Backgrounds

A background represents some biographical aspect of a player character in The Domains of Dread, providing unique bonuses and/or maluses as selected during character creation. Players may likewise choose a generic background in case none of the available backgrounds are desired or applicable.

Backgrounds do not need to reflect a character’s origins completely, but should factor in to at least some degree. General backgrounds may be chosen by anyone (except for natives whose domain limits background selection), and special backgrounds by those who fulfill their listed requirements.

General Backgrounds in The Domains of Dread

Acolyte

An acolyte has been touched by faith. Even without the structures found in churches, they are those who place matters of soul and spirit ahead of earthly want or concern. For these people, enlightenment and the strength necessary to pursue it follows them throughout their lives, granting them freedom even to escape tradition.

- 75sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a censer, incense, a folio stack of papers, and an inkwell.
- +1 to Lore.
- Acquires innate ability: divine icon (Su). At rest time the acolyte may choose to pray over or otherwise consecrate an item of their ideoligion or personal faith. They may then brandish this item in combat as a free action, provoking a DC 15 Will save on a broadcast target. If the target fails, they are shaken for a duration equal to 1 round + 1 round/level. 1/rest.

Apprentice

An apprentice understands that prodigies are not born, but made. Following after a master of any craft or profession, these peoples are diligent heirs and students that go about their lives with practical curiosity. In time, they themselves shall become the artisans whose work they have labored for, but this is not them yet.

- 150sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a folio stack of papers, an inkwell, and a small bag.
- +1 to Knowledge.
- Acquires innate ability: learning through seeing (Ex). The apprentice receives a 25% bonus to experience earned while performing the tasks of a profession while in the nearby company of another player character with a higher profession level.

Adventurer

An adventurer, though oft decried as mere soldiers of fortune in the Realms of Terror, nevertheless have made their name being thrust long into the unknown be for glory, gain, or the simple joy of having done it. Common to Outlanders who have managed to map their former lifestyles in the Prime Material to something almost familiar beyond the Misty Border, these people live well by their instincts—after all, should instincts have failed, they would have been claimed already by the demiplane.

- 100sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a set of climbing equipment, a torch, a carving dagger and a small bag.
- +1 to Search and Survival.
- Acquires innate ability: travel ready (Ex). The adventurer takes 1.25x as long to become fatigued from mundane sources.

Artisan

An artisan sees the world differently: in colors, shapes and patterns, each novel and something new. They conspire to artifice these ideas into tangible reality through hard work and almost frantic inspiration. This makes them not always disciplined compared to regular craftspeople—but they work, and what work they have made.

- 200sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a folio stack of papers, an inkwell, and a small bag.
- +5 to an applicable profession level of choice.
- Acquires innate ability: foresee masterwork (Ex). Once a week IRT the artisan may choose to guarantee their next profession project to reward the most profession experience available OR to be at the highest possible quality level.

Athlete

An athlete is defined by their near preternatural strength or speed. Here they take on the drudgery of life in the Realms of Terror with zest, dedicating it to maintaining their mortal machines. They may be laborers, performers or just survivors, but they have all learned to rely on their bodies enough to be able to exceed those limits at will, if only temporarily.

- 75sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit.
- +1 to DEX OR STR, -1 to WIS.
- Acquires innate ability: ride adrenaline (Ex). The athlete may push themselves even further beyond as a free action, gaining 15% increased movement speed for a duration equal to 1 round + 1 round/level if they selected Dexterity, or +3 bludgeoning damage on hit for a duration equal to 1 round + 1 round/level if they selected Strength. 1/rest.

Bookkeeper

A bookkeeper has been keeping numerical records since before ink and paper, chalk and slate, or even beans and jars. They know where something is, and for how much it should be found. They know who is and isn’t pulling their weight. Even at their most disorganized, analysis comes as easy to them as breathing. Some value precision, others intuition, but both are confident that they can make others see what they see, no matter how many ledgers they need to prise free to do this.

- 100sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a currency pouch, a folio stack of papers, an inkwell, and a small bag.
- +1 to Appraise.
- Acquires innate ability: present records (Ex). Once a day IRT the bookkeeper may select a neutral non-player character vendor to have 15% better base buy/sell rates before Appraise for their next 3 transactions. This ability cannot trigger on a vendor whose demeanor is dissatisfied with the bookkeeper.

