Four fantasy characters, including a dwarf warrior, a bearded man with a shield, a man with a feathered hat, and an elf with a staff, standing near an old ruined stone building with a castle in the background.

Welcome to Curious Quill, an original content resource for d20 roleplaying.

Choosing a class typically is more about its capabilities: what will it allow the character to do? But when building your character, theorycrafting on why the character, versus the player, followed that path can play a large role in creating an interesting back story. Some classes are more straightforward, while some are more open-ended. In these Class Theory features we will explore and present ideas to help illustrate the reason a character follows a class path.

Kevin Frank 12/18/25 Kevin Frank 12/18/25

Followers & Inspiration

Followers, henchmen, hirelings… there have been different terms and different iterations of what they bring to the table to the player characters. In 5e24, the Bastion rules come closest to defining how characters might have people helping them.

Here we will explore ways that a DM can work out who, how many, people might follow the characters and what benefits—but also responsibilities—that can provide them.