Your character's Upbringing provides key clues as to your motivation to become an adventurer and your character's identity. Your Techwizard might have grown tired of coding meaningless programs for corporate efficiency quotas, your Outlaw might have parkoured their way through lower level bazaars and alleyways, your Ordinator might have sat through boardroom meetings before becoming infected by their A.I. But every Upbringing poses some important questions about your character's transition into an adventurer. Where did they get the creds for their starting gear, or if they're from a more affluent background, where did their money go? What sets you apart from others of the same Upbringing, and how did you acquire your particular skill set? Answering these questions should give you a greater understanding of your character's personality and motivations.
STREET KID:
Skill Proficiencies:
Acrobatics, Deception
Tool Proficiencies:
Locksmith's Kit, Hacker's Kit
Equipment:
A dark hoodie, climbing hooks (wrist augments or tools), a locksmith's kit, a hacker's kit, and a credchip worth $$1500.
You've been an undercity gutter runner your whole life, pilfering and scavenging to survive. You now how to blend in with the crowd, duck and weave through alleys and over rooftops, and generally keep yourself a nuisance instead of a threat.
Feature: Savvy Dealer
You are always able to find a fence, a seller of stolen items, that is willing to purchase stolen goods, weapons, armor and other valuables, for 75% of their base value.
DEAD-END JOBBER:
Skill Proficiencies:
Performance, Persuasion
Equipment:
A work polo shirt, a pair of khakis with extra pockets, a set of digikeys to your prior place of work.
You're a humble wage worker, from a long line of nobodies. You've pushed paper or peddled nonsense your entire life, making you adept at the art of pretending to give a shit. As such, you're ready to strike out and make something of yourself.
Feature: Dreamer
Those brief snatches of time you've spent training, daydreaming and planning for a getaway from the corporate world have paid off. You start with an extra skill proficiency of your choice.
NERD:
Skill Proficiencies:
Technology, Animal Handling
Tool Proficiencies:
Basic Toolkit, Programming Kit
Equipment:
A graphic T-shirt featuring a movie/band/cartoon, a basic toolkit, a programming kit, and a credchip worth $$1500.
You've spent your life surrounded by code and software, running mindless numbers for corporate higher-ups. You're most at home in front of a monitor, ramen cup in hand and cat in lap, but something has forced you to engage with the outside world.
Feature: I Know This Code
When hacking objects and features belonging to your previous employer, you have a +5 bonus to your Hacking skill check.
MIDDLE MANAGEMENT:
Skill Proficiencies:
Perception, Intimidation
Tool Proficiencies:
Calligrapher's Supplies, Hacking Kit
Equipment:
A coloured suit, a white shirt/blouse, a set of calligrapher's supplies, a shift schedule from your prior workplace, and a credchip worth $$3000.
Your only respite from a life of tedium was the occasions of mild tyranny you wrought over your lesser employees. Your ability to spot a slacker has granted you a perceptive eye, and you've learned to present an intimidating facade, but it's time for something more.
Feature: Karen Bane
Your time in the trenches of retail and mindless office work has afforded you some mild benefits. You have advantage on intimidation checks on low level retail and office workers, as well as advantage on persuasion and deception checks on those looking to pay for your services.
EDGE RUNNER:
Skill Proficiencies:
Survival, Stealth
Tool Proficiencies:
Trail Blazer's Kit, Weaponsmith's Tools
Equipment:
A tan cloak, a trailblazer's kit, a set of weaponsmith's tools, an air filtering rebreather, and a vellum map to a location out in the desert.
You were born beyond the edge of the world, out in the endless deserts, searching for relics of the old world while hopping from oasis to oasis. You know how to work hungry and keep yourself hidden, from monsters and men alike, but something has drawn you to the megacities.
Feature: Storm Chaser
You've been given a supernatural sense of danger, giving advantage on perception checks focused on determining ambushes, traps, and changes in the weather.
NANNY/MANNY:
Skill Proficiencies:
Persuasion, Sleight of Hand
Tool Proficiencies:
First Aid Kit, Cook's Utensils
Equipment:
A maid or butler's outfit, a first aid kit, a monofilament kitchen knife, a feather duster, a broken toy, and a spare set of your prior employer's car keys
Children need looking after, but the high-octane world of executive procrastination leaves little time for familial affairs, so you were one of the small army of young men and women employed to look after the little ones of the upper class. You know how to convince children to go to bed, and steal things when no one's looking, but you're sick of those damn kids.
