Backgrounds
Acolyte
Acolyte
You have spent your life in the service of a temple to a specific god or pantheon of gods.You 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. Choose a god, a pantheon of gods, or some other quasi-divine being, and work with your DM to detail the nature of your religious service. Acolytes are shaped by their experience in temples or other religious communities. Their study of the history and tenets of their faith and their relationships to temples, shrines, or hierarchies affect their mannerisms and ideals. Their flaws might be some hidden hypocrisy or heretical idea, or an ideal or bond taken to an extreme.
Features
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 deity. You 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) at 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, 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.Anthropologist
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 firsthand observation – by visiting far-flung settlements and exploring local histories and customs.
Features
Cultural Chameleon
Before becoming an adventurer, you spent much of your adult life away from your homeland, living among people different from your kin. You came to understand these foreign cultures and the ways of their people, who eventually treated you as one of their own. One culture had more of an influence on you than any other, shaping your beliefs and customs. Choose a race whose culture you've adopted.Adept 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.
Suggested Characteristics
Anthropologists leave behind the societies into which they were born to discover what life ls like in other parts of the world. They seek to see how other races and civilizations survive – or why they did not. Some anthropologists are driven by intellectual curiosity, while others want the fame and recognition that comes with being the first to discover a new people, a lost tribe, or the truth about an ancient empire's downfall.
Archaeologist
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. Few archaeologists can resist the lure of an unexplored ruin or dungeon, particularly if such a site is the source of legends or is rumored to contain the treasures and relics of wizards, warlords, or royalty. Some archaeologists plunder for wealth or fame, while others consider it their calling to illuminate the past or keep the world's greatest treasures from falling into the wrong hands. Whatever their motivations, archaeologists combine the qualities of a scrappy historian with the self-made heroism of a treasure-hunting scoundrel.
Features
Dust Digger
Prior to becoming an adventurer, you spent most of your young life crawling around in the dust, pilfering relics of questionable value from crypts and ruins. Though you managed to sell a few of your discoveries and earn enough coin to buy proper adventuring gear, you have held onto an item that has great emotional value to you. Roll on the Signature Item table to see what you have, or choose an item from the table.Historical Knowledge
When you enter a ruin or dungeon, you can correctly ascertain its original purpose and determine its builders. In addition, you can determine the monetary value of art objects more than a century old.
Bounty Hunter
Bounty Hunter
You have spent your days scouring the lawless wastes looking for those who have committed crimes on behalf of the law, or are hired by someone with enough money to afford vengeance for hire. You may have been an outlaw yourself once, and now use your knowledge of the criminal underworld to track your prey.
Features
I'm Looking For Someone
You are in frequent contact with law enforcement and the mercenary guild (of which you are a member) who might pay for your services. This connection comes in the form of a contact in towns or cities you visit: a person who provides information about the people and places of the local area. You know the edible plants of sandy wastes, and are able to scrounge enough food for yourself and one other person upon them.Entertainer
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. Successful entertainers have to be able to capture and hold an audience’s attention, so they tend to have flamboyant or forceful personalities. They’re inclined toward the romantic and often cling to high-minded ideals about the practice of art and the appreciation of beauty. Variant: Sworddancer A gladiator is as much an entertainer as any minstrel or circus performer, trained to make the arts of combat into a spectacle the crowd can enjoy. This kind of flashy combat is your entertainer routine, though you might also have some skills as a tumbler or actor. Using your By Popular Demand feature, you can find a place to perform in any place that features combat for entertainment—perhaps a gladiatorial arena or secret pit fighting club. You can replace the musical instrument in your equipment package with an inexpensive but unusual weapon, such as a trident or net.
Features
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.Charlatan
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. Charlatans are colorful characters who conceal their true selves behind the masks they construct. They reflect what people want to see, what they want to believe, and how they see the world. But their true selves are sometimes plagued by an uneasy conscience, an old enemy, or deep-seated trust issues. 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.
Features
Favorite Schemes
Every charlatan has an angle they use in preference to other schemes. Choose a favorite scam or roll on the table below. d6 Scam
- I cheat at games of chance.
- I shave coins or forge documents.
