Historiques

[anchor|Benefactor]

Benefactor

Benefactors are those who work for the well-being of the people around them. They spend their time helping build houses, cook, or hand out supplies. They are generally beloved by all, because not everyone dedicates their life to the wellbeing of others.

A benefactor can be someone who helps people in their daily comings or goings, can come from a wealthy family and decide to use their treasures to help people or be someone who provides supplies to a wartorn village against all odds. In any case, as a benefactor, you’ve dedicated your life to making the world a better place; step by step and day by day.

Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Persuasion
Languages: Two of your choice
Equipment: A small knife, a scroll that reads “Do you need help?” in Common, a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 20 gp

Feature: Name of Kindness

Your good deeds earned you a reputation in the settlements nearby. Those you introduce yourself to tend to think you have a good heart, which makes them eager to assist you in your adventures. For instance, they may provide you with food, shelter or information. [anchor|BlessedChild]

Blessed Child

At birth, you were blessed by the forces of good or by a respected member of a good temple. Through this blessing, divine powers put their faith in you. In return, you are expected to follow their path and put your faith in them. You know the flame of faith burning in your heart will warm you and your allies if you hold on to it, even in the dampest and coldest of places. This flame is your blessing and your guide. You carry a mark that shows you are blessed, which appears somewhere on your body right after you are blessed at birth.

Once you know you are blessed, the temple or other religious figures may want to educate and protect you to ensure that you can walk the holy path. However, some who see your mark are less than delighted, which may cause you to acquire enemies even as a child.

You may find out you are blessed through many means. You may be raised by a temple that tells you about your mark from the very beginning, or you may be brought up by regular folk who hide your mark’s meaning from you, and may discover its true nature later in life through other means. You can be spoiled by religious people, disciplined by religious authorities, or even hunted by heretics.

Skill Proficiencies: Two of your choice (If you are raised in a temple, you may want to choose Religion as one of them)
Languages: Celestial and one of your choice
Equipment: A holy symbol (a gift you got when people realized you were blessed), a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 15 gp

Feature: Mark of the Blessed

You carry a mark that symbolizes you are observed and guided by divine powers. This mark can be anywhere on your body. Its shape can be a holy symbol, a letter, or anything else you can think of. Religious authorities might recognize the mark with a successful DC 15 Intelligence (Religion) check and understand that you are a blessed child. While some may trust you instantly and wish to help you after recognizing your mark, others may see you as a valuable target. [anchor|Commoner]

Commoner

Not all heroes are nobles or trained warriors. Sometimes, fate smiles upon the most unexpected people.

You were a commoner; a farmer, a baker, or simply a villager. But then, on a day that seemed like any other, something happened that changed your life completely. There may have been an attack on your homestead or you may have found an unknown artifact that emanated an unholy aura. Whatever it was, everything was turned upside down and you left your steady life behind.

Skill Proficiencies: Choose two from Animal Handling, Medicine, Nature, and Survival
Tool Proficiencies: One of your choice
Equipment: A set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 1 gp

Feature: Common Knowledge

You used to be an ordinary person with an ordinary life; one that consisted of doing work and spending the rest of the time with a small community in a settlement. You can thus recognize whether a place is for the commoner or not when you go to a new place. You also have no trouble socializing with the common folk who immediately recognize you as one of their own. This means, while some people trust you at first sight, some don’t so much as give you a second glance, thinking you’re just a member of the community. [anchor|Gravekeeper]

Gravekeeper

While others may find graveyards frightening, even petrifying; you find serenity and composure in the cold quiet of these places. Working at night and resting during the day isn’t as hard as it may seem to some, since you enjoy solitude more than the company of society. You’ve devoted your life to taking care of the dead. You embalm them, burn them, dig comfortable burial places for them. All in all, you fulfill their wishes about their postmortem resting places.

You tend the tombs and keep them from getting robbed by gravediggers. You pray for the souls of the dead, and sometimes mutter hymns for them.

You may be alone, but not lonely; you believe as you keep the dead company, the spirits of the dead watch over you as well.

Skill Proficiencies: Choose two from Medicine, Perception, and Religion
Tool Proficiencies: Carpenter’s tools and mason’s tools
Equipment: A bag containing ten candles and 2 blocks of incense, a shovel, a set of common clothes, a simple rag, a pouch of pebbles, and another pouch containing 5 gp

Feature: Keeper of the Graves

As a gravekeeper, you own a small hut within the bounds of the cemetery.

As the common folk illogically associate you with their fear of death, they tend to keep their distance until one of their loved ones takes their last breath.

While traveling, other gravekeepers are willing to have you as their guests. [anchor|Healer]

Healer

You were once the apprentice of a healer who was also an excellent tutor in the craft of remedy and medicine. Perhaps, you wandered around the realm together, healing survivors of battles. You may have been the healers of a small settlement where you had close relations with the locals, or you practiced your craft in an entirely different context. No matter what the specifics were, you had a group of people depending on you, for whom you were a beacon of hope, of remedy, and of relief.

Skill Proficiencies: Medicine, Nature
Tool Proficiencies: Healer’s kit, herbalism kit
Equipment: A bag full of herbs and components required for the practice of herbalism, a set of common clothes, a healer’s kit, a herbalism kit, a pouch containing 5 gp

Feature: Master Crafter

Years of practice have made you proficient in your craft. You know the subtleties required. You know the anatomy of the humanoid body. Thus, you have advantage on your Wisdom (Medicine) checks to stabilize a dying humanoid creature.

This gift of your craft comes at a small cost. Wherever you go, the locals often seek you out to ask for your help healing someone, or for your professional advice regarding a day-today health issue. [anchor|Martyr]

Martyr

You are fighting for a cause of great importance for the good of all, or of your own community. This cause can be anything; you could be trying to win a war, seeking to put an end to a grave injustice, or looking to fill those around you with a sense of divine understanding. You may have chosen this path as a result of various circumstances; you may have been trained for this your whole life, lived through things to see the necessity of it, or found it while seeking atonement for your past deeds.

