-First Draft-
I woke up in a dark expanse, with nothing in sight. I moaned and sat up rubbing my tired eyes as I looked around confused how I got here. As far as I could remember yesterday went just like any other day, with me waking up at 7 a.m after falling asleep just 6 hours before.
I had gone through my daily routine of immediately getting on my phone to check to see if my novels had updated. Before moving to Youtube to watch a DnD campaign I was following from Arcadum. I continued until I was told by my mom to get out of bed and eat something.
"Jesse! Go eat something, don't just stay in bed on your phone."
At which point I went to use the restroom before exiting my room to my computer.
There, I opened a tab for youtube and continued the video as I moved to make myself food. After heating up a simple meal of rice and salt and pepper fish, I returned to my laptop to watch the campaign, enthralled with the story as I watched the players maneuver through the land of Verum.
This continued until the afternoon when I began to feel hungry again so I fashioned myself another simple meal before continuing my routine. Only breaking up continuing the playlist to try my hand at speedrunning Minecraft before failing, just like every other day I had attempted to beat the game.
I returned to Youtube again until after the sun had set, and again, I had felt my stomach become empty once more. So I stood up from my seated position in front of my laptop and heated up some food to go with some rice from the selection that had been cooked that afternoon by my mom that had been set on the kitchen counter.
This routine had been ongoing for several days with every day starting and ending at nearly the same time, with very little variation. I didn't have friends to talk to over discord or play with, and my older brother always went out to his friend's house to talk and play games, leaving me in the house with no one to play with.
The last time I had spoken with anyone outside my family was a couple weeks back with a girl I had known from childhood. I had been talking with her for a while over the summer when seemingly out of nowhere, I was kicked from the discord server she had invited me to. And when I messaged her in the morning when I had discovered this, I received no reply.
I assumed either I had done something wrong when I was talking with her and she was mad and thus ignoring me, or something had happened to her or her friend, who she had told me was feeling suicidal from what I assumed was a bad situation at home, and she needed some time. Either way, I would never know, since she never responded to my messages since then.
Anyway, the point of the message was that I hadn't had a break in routine in a while and I couldn't understand why I had suddenly woken up in an unknown location with darkness as far as I could see in any direction.
I panicked and stood up on the floor I couldn't see but still feel. I could see my body so it wasn't like it was a place with no light, but more that, everything around me was the darkest shade of black, making it so I couldn't see where I was since there were no points of reference. No shifts, curves, or edges to indicate anything around me. Just, black, all around me.
I spun around fumbling around with my arms to test if anything was in arms reach, feeling nothing but air. I was confused and scared.
'How did I get here? Where is here? Is this like one of my novels where I'm being taken somewhere with no warning or consent by something or someone?'
I waited for some sign something, anything to happen.
I sat down and started imagining things in the blackness coming out and attacking me, as I often did when faced with darkness such as when I'm lying in bed and imagine a formless monster silently walking up to my unsuspecting body to jump me, causing me to have to open my eyes and make sure what I'm imagining isn't really happening.
Or when I'm in the shower and have to close my eyes to wash my head, where I imagine that someone enters the bathroom and is about to move the curtains to stab me like in that old movie, even though I can clearly tell that no one had entered from the distinct lack of the sound of the door opening.
Nevertheless, I always panic and quickly wash my face so I can open my eyes to make sure its all in my head, and not real. To reassure myself that I'm fine, that there's nothing there
I stared in front of me. Waiting, and waiting for something to jump out like I'm imagining while trying not to imagine these scenarios so I don't scare myself more than I already am.
This continues for what feels like a few hours but was likely just 10 minutes as I get caught in my thoughts, not even noticing something change in my vision. A small white exclamation point glowing in the bottom right of my vision, like something from an RPG video game.
I sit there for a couple more minutes until I recede from my thoughts enough to notice the new object and panic for a moment before calming down when I realize that its not something dangerous. But then seizing up again as I wonder if I truly am going crazy from my thoughts that I can actually see my hallucinations instead of simply imagining them.
I peer at the exclamation point that simply sits there glowing in the corner of my vision before pulling up the courage to try and interact with it. I reach my hand out to try and interact with something that's not really there and feel my index finger push against what feels like a flat surface before something pops up suddenly in the middle of my vision, expanding from the exclamation point that is now dimmer.
