#backgrounds with class

[justavulcan]

Ravnica Backgrounds With Class Masterpost

Another series of backgrounds, another masterpost. Thank you all very much for your time and consideration.

Azorius Functionary, Boros Legionnaire, Dimir Operative, Golgari Agent, Gruul Anarch, Izzet Engineer, Orzhov Representative, Rakdos Cultist, Selesnya Initiate, Simic Scientist

[justavulcan]

Backgrounds with Class: Paladin

Some classes and backgrounds mesh naturally, from a conceptual standpoint.  Soldier and Fighter, Entertainer and Bard, Sage and Wizard.  But backgrounds aren’t class-restricted, and so I wonder what it would look like if you paired every class with every background, even the ones that seem at odds, like Sage and Barbarian, or Outlander and Wizard.  So I thought about it, and this is what I came up with. Some character concepts for each class, and each Player’s Handbook background for each class.

Paladin

Paladins used to have to play to type by default; in the era of classes having alignment restrictions, they needed to be Lawful Good or risk losing their paladin abilities.  Now, Oaths are the watchword for the class.  If your character is a paladin, they’ve sworn to uphold a set of principles- to a god, typically, but making yourself a promise is just as valid, even if it’s just off-theme for the class.  Think about what kind of people decide to hold principle above all else, and what kind of people hold themselves so bound by their word that they’re prepared to stake their identity to it.  Think about how your paladin chooses to put their oath first, and you’ll find yourself pulling away from the classic borderline-obnoxious knight in shining armor archetype pretty quickly.  Some of these oaths ask a lot of you, and remembering that it’s a burden as much as a blessing can yield some very interesting characters, of which the following are only a sample.

The Acolyte Paladin was on the path to the clergy when his church was attacked and burned by those who found his and his family’s veneration of the Brazen Bull intolerable.  Forswearing a life of devotion for one of revenge, he hunts those who put his fellow congregants to the torch with a single-minded fervor.  He knows he’s not a good man for it- his targets suffer terribly when he catches up with them- but upholding his word to Moloch is far more important than his own qualms.

The Charlatan Paladin has known her whole life words are just as powerful as violence.  When a series of speeches held by the clergy of Father Hunter convinced her to leave behind a career of coin shaving and counterfeiting, she took the lesson to heart and now weaves her own words into messages of hope.  No stranger to the power of lies, she employs deception as easily as truth, and violence only as a last resort as she brings forgiveness and understanding to those she meets among the criminal world.

The Criminal Paladin is a woman with a dream, and the ambition and ruthlessness to see it come to fruition.  Raised in the busom of Croix Sang’s criminal underworld, she saw the power of money, fealty, and strength, and has sought all her life to make all three hers in the pursuit of a goal few think possible.  She seeks to unite the swamp people, the upland ogre tribes, the lizardfolk and others who flock to her banner into a kingdom of her own, and she’s ready to take whatever means necessary to see it done.

The Entertainer Paladin works the tavern circuit, walking the wild roads of the Northern Reach to bring a night’s joy to those they cross paths with.  The nights in winter grow long, but their appetite for song, skill with drinks, and willingness to sponsor the next round make them a popular guest.  It’s not just their work to lift spirits though- when despair and darkness take a more physical approach to the deprivation of life’s pleasures, they’re first to the fray, rapier and shield bared to keep others safe.

The Folk Villain Paladin was once a powerful vampire lord.  When confronted by his crimes in the form of an adventuring group made up of his first victims’ descendants, he saw the error of his ways and begged forgiveness.  Stripped of much of his power and some of his thirst by the group’s patron gods, he now walks the path of the masked penitent, only shedding blood when reason, charity, and peace do not yield results.

The Guild Artisan Paladin knows the importance of keeping the roads safe more than most, as a wainwright’s daughter.  Tired of hearing of her carts and their cargo being attacked, destroyed, or lost to bandits, she took to the horse and swore an oath to clear the roads.  In her time she’s seen bandits, foul weather, and monsters, but joining a roving caravan to see her cart to its destination convinced her the oath she swore was the right path for her.

