Really Weird Origins, Flaws, and Quirks

by Hyperdrift

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Really weird origins, flaws, and quirks

d20 Origin, Flaw, or Quirk
1 Conjoined Twins. Your character has two heads, two personalities, and two unique voices to roleplay. You can argue with yourself, for instance.
2 Partial reincarnation. Apparently, you were supposed to be the reincarnation of some great being from long ago, but the whole reincarnation thing didn't quite work out all the way and you are half reincarnated, meaning you are possessed by the spirit of someone from long ago, who thinks they should be in charge and know best. Or, looking at it from the other perspective you finally got reincarnated, but your body is controlled by an idiot who thinks they are in charge. Perhaps control of the body, mind, and alignment falls to a roll of the die.
3 Time Curse. You were struck by a curse at a young age and stopped aging physically. A good excuse to be immature for the rest of your life? Or, a tragedy that will never see you fully develop?
4 Salesperson's Curse. You were cursed by a powerful entity for miscreant sales tactics. Now, you have a number of tokens that you must sell before a deadline, or you suffer the effect of the token. Each token offers the purchaser a unique one-time benefit, at the cost of something truly dramatic and awful. You have tokens that grant healing in exchange for baldness, fame in exchange for several years in demon's prison, a chance to forget their own past completely, a token that allows the bearer to communicate with rodents, though attuning to it causes the bearer to grow long front teeth, the deed to a ruined and haunted castle—the bearer will be haunted regardless of where they go, though ostensibly rich, a token that causes the bearer excruciating pain each time they lie, a token for immunity to alcohol which simultaneously grants the bearer a beer belly, a token for a new spouse, child or parent to replace one that has died—there are no guarantees about the quality of the replacement, and so on.
5 Fae Curse. After a long rest, the first time you touch a creature they are affected in a random way unless they succeed on a Wisdom save of DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution. Roll 1d10: (1) the creature instantly abhors you and everything you do bothers them, (2) the sight of you makes the creature feel ill, (3) the creature cannot remember your name, no matter how many times you tell them it, (4) the creature is possessed of incurable curiosity about you and will ask you personal questions incessantly, some of which may be embarrassing , (5) the creature develops a deep distrust about anything you say and will contradict you at the first and every opportunity, (6) the creature has a compulsion to interrupt you rather than allowing you to finish a sentence, (7) the creature believes you are an adorable and furry pet and laughs at anyone that claims otherwise, (8) the creature believes that you are an edible delicacy, (9) the creature believes you to be a relative they haven't seen for a long time, (10) the creature believes you owe them a lot of money.
5 Two in One. Your body is inhabited by two individuals. When you finish a long rest one of the individuals takes over. Your appearance and behavior changes to match that person. It may be a person of different alignment, and possibly different sex.
6 Tropism. You have inherited an archtypal identity. This is a rare condition that causes an individual to take on the appearance of a famous trope that exists as a part of the zeitgeist in this region. To most people you meet, you seem to be someone they already know. Roll to determine your trope (d8): (1) village idiot, (2) lousy drunk, (3) no-good rotten scoundrel con artist, (4) corrupt merchant or noble, (5) stable boy/barmaid, etc., (6) infamous philanderer, (7) a famous poet, great thinker, or prodigious author (though you may have no sage wisdom whatsoever), (8) a great athlete (though you may have no skill at sport), (9) a famous orator or cleric (though you may be mortified to speak publicly), (10) a convicted thief, murderer or other villain.
7 Brutism When you complete a short or long rest, your ability scores are normal. Each time you take damage greater than your level, your strength score increases by 1 up to a maximum of 20 and your Intelligence score decreases by 1 down to a minimum of 5.
8 Bipolar Luck When you complete a long rest you gain advantage on saving throws to a random ability and disadvantage on saving throws to a random ability (d6): (1) strength, (2) dexterity, (3) constitution, (4) intelligence, (5) wisdom, (6) charisma.
