Backgrounds

Your Background describes the life you led before becoming an adventurer.

When your Background directly applies to an Ability Check, you gain one Boon. If the task lies at the heart of your Background’s expertise, the Game Master may grant two Boons.

A Background is not a fixed list of skills. Its description shows the experience it usually represents. The player explains how that experience applies, and the Game Master makes the final decision.

Choose one Background from the table or create one with the Game Master’s approval. If your Background asks you to choose a faith, craft, field of study, region, or similar area of experience, record that choice when you select it.

On this page: Backgrounds · Rare Backgrounds · Languages · Rare Languages

Background Options

Background	Experience
Acolyte	Temples, religious customs, sacred texts, ceremonies, and the organization of a chosen faith
Apothecary	Medicines, poisons, diseases, ingredients, remedies, and identifying physical symptoms
Artisan	A chosen craft, its tools and materials, workshops, trade practices, and judging workmanship
Caravaner	Overland travel, wagons, pack animals, road hazards, trade routes, and remote settlements
Courtier	Noble customs, etiquette, political rivalries, formal events, and navigating powerful households
Criminal	Smuggling, illegal markets, gangs, concealment, coded messages, and avoiding authorities
Delver	Ruins, underground travel, structural dangers, dungeon signs, and surviving beneath the earth
Entertainer	Performance, audiences, public houses, local stories, disguises, and reading a crowd
Farmer	Crops, livestock, seasons, rural communities, food storage, and practical repairs
Fisher	Rivers, lakes, coastal waters, boats, nets, weather signs, and aquatic creatures
Guard	Patrols, local laws, security routines, crowd control, fortifications, and recognizing threats
Healer	Wounds, illness, childbirth, anatomy, sanitation, bedside care, and signs of unnatural sickness
Hermit	Solitude, self-sufficiency, remote places, meditation, gathering food, and enduring isolation
Hunter	Tracking, animals, traps, wilderness signs, preparing game, and predicting a quarry’s behavior
Laborer	Heavy work, construction sites, mines, docks, common tools, unsafe structures, and working communities
Merchant	Trade goods, bargaining, marketplaces, contracts, supply routes, and judging value
Noble	Heraldry, inheritance, estates, courtly obligations, family alliances, and political history
Outrider	Horses, scouting, borderlands, messages, pursuit, navigation, and traveling ahead of a group
Sailor	Ships, navigation, ropes, weather, ports, sea customs, cargo, and life aboard a vessel
Scholar	Research, libraries, academic institutions, ancient texts, and one chosen field of study
Scribe	Records, legal documents, archives, handwriting, translation, copying, and detecting altered texts
Soldier	Military organization, battlefield signs, camps, weapons, fortifications, and the customs of armies
Street Urchin	Alleys, hidden routes, city rumors, crowds, petty theft, hunger, and surviving without protection
Warden	A chosen region, its people, trails, dangers, landmarks, laws, and recurring threats
Wanderer	Distant customs, improvised shelter, unusual roads, finding work, and adapting to unfamiliar places

Rare Backgrounds

Background	Experience
Altering Scholar	The Altering, divine scars, lost relics, ancient battlefields, and conflicting histories.
Lightwarden	Protective lights, supernatural darkness, failed illumination, and guiding others through lightless places.
Relic Keeper	Ancient relics, curses, containment, provenance, and safe handling.
Sealkeeper	Wards, locks, oaths, warning signs, and sealed places.
Deep Hallows Envoy	Subterranean roads, underground trade, black rivers, settlements, and local customs.
Risen Order Initiate	The teachings, shrines, relics, vows, and rival traditions of a Risen King.
Sapphire Flame Attendant	The Sapphire Flame, sacred ceremonies, fire omens, Rose Citadel traditions, and guarding an ancient holy site.
Revealing Flame Agent	Investigations, hidden corruption, religious law, interrogations, Navarran authority, and the Order’s methods.
Council of Mists Retainer	Mage politics, magical disputes, formal secrecy, Ohm Serin, and serving one of the ruling archmages.
Godscar Survivor	Supernatural disasters, lingering divine magic, cursed landscapes, strange creatures, and enduring places where reality has changed.
Yielding Dawn Envoy	Regional diplomacy, Nur Garum, treaty customs, rival delegations, and the Festival of the Yielding Dawn.
Navarran Border Warden	Desert roads, signal forts, military patrols, raiders, ancient ruins, and life along Navarre’s borders.
Greywall Pathfinder	Mountain settlements, dangerous passes, isolated shrines, changing weather, and the old places of the Greywall Mountains.

Languages

Every character can speak, read, and write Common and one additional Language.

Choose your additional Language based on your character’s upbringing, homeland, family, Background, faith, education, or travels.

Common Languages

Language	Commonly Used By
Common	The shared language of trade, travel, diplomacy, and most surface kingdoms.
Dwarven	Dwarven communities, masons, smiths, and settlements of the Deep Hallows.
Elven	Elven courts, forest enclaves, scholars, and keepers of ancient traditions.
Gnomish	Gnomish communities, artificers, researchers, and arcane workshops.
Goblin	Goblin warrens, undercities, scavenger communities, and hidden roads.
Halfling	Halfling settlements, caravans, river communities, and family networks.
Orcish	Orcish clans, cities, warbands, merchants, and communities throughout Eclura.
Scaled Tongue	Lizardfolk communities and peoples descended from ancient scaled civilizations.
Navarran	Soldiers, officials, merchants, and communities of the Navarre Kingdom.
Avrynic	Scholars, nobles, priests, artisans, and communities of Avrynth.
Veiled Tongue	Settlements, travelers, and mountain and forest communities of the Veiled Lands.
Hallowscant	Traders, travelers, and mixed communities throughout the Deep Hallows.

Rare Languages

Rare Languages are usually learned through unusual education, faith, supernatural contact, or discovery during play.

Language	Commonly Associated With
Demonic	Demons, corrupted places, destructive rituals, and the influence of the Primal Void.
Celestial	Gods, Archangels, divine servants, sacred relics, and ancient holy writings.
Giant	Giants, their descendants, and the ruins of their ancient kingdoms.
Infernal	Devils, infernal contracts, the Hells, and those who bargain with them.
Primordial	Elemental beings, primal forces, ancient spirits, and magic older than mortal civilizations.
Draconic	Dragons, kobold priesthoods, scaled ruins, relics, and ancient inscriptions.
Void Speech	Void-touched creatures, forbidden cults, Voidlight, and damaged places between realms.