Backgrounds

Nobody was born into the life of an adventurer. Who were you before that? This is where backgrounds come in. Below is a list of the backgrounds available for characters in the world of Tyrind. Don't see a background that fits just right? Have an idea for a different background? Do you like a background but would like to switch a skill or tool proficiency to make it perfect? No problem! Just talk to the DM (me) and I'll be happy to work with you.

\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_\_

## Acolyte

You have spent your life in the service of a temple or to a specific god. You act as a priest, nun, deacon, or similar. You are capable of performing rites and conduct worship. You are not a cleric--performing sacred rites and channeling divine magic are not the same thing.

Choose a god, the pantheon, or some other quasi-divine being. What was the nature of your service? Are you a priest? A lesser functionary, raised to assist the priests in the temple? Perhaps you were a member of a small cult dedicated to one of the Titans.

* **Skills:** Insight, Religion
* **Languages:** Two of your choice
* **Equipment:** A holy symbol (a gift to you when you entered the priesthood), a prayer book or prayer wheel, 5 sticks of incense, vestments, a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 15 gp
* **Feature - 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 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) 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, 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.

## Airship Engineer

You are an experienced engineer aboard an airship, with the training to understand, operate, and repair such vessels.

* **Skills:** History, Perception
* **Tool Proficiencies:** Carpenter's tools, Vehicles (Air)
* **Equipment:** A set of well-loved carpenter's tools, a blank book, 1 ounce of ink, an ink pen, a set of traveler's clothes, and a leather pouch with 10 gp
* **Feature - I'll Patch It!:** Provided you have carpenter's tools and wood, you can perform repairs on an airship. When you use this ability, you restore a number of hit points to the hull of an airship equal to 5 × your proficiency modifier. A vehicle cannot be patched by you in this way again until after it has been safely docked and fully repaired.

## Arcane Apprentice

The power of magic is unmistakable. It draws a variety of different types of people all looking for different things from magic. You were an apprentice to a magic user looking to discover the secrets of magic. Your mentor and teacher taught you the rudiments of this magic.

The question is, how well did you learn? Maybe you failed to grasp enough to advance into true spellcasting, but you still know the foundations. Maybe you decided magic was too dull for you. Maybe you took what you learned and became a true spellcaster. Whatever the case, learning the rudiments of magic gave you just enough knowledge to be dangerous. It also gave you the ability to look at things differently, outside the box. You have learned to ask questions about what you see and its interaction with the world.

* **Skills:** Arcana, Insight
* **Languages:** Two of your choice
* **Tool Proficiencies:** Alchemist's Supplies or One Musical Instrument
* **Equipment:** A set of common clothes, a trinket, and a belt pouch containing 15 gp.
* **Feature - Exacting Memory:** A magician, and by extension an apprentice, needs to pay attention to the finer details. Once per long rest, you may commit to memory one piece of information you learned since the last long rest. You'll be able to recall that information precisely when needed.

## Athlete

You have spent your life training for and participating in contests of physical prowess. Your body is a finely tuned machine. Some athletes are celebrities in their hometowns, and many travel to participate in games in faraway places, so athletes can be surprisingly well read.

* **Skills:** Acrobatics, Athletics
* **Languages:** One of your choice
* **Tool Proficiencies:** Vehicles (land)
* **Equipment:** A bronze discus or leather ball (or something similar), a lucky charm or past trophy, a set of traveler's clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp
* **Feature - 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. Between adventures, you might compete in athletic events sufficient enough to maintain a comfortable lifestyle.

## Bounty Hunter

Even before you became an adventurer, your life was already full of conflict and excitement, because you made a living tracking down people for pay. You might be a cunning thief-catcher, prowling the rooftops to catch the burglars of the city. Perhaps you are someone with their ear to the streets, or someone who blends into high society and noble circles to catch the criminals that prey on the rich. Bounty Hunters tend to routinely interact with both the criminal subculture of a given community and other bounty hunters, maintaining contacts in both areas to help you succeed.

* **Skills:** Choose two from the following - Deception, Insight, Persuasion, or Stealth
* **Tool Proficiencies:** Choose two from the following - a gaming set, a musical instrument, or thieves' tools
* **Equipment:** A set of clothes appropriate to your duties, a trophy from a past job, and a pouch containing 20 gp
* **Feature - Ear to the Ground:** You are in frequent contact with people in the segment of society that your chosen quarries move through. These people might be associated with the criminal underworld, the rough-and-tumble folk of the streets, or members of high society. This connection comes in the form of a contact in any city you visit, a person who provides information about the people and places of the local area.

