Aeldric, the Watcher in the Woods

First, a few questions:

How do you handle familiars in your game? When I get my Pact of the Chain familiar, will you control it as an NPC or have me run it as a second character? I provide a little detail below, but I will do a full stat block, description and personality notes before I hit 4th level.

Aeldric was made by the book, standard equipment, per your instructions. I would like to trade out a few things if possible:

**Outlander background:**

* I would like to trade out the musical instrument proficiency for artisan's tools and a blank book. I imagine him keeping an illustrated "monster manual" of things he has fought or information on things he might encounter. Also he is trying to get good enough at drawing to create an accurate picture of his wife, he is secretly terrified that in time he will be unable to clearly remember her.
* I would like to trade out the "trophy from an animal you killed" to a hinged locket containing a lock of his wife's hair.

**Notes on Character Build**

* The classic "Beast build" for hexadin is Polearm Master/Sentinel/Pact of the Blade but I'm building more for flavor and character so I'm skipping a lot of that optimized stuff. I plan on going warlock for levels 2-5 to get pact boon and ASI, then take Paladin levels for the rest of the Witchlight Campaign. So I won't even get to a paladin oath until level 7.
* I don't like 5e rangers. I want Aeldric to feel like an old-school ranger (1st edition, inspired by Aragorn from LOTR): sword and board, tracking and survival skills, but one that's been affected by the Feywild and Shadowfell, so he has a talking animal familiar and strikes up conversations with random animals, like stopping and asking a squirrel for directions. His father is a 1st edition ranger I played in the 80's who rocked scale mail and wielded a frost brand (which he sadly didn't give his son).
* I'm planning on taking *Voice of the Chain Master* and *Beast Speech* for my invocations at level 4, but if we are really struggling with encounters I might have to sacrifice Beast Speech for either Agonizing Blast or Eldritch Mind. I'd rather be quirky and fun, but I want him to survive to the end of the campaign, too.
* I do plan on taking Elven Accuracy as my first feat at level 5 to bring my CHA to 18 and synergize the feat's bonus with my familiar taking the help action in combat.
* I envision Aeldric as abandoning heavy armor in favor of a breastplate when he can afford it, both for flavor and to avoid disadvantage on stealth rolls (he has stealth proficiency). He's not a kick in the door guy-- he needs to survive to complete his mission, so he'll stalk his prey and surgically strike. The Shadowfell taught him to use discretion and stack the odds in your favor before striking. Think Batman in the woods, but broke and not as smart. So the type of magical items he'll be looking for are things like a good sword and shield, armor that is stealthy, Cloak of Displacement or Elvenkind, etc. I do love playing with magic items that require some imagination to use, like the Immovable Rod.