The Hermit Paladin takes the ideology of isolation to its logical isolation. After their farming commune was attacked by fiends brought to the Material by travelers fleeing their wrath, they saw the only way to keep their world safe was to cut it off from all others. Swearing it would be so, they hunt planar portals, cults of otherworldly entities, and planeswalkers with a single-minded tenacity, hell-bent on keeping their world safe.

The Noble Paladin has been taught all his life that power falls only to those who deserve it.  Son to a conniving businessman-turned-politician, he would know from firsthand observation better than most.  Emboldened, his life has been an endless chain of attempts to seize power, be it political, martial, or magical, and his solemn oath to horde what he can pleases the Mother of Dragons.  She’s empowered him with the might to conquest, so long as he upholds his oath.

The Outlander Paladin seeks vengeance not for slain people or violated lives, but for a destroyed home.  His clan’s ancestral homelands fell prey to industrial development and alchemical runoff at the command of a black dragon alchemist.  Now, he hunts wyrmlings, profiteering alchemists, runoff barons, and anyone else that has profited from the destruction of his clan’s salt marshes and mangroves.

The Sage Paladin taught law at the University for twenty years before departing for her adventuring career.  Shamed into action by the misbehavior of a top student, she realized that education was nothing without enforcement, and that moral stewardship was as much her responsibility as legal education.  Now, she serves as a wandering judge, jury, and as-needed executioner, recognized by the crown to dispense the law with a fair and honorable hand.

The Sailor Paladin is a pirate hunter with a dream: to capture the Jandhavra and its legendarily terrifying captain.  Of course, this dream is presently stifled somewhat by his current post as a quartermaster on the Jandhari naval vessel Ramayana, but his oath is no less earnest for his inexperience.  Already he’s proven his talents as a boarding commander during close naval combat, and relished the accolades his action brought him and his shipmates.

The Soldier Paladin, on the other hand, would rather stay unremarked. She doesn’t pursue glory so much as achievement.  Born hard of hearing and consequently a woman of few words, she’s nevertheless proven her mettle on the battlefield getting her squad through impossible missions one after the other as if guided by divine providence.  In truth, she’s an intensely competitive soul, and takes every apparent suicide mission as a challenge- not just for herself, but for her troops as well.

The Urchin Paladin came from humble beginnings, but they’ve never forgotten what it took to get them where they are today.  From a childhood of theft by necessity to an adult career as a sponsor of their slum’s neighborhood watch, they’ve taken it upon themselves to pay it forward- every piece of coin they stole they memorized, and now a little bit at a time they disburse it back out into the community they took it from.

[justavulcan]

Backgrounds with Class: Warlock

Some classes and backgrounds mesh naturally, from a conceptual standpoint.  Soldier and Fighter, Entertainer and Bard, Sage and Wizard.  But backgrounds aren’t class-restricted, and so I wonder what it would look like if you paired every class with every background, even the ones that seem at odds, like Sage and Barbarian, or Outlander and Wizard.  So I thought about it, and this is what I came up with. Some character concepts for each class, and each Player’s Handbook background for each class.

Warlock

My watchwords for warlocks are: remember your obligations. Warlocks made an agreement.  The benefits are their class features, spells, invocations, and pact boons.  Their side of the agreement isn’t mechanically defined, so that’s where most of the character building goes.  What did your character’s patron want from them?  What did they ask for when the pact was made, or have they not yet asked for something?  It could be something relatively minor, or it could be something huge and sweeping that define your character.  The other thing to remember with regards to your obligations is that your patron had a plan for you; use your patron’s agenda as a guideline for how to choose your spells and invocations to shape your capabilities.

The Acolyte Warlock owes much to the serpent-fiend that spoke with her one night in the dark.  He took the form of a wisp of smoke that writhed and coiled, and put in her mind the doubt about her service to Apsu- the Dragon of Ages had never spoken to her, through her time as a copper initiate, but this fiend has. Since their first conversation, the shadowy serpent has begun feeding her arcane power, in exchange for a handful of favors- some innocuous, others less.