## Celebrity Adventurer's Scion

You are the child or apprentice of a famous adventurer. Your family name strikes awe and admiration in the hearts of common folk--but that's got little to do with you. Songs and stories celebrating the exploits of your famous parent or parents are widely known. Children across the land grew up wishing they were you. But being the child of famous adventurers wasn't all it was cracked up to be.

Perhaps you seldom saw your parents; when they were around, it was about them and their tales of heroism. Maybe you were constantly awakened in the dead of night crowds would rush to your family home begging for help against whatever threat was in town. Or maybe they expected you to take up the family business, riding you hard and attempting to train you to take up their mantle one day.

Maybe you want to grow up to be like them, or make them proud. Alternatively, you might desire to escape your famous parents' shadow.

* **Skills:** Perception, Performance
* **Languages:** Two of your choice
* **Tool Proficiencies:** Disguise Kit
* **Equipment:** Disguise kit, a set of fine clothes, and a belt pouch containing 30 gp.
* **Feature - Name Dropping:** You know and have met any number of powerful people across the land—and some of them might even remember you. You might be able to wrangle minor assistance from a major figure in the campaign, at the DM's discretion. Additionally, the common folk treat you with deference, and your heritage and the stories you tell might be good for a free meal or a place to sleep.

## Charlatan

You have always had a way with people. You know what makes them tick, you can tease out their 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 on you've always been able to use to 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.

* **Skills:** 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 belt pouch containing 15 gp
* **Feature - 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.

## City Watch

You served the community where you grew up, serving as its first line of defense against crime. You aren't a soldier, but instead serviced your hometown; you helped the populace, protecting the citizenry from lawbreakers and malefactors of every stripe. You might have been part of a neighborhood watch, a baton-wielding member of the police, or maybe even a valiant member of a militia. You may have been from a small town; not a formal member of an organization, but someone dependable who people could call in when they needed help.

* **Skills:** Athletics, Insight
* **Languages:** Any 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
* **Feature - 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

## Clan Crafter

The dwarves are well known for their artisanship and the worth of their crafts, and you have been trained in that ancient tradition. You have labored under the instruction of a dwarven master, enduring long hours and dismissive, sour-tempered treatment to gain the fine skills you possess today. You're likely a dwarf, but not necessarily--particularly in northern Dharrenal, the dwarves have learned that only proud fools who are more concerned with their egos would turn away a promising apprentice just because they aren't dwarves. However, if you are a non-dwarf you have made a solemn vow to never take on an apprentice--the secrets of the dwarves are not for non-dwarves to pass on.

* **Skills:** Athletics, History
* **Languages:** Dwarven (if you don't already speak it)
* **Tool Proficiencies:** One type of artisan's tools
* **Equipment:** A set of artisan's tools with which you are proficient, a maker's mark chisel used to mark your handiwork with the symbol of the clan of crafters you learned your skill from, a set of traveler's clothes, and a pouch containing 5 gp and a gem worth 10 gp
* **Feature - Respect of the Stout Folk:** As well respected as clan crafters are among outsiders, no one esteems them quite so highly as dwarves do. You always have free room and board in any place where shield dwarves or gold dwarves dwell, and the individuals in such a settlement might vie among themselves to determine who can offer you (and possibly your companions) the finest accommodations and assistance.

## Cloistered Scholar

You have always been an inquisitive, and found your way to an academy or university, where you have apprenticed under brilliant teachers. You have learned that knowledge is more valuable than gold or gems. You are ready to leave your university--not to abandon it, but to quest for new lore to add to its storehouse of knowledge. Maybe you were an eager student, a curator at an ancient library, or even you were simply taken in and raised by academics.

* **Skills:** History, plus your choice of one from the following: Arcana, Nature, or Religion
* **Languages:** Any 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
* **Feature - 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 Realms, as professional courtesy to a fellow scholar

## Cook

To you, food is more than just sustenance and pleasure. A great meal brings people together. You might have worked in a tavern, a bakery, or as a personal chef to a noble family, or within a military unit. Something called you away from full-time cooking to the world of adventuring, but you still take pleasure in the craft. Preparing food is a big part of who you are and how you communicate with others.

