Souls of the Damned

[The Eyeball Kid]

This option is for any player who wants a more personal reason for their character to explore the Nine Hells: to recover their own lost soul. The character begins the adventure having been raised from the dead by one of the group patrons presented here; if you have a preference as to which, let me know. This group has brought the character back using an ancient ritual, but it is only temporary. The character must complete the adventure to save their soul, or they will return to the Nine Hells as a lemure.

These are just examples, feel free to modify any to fit your character or just straight up come up with your own as long as it features you succumbing to one of the sins and winding up in the Hells.

• The Chosen (Pride)
• The Furnace (Anger)
• The Great Con (Deceit)
• The Heartless Master (Oppression)
• The Infinite Treasure (Greed)
• The Merciless (Harm)
• The Oathbreaker (Betrayal)
• Patricide (Murder)
• The Queen (Jealousy)

 

Edited November 7, 2023 by The Eyeball Kid (see edit history)

[The Eyeball Kid]

The Chosen One (Pride)

You always knew you were special. Even from a young age, it became clear that you were better than everyone else. Because of this, you thought nothing of using, manipulating, or exploiting others for your own benefit. Stepping on the insignificant as you climbed your way to the top was simply the natural order. The fame and glory you achieved in your life only proved you were right all along … though looking back, maybe you pushed things too far. After all, you did end up in the Nine Hells.

Character Punishment. Your greatest fear in life was being inadequate. Now you're haunted by a recurring nightmare in which you compete in trials of skill against other heroes but find yourself weak, overmatched, and helpless.

[The Eyeball Kid]

The Furnace (Anger)

There has always been a fire inside you, a dangerous fury, just waiting to be unleashed upon the world in a storm of violence. The rage gave you strength and power. It helped you defeat your enemies and forge your legend … but there was a cost to your anger. Those around you quickly learned not to try your temper, but over the years it was inevitable that something would set you off from time to time. When it was unleashed, your wrath was terrifying to behold … but it also led you to do things you’d later regret. People suffered. People died. Some deserved it, but many did not. Given what you’ve done—what your anger made you do—you’ve known for a long time where you were going to end up when you died.

Character Punishment. The color of your sleep is red: blood, fire, burning rage. You don’t dream—not in the normal sense. When you close your eyes, all you see is red. You wake bathed in sweat, with your heart pounding, but you can’t remember any details beyond that single color. Red.

[The Eyeball Kid]

The Great Con (Deceit)

You’ve always been a grifter, using your wits to trick and manipulate others for your own advantage. But when you unknowingly made a deal with one of Asmodeus's agents, you learned that even you can be conned. Before you could fulfill the seemingly simple terms of the deal, you were murdered by the Avatar of Bhaal, consigning you to the Nine Hells. On the one hand, you admire the devil’s cunning trickery … but on the other, you want payback for how you were played.

Character Punishment. You were once a master of deceit, but in your dreams you're trapped in a labyrinth of your own lies, forced to run through the maze while being hunted by shadowy enemies and never able to find a way out.

[The Eyeball Kid]

The Heartless Master (Oppression)

You were used to the finer things in life; due to your fame and fortune, you surrounded yourself with servants to answer every need and fulfill every desire. You paid them well, but in exchange you demanded flawless perfection. Unbeknownst to you, the head of your household achieved this impossible standard through brutal training and punishments for any servant that failed even the smallest task. Despite your ignorance, you were ultimately responsible for the well-being of those under your charge … a responsibility you blissfully abdicated.

Character Punishment. Your sins weigh heavily on you. At night, you're plagued by disturbing dreams. In them, you're a servant under control of a cruel master who makes impossible demands. When you inevitably fail at your tasks, you're brutally punished over and over.

[The Eyeball Kid]

The Infinite Treasure (Greed)

You were never afraid to take what was yours—or what was anyone else's, for that matter. You lusted after material wealth in all its forms—money, possessions, magic items. During your life, you accumulated a vast hoard of treasures, but you couldn’t take it with you when you died. In the end, the only thing your avarice got you was a one-way ticket to the Nine Hells.

Character Punishment. Your dreams are filled with the endless counting of gold coins—hundreds, thousands, millions, all piled in an enormous chamber. Each one must be counted by hand, and you can’t stop until you’re done … but the mountain of coins just continues to grow and grow. Worst of all, you know in your heart they aren't even yours; you're just counting them for someone else.

[The Eyeball Kid]

The Merciless (Harm)

Throughout your adventuring career, your one true love was always with you, fighting by your side. You looked forward to a long and happy life together after your adventuring days were done, but that future was ripped away. Your partner was killed in a surprise attack by servants of an enemy from your past, their body disintegrated so they couldn't be raised. You hunted down the one responsible. But in your grief, it wasn’t enough to merely defeat or kill them. You spent days torturing your enemy, making them feel as much pain as possible in the hopes it would soothe your own tormented heart. In the end, it didn’t help … but your cruelty was such that upon your death your soul was consigned to the Nine Hells.

Character Punishment. The brutal revenge against your enemies brought you no solace. Instead, it only twisted and corrupted the memories you have of your true love. Now when you sleep, you dream of them not as your companion, but as your sadistic tormentor, torturing you in a prison cell from which there is no escape.

[The Eyeball Kid]

The Oathbreaker (Betrayal)

In the early days of your adventuring career, you swore an oath of loyalty to a patron. It was only much later you discovered you served a monster. When you were ordered to slaughter a political rival’s children, you refused. Despite your good intentions, you broke your solemn vow to serve, condemning your soul to the Nine Hells on a technicality when the patron’s hired assassins killed you.

Character Punishment. Every night, you're haunted by a recurring nightmare in which you're trapped in a room with strange, feral children. They cry and beg for mercy, even as they attack you over and over.

[The Eyeball Kid]

Patricide (Murder)

You murdered your father. It wasn’t premeditated, and you loved your father. But an argument escalated to the point where violence was involved. It was an accident that you will forever regret. Before you could use your considerable influence to have a priest raise him from the dead, you were imprisoned for your crime and then hanged.

Character Punishment. Your dreams are haunted by the screams of your suffering soul. Each dream is the same—a replay of your fatal argument with your father. Instead of killing your father, he overpowers you and then whips you relentlessly with a spiked belt. You know that you must end this cycle of violence.

[The Eyeball Kid]

The Queen (Jealousy)

Nobody said life was fair … but why was it always unfair against you? You were talented and skilled. You worked hard. But even with all you accomplished, there was always somebody more richly rewarded than you. More fame. More wealth. More attention. An easier life. It left a bitter taste in your mouth; it soured everything you had, diminishing you and your accomplishments. It seemed like the world was always against you. And then you ended up in the Nine Hells, proving death was against you too.

Character Punishment. You have strange dreams not connected to your life. In them, you're a lowly servant … yet somehow your sister is the Queen, and she is beloved. Other servants, guards, diplomats, members of the court—they all go on and on about how smart she is, how beautiful, how perfect, while you toil in the shadows, forgotten and ignored.