Backgrounds

Technologist 

You are familiar with the basic mechanics of technology. 

Skill Proficiencies: Knowledge (Technology) 

Tool Proficiencies: Repair tools

Equipment: Technology doohicky, common outfit with neon piping, 15gp

Feature

You are considered to be proficient in any skill used against a technology-based subject. If the skill in question requires training to use even against non-technological subjects, you must still have ranks in that skill in order to gain the benefit of Technologist. 

Tinkerer of Brigh

Brigh, the Whisper in Bronze, seeks peddlers or tinkers to sell inventions, spread the word and or show devices can improve lives. They expose quacks, charlatans, and sellers of fraudulent goods. 

Skill Proficiencies: Religion,  Knowledge (Clockworks & Junker), Insight (fraudsters)

Tool Proficiencies: Tinkers

Equipment: Holy symbol, tool belt and tool kit, retractable staff,  healing potion 

Feature

Tinkerer: You managed to uncover some gadget that duplicates a minor bit of magic. Choose a 0-level spell. You may use that spell once per day as a Use action of the gadget. 

Against the Technic League

Although the Black Sovereign rules Numeria in name, it’s the spellcasters of the Technic League who hold the real power. While their influence is certainly strongest in the capital of Starfall, their touch can be felt even here in Torch—the League takes a significant cut of the town’s income as tithes every month. For some reason, you have a grudge against the Technic League. Perhaps your parents lost their jobs as the result of an act they took that displeased the League—you might even suspect the League was responsible for their deaths. Alternatively, you could just rankle at the League’s open acceptance of slavery, their reputation for sadism and cruelty, or their penchant for hoarding and controlling technological wonders. Talk to your GM to refine the reasons why you hate the Technic League, but you’re convinced that they are somehow responsible for putting out the town’s torch and that evidence of their tampering can be found in the caverns below—if you can find evidence of the Technic League working against Torch’s better interests, that could well be a step toward the town’s independence from the League. 

Skill Proficiencies: Investigation (Technic League), Insight (Technic League),  Intimidation or Persuasion (Technic League)

Tool Proficiencies: Disguise kit

Equipment: Hit list, political pamphlet opposing Technic League,  common clothing, Technic League bluff (single use) 

Feature

Choose either weapons or spells. If you choose weapons, you gain a 1d4  bonus on all damage rolls made against targets you know are associated with the Technic League. If you choose spells, increase the save DC of your spells by 1 when you target such a foe.

Local Ties

You have ties to a prominent local in the town of Torch—the missing wizard Khonnir Baine. If you’re a wizard, alchemist, or other scholarly type, he may have been your tutor or teacher. If you’re of a more martial bent, Khonnir could instead have been a friend or business associate of your mother, father, or patron. He may even have been your adoptive father, in which case you likely have a bond of friendship or rivalry with his adopted daughter Val (your GM has more information on her in this case if you wish to know more for your character’s background). Your association with Khonnir has given you insight into how technology works. 

Skill Proficiencies: Local Contact, Insight & Persuasion in Torch, Khonnir Baine or Val

Local Contact: Choose one of the buildings in Torch.    

Equipment: Torch clothing set, key to the Foundry Inn, 20gp

Feature

Someone in town owes you a favor. Knowledge (Technology) +1

Numerian Archaeologist

Numeria is a land ripe for archaeological exploration, since so many of the strange technological dungeons have been either avoided by the superstitious barbarian tribes or have been locked down by the Technic League, leaving many of them untouched and ripe for exploration. You’ve studied the strange language associated with these eerie technological ruins, and are eager to start exploring them—you suspect that Torch’s namesake is in fact part of a larger buried ruin, and you hope to enter these ruins and learn their original purpose by exploring the caves below town. You gain Androffan as an additional language. In addition, 

Skill Proficiencies: History, Investigation

Tool Proficiencies: Archeology kit

Equipment: Hat, whip, leather bound notebook, 20gp

Feature

You possess a knack for technological items; when you use a timeworn technological item, roll twice when determining any glitches the item might cause and choose which result to use as your actual result.

Robot Slayer

The strange automatons that plague the wilds of Numeria are a blight upon the world, and the idea that there could be countless more of these creatures lying in wait in the unknown ruins scattered throughout the region chills your blood. Khonnir’s recovery of a deactivated robot from the caves below Torch worries you—not only could that thing wake up and run amok in town, but there may well be more lurking below! You want to explore the caves under Torch to determine if there is indeed a lurking robot threat below town. 

Skill Proficiencies:  Survival (robot tracking),  Knowledge (robots), Stealth (robots)

Tool Proficiencies: Salvage kit

Equipment: Robot trinket, scar,  photon scattering silver cloak, photo of your mother looking wistfully into the distace knowing there is a storm coming, 15gp

Feature

You gain a +1 bonus on attack rolls against robots and a +1 dodge bonus to AC against attacks made by robots. 

Skymetal Smith

The fires atop Torch Hill have long been a boon to smiths and metalworkers, and your family is no exception. Whether you grew up in Torch or simply made several trips here with your parents to use the fire, this was to be your first time to use the torch for your own project. You managed to use the fires to craft a small weapon or piece of armor from skymetal, but not long thereafter the fires went out. The violet flames are as much a part of your upbringing as anything else, and their loss distresses you; you hope to find a way to rekindle the torch below the hill. You’ve long hoped to work with skymetal.

Skill Proficiencies: Smith profession, Athletics 

Tool Proficiencies: Smith tools

Equipment: Smelters license,  leather apron, huge biceps, 15gp

Feature

You begin the game with a small metal bauble made of the skymetal of your choice—you made this item yourself. The item is nothing more than a valuable art object worth 100 gp. You can sell it to gain an additional 100 gp when creating your character, but if you keep it, your pride in its crafting grants you a +2 trait bonus on Will saving throws made against emotion and fear effects. You lose this bonus if you willingly sell or give up the item, but if it is destroyed or lost through no fault of your own, you retain a +1 trait bonus on such Will saves.

Stargazer

They say the strange technological ruins scattered throughout Numeria came from the skies several thousand years ago. The concept of life on other planets has always fascinated you, and you’ve long hoped to learn more about what life on those other planets may have been like. You’ve heard stories about the strange alien creatures found in Numerian dungeons and hope to learn all you can about them—perhaps some of these aliens can be found in the caverns below Torch! 

Skill Proficiencies: Survival, Astronomy

Tool Proficiencies: Navigator tools

Equipment: Starcharts, spyglass, clothes emboidered with stars, 15gp

Feature

You gain +1D4 on Intelligence checks to identify alien monsters and astronomy. In addition, you gain a +1 bonus on Navigation checks.