1dX Wednesday: 1d100 Weird Backgrounds

Here are 1d100 weird backgrounds that have led to you becoming a mercenary.

Random background tables are something that we can always use more of.

These are all found in my hack found here: https://skyorrichegg.itch.io/a-crucible-for-silver

      1. Master of Keys

A master of keys will often start out as a simple locksmith or perhaps a thief specializing in lock picking. Soon enough they find themselves hoarding keys and lock picks obsessing with the idea of a single perfect, primordial, Ur-key. Their worldview has been changed to one that sees the whole world as a lock in need of key.

6d20 Keys of all shapes and sizes, stuffed into pockets and hanging off their clothing

Lock Picking Tools

Hammer

Runestone Open

Key Sketchbook

Advantage when lock picking non-magical locks. 2-in-6 chance that they have the key to any lock encountered but it takes 1d60 minutes to find.


      1. Maze Expert

Hedge, stone, catacomb, cave, dungeon, beehive. If there is a maze that needs solving you are the person to do it. You've had your share of run ins with the typical denizens lords and wizards like to stock their mazes with. You cut your teeth on Labryntha, the plane of mazes. Sometimes you do it for the sport and you do get to keep any treasure you find.


Spool of Endless String

Chalk

Cracked Compass

Canteen

Machete


      1. Spelunker

An expert in all things cave related. You have been in some pretty tight spots. You like to visit the Underdark for a relaxing vacation. You are an expert when it comes to underground flora and fauna.

Phosphorescent Lantern

1d6 Torches

Runestone Underdark Portal

Helmet

Leather Kneepads


Advantage on rolls related to underground beasts or plants

      1. Moon Cultist

They found you when you were young and loved you when you did not know any better. They gave you everything and cared for every need . But now you have found a new group who has told you the truth. The Moon is life. The Moon is love. He is returning.

Ritual Knife Stained with Blood

Runestone Bind Being

Vial of their Cult Superior's Blood

      1. Resurrectionist

It does not matter that what you do is taboo. Or illegal. What matters is the money those quacks are paying you and their assurances that their research will save lives.


List of Interested Physicians

Wooden Spade

Sack of Stained Clothing

Cloth Covered Lantern

Picture Painted By Your Child.

      1. Anarchist

Down with Monarchs. Down with Gods. Down with Magistrates. Down with Order. Down with Empires. Down with... whoops who put those steps there.


Keg of Gunpowder

Bottle of Alcohol with Cloth

Cause Pamphlets

Sledgehammer

Manifesto

      1. Con Artist

A chameleon who sees every new job as a new challenge. A chance to throw away their past on the potential of a new future. A new city and a new life and new friends and, eventually, a new job again


Runestone Transform

Makeup Kit

Wig

Change of Clothing

Fake Coins

Loaded Dice


      1. Informant

Selling out your friends was easy. Living with yourself afterwards was the hard part. And now your handlers are breathing down your neck for even more fresh meat. If you choose to ignore them everything you did would have been for nothing.


Notepad

4d20 Gold Pieces

Concealed Knife

Guilt


      1. Deposed Noble

Those filthy peasants better not be running your kingdom into the ground while you are away. You have it on good authority that when you return with an army the true citizens will welcome you with open arms.


Rapier

Sack of Royal Jewelry

Seal of State

Loyalist Contacts


      1. Low level bureaucrat

Filing paperwork takes a precise eye, and a sharp mind is needed to get anything done in this quagmire of a government. Sometimes different methods are required to grease the wheels of bureaucracy.


Ledger

Papers

Ink stains

Garrote


      1. Antiquarian

How many ancient civilizations lie beneath our feet? What wonders and secrets did the possess? Only you and your colleagues possess the knowledge to unearth them and use them for yourself.


Pick

Sketchbook

Plumb Bob

Field Glasses

Skepticism


      1. Member of the Order of Crossroads

Your order is privy to the secret power that crossroads wield. These boundary points are a place of weak edges where the magical, strange, good, wondrous, and evil things can cross over in to this realm. You and your order will aid, defend against, and exploit them to your own ends.


