Amantia Campaign — Session Zero Questionnaire

D&D 2024 Rules + Homebrew | Level 1 Start | In-Person | Player-Driven Campaign

1. Player Information

Player name: Trent Brazil Character name: Vesper Crowe

2. Campaign Buy-In

What kind of personal goal would make your character actively choose adventure rather than wait for the plot? Finding the cure for the curse slowly killing Vesper’s home village. Every lead matters. Every delay costs lives. Vesper doesn’t wait for the world to hand him answers — he goes looking. The fact that the cure might require understanding what the hag did to him makes every lead both necessary and personally threatening.

What is one type of campaign hook your character would almost never ignore? Evidence connected to the village affliction, whispers of hag magic or old bargains, any trace of the mentor, or anything that might explain why she chose him specifically.

3. Tone and Genre

Pick exactly TWO:

Tone notes: The mystery should feel personal — threads that tie back to Vesper’s past, not just world-level intrigue. Dark fantasy is welcome; moral cost over gratuitous darkness. I want moments where the right choice isn’t obvious.

4. Character Generation

Species: Human (Hexblood — not born, not inherited; transformed by a mentor who was a hag in disguise)

Note for DM: Hexblood is from Van Richten’s Guide to Ravenloft (2021). Requesting clarification on how it adapts to 2024 rules — specifically which base species it modifies and how Hex Magic functions at level 1. Additionally: in Vesper’s case the transformation was deliberate and recent (not ancestral), so the Witch’s Mark dream-communication is with the specific hag who made him — a living, antagonist-connected NPC. Happy to work with the DM on how much mechanical vs. narrative weight that has.

Lineage (if any): Hexblood

Eerie Token — create small tokens imbued with unsettling presence
Hex Magic — Disguise Self and Hex (1/long rest each)
Witch’s Mark — dream-communication with the hag who transformed Vesper (DM-defined; this is an active antagonist connection, not a neutral trait)

Alignment: Neutral — operates by a personal moral code, not society’s rules

Gender; Age; Height & Weight; Hair; Eye Color; Skin Tone: Male. 27. 5’11”, 168 lbs — lean and built for movement, not strength. Nothing about his build reads as a threat until it’s too late.

Dark brown hair, kept short but not neat. A silver streak runs through the left side from the temple — appeared after Maren’s ritual, not there before. He doesn’t cover it. Covering it would mean explaining it.

Eyes: dark grey, normally unremarkable. The left eye occasionally shifts to a pale, washed-out near-white under stress or when the hexblood magic surfaces. It doesn’t happen on command. He usually knows when it’s happening because people’s expressions change first.

Skin tone: medium, weathered from travel. A faint discoloration runs along the inside of his left wrist — the spot where the hexblood mark surfaces most visibly, faintly luminescent in low light. He touches it without thinking when he’s working through a problem.

Languages: Common (confirm Amantian equivalent with DM) + Sylvan (hexblood) + Elvish (from Soldier background — picked up during service, fits the hexblood/fey thread)

Species Traits: Hexblood lineage traits as above. Base Human traits (2024): no ability score increases from species (handled by background in 2024).

Ability Scores (Standard Array: 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8 — assigned, then Soldier background applied: +1 Str, +1 Dex, +1 Con):

Score	Base	+Background	Final	Modifier
Strength	10	+1	11	+0
Dexterity	14	+1	15	+2 ← primary
Constitution	13	+1	14	+2
Intelligence	14	—	14	+2 ← secondary
Wisdom	10	—	10	+0
Charisma	12	—	12	+1

Hit Points (level 1): 8 + 2 (Con) = 10

Background: Soldier (Ex-Soldier)

Ability score adjustment: +1 Str, +1 Dex, +1 Con
Skill proficiencies: Athletics, Intimidation
Tool proficiency: Gaming Set (one type)
Origin Feat: Savage Attacker (hits hard when it lands — fits someone trained to end fights fast)
Starting Equipment: (A) Spear, Shortbow, 20 Arrows, Gaming Set, Healer’s Kit, Quiver, Traveler’s Clothes, 14 GP — or (B) 50 GP

