Backgrounds

Choose a Background that reflects your life before adventuring.

A Background represents training, knowledge, lived experience, and social permission. It tells the Referee what your character can reasonably know, attempt, recognize, or gain access to.

Backgrounds do not replace role-play or problem solving.

They help decide when your past matters.

Background Benefits

Each Background grants:

one Ability Die step-up
1 Boon in a specific situation
~~one starting item, contact, or useful piece of knowledge~~

When a Background increases an Ability Die, step that die up once:

d8 → d10 → d12

No Ability Die can be increased beyond d12.

If your Background would increase an Ability Die already at d12, choose another Ability Die that fits the Background and step it up once instead. Confer with the Referee first.

Ability Abbreviations

Abbreviation	Ability
STR	Strength
AGI	Agility
CON	Constitution
LOR	Lore
PRE	Presence

Lore represents memory, reason, craft, learning, history, languages, and practical wisdom.

Presence represents awareness, instinct, courage, discipline, social force, will, and judgment in the moment.

Some Backgrounds have ancestry restrictions based on the campaign world. The Referee may allow exceptions.

Referee Guidance

Backgrounds grant permission.

A Background can answer questions like:

Question	Example
Would this character know this?	A Mason may recognize unstable stonework.
Can this character attempt this without special training?	A Scribe can copy a legal document or read old records.
Would this character have a contact here?	An Innkeeper may know local brewers, servants, or regular travelers.
Would locals treat this character differently?	An Acolyte may be welcomed at a shrine.
Does this character know the custom?	A Hall Keeper may understand dwarven oaths and clan etiquette.

The Boon is only part of the Background.

The more important benefit is that the character’s past gives them a place in the world.

A Background should help players ask better questions, make better plans, and connect with the setting.

Common Folk

Background	Ability	Benefit
Farmer	CON	Gain 1 Boon when tending animals, predicting weather, growing crops, or working the land.
Laborer	STR	Gain 1 Boon when lifting, hauling, digging, clearing rubble, or enduring long physical work.
Servant	PRE	Gain 1 Boon when dealing with nobles, household routines, etiquette, gossip, or servants’ networks. S
Herdsman	PRE	Gain 1 Boon when handling livestock, finding pasture, calming animals, or judging herd health.

Rural & Wild

Background	Ability	Benefit
Hunter	AGI	Gain 1 Boon when tracking, foraging, stalking prey, or setting simple traps.
Trapper	AGI	Gain 1 Boon when setting, spotting, or disarming natural or simple traps.
Outlander	CON	Gain 1 Boon when navigating, camping, surviving in the wild, reading signs, or using bushcraft.
Forester	LOR	Gain 1 Boon when moving through forests, identifying trees, finding paths, or judging woodland danger.
Fisher	PRE	Gain 1 Boon when fishing, reading rivers, handling small boats, or judging water conditions.

Trades & Skills

Background	Ability	Benefit
Blacksmith	STR	Gain 1 Boon when repairing, forging, or judging metalwork, arms, or armor.
Carpenter	LOR	Gain 1 Boon when building, bracing, repairing, or assessing wooden structures.
Mason	LOR	Gain 1 Boon when working stone, judging stonework, spotting unsafe walls, or assessing ruins.
Herbalist	LOR	Gain 1 Boon when identifying plants, preparing simple remedies, treating minor sickness, or recognizing common poisons.
Jeweler	LOR	Gain 1 Boon when appraising gems, fine metalwork, seals, ornaments, or delicate craft.
Brewer	CON	Gain 1 Boon when brewing, judging drink, spotting bad ale, or dealing with taverns and drinkers.
Physicker	LOR	Gain 1 Boon when diagnosing wounds, treating injuries, setting bones, stopping bleeding, or identifying causes of death. Start with a physicker’s kit. You may use a physicker’s kit to heal or stabilize others

Urban Lives

Background	Ability	Benefit
Merchant	PRE	Gain 1 Boon when bargaining, appraising goods, judging markets, or dealing with trade contacts.
Scribe	LOR	Gain 1 Boon when reading, writing, copying texts, recalling records, or dealing with clerks and archives.
Acolyte	PRE	Gain 1 Boon when performing religious rites, recalling doctrine, recognizing holy symbols, or dealing with temples.
Innkeeper	PRE	Gain 1 Boon when gathering rumors, managing patrons, judging strangers, or dealing with travelers.
Guard	CON	Gain 1 Boon when keeping watch, judging threats, handling prisoners, or dealing with local law.
Beggar	PRE	Gain 1 Boon when begging, blending into crowds, hearing street rumors, or finding hidden ways through a settlement.

Shadowed Paths

Background	Ability	Benefit
Thief	AGI	Gain 1 Boon when hiding, moving unnoticed in settlements, picking locks, or finding marks.
Smuggler	PRE	Gain 1 Boon when concealing goods, spotting contraband, bribing officials, or finding hidden routes.
Bandit	STR	Gain 1 Boon when ambushing, intimidating travelers, judging roads, or surviving as an outlaw.
Grave Robber	CON	Gain 1 Boon when dealing with tombs, burial customs, grave goods, or simple traps.
Fence	PRE	Gain 1 Boon when selling stolen goods, judging illicit value, finding buyers, or avoiding questions.

Travel & Roads

Background	Ability	Benefit
Boatsman	AGI	Gain 1 Boon when handling ropes, ships, weather at sea, river travel, or navigation by water.
Trader	PRE	Gain 1 Boon when handling carts, wagons, pack animals, road tolls, or trade routes.
Pilgrim	PRE	Gain 1 Boon when finding shrines, asking hospitality, recognizing holy routes, or dealing with temples.
Messenger	AGI	Gain 1 Boon when running messages, finding routes, judging distances, or dealing with gates and road wardens.

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