54 Sorcerer Hooks
Written by Johnn
A guest post by Bobby.Catdragon
- An orphan, the character only knows his powers came from somewhere. However, coincidental circumstances seem to point to something demonic or diabolical. Should the character find out why? And what happens when he does discover the truth?
- One day the character’s father disappears. The next day the character’s powers manifest for the first time. Is it a coincidence, or is something else going on?
- The local King issues a challenge to all magical beings in the country: bring me a golden rose to win my daughter’s (son’s) hand in marriage.
- A life-long rival, a wizard, has been spreading rumors about the character. He must be found and stopped, one way or another.
- When the character was a child he suffered an accident that left him bleeding out. A passing stranger, a leech or cleric, saved the child by replacing his blood with something else. (The cleric’s blood? A demon’s blood? An animal’s blood?) Now, whenever the character invokes his sorcerer magic, a burning spreads through his body. What is happening to him?
- The character finds an old chest. Inside is a wand that seems to pull forth the character’s inner magic. The character, with the aid of the wand, masters his magic. Then one day the wand is stolen. The character can cast spells but its harder. Who has his wand?
- Visited by a celestial being at birth, the character has always been told that he is a champion of good and law.
- Visited by a demonic/devilish being at birth, the character has always been told he will be the catalyst that will betray and destroy a church of good reputation.
- Attacked by assassins, the character survives. Who sent the assassins and why?
- The King’s royal mage falls in love with the character and seeks to test the PC with tests and quests.
- A talking opossum finds the character and teaches him how to use his magic.
- The character finds an old bronze lamp. Upon polishing the lamp a genie appears, smiles, and teleports the character elsewhere without the lamp or the genie. How does he get back home?
- Once the apprentice to a master mage, the character washed out unable to learn the magic of a wizard. Now that he has discovered his sorcerous powers the character wants to show his old master his powers.
- A strange birthmark appears on the character’s arm.
- A dragon (big or small) comes to visit the character “just to talk.” However, the dragon only appears when the character is alone.
- Cursed with the sorcerous powers, the character wishes to get rid of them. But whatever he does ends up with him having to use the powers.
- The character’s mother is kidnapped by a Big Bad Evil Guy.
- The character’s mother is the Big Bad Evil Guy.
- Whenever the character casts a spell, some random feature of his changes: his hair changes color, his eyes change, or his skin darkens or lightens.
- A curse has been laid on the character’s village. The character is the only one who can lift it, but how?
- Seeking to find his fortune in the city, the character is taken advantage of, mugged, and left with only the shirt on his back in the slums of the city.
- When the character touches gold, it changes to silver.
- The character has talons on his feet instead of toes. That wouldn’t be so bad except boots and shoes never fit.
- The character can talk to fish but all the fish want to talk about is the water and other fish.
- When the character was a child he followed a rainbow to its end. The leprechaun there blessed the child with the sorcerous powers he now has.
- The character has found a legendary treasure map.
- The character has a masterwork dagger. Where it came from the character has no idea; it was just there one morning when he woke up.
- The character must have a focus of some sort to cast his spells.
- The character is hunted buy an evil cult that believes the character sacrifice will bring back their exiled patron/raise the evil hierophant/bring an apocalypse.
- Hunted by a group of paladins, the paladins just want to protect the character. By protection, the good guys mean “locked in a room deep under their fortress forever.”
- Seen as an aberrant freak of nature, wizards seek to strip the character of his powers or kill him.
- The character overhears a bard plotting to assassinate the emperor. Now the assassin/bard seeks the character to ensure the secret he heard is kept.
- No matter where he is, a calico cat always shows up and sleeps with the character.
- A stranger appears on the character’s doorstep entreating his help. Otherwise, the stranger has amnesia.
- As a young person, the character discovered an artifact in the fields he was plowing. What is it, what does it do, and why do people want it?
- The character’s master was recently assassinated by magical means. Now the assassin is after the character.
- The kingdom needs a new sorcerer royal. Does the PC have what it takes?
