D&D Backgrounds - Sacrificial Lamb
The Sacrificial Lamb is a background that lends itself to the character being an edgelord. Those lovely characters that mope around, full of angst, and have become who they are due to some tragedy in their youth. Love them or hate them, the edgelord background is a common one. In many of the campaigns I’ve played in, there was at least one character whose parents were killed, and they were out for vengeance. The Sacrificial Lamb background has no dead parents - it could if you really wanted it to - but your youth wasn’t exactly a bed of roses.
This is just one of the Edgelord Backgrounds available on our Patreon. You can also find background PDFs for the Avenger, Amnesiac, the Forsaken Wunderkind, and the Oathbreaker soon.
Sacrificial Lamb
Ability Scores: Dexterity, Charisma, Wisdom
Feat: Survivor
Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Religion
Tool Proficiencies: Calligrapher's Supplies
Equipment: Choose A or B: (A) Candles, Calligrapher’s Supplies, Candles, Ink, Ink Pen, Sacrificial Dagger, Tinderbox, 26 GP; or (B) 50 GP
Description
Marked from birth as a vessel for some higher power—or perhaps a scapegoat to appease dark forces—your destiny was to be a sacrifice. Cults, prophets, or zealous clerics claimed your life would bring salvation or unlock forbidden power. You grew up shadowed by a grim fate, taught rites and rituals to prepare you for the ultimate end.
But something changed within you; you no longer want to die. Maybe you came to believe you were the chosen one whose death would anger the gods. You could have been no longer willing to die for others to achieve greatness. Whatever the reason, you wanted to live.
The problem was that those around you saw your fate quite differently.
Whether through divine intervention, sheer will, or an unexpected twist of fate, you escaped your sacrificial destiny. Now, you wander a world that sees you as both blessed and cursed, your body and soul carrying the weight of unseen forces. Some revere you, others hunt you, and still, more fear you. To survive, you’ve had to hone your wit and skill and turn the tools meant to end your life into weapons to defend it.
Now, as you wander the land, you find yourself stuck between being a living sacrifice and master of your destiny, never sure if you’re guiding your path or being dragged along by an unseen hand.
Background Story Ideas:
Your village believed sacrificing you to a dark god would protect them from ruin. On the night of the ritual, you escaped with the help of a sympathetic cultist who whispered an even darker truth about your role. Now, you travel in search of answers while those who seek to reclaim you close in.
People saw you as a divine offering, and you accepted your fate. But as the blade was poised to strike, you experienced a vision that saved your life. Now, you wander the world, seeking to understand what you saw - a message of salvation, a warning, or something more sinister.
Stolen from your family at birth by cultists, you were raised to believe your sacrifice would bring glory to the gods. When an unexpected twist allows you to escape, you find yourself in a world that sees you as both a miracle and a threat. Your new life challenges the indoctrination you were subjected to and brings you closer to the truth about who you really are.
Origin Feat: Survivor
You’ve learned how to survive even the most harrowing situations
On Death’s Door. You know the Spare the Dying cantrip. Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this feat’s spells (choose when you select this feat).
Blessed by the Unknown. When you use a Hit Die to recover hit points during a short rest, you can reroll the die if it rolls a 1, and you must use the new roll.
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Art Credit - WotC