- I insinuate myself into people's lives to prey on their weakness and secure their fortunes.
- I put on new identities like clothes.
- I run sleight-of-hand cons on street corners.
- I convince people that worthless junk is worth their hard-earned money.
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.
Cloistered Scholar
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 Aondair'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.
Features
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 across the world, as professional courtesy shown to a fellow scholar.
Courier
Courtier
In your earlier days, you were a personage of some significance in a 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. You might have been one of the many functionaries, attendants, and other hangers-on in the court, or perhaps you worked with the cutthroat guilds. You might have been one of the behind-the-scenes law-keepers or functionaries. 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.
Features
Feature: 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.Criminal
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. Criminals might seem like villains on the surface, and many of them are villainous to the core. But some have an abundance of endearing, if not redeeming, characteristics. There might be honor among thieves, but criminals rarely show any respect for law or authority.
Variant: Spy
Although your capabilities are not much different from those of a burglar or smuggler, you learned and practiced them in a very different context: as an espionage agent. You might have been an officially sanctioned agent of the crown, or perhaps you sold the secrets you uncovered to the highest bidder.Features
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.Faction Agent
Faction Agent
Many organizations active in Aondair aren't bound by strictures of geography. These factions pursue their agendas without regard for political boundaries, and their members operate anywhere the organization deems necessary. These groups employ listeners, rumormongers, smugglers, sellswords, cache-holders (people who guard caches of wealth or magic for use by the faction's operatives), haven keepers, and message drop minders, to name a few. At the core of every faction are those who don't merely fulfill a small function for that organization, but who serve as its hands, head, and heart. As a prelude to your adventuring career (and in preparation for it), you served as an agent of a particular faction in Aondair. You might have operated openly or secretly, depending on the faction and its goals, as well as how those goals mesh with your own. Becoming an adventurer doesn't necessarily require you to relinquish membership in your faction (though you can choose to do so), and it might enhance your status in the faction.
Features
Safe Haven
As a faction agent, you have access to a secret network of supporters and operatives who can provide assistance on your adventures. You know a set of secret signs and passwords you can use to identify such operatives, who can provide you with access to a hidden safe house, free room and board, or assistance in finding information. These agents never risk their lives for you or risk revealing their true identities.
Failed Merchant
Failed Merchant
Maybe you come from a long line of merchants. Perhaps you were an entrepreneur. Regardless, your ventures ended poorly. Whether it was because of outside influences, bad luck, or simply because your business acumen was weak, you lost everything. With failure, however, comes experience. You’re free of that old life, having made some connections and learned your lessons. Being a merchant involved having a head for numbers, a strong personality, the ability to make deals with hostile adversaries, a strong sword arm to fight off bandits, and the intuition for knowing what people want and need. The art of business is the art of finding the best path to profit, and that path might be different with each transaction. It takes a strong mind and a stronger stomach to succeed. So why did you fail?
Features
Feature: Supply Chain
From your time as a merchant, you retain connections with wholesalers, suppliers, and other merchants and entrepreneurs. You can call upon these connections when looking for items or information.Fisherman
Fisherman
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. Fishers succeed only if they spend time at their jobs. As such, most fishers have a strong work ethic, and they admire others who earn their living honestly. Fishers tend to be superstitious, forming attachments to particular fishing lures or special fishing spots. They have a connection to the bodies of water in which they fish, and they think poorly of those whose actions adversely affect their livelihood.
Features
Feature: 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. Fishing Tale You can tell a compelling tale, whether tall or true, to impress and entertain others. Once a day, you can tell your story to willing listeners. At the DM's discretion, a number of those listeners become friendly toward you; this is not a magical effect, and continued amicability on their part depends on your actions. You can work with your DM to create your own fishing tale.Folk Hero
Folk Hero
You come from a humble social rank, but you are destined for so much more. Already the people of your home village regard you as their champion, and your destiny calls you to stand against the tyrants and monsters that threaten the common folk everywhere. A folk hero is one of the common people, for better or for worse. Most folk heroes look on their humble origins as a virtue, not a shortcoming, and their home communities remain very important to them. Defining Event You previously pursued a simple profession among the peasantry, perhaps as a farmer, miner, servant, shepherd, woodcutter, or gravedigger. But something happened that set you on a different path and marked you for greater things. Choose or randomly determine a defining event that marked you as a hero of the people. d10 1d10 Defining Event
- I stood up to a tyrant’s agents.