Skill Proficiencies: One of the following skills of your choice; Arcana, History, Religion; one of the following skills of your choice; Athletics, Persuasion, Insight
Tool Proficiencies: One type of artisan’s tools
Equipment: An item of honor from the organization or kingdom you belong to or a noteworthy item signifying the importance of your cause, artisan’s tools of your choice, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp

Cause

As a martyr, you fight for a cause that will benefit others; be-they your own community or the entirety of society. This cause is of the utmost importance to you, so much so that you are ready to die for it if necessary. You should note that this cause also determines the role of the organization you are tied to, or your role within it. To determine what your cause is, you can roll on the table below, choose from the table below, or create a cause that best fits your character.

Feature: Stand for the Cause

You have a strong will to follow your cause, to make it real, even if you shall (or did) perish to do so. On a challenge that keeps you from progressing for your cause, you can choose to spend an inspiration to automatically succeed on one saving throw or death save, or count a roll on a check or attack roll as a natural 20. If you don’t use inspiration in your game, you can use this feature once a week.

Variant Feature: Martyrdom

You may have already become a martyr for your cause. Perhaps you came back from the brink of death, or perhaps you died (or were considered dead) but somehow came back to life.

The folk, community, or society that sees you as a martyr tries to provide for your needs to the best of their abilities. This can present itself as a free stay in an inn or a house, someone tending to your and your companions’ wounds, food rations for a voyage or mission, or even simple or mundane items you may need. The GM has the final say about the extent of these demonstrations of hospitality. [anchor|Penitent]

Penitent

You were once a heretic. For a time in your life, you murdered innocents, stole from others, worshipped dark powers; you sinned. But then, something happened that put you on the path of penitence.

Skill Proficiencies: One related to your past life
Languages: One of your choice
Equipment: An item of clothing, a token, and a set of items belonging to your past life, and a pouch containing 15 gp

Past Sins

Although you committed sins in your past life, you are now a Penitent. Choose a past sin or roll on the table below. You can also choose another sin, discussing it with your GM.

The Path of Penitence

An important event changed your life and you decided to leave your past life full of sin behind, to turn over a new leaf. Choose a Penitence Event or roll on the table below. You can also choose another event, after discussing it with your GM.

Feature: Two Sides of a Coin

You were a sinner, but you are now on the other side of life. You know people from both your past life and your new one. While your new friends will most likely try to help you on your new path, the ones from your old life may try to tempt you.

From time to time, you encounter people from your old life and they make job offers to you, or offer their help on your quest, trying to convince you to return to your old ways. Rejecting these offers may cause you hardship on your adventure, and can make you some enemies. However, every time you reject such offers, life opens new doors. [anchor|Pilgrim]

Pilgrim

You are a pious person who travels to places that are sacred to your faith. Through pilgrimage, you hope to feed your soul with divine blessings and mystical inspiration to become closer to your deity. Although some pilgrimage sites are well-known, some of them are hidden and are only revealed to the most devoted of followers. In addition to visiting the known sites, you also seek the hidden ones.

Skill Proficiencies: Religion and Survival
Languages: One of your choice
Equipment: Priest’s pack, traveler’s clothes, and a belt pouch containing 2 gp

Feature: Pilgrim

You went on pilgrimage before. You are thus blessed, and people of your faith identify you as a pilgrim. You are offered free accommodation in the temples of your faith. [anchor|Sheltered]

Sheltered

You were brought up with every comfort, sheltered from the heartbreaking realities of the world. You might have experienced hardships of your own, but they were different compared to what most others go through. The stories told by the guests you entertained, those that filled the pages of your books, and that decorated the paintings you looked at became your window to the outside world; at least to the one you fantasized about. The truth, on the other hand, was entirely different and one that no one and nothing prepared you for.

Skill Proficiencies: History, Persuasion
Tool Proficiencies: One type of gaming set or one type of musical instrument
Languages: One of your choice
Equipment: A novel, three candles, a small drawing of your caretakers, a set of fine clothes, and a pouch containing 20 gp

Feature: Fourth Wall

You heard and read about many adventures. So, when you are in a situation that you liken to a trope in the genre, such as a bad guy monologuing about their plans, you can see what’s coming and act accordingly. For example, when you’re going to an inn for the first time in a new place, you can guess that there will be suspicious-looking, hooded figures or two groups in the midst of a brawl when you get there. Since life doesn’t always make narrative sense, you may miss the mark with some of your guesses. Inform the GM of your background so that they can help you in this regard. [anchor|TempleGuard]

Temple Guard

[anchor|TempleGuard]You were once stuck between two worlds in your profession; the hard life of a guard and the comfort of the temple. While normal guards were trained to chase and arrest criminals and conduct investigations where need be, you were trained to stay at your post at all cost. You might have been the sole protector of a shrine, the gatekeeper of a temple, or the guardian of a cleric. Unlike most guards, you also received an education on religious matters. You thus take great care not to disrupt holy rituals or other activities of religious importance.

Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Religion
Languages: Two of your choice
Equipment: A brooch that indicates your rank, a potion of healing, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 15 gp

Feature: Credible Occupation

Most people think very highly of your profession as a temple guard and those with something to hide usually stay out of your way.

You can thus find the assistance you seek in most places of civilization so long as you have your brooch with you. This assistance can be in the form of food, a place to stay, directions to a particular location, and other things of the same nature.

However, your reputation does not ensure acceptance in the eyes of everyone. Criminals such as thieves or assassins stay away from you and refuse to provide you with their services.