<<< Return to the Campaign Workbook Collection

By Michael Kortes
By Kyle Hunter

“Let’s bust Luxanix out of here and split before the spell wears off and the guards wake up.”
“Hold it! We can’t just leave the rest of the people here to the castellan’s mercy!”
“Uh, we can’t?”

While some prisoners are guilty of heinous crimes and others are but innocent victims, all of them have a story to tell. Here are 20 prisoners to mix and match for the next time you need to deposit a few incarcerated individuals into an adventure.

1. Andimach Greytallow (N male human warrior 6) was jailed for desertion after he panicked and abandoned his post following an attack by gnoll raiders. Ashamed of his past, Greytallow hopes to leave the city to start his life over after he is released.
2. Myra (CG female human commoner 3) witnessed a murder of passion by a high-ranking official during her time as a young serving maid. She was quietly dragged off to jail to ensure she would speak to no one until the matter blew over. Ten years later she has been long forgotten and is presumed insane.
3. Tetin Mastminder and Oman the Rock (both N male human expert 2) were set adrift on a boat after their ship was overrun by pirates. These two sailors drew the long straws and survived by eating one of their fellow shipmates. Once they were rescued and returned to port, the magistrate rejected the sailors’ defense of necessity. Their experience has changed them: having tasted flesh, both men will acquire the wendigo template in a few weeks (Fiend Folio 186).
4. Lady Y’skimilia (LE female human aristocrat 1/necromancer 7) was caught animating the dead to supplement the overnight labor force of her family’s merchant company. Her husband should have the necessary bribes to secure her release in place shortly.
5. The terrifying legend of the vicious bandit Sszlya the Elf-Eater (CE male lizardfolk ranger 3) necessitates a public execution so that the countryside can be assured he is truly dead. Sszlya swears to all who can understand Draconic that he will return for his unfinished meal.
6. The infamous arsonist Uncle Azer (N male human rogue 10) was recently hired by a merchant to harass a competitor. The watch collared him after he employed Use Magic Device to use a scroll of enlarged fireball to burn down a warehouse from 400 feet away. His high Bluff bonus, coupled with his lack of natural arcane ability and distance from the scene, just might be enough to persuade the court that there has been a mistake.
7. Skavinjar (NE female aranea sorcerer 4) is disguised as a female elf. This predator turned herself in four days ago, confessing to a theft. Now she has secured a supply of food that has nowhere to run. She uses knock spells to come and go from her cell as she pleases.
8. Zye and Xya Candleblade (LG male and female aasimar paladin 3) haste to destroy a vampire spawn has resulted in an unfortunate misunderstanding: the twins now stand accused of grave robbing. Although they speak Celestial, their Common is very hard to understand.
9. The former guardsman Sergeant Szordaylis (NG male human warrior 2) knows he brutally murdered his superior officer, but cannot remember why. Unbeknownst to him, Szordaylis was manipulated by a disguised lamia and with the aid of suggestion spells was used as a pawn in an intergenerational plot of revenge. He awaits his hanging in two weeks’ time.
10. The slave trader Corserythe (NE male human commoner 2/rogue 2) was caught selling slaves to the Ebon Triad for their use in the creation of a blood golem of Hextor. Fearing the Triad more than the law, he refuses to cooperate.
11. Pentacle Petrav (N male half-orc conjurer 8) was a successful bookie who ran a popular underground tournament featuring fights between summoned monsters. After a fiendish giant wasp accidentally killed an important patron, “Pentacle Petrav’s Summoning Circus” was shut down and the conjurer was placed behind bars.
12. Forish’s (N male half-elf expert 3) pet dire wolf went on a rampage and had to be slain by the watch. Unable to make restitution, Forish is now serving out a lengthy sentence.
13. J’Dahl (LG male halfling monk 6) was accused of fraud-by-sorcery after he defeated several of the ruler’s best men to win first prize in a major archery tournament. The allegation, although baseless, is almost understandable. In the final round J’Dahl closed his eyes and relied upon his Zen Archery and Blind Fighting feats. J’Dahl’s code of conduct prohibits him from attempting to escape, and he politely declines any offers of assistance.
14. The former adventurer Poddybo Castlecrafter (CE male gnome bard 3) didn’t realize that the Crimson Globe, the +3 Small heavy mace he found beneath a set of goblinoid ruins, was actually a mace of blood. The Globe’s whispers twisted Poddybo’s alignment and spawned the horrific killing spree that ended with the innocent-looking gnome’s incarceration here. If freed, he seeks only to recover the Crimson Globe.
15. Rumors abound that The Chicken Man (NE male human monk 12/assassin 5) directs the local assassins’ guild from his private cell. Surrounded by enemies and consumed by madness, the grandmaster decided confinement was the safest place for him. The rumors are only partially true: the Chicken Man works alone, he is his own guild. He uses his abundant step ability to leave and return at will, relying on his imprisonment as a perpetual alibi. His madness is feigned.
16. Noam the Highborn (N male human aristocrat 2/ranger 3) finally achieved his life-long hunting ambition of bagging a unicorn, only to be captured by a circle of half-fey druids. Because the circle owed a personal debt to Noam’s brother, Noam wound up in jail instead of in a grave.
17. After a local baron lost a dangerous duel to his rival, he decided to blame his high-priced dwarven armorer, Horadin Shieldlander (N male dwarf expert 7), but had him tossed in jail. As it turns out, there is more to the baron’s rage than sour grapes. Horadin crafted a latent defect in the baron’s chest plate and then placed a bet against his client, hoping his winnings would wipe out his burgeoning debt to the district’s thieves’ guild.
18. Vishka the Coinspinner (CN female human simulacrum rogue 5). Tired of being pursued by bounty hunters after her notorious theft of a masterpiece, Vishka quietly purchased a simulacrum on the black market. She then ordered her duplicate to be captured so it could sullenly serve out her sentence.
19. Before Justice Amaranto (N male human aristocrat 2/expert 6) was caught accepting a sizeable bribe, Amaranto was responsible for sentencing several of his nearby cellmates. He knows his days of survival in prison are numbered and is desperate to get out.
20. A runaway bride, Iskapella (NG female human commoner 1) was arrested at the behest of the groom’s powerful family after she reneged on her engagement pledge. Iskapella fled after she uncovered that Odollos, her betrothed, was a yuan-ti pureblood. In fact, the dejected Odollos is quite human; Iskapella was the victim of an illusion cast by a jealous admirer of Odollos.