Wayfarer
"Left is death." -- Traditional wayfarer saying.
You have journeyed across Ataland. Perhaps seeking your fortune, or simply just the next meal and bed. The road is your guide and the wilds your shortcut. Excitement always awaits the next town over. This background covers traveling workers, entertainers, and merchants and a multitude of others with no fixed hometown.
Work with the Game Master to figure out how far your character has traveled. Did you travel between the same towns again and again? Or are you distant from where you started?
Skill Proficiencies: Choose any one from: History, Survival, or Perception
Tool Proficiencies: Any musical instrument, or any gaming set, or cartographer's tools
Languages: One of your choice
Equipment: A map of the local area, common traveler's clothes, an explorer's pack and 2d6 (7) gp. You may also choose any music instrument, or any gaming set, or cartographer's tools.
Feature: Traveler
You are used to living on the move and have experience both on and off the roads. Over the years you have picked up a number of useful skills for the traveler.
You know how to forage enough food and water to sustain yourself and 3 others. For example, you might find berries while in the woods or extract water from cacti in deserts. Assuming the resources are available, it will take one hour to gather them. So long as you are outdoors, you know which direction North is. So long as you can see a road, you know your approximate location.
Bonus Proficiencies: Animal Handling or Vehicles (land)
Alternate Feature: Balloonist
You were born to fly and spent some time as a balloonist. Over the years you have picked up a number of useful skills.
You can predict the weather for the next 12 hours. This includes if there will be rain, sleet, hail or snow etc, and the direction and speed of the wind. So long as you are outdoors, you know which direction North is and so long as you can see a road, you know your approximate location.
Bonus Proficiencies: Vehicles (air)
Alternate Feature: Tourist
You can take this feature instead of Traveler.
You sold everything you own so you could live your dream of traveling Ataland.
You know the following phrases in Common, Dwarvish, Elvish, Giant, Gnomish, Goblin, Halfling and Orc:
- Hello
- Goodbye
- Thank you
- My name is...
- I don't speak...
- I am sorry
- Please help me
- How do you get to...?
Bonus Equipment: 60 gp, 10 Mirrors of Frozen Image (See: Uncommon Items), 10 etchings of you in places you've visited.
Characteristics
Wayfarers are fond of exploration and discovery. Having no roots gives wayfarers as much freedom as they want, but it may be a lonely existence. Wayfarers make friendships where they can find them, short though they may be.
| 1d6 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I'm really superstitious about turning left. |
| 2 | I am often caught staring wistfully at the horizon. |
| 3 | I like to listen to other people's stories. |
| 4 | I mind my own business and expect the same from others. |
| 5 | Plans always fall apart, so why have one? |
| 6 | I go back to check dead-ends on purpose, just in case I missed something. |
| 1d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Explorer. There's always something new to discover. (Any) |
| 2 | Freedom. Nobody tells me what to do. I follow my own road. (Chaotic) |
| 3 | Drifting. I just want to pass through not get involved. (Neutral) |
| 4 | Guide. I show people the way. (Good) |
| 5 | Travel. I want to see the world. (Any) |
| 6 | Traditionalist. I follow the old paths our forebears left us. (Lawful) |
| 1d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | My backpack contains my entire life. |
| 2 | A path I've walked a thousand times. |
| 3 | The family and friends I left behind. |
| 4 | A fellow wanderer that I often meet on my travels. |
| 5 | I'm looking for a place I can never find. Maybe it doesn't even exist at all. |
| 6 | To have no bonds is to truly be free. |
| 1d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I have a strong and sometimes difficult to understand accent that nobody can place. |
| 2 | I'm so confident in my skills I never use maps, even when I need them. |
| 3 | I get anxious if I spend too many nights in one place. |
| 4 | It irritates me when people can't keep up. |
| 5 | I hate to travel in a straight line. |
| 6 | I won't go anywhere without my lucky keepsake. |