Character Creation Guide · After Asylum: Hubris

Part One

Ability Scores

Ability scores represent your character's fundamental capabilities. In After Asylum: Hubris we use the following method.

Rolling Your Scores

Roll two complete sets of six scores using the following method, then choose the set you prefer.

For each ability score, roll 4d6 and drop the lowest die; the sum of the remaining three dice is your score. Repeat six times for a complete set. Roll two complete sets, then choose the one you want to use.

This gives you two chances to get a strong array while preserving the genuine randomness that makes each character feel different from the last. Once you have chosen your set, assign the six scores to your six ability scores in any order.

The six ability scores and what they represent:

Score	Governs	Used For
Strength (STR)	Physical power	Melee attacks, carrying capacity, Athletics
Dexterity (DEX)	Agility and reflexes	Ranged attacks, AC, Stealth, Initiative
Constitution (CON)	Endurance and health	Hit points, concentration, stamina
Intelligence (INT)	Memory and reasoning	Arcane magic, knowledge skills, investigation
Wisdom (WIS)	Perception and intuition	Divine magic, Perception, Insight, survival
Charisma (CHA)	Force of personality	Social skills, bardic magic, leadership

Part Two

Ancestries

All ancestries published in official 5.5e (the 2024 Player's Handbook and subsequent official releases) are available for play in After Asylum: Hubris. What follows is a brief guide to where different ancestries fit in the world of Aevum. If you want to play something not on this list, ask your DM — the world is large and contains more than any single document can cover.

Core Species (2024 Player's Handbook)

Species	Where They Fit in Aevum
Aasimar	Rare, scattered, and often the subject of religious attention they did not ask for. The new gods have been known to take a personal interest in aasimar — a blessing or an inconvenience, depending on the god.
Dragonborn	Minor enclaves throughout the world, never a single homeland — found in most major cities and several older Tenebris colonial settlements.
Dwarf	Most common in Zhangrym (southern Solorien) — the great clans of Khaz'bel. Dwarves abroad are usually merchants, engineers, or those following a trade route that never quite ended.
Elf	Most common in Elenethil (northern Solorien); the High Council of Elenethil is entirely elven. Elves who leave tend to be diplomats, scholars, or those who found the forests too quiet.
Gnome	Forest gnomes cluster in Elenethil's northern forests; rock and gem gnomes near Zhangrym's mountain workshops. Deep gnomes (svirfneblin) come from Greyfield in Der Nachtmeer and are a separate culture entirely.
Goliath	Uncommon on the surface. Their distant kin are the Stone Giants of the Ascent — goliaths who know this history have complicated feelings about it.
Halfling	Found throughout Solorien and Tenebris, and in indigenous island communities scattered across all three seas. The Wata Wa Nusu of Asylum are the best-known of these island halfling cultures, but far from the only one.
Human	Everywhere — the dominant population of both Elenethil and Zhangrym, the majority of Asylum, and the primary colonists of Tenebris. If you want to be from anywhere, human works.
Orc	Found throughout Solorien and in growing numbers in Tenebris, where their resilience suits frontier life. Orcs in Zhangrym are often valued as soldiers and laborers in the dwarven industrial complex.
Tiefling	Found in small numbers throughout the major cities. Asylum has a disproportionately large tiefling population. No one has adequately explained why.

Eberron Species

The following species originate from Eberron lore but fit naturally into the world of Aevum. Work with your DM to establish your character's specific backstory.

