Backgrounds

Backgrounds represent your characters past history – the events and experiences that shaped his life before the moment his adventuring life began.

Your character starts at thirteen years old. Each time you select a Background, add 3 years to your character’s age. You cannot begin the game older than thirty-one years old.

XP: The amount of Experience Points your character gained during this three-year period. Add this amount to your XP total.

Disaster DC: Every profession carries with it a certain amount of risk. Roll a d20; if you meet or exceed the DC, nothing happens. If you fail, a disaster occurs, affecting you physically or mentally. To represent this, you roll on the Disaster Table.

Background Abilities: Each time you select a background, choose 1 of the abilities listed below. You may only select each background ability once.

Soldier
You have spent time in a military institution, such as a local militia, mercenary group, or royal army. You were taught and trained to fight in large groups, were schooled in general tactics and strategy, and may even have seen action
XP 1,950
Disaster DC 7
Background Abilities
When you wear armor of any sort, reduce that suit’s armor check penalty by 1 (minimum 0)
Whenever you move at least 10 feet before making an attack with a thrown weapon, you add 10 feet to the range increment of the weapon thrown.
Gain a warhorse
Whenever you make an attack that reduces a foe to 0 hit points or fewer or roll a critical hit, your attack deals 1 additional point of damage.
When you hit a foe you are flanking, you deal an additional 1 point of damage
Criminal
You made your money the old-fashioned way… you stole it. You spent years among the criminal class, learning the ways of petty theft. You learned self-reliance, an appreciation of risk, and the ability to think on your feet. You also learned a fair bit about treachery and betrayal.
XP 1,560
Disaster DC 8
Background Abilities
You gain a +1 bonus on attack of opportunity attack rolls made with unarmed strikes
You gain a +1 bonus on Reflex saves.
When you hit a foe you are flanking, you deal 1 additional point of damage
You gain a +1 trait bonus on attack rolls when making an attack with any Finesse weapon during a surprise round.
You deal an amount of additional damage equal to your weapon’s Trauma when you score a successful critical hit with a weapon
Slave
You have spent some time as a slave, either having been captured and sold during wartime, or else sentenced to slavery due to criminal activity or debts. Depending on your masters, you could have entered the arenas to serve as a gladiator, served as a tutor to a noble's children, acted as a house servant, or been used as manual labor
XP 0
Disaster DC 9
Background Abilities
+1 to one ability score
+1 to one ability score
+1 to one ability score
+1 to one ability score
+1 to one ability score
Noble
You have managed to work your way into the court of a king or warlord, and spent several years making friends, developing contacts, and learning the ways of political society
XP 1,170
Disaster DC 4
Background Abilities
You gain a +1 bonus on Diplomacy checks
You gain a +1 bonus on Sense Motive checks
You gain a +1 bonus on Intimidation checks
You gain a +1 bonus on Bluff checks
Your starting wealth increases by 900sp
Apprentice
You pledged yourself to a sorcerous master, gambling that he will teach you the secrets of sorcery before you are sacrificed to a demon or fall to misadventure. When you felt you had learned enough, you fled, hoping that your master would not find you.
XP 1,170
Disaster DC 9
Background Abilities
You gain a spell for free, provided you meet its prerequisites
You may purchase 1 spell at a 10% discount to the XP cost
You gain a spell for free, provided you meet its prerequisites
You may purchase 1 spell at a 20% discount to the XP cost
You gain a spell for free, provided you meet its prerequisites
Merchant
You spent your time learning the art of the deal, establishing contacts and trading partners from all walks of life and throughout the lands. Your business was trade, connecting buyers with the goods and services they wanted in exchange for as much of their money as you thought you could get
XP 1,170
Disaster DC 4
Background Abilities
You gain a +1 bonus on all Diplomacy checks
You gain a +1 bonus on Bluff checks
You gain a +1 bonus on Sense Motive checks
You gain a +1 to all Appraisal checks
You gain a +1 on all Knowledge (local) checks
Barbarian
Your life was among the cultures that live on the fringes of society. You were a raider, or member of a war party. You learned that bravery and respect are the only things worth having, and that making a name for yourself was more valuable than money. Your business was war, and you earned your reputation by being the best at it. In some parts of the world, they may still speak your name in horror for the suffering you have visited upon them
XP 1,950
Disaster DC 8
Background Abilities
Once per day when you make a charge attack, you gain a +1 bonus on both your attack and damage rolls, as do any allies who make a charge attack before the beginning of your next turn
You may run or charge downhill on a steep slope (moving up to your base speed) without making an Acrobatics check to avoid stumbling but if you travel farther than this distance, the normal rules for steep slopes apply
Your speed may not be reduced to less than 10 feet by difficult terrain (meaning you may take a 5-foot step in difficult terrain and not provoke an attack of opportunity)
You gain a +2 bonus on saving throws against fear effects
You gain a +1 bonus on Reflex saves
Adventurer
The call of the open road was too great for you to ignore. You scrounged up whatever equipment you could and made your way to the borderlands, where you earned your living as a mercenary and treasure hunter. You took whatever jobs came your way, did plenty of dangerous things, and even got paid sometimes.
Background Abilities
XP 1,950
Disaster DC 9
+2 to all Speak Language skill checks
+1d4 bonus languages (spoken only)
+2 on all Appraisal skill checks)
You may swim downstream or cross-current as a charge if you make your Swim DC by 5 or more
You earn +1 trait bonus to Bluff and Cultures when used to forge documents
Cultist
You spent time among a cult, and learned its ways. You automatically gain 1 rank in the appropriate Forbidden Lore for your cult, as well as suffering through the initiation rites. The secrets of the cult are yours to explore, as well as its horrors.
XP 1,170
Disaster DC 5
Background Abilities
You may purchase 1 spell that from a discipline your cult knows at a 10% discount to the XP cost
Once per day as a free action, you may increase your magic attack bonus by +2 when casting a spell
You gain a +1 bonus on Heal skill checks
Once per day as a swift action, you gain a +1 bonus on all saving throws for 1 round
Once per day as a free action, roll twice and take the better result on a skill check or ability check
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