We started tweaking character creation in the last post, and today I'm sharing my updates to Perks and Careers. When I first sat down to dig into these, I thought there were going to be quite a few changes. As it turned out, Perks and Careers also only needed a few tweaks here and there with some name changes to make them feel like they felt the world more. Like before, if you want to view the official untouched Perks and Careers, you can view those here and here, respectively. Before we dive in, let's talk about skills.
Skills Detour
As I was going through the Perks and Careers, I realized I hadn't touched on skills yet. I probably should have done that first, as cultures give skills as well. Here are a few changes I'm making to the skills list.
I am adding the skill Sail to the exploration group. Sail could have fallen under Drive, but in this setting, sailing is a critical skill for many characters. I also didn't want to replace Drive, as there could still be a small use for land-based vehicles like wagons and carriages.
I'm also adding Old Faiths to the Lore skills group. Since the gods are gone, the current religion skill meets players' needs for knowledge about the religions in the world. These include the Church of the Lady in Hilean and the Celestial cults. The gods of the old world have been gone for over 150 years, so I felt like that sort of knowledge needed a separate skill to contain it.
Lastly, I'm replacing/renaming the timescape skill to Otherworldly Realms, as that's basically my version of extra-planar things and the timescape.
Perks
Perks are similar to non-combat feats in D&D. Your career grants you a perk and you can gain more at certain levels. I only tweaked a couple of Perks and created one new one. I list those below; if you want to see the others I didn't touch, you can see them here.
Expert Delver
When you make a test with an exploration skill and at least one of the d10s rolled is a 1, you can reroll one d10. You can only use this perk once per test.
Expert Archivist
Whenever you make a test as part of a research or crafting project that uses a skill you have from the lore skill group, you can roll the test twice and use either roll.
I renamed Wood Wise to Expert Delver, as the perk itself has to do with exploration and nothing in particular with woods. I also changed the name of Expert Sage to Expert Archivist to match the Career name change.
Linguist
If you spend at least 7 days in a place where you regularly hear a language you don’t know, you can pick up enough of that language to hold a conversation, though you still can’t read it. After doing so, you can learn it twice as fast as normal. Additionally, you learn one extra language you’ve heard before when you gain this perk.
I kept the Linguist Perk mostly the same but reduced the number of languages you get from two to one. Draw Steel's setting, Vasloria, has many more languages than Skies of Mor-ladron, so this perk grants fewer languages when used in my setting.
Finally, here's the Perk I made up (with some inspiration from Danger Sense). This Perk will come in handy while sailing the Skies of Mor-ladron.
One with the Wind
You are attuned to the ebb and flow of the wind. When on a ship or creature flying through the skies, you have an edge on all tests made with the Sail or Ride skills, respectively. Additionally, you know if a storm will appear in your current location within the next 24 hours.
Careers
The careers below are mostly the same as their official counterparts (seen here). A few have name changes and different inciting incidents to better reflect the world.
The biggest change is the removal of incidents automatically being a catalyst for becoming a hero. Characters in Skies, while not evil or bad, are not necessarily heroes, either—or at least not universally viewed as such. I left some inciting incidents ambiguous as to what the person does afterward, while others describe the character trying to become a better person or helping others.
The careers and inciting incidents section will change the most once my players start playing in the world. (I hope that will happen sometime in the next month or so!) As I see what they want to play and the incidents and careers they craft, I'll replace the generic options with more custom choices.
Archivist
From an early age, you dedicated yourself to learning, whether you shared the knowledge of the world with others or sought out secret lore only for yourself. In defining your career, think about the following questions:
What subjects did you study? Where did your studies take place? How did you acquire the books and other materials you needed for work? Who benefited most from your research?
You gain the following career benefits:
- Skills: Two skills from the lore skill group
- Languages: Two languages (these can be from the main language table or the dead language table)
- Project Points: 120
- Perk: One lore perk
Inciting Incidents
- Bookish Ideas: You were always content to live a peaceful life in your library until you found that one book—the one that told the tale of heroes who had saved the realms. They didn’t spend their days behind a desk. They made a real difference. It was time for you to do the same.