Charmer

A charmer lives their lives as creatures of manifold names and faces, delighting in the simple but delicate art of the lie. They guard their cores greedily, for they may really be bold or cowardly, rich or poor, strong or weak—yet no truth shall ever come to any persona the charmer chooses to wear as readily as they would second skins. Ever duplicitous, some are even tricking themselves, believing that there is no lie at all except what they want to believe.

- 150sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a disguise kit, and a small bag.
- +2 to Deception.
- Acquires innate ability: sell the steal (Ex). A charlatan has one more disguise slot than usual and any disguise set in this innate slot does not suffer disadvantages related to being an unestablished disguise.

Courtier

A courtier is someone who tries to associate with only a society’s winners, no matter how the Realms of Terror guarantee that for every winner there must be a loser. Here they attach to those “ascendant” with cunning or simple luck, seeking to prop themselves up be they formerly at the baronial courts of Darkon or the intrigues of Borcan aristocracy. Here they transform phrases into cutting jesters or code with little more than tone or looks. Even when alliances inevitably dissolve and these “ascendants” change, courtiers will be there, changing themselves however necessary to remain ingratiated.

- 100sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a fan, and a small bag.
- +1 to PRS.
- Acquires innate ability: sense the tides (Ex). A courtier experiences 0.75x the negative NR shift that would be suffered for a socially adverse action, and 1.25x the positive NR shift for a socially desirous action. This ability cannot trigger more than once a week IRT, but may trigger twice if separately for a negative action and a positive one.

Criminal

A criminal is anyone who survives in defiance of the “common good”. Whether they subvert laws just or unjust, these people live by a code which values personal attainment before all others. Though they may at one time been wrongly accused, those who become like criminals have filtered down into the dregs of society and found like shoes for like feet.

- 75sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a currency pouch, a set of thieves' tools, and a small bag.
- +1 to Sleight of Hand and Handle Device.
- Acquires innate ability: market connections (Ex). A criminal has their target NR adjusted to Disfavored in the major domains, and allocates Sign Language as a free language. Certain non-player characters may have different reactions to criminal player characters, including the possibility for unique fencing opportunities for stolen goods or revealing hidden areas.

Deprived

A deprived is someone who has nothing except for hunger, thirst, and fatigue. They are the forgotten in the Realms of Terror who, while not being born into this life, have succumbed to its numb embrace. These are the beggars and the diseased, the refugees and the downtrodden. A rare few may have even chosen this as a result of past wrongs or to pursue some twisted self-enlightenment.

- 25sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit.
- +1 to CON, -1 to PRS.
- +2 to Survival.
- Acquires innate ability: inured survival (Ex). A deprived suffers 0.5x any damage suffered due to mundane sources of weather, and does not require a lit campfire to successfully rest.

Entertainer

An entertainer may be found wherever there are people around civilization in the Realms of Terror, bringing with them intrigue and music. Though these minstrels are most often from Kartakass, they by nature have spread themselves widely across the Core. Likewise do many struggle quietly, regarding their performances as the act of another persona alien to their real selves, and yet others behave with all grandiosity expected at the end of a charming smile and tuned lute.

- 100sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a choice of performing instrument, a choice of costume hat, and a small bag.
- +2 to Performance, -1 to Stealth.
- Acquires innate ability: encouraging ditty (Ex). An entertainer may play a pithy set of music with an equipped instrument, providing +1 to saves made against Fear, Horror and Delirium in a medium area around them for a duration equal to 1 turn + 1 round/level. 1/rest. This improves to +2 should the entertainer achieve 10 hard ranks in Performance.

Farmer

A farmer is accustomed to providing worth to their families and communities through sweat and constant toil. Such hardworking individuals are not uncommon in the Realms of Terror, fostering deep connections to their land whether they use it for agriculture, husbandry or cultivars. Why a farmer would leave their homesteads is not always a story of simple discovery or wanderlust, but also as a reaction to untold and often senseless tragedy. Nevertheless, many Outlander heroes and native ones alike were once more comfortable with a pitchfork than they ever were a sword.

- 100sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a choice of metal tool, a bundle of field rations, and a small bag.
- +1 to Survival and Handle Animal.
- Acquires innate ability: steer the flock (Ex). A farmer begins with their choice of mundane animal companion, able to be called or sent away from any outdoor environment. 1/rest. Should this companion die and be buried, the farmer may call after another animal after a week IRT. This animal companion is separate from any companion obtained for reasons of being a Druid or a Hunter.