Runestone Exorcism

Silver Knife

Cold Iron Sword

Holy Water


      1. Drug Addict

You have burned every bridge, even some literal ones. You have nowhere to turn back to. All you can do is move forward now. Maybe you have a chance to make things right? You have already failed so many times, but what is one more failure to you?


Broken Glass Bottle

1d6 Seed of the Opium Poppy

1d6 Lotus Fruit

Dilated Eyes

Regrets


      1. Crystal Knight

One day crystals sprouted from your skin, and that night the tiny crystalline squires came to initiate you into their order. Now with prismatic vows oathed and your head shorn you are ready to bring back light-filled purity to this world.


Long Sword Covered in Crystals

Heavy Armor Shatterable

Crystallized Skin


Resistance to One Random Magic Domain


      1. Outsider

You are from a different place, time, or plane of existence. You have traveled hoping to observe something transcendental: the renaissance of this society. Forbidden to interfere, you must survive with your otherworldly knowledge.


Exotic Musical Instrument

Strange Idioms

Mismatched Clothing

You have disadvantage when trying to remember the history or culture of this place.

You have advantage on any scientific concepts.


      1. Mutant

They said they should have known it was coming. There were bad omens leading up to your birth: a stillborn calf, three coops with all their chickens dead one night, a stray cat seen mewing at the graveyard. But no one expected exactly what you would be like.


Ripped Clothing


Roll 1d6 for your mutation:

          1. A tentacle replaces a limb.

          2. Prehensile tail

          3. Acid blood

          4. Second set of teeth in mouth

          5. Hidden gills

          6. Animal Eyes


      1. Demonblooded

You are the offspring or descendant of an evil being from another plane. Your blood is tainted with a divine filth that exudes into your every essence. But you are not really a bad person, are you? Will you make who you were born what defines you?

Cat o' Nine Tails

Hidden Mark

Transfusion Kit


+1 HP Every Level including the First


      1. Freelance Prison Magistrate

You are in the most profitable business around. You come into a budding nation and revolutionize their justice system. And they thank you themselves as you line your pockets with their misdeeds. There needs to be order in this world and you can provide it for a price.


Keys to an Oubliette

Legal Papers

Manacles

Fire Poker


      1. Witch-hunter

A witch is a wily foe. It takes an extraordinary person to hunt them down and destroy

them. You were trained by the battle order of three different religious groups in how to hunt down magical evil and release the guilty from these terrestrial bounds.


Malleus Maleficarum

Silver Knife

Holy Water

Holy Symbol

Finger of a Saint on Necklace

Bag of Salt

Sealed Jar of Oil


      1. Retired General

You hammered your sword into a plowshare years ago, until the wars came back to haunt you; that is the thing with metal, it can be reforged.


Ancient Armor

Short Sword

Symbolic Short Axe

Political Enemies

Old Wounds


      1. Mushroom Cultivator

Mushrooms are the purest form of life there is. They can be found growing almost everywhere. They can heal, they can kill, they can feed, they can purge, and they can bring enlightenment.


1d6 Mushroom Terrariums

Moistness

Odd Smells

1d20 Pounds of Magic Mushrooms

Runestone Grow

      1. Famous Actor

Why yes, you are that performer. Thank you for asking. Would you like an autograph? How about a recitation of my final soliloquy in The Damsel's Mother? Or maybe a thrilling performance of the final battle in Corlando?


Wooden Sword

Prop Armor

Sack of Costumes

Makeup Kit

Autographs Already Signed


      1. Rat Snatcher

You listen to their secrets. The scratches in the walls. The subtle whispers. No one else will listen to you. So you spill your own secrets to your enemies, your friends.


Ratty Cloak

3d6 Rat Corpses

Rat Poison

Terrier

Rat King in a Large Jar


      1. Assassin's Assistant

Someday you will be the master. But until that day you will watch, learn, and practice until you see an opportunity for a promotion. You see your master watching you. Always watching you.


Garrote

Bow and Arrows

Concealed Knife

Poison

Jealousy


      1. Dogsbody

You perform the tasks that no one else wants to do. Fetching water, carrying goods, mucking out the stalls. There is definitely nothing else strange going on.