Class: Rogue

Hit Points: 8 + Constitution modifier

Saving throw proficiencies: Dexterity, Intelligence Skill proficiencies (Rogue): Stealth, Investigation, Deception, Insight All skills (including background): Athletics, Intimidation, Stealth, Investigation, Deception, Insight Tool proficiencies: Thieves’ Tools (from class) + Gaming Set (from background) Armor proficiencies: Light armor Weapon proficiencies: Simple weapons, hand crossbows, longswords, rapiers, shortswords Starting equipment: Use Soldier background equipment — Spear, Shortbow, 20 Arrows, Gaming Set, Healer’s Kit, Quiver, Traveler’s Clothes, 14 GP (or 50 GP). Supplement with Thieves’ Tools from class. Class Features: Expertise (2 skills), Sneak Attack (1d6), Thieves’ Cant, Cunning Action

Anything Else? Subclass selection comes at level 3. Suggested directions given the character concept: Arcane Trickster (hexblood + magic fits naturally), Inquisitive (investigation-focused), or Phantom (dark, death-touched, hag-adjacent themes).

5. Character Concept and Identity

Pitch: A rogue transformed into a Hexblood by a mentor who turned out to be a hag in disguise — the same hag who cursed his home village. He didn’t inherit this. He was made into it. Now he’s hunting for a cure, answers, and the person who built him into a weapon without his knowledge.

Species / class / background / future options: Human (Hexblood — transformed, not born), Rogue (Soldier/Ex-Soldier background). Potential Arcane Trickster subclass at level 3, leaning into the hexblood magic the hag left in him.

Where is Vesper from? Ashveil — a small, isolated village on the edge of something wilder — old forests, dark hills, or borderlands where old magic has deep roots. The kind of place people in cities don’t think about and maps mark only vaguely. Before the mentor arrived, Vesper was ordinary. The hexblood mark came later — a visible sign of what was done to him. The village noticed the change. Some of them never fully trusted him after that, even though they didn’t know what had changed or why.

Family: Father: Aldric Crowe. Mother: Nessa Crowe. Both still in the village, afflicted. No hexblood bloodline in the family; the mark is entirely Vesper’s and entirely the hag’s doing. Vesper’s relationship with his family is complicated: love, guilt, and the particular weight of having brought something into the village — the mentor — that ultimately destroyed it.

Married / children? No.

The Mentor (the betrayer): Maren Voss arrived when Vesper had already left the military — or possibly near the end of his service. She appeared as a wandering scholar or hedge mage, someone with knowledge of old magic and dark places that a soldier would find useful. She took Vesper under her wing: sharpened his existing skills (the military gave him discipline; she gave him precision), taught him to move in spaces the army never trained him for, and offered answers to questions he’d been carrying. She knew how to read a soldier — the loyalty, the need for a mission, the trust placed in authority. She used all of it. The ritual that made Vesper a Hexblood may have been framed as a gift, a test, or a tactical advantage. When the curse hit the village, Maren was gone. Vesper traced the signs back. She knows exactly how he thinks — because a significant part of how he operates was built by her on top of a military foundation.

Pet: None.

One belief, flaw, fear, or temptation that could cause trouble: Trust is the wound — but the specific shape of it is worse than simple betrayal. Vesper didn’t just trust the mentor; he was shaped by them. Some of his best instincts, his sharpest skills, the way he reads a room — all of it came from someone who was using him. He doesn’t fully know which parts of himself are his and which parts were installed. The flaw: paranoia occasionally overrides good judgment, and sometimes he catches himself using a technique the mentor taught and goes cold. The temptation: the Witch’s Mark means the hag can still reach him through dreams. She hasn’t gone silent. Whatever she wants from what she made, she hasn’t stopped wanting it.

One thing Vesper would protect at personal cost: The village. The people still alive and afflicted. Whatever it takes.

Favorite foods, drinks, colors, attire: Dark, practical clothing — charcoal, deep green, black. Nothing that catches light or attention. Strong, bitter tea or cheap spirits. Simple food; tastes are not a priority. One small personal item kept close — a token from the village, worn or weathered.

Ticks or quirks: Instinctively reads exits when entering any room. Touches the silver streak in his hair or his left wrist when thinking hard or nervous. Doesn’t raise his voice — gets quieter when angry, which unnerves people.

Fears / phobias: That the village is already past saving — that by the time the cure is found, there will be no one left to cure. And a quieter fear: that the hexblood nature is not just a bloodline trait but something that wants something from Vesper, and that one day it will collect.