Feature: Off to Bed
Your time dealing with children affords you a commanding presence. You have advantage on any and all checks against humanoids 15 years younger than you.
WUKONG CONCLAVER:
Skill Proficiencies:
Acrobatics, Stealth
Tool Proficiencies:
Microbrewing Kit, Poisoner's Kit
Equipment:
A hodgepodge of ill-fitting clothes, some pilfered electromechanical components, a handful of gmo mango/banana seeds, and a bottle of home-made fruit wine.
Whether you were born there or moved in after having enough of the megacities and their megabullshit, you grew up in one of the Wukong conclaves. After living in a community of cheerful and mischievous people, you are well versed in monkey-business, able to navigate the many fruit trees that fed you, and knowing some of the best ways to snatch precious resources from passing caravans while preferably remaining unseen.
Feature: Monkey Business
Living with the Wukong, you've picked up a few of their tricks. You are able to hide yourself even when not fully obscured, as long as you are able to break line of sight with those who may be looking for you.
SENSE-TANK ADDICT
Skill Proficiencies:
Medicine, History
Tool Proficiencies:
Hacker's Kit
Equipment:
The names of a few of your fellow gamers, a bath towel, and a credchip worth $$1000.
You've lived a hundred lifetimes submerged in the virtual world (and green goo) of the Sense-Tanks, where a day of real time feels like a year in the Tanks. For as long as you can remember you've done nothing but play video-games and engage in online orgies. but something has forced you back to the real world.
Feature: VR Vagrant
When conversing with a fellow sense-tank user, you have advantage with Persuasion, Insight, Intimidation and Deception checks.
FREE COLONIST:
Skill Proficiencies:
Athletics, Animal Handling
Tool Proficiencies:
Builder's Tools, Cook's Utensils
Equipment:
A set of farmer's attire or a set of merchant's attire, a set of cook's utensils, a bottle of mango wine and a small pet of your choosing.
You're one of the lucky ones, your parents always said. Always from the doldrums of corpo-feudalist life, and aside from the occasional run-ins with pirates or corpo-frontiersmen, you've lived a quiet, communal life with the rest of your colonial brethren, but something has drawn you to seek something greater.
Feature: Sweat Off Your Own Brow
Once a day you are able to scavenge up to $$1000 of mundane items to help you survive, such as food, water, ammunition and clothing.
EX-EXECUTIVE:
Skill Proficiencies:
Persuasion, Deception
Tool Proficiencies:
Poisoner's Kit
Equipment:
A black suit, a poisoner's kit, a white shirt or blouse, a data pad with notable members of your corporation, and a credchip worth $$5000.
The worst thing that could possibly happen to you has happened; you've been blacklisted from elite society. You were born into privilege, you know there's no working your way back in, so you're going to have to use your boardroom skill set to rebuild your life.
Feature: Inside Informant
You have connections to your previous employer or other groups you dealt with during your previous employment. You can communicate with your contacts, gaining information at the DM's discretion.
PORNO ATHLETE:
Skill Proficiencies:
Acrobatics, Athletics
Armor Class Bonus:
+1 AC when Unarmoured
Equipment:
The shorts and top of your team, a two litre bottle of lube, the names of your prior teammates, and a credchip with 3000 creds.
The Sexlympics are a worldwide televised event, drawings crowds and eyes from all levels of the megacities, and you were one of its contenders. Depending on what medal you took home, you've got a fan base that knows your face, as well as every other part of you. But the sponsorships are drying up, and it's time to reach higher. Or 'deeper.
Feature: Minor Celebrity
You have attracted admiration among spectators, fellow athletes, and trainers in the region that hosted your past erotic victories. When visiting any population centre within 100 miles of where you grew up, there is a 50 percent chance you can find someone there who admires you and is willing to provide information or temporary accommodation.
FLESHSUIT PILOT
Skill Proficiencies:
Deception, Technology
Tool Proficiencies:
Hacker's Kit, Programming Kit
Equipment:
A mismatch of a hacker's clothing, computer and electronic components, branded food rations, sponsorship ID
Your body wasn't originally yours. You were originally an AI designed by a corporation to go after a specific individual, erase who they were, and replace their mind with your own. After completing your task your fleshsuit is considered both property of the corporation that created you and an avenue for sponsors and advertising. Upside, you're now a living being, downside, you're owned by a corporation, other upside you may be able to obtain some minor assets for advertising.
