following an ambush by former members of the Zhentil Keep, the two were separated. Callie ended up being taken under the wing of a human girl named Hama Rein, a fellow orphaned urchin who was doing what she could to survive in the lawlessness of Scardale Town. Living on the streets, stealing what she needs to survive, Callie lives hand to mouth, hoping one day to save up enough to leave Scardale forever. She doesn’t know if her dear sister Cora is alive or dead, she only hopes that if she survived that she is in a better place than Callie is.

Character Sheet

Callie’s sister Cora Thorngage also has a character sheet available.

Shui Wan

1st Level - Half-Elf (Moon Elf father/Shou mother) - Chaotic Good

Druid - Circle of the Land: Forest

Outlander - Origin: Exile or Outcast

Adventure League Faction: Emerald Enclave

Personality Trait: I watch over my friends as if they were a litter of newborn pups.

Ideal - Greater Good: It is each person’s responsibility to make the most happiness for the whole tribe.

Bond: My family, clan, or tribe is the most important thing in my life, even when they are far from me.

Flaw: There’s no room for caution in a life lived to the fullest.

Character Backstory

Being a moon elf adventurer, Rolen flits from place to place and never puts down roots in one city for too long. He never expected to be captivated by a pair of beautiful hazel eyes in a young Shou woman. Jia Wan had grown up all of her life in the small, cramped northern district of Marsember where a community of Shou expatriates had banded together to form a Shou-town called Xiousing. Jia’s family belonged to the Chuen, a very traditionalist Shou organization that frowned on any contact with outsiders. While her society told her one thing, her heart told her another and she often snuck out of the city to go on moonlit trysts with her lover Rolen. When he offered to take her with him on his next adventure she refused as she could never see leaving her family behind. Only after he left did she realize she was pregnant with his child. With the help of her mother, Jia concealed the pregnancy until she gave birth to a daughter, Shui. Then her mother bundled up the half elven baby and took her deep into the Hermit’s Wood and left her with a druid tribe telling them only the baby’s name. Shui was raised by the druids and grew up loving the forest and the freedom of nature, often tossing caution to the wind in her adventures through the wood. When all druids come of age they are required to to prove themselves to the elders by passing a test unique to each applicant. When she was told she must leave to go on her own adventure Shui was dismayed, she could never see leaving her family behind. The elders mysteriously told her not to repeat past family mistakes. So Shui set out to prove her worth to her family, her society, and most importantly to herself.

Character Sheet

Atala Dumein

1st Level - Human (Calishite) - Chaotic Netural

Warlock - Otherworldly Patron: The Archfey

Sailor

Adventure League Faction: Order of the Gauntlet

Personality Trait: I stretch the truth for the sake of a good story.

Ideal - Aspiration: Someday I’ll own my own ship and chart my own destiny.

Bond: I was cheated out of my fair share of the profits, and I want to get my due.

Flaw: Once someone questions my courage, I never back down no matter how dangerous the situation.

Character Backstory

Atala grew up on her father’s merchant ship The Defiance. When she wasn’t standing with him at the bow watching the sea spray foam, she was scurrying up and down the mast or getting underfoot in the cook’s galley. How she ended up ten years later bound in service to the Marid and all alone is a mystery Atala is not in a hurry to reveal. Sometimes she claims an island of mermaids bewitched the crew and she was the only one with the wit to escape. Other times she claims a tornado of sharks swept the ship away and she was left the only survivor to swim to shore. While she spins these stories her beloved genie shaped familiar, Po, exaggeratedly imitates her behind her back. He may not be able to speak but is remarkably good at making sounds that imitate human inflection. The sharp observer would see the anger in her eyes though and realize there is more to Atala then there appears. She will do anything to have her revenge on the men who killed her father to claim his share of the profit and then threw his daughter over the side. Only the pity of the Marid spared her life and then only for a price. Learning her new powers, with her familiar Po at her side, Atala works each day to become stronger, hoping that one day she will be able to have her vengeance. 

Bree Underbough

1st Level - Lightfoot Halfling  - Chaotic Good

Rogue - Thief

Folk Hero - Specialty: Burglar

Adventure League Faction: The Harpers

Defining Event: I broke into a tyrant’s castle and stole weapons to arm the people.

Personality Trait: If someone is in trouble, I’m always ready to lend help.

Ideal - Freedom: Tyrants must not be allowed to oppress the people.

Bond: I protect those who cannot protect themselves.

Flaw: The tyrant who rules my land will stop at nothing to see me killed.

Character Backstory

Bree never intended to make a big fuss in the beginning. She started out small, stealing an apple here, a loaf of bread there. Her small, Halfling community located on the outskirts of a Calishite city was being heavily taxed and discriminated against by the merchant families within the city walls. Things became more dire when taxes were raised on the lower classes within the city too. To silence desenters the nobles started to throw those too outspoken into prison. Before Bree had only focused on keeping her own people fed. Now Bree was seeing people throughout the city without food, without money, and without hope. Her next heist was her biggest yet. She established secret ways into and out of the castle and started supplying the poor people of the city and those on the outskirts with weapons. Thus armed the people staged a massive revolt. When the dust settled the merchants agreed to a lightening of the taxes and to relieve the burdens on the poor. In return, they wanted the head of the Halfling woman that armed them. Now on the run, Bree finds shelter where she can and continues to help the poor and disenfranchised wherever she goes. But in pubs and taverns in Halfling communities throughout the kingdom a toast continues to be raised in her honor, “Our people suffered until now. Take a bow, Ms Underbough!”