The Charlatan Warlock has always been one to make a deal.  So when the opportunity came to ride-along with a mysterious caravan who claimed distinct interest in his cleverly-faked potions, he jumped.  A trip across planar borders was a surprise, and his new ‘partner’s noble status among the courts of the marid even moreso.  She wasn’t fooled by his potions, of course, but she claimed to have use for a clever-tongued agent…and her watery magic has already proven useful, to evade angry marks.

The Criminal Warlock was a tomb robber, and a good one, until he and his companions accidentally stumbled into a still-occupied tomb complex.  Opening the deepest coffin to see the salt-encrusted remains of the mummy stirring within was a heart-stopping experience alone.  That the walking corpse slew the rest of his party in moments was almost unsurprising in comparison.  Fortunately, he was quick to swear allegiance, and newly arisen the mummy lord agreed to name him servant.

The Entertainer Warlock spent his life in the theater even before his last big play.  His glee was monologues, and he had the habit to practice any role, often without pre-reading them.  It was this tendency that put into his hands a strange play, that when read drove his fellow actors mad and sent him to a strange city on the edge of a vast lake. There, he accepted the patronage of a robed king, and now travels far and wide to perform where his Majesty wills.

The Folk Hero Warlock was a ranch hand, once.  When she rescued a strange horse with a broken leg and turned it loose when it was well, she earned the trust of a unicorn in disguise.  Since, her gifts from the pact have given her the powers she needed to keep her town and the unicorn’s grove safe.  The time is coming for her to go forth and do good, though, as her patron insists that she journey to see the world.

The Guild Artisan Warlock is trained in a most unusual craft- the makings of life, and the growth and development of living things.  Handy with alchemist’s gear to manage the mutagens needed to cultivate her master’s projects, her greater talent is for negotiation.  Fortunate, as when a vast aquatic intelligence from deep in the crater of Shattered Arde made itself known, she was able to parley her expertise into a more symbiotic role, and now serves it by way of a series of intricate knotted seaweed pages.

The Hermit Warlock was, until recently, the latest in a long line of Armory Guardians- a single defender and steward, hidden in an isolated vault in the wilderness.  Within, hundreds of weapons lie, the Lady’s Blades, tended because they contain a mysterious power all their own.  She took one from the vault on the day that she left it in the hands of her successor, a flail, that spoke with her the first time she needed to defend the vault from would-be bandits.

The Noble Warlock is a man in the midst of making himself.  After trading his name to a fey lady in exchange for the power of a warlock’s bargain, he’s roamed far and wide seeking a way to reclaim his name- without giving up the power that came with it.  Breaking fey bargains is notoriously difficult, though, doubly so for one who refuses to yield the benefits.  Cruel and capricious already like the Fair Folk themselves, he’s ready with a sharp word or quick blade for any who speak ill of him.

The Outlander Warlock is a survivor. He grew up on a vast frozen ocean where danger could take many forms and come from any direction.  Grandson to the lord of this frozen Hell, making his pact was almost a foregone conclusion, and the benefits well-suited to his charge. Now, he travels far and wide, to distant lands and far-flung waters, to serve his patron’s interests in the endless game of politic he runs from his frozen throne.

The Sage Warlock is a bookish sort, and always has been- his favorites are romances, and tales of fantastic travels and exotic realms.  When one night he wandered far off track and into the woods, immersed in his book, he crossed a fey boundary and found himself in the realm of a powerful and elegant fey known only as the Stag Prince.  After a night of passion and tale-telling in the Feywild, he returned to the mortal realm with a parting gift from his lover, and the book he bore carried stories it hadn’t previously.

The Sailor Warlock has crewed a funeral barge in Croix Sang since she was young- a family tradition.  She and her mother travel the Great Snake collecting the departed that haven’t sold their remains into undead servitude for cremation, collecting their ceremonial two bits from those who see them into her care. One restless spirit was all it took to take her from that life, though, as the ghost of an ancient druid made a pact with her to keep the river and region safe.