Feature: EX-Artificial
You have advantage for attacks you make against A.I enemies.
HIMBO/BIMBO
Skill Proficiencies:
Medicine, Persuasion
Tool Proficiencies:
First Aid Kit
Equipment:
A revealing outfit, a first aid kit, a personal relationship with a local cosmetic gene therapist, and a credchip worth $$2000.
You took on a life of blissful empty-headedness, scantily-clad beauty and perpetual
cheerfulness, and your presence brightens any room your walk into. Extensive visits to the local gene
therapist has given you rudimentary medical knowledge. You were quite happy to saunter through life with
your extensively modified body and brain, but something snapped you out of it, and you now seek a life of
adventure.
Feature: Bubbly Personality
You're always welcome in the homes of the common folk, and can choose to sleep at a local's place for free. You also get a 50% discount to sleep at any motel, hotel or inn.
HIGHLANDER
Skill Proficiencies:
Survival, History
Weapon Proficiencies:
Longsword
Equipment:
A ragged cloak, a battered longsword, a map to two desert oasis locations, an onsen, and one bunker location.
You've been a wandering nomad for as long as you can remember. Forgotten
parents, a lost homeland, little more than a handful of contacts and a hand drawn map. You're not the
best at socialising, every sentence seems to start with a cleared throat, but you're at home among the
dunes, and you know how to survive alone.
Feature: Dusty Trail
Your ability to survive in the
desert means you need to drink half as often as other people. For the bunker location on your map, you are
aware of the type of enemies inside, but not their number or any valuables.
COURTESAN:
Skill Proficiencies:
Performance, Persuasion
Tool Proficiencies:
Disguise kit.
Equipment:
A set of fine clothes, a purse containing $$500, a disguise kit, and a small gilded mirror.
You're one of an innumerable army of workers in the ever-expanding sex trade. With the eradication of sexually transmitted diseases and the increasingly niche tastes of the clientele, you've become an expert in the arts of performing and persuading, and you've decided to use these skills on your newfound life of adventure.
Feature: Past Connections
Due to your history of work, you can obtain free lodging in brothels and other places where you have conducted business in the past. The owners of these establishments can recommend other locations where you may be able to obtain discounted lodging by dropping their name or offering your services during your stay. If you encounter past clients, you may be able to obtain resources or other aid from them. Depending on your relationship with any given client, this may be through blackmail or through seduction.
BUREAUCRAT
Skill Proficiencies:
Deception, Persuasion
Tool Proficiencies:
Calligrapher's Kit
Equipment:
An unkempt suit and tie, a calligrapher's kit, a battered briefcase, and a credchip worth $$2500.
You've signed and stamped your way into a dead end desk job. Meaningless small talk, petty middle management, and endless fucking birthday cards have driven you to the breaking point. It's time to get out of here, and make a name for yourself.
Feature: Legalese
Your experience with your local legal system has given you a firm knowledge of the ins and outs of that system. Even when the law is not on your side, you can use complex terms like ex injuria jus non oritur and cogitationis poenam nemo patitur to frighten people into thinking you know what you're talking about. With common folks who don't know any better, you might be able to intimidate or deceive to get favors or special treatment.
CORPORATE HISTORIAN
Skill Proficiencies:
History, Investigation
Tool Proficiencies:
Scammer's Kit
Equipment:
A corporate university professor's outfit, a caligrapher's kit, a flash drive storing the data on the current object of your research, and a credchip worth $$1000
You're employed to keep records of the endless manoeuvring and acquiring of
your corporate master, cataloguing and archiving everything from the tiniest expenditure to the largest
takeover. It's a thankless task, but it has trained you with a particularly sharp eye and an extensive
knowledge of your corporation's modus operandi, skills that could be better served in a life of
adventure.
Feature: Institutional Memory
As well as having rights equal to any human, companies have memories and histories of their own. With each merger, acquisition, reorganisation and takeover battle, these become compiled and baked into their procedures and personnel. Through your studies you know the detailed past of any corporate vehicle (including old transactions, market segments and employees) as well as gain hints into the thinking of its personnel (procedures, methods and priorities for example).
MEDIC
Skill Proficiencies:
Medicine, Investigation
Tool Proficiencies:
First Aid Kit.
