• Breathe a real past into your characters.
• Mechanics for meaningful downtime.
• Build your character even after the adventure ends.

With this A Life Well Lived supplement from Cubicle 7 for the world's most popular RPG, Dungeons & Dragons 5e, you'll get under your character's skin like never before! This is especially relevant now that DnD 2024 has trimmed ideals, bonds, and flaws from character creation, tying personality traits only to a random 1d4 roll based on your chosen background. Have you ever wondered how a minor childhood event could shape your character's personality, or how their worldview differs simply based on the size of the city they grew up in?

A destiny written before level one

Explore who your character was before they stepped into their first dungeon and what they plan to do once they hang up their adventuring gear for good. A Life Well Lived enriches every pillar of character creation in the DnD 5e or C7D20 system and provides the tools and advice you need to customize your dream character. The book contains countless random tables that you can simply choose from or let the dice decide your fate.

The manual is in English. Rules-compatible with D&D 5E.

At the start, you distribute your ability scores as follows: 14, 14, 12, 12, 10, and 8 (unlike the core DnD rulebook, which starts with 15, 14, 12, 12, 10, and 8), because you will gradually receive additional bonuses based on your unique life path. This consists of subchapters like lineage (race/species according to the new DnD terminology), origin and early childhood (both add an ability bonus), adolescence (determines your first skill), life lessons (third ability bonus), key moment, employment (tool proficiency and second skill), eccentricity, vocation (fourth ability bonus), call to adventure, starting resources, bonds, and goals. Interesting subchapters also include lies we tell ourselves and skeletons in the closet, which spice up your character with a bit of tragedy, something dark, and a touch of sadness.

What does a hero do when they aren't drawing their sword?

The manual goes far beyond that—we've only outlined the first of six chapters! Not only will you create the complex RPG character your heart desires, but in the next section of the book, you'll use guided passages to build a sense of camaraderie with your party members—bonds that will tie you all together and prepare you for future adventures.

In later sections, the manual introduces rules for your own base of operations, a place where your character can return after battle to recover, rest, and most importantly—prepare for the next adventure! It also comes with a new patron system and provides inspiration for downtime activities, whether it's spinning fun tales for local villagers or searching for ingredients to brew useful potions and deadly poisons.

A Life Well Lived is a fantastic aid for creating interesting characters, not just for DnD, but for any game based on the 5e system, such as upcoming titles from the same publisher, Cubicle 7, collectively referred to as C7D20. It also pairs perfectly with the expansion manual Uncharted Journeys.