Character Background Generator - Revision history

Bennettj: /* Choices Made */

2026-06-02T19:52:46Z

Choices Made

Bennettj: /* Secondary Skills */

2026-06-02T19:52:00Z

Secondary Skills

Bennettj at 13:39, 29 May 2026

2026-05-29T13:39:39Z

Bennettj at 14:53, 28 May 2026

2026-05-28T14:53:44Z

Bennettj: /* Choices Made */

2026-05-27T19:55:09Z

Choices Made

Bennettj: /* Interpersonal Relationships */

2026-05-27T16:54:12Z

Interpersonal Relationships

Bennettj: /* Institution Subtable */

2026-05-27T16:53:38Z

Institution Subtable

Bennettj: /* Interpersonal Relationships */

2026-05-08T16:09:21Z

Interpersonal Relationships

Bennettj: /* Talents */

2026-05-08T16:08:08Z

Talents

Bennettj: /* Choices Made */

2026-05-08T16:07:14Z

Choices Made

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 | +16 || style="text-align: left"|Possesses any two sage studies within the field of "Mastery of Arms," but no more than two, and no knowledge of any other study or any other field; singular sage abilities gain through progenitor are viable.
 |-
-| +15 || style="text-align: left"|Possesses two fields, "Animal Training" and Mastery of Arms, and may choose any study from those; has no knowledge of any other field, except those possibly gained through progenitor.
+| +15 || style="text-align: left"|Possesses two fields, "[[Animal Training (sage field)|Animal Training]]" and Mastery of Arms, and may choose any study from those; has no knowledge of any other field, except those possibly gained through progenitor.
 |-
 | +14 || style="text-align: left"|Character must abandon one field permanently from their collection of sage studies; no other effects

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 In places throughout the Generator, there are useful faculties and talents that occur as skills the characters have learned on account of their background.  These skills are not designed to grant bonuses to character rolls, but to state clearly things the character is able to do, or make, or things the character definitely knows.  These skills describe unquestionably dependable aspects of the character, which the player can rely upon when making choices in the game.  Thus, a character that's able o manage a team of horses, cook good food, construct a barrel from scratch, read & write, contact members of a specific guild, navigate a cave and so on, need not make any roll to see if they can make or know these things.  It's a fact that they can.
-In nearly every case, the character's class has nothing to do with these skills.  In fact, they exist because the character's parent, or "progenitor," was a teamster, a cook, a cooper, a scribe, a political advisor or a tomb robber.  The character learns these skills as a child or young adult, helping mother and father to farm, manage animals, work with stone, shelve books in a library, search for mushrooms, work a forge, perform services in a gypsy camp, bake bread, bind books, work backstage in a theatre or whatever, depending on what upbringing the character had before becoming a paladin, a druid, an assassin or a bard.
+In nearly every case, the character's class has nothing to do with these skills.  In fact, they exist because the character's parent, or "progenitor," was a teamster, a cook, a cooper, a scribe, a political advisor or a tomb robber.  The character learns these skills as a child or young adult, helping mother and father to farm, manage [[Animal|animals]], work with stone, shelve books in a library, search for mushrooms, work a forge, perform services in a gypsy camp, bake bread, bind books, work backstage in a theatre or whatever, depending on what upbringing the character had before becoming a paladin, a druid, an assassin or a bard.
 === Additional Remarks ===

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 All must start somewhere, so we might as well learn how tall the character stands and how much he or she weighs.
-'''Weight''' describes the character's mass in imperial pound units.  Metric is not used because it's a late 18th-century creation ... and therefore anachronistic to the context of a Medieval or Renaissance fantasy realm.  Yes, other anachronistic things are embraced by the Generator, but it's believed that understanding the unpleasantnesxs of using imperial units can act to help player's understand the mindset of people in the game setting.  Imagine what it must have been like for people long ago, who had no choice in how to measure things.  Additional weight, if it exists, may be lost according to rules associated with kicking an [[Addiction (malady)|addiction]], but the weight loss will have no special effect upon the character’s strength or [[Constitution (ability stat)|constitution]] [at this time, as rules for this do not exist].
+'''Weight''' describes the character's mass in imperial pound units.  Metric is not used because it's a late 18th-century creation ... and therefore [[Anachronism|anachronistic]] to the context of a Medieval or Renaissance fantasy realm.  Yes, other anachronistic things are embraced by the Generator, but it's believed that understanding the unpleasantnesxs of using imperial units can act to help player's understand the mindset of people in the game setting.  Imagine what it must have been like for people long ago, who had no choice in how to measure things.  Additional weight, if it exists, may be lost according to rules associated with kicking an [[Addiction (malady)|addiction]], but the weight loss will have no special effect upon the character’s strength or [[Constitution (ability stat)|constitution]] [at this time, as rules for this do not exist].
 Height is measured in feet and inches.  This describes the distance between the ball of the foot to the top of the character's head, when the individual is standing erect.  This is a factor in the character's reach, as well as the character's ability to employ certain weapons.  The practical length of a [[Pike (weapon)|pike]], for instance, is three times the character's height.  A [[Pole-arm (weapon)|pole-arm]], [[Spear (weapon)|spear]] or [[Javelin (weapon)|javelin]] can be up to 1½ times a person's height.  Most other weapons cannot be longer than a character is tall.