Equipment: A First Aid Kit, Blanket, Medic Identification, Simple Clothes, Hand Sanitizer, and a credchip worth $$1500.
You were hired to keep your corporation's megacity denizens alive and productive, treating everything on-scene, from the bullets and burns of the lower level gang violence, to the occasional keyboard to the face or water-cooler drowning of the labyrinthine office blocks. You've seen everything a person can do to another person, and a life of peril and adventure sounds a lot less ugly.
Feature: Healer
However you may have earned your prestige or title as a medic, you are now known to be a person who has sworn to do their very best to save lives. Your certification and identification as a medic makes others see you as a nonpartisan who often does what is right, no matter the case. Authorities will be more lenient to your questions due to your profession providing ample reason in their eyes. This is not to say you will always get a free pass, as the respect owed to medics is not always a given in society. Additionally, if your plea contradicts the role of a medic, you may arouse more suspicion than usual.
ONSEN GEISHA
Skill Proficiencies:
Culture, Performance
Tool Proficiencies
Disguise Kit, Artist's Supplies
Equipment: A bath towel, a bottle of strong mango liquor, five glasses, a serving tray, a disguise kit, and a sharp hair pin.
Hot springs dot the horizon of the New World, every one encased in a small bath house with an accompanying inn for weary travellers. You've worked your whole life in one of these bath houses, from sweeping and stocking vending machines as a youth to serving and entertaining bathers as an adult. It's a tiny, humble life, and at least you're away from the megacities, but you've decided that this can't be all there is.
Feature: Poolside Manner
After a stressful day of corporate take-overs, mindless violence or unrestrained hedonism (which are not necessarily exclusive on a given day), there is nothing more relaxing for citizens than retreating to the local onsen. Among the warm waters and bubbling brooks, you have carved out a role tending to these weary souls. As well as the many services offered, a geisha is there to listen to the woes of customers, provide a shoulder to cry on and convince them that (despite all the evidence) they are not a bad person (sometimes). You gain advantage on Persuasion checks when you sympathise or comfort a character rather than using reason.
LINERUNNER
Skill Proficiencies:
Acrobatics, Technology
Tool Proficiencies:
Electricians Tools, Trailblazer's Kit
Equipment:
A set of climbing hooks, rappel gear, 100ft of rope, a work polo t-shirt,
Electricians tools, and a credchip worth $$1500
You're employed to keep the power running,
climbing up the sides of mountainous megacity spires to repair and maintain the lines and wires running from
their solar banks and batteries to every habi-cube, boardroom, office and storefront in your home
skyscraper. But since you're used to the constant threat of danger, you might as well get paid
better.
Feature: Hear the Singing in the Wires
Electric power has its own music. The sixty cycle hum is the part most people hear, but there are overtones and rhythms that only someone who has worked with them can discern. You are one of them. Not only can you hear this music, but you can draw meaning from it.
If you can get within ten feet of a generator or transmission line that feeds power to a building, fortification, or complex, you can learn about one piece of major high tech equipment that is powered by that system, and its approximate location within the building, as if [Locate Object] had been cast. As long as you stay within ten feet of the powerlines running through the building, you can continue the effect.
Examples of high tech equipment that can be located using this feature: Clone vats,, Sense-tanks, Cryopods, Teleporters
WEEB
Skill Proficiencies:
Culture, History
Weapon Proficiencies:
Katana
Equipment:
A graphic t-shirt with something bizarre and colorful printed on it, a pair of khaki shorts, a well kept katana, a selection of plastic statuettes and a credchip worth $1000.
You've spent your whole life studying the blade. Well, not really. You've spent your whole life with a fascination of certain cultures that make a certain exotic blade, as well as the toys and media that those cultures reproduce. Still, you paid a lot of money for all that, and now it's time to show it off.
Feature: Otakubabble - your historical knowledge of the Ancient lore of Soon-Bok Heavy Ordnance and J.A.V Digital Entertainment can overload the minds of the non-initiated, allowing you to confound and perplex others.
When you roll a Deception check you can use your Culture value instead of your Deception value, and you gain advantage against targets not affiliated with Soon-Bok or J.A.V.