- Paper Guilt: While transcribing ancient texts, you and another scribe discovered a shelf of long-forgotten books. At your suggestion, your companion started work on one and vanished along with the tome. Your guilt drove you to seek out your friend and prevent others from falling to similar dangers.
- Cure the Curse: You used to think knowledge could fix everything. You were wrong. When someone you loved fell under a curse, the means to cure them couldn’t be found in any of the books you owned. But that wasn’t going to stop you. The answers are out there, and you’ll find them even if you have to face down death to do so.
- Unforeseen Futures: In your pursuit of ancient knowledge, you discovered a prophecy that has yet to come to pass. And that prophecy involves someone who might be… you. Since your discovery, strange dreams have plagued you, driving you to seek out your destiny.
- Lost Library: A magi took all your books for themself, cackling at your impotence as they raided your shelves. Now, you’re off to search through ancient ruins and secret libraries to rebuild your collection of rare tomes—and to find the magi who stole from you.
- Vanishing: At first, you thought it was your imagination, and you brushed off the disappearance of random sentences in historical books. Then, as the books changed to entirely blank pages, the disappearances became difficult to ignore, particularly those involving ancient or critical texts. Driven by the desire to preserve knowledge, you have made it your purpose to restore and reverse those vanishing texts before they forever disappear.
Aristocrat
Career? Who needs a career when you’re born into money? Or marry into it! Or con your way into it! Whatever the case, you didn’t need to work thanks to (someone’s) generational wealth. In defining your career, think about the following questions:
How did you become an aristocrat? What did you do to fill your days? Which aristocrats and people who worked for you were your best friends and greatest enemies? What sentimental heirloom from your old estate do you carry, and what does it mean to you?
You gain the following career benefits:
• Skills: One skill from the interpersonal skill group and one skill from the lore skill group
• Languages: One language
• Renown: +1
• Wealth: +1
• Perk: One lore perk
Inciting Incidents
- Blood Money: When you entered adulthood, you heard unsavory whispers about your family’s fortune before learning that their wealth came at the cost of others’ suffering. Whether you shed light on the secret or not, you were stripped of your noble title.
- Charmed Life: Through some treasure or innate ability, you were able to defraud other aristocrats. You did it for fun. When you were found out, you lost your status. Decide whether you served time or escaped from punishment.
- Inheritance: The guardians who instilled in you the virtues of doing the right thing were murdered in a senseless petty robbery. Though their wealth was bequeathed to you, it did little to assuage the guilt you felt for being unable to stop the deadly crime. You decided to use your riches to fund your new life, whether publicly or using an alter ego.
- Privileged Position: Life outside the manor never piqued your interest. You had everything you wanted. It came as a surprise when the peasants came to overthrow your family. You narrowly escaped and, for the first time, witnessed the world.
- Royal Pauper: Seeking a break from noble duties, you sought a lookalike to switch identities with. It went so well that you made a habit of switching whenever bored. Unfortunately, your counterpart became so good at imitating you that they convinced everyone you were an impostor. You lost contact with your family but pursue a new life free of the pomp of your old one.
- Wicked Secret: One parent passed away when you were a baby, and the other remarried years later. Then, that parent died under suspicious circumstances. Their spouse ousted you and you were banished (and possibly hunted).
Artisan
You made and sold useful wares. In defining your career, think about the following questions:
What did you create? Who taught you your craft? Was there any particular creation you were known for? Did you have a shop, or did you travel to sell your wares?
You gain the following career benefits:
• Skills: Two skills from the crafting skill group
• Languages: One language
• Project Points: 240
• Perk: One crafting perk
Inciting Incidents
- Continue the Work: A famous delver or generous noble was a fan of the things you created and gave you a generous commission to create your best work for them. While working on this commission, you and this person became close friends. The day you finished the work was the same day they disappeared. You have left the comfort of your life to try and find them and deliver this work to them.