The Soldier Warlock was enlisted into the service of an angelic warrior young.  She doesn’t mind, though, as being raised in the light and certainty of the ancient guardian’s tutelage was all the encouragement she needed to take up the cause of righteousness.  Now, she’s out in the world, baring light, steel, and flame in service of the common good, but learning quickly that things are rarely as cut-and-dried as they are at an angel’s side.

The Urchin Warlock grew up on the crowded streets of Inkshukuq in the Forest of Silence- the air there drips with the humidity of the northern sea.  Their living has always been trashpicking, for food and for gold, but when they retrieved the pearl-and-whalebone talisman from one pile, it drew the attention of the sea genie that made it.  Intrigued by the prospect of a land-walking servant, a bargain was struck, and now the trashpicker seeks different treasure at their patron’s order.

[justavulcan]

Backgrounds With Class Masterpost

This is far and away the biggest project I’ve ever posted here, so for convenience’s sake here’s all the posts in this series.  Thank you all very much for your time and consideration.

Artificer, Barbarian, Bard, Cleric, Druid, Fighter, Monk, Paladin, Ranger, Rogue, Sorcerer, Warlock, Wizard

[justavulcan]

Backgrounds With Class: Rogue

Some classes and backgrounds mesh naturally, from a conceptual standpoint.  Soldier and Fighter, Entertainer and Bard, Sage and Wizard.  But backgrounds aren’t class-restricted, and so I wonder what it would look like if you paired every class with every background, even the ones that seem at odds, like Sage and Barbarian, or Outlander and Wizard.  So I thought about it, and this is what I came up with. Some character concepts for each class, and each Player’s Handbook background for each class.

Rogue

The other super-versatile class after fighter, rogue is shorthand for anyone who knows that skill trumps power every time.  Intelligent or no, rogues have the skills to make any fight unfair, to tip the odds in their favor with savvy and lopsided tactics rather than slug it out straight.  Play into that- I know this is the favorite class for those who want dark pasts and edgelord builds because Sneak Attack is the epitome of the backstab, but not everyone who can put the blade somewhere it hurts most wants to do that first. This class is perfect for the character who always seems to have another tool in their kit, be it stealth, team support, a little magic, people skills, or just being able to run faster.  The combinations below play into this, and hopefully lay out the rogue as what it really is: a versatile tradesman, with a hugely broad base.

The Acolyte Rogue was born as most of his tribe was: in a casket.  He’s lived in the catacombs beneath the ruins of a church of the Fates since he was young, so understanding the ways and graces of burial places and the goddesses who tend them is second nature.  Like many of his tribe, he has a connection with the dead he can feel- spirits follow him, helping the inquisitive young man find points of interest and handle threats from deeper in and without.

The Charlatan Rogue has always loved casinos.  The clink of coinage, the chatter of the crowds, and the timeless interior of buildings without windows all speak to her.  More than anything, though, are the cards and how they only tell the story they want to if the dealer’s too dull or slow to change it. So, naturally, crooked dealing and, eventually, fortunetelling with cards became her passion, and the minor arcane talents she cultivated on the side served as a nice compliment- easier to sell the fortune if the cards appear to get up and move.

The Criminal Rogue got his start in casinos as well, but this is because Ram clan deals in gambling to cover their illicit gains from other revenue streams. Promoted to floor manager young thanks to a talent for spotting marks and cheats, he masterminded swift-eyed dealers and heavy-handed enforcers for years before hitting the streets.  Now, his talents serve the Clan well as negotiator and strike team leader- with a sharp eye and a word of advice for every situation, he looks to own his own casino someday.

The Entertainer Rogue hails from a land where turning away a traveling bard is an affront to good manners and good hospitality.  Naturally, this puts his skills with the oud to the test, but the payoff is worth it- with every door open to him, he can put his real talents for espionage and assassination to work.  Skilled at the silent, fatal duel and the subtle poisoning, he’s in high demand among the upper echelons, taking down key servants and persons of noble blood with equal bloody facility.

The Folk Hero Rogue violated the most basic oath of his profession: first, do no harm, and the people of his home love him for it.  A barber and physician by trade, his home county was held tight in the grasp of a tyrant who ruled by blood and brutality.  One day, he took matters into his own hands- when the tyrant came for a shave, he poisoned him and slit his throat.  The celebration was uproarious, but he left town under a false name, trying to outrun the curse of his name and the tatters of his broken oath.