**Confidential Notes on background**

* Aeldric's "quest" is to gain experience, equipment and allies in order to go back to Triel, slay the hag and liberate his town from its influence. Hags are typically CR 7-9 so this is something we could do at the end of the campaign if you wanted to. If you do, I can flesh out the town if you would like, with maps, NPCs, etc.
* Aeldric's motivation for going to the Feywild is essentially recon-- to learn everything he can about Fey creatures since he will have to fight a powerful one to the death.
* The hag sent Aeldric to his death and has no reason to believe he is still alive (although she could at your discretion and maybe even be expecting him to return). He is currently avoiding Triel for this reason, and would avoid anyone from his home town to keep word getting back to Ophelia that he was alive.
* Other than a few trusted friends, last time anyone in town saw him, he was a Commoner (with a commoner's stat block; Endrod's Boon increased his STR, DEX, CON and CHA) wearing peasant clothing. In addition to the physical changes, he's grown his hair long to cover his ears, grown a beard, and wears traveler's clothes and armor now.
* Aeldric's wife, Idalia, was very pregnant when she was murdered. The deal she made with the hag was her father's health in exchange for "A little bit of flesh, smaller than your fingernail." Idalia did not know she was pregnant at the time and that Ophelia was referring to the tiny fetus inside her.
* When Idalia refused to honor the bargain, Ophelia ripped the child from her body, devoured it in front of her, then murdered Ophelia on her kitchen floor. (If you're not up to speed on hags and why she would do this, here's a good article).
* The Raven Queen's boon revealed all this to Aeldric. He *relived* the moment from Idalia's POV. He knows the pain and sorrow she felt, that she was tricked and did not willingly give up the child, that she fought and gave her life to protect it, and that her last thoughts were of him. But **Idalia does not know he knows** **this** so if Aeldric has a chance to speak with her spirit or resurrect her, Idalia's spirit might be reluctant to talk to him, wracked with guilt, afraid of how he will respond to her.
* When Aeldric is a bit more experienced and learns that resurrection is a thing, he will seek to have Idalia brought back from the dead. However, she is buried in the graveyard in Triel and resurrecting her before Ophelia is dealt with would invite disaster.
* Because of how hags work, the DM has the option of determining whether or not Aeldric and Idalia's child is still alive, and could possibly even be rescued, although maybe not be a "normal" child. After the hag devours the child, it is reborn from the hag a week later and remains a child until its 13th birthday, when the hag changes the child into a new hag. It has been about a year at this point and Aeldric has not learned this fact about hags.
* Farthing is a fey familiar. The two met in the Shadowfell and Farthing accompanied him in his journey, and they made a good team together. Farthing escaped the Shadowfell thanks to Aeldric. Once Aeldric gets Pact of the Chain, Farthing finds his way back to him and becomes his pact familiar. Farthing is summoned in Imp form, which lets him shapeshift at will between rat, spider or raven. When he is visible, he is usually in raven form, which can still talk (Ravens can mimic human speech). Please let me know how you handle familiars, if you would control him as an NPC or if you want me to control him, since he has a lot more going on than a cat or an owl. I envisioned his personality as a bit snarky and prone to wisecracks.

**Personality Notes**

* Aeldric had a horrific experience in the death of his wife and revelation of the hag's influence over his town, but he isn't a brooding orphan loner. He grew up in a happy, closely bonded family, so he will attempt to recreate that dynamic within a group.
* Aeldric has a great relationship with his parents and will stay in contact with them if possible. He loves his mother's baking and will go out of his way for an opportunity to get his hands on some of her famous Traveler's Cakes. I thought it would be fun if eating one of her cakes gives him the equivalent of d4 inspiration; up to you if you want to do that. At the moment, he only has one cake left and plans to use it to coax Dygbee out of his sack.
* He is a simple man by nature, who likes to keep things simple. Puzzles are for wizards and bards and people who read books and think they are clever. He would rather wrestle an owlbear than deal with politics. If a problem can be easily solved by just talking, bribing etc. he's happy to do that but if it's a complicated negotiation, especially with morally gray individuals, he may decide violence is the simplest and most effective solution.
* He has a superstitious bent that comes from growing up in a village near a haunted wood. He is particularly fond of and protective of children, and they remind him of the child he never had the chance to know.
* His hexblade power comes from a tattoo, placed on him by his patron Endrod, that draws power from Aeldric's will (Charisma) and channels it into his attuned weapon. When Farthing is dismissed to his extradimensional familiar domain, a stylized raven appears in the design of the tattoo. It disappears when Farthing is summoned back into the world. Drawing upon his Hexblade power, or summoning/dismissing Farthing, causes a painful sensation. When Aeldric is preparing to call upon his power, it starts to itch. Party members seeing Aeldric scratch or rub his tattoo can use that as a tell that he's about to resort to violence.

Aeldric - Profile 1Idalia- Aeldric's wifeDramus - Aeldric's fatherMarina - Aeldric's motherMarina's Traveler's CakesOphelia Stitchwiggler (human form)Aeldric - Profile 2Aeldric - Profile 3