Fisher

A fisher finds all matter of creatures from all matter of wet places be they oceans, lakes, streams or even pools of mud. To be among these people is to be a patient, stoic soul that can sense the weather and be ready to dive at a moment’s notice so to prise not only pearls but other fortunes from underwater sources. Some would even describe themselves as feared for this aspect—at least so they attest.

- 100sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a fishing set, a bundle of field rations, and a small bag.
- +1 to Survival and Perception.
- Acquires innate ability: resist the waves (Ex). A fisher, while fishing, does not suffer any adverse effect on the outcome due to time of day or present weather. They may make Perception checks in heavy rain as though it is not raining for purposes of detecting entities who are hidden or otherwise in stealth.

Game Hunter

A game hunter participates in an act as old as life itself whether for sustenance, art, science or simple compulsion. In this some game hunters would say they only participate for their subsistence, where others would thrill in the chase and the kill. They may be friend, foe or even component in the Cycle of Nature, but even the most conscientious game hunter often has a look about them that is forever in search of prey.

- 100sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a carving knife, a bundle of field rations, and a small bag.
- +1 to Survival and Perception.
- Acquires innate ability: bounty of the kill (Ex). When a game hunter skins or otherwise interacts with a slain animal, they have a 25% chance to receive double the product and bestow themselves +1 to saves made against Fear, Horror and Delirium checks until their next rest.

Hermit

A hermit has their own reason to pursuit hermitage in the Realms of Terror, be it bad luck, lone survivors, or the call of self-sufficiency duly answered. While many live in frank and desolate solitude, others eeke out their living near society, albeit only ever from a distance. Though these hermits often come to believe that their lifestyle is for their own benefit, nothing is ever so certain beyond the Misty Border—these lonesome souls may well be advantaged by the dark forces at play, leading them down paths darker still.

- 50sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit.
- +1 to WIS.
- Acquires innate ability: tune of solitude (Ex). The hermit may meditate at rest time, bestowing +1 to saves made against Fear, Horror and Delirium so long as no one else enters their sight radius, and do not require a campfire to successfully rest outdoors.

Investigator

An investigator wills for nothing more than the unknown in past tense. Discoverers of the hidden, seekers of the truth, and students of all that is, these investigators know a little bit about everything—and how best to find what they don’t know yet. This is a double edged sword in the Realms of Terror, for the Mists endlessly conspire how best to tempt the curious into uncovering secrets man was not made to comprehend.

- 100sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a folio stack of papers, an inkwell, and a small bag.
- +1 to Search and Knowledge.
- Acquires innate ability: commit to memory (Ex). When an investigator reveals a hidden sight or object, they are guaranteed to find it again for all future Search checks performed to find that sight or object. This ability does not trigger for sights or objects which are hidden through supernatural or player character related means.

Merchant

A merchant is the gleeful best friend of any new to the Mists, promising unlimited opportunity in exchange for spare weapons, silver, gems and whatever else may capture their fantasy. Even in domains which dispense with coinage, merchants become masters of the barter, always able to walk away with more for less. But those who are truly unscrupulous about their product may find that the “best” markets in the Realms of Terror deal in items obscure and forbidden—for good reason.

- 250sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a currency pouch, and a medium bag.
- +1 to Appraise.
- Acquires innate ability: turn over coinage (Ex). A merchant may exchange their itemized currency for the currency of the present domain without losing any to moneylender taxes. They may carry 1.25x the amount of loose silver before suffering encumbrance.

Sage

A sage knows the Realms of Terror are vast and time beyond the Misty Border without easy measure. There is more to study in the Core than what could be encompassed by several mortal lifetimes, but sages take to this fact not with discouragement, but inspiration. Whether academics, students of the natural sciences or just someone with a burning need to “know”, all sages chase after blinding truths and grand revelations. Inevitably, they will contend at some point whether certain knowledge in the Core should have been left to lie—and far too often, too late.

- 125sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a folio stack of papers, an inkwell, and a small bag.
- +1 to Lore and Knowledge.
- Acquires innate ability: identify the esoteric (Ex). Checks performed by a sage to identify a world object or translate written language are rolled twice.

Sailor

A sailor follows wherever there are open bodies of water no matter if they are rivers, lakes, or the three Shrouded Seas. Unsteady on solid ground, these sailors tend to distrust landways in favor for the complex, inscrutable webs of nautical navigation. Keeping their eyes ever on the horizon, sailors search for their destination or, perhaps, ill omens. Creatures who commander no home except on galleys, these shipwrights find friends and foes among their own peers.