The Guild Artisan Rogue is a respectable woman, really.  She’s a locksmith, manacles and doors and the like. So she can’t be faulted for testing her skills on new locks from her competitors, in the dead of night because the locksmithing field is very competitive and gold doesn’t grow on trees. Eventually her nighttime ‘visits’ started to get the attention of the City Watch and she decided to take her talents on the road, packing up her tools and taking on the work of a roaming tinker.

The Hermit Rogue left the cities seeking peace- a lifetime of involvement in criminal enterprises, on both sides of the fence at different points, gave them a dire need for some time to relax.  Unfortunately, they were also being pursued when last they left, so they sought isolation by taking over a traveler’s rest point in the middle of nowhere as a caretaker and steward.  Their time at peace was longer than expected, but when trouble came to their door again, they left for the road, ready to ply their skills once more.

The Noble Rogue has cultivated her talents for a lifetime- reading people makes all the difference among the Court of Stars.  Nobility or no, the political predators of the Court know no class distinction, and she’s worked very hard to learn people and cultivate the uncertain talent she feels growing in a corner of her mind.  Any port in a storm, she reasons, when the Court advises that she may have a future working for them- it’s better to be the Court’s Hand than in its path.

The Outlander Rogue has traveled the plains since their childhood.  Ever since their parents survived the attack of a band of wandering slaad out of the plains’ portals to Limbo, they’ve wanted to hunt the many-colored aberrations themselves.  Taught to hunt safely on the plains by their father and to handle people and collect tales and news by their mother, they’re a professional tracker and surveyor, ready to bring an unfair fight to their peoples’ enemy.

The Sage Rogue is an information-gatherer, as well- a reporter, a risk-taker willing to do anything, say anything, and go anywhere to get the scoop. Born in a small town, the broadsheets have always been his portal to the larger world beyond, and he’s jumped at the opportunity to follow his passion.  Defending himself from would-be critics and secret-keepers is part of the job, and he learned early that just like the story, you should put your own spin on any fight.

The Sailor Rogue keeps watch during the darkest nights on the waves above Shattered Arde, her sensitivity to the brightness of day meaningless when her eyes pierce the blackness of night like few on board.  She sees the spirits that ride the ship’s wake, too: not fully embodied, but wisps of spirit-stuff that she swears whisper secrets to her.  More than once she’s found a bit of junk or an old sailor’s charm somewhere she swore there wasn’t before- and nobody on the crew knows where they came from.

The Soldier Rogue was trained, above, all to survive.  Victory in a series of inter-tribal conflicts at home in the Scaled Peninsula led to service in foreign lands as a mercenary.  In Croix Sang he survived a dragon’s attempt to conquer the city and simply never went home, effectively becoming a deserter. Now he roams, putting his skills as an expert guide, tracker, scout, and killer to use in the wild marshes, coastlines, and woods of the northern shore of the Cane Sea in between lightning-fast knife fights for pocket change.

The Urchin Rogue didn’t really know what she was getting herself into when she broke into the wizard’s tower looking for a place to get out of the winter night, but what she stole there defined the rest of her life.  Although the tower was unoccupied and thus safe for her to warm up, the revelation was finding the owner’s spare spellbook, which she stole.  Now, she puts what she can understand of the enchantment magic inside to use, as it compliments her own frankly more physical skills well.

[justavulcan]

Backgrounds With Class: Druid

Some classes and backgrounds mesh naturally, from a conceptual standpoint.  Soldier and Fighter, Entertainer and Bard, Sage and Wizard.  But backgrounds aren’t class-restricted, and so I wonder what it would look like if you paired every class with every background, even the ones that seem at odds, like Sage and Barbarian, or Outlander and Wizard.  So I thought about it, and this is what I came up with. Some character concepts for each class, and each Player’s Handbook background for each class.

