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Backgrounds: Difference between revisions
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:'''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. | :'''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. | :You also have advantage on Intelligence (History) in relation to history that is more than an Age old. | ||
=== Athlete === | |||
You strive to perfect yourself physically and in execution of everything you do. The thrill of competition lights fire in your blood, and the roar of the crowd drives you forward. Tales of your exploits precede you and might open doors or loosen tongues. Physical contests and those who pursue them command respect bordering on reverence. Athletes arise from all walks of life and all cultures and quite often cross paths with one another. | |||
:'''Skill Proficiencies:''' Acrobatics, Athletics | |||
:'''Tool Proficiencies:''' Vehicles (Land) | |||
:'''Languages:''' One of your choice | |||
:'''Equipment:''' A bronze discus or leather ball, a lucky charm or past trophy, a set of traveler’s clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp | |||
:'''Echoes of Victory.''' You have attracted admiration among spectators, fellow athletes, and trainers in the region that hosted your past athletic victories. When visiting any settlement within 100 miles of where you grew up, there is a 50 percent chance you can find someone there who admires you and is willing to provide information or temporary shelter. Additionally, you have advantage on saving throws against Exhaustion and can treat your exhaustion level as one level lower then what it is. | |||
=== Charlatan === | |||
You have always had a way with people. You know what makes them tick, you can tease out their hearts’ desires after a few minutes of conversation, and with a few leading questions you can read them like they were children’s books. It’s a useful talent, and one that you’re perfectly willing to use for your advantage. | |||
You know what people want and you deliver, or rather, you promise to deliver. Common sense should steer people away from things that sound too good to be true, but common sense seems to be in short supply when you’re around. The bottle of pink-colored liquid will surely cure that unseemly rash, this ointment — nothing more than a bit of fat with a sprinkle of silver dust — can restore youth and vigor, and there’s a bridge in the city that just happens to be for sale. These marvels sound implausible, but you make them sound like the real deal. | |||
:'''Skill Proficiencies:''' Deception, Sleight of Hand | |||
:'''Tool Proficiencies:''' Disguise kit, Forgery kit | |||
:'''Equipment:''' A set of fine clothes, a disguise kit, tools of the con of your choice (ten stoppered bottles filled with colored liquid, a set of weighted dice, a deck of marked cards, or a signet ring of an imaginary duke), and a pouch containing 15 gp | |||
:'''False Identity''' | |||
You have created a second identity that includes documentation, established acquaintances, and disguises that allow you to assume that persona. Additionally, you can forge documents including official papers and personal letters, as long as you have seen an example of the kind of document or the handwriting you are trying to copy. | |||
=== Investigator === | |||
You have served the community where you grew up, standing as its first line of defense against crime. You aren’t a soldier, directing your gaze outward at possible enemies. Instead, your service to your hometown was to help police its populace, protecting the citizenry from lawbreakers and malefactors of every stripe. Even if you’re not city-born or city-bred, this background can describe your early years as a member of law enforcement. Most settlements of any size have their own constables and police forces, and even smaller communities have sheriffs and bailiffs who stand ready to protect their community. | |||
:'''Skill Proficiencies:''' Athletics, Insight | |||
:'''Languages:''' Two of your choice | |||
:'''Equipment:''' A uniform in the style of your unit and indicative of your rank, a horn with which to summon help, a set of manacles, and a pouch containing 10 gp | |||
:'''Watcher’s Eye.''' Your experience in enforcing the law, and dealing with lawbreakers, gives you a feel for local laws and criminals. You can easily find the local outpost of the watch or a similar organization, and just as easily pick out the dens of criminal activity in a community, although you’re more likely to be welcome in the former locations rather than the latter. Additionally, you have advantage on Investigation checks. | |||
Cloistered Scholar | |||
As a child, you were inquisitive when your playmates were possessive or raucous. In your formative years, you found your way to one of Drakomere’s great institutes of learning, where you were apprenticed and taught that knowledge is a more valuable treasure than gold or gems. Now you are ready to leave your home—not to abandon it, but to quest for new lore to add to its storehouse of knowledge. | |||
:'''Skill Proficiencies:''' History, plus your choice of one from among Arcana, Nature, and Religion | |||
:'''Languages:''' Two of your choice | |||
:'''Equipment:''' The scholar’s robes of your cloister, a writing kit (small pouch with a quill, ink, folded parchment, and a small penknife), a borrowed book on the subject of your current study, and a pouch containing 10 gp | |||
:'''Library Access'.'' Though others must often endure extensive interviews and significant fees to gain access to even the most common archives in your library, you have free and easy access to the majority of the library, though it might also have repositories of lore that are too valuable, magical, or secret to permit anyone immediate access. | |||
