Backgrounds

You used to do something before adventure, something that gave you unique skills. The following are a list of backgrounds that represent your life before adventure.

Acolyte

You have spent your life in the service of a temple and act as an intermediary between the realm of the holy and the mortal world, performing sacred rites and offering sacrifices in order to conduct worshipers into the presence of the divine. You are not necessarily a cleric—performing sacred rites is not the same thing as channeling divine power.

Were you a lesser functionary in a temple, raised from childhood to assist the priests in the sacred rites? Or were you a high priest who suddenly experienced a call to serve your god in a different way? Perhaps you were the leader of a small cult outside of any established temple structure, or even an occult group that served an aberrant master that you now deny.

Skill Proficiencies. Insight, Religion Languages. High-Speech and one other language of your choice Equipment. A Holy Symbol, 5 Sticks of Incense, Vestments, Common Clothes, and 15GP

Shelter of the Faithful. As an acolyte, you command the respect of those who share your faith, and you can perform the religious ceremonies of your faith. You and your adventuring companions can expect to receive free healing and care at a temple, shrine, or other established presence of your faith, though you must provide any material components needed for spells. Those who share your religion will support you (but only you) with a modest lifestyle.

You might also have ties to a specific temple dedicated to your chosen deity or pantheon, and you have a residence there. This could be the temple where you used to serve, if you remain on good terms with it, or a temple where you have found a new home. While near your temple, you can call upon the priests for assistance, provided the assistance you ask for is not hazardous and you remain in good standing with your temple.

You also have lesser magical power, you know the Thaumaturgy cantrip and use Wisdom as your spellcasting modifier.

Anthropologist

You have always been fascinated by other cultures, from the most ancient and primeval lost lands to the most modern civilizations. By studying other cultures’ customs, philosophies, laws, rituals, religious beliefs, languages, and art, you have learned how tribes, empires, and all forms of society in between craft their own destinies and doom. This knowledge came to you not only through books and scrolls, but also through first-hand observation—by visiting far-flung settlements and exploring local histories and customs.

Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Religion Languages: Two of your choice Equipment: A leather-bound diary, a bottle of ink, an ink pen, a set of traveler’s clothes, one trinket of special significance, and a pouch containing 10 gp

Linguist. You can communicate with humanoids who don’t speak any language you know. You must observe the humanoids interacting with one another for at least 1 day, after which you learn a handful of important words, expressions, and gestures—enough to communicate on a rudimentary level.

Additionally, it takes you only 100 days of work, costing 1GP a day to learn a language, as opposed to 250 days of work, costing 1GP a day.

Archaeologist An archaeologist learns about the long-lost and fallen cultures of the past by studying their remains — their bones, their ruins, their surviving masterworks, and their tombs. Those who practice archaeology travel to the far corners of the world to root through crumbled cities and lost dungeons, digging in search of artifacts that might tell the stories of monarchs and high priests, wars and cataclysms.

Skill Proficiencies: History, Survival Tool Proficiencies: Cartographer’s Tools or Navigator’s Tools Languages: One of your choice Equipment: A wooden case containing a map to a ruin or dungeon, a bullseye lantern, a miner’s pick, a set of traveler’s clothes, a shovel, a two-person tent, a trinket recovered from a dig site, and a pouch containing 25 gp

Historical Knowledge. When you enter a ruin or dungeon, you can correctly ascertain its original purpose and determine its builders, whether those were dwarves, elves, humans, ìqáalìe, or some other known race. In addition, you can determine the monetary value of art objects more than an Age old.

You also have advantage on Intelligence (History) in relation to history that is more than an Age old.