List of Menial Tasks

Lycanthropy

Sharp Canines

Torn Clothing

Chains


      1. Poisoner

Hmm, yes, three grams of the mixture should be enough. Deliver it on the third day of the month, preferably when the moon is out. It should take exactly 30 seconds to begin to show signs of working. You do not know me. You were never here. You will not see me again.

Book of Poisons

Vial of Poison

Another Vial of Poison

Completely Normal Food

Enemies

      1. Frontier Officer

You defend the frontier from all foreign and domestic enemies. You have seen things out there in the wild wastes, the impenetrable jungles, the mysterious steppes, things your superiors back in the Empire refuse to believe.


Saber

Disheveled Uniform

Unkempt Beard

Canteen of Tonic Water

1d4 Foreign Languages

1d4 Foreign Allies


      1. Jongleur

You bring joy to every street corner and market square, exciting the children and the old alike. Your magic is in illusion and merriment.


Colorful Juggling Balls

Musical Instrument

Songs on Paper

Stool

Performing Outfit

Last Coin


      1. Orator

Your speeches convict the hearts of all who hear them. Your philosophies incite the masses and intrigue the intellectuals. You mystify the haughty and proud. You are both hated and loved.


Soap Box

Speaking Trumpet

Canteen

Ethos

Pathos

Logos


      1. Apprentice Witch

Someday you will be a master witch: riding your own broomstick, performing your hexes, curing ailments and performing small magical deeds for the community. If they do not hunt you down first.


Runestone Haunt

Runestone Find Water

Small Warts

Cat

Travel Cauldron

Master Witch


      1. Necromancer

The citizenry think you a mere physician, a surgeon of some sort, curing their ailments and healing their injuries. Little do they know.

Runestone Bind Being

Location of Cadavers

Sewing Kit

Phylactery

      1. Barber-Surgeon

The citizenry think you a crazed necromancer, a wizard of some sort, performing profane rituals and raising their dead. Little do they know.


Sewing Kit

Saw

Razor

Surgical Knife

Forceps

Runestone Detach


      1. Portal Engineer

You have an obsession with liminal spaces. You know a thing or two about hallways and door construction. You are right on the cusp of a complete understanding of all portals, magical and mundane.


Lock Picking Kit

Runestone Open

Runestone Reflection Portal

Hammer

Nails

      1. Wandering Professor

Your superiors thought you could use some time in the field. You think it is so they could take your theories for themselves. Well, you will show them; you can survive outside the walls of academia, even if out here they expect results.


2d6 Self Published Textbooks

Quill and Ink

Complicated Thesis Papers

Academic Rival

Imperial Grants


      1. Disgraced Captain of the Guard

You were the best captain of the guard they ever had, until you were betrayed. You will hunt down those that betrayed you even if it means ruining every life you have touched.


Ancestral Sword

Crossbow

Hawk


      1. Freelance Reeve

You had been living the easy life until that noble walked into your life and asked you to figure out who murdered their spouse. You could not say no to someone like them, even if it was obviously the spouse that did it. So now here you are, on the case, drumming up suspects and clues after burning through their retainer. At least you asked for them to pay expenses.


Writ of Imperial Authority

Manacles

Short Sword

Usual Suspects

Contract


      1. Living Saint

You found that sacred spot and now you glow with the light of heaven. Bringing purification and destruction with you every where you go. You vomit forth your iniquities and purge the sins of those around you.


Wounds

Ethereal Glow

Slowly Billowing Hair and Clothes

Flaming Sword

Radiation Poisoning


      1. Purified Leper

You were unclean but now are healed. You see the suspicious glances still from all around you. So you proudly bare your brand of purification and show them that you have the disease no more.


Scourge

Thurible

Brand of Purification

Missing Digits

Self Inflicted Scars


      1. Chandler

You bring the light to civilization, lighting candles, lanterns, fires, and lamps. You push back the darkness. The light of the town on the hill can not be hidden in the darkness of the world.


