Backgrounds

A player character's background is selected during character creation in The Domains of Dread, being a representation for a biographical aspect of that character's story prior to being Misted. Every character selects a single background and receives bonuses and/or maluses regarding that background as listed below. While a character is required to select a background from this list, a generic background is also made available for cases where none of the provided backgrounds are desirous or applicable.

A background does not need to be the sole point of interest in any given character's origin, but should factor in to at least a negligible degree. General backgrounds may be chosen by anyone (except for natives of domains with limited background selection, which are marked in the character creation process), and special backgrounds by characters who fulfill their requirements.

General Backgrounds in The Domains of Dread

Acolyte

An acolyte has always been touched by faith. Even without the structure of a church, there are those who place matters of soul and spirit ahead of earthly concerns. For some, this path of enlightenment is a source of strength that follows them throughout their lives—in others, a method to escape the shackles of tradition. In either case an acolyte presents unmatched conviction.

- 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

Those who understand society intuit that waiting for a prodigy to come and resolve society’s problems would bring the world to a slow, resolute halt. People are people, and people are mortals, so their skills must be passed onto the next generation. It is this new generation that is represented by the apprentice, chosen to carry on the legacies of their craft no matter its scale—be it weaving baskets or the grand web of the Weave itself.

- 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

Rare is the individual that could be called adventurer from their earliest days. Yet however they have come into this title, even if they have not yet seen a ruin or clashed with beasts grand and horrible, the adventurer is forever thrust along into the unknown whether for glory, gain, or the simple joy of doing. Here they espouse an endless font of wanderlust, living by their instincts—after all, if their instincts were not enough, they would be as dead today.

- 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

Some see the world differently: in colors, shape and patterns which do not presently exist and either with pursuit or mad inspiration, bring them into being through their work. Artisans are not necessarily the most disciplined among craftspeople—but they work, and enough that they live. Nor do they have to put on the airs of a sculptor or cathedral illuminator as an artisan might as well take enough pride from wood framing as they would marble masterworks.

- 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

Whether through muscle or speed, an athlete takes on the drudgery of life with zest as they dedicate it to the maintenance or their mortal machine. They might be laborers, performers or simple survivors with nothing left to rely on but their bodies. The mark of an athlete is a synchronicity with their form to then find, challenge, and exceed those limits at will.

- 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

Before ink and paper, chalk and slate, beans and jars, there have always been those responsible for the numerical record. A bookkeeper knows where something is, or where it might be found. They know how much it costs and where to acquire it cheaply. They know who to use and who isn’t pulling their weight. Even at their most disorganized, weighing the analysis of cost versus benefit comes as easily to them as breathing. Some are precise, others swear by mere feeling, but in any case they’re confident enough to make others see what they see—and at least enough proof that they were right all along should it fall apart.

- 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

Those who live their lives by the lie are creatures of manifold names and faces, impossible to define—for as soon as they are, the charmer has cut themselves anew from whole cloth and a smile. At their guarded cores a charmer might be anyone with any skill be they bold or cowardly, rich or poor, strong or weak. All that’s ever really required is the audacity to cheat and working methods to escape consequence. Some charmers, ever duplicitous, are even unaware about their nature—they just can’t help themselves.

- 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

In each society there are those who are elevated to be winners and let to be losers—somewhere between either extreme are those who attach themselves to others, presenting themselves as like kind through cunning or simple luck. A courtier knows exactly how to transform a phrase into a cutting jest or hidden code with little more than a shift in tone or a look in the eye. Even when these alliances dissolve and the winners change, they seek new roosts, changing themselves however necessary in order 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 supposed “common good”. No matter the law whether true or unjust, these people live by a code of strength, filtering down into the dregs of society as those who have crossed the law one way or another. Criminals might be wrongly accused, accused without consequence, or those for whom “law” is only a three letter word relevant only to those without enough legs, but all have been dealt their current hand at some point.

- 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

To be deprived is to have nothing, not even one’s own. It is to have hunger, thirst and fatigue as familiar as family and just as ignored until their absences are natural. A deprived person may strive to escape this reality or settle, numbly, into whatever might be its embrace. These are the beggars and the diseased in the Realms of Terror, the refugees and the downtrodden. A rare few may have even chosen this way of life, perhaps in pursuit of some ideal or as self-flagellation.

- 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

Wherever there are people among the civilization in the Realms of Terror, so must follow meal and music. The entertainer has made it their point and purpose to provide the latter—celebrating for all those around them. Some struggle, regarding these performances as the act of another “self” while feeling nothing for anything in their private moments. Others assure themselves grandiose about their own skill and importance, even when those skills are all but unremarkable. But so long as an entertainer is paid and not harried out of every last establishment down to the last tavern, the show must go on.

- 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

It is through sweat and toil that the farmer provides for themselves, their families and their communities—so long as the master cares to share their harvest. Hardworking individuals who foster a deep connection to their land, whether it be solely agriculture, husbandry or cultivars that assembles the (often thankless) tasks of their homestead. The transition from farmer into someone of more significance is often abrupt—even if it is chosen by themselves. Many heroes in Prime Material worlds and beyond the Misty Border alike were once these farmers who grew disenchanted with sowing yet more fields and digging yet more holes.