- I saved people during a natural disaster.
- I stood alone against a terrible monster.
- I stole from a corrupt merchant to help the poor.
- I led a militia to fight off an invading army.
- I broke into a tyrant’s castle and stole weapons to arm the people.
- I trained the peasantry to use farm implements as weapons against a tyrant’s soldiers.
- A lord rescinded an unpopular decree after I led a symbolic act of protest against it.
- A celestial, fey, or similar creature gave me a blessing or revealed my secret origin.
- Recruited into a lord’s army, I rose to leadership and was commended for my heroism.
Features
Feature: Rustic Hospitality
Since you come from the ranks of the common folk, you fit in among them with ease. You can find a place to hide, rest, or recuperate among other commoners, unless you have shown yourself to be a danger to them. They will shield you from the law or anyone else searching for you, though they will not risk their lives for you.Grifter
Grifter
People are simple creatures. Everyone has a price. Everyone has an angle and you are no exception. Maybe you have an internal code you live by, maybe you just feel sorry for the stupid saps for having so little brains and such poor eyesight that they couldn't see you coming. Either way, you've got a play in your playbook that might be right up their ally.
Features
Grifter's Playbook
You've been around the block once or twice and have a play for every occasion. If you can spend 10 minutes preparing for a social encounter before you engage in it you gain advantage on all Deception(Charisma) & Persuasion(Charisma) Checks that come up in that social encounter.Wide Circle of Friends
If you can spend one hour alone in a new city you can usually find some low level connections to the underbelly of the city. If you need a favor outside of the law, or a place to lay low and ditch some merchandise you can find the right people.Haunted One
Haunted One
You are haunted by something so terrible that you dare not speak of it. You’ve tried to bury it and run away from it, to no avail. Whatever this thing is that haunts you can’t be slain with a sword or banished with a spell. It might come to you as a shadow on the wall, a bloodcurdling nightmare, a memory that refuses to die, or a demonic whisper in the dark. The burden has taken its toll, isolating you from most people and making you question your sanity. You must find a way to overcome it before it destroys you.
Features
Heart of Darkness
Those who look into your eyes can see that you have faced unimaginable horror and that you are no stranger to darkness. Though they might fear you, commoners will extend you every courtesy and do their utmost to help you. Unless you have shown yourself to be a danger to them, they will even take up arms to fight alongside you, should you find yourself facing an enemy alone.Hermit
Hermit
You lived in seclusion - either in a sheltered community such as a monastery, or entirely alone - for a formative part of your life. In your time apart, from the clamor of of society, you found quiet, solitude and perhaps some of the answers you were looking for. Some hermits are well suited to a life of seclusion, whereas others chafe against it, and long for company. Weather they embrace solitude or long to escape it, the solitary life shapes there attitudes and ideals A few are driven slightly mad by their years apart from society.
Features
Feature: Discovery
The quiet seclusion of you extended hermitage gave you access to a unique and powerful discovery. The exact nature of this revlation depends on the nature of your seclusion. It might be a great truth about the cosmos, the duties, the powerful beings of of the outer planes, or the forces of nature. It could be a site that no one else has ever seen. You might have uncovered a fact that has been long forgotten, or unearthed some relic of the past that will rewrite history. It might be information that would be damaging to the people who consigned you to exile, and hence the reason for your return to society. Work with your DM to determine the details of your discovery and its impact on the campaign.Prisoner
Prisoner
There is a saying that crime doesn't pay, and perhaps that is true for you. You were a prisoner for a lengthy duration in some keep, dungeon, or tucked away place in the world. This confinement has shaped you to the point that it defines part of who you are. It is not easy being inside a cell, nor is it easy to rejoin the free world once your time has been served. Questions remain as to what kind of prisoner were you: Did you serve your time and were released? Did you undergo a daring escape from where your were imprisoned? Were your jailers kind and fair in their treatment of you, or were you subject to what felt like endless torture? Regardless of whether you were truly guilty or not, you served time in some form of jail or dungeon.