3d6 Tallow Candles

Butcher's Knife

1d6 Tanned Leathers

1d6 Beeswax Candles

Candle Lighting Pole

Flint and Steel


      1. Stargazer

O star of strength! I see thee stand

And smile upon my pain;

Thou beckonest with thy mailèd hand,

And I am strong again.

The Light of Stars - Henry Wadsworth Longfellow


Book of Astrology

Telescope

Astrarium

Astrolabe

Miniaturized Clockwork Orrery

Celatone Helmet.

You have advantage when taking the Observe the Heavens action.


      1. Monkey Merchant

Purveyor of fine monkeys, you have started to take on some of the characteristics of your wares. The hardest part of selling monkeys is procuring a continuous supply of monkeys. You do not want to get into the monkey breeding side of the trade.


1d6 exotic monkeys

monkey training club

butchers knife

monkey treats


You have advantage climbing, knife fighting, and making monkey calls.

      1. Refugee

You have fled your country to settle in another. Everything is foreign and exotic to you, just as you are to everyone here. You found a place in your homeland's enclave in this new land among other refugees. You do not feel settled. The war seems to have followed.


6d20 Foreign Coins

The Clothes on Your Back

Foreign Accent

Local Connections

Foreign Weapon


      1. Gladiator

Screams, shouts, boos, cheers. Four long years in the games and you came out the other side changed: richer, more famous, and knowing nothing but bloodshed and violence. You never spared anyone you had in your clutches, no matter what the crowd said. You can still feel the cheers and jeers of that crowd around you. Always.


Ritualized Armor

Gladius

Scutum

Pension


      1. Anti-psychic

You might have been a psychic if thing had been subtly different. But now you hunt them down to rid the world of their intrusiveness and propensity for evil. No man should be able to read another man's private thoughts.


Aluminum Helmet

Grotesque Mask

Runestone Third Eye

Silver Knife

Privacy


      1. Dream-eater

An epicurean of the most sumptuous of meals. You crave that meal which is only possible in your wildest of dreams. You will utterly consume it and awaking be finally satisfied.


Sleeping Cap

Metaphorical Utensils

Dream/Meal Journal

Sleeping Potion


      1. Political Machine

To become mayor of your city you must be ruthless, you must round up your supporters, eviscerate your opponents, push the citizenry through the polls, twice if needed. You must win all elections. Assimilate. Platform. Destroy. Vote. Debate. Win.


Clockwork Limb

Campaign Leaflets

Party Whip

War Chest


      1. Executioner

No executions means no pay. With all of your city hating you, sometimes you have to be creative in other ways to feed your family. Of course you mean acting as a butchers. Nothing else. Nothing else.


Axe

Butcher's Knife

Ceremonial Robes

Societal Enmity


      1. Computer

You provide the mathematics and calculations needed by so much of the modern day workforce. There is no mystery or beauty to the math, only the wrote memorization and spewing forth of the answers. It may take days, weeks, month for you to bring back a computation, but your customers can rest assured in the in the inevitability of numbers.


Abacus

Quill and Ink

Papers

Mathematical Tables

Miniature Difference Engine

Weaponized Algorithm


      1. Megalithic Architect

Someone has to build the standing stones, dolmens, tombs, and astrological observatories. That is you. You organize the thousands of people involved in lugging large stone objects from the quarries to hundreds of miles away and painstakingly arranging them.


Logistics

Wooden Rollers

Plumb Bob

Gnomon

Stone Spear

Location of a Magic Menhir


      1. Airship Route Surveyor

You must find the most efficient and safest routes for the Empire's airship lines. Some cities will have to bypassed, there is no getting around that, and those cities would bribe and kill to avoid that when they see you coming. But the routes must be made. Things will become faster, safer, more connected.


Theodolite

Pocket Clock

Astrolabe

Field Glasses

Machete

Imperial Writ of Passage


      1. Boat Merchant

You tug forward, step by step, on the rope that binds you to your past. How many leagues behind you is it now? Where does it wind through? All you can do now is sell your boats. Toss them in the water, you say, and sail away from your difficulties, your failures, your past.