- 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

The presence of water—in certain environs, semi-permeable mud—guarantees that there are edible things and creatures to be wrested free. To fish is not at all the profession for simpletons as is so often described, instead encompassing stoic souls able to sense the weather and fearless divers prying pearls from the jaws of shellfish. Masters of patience, they may even be feared for this by their quarry—or so they, the fishers, might 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

Hunting is an act as old as life itself. For the game hunter it may be to them art, science or even an unconscious compulsion. Some may see hunting as subsistence, or the pursuit of power and the thrill of the kill. They may be friend, foe or even component of the Cycle that is Nature, but even the most conscientious game hunter often has a look about them that is a narrow eye 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

No two people ever have the same reason for hermitage in the Realms of Terror. Whether for mere bad luck such as the case for castaways and lone survivors or something more, the call of self-sufficiency has been given and duly answered. Even should they live only ever a stone’s throw away from society, anyone who keeps their own company and defies integration may become a hermit. Though solitude is an opportunity for honing the mind, nothing is ever certain beyond the Misty Border—it may just as well be used as the wedge which leads them down to dark places.

- 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

The unknown is forever past tense in presence of a good investigator. Uncoverers of the hidden, seekers of the truth, and students of all that is, an investigator knows a little bit about everything—and how best they might find they don’t know yet. This is orchestrated with the occasional sleepless night and confronting groups of suspicious strangers. An inherent double edged sword in the Realms of Terror, some investigators stave off the darkness by becoming creatures of feckless justice and ethics, where others delicately thread the line between genius and simply being meddlesome.

- 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 beyond the Misty Border becomes the gleeful “best friend” of any newly Mist-led, promising opportunity in exchange for a spare weapon, some silver, a small gem and whatever else might glitter to their eyes. Even in cultures that dispense with coinage, merchants are masters of the barter, able to walk away with more for less. They’ll anticipate their fellows’ needs before they do, and stock easy trusting that they’ll be soon back for more.

- 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

The Realms of Terror are vast, and time beyond the Misty Border without definite measure. There is more to study here than what might ever be possible for any mortal lifetime, but sages tend to take this fact not as discouragement, but fuel to the fire. Whether they be academics, students of natural science or simple people with a burning need to “know”, all sages proceed in the pursuit of a single but blinding truth or the sum of everything. Inevitably, one with this path must contend at some point in their lives the question of what knowledge in the Core should be left forbidden—and too often, contend with it far 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

Sailors follow wherever there are open bodies of water no matter if they are either Shrouded Sea or only a lake. Folk unsteady on solid ground, most sailors distrust straight roads in favor for the complex, inscrutable webs of nautical navigation. They keep their eyes on the horizon—searching for destination or, perhaps, wearied watch for ill omens. Creatures of no home except a galley, sailors find their friends and foes best 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

Despite the incongruence native to histories regarding the Realms of Terror, there has never been any lacking for those willing to write them down anyway. The scribe is more than a knowledge-giver or passive observer of this history—often they are there as it happens, recording and cataloguing in their shorthand that might vex even a gifted arcanist. They can find, notate, and copy anything before them, at times resenting having to do precisely what they record: speak. Not all scribes are happy with their lot—their work is often a thankless task, and being there to notice all the ways that what they write does not match leaves them vulnerable to 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

Trade has never existed before forbidden trade. Where others might concern themselves with matters of law, prices, inventories and whims of the faceless “market”, a smuggler would find all points amusing, but irrelevant. All they need concern themselves with is the location for an “acquisition” and whether said “acquisition” might be nailed down. A smuggler may do this work for their own gain and own gain 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

Be for service to cult, country, or the highest bidder, there will always be those living tidy little lives that may become later asset insomuch subject of folk legend—and yet, the origins of the spy may be as rudimentary as being the wrong person in the right place. Should they take to the opportunity and do it correctly, they will never be known for it. Spies are often attached to some extant organization or country and are, just as frequently, told to take on new lives elsewhere. This may be well to their preference for there will always be work for a sharp set of ears and sharper knife in the Realms of Terror.

- 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

The profession of watchman is, given its frequency, perhaps the singlemost contentious in all the demiplane. Asked to arbitrate laws they themselves might understand little better than a layperson and to dispense this justice judicially but rarely promptly, the closeness to authority bodies of the Core no doubt open them to endless opportunity to question and be questioned. How many fallen, one must wonder, were once the ignorant men and women behind their sallet helms who dared look out into the darkest nights? Yet such people continue in this toil nevertheless, no matter if out of a real sense of law and order or the easy promise of a pouch of silver at the day’s end.

- 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

Attributed falsely to be the sole domain of delinquents, the truest urchin is that of its namesake, now called “hedgehog” (for the waifs and beggars have stolen this name in the night). An urchin is foremost an opportunist, and relentless in their pursuit. Lightning fast and quick on their feet, they are able to comfortably thrive in the margins of society, getting by with just enough misdeeds 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.