DM Hooks
A cheat sheet of every thread the DM can pull on across the party. Organized by character, then cross-party conflicts and shared hooks at the bottom.
Dorian Oric (Dustin) — Artificer, Battle Smith
- The Soul Core — pre-god Thran-level technology sitting in a tinker’s workshop. Every faction in the world has a reason to want it.
- The Thorndeep — sealed levels beneath Thornhollow that the Core might be able to open. What’s down there?
- G.L.U. is acting weird — tracking things it shouldn’t, pausing at odd moments. Needs a mechanic (table, trigger, or random behavior) that comes up in play.
- Religious heat — Dorian builds power with no god involved. Every faith has an opinion. Who notices first?
- Guildmaster Hesta Varn — trained him, knows his work got too good. Does she know about the Core? Is she protecting him or afraid of him?
- The builders — whoever made the Thorndeep and the Soul Core. Their other sites might still exist. The Core might be a key, not a battery.
- Guild Artisan background — every new town, Dorian looks for the local smiths, tinkerers, and repair shops. The Ironwright Compact letter means guild members in other towns should help: lodging, food, introductions, legal support. Guild contacts could have gossip, side jobs, workshop access, or knowledge about local ruins. He’ll lean on this whenever he can.
Tharion Papadakis (Jackson) — Cleric, War Domain
- First real fight — he’s never seen combat. The performance cracks when someone actually tries to kill him and prayer alone isn’t enough.
- The Congregation thinks he’s an embarrassment — faithful, but only has influence because of his parents. Did they send him away on purpose?
- Stergos has enemies — his father is a retired mercenary. The people Stergos wronged can’t get to him, so they might go after the kid.
- His mother is proud but distant — she taught him more than Stergos did. How does her pride hold up when she hears what he’s doing out here?
- Tiefling in the Congregation — Tharion is a Tiefling who follows Elythrael, the goddess of purity and virtue. He has infernal blood, visible horns, and fire magic (Hellish Rebuke). He treats the heritage as irrelevant next to his faith, but the Congregation already sees him as an embarrassment. The infernal heritage makes it worse. How long before someone in the church uses it against him? And what happens when he’s in a fight and the fire comes out?
- Dorian is his opposite — a guy who does magic with no god and it works. That’s going to eat at Tharion.
K’roaa’ka (Matt) — Ranger, Beast Master
- Echo died and came back — K’roaa’ka accidentally poisoned the one thing he loved, and a druid’s prayer brought her back immune to his toxin. Was it Amareses, The Creator, or something else? If followers of Amareses hear about a creature that died and returned to the same body, they’ll have strong opinions about whether that’s a blessing or a violation.
- Exiled for nonconformity — the tribe cast him out for bonding with outsider animals. Is the tribe done with him, or does exile have a longer reach?
- Rrabek — the Grung tribe’s deity. K’roaa’ka already doubted Rrabek after the warriors fell to outsiders. Now he’s been exiled by Rrabek’s followers and saved by a stranger’s god. His faith is in freefall.
- The druid at the outpost — she heard his mourning, prayed over a dead dog, and changed his life. Who is she? Is she connected to Amareses? Does she know what she did?
- Poisonous skin — can’t touch anyone except Echo. No handshakes, no casual contact. The one time he reached out for comfort, it killed. That’s going to shape every relationship he has.
- Water dependency — 1 hour of immersion per day or exhaustion. Every dungeon crawl and desert crossing becomes a resource problem for the whole party.
- Favored Enemy: Fiends, speaks Infernal — the outsiders who killed his tribe’s warriors were devils. K’roaa’ka now hunts fiends, speaks their language, and has the tools to track what destroyed his people. Does he know what he’s hunting yet? Is this a quest for vengeance, understanding, or just survival instinct? And if the devils were tied to Bazeel, that connects K’roaa’ka’s exile to the campaign’s largest evil faction.
Nathan’s Paladin (Nathan) — Paladin, Oath of the Ancients
- No name, no origin, no backstory — the most mechanically complete sheet with the least character behind it. Every answer Nathan gives creates a hook.
- 3 retainers — three actual NPCs who are loyal to him. Kidnap targets, witnesses, mouths to feed, people who can get hurt. Free leverage.
- Oath of the Ancients vs the world — his oath is about preserving light and beauty. Vitas Nova has a lot of darkness. When does “shelter the light” mean “walk away from a fight you can’t win”?
- Deception +5 on a paladin — is he a sincere idealist or a polished operator who knows how to sound righteous? Both are interesting. The party will figure it out fast.
- Knows Orcish — why? Border conflict, family history, a campaign he already fought in? One language choice hides a backstory.
- Half-Elf identity — caught between two worlds. Does he belong to the human side, the elven side, or neither? Where does the knighthood come from?
- WIS 8 — worst Wisdom in the party. Low Perception, low Insight. A charismatic knight who can talk anyone into anything but can’t read a room. That’s a character flaw waiting to happen.
Lilith Rozanov (Rachel) — Rogue, Arcane Trickster
- Sold by her father — a Kezmet devotee who flipped a coin and sold his daughter to pay gambling debts. “The coin demanded it.” Her entire backstory is a Kezmet horror story. If she ever walks into a Temple of Kezmet or sees a Providence Slot machine, that’s an instant character moment.