BARTENDER
Skill Proficiencies:
Insight, Sleight of Hand
Tool Proficiencies:
Microbrewing Kit, Microlab
Equipment: A Microbrewing Kit, a Microlab, a white shirt, waistcoat, bow-tie and either black trousers or skirt (your choice), 3 bottles of mango liquor, and a credchip worth $$1500.
It takes a certain calibre of person to serve the perfect drink, lend the perfect ear and occasionally toss the perfect drunk, and over the years you've become a master at all three. But with no prospects beyond the vain hope of inheriting a hole-in-the-wall bar, it's time to get out there.
Feature: What'll You Have
The ritual of providing alcohol to strangers, and forming an instantaneous bond over it, is ancient and powerful. As an initiate of the ancient order of bartenders, you're familiar with this rite, and its power.
If you provide someone with an alcoholic beverage, whether it's a gift or a purchase, you gain advantage on the next insight, persuasion, or deception check you use while interacting with them.
MASCOT
Skill Proficiencies:
Acrobatics, Performance
Tool Proficiencies:
First Aid Kit, Disguise Kit
Equipment:
A padded mascot costume of your own description, the keys to a locker in a public locker room, and a first aid kit.
You are a member of a silent brotherhood of men and women that are paid to dress up in poorly ventilated, incessantly padded and slightly terrifying mascot costumes, allegedly to attract customers to a storefront but more often to scare them away. The flyers you give out have an idealised version of whatever hideous creature your costume is supposed to represent, and your dances are carefully choreographed to expend as little energy as possible. Fuck this.
Feature: Pratfall
Mascots are a special form of clown, and have mastered the art of falling funny.
When you are struck by a blow that might knock you back or knock you prone, you can take half damage, but are thrown an extra five feet and must fall prone. Anyone who sees the effect must make a Wisdom saving throw (DC 8 + Performance skill) or spend their next action laughing (they may still use move actions and bonus actions). This feature may only be used once, and is recharged by taking a long rest.
UNDERGROUND PIT FIGHTER
Skill Proficiencies:
Athletics, Acrobatics
Tool Proficiencies:
Poisoner's Kit, First Aid Kit
Equipment:
A set of hand wrap bandages, a pair of shorts, a poisoner's kit, a spare tooth, and a credchip worth $$2500
You've made a name for yourself in the squared circle, beating other contenders heads in for pocket change and pizza coupons, and you know how to give as good as you get. You're unfazed by the jeering masses, and your head's clearest with your eyes swollen shut. There's always a chance to make some real money down here, but it's getting harder to count to ten, and adventuring involves a few less blows to the skull.
Feature: Underworld Denizen
You reside in the underbelly of society, earning your living through backroom fight clubs and underground boxing rings.
Your time in the underground has given you a sense for where illicit activities happen, such as gambling houses, unregistered bars, and of course, fight clubs. When in any city, you can ascertain the location of any organised illegal entertainment.
ARTISAN
Skill Proficiencies:
Culture, Sleight of Hand
Tool Proficiencies:
Artist's Supplies, Calligrapher's Supplies
Equipment:
A leather satchel containing a box of artist supplies and a box of calligrapher's supplies, a stained apron, a beret, and a credchip worth $$1000.
You're one of those arty types. You know the ones. The ones that hang out at coffee shops, sketching caricatures of passers-by while nursing a lukewarm fakeaccino, or taking panoramic photographs that inevitably have a terrifyingly stretched cat in them, or sitting in their habi-cube drawing cartoon porn all day. You call yourself quirky, others call you odd, but your skills might find more use with a party of adventurers.
Feature: An Eye For Detail
Few things are made by hand anymore, and those who make them are often renowned in artisanal circles for the quality of their products and methods.
If you are able to see and touch a man-made object, you know if it was made by a person or by a machine, and you have advantage in history checks made to determine who made the object and what methods they used.
BANDIT
Skill Proficiencies:
Athletics, Stealth
Tool Proficiencies:
Trailblazer's kit, Weaponsmith's tools
Equipment:
A leather satchel containing a trailblazer's kit and a set of Weaponsmith's tools, a red patterned shemagh scarf or a black highwayman mask, 20 extra bullets, and a credchip worth $$2000.
You're the bane of every merchant caravan, someone who holds up traders and takes what they want. Perhaps you're a joyriding nutcase hooting and hollering your way around the desert, or a more charming purloiner of pants and pantries, but in any case you've lived your life beyond the boundaries of corporate law, and it's time to go big or go home.