* **Skills:** Deception, Persuasion
* **Tool Proficiencies:** Cook's Utensils or Brewer's Supplies
* **Equipment:** A set of common clothes, a set of cook's utensils or brewer's supplies, an iron pot, a book of recipes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp.
* **Feature - Through Their Stomach:** You are able to earn a modest living during downtime by working as a cook. At the same time you are able to feed your adventuring companions modest meals each day for free. You are also able to use your talents to arrange meetings with anyone interested in a free meal (at your DM's discretion).

## Courtier

In your early days, you were a personage of some significance in a noble court or bureaucratic organization. You may or may 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 or attendants to the nobility, a member of a guild with some administrative position, or even a noble court member yourself. Even if you are no longer a full-fledged member of this group, your relationships and contacts from those days can be an advantage for you and your comrades. You may even undertake missions on the behalf of your organization.

* **Skills:** Insight, Persuasion
* **Languages:** Any two of your choice
* **Equipment:** A set of fine clothes and a pouch containing 10 gp
* **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

You are a criminal (former or otherwise) 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 theft and violence that pervades the underbelly of civilization, and you have survived up to this point by flouting the rules. So why stop now?

Alternatively, maybe you have left that past behind you, or are trying to. You may have served a prison sentence or are trying to reform. But even with the best of intention, the skills and contacts you picked up along the way remain.

* **Skills:** 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 belt pouch containing 15 gp
* **Feature - 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.

## 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. Your music raises spirits or captures their sorrow. Your dance steps captivate, your humor cuts to the quick. Whatever techniques you use, your art is your life.

You might be a traveling minstrel or a painter, or a poet. You might be a fire eater or acrobat with a traveling circus. Maybe you use your art to busk for gold, or maybe you're an actor of some talent.

* **Skills:** 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), costume clothes, and a belt pouch containing 15 gp
* **Feature - 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

## Envoy

Diplomat, negotiator, peacekeeper, or mediator. These are all worlds that could be used to describe your skills. Communication is the key to peace, and an envoy is the facilitator of that communication. You may have been a simple message carrier, an aid to an ambassador, or a negotiator between tribes. You were looked to, and trusted, whenever large groups of people want to talk.

* **Skills:** Insight, Persuasion
* **Languages:** One of your choice
* **Equipment:** A set of traveler's clothes, a trinket, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp
* **Feature - Common Language:** Having to talk with everyone, even those you have no common language with, can be difficult. However, because of these obstacles you have learned to communicate without language. Given enough time, you are able to convey basic ideas to anyone, even if you do not speak their language.

## 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 is weak, you lost everything. With failure, however, comes experience. You're free of that life, having made some connections and learned your lessons.

* **Skills:** Investigation, Persuasion
* **Languages:** Any one of your choice
* **Tool Proficiencies:** One type of artisan's tools
* **Equipment:** One set of artisan's tools, merchant's scale, a set of fine clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp
* **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.

## Farmer

You have worked the land and hand-raised livestock from birth to feed the mouths of many. As a farmer, you woke up before the sun and came in from working the fields after it set. You have left behind a mundane life to seek adventure for thrill or fame or fortune.

Work with your DM to determine the type of livestock and crops you had on your farm, and why you left it behind. Maybe you're trying to earn enough money to save the family land, or maybe you want to buy vast tracts of land yourself.

* **Skills:** Animal Handling, Nature
* **Tool Proficiencies:** Farmer's Tools
* **Equipment:** A relative's recipe for a homemade meal, an iron pot, 50 feet of hemp rope, 2 gp worth of trade goods (your choice), a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 5 gp.
* **Feature - Farmhand:** When you are not adventuring you are able to provide a modest lifestyle for yourself by working on another's farm. You might sleep in a hayloft or a spare room. By working in this way, you also ingratiate yourself to the farm owner, who might be willing to provide food for your comrades.

## Fisher

You have spent your life aboard fishing vessels or combing the shallows for 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 and end--a way out of undesirable circumstances that forced you to take up a life aboard a ship.

* **Skills:** 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
* **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.

## Folk Hero

You come from humble social rank, but you are destined for so much more. Already the people of your home community regard you as a sort of hero, and your destiny calls you to stand up against the tyrants and monsters that threaten the common folk everywhere.

You may have previously pursued a simple profession among the peasantry--perhaps a farmer, miner, servant, shepherd, woodworker, etc--but something happened that set you on a different path and marked you for greater things.