- The character has a good friend who was bitten by a werewolf. Luckily, the friend is imprisoned/cared for by a peaceful order of monks. Can the character find his friend’s cure?
- Whenever the character casts a spell, a blue light appears. Why?
- The character is color-blind. He can see the color green and only the color green.
- The character must sing to use his powers.
- The character is afraid of fire. Why, the character doesn’t know.
- One day the character awoke. He has no memory of anything before that. His only clue is a red and gold tattoo of a rose on his shoulder.
- Horses do not like the character, though donkeys follow the character around like lovesick puppies.
- Raised in a monastery, the character was disrobed and thrown out when his sorcerous powers manifested.
- The character’s own family wishes to kill the character because of his sorcerous powers.
- A devil has taken a personal interest in the character.
- The character can talk to trees but they never talk back.
- Once a street urchin, the character is now an adventuring sorcerer. However, his old buddies on the street are trying to catch up with him for “one last heist” and they are the type that won’t take no for an answer.
- Once the third son of a third son of a minor noble family, the character became an adventurer. Due to unexpected events, the sorcerer is now the heir apparent. People want to cloister the character, while others would rather see the character six feet under.
- The character has a sea shell necklace given to him by a favorite aunt. He can use his powers when he wears the necklace but not when he isn’t wearing it.
- The character’s brother or sister disappears.
- The bank forecloses on the character’s family’s farm and his parents are homeless.
- A lone shark shows up with an IOU for a ridiculous sum of money. The IOU is signed by the character.
Thanks for the great hooks, Bobby! – Johnn & Mike
Character Hooks Series:
- 50 Barbarian Hooks
- 63 Wizard Hooks
- 50 Paladin Hooks
- 54 Sorcerer Hooks
- 25 Cleric Character Hooks
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March 15th, 2010 at 7:07 pm
Love these hooks! I may modify a few of them as adventure hooks in my campaign for players who need encouragement to find their backstory. I’d like to suggest a change to #54:
(1) A lone shark isn’t very scary because the party can gang up on it, and to escape it, all you have to do is stay away from water. A balanced encounter of several sahaugin is better, but even they need to go back into the water… maybe a lone bulette? That’s scary! Still has the ganging-up problem. Maybe a lone bulette and a lone shark working together… but then are they still lone?
(2)… or if you want a *loan* shark, a sahaugin loan shark. Who wears an enchanted necklace that lets him breathe on land, and carries a trident and a wicked-sharp diving knife, and wears clothes made of dolphin-leather, dyed brown in the blood of his victims.
March 16th, 2010 at 8:26 am
I love the idea of a sorcerer questing to get rid of his cursed powers. I also love the idea of a sorcerer whose skin gets darker the more spells per day he uses. Maybe a half-drow?
The colorblind who sees one kind of color is an interesting idea. Maybe not for a sorcerer but a more quest-based character. A ranger who sees animals in color and follows them to light up his black-and-white world. A barbarian who literally sees red.
I stole these two ideas from somewhere else, hopefully not this site:
55. A sorcerer who has to hold back his magic at all times; if he slips, he casts.
56. Sorcerer is a failed clone of a more successful sorcerer.
Here’s another non-original one:
57. Sorcerer gets his power from a draconic spirit that lives within him and is trying to possess him.
(That would be Naruto.)
And one that’s all me:
58. The sorcerer’s magic looks spontaneous, but it’s really a talent honed through long, arduous hours of practice. Every night he summons monster after monster for sparring opponents.
March 16th, 2010 at 7:00 pm
@JR – http://fc05.deviantart.com/fs30/f/2008/080/0/b/Sharkman_New_by_qBATMANp.jpg :)
I’m scooping idea #2 for my campaign.
@Noumenon – thanks for the additional hooks. #56 is intriguing – I might use that in my new campaign too.
March 17th, 2010 at 7:23 am
59. Sorcerer’s powers come from a pact his family made with an evil god generations ago. The god owns their sould, in exchange for granting magical power. He knows this and quests for a way to free his soul, but will likely lose his powers as well should that happen.