Druid

Druid is another class that often falls prey to a limited conceptual range.  A lot of folks see ‘druid’ and are immediately in the mind of someone who hates cities and spends no time there- fundamentally, even, someone who is not a part of society as much as apart from it.  But at its heart, the druid is just someone whose connection is to the movements of nature, be it the stars above or the earth below or all that dwells in between.  People are part of that, animals as much as lesser beasts.  So I tried to keep these people…connected, for the most part, to other people.

The Acolyte Druid has been brought up to follow in the footsteps of Echidna her whole life.  The animal side, the savage side, is sacred to the Mother of Monsters, so she channels the will of the Mother and brings out her own beast- changing her own form as and when she can as sacrament.  Her clan roams the wilds of Eastwall through the Dragon’s Head Peninsula, so her favored forms are bear, hawk, or whale.

The Charlatan Druid is a representative-in-training of his aerie to the interests of the Dragon’s Head Jarls.  A skilled liar, cheat, and impostor, he represents the interests of the ravens, crows, and magpies of his homeland alongside those of his fellow kenku. Raised to the trade by a parent he only barely knows, he’s spent a lot of time training the crows to rob for him, the ravens to listen, and his own aerie to emulate the dynamics of a flock in flight- only together can they keep their position as caretakers of the dead.

The Criminal Druid has served her guildmaster as a spy in court since her youth. Minding the Houses of Parliament in Tetch takes wit, skill, and an indispensible talent of some kind- in her case, horoscopy and star-reading.  It’s not a front, though; the stars truly do speak to her, and always have, a talent her peers view with supersitious affection.  More than one heist in the dark house of a parlimentarian has gone off cleaner for her fortune-telling- or the skin of stars she pulls to herself in desperation.

The Entertainer Druid has always loved the theater.  The drama appeals to them, and the concept of identity as being a fluid thing, a costume or mask or makeup to be donned or shucked as they will, seems more right yet.  Even their form bends to the needs of the theater- half of their credits are in the form of some animal or other, brought to embolden or menace without the danger of taming a true beast.  That they feel just as right wearing another skin as their own feels right- a performance of self.

The Folk Hero Druid stole from those she should never cross- her connection is to the shadowed times of day, the twilight and dawn, the hidden crossings between this world and the Feywild.  From the greater fey of the land past the mushroom rings comes her power and connection to the land, a connection she cultivates with glee.  Healing talent in hand and yeth hounds firmly on her tail, her circle has ever emboldened the people of nearby towns to battle back the quicklings, redcaps, and worse that cross the boundary.

The Guild Artisan Druid was always going to be a wanderer- his people spend their time on the Great Ocean, sailing from island to island and navigating by the stars.  He’s walked the path of the mapmaker and star-chart maker ever since his youth, at the feet of kin and clan.  It was natural that the movement of sea, sky, and heavens beyond should be his greatest love, the one that inspires him to twist opal into his beard in constellation patterns and put ink to fiber-cloth to mark maps like his master.

The Hermit Druid has, by most measures, fallen from grace and into the arms of their people’s greatest foe.  They’ve betrayed the rigors of civilization and mountainside for the lush, verdant growth of the jungle and the grasping one-ness of the Greenmind. Still, their connection is a subtle one, so they can walk either path- at least until they bloom again, bringing the choking pollen and poison spores of the deep jungle to life in themselves.

The Noble Druid serves the Lords of Life, a triton engineered from humans and merfolk to serve as border patrol and transitory nobility.  That background of living on the border, in a house half above and half below the water, has taught her that somethings can be neither here nor there, a lesson that serves her well when she takes to political matters. It’s also formed the basis of her druidic practice, half here on the material, and half somewhere else- a somewhere of crepuscular beauty and danger.

The Outlander Druid never saw a house before they were a juvenile, and never entered a settlement larger than a campsite before adulthood.  Raised by unusually Circle-ardent parents and blessed with hermaphroditism as many lizardfolk are, their society is the beasts that snake and crawl and swim and fly and creep through their marshland home, the alligator and panther and caiman their inspiration.  Being a part of that system, feeling the land, is as natural to them as breathing, their magic easier than speech.