Feature: Case the Joint
Through teachings, trials and plenty of error, you know how to get a feel for the defensive capabilities of travelling groups.
If you maintain an unobscured view of a caravan, convoy or similar group of vehicles and/or people for 10 minutes, you learn how many people there are, their general roles if they have any, which of them are armed and what they are armed with. You also gain advantage on the next insight check made against one or more of the members of the group.
DESERT MECHANIC
Skill Proficiencies:
Technology, Survival
Tool Proficiencies:
Mechanic's Tools, Basic Toolkit
Equipment:
A box of mechanic's tools, a basic toolkit, a set of stained denim overalls, an oversized wrench (counts as a baseball bat), and a knapsack of spare parts, bolts, screws and wires.
You know what they say about sand. And in your experience, it really does get everywhere. You've spent your life fixing up clogged vehicles, cobbling together and jury rigging makeshift solutions that get bikes, buggies and merchant walkers "at least to the next town over". But unless you wanna stare at the same horizon for the rest of your life, it's time to get a move on.
Feature: Jury Rig
If there's anywhere you can't be lugging around a bunch of different tools, it's a desert. So you learned to do what you can with what you can carry.
If you try to repair a broken piece of technology but don't have an appropriate set of technician's tools, you can make a technology check with any other set of tools that you are proficient in instead. If you fail this check, you further damage the device, making it impossible to repair without the proper equipment. You also have advantage on repair checks related to all vehicles.
DEPUTY
Skill Proficiencies:
Athletics, Survival
Weapon Proficiencies:
Revolver
Equipment:
A deputy's badge and identification, a revolver, 20 bullets, a stetson hat, a radio tuned for your local sheriff's department, and a credchip worth $$1000.
You're a peacekeeper out in the forgotten corners of the corporate frontier, roaming the wasteland with your six shooter and pristine badge. Technically, your power comes from the consent of the people, unlike the tyrannical corpo-cops and executive security forces, but out here people need someone to call on when a roving horde of genetic mishaps or lunatic raiders comes knocking, and you're the one they call.
Feature: A Personal Touch
The relationship between Corpo-Cops and the general populace is often less than amicable, but working in a close-knit community taught you the value of showing people a friendly face.
When meeting others in person, you can easily memorise and recall their name and face.
Additionally, when introducing yourself and others to new people, you are proficient in the first skill check you do to make a good first impression of yourself and your allies.
DROPOUT
Skill Proficiencies:
Culture, Technology
Tool Proficiencies:
Programming Kit, Electricians Tools
Equipment:
A programming kit, an earth-coloured graphic t-shirt with a variety of stains on it, a bag of cheese puffs, a pair of sweatpants, and a pair of sandals.
In a world of corporate education, in which a child is educated to the bare minimum their assigned job requires before being shunted into the workforce, it takes quite a colossal fuck up to drop out of school. And yet, here you are. Well, there's nowhere to go but up, and at least as an adventurer you get to play with guns.
Feature: Source?
You tried, you really did try, but for whatever reason you were unable to complete your qualification. However, while your chance at a better job may be lost, there are still some skills lingering from all those sleepless nights you spent studying.
When you are attempting to conduct online literary research on a topic, it takes you half the time to find the relevant knowledge.
Additionally, sleep deprivation does not affect your ability to recall topics of culture or technology.
LONER
Skill Proficiencies
Technology, Stealth
Tool Proficiencies:
Gaming Set, Calligrapher's Supplies
Equipment: A gaming set, a pair of khaki shorts, and a credchip worth $1000.
You get the point of friends, y'know. You like your party members, for
sure. Yet everything just seems to work a lot better when you are on your own. Your mind seems a lot clearer
without having to talk things through or have people nearby. The code flows from your fingers and your mind
fizzles with possibilities. It's a bad habit of yours but you cannot help sneaking off on your own to
solve whatever problem your friends are having. You always perform your best like this and it's not
like being isolated on your own is going to cause an issue sooner or later, surely?
Feature: Inside Your Own Head
Whenever you are apart from other player characters and friendly NPCs (both in terms of proximity and being contactable over real time communication systems), you gain Advantage on any Skill checks you have Proficiency in. This Feature may only be used once before you need to take another long-rest in the company of other player characters.
