Heroes and Antiheroes
Instead of using alignment, characters in Ravenloft can be classified as Heroes or Antiheroes. Each of these groups of characters follows a different set of rules according to its nature.
Heroes
Heroes are characters defined by their Virtue. This consists of a numerical value and a set of Principles that establish the character’s particular morality.
Principles
A Hero normally follows three Principles, their most personal moral values. These should be values that the character might often be tempted to set aside in order to gain some benefit, however minor, and following them should not generally provide the character with any benefit. In addition, Principles should represent values that directly or indirectly benefit other people, or prevent them from being harmed, directly or indirectly.
Instead of three Principles, a character may have only two, with one of them being more personally important; or even just one, which they follow almost fanatically.
Virtue
A character’s Virtue score reflects how faithfully they follow their Principles. It ranges from 0 to 5. A character starts at 1 (3 for Clerics, 5 for Paladins) upon character creation, and it may increase whenever they gain a number of levels equal to their current Virtue (minimum 1) without having made a Powers Check, if the player chooses to do so.
Benefits of Virtue
A Hero gains a bonus equal to their Virtue score on saves against powers that affect their mind in an attempt to make them act against their Principles (if they have only 2 Principles, their primary Principle grants an additional +1; if they have only 1, it grants an additional +2). At Virtue 4 or higher, when such powers attempt to force the Hero to commit an evil act against their Principles, the Hero also gains Advantage on the saving throw, or is allowed a saving throw if the effect would not normally permit one (although in the latter case, the Virtue bonus does not apply).
Dangers of Virtue
Evil beings feel an instinctive aversion to Heroes and are capable of recognizing them. Depending on the type of evil creature, different Virtue scores have different effects.
| Virtue | Mindless | Minion | Independent | Leader | Darklord |
| 1 | - | - | - | - | Recognizes |
| 2 | - | - | - | Recognizes | Senses Principles |
| 3 | - | - | Recognizes | Senses Principles | Senses Presence in Territory |
| 4 | - | Recognizes | Senses Principles | Senses Presence in Territory | Senses Fears |
| 5 | Recognizes | Senses Principles | Senses Presence in Territory | Senses Fears | Senses Presence in Domain |
• Senses Principles: When the villain interacts with the Hero in a moderately significant way (a conversation or a fight, for example), or observes or spies on them for at least one encounter, they gain a general idea of the Hero’s Principles, although some specific nuances may escape them.
• Senses Presence in Territory: When the Hero takes a long rest (or sleeps for a night) in the villain’s lair, or in a limited area under the villain’s direct control, the villain can sense the Hero’s presence (but not their exact location).
• Senses Fears: As Senses Principles, but the villain also gains an equally approximate sense of the Hero’s greatest fear.
• Senses Presence in Domain: The Darklord immediately senses the presence of someone so virtuous within their domain, as a disruption.
These effects are cumulative, so a Darklord would receive all of this information about a character with Virtue 5, provided the other requirements are met.
Innocents
A Hero may begin play as an Innocent. An Innocent is a person who has never had to make a Powers Check and has never failed a Horror save. They lose this quality when either of these things occurs.
An Innocent gains a +2 bonus on social checks against NPCs who are not villains (these may be Heroes, Antiheroes, or ordinary people) and doubles the bonus granted by their Virtue. However, they also suffer the negative effects as though their Virtue were one point higher (at Virtue 5, evil beings behave as though they were one category higher, and Darklords feel a profound distaste for the Innocent and actively seek to destroy or corrupt them).
Antiheroes
Antiheroes pursue good, not through virtue, but through darkness. They have Corruption, represented by a numerical score, and three Temptations (which may be fewer, as with the Principles of Heroes) that slowly draw them toward evil.
Temptations
An Antihero’s Temptations represent their moral failings or their ties to darkness. If in doubt, each Temptation should be described in terms of how it would lead the character to do evil in order to achieve their goals. Yielding to a Temptation should not benefit other people (preferably the opposite, although it is not strictly necessary that anyone else be harmed).
On the other hand, if following a Temptation entails an action that would require a Powers Check, the corresponding roll has its difficulty reduced by 5 percentage points (and if it was already 5% or lower, no roll is required). This has absolutely no effect on Acts of Ultimate Darkness.