* **Skills:** Animal Handling, Survival
* **Tool Proficiencies:** One type of artisan's tools, vehicles (land)
* **Equipment:** A set of artisan's tools (one of your choice), a shovel, an iron pot, a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp
* **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.

## Gambler

All you need to make a lot of gold is a little gold. Except for those times when you all you to have NO gold is a little gold. Whether you're a good gambler or a bad one rarely matters, because no one can divine the whims of luck. Sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down. But the thing about gambling is that someone is always willing to take a bet.

* **Skills:** Deception, Insight
* **Languages:** Any one of your choice
* **Tool Proficiencies:** Two gaming sets
* **Equipment:** One gaming set, a lucky charm, a set of fine clothes, and a belt pouch containing 15 gp
* **Feature - Never Tell Me the Odds:** Odds and probability are your bread and butter. During downtime activities that involve games of chance or figuring odds on the best plan, you can get a solid sense of which choice is likely the best one and which opportunities seem too good to be true, at the DM's determination.

## Guild Artisan / Guild Merchant

You are a member of a guild, skilled in a particular field or profession with others like you. You are a well-established part of the mercantile world, freed by talent and wealth from the constraints of a feudal social order. You likely learned your skills as an apprentice to a master, under the sponsorship of your guild, until you became a master in your own right.

Some examples include apothacaries, blacksmiths, brewers, calligraphers, carpenters, cobblers, cooks, glassblowers, masons, potters or tilemakers, weavers, etc.

* **Skills:** Insight, Persuasion
* **Languages:** One of your choice
* **Tool Proficiencies:** One type of artisan's tools
* **Equipment:** A set of artisan's tools (one of your choice), a letter of introduction from your guild, a set of traveler's clothes, and a belt pouch containing 15 gp
* **Feature - Guild Membership:** As an established and respected member of a guild, you can rely on certain benefits that membership provides. Your fellow guild members will provide you with lodging and food if necessary, and pay for your funeral if needed. In some cities and towns, a guildhall offers a central place to meet other members of your profession, which can be a good place to meet potential patrons, allies, or hirelings. Guilds often wield tremendous political power. If you are accused of a crime, your guild will support you if a good case can be made for your innocence or the crime is justifiable. You can also gain access to powerful political figures through the guild, if you are a member in good standing. Such connections might require the donation of money or magic items to the guild's coffers. You must pay dues of 5 gp per month to the guild. If you miss payments, you must make up back dues to remain in the guild's good graces.

## 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 blood-curdling nightmare, a memory that refuses to die, or a whisper in the dark. The burden has taken its toll on you, isolating you from others and making you question your own sanity.

Prior to becoming an adventurer, your path in life was defined by one, dark moment, one fateful decision, or one tragedy. Now you feel a darkness threatening to consume you, and you fear there may be no hope of escape.

* **Skills:** Choose two from among Arcana, Investigation, Religion, or Survival
* **Languages:** Choose two, one of which must be Abyssal, Celestial, Deep Speech, Draconic, Infernal, Primordial, Sylvan, or Undercommon
* **Equipment:** Monster hunter's pack (containing a chest, a crowbar, a hammer, three wooden stakes, a holy symbol, a flask of holy water, a set of manacles, a steel mirror, a flask of oil, a tinderbox, and 3 torches), a set of common clothes, one trinket of special significance (choose one or roll on the Horror Trinkets table), and 1 sp
* **Feature - 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

You have lived in seclusion--either in a sheltered community such as a monastery, or entirely alone--for a part of your life. In your time apart from the clamor of society, you found quiet, solitude, and perhaps some of the answers you were looking for.

Whatever the reason for your isolation, and what changed to allow you to end your solitude? You can work with your DM to determine the exact nature of your seclusion and the reason you left it behind.

* **Skills:** Medicine, Religion
* **Languages:** One of your choice
* **Tool Proficiencies:** Herbalism kit
* **Equipment:** A scroll case stuffed full of notes from your studies or prayers, a winter blanket, a set of common clothes, an herbalism kit, and 5 gp
* **Feature - Discovery:** The quiet seclusion of your extended hermitage gave you access to a unique and powerful discovery. The exact nature of this revelation depends on the nature of your seclusion. It might be a great truth about the cosmos, the deities, the powerful beings 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 long been forgotten, or unearthed some relic of the past that could rewrite history. It might be information that would be damaging to the people who or 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.