6. Character Backstory Hooks

Chosen hook — expanded: A betrayal that still matters. Maren Voss arrived in the village with knowledge and patience and a specific interest in Vesper that felt, at the time, like being chosen for something real. The training was genuine — the skills Vesper has now are proof of that. But the transformation into a Hexblood was the line. It may have been framed as a gift, a rite of passage, or a mutual agreement Vesper didn’t fully understand. When the curse hit the village, the mentor had already left. The signs pointing back to her accumulated in retrospect: the timing, the method, the fact that the curse used magic that matched the mentor’s craft. Vesper doesn’t yet know why — was the village the target, or was Vesper? Was the transformation the point, with the curse as a cover? Is Vesper a weapon, an experiment, or a message to someone else? The uncertainty is the hook. The mentor built too much of Vesper for him to simply hate her cleanly — and the Witch’s Mark means she can still reach him. She hasn’t stopped trying.

NPC Vesper cares about: Corwen — an elderly healer and village elder still alive in Ashveil, afflicted but holding on. One of the few people who accepted Vesper after the transformation — didn’t understand what had changed, but said it didn’t matter. Vesper sends word when he can. Every letter without a response tightens something in his chest.

NPC Vesper has tension with: Maren Voss (name the village knew her by — not her true name). Former teacher and the one who made Vesper what he is. Vesper doesn’t fully understand what she wanted or wants. Needs answers as much as consequences. The Witch’s Mark is the most dangerous part: she can still reach him in dreams, which means she still has access, still has leverage, and may still have a use for him. Vesper might hesitate at the worst moment — not out of love, but because she knows things about the cure that no one else does.

Secret or unresolved question to be revealed later: Why did the hag choose Vesper specifically? The transformation wasn’t random — she came to that village for a reason, spent time building Vesper’s trust deliberately, and left with everything set in motion. The “cure” may require understanding what she built into the Hexblood transformation and why. The answer to the village’s affliction and the answer to what Vesper actually is may be the same answer.

7. Party Connection and Group Play

Why would Vesper stay with an adventuring party even when things get dangerous? The cure requires resources, access, and reach that Vesper doesn’t have alone. Every party member represents a different door that Vesper can’t open by himself. And despite the wound the betrayal left, Vesper still believes in loyalty — he just gives it slowly now, and he doesn’t take it back once given.

Role in the group: Scout. Investigator. The one who slips into places others can’t and comes back with information. Also quietly the one who notices when something is wrong with a person before that person knows it themselves.

One reason another character might like Vesper: Reliable under pressure. Doesn’t panic, doesn’t overexplain, doesn’t waste movement. When things go sideways, Vesper is already looking at the problem.

One reason another character might find Vesper difficult: Slow to trust, reads motives behind everything, and has a habit of going quiet and disappearing when following a lead — without necessarily telling anyone where he went or why.

I would like to establish a connection with another PC before session 1 (optional — open to it if another player wants a prior tie)
I am open to another PC being family, old friend, rival, student, mentor, or former ally
I prefer meeting the party in play rather than pre-linking characters
I enjoy inter-party banter and disagreement as long as everyone is respected
I want strong party loyalty and minimal internal conflict
I am open to secrets between characters if the players are on board

8. Character Arc Preferences

Pick up to FIVE:

What kind of ending would feel satisfying? Finding the cure and getting back to Ashveil in time — or, if that’s not fully possible, understanding the truth of what happened and making something meaningful out of it. A party that became family. A confrontation with Maren Voss that answers the question of why — and an answer to whether Vesper can forgive it, or even wants to.

9. Goals

Personal Goals:

Long term: Find the cure for the village affliction. Understand the full truth of the betrayal and the hexblood transformation’s origin. Bring both to some kind of resolution.

Medium term: Locate someone with deep knowledge of the specific curse — a hag, an arcanist, an ancient healer, or a creature that has seen this before. Alternatively: find Maren Voss and get answers before a cure, not after.

Short term (two):

Find a scholar, witch, or hedge mage who can identify the exact nature of the affliction and whether a cure exists.
Pick up Maren’s trail — gather rumors, find evidence of her direction or allegiances.

Party Goals (develop at the table with other players):

Long term: [Fill in at Session Zero with party] Medium term: [Fill in at Session Zero with party] Short term: [Fill in at Session Zero with party]

10. Comfort, Boundaries, and Safety

Fill in privately or discuss with DM — these are personal choices.