I pull my hand back to my head to protect myself from this sudden obstruction of my vision that I thought was coming towards my face before I calm down and think to myself,
'Come on Jesse, you need to calm down. You've played so many games, of course, you should've known that this was going to appear.'
I look at the new screen before me and think,
'huh, this may really be like one of those isekai things.'
As I scan the new screen that looks like a blank character sheet from DnD. I scroll through that all the boxes are blank for things like my name as well as my race. Confused I tap on the box for my race and see a new screen overlap the previous character sheet screen with a list of entries on the left with names of many different races. Some of which I'm familiar with, and some that I am not.
Knowing what to expect now I started at the top of the list and go through the different races there such as Dragonborn, changeling, gnome, halfling, genasi, goblin, as well as many others. I looked through each one with each one showing information on the race and its benefits on the previously blank right side.
I figured that from the evidence I had from suddenly waking up in this place with nothing else but me, and the video game hud that I could see, that I was in one of those isekai situations from those fanfictions I read all the time when I'm awake at night in bed. And thus, I would need to fill out the character sheet and that after that, I would find myself in a brand new world of opportunity.
I sat there shocked at my current circumstances before realizing that I'll probably never see my family or school friends again. This thought rattles around my head for a second. I notice that I don't really care about the school friends other than a passing thought about what is gonna happen now that I seemingly disappeared. But more alarmingly, that I didn't really feel, sad, that I wouldn't see my family again, I felt a pressure in my chest from this new information but I didn't start crying or shaking. I just felt sort of, numb.
This had happened before when I was 10. My aunt had texted me at night when I was laying in bed and told me that my grandpa that my mom was close to had died. I knew I should've felt something since I had known him and seen him once alive before, but I felt nothing.
Trying to push past this new revelation I tried to occupy my mind by reading through all the different races and tried to think of which one I think I should pick. I immediately decided that I wouldn't choose human since I didn't want to waste this chance to be something different than before. After that, I looked through the different races to try and start crossing out races I didn't think I would like.
I chose to exclude any races that were too far from a human since even though I didn't want to be a human when I had the chance to change my race, I wanted the familiarity of being something close to it. So races like the Tortles or Minotaurs that have more animalistic appearances from my point of view, were mentally crossed out from the selection.
From there I looked at some of the cooler/edgier looking races like the Dragonborn or the Tieflings. I was a bit confused about whether I would follow the lore of the race I chose, wherever I ended up after creating my character. For instance, for the Bugbears, the entry read that they are natural-born hunters and killers. Would I suddenly find myself with the urge to hunt down prey? It also says they lean to the eviler side of things. Would that affect my personality?
This question led me to decide to set aside races that had good benefits but had evil alignments. I couldn't deny that I wasn't attracted to the idea of being a handsome elf but I figured that no matter what race I chose, I could configure my appearance to make myself handsome no matter what race.
Or at least above average.
Another factor in this was the life span. Should I pick a race for its extremely long life span?
I was conflicted since this very scenario I'm in right now indicates that there is something else beyond my understanding and I very well could become powerful enough or obtain something to make me an immortal being that doesn't age.
I decided that as long as I played my cards right I should at least have some chance of living longer so I focused on the racial benefits, skimming through their history to make sure they aren't a race that is targeted.
As a test, I tried picking the dwarf race and then attempted to change my height since I felt a bit self-conscious about being a bit shorter than average. I found that I couldn't go much further than half a foot taller than the average dwarf making me around 5 foot 5. Seeing this I decided that since there were so many options, I could choose to be a bit picky and I crossed out the Gnomes, Dwarves, Halflings, Goblins, and Kobolds for there short stature.
After reading through the rest of the list I decided I wanted to be a physical fighter so I then excluded the races that focused purely on the arcane such as the high-elves.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~A while later (Time Skip)~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
After careful deliberation, I narrowed my preferences to four different races. The Firbolg, the Dragonborn, the Tabaxi, and the Aasimar, specifically an Aasimar Scourge.
The Firbolg are a race of giant-kin that were originally wood-elves but have since branched off after living in the savage wilds near old places of power that infused them with primal magic that gave them a monstrous size averaging 7-8 ft in height and weighing between 240 and 300 pounds, despite them retaining their gentle and caring natures. As a Firbolg, I would obtain a potential life span of 500 years after reaching adulthood at 30.
