Backgrounds

The following are the backgrounds specific to Beast World

Broken World Survivor

Not many in today’s age could claim they spent any length of time in the Broken World without proper protective measures, yet... here you are. Whether you’re among the few outliers who escaped after the brethren had long since fled, or you simply got left behind on a prior expedition, you’ve found your way here to the Beast World and are not yet ready to settle into a quiet life. Whatever you encountered in the other plane has no doubt given you a survival instinct that will serve you and your crew well on the Delve.
Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, SurvivalTool Proficiencies: Tinkerer’s ToolsLanguages: Two of your choiceEquipment: A random curio, a curio of your choice, an extra set of rugged clothing, and a pouch containing 10 gp

Feature: Mementos of Another World

Your time spent wandering the Broken World has given you a keen insight on relics originating from there. You can more easily parse out the potential use and value of any curios you might come across in your travels.

Bureaucrat

The scratch of the pen, a stack of neatly organized documents, for some the practice of putting every little thing in order is part of their lives. For you working in a straight forward and regimented organization was a part of your life. But, times change. Perhaps you lost your position due to some numbers not adding up properly (either at your own fault or by mistake) or perhaps your company closed, regardless you need to find a new line of work
Skill Proficiencies: History, InvestigationTool Proficiencies: Calligrapher's SuppliesLanguages: Two of your choiceEquipment: A bottle of black ink, a quill, a letter opener, a document providing evidence of either your own or another's wrongdoings, a seal of your office, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp

Feature: Record Access

As an official of a governing body, you are privy to secret information about the people of the community. Whenever you are in a population center, you can look up information about the various members who live there. This might allow you to identify a body, or learn the address of an individual based on their name, or other details about their lives.

Correspondence Academic

You grew up in a simple place as a part of a family without much to their name. With all the farm chores to be done year after year, there was never time or money to go off to live at a university. However, your curiosity was too strong to be satisfied in a potato field.
You’ve kept your feet on the ground and your head in the clouds. That makes you able to get along in a wide variety of environments, whether it’s a rowdy circle of field workers or an esteemed discussion amongst elite intellects. Common folk admire your sharp wit and problem-solving skills, while bookworms love your earthy wisdom.
Skill Proficiencies: Arcana, PersuasionTool Proficiencies: Calligrapher’s SetLanguages: Two of your choiceEquipment: The mail-order robes of your university, a writing kit (small pouch with a quill, a bottle of ink, folded parchment, and a small penknife), postage necessary to send six letters anywhere on the continent, and a coin purse containing 10gp

Feature: Alma Mater

As a correspondence academic, you have great enthusiasm for your place of education. You know all the fight songs and the story of the guy who faked a roommate to get his own double dorm room (despite having never set foot on campus). When you’re wearing the signature silk cord from your university, other alumni are likely to view you favorably. They will even be willing to do you minor favors, such as paying for your drinks or putting you and your friends up for a night.

Cult Member

Power, secret knowledge, truth or the drive to belong. There are many reasons one might join an organization devoted to the esoteric. Regardless of your reasons for joining, you know things that perhaps, you might rather not know.
Skill Proficiencies: Religion, StealthTool Proficiencies: One musical instrument of your choiceLanguages: One of your choiceEquipment: Robes, a hooded lantern, a wicked looking knife, a set of common clothes, 5 sheets of parchment, a symbol of your cult, and a pouch containing 5 gp

Features

Depending on your relationship to your cult, you gain one of the following features. If you are still a member, you gain the Cabal Contact feature, if you are no longer a member you gain the Forbidden Knowledge feature instead.

Feature: Cabal Contact

You know how to get in contact with your cult. When you are a community you can expect to find a safe house for you and your adventuring party and can expect to receive free healing and information from your organization. You can use your contacts within your cult to send messages from one community to another.

