Minion

You used to work for a madman. Laboring in the service of a gifted, deranged wizard or other spell crafter, you assisted in their research projects and grand experiments. You may have toiled to assemble custom experimental equipment in a ruined tower or family castle. Or, perhaps you travelled the lands to gather unusual flora and fauna as raw materials. Whatever the job, you worked to carry out your Master (or Mistress)'s visionary projects.

Work with your DM to determine who your employer was and what their research focused on. A well-established researcher will have published works, developed rivalries, and may even be known in foreign lands.

How did you enter the service of such a person? Were you a family servant or slave? Were you a lesser scholar pressed into work as an apprentice? Or have you simply worked for the Master as long as you can remember?

Just as important, how did you leave their service? Were you dismissed for some slight failure, or fired for making an absolute disaster? Did you fail to protect the Mistress when the locals stormed the castle with torches and pitchforks? Or, do you serve them still, traveling with adventurers to further some grand design?

Skill Proficiencies

Athletics, Arcana

Tool Proficiencies

Pick two: Alchemists' tools, Glassblower's tools, Tinker's tools, herbalism kit, poisoner's kit

Equipment

Travelers' Clothes, hooded lantern, oil flask, one tool kit with which you have proficiency.

Feature

You can always find work in a library, school, or similar institution in any large settlement. This will maintain you in a Modest lifestyle, and keep you informed of any news, rumor, or scuttlebutt in the field. You cannot learn information in this way if the local servants and laborers would not know it.

Suggested Characteristics

Those who have served a mad genius never get along with the general populace. They are often wary of crowds, suspicious of friendly advances, and never seem to grasp things like polite conversation. A typical minion is determined, supremely capable in their area of expertise, and truly ill at ease outside of it.

Personality Trait

Roll a d8 or select a trait from the table below:

1. I have seen too much, and cannot be fazed by the bizarre.

2. I consider the world in terms of masters, minions, and experimental subjects.

3. I get very sarcastic when worried.

4. I expect complete silence when working on an experiment.

5. I am enthusiastic and cheerful all the time.

6. I hate mundane solutions to interesting problems.

7. I collect samples from exotic plants and animals.

8. I love to tell stories about my Master...and show off the scars that go with them.

Ideal

1. Change. Collateral damage is fine and often necessary for proper research and understanding (Chaotic).

2. Cooperation. Play nice with the locals. We may need them later (Good).

3. Scholarly Rigor. There is no excuse for associating with criminals or sloppy note taking (Lawful)

4. Live and Let Live. Minimize disruptions to the world at large. You never know what experiments are in progress (Neutral).

5. Power. The weak were put here to work for the strong (Evil).

6. Progress. For SCIENCE! (Any).

Bond

1. I still work on my Master's last project, determined to prove them right.

2. I need to do great things to make up for my research failings.

3. I would die to recover a tome of forgotten knowledge.

4. I have discovered a great threat, and must rally allies against it.

5. I have a family I hope to return to, eventually.

6. I have a list of those who insulted my Master's work. Vengeance will come by my hand.

7. My work will improve the world as we know it.

8. I am determined to protect ordinary folk from experiments run amok.

Flaw

1. I get extremely paranoid around figures of authority.

2. I won't back down in an argument, even if I know I'm wrong.

3. I abandoned my Master when the angry mob attacked, and I'll probably run the next time disaster strikes.

4. I never learn from my mistakes.

5. I HAVE to play with any dangerous artifacts I find.

6. I am utterly naive when it comes to socializing.

7. Nonlethal? I don't know the meaning of the word.

8. I don't understand what's so bad about grave robbery.

Read more: http://www.enworld.org/forum/5ebackgrounds/showentry.php?e=37&catid=1#ixzz3eyh9qkXa