3d6 Magical Boats in Bottles

Saber

Fishing Line

Magic Rope


      1. Mountebank

Come one, come all and see the marvelous healing properties of Professor Arboreal's Instant Cure-All. Will remove cuts, warts, sores, lesions, spots, coughs, sneezes, down- in-the-dumps. Side effects include muscle gain and sudden bouts of popularity. Limited time offer: one bottle for one gold and three bottles for two gold. Used by the Empress herself to cure her son's mortification.


3d6 Vials of Fake Potions

2d6 Different Herbs

1d6 Effective Potions

Disguise


      1. Traveling Library

You spread literacy to the far reaches of the empire and beyond. Once only the rich nobles could afford books, but now even the lowest peasant can learn of the value of knowledge in reading.


3d6 Books Covering Your Body

Book Repair Materials

Reading Glasses


2-in-6 chance of finding the answer to something in one of your books. Takes 3d60 minutes to find.


      1. Fellow of the Tubes

If they need someone to get into a tight spot it will be you or one of your brothers or sisters, doing the dirty work that needs doing in this modern age. The pay is decent, but the looks you get are ones of pity.


50 Feet of Rope

Chimney Brush

Shovel

Face Covering

Sewage Stained Clothing


      1. Ostracon

Even your damned spouse voted you away. You do not blame her. It was the only way to stay with the rest your of family. The entire city could never even prove your guilt, but who else could have done it? Who else?


Potsherd with Your Name On It

The Clothes on Your Back

Stolen Knife

Home Country You Can Not Return To


      1. Partaker of the Mysteries of Alestra

You have gazed into the receptacles and witnessed the holy acts of Alestra herself. You are but a wayfarer in this world now, content upon the storming eddies of this life. Nothing can phase you after the spectacle and horror of the third night. You were the only survivor of your initiate pod.


Expanded Mind

Pure White Vestments

Knowledge of the Rituals

Vow of Secrecy

Ceremonial Sica


      1. False Knight

Why yes, I have sworn the oath of my knightly order, why would anyone ask? My horse's name? Can you not tell just from looking at the thing? Have at you, blaggard, you will pay for your impudence with cold steel in your gut!


Painted Armor

Painted Sword

Writ of Authenticity

Hobby Horse


      1. Pseudo-Phalanx

You were part of a well-oiled unit, an impenetrable defense. Now you are alone, so alone. Were they ever there protecting your flanks? Or was it some dream within a dream that you only just awoke from?


Bronze Armor (as heavy armor)

Bronze Shield

Bronze Spear

Loneliness


      1. Itinerant

You were born to wander these lands. By choice or by force, you have moved from place to place, never finding a home, always searching for something better. You take what you need from every town and move on, brushing the dust from your sandals.


Travel Clothes

Walking Stick

Sword

1d6 Supplies

1d6 Murders


      1. Horse Thief

It was just a horse you stole. It wasn't as if someone was hurt. Now you can never return, or your life is forfeit. And for what, some lousy animal?


Horse

Town You Can't Go Back To

Knife

Paranoia


      1. Revolutionary

You can be killed. Your ideas will live on. You can be silenced. Your movement will be a trumpet in the midst of the melee. You can be corrupted. Your purpose is incorruptible.


Manifesto

Demands

Hammer

Sickle

Worker Acquaintances


      1. Inker

Every idea needs purchase in order to keep. That is where you come in. Ideas need a record or they will wither and die. You perform the subtle art of choosing what is kept or left to die on the branch. Behind the scenes, slowly over years if you must, but you can control what it is recorded and what is not.


6d6 Ink Bottles

Ink Brushes

Ink Stained Hands

Squid in a Bottle

3d6 Pigments

Reservoir Pen (as Sword +1)


      1. Soul-forger

Transform and unite souls. Forge them into something better. Give purpose to those who need it most. You are an artisan of the most divine and wondrous glass. You build up the soul into some better than the sum of its parts.