- Inspired: As you traveled the road selling your wares, bandits attacked you. One of the bandits claimed an item belonging to someone precious to you—or perhaps claimed that person’s life—but the rest were driven off or slain by another group who happened to be wandering by. Seeing the quick work this group made of the bandits inspired you to follow in their footsteps.
- Robbery: A criminal gang stole your goods and harmed a number of people who worked for you. You left to seek revenge for the assault or to find the thieves and get your stuff back.
- Stolen Passions: Your parents discouraged your artistic talents, instead trying to focus your passions on the family business. You refused to dim your spark and continued your work in secret. Enraged at discovering your disobedience, they sold your work to a traveling merchant. You left your hometown, seeking your lost art and encouraging others to live freely.
- Tarnished Honor: A new patron commissioned some art, but on completion, they refused to pay you and claimed the work as their own. You were accused of plagiarism and run out of town. You seek to restore your name and honor.
- Twisted Skill: You had great success that caused an unscrupulous rival to curse you. For a time, everything you tried to create turned to ruin. You broke the curse through adventuring and, in doing so, discovered a new joy and purpose that now defines you.
Beggar
You lived by going to a tavern, crossroads, city street, or other busy area and begging passersby for money or food. In defining your career, think about the following questions:
What unfortunate circumstances led you to become a beggar? Where did you beg? Who made sport out of bullying you? Who showed you the most kindness?
You gain the following career benefits:
• Skills: The Rumors skill, plus one skill from the exploration skill group and one skill from the interpersonal skill group
• Languages: Two languages
• Perk: One interpersonal perk
Inciting Incidents
- Champion: You were never content with your lot. Watching yet another friend fall to preventable circumstances was your last straw. You gathered up what little you had and set off to make something of yourself, determined to make real change for those society forgot.
- Night Terrors: Something killed the other beggars. It came in the night. You barely saw it, but what you did see of it wasn’t natural. You survived by hiding, or perhaps it simply passed you over for reasons unknown to you. It still haunts your nightmares, and you kill monsters so no one else has to experience such horrors.
- One Good Deed: You ran afoul of the local watch by being in the wrong place when they were in a bad mood. A kind soul intervened on your behalf, shaming the guards into moving on, then gave you enough gold to get you back on your feet. Their kindness kindled a spark in you. You took the gold, bought some secondhand gear, and went to pay that person's kindness forward.
- Precious: No matter how far you’d fallen, there was one belonging you would never part with, no matter how much money it would bring you. When a pickpocket stole it, you chased them until you were in a part of the city you no longer recognized. With a jolt, you realized you had no desire to return to your previous stomping grounds. You kept going, and you haven’t looked back.
- Strange Charity: A passerby dropped something in your cup. When you counted your day’s collections, you found a magic coin among the coppers. You knew immediately that it was special. When the other beggars—your friends, you thought—were ready to murder you for it, you killed several of them in self-defense before you fled, leaving behind the only semblance of community you had.
- Witness: You saw something you weren’t meant to see. Others would kill you if they knew, and they might be searching for you even now. You remain on the move, terrified of remaining in one place too long lest it all catch up to you. Perhaps if you make a big enough name for yourself, you can become untouchable and can finally speak of what you saw without fear.
Child of the Green
For long years, you studied magic under the mentorship of a more experienced mage. In defining your career, think about the following questions:
Who did you study under, and what kind of person were they? What were your mentor’s areas of expertise? What aspects of magic did you struggle to comprehend? What is your current relationship with your mentor?
You gain the following career benefits:
• Skills: The Magic skill, plus two skills from the lore skill group
• Languages: One language
• Renown: +1
• Perk: One supernatural perk
Inciting Incidents
- Forgotten Memories: While practicing a spell, your inexperience caused the magic to backfire and your memories were wiped, leaving you with only fragments of who you once were. Determined to recall your past, you now dedicate yourself to helping others, hoping your actions will spark some remembrance or lead you to a way to reverse the magic.
- Magic of Friendship: As a sign of your status as star pupil, your mentor gifted you a familiar as a magic pet. Another jealous apprentice captured the familiar and slipped away in the night. Haunted by your pet’s absence, you adventure to find your kidnapped friend and prevent others from feeling your loss.