I would also obtain the ability to cast detect magic as well as disguise self, both of which are very useful spells. Detect magic does exactly as it says and disguise self allows me to appear up to 3 feet shorter allowing me to blend in with humans and elves.
I also obtain the ability to turn myself invisible using magic for 6 seconds or until I attempt to attack someone although I can only use this once every short rest that is at least an hour-long of no combat or strenuous activity. The Firbolg race is also able to speak to beasts and plants, although I wouldn't be able to understand them when they answer me.
Another appealing race is the Dragonborn. As a Dragonborn, I would only have a lifespan of around 80 but I would reach adulthood at 15. The average Dragonborn would stand at a height well over 6 ft and weigh around 250 pounds.
They were created by the dragons and are known to have some capability to access the memories of the dragons although it is unknown as to what extent they are able to access.
One of the most appealing things about the Dragonborn is their Draconic Ancestry that allows them to immediately obtain a powerful breath attack. With the breath being able to deal with different elemental damages depending on the type of dragon with it being capable of dealing acid damage, Lightning damage, Fire damage, Poison damage, or cold damage depending on the color.
This powerful breath attack is capable of instantly one-shotting a low constitution lv. 1 and this isn't even factoring the basic attacks after dealing that damage. And this ability can get stronger after reaching a sufficient level.
As a Dragonborn, I would be capable of speaking common as well as Draconic which is one of the oldest languages and is often used in the study of magic.
After the Dragonborn is the Tabaxi, who can be considered a race of cat people. This can range from a simple house cat to panthers, leopards, or cheetahs. They are a race known for their feline agility which allows them to burst forth with twice their speed in the midst of combat. They are a very dexterous race that stands on average taller than a human and have sleeker builds for agility.
The Tabaxi came to be after humans were cursed for their disregard and disrespect to nature. Thus they were cursed to be one with nature as a cat person.
Their eyes are keen and they have the ability of dark vision which allows them to see within 60 ft as if it were bright light when it is dim, and as if it were dim when it's completely dark. Although, during the darkness, they are unable to see colors, only shades of grey. This appeals to me since then I could see in the dark and I could work on my fear of the dark.
As a Tabaxi I would be capable of speaking common as well as one other language of my choice which could be extremely useful if I end up in a location that has a specific language. Or I could pick a language that has long since been forgotten and raid ruins for ancient treasures and relics.
Finally is the Aasimar, specifically the Scourge. They are a race of beings that have a hint of celestial blood within them. This can be through from the normal way of breeding between a celestial and a mortal, from a blessing from a particularly powerful priest, or from being born in the right place at the right time on a holy day.
The Aasimar mature at the same rate as a human but has a potential life span of up to 160 years. They also have the same range of height and weight as humans.
Being blessed with a radiant soul as one with celestial blood, the Aasimar are also capable of dark vision with the same drawback of being unable to see color in the darkness apart from different shades of grey. They also have a special Celestial resistance that makes them resistant to both necrotic as well as radiant damage.
As an Aasimar, one is immediately able to use healing hands, an ability that can be used every long rest which is at least 8 hours and this trait allows them to heal someone the number of hit points as their level. I'm a bit confused as to how this will transfer into the new world with hit points but being capable of healing wounds is always something important. I would also be capable of using a small light cantrip to make the light appear.
The ability that makes the Scourge Aasimar different from the Protectors or the Fallen, is Radiant Consumption which would allow me to unleash the divine energy within me causing a searing light to burst forth from me, pouring out of my eyes and mouth causing anyone in a 10-foot radius of me to take radiant damage equal to half my level rounded up every 6 seconds. This ability lasts for a max of a minute but during this period, every time I deal damage with an attack or spell I deal extra radiant damage that equals my level. This ability requires a long rest to recharge after use.
Finally, as an Aasimar, I would know how to speak, read, and write Common and Celestial.
After rereading each one I decided that the one I want the most is...
This is going to be a SI story where I will be rolling for my actions, I will be writing the story based on the results of these rolls but it must be stated that I am not an experienced DnD player or dungeon master. In fact, I've never played a game in my life. But I've recently been watching some campaigns and it just seems too interesting to not try. But its greatly appreciated if constructive criticism would be given. Also, it will be stated that this is all just for fun so there is a pretty high chance that I will drop this eventually unless inspiration keeps hitting so don't get your hopes up if you think this is good. Anyway, thanks for reading! :)