9 Foot Disease. When you complete a long rest your feet change into one of 6 random forms: (1) digitigrade hooves: you have disadvantage on stealth checks to avoid being heard walking on hard surfaces and gain +5 ft movement speed, (2) webbed feet: you gain a swimming speed equal to your walking speed and disadvantage on athletics checks to climb. When you dash on land, you move as though through difficult terrain. (3) chicken feet: you gain claws that deal 1d6+str slashing damage and you have disadvantage on charisma checks. (4) your race's normal feet, (5) Abnormally large feet. You gain advantage on strength saving throws to avoid forced movement but look ridiculous, (6) Furry feat like a yeti. You have advantage on animal handling checks with other furry creatures. You also look ridiculous.
10 Conservation of Luck When you roll a natural 20 on a d20 test, the next creature (friend or foe) within 10 feet of you to roll a d20 test before the beginning of your next turn has disadvantage. When you roll a natural 1 on a d20 test, that creature has advantage.
11 Holy Cow You have been named caretaker of your clan's holy something. It could be a cow, goat, pig, or similar farm animal. When you are within 30 feet of the holy "cow" you gain a +1 to initiative as this animal makes characteristic noises that warn of danger. Its poop also has miraculous fertilizing properties. If two weeks of collected dung is spread over a 1/4 acre field in a one hour ritual, it has the effect of the plant growth spell.
12 Doubling Disease. When you complete a long rest, roll 1d20. On a roll of anything other than a 20, the amount of the largest denomination of coin on your person halves, and the amount of the smallest denomination of coin on your person doubles. If there is only one value of coin, it all disappears. On a roll of a 20 a random object or creature within 10 feet of you duplicates (DM's choice). The duplicate lasts for 24 hours and then vanishes.
13 Friendly Phylactery Your soul is bound within a phylactery, like a lich. Only, it is not an object but tiny creature of your choice. If that creature is killed, you drop to zero HP and are dying. If you drop to 0 HP you are not dying as long as the tiny creature has HP remaining. This tiny creature has the evasion property and has advantage on all saving throws while it is on your person. If you move more than 120 feet from the friendly phylactery, it instantly teleports to your space. You can communicate telepathically with the creature and it obeys your commands.
14 Annoying Telepathy You have an innate ability to sense what most annoys a creature. When you meet a creature for the first time in a noncombat setting, you must attempt an insight check versus a creature's deception. On a success you immediately know what most annoys it and have advantage on skill checks to reproduce that effect. You also must succeed on a DC 10 Charisma saving throw to avoid immediately doing that thing consciously or subconsciously.
15 Contagious Luck When you roll a natural 20 on a d20 test, the next creature (friend or foe) within 10 feet of you to roll a d20 test before the beginning of your next turn has advantage. When you roll a natural 1 on a d20 test, that creature has disadvantage.
16 Noble Savage You gain the "retainers" feature of the noble knight background, as you have been deemed nobility by at least three creatures. These are small or tiny creatures of a different race than you. You may not even speak their language, but for some reason, they are bound to your service, whether you like it or not. They could be sprites, imps, quasits, mephits, deep gnomes, goblins, etc.
17 Ancestral Watch A judgmental family ghost keeps watch over you. It is not afraid to speak out its opinions of your decisions, even speaking to those around you, especially about your flaws and shortcomings.
18 Adoptive Zombie An non-aggressive zombie has adopted you as its caretaker.
19 Favored Fork As a farmer you have cultivated a beneficial relationship with a sentient farm implement, such as a pitchfork, spade, or hoe. This implement speaks aloud at inconvenient times, giving you sage advice on when to plant and water crops, as well as unsolicited advice on relationships and everything else. The farm tool is a +1 weapon with d4 damage die and the versatile trait (1d6 two handed). You have proficiency with it (a pitchfork deals piercing damage, spade deals bludgeoning and hoe deals slashing). If you lose or attempt to destroy this item it reappears by your side when you complete a long rest.
20 Dental Disease When you complete a long rest, your teeth take on a random configuration (d8): (1) long upper canines, (2) bucktooth, (3) gap tooth or whistling chipped tooth, (4) prominently missing tooth, (5) gold tooth, (6) overgrown lower canines, (7) no teeth, (8) gleaming teeth (abnormally so)

Credits

Original art, Midjourney tool. Feel free to use for noncommercial purposes.

Change Log

Date Change
2023.05.04 Initial relase.

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