Nature of Your Crime:
1d6- You were convicted of murder.
- You were convicted for theft of something valuable.
- You were convicted of arson.
- You were convicted for trespassing/breaking and entering.
- You were convicted for treason.
- You were convicted for a mundane activity, such as washing your hands (outlawed in the region of your arrest for some reason)
Features
Contacts on the Inside
Your time in confinement allowed you to gain various insight and connections into the shadowy world of crime, whether you wanted to or not. No matter where you are in the world, if you find those who have served time in a dungeon or prison, the immediately recognize you as a former inmate. They will be more willing to speak to you and often offer information that could not be gained otherwise. Some may even be something that your party will be excited to hear about!
Sage
Sage
You spent years learning the lore of the multiverse. You scoured manuscripts, studied scrolls, and listened to the greatest experts on the subjects that interest you. Your efforts have made you a master in your fields of study. Sages are defined by their extensive studies, and their characteristics reflect this life of study. Devoted to scholarly pursuits, a sage values knowledge highly—sometimes in its own right, sometimes as a means toward other ideals.
Features
Researcher
When you attempt to learn or recall a piece of lore, if you do not know that information, you often know where and from whom you can obtain it. Usually, this information comes from a library, scriptorium, university, or a sage or other learned person or creature. Your DM might rule that the knowledge you seek is secreted away in an almost inaccessible place, or that it simply cannot be found. Unearthing the deepest secrets of the multiverse can require an adventure or even a whole campaign.Sailor/Pirate
Sailor/Pirate
You sailed on a seagoing vessel for years. In that time, you faced down mighty storms, monsters of the deep, and those who wanted to sink your craft to the bottomless depths. Your first love is the distant line of the horizon, but the time has come to try your hand at something new. Sailors can be a rough lot, but the responsibilities of life on a ship make them generally reliable as well. Life aboard a ship shapes their outlook and forms their most important attachments. Discuss the nature of the ship you previously sailed with your DM. Was it a merchant ship, a naval vessel, a ship of discovery, or a pirate ship? How famous (or infamous) is it? Is it widely traveled? Is it still sailing, or is it missing and presumed lost with all hands? What were your duties on board – boatswain, captain, navigator, cook, or some other position? Who were the captain and first mate? Did you leave your ship on good terms with your fellows, or on the run?
Features
Feature: Ship's Passage
When you need to, you can secure free passage on a sailing ship for yourself. You might sail on the ship you served on, or another ship you have good relations with (perhaps one captained by a former crew mate). Because you're calling in a favor, you can't be certain of a schedule or route that will meet your every need. Your DM will determine how long it takes to get where you need to go. In return for your free passage, you and your companions are expected to assist the crew during the voyage.Variant Sailor: Pirate
You spent your youth under the sway of a dread pirate, a ruthless cutthroat who taught you how to survive in a world of sharks and savages. You've indulged in larceny on the high seas and sent more than one deserving soul to a briny grave. Fear and bloodshed are no strangers to you, and you've garnered a somewhat unsavoury reputation in many a port town. If you decide that your sailing career involved piracy, you can choose the Bad Reputation feature below instead of the Ship's Passage feature.Variant Feature: Bad Reputation
If your character has a sailor background, you may select this background feature instead of Ship's Passage. No matter where you go, people are afraid of you due to your reputation. When you are in a civilized settlement, you can get away with minor criminal offences, such as refusing to pay for food at a tavern or breaking down doors at a local shop, since most people will not report your activity to the authorities.
Spy
Spy
Although your capabilities are not much different from those of a burglar or smuggler, you learned and practiced them in a very different context: as an espionage agent. You might have been an officially sanctioned agent of the crown, or perhaps you sold the secrets you uncovered to the highest bidder.
