zeek0's Detective Background

[zeek0]

Want to be Batman? Hercule Poirot? Tracer Bullit? The Spanish Inquisition? Then this background is for you!

Here is a pdf with much better formatting, but your your viewing (and critiquing) pleasure:

DETECTIVE

You have dedicated your life to pursuit, revelation, and apprehension. Your training has taught you how to determine the truth of a matter through steady analysis and firm inquiry.
As a detective, determine how you apply your skills in the world. Do you work for the government, an organization, a private business, or do you operate your own enterprise? What caused you to take up the broader mantle of an adventurer?

Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Investigation
Tool Proficiencies: One type of gaming set
Languages: One of your choice
Equipment: A set of common clothes, a travelling longcoat, official detective’s documents, a piece of evidence or memento from a cold case, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp

FEATURE: INVESTIGATOR’S INSIGNIA
You are a detective officially recognized by your home government, attested to by those documents and sigils you have been issued. When proclaimed or displayed this can give a civilized creature pause, encourage them to flee, or cause them to be more willing to talk to you. This identity gives you license to operate within the bounds of your government, and even foreign governments may recognize your documents in their own way.

SUGGESTED CHARACTERISTICS:
A detective who takes up the life of an adventurer expands their sphere of concern to the greater world, but still applies an investigative ethos in their travels.

d8...Personality Trait
1 I cannot abide injustice, and I will act out against it even when facing unfavorable odds.
2 I am always on the lookout for criminal activity.
3 I consider the facts carefully before I make any decision.
4 I have a fixation on determining the motives and psychology of others, even my closest friends.
5 My investigations have shown me enough of the world to know that I want no part of it.
6 I am used to helping out those who aren’t as smart as I am, and I patiently explain anything and everything to others.
7 I like to reserve all my knowledge until the most dramatic moment, so I can display it to others and dazzle them with my brilliance.
8 I don’t know much, but my hunches have never led me wrong in the past.

d8...Ideal
1 Community. All acts must be in the interest of strengthening the welfare between people. (Good)
2 Greater Good. Punishment of evil is the highest good. Procedure is too often only shackles and an excuse for inaction. (Chaotic)
3 Prestige. Everything I do is targeted at increasing and showing my standing – it’s all anyone can depend on. (Evil)
4 Logic. There are no coincidences because everything can be explained. (Lawful)
5 Truth. Lies always obscure beauty, and finding truth is like the clear peal of a bell. (Neutral)
6 Challenge. Wit, strength, and intelligence mean nothing until matched to trials of comparable power. (Any)

d6...Bond
1 There is a criminal in my past who got away, and I have sworn to bring them to justice.
2 I became a detective to prevent a certain crime that I was the victim of in the past.
3 I’ve discovered the crime of a powerful person, and I’ve hidden the truth – for now.
4 I firmly believe in the guiding precepts of my organization.
5 My town or city is my home, and I will fight to defend it.
6 I owe everything to another detective who taught me everything I know.

d6...Flaw
1 I know the common people are criminals, and it is only by my harsh hand that they are controlled.
2 I enforce the law stringently, with no room for personal concerns or individual circumstance.
3 I’m not adverse to accepting a bit of money on the side for my hard work.
4 I obsess over my current case, to the detriment to all other aspects of my life.
5 I would kill people to get to the bottom of a case.
6 I overlook simple solutions in favor of complicated ones.

[ravencroft0]

Cool. This gives me an idea for a mastermind based on Nate Ford from Leverage. Well done.

[ProfDet529]

I'm sticking this in the file.

[zeek0]

I'm sticking this in the file.

Thanks! I've since updated the document to look much better - see here (renamed 'Inquisitive'):
https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx...mxRNEtONlVQUmc

Also, if you are interested in a whole slew of backgrounds, see here:https://drive.google.com/open?id=0Bx...m1zd1N3QnZVdnM