PDA

View Full Version : D&D 5e/Next Three Backgrounds: Stage Magician, Fanboy/Fangirl, and Action Survivor (PEACH)



Crisis21
2018-01-29, 11:26 PM
Background: Stage Magician

Skill Proficiencies: Sleight of Hand, Performance
Languages: None
Tool Proficiencies: Any two gaming sets of your choice.
Equipment: Two gaming sets of your choice, a set of fine clothes with long sleeves (including gloves and hat), a fake magic wand, several colored handkerchiefs, a pouch containing 5 gp and a trick silver piece.

Feature: Wonder and Misdirection
You have a talent for gaining and keeping the attention of others, from individuals to a crowd, exactly where you want their attention to be. Generally on you and your act and not on whatever would give away the secret of your tricks, whether it be an assistant, a well-planned prop, your left hand, something up your sleeve, the rabbit in your hat, or any combination of the aforementioned.

d8 Personality Traits:

1) To be honest, I can't help but show off.
2) The world is an amazing place! Here, let me show you how amazing!
3) Watch closely. The more you look, the less you'll see.
4) I adore cute, fuzzy animals. So does my audience.
5) I'm surprisingly humble and down-to-earth once I get off the stage.
6) Suckers. There's one born every minute.
7) You'd be surprised just how much planning goes into an act like this.
8) The show must go on.

d6 Ideal

1) Entertainment: Making people smile is my purpose in life. (Good)
2) Superiority: I am better than these gullible simpletons and I aim to prove it. (Evil)
3) Trickery: Getting others to believe what I want them to believe is just what I do. (Chaotic)
4) Business: It's a living. One I happen to be good at. (Neutral)
5) Fame: Everyone will know my name. (Any)
6) Spectacle: They want a show? I'll give them a show! (Any)

d6 Bond

1) I fell in love with my assistant.
2) There's a group of children I perform for regularly that are the highlight of my day.
3) I have a good friend in the business I trust implicitly.
4) The rabbit in my hat is my best friend.
5) I got into this profession because of a childhood friend who encouraged me to do so.
6) I'm actually a bit famous in my hometown and everyone knows me there.

d6 Flaw

1) They say magicians never reveal their secrets, but I tend to keep secrets even when I shouldn't.
2) I've been deceiving others for so long it's become a compulsion.
3) I'm nowhere near as good as I claim to be.
4) I'm so used to putting on a show I can't actually be myself around others.
5) I have this problem of making things disappear… from other people's pockets.
6) Why, yes, I am as good as I think I am. Maybe even better.


Background: Fanboy/Fangirl

Skill Proficiencies: Any two that apply to your person/group of interest.
Languages: One language spoken by the person or group you are a fan of.
Tool Proficiencies: Any one tool so long as it can be related to the person/group you are a fan of in some way.
Equipment: Various common items appropriate to the subject of your admiration.

Feature: Biggest Fan
You know everything about the target of your obs-er, admiration. Everything. You can easily recall any common knowledge about them instantly. Uncommon knowledge is also easily recalled, and you likely know things about the subject of your interest that few others would even suspect. You also seem to have a preternatural awareness of their presence if they are within range of any of your senses. However, you have a hard time concentrating on anything else in their presence.

d8 Personality Traits:

1) I'm full of energy all the time, and even more so when I can show my devotion to them!
2) I simply can't muster up the energy to care about anything other than them.
3) I despise anything that is opposed to the subject of my admiration.
4) Okay, I'm a bit obsessed. I can admit it. Here, hold this while I root through their trash.
5) I consider it an honor and a privilege to show others how amazing the subject of my admiration is.
6) I tend to be a bit cold, sometimes even downright hostile, to anyone who doesn't share my devotion.
7) It may surprise you to learn that I can in fact focus on tasks not involving the object of my admiration. I just happen to not like them as much.
8) As close to their personality as I can possibly manage.

d6 Ideal

1) Love: We're meant to be together! (Neutral)
2) Courage: Just the thought of them gives me strength when all else seems lost. (Good)
3) Service: I would do anything for them if they would just ask. (Lawful)
4) Desire: I must have them! (Evil)
5) Knowledge: I must know everything about them! Likes! Dislikes! Favorite Color! What they have for breakfast! Everything! (Any)
6) Them: They are my ideal. If I can be even a little bit like them in the eyes of others, I shall be content. (Alignment of Obsession)

d6 Bond

1) I know others who share my passion and we are very good friends.
2) Them. They are my life. My sun, my moon, my everything.
3) Notice me senpai!
4) My family thinks I'm nuts, and we speak a great deal less as a result.
5) My friends have no clue what I see in the subject of my admiration, but they support me anyway.
6) There are others who claim to love them as much as I do, but they're wrong! We are eternal rivals as a result!

d6 Flaw

1) I refuse to hear anything bad about them!
2) No one is worthy of their love except me!
3) I tend to alienate others. They just don't understand my devotion!
4) If I start talking about them, it's really hard to stop.
5) I'm not really that big of a fan, I just follow them to impress others.
6) If they didn't like me, I would kill myself. Seriously.


