The Heroic Chronicle is a system that allows players and Dungeon Master to work together to build a compelling character story. It even allows characters to gain additional proficiencies, magic items, spells, or feats before the campaign begins.

Backstory

A character's story begins with determining the region where they were born, the job they had before becoming an adventurer, their social status, the settlement where they grew up, and their family relationships. As this backstory develops, the character will gain allies and rivals, as well as learn some of the fateful moments that set them on the path of adventure.

Homelands

The known lands of Wildemount are divided into four major geographic regions. From west to eat, these regions are the Menagerie Coast, Western Wynandir (which is further divided into the Marrow Valley and the Zemni Fields), the Greying Wildlands, and Eastern Wynandir. The northernmost reaches of the continent - the forgotten lands of Eiselcross - are not included in this section

Background

In addition to granting you items, gold, and proficiencies, your background gives you a sense of belonging in the world.

Social Status

Each nation in Wildemount views people's backgrounds according of its cultural values. Based on your character's background, think about your social status within the context of the details of your homeland presented below. Then use the Social Status Relationships table to determine how many allies and rivals you'll roll for later.

Menagerie Coast

Both the Clovis Concord and their hated nemesis, the Revelry pirates, price personal freedom over all other things. The Revelry simply takes this ideology one bloody step further. People of the Concord celebrate folk heroes and entertainers, and all other people who might become celebrities, iconoclasts, and figures of legend.

At the same time, the common working-class sailor is a symbol of the Concord's strength. As with the crew of a well-run ship, the small actions of individuals can have a huge impact when all are working toward common goals. Common sailors despise the Revelry, and noteworthy sailors might even have a rival within the Revelry.

Western Wynandir

The Dwendalian Empire prizes king and country over personal freedoms - at least as far as the freedoms of the poor are concerned. For the wealthy noble class, most laws are mere guidelines, since bribery and political favors can make almost any problem go away.

In the Dwendalian Empire, rural folk are seen as honest, hardworking, and pious, while the wealthy ruling class are viewed as beneficent patricians - or as miserly tyrants. Patriotism is a core virtue, and enlisting in the Righteous Brand and adhering to the empire's strict religious laws are the most patriotic acts of all.

Greying Wildlands

The Greying Wildlands and the settlement of Shadycreek Run are lawless. Crime is a virtue here, mercy a vice. Only strength rules in the land run by the coalition of criminals known as "the Tribes." Anyone who doesn't have the personal strength to defend themselves is treated with contempt, and those who represent the iron fist of the empire are utterly despised.

Travel further north, however, and one reaches the Diarchy of Uthodurn, a stable and ancient city rule by elves and dwarves. Here, order and art are prized over chaos and personal enrichment. If you character is from Uthodurn rather than Shadycreek Run, replace any rival you gain from the Social Status Relationships table with an ally and vice versa.

Eastern Wynandir

Accumulating knowledge and achieving spiritual enlightenment are the virtues of the Kryn Dynasty, whose society is built around the tenets of the Luxon. Artists, entertainers, artisans, and all people who create are well-valued in Kryn society. yet, in this age of war, people whose skills allow them to destroy are paradoxically prized just as highly.

To the Kryn, a person's background is less important than the experiences they've accumulated - particularly for those who have begun walking the sacred path known as consecution. Nonetheless, even the most enlightened society can't help but look down upon its lowest citizens and sneer at its haughty elite. Once all beings are beloved by the Luxon, perhaps these ills of society will be purged once and for all.

Home Settlement

Once you've determined your nation and considered your social status within that realm, roll on the appropriate table to determine which settlement you grew up in. If your character is a traveler - a child of soldiers, a nomad, a traveling performer, and so forth - you can roll for up to three settlements that you've visited often and have some connections in.

Family

Roll twice on the appropriate Family Size table - once to determine how many living parents you have, and once to determine your living siblings.

Powerful Family Relationships

Your first allies and rivals are your family. Sometimes your family members are your closest friends. Sometimes you hate their guts. Roll a d3. This is the number of powerful relationships you have within your family.

Roll once on the Family Relationships table for each powerful relationship you have within your family, to determine the setup of your friendship or rivalry.

Acquired Allies and Rivals

If you gained allies or rivals based on your background and your homeland, this section allows you to establish your relationship with those allies and rivals, as well as the broad strokes of their identities.

Ally and Rival Identities

When you've determined the relationships between you and your acquired allies and rivals, roll for each one on the Ally and Rival Identities table to determine their game statistics. This table includes monsters and NPCs in this book and in the Monster Manual.

If you roll a particularly powerful ally or rival on this table, their involvement in your life causes a fateful moment to occur in your backstory, as determined on the Fateful Moments table.

Fateful Moments

No one decides to go adventuring without a reason. Some might set out from home in the name of vengeance, seeking retribution for themselves or their kin. Some might be looking for wealth or glory. Others might seek only a change from their dreary lives, never realizing that they'll soon be caught up in events beyond their understanding along the open road.

Roll once on the Fateful Moments table for each such moment you accrued in the previous section, courtesy of the allies and rivals that are part of your backstory.

Mysterious Secret

You saw something you weren't supposed to. A note came into your possession by mysterious means. You can roll on the Mysterious Secrets table or work with your DM to create a secret.

Prophecy

Write down three aspirations or goals you have for your character, and which you want to achieve over the course of the campaign. A prophecy goal should have two parts. First is the goal that your character wants to attain. Second is a sense of what complication might ensue once the goal is met - for good or ill.

One of your prophecy goals should be an immediate goal, one should be long term, and one should be a goal that concludes your character arc at the end of the campaign. You don't have to choose all three goals at the start.

If you're looking for prophecy goals for your character, you can roll on the Prophecy Inspirations table for a random goal and a consequence of that goal. If this goal isn't a perfect fit for your character, you can fine-tune it or roll again to find one that works better.