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DEEP BACKGROUNDS

RULE

Gamemastery Guide > Chapter 4: Variant Rules

The decision of a character background is not necessarily a complicated one; the player simply selects from the available background options to reflect their character’s life before adventuring. While this is a good method for determining a character’s backstory, some players might want more insight into their character’s early life or family.

USING DEEP BACKGROUNDS

This variant replaces Step 4 of Character Creation (Core Rulebook page 25). The player rolls on the tables in this section to determine their character’s family background, homeland, major childhood event, influential associate, relationships, and drawbacks. Each element of the player’s background adds options to the final list of ability boosts, skills, feats, and other options that their background can grant. The player writes these options down as they build their character’s background. At the end of the process, they select the following from among the options written down.

  • Two ability boosts, each to a different ability score.
  • Training in a Lore skill.
  • One skill feat (or possibly another feat or piece of equipment). If the player chooses a skill feat, they become trained in its prerequisite skill, or one of its possible prerequisite skills if it has multiple (such as Quick Identification). If the random results include a feat that isn’t a skill feat and the player selects that feat, they don’t gain training in a skill. If they choose a piece of equipment instead of a skill feat, the entry indicates what skill training, if any, they receive.

REROLLING AND SELECTING

At your discretion, the players don’t have to be bound by any results from the following tables. Depending on how your group wants to use deep backgrounds, players can reroll any result they don’t like, or even select a specific option from a table that fits their emerging vision of their character. However, if you allow players to reroll or directly select options (and potentially even if you don’t), you might want to exclude options that grant feats other than skill feats; these options are unusual enough that they might put too much pressure on players to select only these options. Note that the following tables reflect the Core Rulebook and the Age of Lost Omens setting—if your game takes place in a different setting, feel free to adjust the tables or allow players to select the options that best fit your setting.

GENERATING DEEP BACKGROUNDS

As a player, follow the steps below to generate your character’s deep background.

STEP 1: FAMILY BACKGROUND

The word family means something different to everyone. You might have a biological family, adopted family, stepfamily, or any other kind and combination you choose; family bonds come in all types. To determine the number of family members you grew up with as an active part of your life, roll 1d% on the following table. Use the medium family for most ancestries, small if you’re a half-elf or half-orc, and large if you’re a goblin or halfling. For ancestries other than those in the Core Rulebook, use the column that best suits the ancestry. It’s up to you whether these family members are parents, siblings, grandparents, or other close relatives.

TABLE 4–5: FAMILY SIZE
d%Small FamilyMedium FamilyLarge Family
1–4000
5–8001
9–20002
21–34013
35–39123
40–50124
51–60234
61–65235
66–69245
70–78345
79–80446
81–87456
88–90556
91–93567
94–95667
96–97677
98–99778+
1008+8+8+
  • If you grew up with no family, you had to learn to survive on your own. Add a Strength ability boost and a Constitution ability boost to your options.
  • If you grew up with one or two family members, your closeness to them made you highly aware of their feelings, and you. Add an Intelligence ability boost and a Wisdom ability boost to your options.
  • If you grew up with three or more family members, you had to mediate family conflicts and negotiate a crowded home. Add a Charisma ability boost and a Dexterity ability boost to your options.