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 * '''Addiction''' (results +5 to +4): the character has allowed his or her self to become addicted to one of four substances, which the character must make use of on a regular basis or suffer a -10% penalty to all of his or her ability stats — with resultant fractions being discarded.  Thus, a character with a 9 intelligence would count as an 8, the 0.1 being dropped.  However, so long as the character obtains their addiction, their abilities are unaffected.
-:: The character has no special protection against intoxication or physical deterioration; failure to cease the addiction will double [[Aging|aging]] penalties to the character upon reaching middle-age and beyond.  Nor can the character simply refuse the addition; [[Detoxification (sage ability)|detoxification]] is a difficult and lengthy process.  The '''Addiction subtable''' indicates how much substance must be taken; the form that it's taken is left to the player.  The character can smoke or use snuff.  Hard liquors must be at least 6% [[Alcohol|alcohol]; ales must be at least 2%.  Each of these can be consumed while the player is active.  Opium requires a 12-18 hour period to smoke and recover from, during which time the character lacks all function or lucidity.
+:: The character has no special protection against intoxication or physical deterioration; failure to cease the addiction will double [[Aging|aging]] penalties to the character upon reaching middle-age and beyond.  Nor can the character simply refuse the addition; [[Detoxification (sage ability)|detoxification]] is a difficult and lengthy process.  The '''Addiction subtable''' indicates how much substance must be taken; the form that it's taken is left to the player.  The character can smoke or use snuff.  Hard liquors must be at least 6% [[Alcohol|alcohol]; [[Ale|ales]] must be at least 2%.  Each of these can be consumed while the player is active.  Opium requires a 12-18 hour period to smoke and recover from, during which time the character lacks all function or lucidity.
 * '''Mis-spent youth (results +3 to +1)''': reflects a common attitude in which the character failed to take his or her studies seriously, or showed any concern for the future.  The time wasted may or may not be looked upon fondly; in any case, the only effect is that it's made the character older by [2-5] years when beginning the campaign than might have been if the character were more diligent as a youth.

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 * '''Addiction''' (results +5 to +4): the character has allowed his or her self to become addicted to one of four substances, which the character must make use of on a regular basis or suffer a -10% penalty to all of his or her ability stats — with resultant fractions being discarded.  Thus, a character with a 9 intelligence would count as an 8, the 0.1 being dropped.  However, so long as the character obtains their addiction, their abilities are unaffected.
-:: The character has no special protection against intoxication or physical deterioration; failure to cease the addiction will double [[Aging|aging]] penalties to the character upon reaching middle-age and beyond.  Nor can the character simply refuse the addition; [[Detoxification (sage ability)|detoxification]] is a difficult and lengthy process.  The '''Addiction subtable''' indicates how much substance must be taken; the form that it's taken is left to the player.  The character can smoke or use snuff.  Hard liquors must be at least 6% alcohol; ales must be at least 2%.  Each of these can be consumed while the player is active.  Opium requires a 12-18 hour period to smoke and recover from, during which time the character lacks all function or lucidity.
+:: The character has no special protection against intoxication or physical deterioration; failure to cease the addiction will double [[Aging|aging]] penalties to the character upon reaching middle-age and beyond.  Nor can the character simply refuse the addition; [[Detoxification (sage ability)|detoxification]] is a difficult and lengthy process.  The '''Addiction subtable''' indicates how much substance must be taken; the form that it's taken is left to the player.  The character can smoke or use snuff.  Hard liquors must be at least 6% [[Alcohol|alcohol]; ales must be at least 2%.  Each of these can be consumed while the player is active.  Opium requires a 12-18 hour period to smoke and recover from, during which time the character lacks all function or lucidity.
 * '''Mis-spent youth (results +3 to +1)''': reflects a common attitude in which the character failed to take his or her studies seriously, or showed any concern for the future.  The time wasted may or may not be looked upon fondly; in any case, the only effect is that it's made the character older by [2-5] years when beginning the campaign than might have been if the character were more diligent as a youth.