- Missing Elder: One day, you woke up, and the elder you worked for was gone. They didn’t take any of their belongings and there was no sign of any foul play—just the scent of sulfur in their bedchamber. You set out on your heroic journey in the aftermath and have been looking for them ever since.
- Nightmares Made Flesh: Your attempts at magic have always been unpredictable. A wise elder promised to help you gain control. During your training, a terrible nightmare caused your body to flare with magic and pull the monster of your nightmare into the waking world. The horror escaped. You left, seeking to vanquish their terrible vileness.
- Elemental Rebellion: The elemental forces you once wielded with ease have begun rebelling against your commands. Fires rage uncontrollably, winds speak in cryptic whispers, and water refuses to obey your will. Now, you must discover why the elements have turned against you before they consume everything you love.
- Ultimate Power: The elder you worked for was a kindly old soul, but the basic magic they taught you always seemed like a small part of something bigger. It wasn’t until you met an adventuring storm-scarred that you realized hitting the road was the only way to truly improve and hone your skills. You resigned your apprenticeship and found yourself walking a new path the next day.
Criminal
You once worked as a bandit, insurgent, smuggler, outlaw, or even an assassin. In defining your career, think about the following questions:
What sorts of crimes did you commit, and why? Did anyone help you perform your illicit activities? What is one crime you botched? Who was your nemesis while you were a criminal?
You gain the following career benefits:
• Skills: The Criminal Underworld skill, plus two skills from the intrigue skill group
• Languages: One language
• Project Points: 120
• Perk: One intrigue perk
Inciting Incidents
- Antiquity Procurement: You stole, smuggled, and sold antiquities. In your haste to make a quick sale, you didn’t fully vet a client, and they subsequently robbed your warehouse. When the items you had stolen were taken from you, you realized the harm you had caused. Now, you adventure to find those items you lost and return them where they belong.
- Atonement: The last criminal job you pulled led to the death of someone or the destruction of something you love. To make up for the loss you caused, you left your criminal ways behind.
- Caretaker: You went to prison for your crimes and eventually escaped. An old priest/magus/elder took you in and shielded you from the law, convinced that you were worth saving. They never judged you for your past, speaking only of the future. Eventually, they died, imparting final words that inspired you to change your life.
- Shadowed Influence: You spent years blackmailing and manipulating nobles for influence and wealth until a scheme went wrong. You were publicly exposed, and after a narrow escape, you reevaluated your life. You hide under a new identity and hope no one looks at your past too closely.
- Simply Survival: Stealing was a matter of survival for you and not what defined you—at least in your mind. But when your thieving actions lead to innocent folk being harmed, you knew you could be better. You turned your back on your old life, though your old skills come in handy.
- Stand Against Tyranny: The local nobles began cracking down on all criminals with deadly raids and public executions. The nature of the crime didn’t matter—pickpockets and beggars were made to kneel before the axe alongside murderers. After losing enough friends, you stood up and joined the resistance—not just against this tyrant, but against authoritarians anywhere.
Disciple of the Lady
You worked in the church of The Lady in Hilean or one of the other isles in its territory as part of its priesthood. In defining your career, think about the following questions:
What initiation rites did you undergo to get the job? What were your responsibilities as a disciple? Were you a true believer or there to gain political favor?
You gain the following career benefits:
• Skills: The Religion skill, plus two skills from the lore skill group
• Project Points: 240
• Perk: Ritualist
Inciting Incidents
- Child of the Dead: You were raised in a temple filled with undead caretakers, treating them as family and guides. But when an unknown force started corrupting them into mindless husks, you were forced to flee, seeking answers to restore those you love.
- Dogma: Although you joined the religious institution under the guidance of a kind mentor, others within the house of worship became increasingly fanatical in their convictions. Your mentor sought to be a voice of reason in the rising tide of hatred and was tried as a heretic before being executed. Leaving the institution behind, you became a hero to uphold the beliefs you hold dear.
