Dungeons and Dragons is built upon magic. Without magic, then it would be nothing more than a grounded war game. The presence of mystics and magical creatures is what adds that extra something to the Forgotten Realms and beyond. With that line of thinking, there’s no reason players can’t add a little magic of their own to the character creation process.
Fateweave takes a different approach to character creation than most tools I’ve seen. You still have the expected selection of DnD classes, but the twist comes when it’s time to draw the cards. The Oracle draws three cards to represent your character’s personality and lore. As someone who only recently got into the world of tarot readings, I loved how cleverly the cards weave into DnD.
Speaking from personal experience, I view tarot as a ritualized icebreaker, and I mean that positively. The cards simply act as vessels for discovering more about a person. You pay attention not to what the cards themselves say, but how the subject reacts to the cards. In that sense, it’s a brilliant supplement to any DnD character creator as it puts the player immediately into their character’s shoes.
When I first tried Fateweave, I drew The Lovers, King of Swords, and Queen of Wands for my character’s core personality traits. Quite handily, especially for those new to tarot, you can flip the cards over to see what they represent.
Through these cards, my character fears connection, values order, and oozes charisma. That means they could be in a position of authority, such as an enforcer, but fear giving over “authority” of their feelings to another. From three cards, you already have a compelling character that you can build upon.
The difference between tools like these versus generative AI is that Fateweave still expects the players to build a story themselves. The three cards are simply seeds for the character you want to create. Plus, I like the extra fun feeling of bringing the real tarot cards to a session, using their imagery as a motif for the character on the campaign.
You can check out Fateweave here.
Once you’re done communing with the cards, go ahead and commune with the folks over at the Wargamer Discord.
Source: Wargamer