Runestone Soul-binding

Forge Hammer

Tongs

Miniature Anvil

Magic Hearth

Vials of Blood


      1. Snail Seller

Snails are a wondrous and exotic animal. Two for one silver piece, while they last! Snails are known to predict the future. Slip a snail into someones meal to make them fall in love with you. Give a snail to a condemned prisoner and their last words will be the day of your death.


2d6 Bottles of Snails

1d6 Vials of Snail Ooze

Snail Shell Armor

2 Magic Snails


      1. Living Scarecrow

Kill them. Eat their squirming flesh. Those dirty creatures only steal from and defecate on the world they see below them. It is time they paid for their crimes.


Hatred of Birds

Slingshot

Loud Voice

Patience

Judas Fowl


      1. State Propagandist

It is not what you went to school for, but then again who ever does get to do that? The money is good and the work is steady. The empire is a bastion of peace that should last a thousand years. You will be remembered as being on the right side of history.


2d6 Vials of Paint

Paint Brush

List of Propaganda Phrases

Writ of Imperial Authority

      1. Metal Golem

Who created you and for what purpose? From the outside you are a perfect simulacrum of life. On the inside you are a whirring tower of created technology.


Vial of Oil

Skin Covering

Clockwork Body Parts

Unknown Creation

Humanity


Advantage on rolls for things that might only effect humans: cold, electricity, etc.


      1. Flesh Sculptor

Long live the new flesh! Flesh will live for a thousand years if properly treated and cared for. Long after the faculties are gone, flesh will continue to writhe and twitch and even act with purpose. Not its own purpose, of course.


Runestone Flesh Golem

Flesh Chisel

Butcher's Knife

Paralyzing Agent


      1. Dead Painter

You were dead and now you are not. At least the critics were nicer once you died. Truly, they could never appreciate your art while you still lived.


Resurrected Body

3d6 Vials of Paint

1d6 Paint Brushes

Fold Up Easel

Strangle Marks


      1. Capillary Artist

Your art is bloody and your canvas is the body but wealthy saps will pays 1000s for your works. Some would class you as a mere serial killer, but your creations go far beyond any sort of base murder.


Scalpel

Tweezers

Blood Vials

Steady Access to Corpses


      1. Book Smuggler

Ever wonder how forbidden books are disseminated? How books of dangerous ideas spread across borders? Book smugglers are the necessary evil for prohibited magics, religions, sciences, and politics.


3d6 Censured Books

Trunk With False Bottom

Cloak With Hidden Pockets

2-in-6 chance of finding obscure or occult knowledge in one of your books.


      1. Occultist

Someone has to deal with the supernatural of this world. Whether it is using or destroying it, an occultist will get to the bottom of a magical problem and find a solution. Sometimes that solution causes cities to be razed and kingdoms to fall.


Occult Books

Chalk

Ritual Knife

Herbs

Accursed Memories


      1. Memory Grocer

You are very well connected. There are those in the cities who pay a months wages for to obtain the perfect memory for their party. Sometimes you deal in secrets or you may even barter in other memories. You are looking for a place to expand your production and distribution line.


Storefronts in Three Imperial Cities

Excellent Reputation

The Latest Memories

Tweezers

Samples


      1. Porter

Everything has a price. Can I carry that for you sir? What about your sword too? Unload your burdens here, very nice price. And you madam? What would you pay to relinquish that load?


Backpack

Straps

Bale Hook

3d6 Dry Goods

1d6 Supplies

Increased Lung Capacity


      1. Holy Order of the Globe

The sphere is the most perfect shape. The Holy Order of the Globe has calculated the measurements of the sphere to the most precise degree. Navigation and astronomy are made simple with a knowledge of angles and the supernatural mathemagic of spheres.


Armillary Sphere

1d6 Maps

Spherical Holy Symbol

Globe of an Unknown Planet


      1. Demon Friend

Why can a demon not be a friend? They bring power and temptation surely, but also fellowship, fortune, and good cheer. It is the other ones and their moralizing that should be avoided. A demon is always good for a good time... for a price.