Feature: Forbidden Knowledge

During your time with your former cult, you obtained secret, forbidden information. This might be something sinister about the workings of the universe or some deity or similar being, or it might be information about the cult's plans for a terrible upcoming ritual. Regardless, your former cult would not be pleased to know that you know. Work with your DM to determine the details of your forbidden knowledge and its impact on the campaign.

Draught Breeder

Every self-respecting Delver crew would be hard-pressed to ignore one of the most important elements of their equipment: a way to make their wagons move. For most, this requires a reliable draught, and you happen to have grown up raising them. You’re uniquely familiar with quiet-minded beasts of burden and if presented with a choice of draughts, you know the signs of one that will serve the various needs of your Delver crew. You also understand how these creatures react to different kinds of treatment and will quickly identify the sorts of Delvers that likely won’t treat their draught very well.
Skill Proficiencies: Animal Handling, Athletics, Nature
Tool Proficiencies: Land vehicles, Single-Hand reinEquipment: A set of implements meant for tending the type of draught you’re familiar with, a pouch containing 15 gp, a shovel, an extra set of rugged clothing, and a lock of hair or feather or scale from a particular draught that made an impression on you growing up

Feature: Shepherd

Your time spent raising draughts gives you a special understanding of their demeanor. You know how to keep them focused and prevent them from getting spooked, and even if they do, you know how to calm them down without much difficulty. You’re also uniquely aware of their condition and can easily parse out their state of health and general mood.

Ex-Scout

A good Scout can make a decent amount of coin with their leads, but for you, it’s time for a bigger cut of both the gold and the glory. You already know your way around Dungeon discoveries and how to identify potential incursions, and your talents in identifying a good lead will be a boon for any crew that takes you in. Your experience may even help you discover your own leads for your crew to follow.
Skill Proficiencies: History, Investigation, PerceptionTool Proficiencies: Navigator’s tools
Languages: Three of your choiceEquipment: A pouch containing 15 gp, a set of maps from your preferred region, a personal log of unfamiliar areas and curious sightings to check out and devise leads from, and a set of navigator’s tools which includes a surveying kit containing a blank canvas, a set of quills, an inkwell, and a small knife

Feature: I Happen to Know Someone…

Your experience as a Scout means you still have plenty of connections throughout the Beast World. You always know where to go to find a good lead, and your reputation among other Delver crews may even grant you an extra bonus or two if you talk to the right people. Plus, your experience will also help you tell the difference between a good lead and a bad one.

Fashionista

You come from a family of the Beast World’s premiere fashion designers, and you’ve inherited their love of beauty and eye for style. The fuel in the fire in your life is turning heads with the clothes you wear.
There isn’t a thing you can’t do, so long as you can look good while doing it. Choose a type of clothing that you specialize in. You know everything about the craft, care, and style of that garment. You can chatter at length about the subtleties of the cut, and your best work fetches a high price in the right boutique.
Skill Proficiencies: InsightTool Proficiencies: Cobbler’s tools, Leatherworker’s tools, Weaver’s tools Languages: Two of your choiceEquipment: A pincushion in the likeness of your biggest rival designer, two sets of fine clothing, an adorable pouch containing 10 gp

Feature: Style-sighted

Your knowledge of your chosen specialty is nearly unrivaled. By looking at someone’s clothes, you can ascertain general facts about where that person is from, what social class they belong to, and whether they share any of your enthusiasm for cutting-edge chic. If they are wearing the latest trends, they are likely to be a fast friend... or a knives-out rival.

