Mysterious Secrets

Even the most common of commoners have been exposed at some point or another to harrowing sights and experiences, or are in some way tied to an ancient lineage or legacy that helped shape Barovia centuries ago. Some secrets even ensured Barovians were able to survive Strahd's oppressive rule.
Choose a mysterious secret and use it to craft your character's background and story. Descriptions for the secrets can be found below:

d20	Mysterious Secret	Description	Feature
1	Crimson Beginnings	In your earliest memory, you are lost in the woods and covered in blood. The memory still haunts you and colors your dreams in red.	Feature: Countless restless nights have better enabled you to stay up without sleep. When you take a long rest, you can choose to roll a DC 12 Constitution saving throw. On a success, two additional hours of your rest may be used to take watch or perform light activities. On a failure, you gain 1 level of exhaustion which that long rest cannot remove.
2	Silver Blooded	You are a descendant of a knight of the Order of the Silver Dragon, whose blood and/or magic still manifests in your family line. You know little of your distant relation, except that the dragon that led the order was a paragon of good.	Feature: You know the ray of frost cantrip and use your intelligence modifier to cast it.
3	A Deal Struck	You died once. You would have stayed dead if it weren't for some otherworldly entity that made you a deal. One day, it will give you a single command that you must follow, no matter the cost. You agreed to the price and rose from the dead. The entity has been completely absent from your life since.	Feature: Once per long rest, when you make a death saving throw, you may add 1 to the roll as this entity continues to pull you away from death.
4	Prophetic Nightmares	One of your parents had the gift of foresight. Sometimes, you have strange dreams that come true, but only in the worst ways.	Feature: Once per long rest, you can roll 1d4 and add the result to a single attack roll or saving throw in order to prevent one of these terrible futures. You can use this feature after the initial roll but before knowing the results of the roll.
5	Guardian	You own a necklace with a small amber pendant. Within the pendant lies a dormant, evil entity and you are its guard. With each passing year, the entity grows stronger and you know that one day it will escape from its prison unless you stop it.	Feature: You may use this pendant to cast the spell detect evil and good. Once you've used the pendant 3 times, it is destroyed and the entity is released.
6	A Holy Calling	You recently received a holy vision from a god of light - perhaps the Morning Lord himself - featuring a fallen angel. Though you are unable to identify the god contacting you or this angel's face, the message was clear: Kill the fallen angel before it is too late.	Feature: You know the sacred flame cantrip. The saving throw for this cantrip is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Wisdom modifier.
7	A Strange Elf	Prerequisite: You must be a Dusk elf of Dusk Half-Elf to have this secret. Your elven blood is dubious. You have the physical traits typical of your kind, except for your shocking white hair and crimson eyes. The physical abnormalities make you an outsider to most dusk elves and many believe you were cursed or marred by a vampire as a baby.	Feature: You have a permanent +1 bonus to your Dexterity (Stealth) skill.
8	Demonic Heritage	You have an infernal heritage, though you don't know where it originates. You have an unusual marking that represents your evil ancestry, such as a patch of red skin, pointed teeth, or claw-like fingernails. Such physical signs of your heritage appear in every member of your blood family.	Feature: You know the firebolt cantrip and use your Charisma modifier to cast it.
9	Arcane Mystery	You have obtained an unfinished spell scroll written by the legendary mage, Mordenkainen. It seems to be an unfinished prototype for a new spell. You have beens searching for a mage talented enough to finish the spell, or at least understand its purpose.	Feature: From your time pondering the spell scroll, you have a better understanding of the arcane. You have a permanent +1 bonus to your Intelligence (Arcana) skill.
10	The Moon's Curse	Prerequisite: You must be a Werewolf to have this secret. You and your family are werewolf lycanthropes. Although you and your family members lived peaceful lives, a hunter came through your town and murdered many or all of them. You've been tracking this hunter ever since.	Feature: You have a permanent +1 bonus to your Wisdom (Survival) skill.
11	Host	At one point, you came in contact with a small, living black vine of unknown origin, about the size of a piece of thread. When you touched the vine, it pierced your skin and crawled into your veins. That little vine lives within you still and sometimes you can see it moving beneath your skin.	Feature: This vine lives by drinking your life blood, bolstering you against necrotic damage. When you take necrotic damage, you can reduce the damage taken by 1d4. You may use this ability once per long rest.
12	A Cycle of Death	You are haunted by the memories of your past lives. But the only memories you receive are of the moments before your previous deaths. You remember being stoned by a village, the clench of a wolf's teeth around your throat, and falling an impossible height only to feel your bones shatter on impact. Of all of the deaths you remember, not one has you dying old in your bed.	Feature: Your intimate knowledge of death gives you advantage of any Wisdom (Medicine) check to determine a creature's cause of death.
13	A Verdant Treasure	A mysterious, hooded individual once appeared on your doorstep and handed you a glowing, fist-sized, green gemstone. As soon as they gave you this gem, they dropped dead. Though you don't know the gem's true purpose or origin, it brims with life-giving magic.	Feature: You can use the gemstone to cast the revivify spell. You cannot use the gemstone again until 3d6 +5 days have passed.
14	Greenteeth	You once knew an old herbalist named Jeny Greenteeth who told you crazy stories of the Feywild. Though you originally thought that this woman simply lived in the Feywild for a time, you now have reason to believe she was actually a powerful archfey. Before you could discover the truth, she vanished.	Feature: You know the druidcraft cantrip.
15	Hunter's Scion	A monster hunter saved your town from some terrible threat and then took you on as their student. The two of you are close friends and the hunter holds you in high regard. However, your mentor left under mysterious circumstances and you've been trying to find them ever since.	Feature: One weapon of your choice from your starting equipment is silvered.
16	Shell	You do not have a soul. You are desperately afraid of death and have been searching all your life for a way to earn a soul of your own.	Feature: You are immune to all resurrection magic. Once you accumulate 3 failed death saving throws, you cannot be revived except by the wish spell.
17	Witch Kin	You are the descendant of an ancient and powerful witch that discarded her only child for being born a girl. Though that baby girl, one of your several times great-grandparents, survived, remnants of that evil magic still courses through her bloodline.	Feature: You can cast the infestation cantrip. The saving throw DC for this cantrip is 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier.
18	Strange Romantic	You once fell in love with a vampire, but they were only using you for your blood. You found out their true intentions and managed to escape the relationship before it was too late. However, the experience has left you jilted towards romance in general.	Feature: You have a +1 bonus to any saving throw to resist being charmed by a vampire or their kindred.
19	Reroll for a Secret
20	Reroll for a Secret

Chosen Secrets

The following mysterious secrets are already associated with characters and are no longer available for character creation:

Crimson Beginnings (Morrin Ber)
Silver Blooded (Alimis)
A Deal Struck (Lagoran Nightbourne)
Arcane Mystery (Danior Silvanus)
A Cycle of Death (Victoria Barthos)
Hunter's Scion (Marek Diavolov)