Topic	Okay	Fade to Black / Veil	Hard No
Graphic gore or body horror	[x]	[ ]	[ ]
Torture or interrogation scenes	[x]	[ ]	[ ]
Horror involving children	[x]	[ ]	[ ]
Romance involving PCs or NPCs	[x]	[ ]	[ ]
Sexual content	[ ]	[x]	[ ]
Mind control / loss of agency	[x]	[ ]	[ ]
Betrayal by trusted NPCs	[x]	[ ]	[ ]
PvP, theft, or deception between PCs	[x]	[ ]	[ ]
Character death	[x]	[ ]	[ ]
Curses, possession, or permanent transformation	[x]	[ ]	[ ]
Spiders, insects, snakes, or specific phobias	[x]	[ ]	[ ]
Religious horror, cults, or blasphemy themes	[x]	[ ]	[ ]

Other topics to avoid, soften, or discuss privately: None at this time.

How should the table pause or redirect if something becomes uncomfortable? Say “let’s step back” — everyone pauses, short check-in, redirect or skip the scene. No explanation needed.

11. Table Expectations

Starred = top three most important to me

What table behavior helps you have the most fun? Players who commit to their characters’ choices and let consequences land. Everyone getting moments that matter. The DM rewarding proactive play.

What table behavior drains the fun? Rules lawyering mid-scene. Spotlight hogging. Players who aren’t engaged when it isn’t their turn.

How do you prefer rules questions to be handled during play? DM makes a call in the moment; debate it after the session if needed. Keep the scene moving.

12. Gameplay Preferences

1 = not very interested, 5 = very excited

Preference	Rating
Tactical combat	5
Boss fights and set-piece battles	5
Dungeon crawling	3
Wilderness exploration	4
Travel challenges	3
Mystery and investigation	3
Political intrigue and negotiation	1
Faction reputation and alliances	2
Moral dilemmas	2
Puzzles, riddles, and codes	4
Social roleplay with NPCs	2
Roleplay between party members	2
Personal character arcs	3
Downtime, crafting, training	3
Magic items, loot, and treasure hunts	4
Horror, suspense, and eerie scenes	3
Plan-based missions, heists, or infiltrations	3
Large-scale battles or war stories	3
Divine, planar, or mythic storylines	4
Player-created goals shaping the campaign	3

Top FIVE gameplay ingredients:

Tactical combat
Boss fights and set-piece battles
Wilderness exploration
Puzzles, riddles, and codes
Magic items, loot, and treasure hunts

Up to THREE to use only occasionally or not at all:

Political intrigue and negotiation
Faction reputation and alliances
Moral dilemmas

13. Rules, Homebrew, and Character Advancement

Rules or homebrew to clarify before play: How does the Hexblood lineage (Van Richten’s Guide, 2021) adapt to D&D 2024 rules? Specifically: which base species does it modify, how does Hex Magic function at level 1, and does the hag dream-communication (Witch’s Mark) have mechanical teeth or is it purely narrative?

What kind of rewards excite you besides gold and magic items? Information — leads on the cure, insight into Maren’s motives, lore about the hexblood transformation. Connections and allies who can meaningfully help the village. Moments of trust earned with NPCs who start hostile.

14. Final DM Notes

Three things I would love to see in this campaign:

Maren Voss as a recurring presence — not a simple villain, but someone whose motives reveal themselves slowly and complicate the question of what Vesper actually wants to do when he finally catches up. She built him. That’s not a simple thing to confront.
The Hexblood transformation as a living story thread — the Witch’s Mark means she can reach Vesper through dreams. Those dreams don’t have to be traps. Sometimes the most dangerous thing a villain can do is be genuinely useful.
At least one moment where saving Ashveil feels genuinely possible and genuinely costly at the same time.

Three things I would rather keep rare:

Large-scale open battlefield combat — Vesper works in the shadows, not the line.
Pure location-clearing without story relevance — every dungeon or site should have a thread that ties to the mystery.
Forced rapid trust with NPCs — let Vesper earn it and give it slowly.

One question about Amantia or the campaign: What is the nature of hag magic in this world — is it an ancient/primal force, something taboo and feared, or more integrated into how people understand dark bargains and the fey? This affects two things: how Vesper’s hexblood mark is read by strangers, and how much danger he’s in just from being what he is. A world where hag-touched people are burned on sight is a different character experience than one where they’re just mistrusted.

Anything for the DM privately? Nothing at this time.

Vesper Crowe | Human (Hexblood) | Rogue | Level 1 Player: Trent Brazil | Campaign: Amantia

Filled questionnaire (docx): Vesper_Crowe_Amantia_Session_Zero.docx

Amantia Wiki

Explorer

Vesper Crowe - Session Zero