FRESH CLONE
Skill Proficiencies:
Athletic, Medicine
Tool Proficiencies:
First Aid Kit, Cook's Utensils
Equipment:
A frilly cooking apron, a number of small tattoos about your person reading "SPARE PARTS", a set of Cook's Utensils, and a First Aid Kit.
Some hyper-wealthy sonofabitch decided they wanted a mini-me around, and cooked up some stem cells to make you. Maybe it was ego, maybe it was whim, maybe it was to have a fresh set of organs around in case they needed a transplant. You grew up in relative luxury, making yourself useful in small ways around the penthouse but as you got older, your usefulness began to decline. You've somehow managed to escape their influence, but their organisation still haunts you.
Feature: Don't I Know You?
People familiar with your originator can recognize your face. The age difference is a dead giveaway, but even so, it can have a subtle influence. You have advantage on the first persuasion or deception check made against someone who recognizes you (DM's discretion as to when that happens).
GIG WORKER
Skill Proficiencies:
Athletics, Persuasion
Tool Proficiencies:
Basic Toolkit, Trailblazer's Kit
Equipment:
A Basic Toolkit, a trailblazer's kit, a baseball cap with the logo of a former employer, a polo shirt with the logo of a different former employer, and a credchip worth $1500.
You never really had a single solid job for any significant amount of time, instead getting paid for single bouts of whatever someone was willing to give for something they couldn't be bothered to do themselves. As a result, you've picked up a wide spread of tips and tricks that seem to come in handy at moments when nobody else seems to know what to do.
Feature: So This One Time...
Once per long rest, when attempting to do something that requires a skill check that nobody in your party has proficiency with, you can make the check with expertise.
GROUPIE
Skill Proficiencies:
Culture, Performance
Tool Proficiencies:
Disguise Kit, Scammer's Kit
Equipment:
A disguise kit, a scammer's kit, a selection of music and pop culture t-shirts, and a selection of entry wristbands of previous music festivals.
You've been chasing musicians as long as you can remember, on the road with other fanatics bouncing from gig to gig, making just enough money through odd jobs to get you into the next show. But the zeitgeist is shifting, your favourite artists are getting old and fat, and it's time to face the music.
Feature: I'm On The List
When trying to enter a guarded venue such as a music arena, nightclub, high-end restaurant or fighting pit, you can use your Performance skill instead of your Persuasion or Deception skill when attempting to convince a guard to let you inside.
VAUDEVILLE ACTOR
Skill Proficiencies:
Performance, History
Tool Proficiencies:
Tailor's Tools, Artist's Supplies
Equipment:
A set of tailors tools, a set of artist's supplies, a chequered suit and waistcoat or chequered dress and stockings, a bowler hat, and a walking cane (counts as a baton).
Television is awful. Endless psychologically perfected corporate sit-coms, meaningless action movies and pornography. Thankfully, out in the boonies, there are alternatives. You are a veteran of the modern Vaudeville circuit, a live, on-stage variety show of burlesque, stand-up comedy, and musical talent.
Feature: Make 'Em Laugh
Your performances have a deep impact on people. You can inspire horror, laughter, lust or despondency on those who experience your act. Anyone who watches five minutes or more of your act and fails a Wisdom saving throw equal to 8 plus your performance skill feels the emotion you intended to project. Depending on the situation (DM's discretion) this can be used to give you advantage on certain persuasion, intimidation or deception checks.
EX-COP
Skill Proficiencies:
Athletics, Investigation
Weapon Proficiencies:
Baton, Light Pistol
Equipment:
A Baton, a light pistol, a photo of an unsolved crime scene, and a credchip worth $$1500.
You were a corpo-cop, trained to be aggressive, stand-offish, and unquestionably loyal to the questionably thin blue line. You knew how to escalate any problem until a bullet solves it, find someone to pin it on, and bash their head in as a warning. But something on the job snapped you out of this us-and-them mentality, and now all you want to do is get away from the force.
Feature: Hives of Scum and Villainy
Your experience in enforcing the law, and dealing with lawbreakers, gives you a feel for local laws and criminals. You can easily find the local outpost of a corpo-cop barracks, sheriff's office or a similar organisation, and just as easily pick out the dens of criminal activity in a community, although you're more likely to be welcome in the former locations rather than the latter.
SMUGGLER
Skill Proficiencies:
Deception, Stealth
Tool Proficiencies:
Trailblazer's Kit, Tailor's Tools
Equipment:
A trailblazer's kit, a set of tailor's tools, a selection of earthen cloaks, a large coat with 6 hidden pockets, and a credchip worth $$2500.