Mei Ling

1st Level - Human (Shou) - Lawful Neutral

Monk - Way of Shadow

Outlander - Specialty: Bounty Hunter

Adventure League Faction: Lord’s Alliance

Personality Trait: I’m driven by a wanderlust that led me away from home.

Ideal - Honor: If I dishonor myself, I dishonor my whole clan.

Bond: I will bring terrible wrath down on the evildoers who destroyed my homeland.

Flaw: Violence is my answer to almost any challenge.

Character Backstory

The day the barbarians invaded her village changed Mei Ling’s life forever. With the death of her parents and the loss of her home the orphan girl was sent to live and train with the monks in a small, walled cloister in southern Shou Lung. She grew up under the tutelage of the monks, spending long hours alternating between rigorous training and time spent in contemplation and meditation. Unfortunately Mei soon became known around the monastery for her hot temper and quickness to violence when provoked. As a result the monks had her spend more time meditating then training. When Mei was a teen the barbarians invaded the south again. Though the battle was fierce, and both sides suffered many losses the monastery ultimately fell. Mei was among the few survivors driven into the hills. Now on her own Mei uses her training to pick up odd jobs in various towns as she journeys further west. She particularly likes picking up bounties as nothing helps her forget the pain of her losses like a good, bloody fight. She hopes to one day return home and help rebuild the monastery, but for now she seeks distance and perspective from her pain. Plus she enjoys feeling needed and helping those in need, it’s a way to bring honor to everyone she knew, loved, and lost.

Character Sheet

Arveene Amblecrown

1st Level - Human (Tethyrian) - Chaotic Neutral

Warlock - Otherworldly Patron: Great Old One

Charlatan 

Adventure League Faction: The Zhentarim 

Favorite Scheme: I insinuate myself into people’s lives to prey on their weakness and secure their fortunes.

Personality Trait: I’m a born gambler who can’t resist taking a risk for a potential payoff. 

Ideal - Independence: I am a free spirit - no one tells me what to do.

Bond: Somewhere out there, I have a child who doesn’t know me. I’m making the world better for him or her. 

Flaw: I’m convinced that no one could ever fool me the way I fool others.

Character Backstory

Arveene’s heart was broken after the death of her husband Randal. A freak carriage accident ended his life while she was pregnant with their first child. When she gave birth to a beautiful baby girl with Randal’s eyes and curly hair she felt like a small piece of herself was healed again. Ill luck struck twice when her daughter was found to have passed away in her crib only a few months later. The rage and tears of a mother’s loss summoned an unlikely deity to her aid. Beshaba, the goddess of ill luck - often known as “Lady Doom” or the “Maid of Misfortune” - had heard Arveene’s cries and offered her a chance to change her luck. She accepts the offer and is delighted to find her daughter squirming and crying in her crib. She looks up to thank Beshaba only to find the goddess has vanished and in her place is a heavy tome with an image of black antlers on a red field on the cover. After that day Arveene was transformed into a Warlock and entered the patronage of Beshaba who commanded her to sow ill luck, mischief and misfortune. Arveene wrapped up her child and secretly left her on the doorstep of a farmer and his wife with a letter. She then joined a traveling caravan of bards and other entertainers and set out to leave her home behind. As Arveene travels and serves her patron she never forgets her daughter and regularly sends home her earnings and gifts for the girl who will never know her mother or the pact she had to make. Each gift arrives with a simple note: “For Rowan, the light of my life. -AA”

Navarra Stayanoga

1st Level - Human (Rashemi) - Lawful Good

Wizard - Arcane Tradition: School of Abjuration

Sage - Specialty: Librarian 

Adventure League Faction: The Harpers

Personality Trait: I'm used to helping out those who aren't as smart as I am, and I patiently explain anything and everything to others.

Ideal - Self-Improvement: The goal of a life of study is the betterment of oneself.

Bond: I’ve been searching for my whole life for the answer to a certain question.

Flaw: I am easily distracted by the promise of information.

Character Backstory

It came as no surprise to Navarra’s parents when the witches of Rashemi came for their child when she was just shy of ten years old. Her magical potential was apparent at a young age and they were honored at the chance to have their daughter study with the Old ones. Navarra spent the next ten years studying magic in preparation of becoming a hathran. When she wasn’t studying magic or learning the deep tenets of Rashemen’s religion she had her nose in a book and could often be found in the library. Navarra has a knack for finding just the right book to answer any query. The librarians took her under their wing and taught her the importance between being a guide to knowledge and its gatekeeper. One day a question was asked that stumped the librarians and Navarra, the answer not to be found within Rashemi or its books. When Navarra came of age at twenty she chose to leave Rashemi for a time on a dajemma to find the answer to the mysterious question. It didn’t hurt that she also wanted to see the world that she had only read about in books and perhaps find new ones to read along the way.