Criminal Specialty
There are many kinds of criminals, and within a thieves' guild or similar criminal organization, individual members have particular specialties. Even criminals who operate outside of such organizations have strong preferences for certain kinds of crimes over others. Choose the role you played in your criminal life.Features
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.Storyteller
Storyteller
You are a teller and collector of stories and tales. Often popular or considered necessary in small communities, a storyteller will never be unwelcome in an area because people often want to hear what tale you have stored away in your memories. While not every story is true the storyteller believes in the importance of telling a story as opposed to reading it, they will cling to the accuracy of their oral histories or the importance of the morals that they teach.
Story Specialty
You know stories that haven't been set to song by bards or widely circulated in many circles, they might cause intrigue, joy or despair. Consider the stories that you might know and what their purpose would be, to mystify or to teach and preserve history through oral tradition.| Dice 1d10 | Story Specialty |
|---|---|
| 1 | Draconic Legends |
| 2 | Mysticism and Magic |
| 3 | War Stories |
| 4 | Local History |
| 5 | Ancestory and Lineages |
| 6 | Ancient Curses |
| 7 | Of Gods and Creation |
| 8 | Precautionary Tales |
| 9 | Ghosts and Monsters |
| 10 | Prophecy and Fate |
Features
Silver Tongue
You have a natural talent for engaging an audience however big or small and commanding their investment in the tales that you tell, this leaves some wondering if your stories are more history than fiction. When you are telling a story you never have to roll deception to convince others of its creditability or accuracy and instead, you will roll performance check with advantage to convince others that your stories are as real as the history books.Soldier
Soldier
War has been your life for as long as you care to remember. You trained as a youth, studied the use of weapons and armor, learned basic survival techniques, including how to stay alive on the battlefield. You might have been part of a standing national army or a mercenary company, or perhaps a member of a local militia who rose to prominence during a recent war. The horrors of war combined with the rigid discipline of military service leave their mark on all soldiers, shaping their ideals, creating strong bonds, and often leaving them scarred and vulnerable to fear, shame, and hatred. When you choose this background, work with your DM to determine which military organisation you were a part of, how far through its ranks you progressed, and what kind of experiences you had during your military career. Was it a standing army, a town guard, or a village militia? Or it might have been a noble’s or merchant’s private army, or a mercenary company. Specialty During your time as a soldier, you had a specific role to play in your unit or army. Roll a d8 or choose from the options in the table below to determine your role: d8 Specialty
- Officer
- Scout
- Infantry
- Cavalry
- Healer
- Quartermaster
- Standard bearer
- Support staff (cook, blacksmith, or the like)
Features
Military Rank
You have a military rank from your career as a soldier. Soldiers loyal to your former military organisation still recognize your authority and influence, and they defer to you if they are of a lower rank. You can invoke your rank to exert influence over other soldiers and requisition simple equipment or horses for temporary use. You can also usually gain access to friendly military encampments and fortresses where your rank is recognized.
Tribe Member
Tribe Member
Though you might have only recently arrived in civilized lands, you are no stranger to the values of cooperation and group effort when striving for supremacy. You learned these principles, and much more, as a member of an Uthgardt tribe. Your people have always tried to hold to the old ways. Tradition and taboo have kept the Uthgardt strong while the kingdoms of others have collapsed into chaos and ruin. But for the last few generations, some bands among the tribes were tempted to settle, make peace, trade, and even to build towns. Perhaps this is why Uthgar chose to raise up the totems among the people as living embodiments of his power. Perhaps they needed a reminder of who they were and from whence they came. The Chosen of Uthgar led bands back to the old ways, and most of your people abandoned the soft ways of civilization. You might have grown up in one of the tribes that had decided to settle down, and now that they have abandoned that path, you find yourself adrift. Or you might come from a segment of the Uthgardt that adheres to tradition, but you seek to bring glory to your tribe by achieving great things as a formidable adventurer. See the "Uthgardt Lands" section of chapter 2 for details on each tribe's territory and its activities that will help you choose your affiliation. Barbarian Tribes of Faerûn Though this section details the Uthgardt specifically, either it or the outlander background from the Player's Handbook can be used for a character whose origin lies with one of the other barbarian tribes in Faerûn. You might be a fair-haired barbarian of the Reghed, dwelling in the shadow of the Reghed Glacier in the far North near Icewind Dale. You might also be of the nomadic Rashemi, noted for their savage berserkers and their masked witches. Perhaps you hail from one of the wood elf tribes in the Chondalwood, or the magic-hating human tribes of the sweltering jungles of Chult.