## House Agent

You have sworn fealty to a noble house. You might be a member of this house, or you might simply be somebody who is completely loyal to it. Maybe you're an outsider looking to make your fortune. Your main task is to serve as eyes and ears for your house, but you may be called upon at any time to act as its hand. Such missions are often perilous, but lucrative.

* **Skills:** Investigation, Persuasion
* **Tool Proficiencies:** One set of artisan's tools
* **Equipment:** A set of fine clothes, house signet ring, identification papers, and a purse containing 20 gp.
* **Feature - House Connections:** As an agent of your house, you can always get food and lodging for yourself and your friends at a house enclave. When the house assigns you a mission, it will usually provide you with the necessary supplies and transportation. Beyond this, you have many old friends, mentors, and rivals in your house, and you may encounter one of them when you interact with a house business. The degree to which such acquaintances are willing to help you depends on your current standing in your house.

## Investigator

You are naturally talented at finding and exposing the truth. Perhaps you're some kind of private detective, an inspector with the town watch, or perhaps a journalist looking for a good story.

* **Skills:** Choose two from among Insight, Investigation, or Perception
* **Tool Proficiencies:** Disguise kit, Thieves' tools
* **Equipment:** A magnifying glass, evidence from a past case (choose one or roll for a trinket from the Horror Trinkets later in this chapter), a set of common clothes, and 10 gp
* **Feature - Official Inquiry:** You're experienced at gaining access to people and places to get the information you need. Through a combination of fast-talking, determination, and official-looking documentation, you can gain access to a place or an individual related to a crime you're investigating. Those who aren't involved in your investigation avoid impeding you or pass along your requests. Additionally, local law enforcement has firm opinions about you, viewing you as either a nuisance or one of their own.

## Knight

You belong, or at least trained to belong, to an order of knights who have sworn a noble house or to achieve some goal--perhaps protecting a sacred library or searching out a sacred artifact. Whatever the nature of your oath, you see it without question as a vital and honorable endeavor.

* **Skills:** Persuasion, plus one from among Arcana, History, Nature, and Religion, as appropriate for your order
* **Languages:** Any one of your choice
* **Tool Proficiencies:** Your choice of a gaming set or a musical instrument
* **Equipment:** One set of traveler's clothes, a signet, banner, or seal representing your place or rank in the order, and a pouch containing 10 gp
* **Feature - Knightly Regard:** You receive shelter and succor from members of your knightly order and those who are sympathetic to its aims. If your order is a religious one, you can gain aid from temples and other religious communities of your deity. Knights of civic orders can get help from the community—whether a lone settlement or a great nation—that they serve, and knights of philosophical orders can find help from those they have aided in pursuit of their ideals, and those who share their ideals. This help comes in the form of shelter and meals, and healing when appropriate, as well as occasionally risky assistance, such as a band of local citizens rallying to aid a sorely pressed knight, or those who support the order helping to smuggle a knight out of town when he or she is being hunted unjustly.

## Laborer

Every society requires common laborers; those who do the hard work nobody else wants to do. Often these jobs are physically demanding or tedious. There could be a number of reasons why you once did this for a living--paying off a debt, family business, or no other opportunities as a youth.

But the good news! Now you're an adventurer! Which is more dangerous and even more physically demanding! But...well, you might make more money!

* **Skills:** Athletics, Perception
* **Tool Proficiencies:** One related to your former job.
* **Equipment:** A set of simple clothes, a tool related to your former job worth 5 gp or less, and a belt pouch containing 5 sp.
* **Feature - The Common Folk:** Every community has a large segment of common laborers. You fit in naturally with them; there is no play acting that you are one of them. Thus they tend to immediately trust you and are willing to provide information and rumors about the local area and its people.

## Medicine

You were a surgeon, barber, country doctor, field medic, nurse, or other medical professional. Tending wounds and treating diseases for those in need are how you spent your days. While illness and injury make many uncomfortable, they are areas in which you thrive. When others panic, you're working on a cure or stopping the bleeding.

* **Skills:** Investigation, Medicine
* **Tool Proficiencies:** Herbalism Kit
* **Equipment:** A preserved medical anomaly, an herbalism kit, a set of traveler's clothes, and a belt pouch containing 20 gp.
* **Feature - The Doctor Is In:** If you work as a healer during your downtime from adventuring you are able to afford a comfortable lifestyle for yourself. In addition, whenever you and your allies are in a civilized settlement, you are able to provide them with medical care and beds, provided they are sick or injured. This is provided as a professional courtesy from your medical colleagues.