- Eva Valentine — the circus operator who bought her. Lilith has a bargain with Eva and she’s almost free. What’s the bargain? Does Eva plan to honor it? Eva is a recurring NPC with leverage over a PC, which is pure gold.
- The Carnival of Hijeanx — the campaign world notes mention this as a major faction. Is Eva’s circus part of it? A rival? A feeder operation?
- Her father might still be alive — a gambling addict who sold his kid. Is he still at the casinos? Did Kezmet reward or punish him? If Lilith ever finds him, that’s one of the heaviest scenes in the campaign.
- Celestial + Arcane Trickster magic — same source? — a circus pickpocket speaks Celestial and knows wizard spells. Those probably came from the same person. Someone in Eva’s circus, a stolen book, a figure from her past. Whoever taught her magic likely also taught her the language of angels. Finding that source is a quest line.
- CHA 8 — she can’t charm, persuade, or deceive. She hides, steals, and runs. That’s not a flaw, that’s survival instinct from a life where every adult failed her.
- “Almost free” — the most dangerous word in her backstory. She still has something to lose.
Hottie Bottie (Lexy) — Druid, Circle of the Moon
- Eladrin Elf Moon Druid — a fey creature who turns into bears. That’s a specific kind of person. Where did she come from? Feywild? An ancient forest? An Eladrin court?
- Fey Step + Wild Shape — both are bonus actions, can’t use both same turn. But Fey Step as an escape after beast form drops is powerful. A teleporting bear is a problem.
- 92 effective HP at level 3 — two bear forms + real HP. She’s the tankiest person in the party by a mile. If enemies figure out “kill the bear twice,” they’ll start targeting concentration instead.
- Sheet is a mess — saving throws wrong, skill modifiers wrong, no HP, no AC, no armor, no attacks, no background, Fire Bolt has no legit source (Eladrin don’t get a free cantrip). This sheet needs a full rebuild.
- Seasonal Eladrin — her current season affects Fey Step. Autumn charms, Winter frightens, Spring swaps allies, Summer burns. Which season matches her personality?
- No backstory at all — name is Hottie Bottie, player is Lexy. Everything else is blank. Who is this elf and why did she leave the fey?
Cross-Party Hooks
Dorian vs Tharion
The core tension of the party. Dorian builds power without gods. Tharion follows every rule of a god who claims dominion over that power. One of them is going to have to be wrong, and neither will admit it first.
The Soul Core and the Congregation
If Tharion’s Congregation finds out what Dorian has, the party splits. Tharion’s oath demands he report it. Dorian’s survival demands he doesn’t. What does the rest of the party do?
Nathan’s Retainers as Collateral
Three commoner NPCs traveling with a group that’s about to attract attention from gods, cults, and ancient ruins. Those retainers are going to see things. They’re going to talk. They might get taken.
K’roaa’ka’s Water Clock
One hour of water immersion per day. Every dungeon crawl, desert crossing, or time-sensitive quest becomes a resource management problem for the whole party, not just Matt.
Rachel’s Street Instincts vs Nathan’s Noble Authority
An urchin sold to a circus and a knight with retainers. She grew up dodging people like him. He grew up being served by people like her. How they treat each other in the first session sets the tone for the whole campaign.
Lilith and Kezmet
Lilith’s entire life was shaped by Kezmet worship. Her father’s devotion killed her mother, stole her childhood, and sold her into servitude. If the party ever enters a Kezmet temple, encounters a Providence Slot, or meets a Kezmet priest who says “trust in fate,” Lilith is going to have a reaction. Meanwhile Tharion follows Elythrael by the book. How does Lilith feel about ANYONE who follows a god that closely?
K’roaa’ka and Dorian — Two Builders
K’roaa’ka bonded with an animal and it died from his touch. Dorian built a construct and it started behaving like it’s alive. Both of them created something that shouldn’t exist the way it does, and neither fully understands why it works. If they ever compare notes, that’s a conversation.
Echo and G.L.U.
A dog that died and came back immune to poison. A construct that pauses and tracks things it wasn’t told to track. Two companions that are more than they should be. If Amareses governs the cycle of life and death, what are Echo and G.L.U.?
Nathan and Echo
Nathan follows Amareses. Amareses governs the cycle of rebirth: when you die, your soul is reborn as a creature that serves nature. Echo died and came back to the same body. That’s not how the cycle works. Nathan is going to have to decide whether Echo is a miracle blessed by his own god, or a violation of the natural order his oath tells him to protect. And K’roaa’ka is standing right there watching him decide.
Everyone’s Faith (or Lack of It)
- Dorian: gods are real, doesn’t care, builds his own power
- Tharion: follows Elythrael to the letter, faith untested
- Nathan: Oath of the Ancients, follows Amareses (harvest, renewal, cycle of nature)
- K’roaa’ka: lost faith in Rrabek, saved by a prayer to something else
- Lilith: Kezmet destroyed her family, has every reason to hate the gods
- Hottie Bottie: Eladrin from the fey, relationship to the gods unknown but druids tend toward nature over temples
Six different relationships with the divine in a world where gods are provably real. That’s a campaign theme.