Species	Where They Fit in Aevum
Changeling	Said to have originated in the Feywild, which bleeds into the mortal world through Feyveil. Whether that connection is meaningful or merely ancestral is debated. Rare, and inclined toward cities where anonymity is easy.
Kalashtar	Aberrations who share their mind with Quori, beings from the plane of dreams. Extraordinarily rare in Aevum, they gravitate toward the Praesidium, where Corvus keeps his library and unusual people meet scholarly interest rather than suspicion.
Khoravar	The half-elves of Eberron, born of human and elven ancestry. In Aevum they fill the old half-elf role, most common in Elenethil's border regions where the two cultures have intermingled for generations.
Shifter	Carry a touch of lycanthrope ancestry — an immediate connection to Misthaven, the mist-shrouded island of the four lycanthrope noble houses. Whether the tie is real or just distant blood is for player and DM to decide.
Warforged	Constructs built for war, almost exclusively the work of Zhangrym's engineers and the Duergar workshops of Der Nachtmeer. A warforged today was built during the long North–South conflict that ended fifty years ago, and most are still working out what peace means for a weapon that outlived its war.

Part Three

Classes

All classes published in official 5.5e sources are available for play in After Asylum: Hubris. There are no class restrictions. A few notes on how certain classes fit the setting:

Clerics and Paladins serving one of the eight new gods are common — and each of those gods was a mortal person fifty years ago, still present in the world as the old gods never were. Your deity is someone you could, theoretically, meet on Aevum: a theological relationship unlike anything the old world produced.
Warlocks may have patrons from the Feywild, the Nine Hells, the Great Old Ones, or elsewhere. As the Feyveil shows, other realms commonly bleed into Aevum, so such pacts are easy to explain.
Artificers have a natural home in Zhangrym's engineering culture and the Duergar cities of Der Nachtmeer. The marvels produced in Port Steel prove this world rewards craft married to ingenuity.
Rangers and Druids are often drawn to Alitura's service. Snowpoint in Tenebris is a natural point of interest for those characters.
Rogues in Asylum have Vox Noctis as an obvious institutional home — though the Merchants' Guild likely has shady dealings of its own, and does not advertise its more interesting revenue streams.

Part Four

Backgrounds

Standard Backgrounds

All backgrounds published in official 5.5e sources are available.

The Devout Backgrounds

The following backgrounds are unique to After Asylum: Hubris. Each represents a character whose life has been shaped by deep devotion to one of the eight new gods. They function identically to the Acolyte background in all respects except as noted below.

Each Devout background grants an origin feat tied to an aspect of the mortal who became that god — Ethuial who sacrificed herself so the world could see clearly, Liam whose very blood carried the Feywild, Dorrac who was chosen by nature before he knew it, and so on. Playing a Devout character is, in a small way, carrying a thread of that story forward. If a feat's standard ability score increase does not match the stat listed below, use the stat listed below instead.

Background	Origin Feat	Stat	Why This Feat
Devout of Lux	Inspiring Leader	CHA, CON, or WIS	Ethuial Wintersbloom sacrificed herself so the world could see clearly again. Her followers lead by example, lighting the way for others.
Devout of Vitana	Fey Touched	WIS, DEX, or CHA	Liam Windchylde's blood ran with Fey power. The god of life is also the god of growth and change.
Devout of Alitura	Speedy	DEX, WIS, or CON	Dorrac Elhorn was a hunter and ranger before he was a god; his followers move through the wild with his sureness of foot.
Devout of Agnitio	Telepathic	INT, WIS, or DEX	Corvus carries knowledge from a world that no longer exists; his followers learn to sense what others know and feel.
Devout of Nequitia	Actor	CHA, CON, or DEX	Anton Verkel spent a career being whoever the situation required; his followers learn to wear faces and inhabit roles.
Devout of Proelius	Tough	CON, INT, or CHA	Nick walked into every fight head-first so others wouldn't have to; his followers carry that same stubborn durability.
Devout of Nox	Shadow Touched	INT, WIS, or CHA	Quilla Bafflestone spent her life in dark places uncovering what others buried; her followers gain an affinity for shadow.
Devout of Tempestas	Elemental Adept (Lightning or Thunder)	CON, STR, or WIS	Cassandra Ziurovas was born of Tempestas's chosen agent; her followers channel the honest fury of things that must end.