Background: Action Survivor

This isn't the first time adventure has come calling for you, but you're a lot more ready this time around. The first time you didn't have any idea what you were doing, much less formal training of any sort. Honestly, you look back and wonder what miracle allowed you to live through what happened, and you can't expect to get another one. But that's okay. You're ready this time.

You hope.

Skill Proficiencies: Perception and your choice between Survival, Medicine, Athletics, or Acrobatics.
Languages: None
Tool Proficiencies: Pick two of the following: Thieves' Tools, Herbalism Kit, Cook's Utensils, Navigator's Tools, Carpenter's Tools
Equipment: A set of common clothes, a week's worth of rations in case of emergency, a ten-foot pole, a healer's kit, a vial of antitoxin, two full waterskins, a hooded lantern, a flask of oil, 50 ft. of rope, a crowbar, a hunting knife, one toolkit of your choice, and a pouch containing 5 cp.

Feature: The Look
You know the one. The look of someone who has lived through something they had no business living through. You can recognize that look a mile away, and anyone with it can recognize it on you.

d8 Personality Traits:

1) I no longer take the simple pleasures in life for granted.
2) I'm extremely skittish.
3) I'm overprotective of those I care about.
4) I tend to get really aggressive when I perceive threats.
5) I'm open and friendly with those I trust. The rest of the world, not so much.
6) F- you. You don't know me or what I've been through.
7) I'm suspicious of everyone I don't trust.
8) I won't talk about what happened. Ever. For any reason.

d6 Ideal

1) Life: I lived. I intend to keep doing that. (Any)
2) Revenge: What happened what horrible and someone must pay for it. (Evil)
3) Salvation: I lived for a reason. I must have. And I will strive to prove worthy of it. (Good)
4) Preparation: It happened once. I intend to be ready if anything like it ever happens again (Lawful)
5) Ennui: What's the point, really? At least I can tell the story for a few drinks. (Chaotic)
6) Fear: Dear gods, what if it happens again? (Any)

d6 Bond

1) I have a sibling that I protected throughout what happened. I would do anything to ensure they remain safe.
2) There's this animal I travel with. Because if it wasn't for them I wouldn't still be alive.
3) I lost too many friends to what happened. I refuse to lose the few I have left.
4) My mentor rescued me from the disaster. They have my loyalty for life.
5) There's a small group that lived through the event with me. We have an understanding that no one else can match.
6) Everyone that meant anything to me died while I survived.

d6 Flaw

1) The mental scars run deeper than the physical ones.
2) I developed a severe phobia after what happened.
3) I can't stand people who act happy when someone like me suffered so much.
4) I obsess over what happened to the point I sometimes can't concentrate on anything else.
5) I honestly feel like I shouldn't have survived.
6) I secretly liked the danger I was in and I want to feel that rush again… and again...

Sariel Vailo
2018-01-30, 11:04 AM
I love the third one but why "action"survivor why not Survivor.i mean their is survivors guilt

Crisis21
2018-01-30, 11:39 AM
I love the third one but why "action"survivor why not Survivor.i mean their is survivors guilt
I'll admit, the third came about as a possible 'bonus background' award for PCs surviving a level 0 adventure with hazards balanced for an adventuring party of at least level 4 or higher. In essence (i.e.) for surviving your own 'origin story'.

Or to put it another way, 'Action Survivor' assumes you survived a PC-grade adventure before earning your first class level. I thought the description fitting for what PCs tend to get up to in such settings.

Edit: I think I'm going to put in some flavor text to that effect.

Sariel Vailo
2018-01-30, 11:43 AM
I love your concept more still dont like action sounds more meta now.hmmmmmmmmm **** could be fun being more meta

Crisis21
2018-01-30, 11:48 AM
I love your concept more still dont like action sounds more meta now.hmmmmmmmmm **** could be fun being more meta

It's also a reference to the trope Action Survivor (http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/ActionSurvivor). (WARNING: TvTropes link)