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 ! style="width: 40px|Roll<br>(d20) !! style="width: 85px|Guild !! style="width: 315px|Benefits
 |-
-| 01-03 || alchemist's || style="text-align: left"|prices at provincial apothecaries are reduced by 20%
+| 01-03 || [[Alchemist (profession)|alchemist's]] || style="text-align: left"|prices at provincial apothecaries are reduced by 20%
 |-
 | 04 || assassin's || style="text-align: left"|gives warning of any contract made against the character, while enabling the character to place contracts

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 * '''Church/Temple''': being taken in and given a place to sleep as an act of charity, the character would have spent their childhood cleaning the pews, carrying hymnals and other books, gardening, tending to animals kept to help support the clergy and carrying candles, flags and podiums during festivals.  After the character is given a place during services and shows his or her piety, the decision is made to send the character to a formal seminary on a stipend.
-* '''Guildhouse''': represents different possible organisations for different classes, but in all cases the characters would spend time acting as servants and participating in the backbreaking work of feeding and housing a large number of workers.  This means much laundering, kitchen duties and carrying much wood and water.  Bards are familiar with guilds related to ceramic, tailoring, woodworking guilds and other artisan examples.  Illusionists spend their time in bookbinding, print houses, scribners and university-supportive guilds.  In addition to these for the illusionist, a mage can include guilds dedicated towards alchemy, medicine and other sciences.  The guild for a thief is assuredly a thief's guild.  Each of these guilds would be responsible, through collections and donations, for the character receiving a formal education in their class.
+* '''Guildhouse''': represents different possible organisations for different classes, but in all cases the characters would spend time acting as servants and participating in the backbreaking work of feeding and housing a large number of workers.  This means much laundering, kitchen duties and carrying much wood and water.  Bards are familiar with guilds related to ceramic, tailoring, woodworking guilds and other artisan examples.  Illusionists spend their time in bookbinding, print houses, scribners and university-supportive guilds.  In addition to these for the illusionist, a mage can include guilds dedicated towards [[Alchemy (sage study)|alchemy]], medicine and other sciences.  The guild for a thief is assuredly a thief's guild.  Each of these guilds would be responsible, through collections and donations, for the character receiving a formal education in their class.
 * '''Library''': the duties for children in these places are primarily cleaning, collecting and copying.  As illusionist and mages, they would have learned to read & write at the age of 8 to 9, when they were old enough to be trusted to spend endless hours writing copies as a scholar droned on and on.  Characters of this type would also have some experience with many possible educations; as "farmers" or "explorers," they may never have stood in a field or been aboard a ship.  Formal education begins when the character is paid for their ability to write, a task they perform all through their training.

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 * '''Sworn enemy''' (result +10): the character knows the name and person of the enemy, and is well aware of the threat to kill and the reasons why.  Possibilities might be that the character has slept with the enemy's daughter or sister, than he or she is accused of destroying something of value, or ruining a reputation, or is blamed for spoiling the enemy's chances for advancement.  In any event, the enemy is beyond deliberance and is intractable on the matter.  How the supposed murder will happen, if it will be a personal meeting or involve the hiring of an assassin, or even that it might come to nothing in the long run, is something the character cannot know.
-* '''Animal distrust''' (result +9): while the character retains his or her ability to make use of domesticated animals, riding animals cannot be mounted in a rushed manner, while directed animals have an effective "morale" of 9.  This means the character must spend one full round plus the normal number of action points in order to mount an animal, so as not to appear threatening.  Animals ordered across dangerous passages or directed to fight must make a morale check before obeying; and must again make a morale check if they are stunned in combat, just as any other combatant.  A successful roll for a stunned animal lowers its morale by 1 pt., to a minimum of 3.  Riding animals that have known the character every day for a year finally behave normally when mounted.
+* '''Animal distrust''' (result +9): while the character retains his or her ability to make use of domesticated animals, riding animals cannot be mounted in a rushed manner, while directed animals have an effective "morale" of 9.  This means the character must spend one full round plus the normal number of [[Action Points|action points]] in order to mount an animal, so as not to appear threatening.  Animals ordered across dangerous passages or directed to fight must make a morale check before obeying; and must again make a morale check if they are stunned in combat, just as any other combatant.  A successful roll for a stunned animal lowers its morale by 1 pt., to a minimum of 3.  Riding animals that have known the character every day for a year finally behave normally when mounted.
 * '''Family abuse''' (results +8 to +7): essentially, the character's family supposes that he or she will amount to very little or nothing, and as such they do not miss an opportunity to say so, or remark upon the character's ill luck.  However, this is still the character's family, and are willing to provide lodging if the character needs it (though not for friends and others), provide a meal or lend up to 3-12 s.p. once per month.  Despite this, however, there is very sign that these people like the character.