- 100sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a sightglass, and a small bag.
- +1 to Perception and Acrobatics.
- Acquires innate ability: all routes to the seas (Ex). The sailor enjoys +1 to saves made against Fear, Horror and Delirium if they are near a long body of water or were near a long body of water within the last hour IGT. If they rest near this long body of water and are uninjured, they will be bestowed a 4 HP overheal before other sources. They do not require a campfire to rest outdoors if the above need is met.

Scribe

A scribe has taken it upon themselves to record history, no matter the incongruent, inconsistent and baffling qualities so native to their work in the Realms of Terror. Here they are more than mere knowledge-givers or passive observers about this history—scribes are frequently there as it happens, taking down and cataloguing in shorthand which may vex even a gifted arcanist. They find, notate and copy anything set before them, and at times resent having to do precisely what they record: speak. Not all scribes are happy with this state of affairs beyond the Misty Border—their work is work often thankless, and being there to spot discrepancies in the written record leaves them vulnerable to manipulation by the Mists.

- 100sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a folio stack of papers, an inkwell, and a medium bag.
- +1 to INT, -1 to PRS.
- Acquires innate ability: copywork (Ex). A scribe may freely produce a nascent copy of any written article in their inventory without the need for an additional paper, pulling the copy "from somewhere". 1/rest. At rest time they may similarly produce a folio stack of papers once per day IRT.

Smuggler

A smuggler would say that there was no trade before forbidden trade in the Realms of Terror. Where others may concern themselves with matters of law, prices, inventories and the whims of a faceless “market”, smugglers find all points amusing but irrelevant. All they need to concern themselves with, per their own account, is the location of acquisition and whether or not said acquisition might be nailed down. A smuggler may do this work for to enrich themselves and enrich themselves only, but all are agents of resistance that let slip under the nose of order.

- 100sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit and a medium bag.
- +1 to Appraise.
- Acquires innate ability: underhand (Ex). A smuggler may choose any single item on their persons to hide for purposes of being strip searched. Should they fail their Sleight of Hand check, all but the chosen item will be revealed. This item cannot exceed 3x2 size, or 10.0 units of encumbrance.

Spy

A spy, whether in service to cult, country or the highest bidder, seem to live tidy little lives inasmuch as those tidy little lives cover up the real work. Should they do everything right, they will never be known for it. These spies are oft attached to some extant organization or country in the Realms of Terror and, likewise, are oft told to take on new lives elsewhere. This may well be to their preference for there is never a dearth of contracts available to those with sharp ears and sharper knives across the Core.

- 100sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a folio stack of papers, an inkwell, and a small bag.
- +1 to Deception and Perception.
- Acquires innate ability: clearer listening (Ex). A spy may hear the whispers of other characters 1.25x as far away, scaling with Perception until 1.50x at 10.

Watch

A watch has a profession contentious and maligned in the Realms of Terror. Asked to arbitrate laws they might themselves fail to understand and near universally the thin end of the wedge to dark forces around the Core, these people must navigate the murky depths of domain authorities without any guide or raft. How many of night’s creations were once these sallet helms who dared range beyond their walls? How many of the mad and the insane could tell stories about what they found while on those walls? Yet these people persist in their toil nevertheless, though whether for real love of law and order or just desperation for an “honest day’s work” remains uncertain.

- 100sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit, a choice of metal weapon, a choice of metal helm, and a small bag.
- +1 to Perception and Intuition, -1 to Stealth.
- Acquires innate ability: eye on them (Ex). A watch always counts as close range for purposes of attempting to undisguise, and do not suffer disadvantages on their Intuition check due to environment or weather.

Urchin

An urchin is someone who is no mere delinquent, but an opportunist. Lightning fast and quick on their feet, these urchins live comfortably between the margins of society, getting along with just enough casual misdeeds such that their actions are mistaken for nuisance rather than a feral drive for self-enrichment.

- 75sp starting silver stipend.
- Acquires a cloth outfit and a medium bag.
- +1 to DEX, -1 to WIS.
- Acquires innate ability: easy getaway (Ex). An urchin has a +2 circumstantial bonus to any check made to resist being detained, manacled, or otherwise rendered immobile. If they succeed on any such check, they have 5% increased movement speed for a duration equal to 1 round + 1 round/level.