## Mercenary

As a sellsword 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 sellswords, maybe even more than one.

* **Skills:** Athletics, Persuasion
* **Tool Proficiencies:** One type of gaming set, vehicles (land)
* **Equipment:** A uniform of your company (traveler's clothes in quality), an insignia of your rank, a gaming set of your choice, and a pouch containing the remainder of your last wages (10 gp).
* **Feature - 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 who has hired them recently. You can find the taverns and feasthalls 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.

## Miner

You have worked in the mines for most of your life, and you may come from a long line of miners. You are used to the backbreaking labor and the close quarters of the mines and caverns.

* **Skills:** Athletics, Investigation
* **Tool Proficiencies:** Mason's Tools
* **Equipment:** A pickaxe or shovel, a set of mason's tools, a trowel, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp.
* **Feature - Appraiser:** Your time mining and selling valuable gemstones or ore have given you experience in discerning their worth. You are able to determine the monetary value of any jewel, gem, or precious metal. You are also skilled at selling such valuables, and smooth talking can allow you to sell them for a bit more coin than they are worth.

## Noble

You understand wealth, power, and privilege. You carry a noble title, and your family owns land, collects taxes, and wields significant political influence. You might be a pampered aristocrat unfamiliar with work or discomfort, a former merchant recently elevated to the nobility, or a disinherited scoundrel with a disproportionate sense of entitlement. Or you could be an honest, hard-working landowner who cares deeply about the people who live and work on your land, keenly aware of your responsibility to them.

Work with your DM to come up with a suitable title and determine how much authority that title carries. A noble title doesn't stand on its own--it's connected to an entire family, and whatever title you hold, you will pass it down to your children.

Is your family old and established, or was your title recently bestowed? How much influence do they wield, and over what area? What kind of reputation does your family have among other aristocrats? How do the common people regard them? What's your position in the family? Are an heir? A second or third born? How does the head of your household feel about your adventuring career? Does your family have a coat of arms? Particular colors you wear all the time? An animal you regard as a symbol of your line?

* **Skills:** History, Persuasion
* **Languages:** One of your choice
* **Tool Proficiencies:** One type of gaming set
* **Equipment:** A set of fine clothes, a signet ring, a scroll of pedigree, and a purse containing 25 gp
* **Feature - Position of Privilege:** Thanks to your noble birth, people are inclined to think the best of you. You are welcome in high society, and people assume you have the right to be wherever you are. The common folk make every effort to accommodate you and avoid your displeasure, and other people of high birth treat you as a member of the same social sphere. You can secure an audience with a local noble if you need to.

## Outlander

You grew up in the wilds, far from civilization and the comforts of town and technology. You've witnessed the migration of herds larger than forests, survived weather more extreme than any city dweller could comprehend, and enjoyed the solitude of being the only thinking being for miles in any direction. The wilds are in your blood, whether you were a nomad, an explorer, a recluse, a hunter-gatherer, or even a marauder. Even in places where you don't know the specific features of the terrain, you know the ways of the wild.

* **Skills:** Athletics, Survival
* **Languages:** One of your choice
* **Tool Proficiencies:** One type of musical instrument
* **Equipment:** A staff, a hunting trap, a trophy from an animal you killed, a set of traveler's clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp
* **Feature - Wanderer:** You have an excellent memory for maps and geography, and you can always recall the general layout of terrain, settlements, and other features around you. In addition, you can find food and fresh water for yourself and up to five other people each day, provided that the land offers berries, small game, water, and so forth.

## Pilgrim

You have grown up wandering and traveling from place to place, and are used to long journeys. You have seen much of the world and never stayed in one place for too long.

* **Skills:** Athletics, Survival
* **Tool Proficiencies:** Vehicles (land)
* **Equipment:** Walking stick, traveler's clothes, belt pouch containing 5 gp
* **Feature - Steady:** You can move twice the normal amount of time (up to 16 hours) each day before being subject to the effect of a forced march (see "Travel Pace" in chapter 8 of the Player's Handbook).

## Plaintiff

You are skilled and versed in the legal codes and authority of your local community. While you may have been trained in law and to participate in a court of law, but circumstances have changed, leading you to a potentially more lucrative--and certainly more dangerous--career.

