While you are an adventurer, there is much more to your life than just battling beasts, hoarding treasure, and going on quests. When you’re not actively adventuring, you enjoy indulging in your personal interests and hobbies. Maybe you’re an avid reader and love nothing more than curling up with a good book in the local library or university. Or perhaps you’re a skilled blacksmith and spend your downtime creating intricate pieces of armor or weapons. Maybe you have a talent for playing music, and can often be found entertaining your fellow adventurers with songs on your lute. Whatever it may be, you find that having a hobby or interest outside of adventuring helps you to relax, unwind, and forget about the dangers and hardships of the road. Downtime between adventures also provides you with an opportunity to cultivate your reputation and manage a business.

Background and Occupation

Every background allows you to gain a profession, except for the urchin background. Backgrounds also specify that if you pick a profession with a certain occupation tag, then you gain additional Skill Points.

Your background provides narrative and mechanical information about who you are, what walk of life you come from, and where you might be headed. When you create a character at level 1, you choose your background from the list below. Seven of the nine backgrounds grant you additional skills if you take a profession with the corresponding occupation tag. Note that your background also determines your starting wealth.

Starting Gear

All backgrounds also grant you the following starting gear: Your profession and background may specify that you gain additional equipment.

1. A) 2 one-handed melee weapons, or B) 1 two-handed or hand-and-a-half melee weapon, or C) 1 one-handed melee weapon and a shield (buckler)

2. A) 1 shortbow and 20 arrows, or B) 1 crossbow and 20 bolts, or C) 3 javelins

3. or you can forego equipment in both 1. and 2. for an amethyst wand

4. A) 1 quarterstaff, or B) 1 hatchet, or C) 2 daggers, or D) 2 knives, or E) 1 cestus, or F) 1 brass knuckles

5. 2 trinkets

Background Description and Occupation Tags

If you choose a Profession with the same tag as your Background, you gain additional skill as noted in the Background.

You can find full descriptions on the Backgrounds Page or click the individual background below.

Background	Occupation Tag	Description
Born Warrior	Militant	Blood, toil, and sweat have marked you a proven soldier.
Criminal	Underworld	You deal in activities not endorsed by the law.
Entrepreneur	Mercantile	You own, supply, or represent a successful business.
Knave	None	Having tried multiple professions, nothing is quite a fit.
Noble Title	Aristocratic	By birth or deed, you are a minor noble in a nation.
Outlander	Wanderer	You live on the fringes of society, perhaps in the wilds.
Student	Academic	You endlessly toil to deepen a field of academic study.
True Believer	Religious	You are a devotee of a specific religion or faith system.
Urchin	None	You've grown up on the streets, always fending for yourself.

Profession

When creating a character, in addition to your background, you gain one profession of your choice. There are two exceptions: If you are a knave, you gain two professions (you cannot pick the same profession twice). If you are an urchin, you do not gain any profession.

Each profession has one or more occupation tags, so be sure to check and see if this gives you any additional bonuses based on your background. When you gain a professional rank, you may choose to gain a rank in the same profession or get the 1st rank of a new profession.

This decision should reflect your character’s advancement in the campaign world. For example, if you began the game as a nomad, but became involved in a particular community and took care of a lot of problems for them, you might choose to gain a rank in knight or guard instead of ranking up in nomad when you gain a second professional rank.

Professional ranks range from 1 to 5, and it is unusual for a character to ever acquire more than 5 total professional ranks. The profession that you choose will grant you access to specific narrative benefits throughout the game. The higher your rank in a given profession, the more power and influence you have within that profession. For example, if you have 1 rank in soldier, you are able to secure lodging and free meals from other members of your military institution. If you have 5 ranks in soldier, then you can levy other soldiers into your service when they are in your vicinity.

Goodwill

In addition to fighting monsters and exploring wondrous locales, adventurers will need to maintain and cultivate

their reputation in the various towns and cities that they frequent.

Goodwill is a mechanic that tracks a community’s sentiment towards an individual. Any action a party or player takes may generate positive or negative Goodwill. Professions have a

particularly strong effect on Goodwill.

Goodwill is tracked across several spheres of the community, roughly correlated to occupations: Academic, Aristocratic, Layfolk, Mercantile, Militant, Religious, Underworld. Certain Professions are written with this in mind and specify which spheres of the community you gain Goodwill in.

If your MC wants to streamline this process, they can simply track Goodwill per town or city, instead of tracking Goodwill for individual community spheres in each urban area. If they do this, then any feature that gives you +1 Goodwill in a particular sphere gives you +1 Goodwill overall. Goodwill is tracked privately by your MC and can range anywhere on a scale from -20 to +20.

Goodwill	Effect
-20 to -15	Villain. You ae hated and feared by your community. Community resources will be levied towards your arrest and destruction.
-14 to -10	Hated. The community is hostile to your presence and will refuse your trade and lodging. Angry mobs might attempt to exile you.
-9 to -4	Disliked. Goods and services often cost more for you and merchants are unlikely to haggle.
-3 to 3	Neutral. You are unknown to the community overall.
4 to 9	Liked. Citizens usually go out of their way to accommodate you and give you good deals.
10 to 14	Beloved. Citizens rejoice to see you and you can always find friends and allies in town.
15 to 20	Hero. You are idolized by your community and can get virtually any good or service for free. Local authorities will overlook minor crimes that you commit and will help you when they reasonably can.

Profession List


Profession	Description	Background Needed for Bonus	Tags
Archivist	You are passionate about preserving the past and uncovering the secrets of the ages. Through weeks upon weeks of research sifting through dusty tomes, you are always seeking to expand your understanding of the world and to bring new knowledge to light.	Student	Academic
Barrister	Your studies of law and debate have made you an expert in mediation and you sell your services as a lawyer, judge, or orator. Whether it be in the courts of the grandest cities or in the humblest village square, you ensure just and proper resolution of any dispute through consideration of historical precedent and careful deliberation.	Student or Noble Title	Academic, Aristocratic
Charlatan	You use your silver tongue and quick wit to deceive and manipulate others. You move from town to town, using your skills of deception to sell false remedies, perform illusions, or simply con unsuspecting marks out of their hard-earned coin. Whether you’re a traveling swindler or a confidence trickster, you always have a new scam up your sleeve, and you revel in the thrill of fooling others and getting away with it.	Entrepreneur or Criminal	Mercantile, Underworld

Backgrounds, Occupations, and Professions

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