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 * '''Illiterate''' (results +7 to +6): this result supercedes the character's ability to read & write according to the progenitor's result or the character's class.  For the most part, this can only marginally affect the character's sage abilities, but those which require writing must be discounted from the character's skills.  If the character is a spellcaster, he or she can read the necessary symbols needed to memorise and cast those spells, but this is done despite the inability to read or write common.  The character can be taught to read and write in the usual way, by finding an instructor and through practice.
-* '''Bad memory''' (result +5): in order to convey the character's difficulty in this regard, while the player is permitted to make notes regarding details about the game world, as well as his or her spells, these notes must be kept separate during ANY event in which the character is under pressure.  Once a combat begins, or like situation, the player cannot review this material.  He or she therefore must try to remember the character's spell list, available weapons, equipment list and so on.  The player can ask another player for this information, and that player may provide one piece of information per action point — but doing so causes BOTH players to lose that action point as a part of that deliberation.
+* '''Bad memory''' (result +5): in order to convey the character's difficulty in this regard, while the player is permitted to make notes regarding details about the game world, as well as his or her spells, these notes must be kept separate during ANY event in which the character is under pressure.  Once a combat begins, or like situation, the player cannot review this material.  He or she therefore must try to remember the character's spell list, available weapons, equipment list and so on.  The player can ask another player for this information, and that player may provide one piece of information per [[Action Points|action point]] — but doing so causes BOTH players to lose that action point as a part of that deliberation.
 * '''Moody''' (result +4): whenever the character is placed in a situation where he or she wishes to learn something from an instructor, all success rolls are performed with a penalty of -2.  This reflects the tendency of the character to become infuriated at things that are difficult to learn, or which fail to make the right impression due to idiosyncracies within the instructor.  This slows the learning process but doesn't deny the character the eventual ability to learn.

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 * '''Reckless malady (result 0)''': in a moment of folly and recklessness during the character's path, coupled with great misfortune, the character has suffered a lasting consequence as a result.  The '''Reckless Malady subtable''' indicates the damage that's been done and its consequences.  Some possibilities offer a grave concern for the character's wellbeing and comfort.
-:: Which leg, arm, hand, foot, eye, ear, toe or finger is affected should be rolled randomly.  Balance checks are those relating to the character falling or tumbling.  Effects to stride are penalties against action points only when the character is walking, running or sprinting.  A specially made shield can be used by a character with two arms but lacking a hand; but suiting into the shield and removing it requires twice as many action points than usual.  One eye affects depth-perception; so missile ranges are normal at close range, but penalties are doubled at medium and long ranges.  Extensive burns will reach from fingertip to [5-40]% of the character's face; these are healed and offer no special discomfort.  The hook-hand causes 1-4 damage as a weapon.  See [[Blindness (condition)|blindness]] rules for special considerations.  All lost body parts can be restored with [[Regeneration (spell)|regeneration]] if the character wishes.  Scars, burns and a limp can be healed with the clerical 6th level [[Heal (spell)|heal]] spell.  These may not be easily available when the character enters the campaign.
+:: Which leg, arm, hand, foot, eye, ear, toe or finger is affected should be rolled randomly.  Balance checks are those relating to the character falling or tumbling.  Effects to stride are penalties against [[Action Points|action points]] only when the character is walking, running or sprinting.  A specially made shield can be used by a character with two arms but lacking a hand; but suiting into the shield and removing it requires twice as many action points than usual.  One eye affects depth-perception; so missile ranges are normal at close range, but penalties are doubled at medium and long ranges.  Extensive burns will reach from fingertip to [5-40]% of the character's face; these are healed and offer no special discomfort.  The hook-hand causes 1-4 damage as a weapon.  See [[Blindness (condition)|blindness]] rules for special considerations.  All lost body parts can be restored with [[Regeneration (spell)|regeneration]] if the character wishes.  Scars, burns and a limp can be healed with the clerical 6th level [[Heal (spell)|heal]] spell.  These may not be easily available when the character enters the campaign.
 :: It's appreciated that many campaigns will resist the possibility of saddling a character with the loss of an arm, leg or their eyesight upon entering the game, especially if that character must start at 1st level.  DMs anxious to mitigate this result may state that the malady happened ''in the past,'' with the character having been healed prior to their campaign entrance.