All Devout backgrounds share the following features in common with Acolyte:

Proficiencies: Insight, Religion
Languages: Two of your choice
Equipment: Holy symbol of your god, prayer book or prayer wheel, 5 sticks of incense, vestments, common clothes, and a pouch containing 15 gp
Feature — Shelter of the Faithful: As an acolyte of your god's faith you command the respect of other worshippers. You and your companions can receive free healing and care at a temple or shrine to your god, and can call on fellow worshippers for assistance — though not at the cost of their lives.

Part Five

Feats

All feats published in official 5.5e sources are available in After Asylum: Hubris, including feats from setting-specific supplements such as the Player's Guide to the Forgotten Realms and similar releases.

Organization and Location Feats

Some feats require membership in a specific organization, or origin from a specific location, in another setting. In After Asylum: Hubris these requirements can be met as follows:

Any feat requiring organization membership can be satisfied by an equivalent faction in Aevum — the Merchants' Guild, religious orders of the eight gods, the Praesidian scholarly community, Elenethil's diplomatic corps, or Zhangrym's engineering guilds.
Any feat requiring origin from a location can be satisfied by an equivalent place in Aevum. A feat for a cosmopolitan trading city works for someone from Asylum; one for a wilderness region works for Tenebris or the northern forests of Elenethil.
If you are unsure whether a requirement can be satisfied, ask your DM before character creation rather than during play.

A Note on Balance

The 5.5e feat system assumes characters take one feat at specific class-based milestones. Origin feats granted by backgrounds are an exception — they represent something fundamental about where a character comes from, not a tactical choice made in play. The Devout backgrounds' origin feats are calibrated with this in mind: meaningful, but not dominant. A character who takes Inspiring Leader because they are Devout of Lux is expressing who they are, not gaming the system.

Part Six

Starting Hit Points

Characters in After Asylum: Hubris begin with additional resilience to reflect the dangerous world they inhabit.

All characters start with two Hit Dice at maximum value. Take the maximum result of your class Hit Die twice and add your Constitution modifier twice — do not roll. This represents characters who have already survived enough of the world to have developed real durability before the adventure begins.

Example: A 1st-level Fighter with Constitution 14 (+2) takes 10 + 10 and adds +4 — starting hit points: 24.

Example: A 1st-level Wizard with Constitution 12 (+1) takes 6 + 6 and adds +2 — starting hit points: 14.

This additional Hit Die is part of your starting hit points only. Advancement from 2nd level onward follows standard rules: roll one Hit Die (or take the average) and add your Constitution modifier.

Part Seven

Character Creation Checklist

Follow these steps in order when creating a character for After Asylum: Hubris.

Choose your ancestry from the official 5.5e sources (see Part Two for where ancestries fit in Aevum).
Choose your class — all are available (see Part Three for setting notes).
Choose your background. Standard 5.5e backgrounds are available; the Devout backgrounds in Part Four are unique to this campaign. If choosing a Devout background, note its origin feat and stat increase.
Roll your ability scores — two complete sets of 4d6-drop-lowest. Choose the set you prefer, assign scores in any order, then apply ancestry and background increases.
Record your ability modifiers.
Calculate starting hit points — your class Hit Die at maximum, twice, plus your Constitution modifier twice.
Record your proficiencies from class, ancestry, and background.
Choose your equipment from your class and background packages, or use the starting-gold option if your DM allows.
Establish your connection to the world. Where are you from? What do you know about the Seal-Bearers and the new gods? Why are you in Asylum?
Discuss your concept with your DM, particularly if using any organization-specific feats or abilities that require faction identification.

The gods of Aevum were ordinary people fifty years ago — a duelist who drank too much, an archaeologist who didn't realize she was a thief, a three-foot gnome with a bag of toys. Whatever you build, build it honestly. The world of After Asylum: Hubris rewards characters who feel real more than characters who feel optimized.