:You have a working knowledge of your cloister’s personnel and bureaucracy, and you know how to navigate those connections with some ease. | |||
:Additionally, you are likely to gain preferential treatment at other libraries in Drakomere, as professional courtesy shown to a fellow scholar. You also know the Amanuenseus cantrip and use your Intelligence modifier for your spellcasting ability. | |||
=== Courtier === | |||
In your earlier days, you were a personage of some significance in a noble court or a bureaucratic organization. You might or might not come from an upper-class family; your talents, rather than the circumstances of your birth, could have secured you this position. | |||
Even if you are no longer a full-fledged member of the group that gave you your start in life, your relationships with your former fellows can be an advantage for you and your adventuring comrades. You might undertake missions with your new companions that further the interest of the organization that gave you your start in life. In any event, the abilities that you honed while serving as a courtier will stand you in good stead as an adventurer. | |||
:'''Skill Proficiencies:''' Insight, Persuasion | |||
:'''Languages:''' Two of your choice | |||
:'''Equipment:''' A set of fine clothes and a pouch containing 5 gp | |||
:'''Court Functionary.''' Your knowledge of how bureaucracies function lets you gain access to the records and inner workings of any noble court or government you encounter. You know who the movers and shakers are, whom to go to for the favors you seek, and what the current intrigues of interest in the group are. You also know the Prestidigitation cantrip and use your Intelligence for its spellcasting ability | |||
=== Criminal === | |||
You are an experienced criminal with a history of breaking the law. You have spent a lot of time among other criminals and still have contacts within the criminal underworld. You’re far closer than most people to the world of murder, theft, and violence that pervades the underbelly of civilization, and you have survived up to this point by flouting the rules and regulations of society. | |||
:'''Skill Proficiencies:''' Deception, Stealth | |||
:'''Tool Proficiencies:''' One type of gaming set, thieves’ tools | |||
:'''Equipment:''' A crowbar, a set of dark common clothes including a hood, and a pouch containing 15 gp | |||
'''Criminal Contact.''' | |||
You have a reliable and trustworthy contact who acts as your liaison to a network of other criminals. You know how to get messages to and from your contact, even over great distances; specifically, you know the local messengers, corrupt caravan masters, and seedy sailors who can deliver messages for you. Also when you roll Deception or Stealth and roll a 7 or lower on the die, you can treat the number on the die as an 8. You can do this a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining expended uses at the end of a long rest. | |||
=== Entertainer === | |||
You thrive in front of an audience. You know how to entrance them, entertain them, and even inspire them. Your poetics can stir the hearts of those who hear you, awakening grief or joy, laughter or anger. Your music raises their spirits or captures their sorrow. Your dance steps captivate, your humor cuts to the quick. Whatever techniques you use, your art is your life. | |||
:'''Skill Proficiencies:''' Acrobatics, Performance | |||
:'''Tool Proficiencies:''' Disguise kit, one type of musical instrument | |||
:'''Equipment:''' A musical instrument (one of your choice), the favor of an admirer (love letter, lock of hair, or trinket), a costume, and a pouch containing 15 gp | |||
'''By Popular Demand.''' | |||
You can always find a place to perform, usually in an inn or tavern but possibly with a circus, at a theater, or even in a noble’s court. At such a place, you receive free lodging and food of a modest or comfortable standard (depending on the quality of the establishment), as long as you perform each night. In addition, your performance makes you something of a local figure. When strangers recognize you in a town where you have performed, they typically take a liking to you. | |||
=== Fisher === | |||
You have spent your life aboard fishing vessels or combing the shallows for the bounty of the ocean. Perhaps you were born into a family of fisher folk, working with your kin to feed your village. Maybe the job was a means to an end — a way out of an undesirable circumstance that forced you to take up life aboard a ship. Regardless of how you began, you soon fell in love with the sea, the art of fishing, and the promise of the eternal horizon. | |||
:'''Skill Proficiencies:''' History, Survival | |||
:'''Languages:''' One of your choice | |||
:'''Equipment:''' Fishing tackle, a net, a favorite fishing lure or oiled leather wading boots, a set of traveler’s clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp | |||
'''Harvest the Water.''' You gain advantage on ability checks made using fishing tackle. If you have access to a body of water that sustains marine life, you can maintain a moderate lifestyle while working as a fisher, and you can catch enough food to feed yourself and up to ten other people each day. Additionally you have advantage on animal handling checks made against bests with swimming speeds. Additionally, when you make an attack against a creature with a swimming speed, you can give yourself advantage on the attack roll. You can give yourself advantage on a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining expended uses at the end of a long rest. | |||