The Sage Druid wanders the savannah and desert, traveling the great distances needed to access the roaming libraries of her people on foot.  As learned of paper and tablet as the print of the elephant and the cry of the secretary-bird, she is the one to speak to if you have a question about the natural world and its rhythms- or something to hide.  She knows well that the vast open grassland is as much a hiding place as any labyrinthine library.

The Sailor Druid hails from a place where every rock, every stream, every tree, and every bay has a spirit, and they speak with mortals easily and often without prompting.  Having served on a dryad’s oak-turned-galleon, he knows that sometimes the spirits go wandering- and all you can do is attend to your captain.  He’s saved his ship from threat of storms, begged the sea for fish to save them from starvation, and even asked the sky for rain to drink, but insists he’s only intermediary to the spirits, and his magic their gift.

The Soldier Druid grew up in a land torn by war.  After a spell-fire turned into a wildfire that incinerated his home and burnt their fields, he thought he’d seen its worst- until after he enlisted, and returned to his old home to find wildflowers growing in his fields and creepers and trees sprouting from the ruins of his home.  Now, he burns for the army, having brought a fire of his own to heel, and trusts that he can grow what he torches again- better, greener, and stronger.

The Urchin Druid has only known what it is to stay dry a few times in his life. In his home in Gengsok, it rains constantly, all the year round but worst during the wet season.  Life in the poorest neighborhoods is a constant battle against vermin seeking a drier environment and that which grows on everything that gets wet.  As a teenager, he learned the virtue of surrender- allowing mold to grow in his hair and befriending the low creatures that crept in the night for shelter.

[justavulcan]

If I had another Backgrounds With Class series ready, in what order would you like it presented?

Alphabetically

White First

Blue First

Black First

Red First

Green First

Voting ended onOct 22, 2023

[justavulcan]

Backgrounds with Class: Ranger

Some classes and backgrounds mesh naturally, from a conceptual standpoint.  Soldier and Fighter, Entertainer and Bard, Sage and Wizard.  But backgrounds aren’t class-restricted, and so I wonder what it would look like if you paired every class with every background, even the ones that seem at odds, like Sage and Barbarian, or Outlander and Wizard.  So I thought about it, and this is what I came up with. Some character concepts for each class, and each Player’s Handbook background for each class.

Ranger

I struggled with this introduction.  There’s a lot to talk about with rangers, and so much of it is mechanics- not what I’m here for with this series.  Rangers are hunters and trappers, but that can take a lot of forms.  More than any other class, I think rangers feel like animals in how they’re meant to be played- animals specialize in killing before they’re killed.  Hunting. Traveling safely and minimizing risk. Hiding or fleeing.  All things rangers are good at, with the use of the right subclass and Tasha’s.  So think about how your ranger does what they do, and how they fit into the ‘ecosystem’ they grew up in.  It’s all about finding a niche.

The Acolyte Ranger serves his church, seeing the faithful and their messages from their origins on the Material Plane to their pilgrimage and touchstone sites on the Outer Planes.  He can read the portals like the flow of a river, their keys like the signs of prey.  The Lady of Storms’ faith teaches that change is the way of things, and he must agree- portals wander or change like the moon, pilgrims shy like uncertain sheep, and his arrows never fly the same way twice.  All the same, axes in hand, he tracks them all.

The Charlatan Ranger blends into the stone like she’s part of it.  Invisible to the eyes of those that go without light, she keenly imitates the call of the roper, the knock of the hook horror, and the rumble of the great worm to pass unremarked.  Hunting is scarce in the dark, but an overwhelming offense has always been a winning tool for her, and if ever she were to leave her deep home she would find this the case elsewhere too.

The Criminal Ranger knows well the ways of society- well enough, even, to bait predators to the pasture.  A blackmailer and saboteur, he has been responsible for lost sheep, failed crops, fouled wells, and all manner of misfortune as a hand for hire.  The farming conglomerates of the great plains have nothing but gold for a man who can bring the roc or wolf to the pastures of their foes, and his keen ability and kinship with the beasts and spirits of the earth leaves him in a position to profit.