Candles

Chalk

Salt

Amulet of Power

Demon Friend


      1. Mouth of God

Something went wrong, that much is obvious. You should have been a holy emissary. As some are the hands and feet of God, you were to be the mouth. But now you were born a mortal, and everything is just wrong. What are these emotions and needs? Still you feel that connection to the holy one. That alien presence that works through you is still there, but as if a fog lay over the connection.


Flaming Sword

Alien Hand Syndrome

Bizarre Rantings

Horrifying Dreams

Ineffable Purpose


      1. Mendicant

You must beg your way through life and spread the holy word to the furthest reaches of the world and beyond. No home or family can be yours, for the whole world is your home, and every brother and sister your family.


Ragged Clothing

Disjointed Sermons

Staff

Symbol of Your Order


Mendicants can roll a 1d6 and narrate begging or giving a sermon. On 4-of-6 they will receive a ration for the day.


      1. Leech Lord

Blood is life, and leeches drink blood. Therefore leeches drink life. You eat the leeches thus eating all of the life they have. More leeches, more life, more drinking, more eating.


Box of 6d6 Leeches

Vials of Blood

Belt

Scalpel


      1. Cantor

You are a member of a religious singing order and have finally decided to strike out on your own. Your destiny is your own, but you miss the camaraderie of religious life and the natural cadence of being part of an organized group.


Angelic Voice

Book of Psalms

Religious Icon

Holy Water

      1. Scion of the Missing House

The house was thought lost for generations, until your family emerged with the correct credentials. They could show your lineage traveling all the way back to some forgotten fourth son. As an heir to a mighty dynasty, you have a lot to live up to.


Genealogy of the House

History of the House

Seal of the House


      1. Philosophical Zombie

...


Book of Philosophy

Sewing Kit

Sewn Body Parts

Behavior Indistinguishable From a Person


      1. Apiarist

Bees are the perfect insect: industrious, brave, and communal. If only all of society could be as perfect and easy to understand as a beehive.


Beehive in a Backpack

Bee Armor

Thurible

6d20 Attack Bees

2d6 Jars of Honey

1d6 Beeswax Candles


      1. Pharmacognosist

The natural ways are best. If you can just find the right herb for the job, you could cure any disease, heal any ailment, even return the dead to life.


Book of Medicine

3d6 Different Plants, Flowers, and Herbs

Sickle

Mortar and Pestle

Portable Cauldron


The Pharmacognosist can see what herbs can be found in their area.


      1. Synchromystic

But wait that means, and does anyone understand the meaning of this symbol? You can find the significance in the smallest of details and link the most tenuous of connections, no matter how bizarre.


Journal of Coincidences

Runestone Third Eye

1d6 Entheogens

Ergot Bread

Totem

      1. Awakened One

Waking up after a 1000 years of meditation may have brought you enlightenment, but it also came with a ton of thirst, hunger, and a blinding headache. What exactly is the point of apotheosis if everyone just thinks you are another homeless philosopher, and everyone you knew is long dead?

Empty Body

Apotheosis

Patience

Runestone Third Eye

Blinding Headache


Awakened ones have advantage on Camp Rest Rolls.


      1. Chimera

The bizarre result of the blending of animal and man. Whether this was by magical or mundane means no one is quite sure, but these combination humanoids seem to be appearing with more frequency.

Roll 1d6 Twice For the Animals

          1. Lion

          2. Scorpion

          3. Snake

          4. Cow

          5. Elephant

          6. Fish


Roll 1d6 Twice For the Body Parts

          1. Head

          2. Legs

          3. Torso

          4. Arms

          5. Feet

          6. Tail


      1. Gatekeeper

In every time and every place there is a gatekeeper. There may be only one gate in all places, but there are many gatekeepers. Every one of your ancestors was a gatekeeper for this gate. You will keep it till your dying day. There will be always be a gatekeeper.


Gate

Key

Map to Gate

Hereditary Duty


      1. Nightwatch

You caught them red handed. Now you must bring them back for justice. How can you do that with the journey ahead of you? How can you do that with their allies on your trail?

Lantern

Halberd

Bell

Serial Killer in Custody

      1. Chronologist

Time is everything. It is the glue that connects one event to another in a great chain of causality going back eons into the distant past. Time is inevitable.