Corruption
An Antihero’s Corruption score ranges from 1 to 5 and reflects the intensity of the darkness within them. It starts at 1 (2 for characters with a criminal background or similar; 3 for Warlocks with evil patrons, Clerics of evil deities, or similar characters).
Corruption increases whenever the character fails a Powers Check, or when they gain a level having made a number of Powers Checks equal to their current Corruption score since their last level gain or their most recent increase in Corruption, whichever occurred more recently.
Dangers of Corruption
When a character with Corruption 2 or higher faces a situation in which they wish to resist yielding to a Temptation, they must make a saving throw do so (using INT/WIS/CHA, choosing the specific ability at character creation). The DC is Corruption × 5. If they fail, they must yield to the Temptation.
Additionally, if failing a Powers Check would raise their Corruption above the maximum of 5, they may become an evil NPC (a Darklord or another villain connected to the plans of the Dark Powers), as explained below.
Benefits of Corruption
Corruption grants a bonus equal to its score to an action appropriately related to each Temptation (if the character has only 2 Temptations, one of them gains an additional +1; if they have only 1, it gains an additional +2). At Corruption 4 or higher, this bonus manifests as an inhuman appearance or other unnatural signs. At Corruption 5, the bonus is replaced by an appropriate 1st-level spell that can be used once per long rest (for its spellcasting ability, the character chooses INT/WIS/CHA, which must be a different ability from the one used to resist the Temptation).
The applicable actions are defined in consultation with the DM when the character is created, and should be broad enough to come up with some frequency, but not constantly.
Redemption
Redemption is the path opposite to Corruption. An Antihero must perform good deeds to advance along this path. Good deeds are defined as actions that meet all of the following requirements:
• They significantly benefit other creatures.
• They do not significantly harm other creatures.
• The character is not expected to gain any benefit from them.
• The character is not expected to avoid any negative consequence by performing them.
If an Antihero gains a level without having made any Powers Checks since the previous level and having performed at least as many good deeds as five times their Corruption score, they reduce their Corruption by 1. A notable good deed (one that also entails a negative consequence for the character) counts as three good deeds. If the character redeems themselves when at 0 Corruption, they may becomea Hero with 0 Virtue, as long as they weren’t a Hero before or their downfall to Antihero happened at least 5 levels ago.
Powers Checks
A Powers Check is a percentile roll made when a character commits an evil or questionable act. In extreme cases (called Acts of Ultimate Darkness), failure is automatic. The DM should always warn the player when an action will require a Powers Check or constitute an Act of Ultimate Darkness.
The basic chances to fail a Powers Check are the same as in the standard Ravenloft setting.
Powers Check for Heroes
A Hero who fails a Powers Check loses 1 point of Virtue (2 if the check is failed by 10 or more, 3 if it was an Act of Ultimate Darkness). If the Hero was an Innocent, they cease to be one even if they succeed on the check. If they perform an action that would warrant a Powers Check while defending their Principles, the difficulty of the Powers Check is reduced by 5 percentage points (if this reduces it to 0 or less, no roll is required; however, an Innocent still loses that status regardless).
If this reduces the Hero’s Virtue below 0, they may choose either to become an Antihero immediately or to attempt a Madness check instead, gaining a permanent madness if they fail. Once they have failed one of these checks, they must roll 1d6; if the result is lower than the number of permanent madnesses they have, they become an Antihero (retaining all permanent madnesses acquired so far), with a Corruption score equal to the number of points their Virtue would have fallen below 0 after the failed Powers Check.
Powers Check for Antiheroes
An Antihero who fails a Powers Check gains 1 point of Corruption (2 if it was an Act of Ultimate Darkness). They may reduce this increase by 1 if they agree to make a Madness check in exchange, getting a permanent madness if they fail, provided they roll 1d8 and obtain a result lower than their current number of permanent madnesses minus their current Corruption (a roll of 1 is always a success).
If their Corruption would rise above 5 and they cannot acquire a madness, the character becomes a Villain and passes into the DM’s control.
Secondary Characteristics
Characters may have, for descriptive purposes, a characteristic of the other type of character: a Temptation for Heroes and a Principle for Antiheroes.
This would represent the Temptation that prevents a Hero from reaching the pinnacle of Virtue, or the one they have had to struggle hardest