In the eyes of corporate law, smuggling is the most heinous of crimes. An employee buying smuggled sundries, clothing or weaponry instead of their official megacity brands means their paycheck isn't entirely recycled back into their corporate overlord's wealth. You are the unseen hand of the free market, and in order to survive the brutal hounding of corpo-cops, you've developed an uncanny ability to deceive the law.
Feature: Not My First Rodeo
Being a smuggler isn't easy. You've had many a close shave during your illicit activities and had to slip through unnoticed despite having several pounds of undeclared material hidden in who knows how many places. You have basic knowledge of what kinds of security systems are likely to be in use at any place where they would normally be, as well as how to exploit any flaws they are likely to have (if there are any).
PRIVATE SECURITY
Skill Proficiencies:
Athletics, Perception
Weapon Proficiencies:
Baseball bat
Equipment: A baseball bat, a black t-shirt with the word "Behave" printed on it, and a credchip worth $1000.
Every place needs someone to watch over it. Most folks who've done this job are just wage slaves, punching a clock until something better comes along, or else enjoying the relative lack of duties such a job entails. But not you; you took it seriously. It's your job to keep your eyes open, to see when things are out of place, when normal becomes abnormal, and then call in the authorities (whoever that happens to be) when you notice something.
Feature: Memory for Detail
You're especially adept at noticing when something has changed. If you're returning to a place after you've been there before, you have advantage on perception checks to notice elements that are missing, added, or changed since your last visit.
LIZARD RANCHER
Skill Proficiencies:
Nature, Animal handling
Tool Proficiencies:
Mason's Tools, Armorer's Tools
Equipment:
A set of mason's tools, a set of armorer's tools, a pair of blue overalls with significant bite holes and claw marks on it, and a straw hat.
Them lizards, they ain't like cows or pigs or sheep. No herd mentality. Completely different social structure. Ya gotta show 'em who's boss, because they're more like chickens than anything else. They got a peckin' order, and if you ain't the top of it, then you're gonna get pecked. And it ain't easy convincin' eight hundred pounds of lizard flesh that you're tough enough to take it.
Feature: Staredown
When faced with a hostile Beast, whether domesticated, feral or wild, you can take an action to use sounds and body language to convince it to back off. Roll an animal handling against its wisdom save; if you are successful, it will not attack you or those with you for one hour.
GRAPHIC DESIGNER
Skill Proficiencies:
Culture, Performance
Tool Proficiencies:
Artist's Supplies, Calligrapher's Supplies
Equipment:
A set of artist's supplies, a set of calligrapher's supplies, a spare 6 inch drawing tablet, a stained coffee mug, and a credchip worth $$1000.
It's your goddamn fault every square inch of the megacities is covered in advertising. Sleek logos, cute mascots, quippy slogans, it all falls under your purview. Hopefully your new desire for adventure is motivated by thoughts of atonement. It's the only way to make up for all the damn neon.
Feature: Worth a Thousand Words
After spending an exorbitant amount of your life cramming the vague and grandiose executive speeches into small vector images, you learned to see hidden meaning in the jagged outlines and popping text that wouldn't be apparent to others.
Looking at an organisation's logo, product packaging or uniform allows you to determine what its core principles are and the general services it provides. By closely examining any of these items for 5 minutes, you may determine which holdings company it is based in, business structure and size relative to similar companies.
ROADIE
Skill Proficiencies:
Culture, Technology
Tool Proficiencies:
Electrician's Tools, Mechanic's Tools
Equipment:
A set of electrician's tools, a set of mechanic's tools, a graphic t-shirt and baseball cap with the name of a band on it and a selection of nuts, bolts, wires, spare auxiliary plugs and microchips worth $$3000.
You've been on the road with enough nu-nu metal bands that it's a miracle you can still hear anything. You're an archive of pointless music trivia, you can wire and rewire systems with your eyes closed, and you're used to long journeys, bad food, and inane conversation. You're halfway to becoming an adventurer already.
Feature: Handy
You have hauled, assembled, fixed and removed countless lights, sound systems, cameras and light shows over the years. You have advantage on hacking checks related to audiovisual and lighting equipment such as security cameras, motion sensors, lighting systems and television screens.