Book of History

Sand Timer

Runestone Quicken

Outdated Clothing


      1. Spellslayer

You will slay those evil wizards. Every last one of them. How will you go about this? Normally another wizard is sent but that just seems like a prolonging of the solution.


Silver Knife

Iron Sword

Amulet

Hand Mirror

Potion of Spell Purge

Wizard College Rejection Letter

      1. Dowser

You are a finder. If it was buried or forgotten you can find it. Water, treasure, magic. Anything can be found. It is a matter of looking.


Divining Rod

Shovel

Treasure Map

10 Foot Ground Probe

Runestone Find Water

      1. Heresiarch

You are not the heretic. They are the heretics from the truth. There just happen to be more of them. For now.


Forbidden Book

Religious Fear

1d6 Cult Followers

Walking Staff

Death Sentence in Four Cities


      1. Desertifyer

All will become dust. We are all dust and to dust we will return. The makers must be reborn.


Sack of Salt

Water Pump

Runestone Evaporate

Sand Wyrm Eggs


      1. Resonant Attractor

You have a specific resonance. They have a specific resonance. If they resonate in the right way they can be brought together in resonant unity. You attract those things and beings that resonate in that right way.


Pendulum

Feedback Mechanisms

Sense of Belonging

Ability To Spew Pseudoscience


      1. Initiate of the Paralexical

The subtle words and speech are your mystery. You can weave a phrase so skillfully it exudes meaning from every syllable, intonation, and gesture.


Secret Language

Subtle Intonation and Tempo

Sweet Robes
Latent Psychic Abilities


      1. Panopticon

You see all. Nothing can escape your notice. What was that? Ah yes, alright, you saw him in the mirror there. They can not deceive you. All will be witnessed by you.


3d6 Mirrors

1d6 Lenses

2 Ear Trumpets

A Sense of Watching


      1. Panchromatic Immortal

When there are all colors, there are none. When there are all beings, there are none. When there are all lives, there are none. All will become one. All will become none.


Painted Heavy Armor

Multicolored Body Paint

Mirror Shield

Prism Sword

Colorblind


      1. Enlightened Burglar

You only steal from those that deserve it. You will give, when it helps you, to those who are most needed. You are beloved by the peasants and hated by the rich. There is an artistry to your misdeeds that fascinates all.


List of Houses That Can Afford It

Lock Picking Kit

Book of Philosophy

Philosophical Club Membership Card

Philosophical Club


      1. Infinite Dancer

You have the knowledge of every dance that binds everyone together. You know that it is really one dance done down through the millennia. Those that see it, can feel deep in their bones the dance that unites all.


Ceremonial Costume

Comfortable Dance Shoes

Dancing Sword



Comments

  1. This is what we call capital-C Content, amazing stuff!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Thanks I will try to keep up the same quality of content on my future blog posts. I try to put out a blog post a day with a different theme for the day of the week to keep things fresh and
      my creativity going.

      Delete
  2. Excellent stuff here. Any idea for what type of setting this would fall under? Any touchstones to help figure out what kind of 'weird' we're going for?

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Hmm I'm not sure of the implied setting other than that I use them in the setting I run at my table. Check out my blog post for the Seven Wonders of that world to get a bit better of an insight into that. My setting is an early modern (think Reformation) time period fantasy with a decent amount of the gonzo-ness and science fantasy of the OSR. The players also form a mercenary company when they first start a campaign.

      However in terms of media that has inspired my setting and these backgrounds: Jorge Luis Borges, Umberto Eco, Labyrinth, Valhalla Rising, Ladyhawke, Flesh+Blood, The Name of the Rose, Brandon Sanderson's Cosmere, The Black Company, Hard to Be a God, Arkady and Boris Strugatsky, Andrei Tarkovsky, Sergei Parajanov, Ingrid Bergman, Akira Kurosawa, HP Lovecraft, and probably many others I am forgetting. My influences on these backgrounds are very eclectic.

      Delete
    2. Also probably some Redwall, Miyazaki, and Eiji Aonuma seeped in from my childhood.

      Delete

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