High-Speed Marauder

A world of traveling adventurers means potential prey is constantly on the run. Ergo, the world needs a new class of highwayman! You grew up among the wild outlaws that believe that robbing caravans isn’t enough—one must also terrify and astound, building a reputation that will send a chill down the spines of any who see the horde approaching on the horizon. You learned the tricks and trade of making an impression, and if one doesn’t back down from the sight of your spike-adorned wagon and wild-eyed companions, nor the harsh noise you blare as you approach, then you know the fun is really about to begin. Now it’s time to take that bravado to the Dungeon and claim what’s yours!
Skill Proficiencies: Intimidation, PerformanceTool Proficiencies: Disguise kit, Land Vehicles, a musical instrument of your choice, Thieves' toolsEquipment: A disguise kit, a simple weapon of your choice (decorated with extra spikes), a pouch containing 10 gp

Feature: Mad to the Max

Most people will reel at the sheer sight of you, and your presence will likely leave a lasting impression. Decked out in wild paint with sharp implements poking out from the armor adorning your wagon and draught, you can easily be made out as hopelessly insane. Whether or not you truly are is only up to you, but remember the impression you’ll be projecting when you enter a city...

Scion

You are a member of a prominent family whose reputation and influence means everything. While not directly noble, your family's influence makes you even better. You might adventure in order to perform a task for your family, or seek to prove yourself.
Skill Proficiencies: History, IntimidationTool Proficiencies: One of your choice relating to your family's business Equipment: A set of fine clothes, a signet ring, an example of your family's product, and a pouch containing 15 gp

Feature: Part of the Business

Your family's reputation for brutality and its effect on the economy means that local law-enforcement is hesitant to get involved. Your actions will often be ignored by guards, watchmen and the like if ties to your family are obvious. This immunity does not extend to activities which may disrupt or dramatically harm the general public.

SHL Promotor

A grand orator like no other, you’ve got a knack for catching people’s attention and thrilling them with just a few choice words. Not only that, but your time spent watching and analyzing the frenzied crowds and action-packed drama of the Storied Histories League (and telling everyone about all of it) has given you plenty of experience to draw on as a Delver. All you have to do is step up and shout, and people listen. Now it’s time for you to make your own legend!
Skill Proficiencies: Performance, PersuasionTool Proficiencies: Disguise kit, and a musical instrument of your choiceLanguages: Two of your choiceEquipment: A speaking trumpet, a musical instrument of your choice, an SHL-branded trinket of your choice that once belonged to a fighter you admire or respect, and a pouch containing 15 gp

Feature: All Eyes On Me!

You know how to work up a crowd, which can serve your crew well if they need a stubborn noble to listen, or to draw someone out of hiding, or to make a viable distraction. Anytime you need to draw someone else’s focus, it comes as naturally to you as breathing.

Thrall

Devoted and skilled, you have always served at the beck and call of a master. Be you a hireling or a slave, you've obtained a great amount of knowledge purely from exposure. Perhaps your master is gone now, or maybe you've just been sent on a mission, your master's influence colors everything you do.
Skill Proficiencies: Arcana, AthleticsTool Proficiencies: Any two of your choice Languages: One of your choiceEquipment: A crowbar, a shovel, a sack, a mule and a cart, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 5 gp.

Feature: Procurer

You have been doing odd jobs for your master for so long, that you have an almost supernatural understanding of how to find things. You always know where to procure mundane goods such as spell components, and if they are not immediately available, you usually know the nearest place to get them.

Wainwright’s Apprentice

No self-respecting caravan should be without someone capable of maintaining the wagons, so it’s a good thing you’re here! You’ve been trained by a skilled wainwright, so you have a particular set of skills that go beyond those of typical Delvers who might not have had such opportunities to learn. You also have a discerning eye for wagon details and can evaluate a wagon’s condition quite easily.

Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, Sleight of hand, and your choice between Perception or InvestigationTool Proficiencies: Land vehicles, Single-Hand rein, Wainwright’s toolsEquipment: A leftover part that was discarded from a wagon you once repaired, a set of well-worn wainwright's tools, and a scroll detailing a common wagon’s basic schematics

Feature: Well THERE’S your problem…

Your experience under the tutelage of a wainwright gives you a leg up on identifying potential trouble spots on wagons, hopefully before they grow into actual problems. You’ve also got the skill to maintain the wagon your crew uses, and even if by some chance you lose the tools necessary to make a repair or modification, you at least know how to work a viable patch job until something better makes itself known.

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