The Entertainer Ranger draws songbirds like a brick of suet- she’s long since stopped trying to fight them off, and instead puts them to work earning their keep as her backup singers.  She’s not averse to taking them to battle, either- their beaks seem sharp as daggers, and they evade capture like leaves darting on the wind.  While her choir has been known to nest in her hair, the closest and best of them don’t eat, and she’s started to suspect small nature spirits are her true companions.

The Folk Hero Ranger has earned a reputation for bringing wonders to those around them ever since they trekked into the Feywild a firbolg and came back…horned, with a fine new boar spear.  That they put paid to old Razorback to stop the beast from terrorizing the charcoal-makers was almost afterthought, and their tendency for sowing strange fruit behind them as they travel has started folk muttering it’s not the same one who came back, but a changeling intent on sowing mischief as much as seed.

The Guild Artisan Ranger always thought she had dreadful luck, and her last ship’s journey proved her right when she was caught in a storm and wrecked. Still, a quick wit, a dagger on her thigh, and a willingness to make do proved her greatest virtues, and re-adjusting to civilization was a bit of a trial.  Daughter to a tobacco trader, she refuses to set foot on a trans-oceanic journey again, but she’s amassing quite the reputation as a hunter- tracking and killing prey with only a pair of knives for protection will do that.

The Hermit Ranger has lived in a land of icy nights, thin air, and barren mausoleums for as long as he can remember.  Taken on occasion by the corruption in the land, he’s tracked and slain his share of demons and skeletons through the necropolis streets, overcome by a hunger that no amount of abyssal chicken or scraped lichen can satisfy.  The demons have started to murmur that a fiend-slayer’s ghost haunts the city’s unlit streets- after all, who else could stay hidden from their pursuits for so long?

The Noble Ranger prefers his hunts from horseback, and the wilder the steed, the better- trained to ride in one frantic trip across the night sky, he longs again to hunt in such strange and fine company.  Now, the pounding of hoof on earth is a pale shadow of what he remembers of that hunt through the starry sky, and his scent- blood, and earth, and woad- is a constant reminder.  He favors the lance or the bow, for beast or for man, as he’s started to find bounty hunting a passable substitute for the fey chase.

The Outlander Ranger knows the land well- the initiation into adulthood in his clan is burial alive, followed by a week of survival alone in the wild.  This time imprinted itself deep on his soul, as he spoke with the earth well enough to call a wolf straight from the soil to help him hunt and track.  Since, he’s spoken with spirit of sky and sea too, and knows the simple language of spirits well enough to pull them to the world to join him.  His kin and clan name him beastmaster, but he knows better- he’s a spirit-speaker.

The Sage Ranger is a lifetime student of Zbigniew Wojcik, the famous occult scholar and monster hunter.  She’s spent his entire career learning from him, and the elder hunter has gladly embraced his student’s enthusiasm- but her lack of experience is starting to prove a liability.  At her mentor’s urging, she’s readying to leave the lecture hall and take her skills to the wilderness.

The Sailor Ranger is used to sailing in the dark- tabaxi eyes work well in little light, and the small vessel their crew runs rum in doesn’t want to attract any attention from Croix Sang, Cottonmouth Cove, or any other port they lay into.  The isles of the Cane Sea are spotted with ways to other places, though, to those who know the way, and not all of the rum they run is only from this world- so learning the lay of the land and rhythm of strange waves is well within their preparations.

The Soldier Ranger was a battlefield hunter, and officers and mages were her quarry. She’s skilled in the recognition of rank and order needed to pick her targets in the field, and when the battle was over or not yet begun, she kept herself busy doing much the same in the enemy camp.  Equally at home in the grand melee or raining arrows from a distant hilltop, she prides herself on being death at all ranges, and now that her army days are behind her, she handles her adventuring days much the same.

The Urchin Ranger grew up in a city built on cities.  Venitar’s history is long and storied, but the old cities have sunken beneath the modern, towering streets, and in some places have been closed to the sky by new streets built over old.  She delves these deeps, running stolen goods and guiding smugglers through the chaos underground left by the Fracture, and relying on her best partners- a swarm of ghostly rats- to guide her when her own sense of direction fails.