Features
Tribal Heritage
You have an excellent knowledge of not only your tribe's territory, but also the terrain and natural resources of the rest of the area in which you grew up. You are familiar enough with any wilderness area that you can find twice as much food and water as you normally would when you forage there. Additionally, you can call upon the hospitality of your people, and those allied with your tribe, often including members of the druid circles.Urchin
Urchin
You grew up on the streets alone, orphaned, and poor. You had no one to watch over you or to provide for you, so you learned to provide for yourself. You fought fiercely over food and kept a constant watch out for other desperate souls who might steal from you. You slept on rooftops and in alleyways, exposed to the elements, and endured sickness without the advantage of medicine or a place to recuperate. You've survived despite all odds, and did so through cunning, strength, speed, or some combination of each. Urchins are shaped by lives of desperate poverty, for good and for ill. They tend to be driven either by a commitment to the people with whom they shared life on the street or by a burning desire to find a better life — and maybe get some payback on all the rich people who treated them badly. You begin your adventuring career with enough money to live modestly but securely for at least ten days. How did you come by that money? What allowed you to break free of your desperate circumstances and embark on a better life?
Features
City of Secrets
You know the secret patterns and flow to cities and can find passages through the urban sprawl that others would miss. When you are not in combat, you (and companions you lead) can travel between any two locations in the city twice as fast as your speed would normally allow.Vagabond
Vagabond
You are a wanderer or vagabond who tends to travel where the wind takes you. You tend to take low-end jobs or drift from place to place, and job to job. Vagabonds are the ultimate Bohemians. They like the freedom of not being tied down and drifting along from one adventure to the next. They put their trust in fate and make the best of every situation. Vagabonds are laid-back, easygoing and friendly. They like to travel, like meeting new people, like trying new things (even if it is baling hay or chopping wood), and like not having to worry about supporting a family or answering to anybody, but themselves. For a vagabond, each new face is a welcomed encounter, each new place an opportunity for adventure, even if it is on a small personal scale. 'See, I didn't know that,' and 'oh, how interesting,' are words anyone travelling with a vagabond is likely to hear over and over again. Those who choose the life of vagabond are usually spirited individuals full of life and curiosity, but rarely very educated in any formal sense and seldom seek higher education. They tend to live by the seat of their pants and depend on their wits, luck, and the kindness of strangers.
Features
Jack of All Trades
The Vagabond is used to doing a little bit everything in their life during their travels, They can add half their Proficiency Bonus, rounded down, to any ability check you make that doesn't already include your Proficiency Bonus.Veteran Mercenary
Veteran Mercenary
As a sell-sword who fought battles for coin, you're well acquainted with risking life and limb for a chance at a share of treasure. Now, you look forward to fighting foes and reaping even greater rewards as an adventurer. Your experience makes you familiar with the ins and outs of mercenary life, and you likely have harrowing stories of events on the battlefield. You might have served with a large outfit or a smaller band of sell-swords, maybe even more than one. Now you're looking for something else, perhaps greater reward for the risks you take, or the freedom to choose your own activities. For whatever reason, you're leaving behind the life of a soldier for hire, but your skills are undeniably suited for battle, so now you fight on in a different way
Features
Mercenary Life
You know the mercenary life as only someone who has experienced it can. You are able to identify mercenary companies by their emblems, and you know a little about any such company, including the names and reputations of its commanders and leaders, and who has hired them recently. You can find the taverns and feast halls where mercenaries abide in any area, as long as you speak the language. You can find mercenary work between adventures sufficient to maintain a comfortable lifestyle. You are a member of the mercenaries guild.Warder
Warder
Warders are the protectors of the cities and towns of Arlynn. They roam the wilds seeking out dangers and eliminating monsters that would endanger innocents.
Features
Identification Expertise
Warders are experts in hunting down and defeating monsters throughout Arlynn, so they have advantage on any skill roll to identify Beasts, Monstrosity and Aberation they encounter.Remove these ads. Join the Worldbuilders Guild
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