* **Skills:** Medicine, Persuasion
* **Languages:** Any one of your choice
* **Tool Proficiencies:** One type of artisan's tools
* **Equipment:** One set of artisan's tools, fine clothes, 20 gp
* **Feature - Legalese:** Your experience with your local legal system has given you a firm knowledge of the ins and outs of that system. Even when the law is not on your side, you can use complex terms like ex injuria jus non oritur and cogitationis poenam nemo patitur to frighten people into thinking you know what you're talking about. With common folks who don't know any better, you might be able to intimidate or deceive to get favors or special treatment.

## Sage

You spent years learning the lore of the universe. 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.

* **Skills:** Arcana, History
* **Languages:** Two of your choice
* **Equipment:** A bottle of black ink, a quill, a small knife, a letter from a dead colleague posing a question you have not yet been able to answer, a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp
* **Feature - 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

You have been sailing on seagoing vessels for years. In that time you have experienced mighty storms, monsters of the deep, and those who wanted to sink or raid your craft. Your first love is the distant line of the horizon, but the time has come to try your hand at something new.

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? What were your duties on board? Who were the captain and first mate? Did you leave your ship on good terms, or on the run?

* **Skills:** Athletics, Perception
* **Tool Proficiencies:** Navigator's tools, vehicles (water)
* **Equipment:** A belaying pin (club), silk rope (50 feet), a lucky charm such as a rabbit foot or a small stone with a hole in the center (or you may roll for a random trinket on the Trinkets table in chapter 5), a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp
* **Feature - Ship's Passage:** When you need to, you can secure free passage on a sailing ship for yourself and your adventuring companions. You might sail on the ship you served on, or another ship you have good relations with (perhaps one captained by a former crewmate). Because you're calling in a favor, you can't be certain of a schedule or route that will meet your every need. Your Dungeon Master 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.

## Smuggler

On a rickety barge, you carried a hundred longswords in fish barrels right past the dock master's oblivious lackeys. You have paddled a riverboat filled with stolen elven wine under the gaze of the moon and sold it for twice its value in the morning. In your more charitable times, you have transported innocents out of war zones or helped guide herd animals to safety on the banks of a burning river.

* **Skills:** Athletics, Deception
* **Tool Proficiencies:** Vehicles (water)
* **Equipment:** A fancy leather vest or a pair of leather boots, a set of common clothes, and a leather pouch with 15 gp
* **Feature - Down Low:** You are acquainted with a network of smugglers who are willing to help you out of tight situations. While in a particular town, city, or other similarly sized community (DM's discretion), you and your companions can stay for free in safe houses. Safe houses provide a poor lifestyle. While staying at a safe house, you can choose to keep your presence (and that of your companions) a secret

## 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 local militia group, or maybe it was a noble or merchant's private army.

When you choose this background, work with your DM to determine which military organization you were a part of, how far through its ranks you progressed, and what kind of experiences you had during your military career.

* **Skills:** Athletics, Intimidation
* **Tool Proficiencies:** One type of gaming set, vehicles (land)
* **Equipment:** An insignia of rank, a trophy taken from a fallen enemy (a dagger, broken blade, or piece of a banner), a bone dice set or playing card set, a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp
* **Feature - Military Rank:** You have a military rank from your career as a soldier. Soldiers loyal to your former military organization 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.

## Tribesman

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 your tribe. Your people have always tried to uphold the old ways. Tradition and taboo have kept your people 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 build new towns.

Perhaps this is why you have left your tribe, a chosen totem warrior to lead your people into a new age. Perhaps you search for the answer to a riddle that plagues your tribes' shaman, or maybe you abandoned your people for being too civilized and content--or for not being civilized enough.

* **Skills:** Athletics, Survival
* **Languages:** Any one of your choice
* **Tool Proficiencies:** One type of musical instrument or artisan's tools
* **Equipment:** A hunting trap, a totemic token or set of tattoos marking your loyalty to Uthgar and your tribal totem, a set of traveler's clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp
* **Feature - 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 North. 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, tribes of nomadic elves, the Harpers, and the priesthoods devoted to the gods of the First Circle.

## 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.

* **Skills:** Sleight of Hand, Stealth
* **Tool Proficiencies:** Disguise kit, Thieves' tools
* **Equipment:** A small knife, a map of the city you grew up in, a pet mouse, a token to remember your parents by, a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp
* **Feature - City 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.