- Betrayal of the Bone: Your faith was unshakable until you uncovered evidence that one of the high priests was secretly working against the Lady, giving the blessing of undeath without permission. When you confronted them, you were exiled, and now you seek to restore the sanctity of the Lady's name.
- Lost Faith: You devoted your life to ministering to the sick and needy and other charitable work. Time and time again, tragedy struck those you served without rhyme or reason. Your pleas went unanswered, and your efforts went unrecognized. Eventually, you lost your faith in the Church of the Lady, and you left to do good outside of any religious affiliation.
- Near-Death Experience: While serving at a temple of The Lady, you almost died in an accident. When you woke, you had lost all memory of ever having worked for the church or temple. Though the priests encouraged you to stay, you left to forge a new path. Your sense of altruism—whether instilled in you by your past work or a part of who you naturally are—guides you.
- Apostate of Bones: You once believed in the Lady's teachings, but after an encounter with a Green Elder, you began to question whether undeath was truly a blessing. Now, you seek to understand the deeper meaning of existence beyond the cycle of life and death, unsure where your path will lead.
Delver
You ventured into uncharted areas and made your living as a cartographer, researcher, resource seeker, or treasure hunter. In defining your career, think about the following questions:
For what purpose did you explore the unknown? Who else was part of your exploration team? What types of environments did you explore? What legend or rumor did you search for but never found? What is your greatest discovery?
You gain the following career benefits:
• Skills: The Navigate skill, plus two skills from the exploration skill group
• Languages: Two languages
• Perk: One exploration perk
Inciting Incidents
- Awakening: In an uncharted area, you awakened some dark horror. You have dedicated your life to putting an end to the horror you unleashed and to keep other hidden dangers at bay.
- Missing Piece: You made an important but dangerous discovery about a treasure or ancient ritual that could spell mass destruction. Then, the unthinkable happened when an unscrupulous colleague, spy, or treasure hunter stole your research notes. You’re looking for them now—and anyone else who might use such discoveries for ill.
- Relic Hunter: Traversing skies and storms to collect valuable artifacts for the government was once your way of life. When people died trying to reclaim one of the objects you took, you realized the truth. Your work was part of a larger problem of power and subjugation. You now work in opposition to those you used to work for and amongst.
- Unschooled: You delved into dungeons and far-off places by studying them in books. You were an explorer who never felt the need to experience the dangers your peers did. However, your theory about a lost isle cost you your reputation. It gave you the impetus to go on adventures and stand up for those with different ideas.
- The Vanishing Isle: You witnessed an entire island vanish overnight, swallowed by a mysterious phenomenon no one else believes exists. Branded as a liar or lunatic, you now seek evidence to prove your story true and uncover the secrets behind the missing isle.
- Wind in Your Sails: As a skyfaring explorer, you lived to chart unknown courses. Though travel on the high winds was fraught with danger, the destination was always rewarding in riches, knowledge, or some other way that was meaningful to you. Your luck ran out when your ship was destroyed by pirates or other enemy forces. You’ve taken to protecting those who seek safe passage while also hoping to avenge your crew.
Farmer
You grew crops or cared for livestock. In defining your career, think about the following questions:
Did you own the land you farmed, or did you farm for another? What crops or livestock did you cultivate? Who else worked on the farm with you? What ill omen did you witness that caused you to have a poor season of farming?
You gain the following career benefits:
• Skills: The Handle Animals skill, plus two skills from the exploration skill group
• Languages: One language
• Project Points: 120
• Perk: One exploration perk
Inciting Incidents
- Blight: A horrible blight swept over your isle, sickening the livestock and causing crops to rot. No one knows whether the blight is of natural origin or something more malevolent, but you set out in search of a way to cleanse the land of this affliction.
- Bored: You’ve always wanted so much more than gathering eggs and milking alpacas. You kept a secret journal of your dreams, filled with all the things you wanted. When your parent found the journal, they burned it and told you to keep your head out of the clouds. In response, you gathered what you could in a pack and left everything else behind, seeking a life of adventure.
- Cursed: While tilling your fields, you found something in the dirt. Perhaps it was a chipped and dented weapon, a piece of ancient jewelry, or something altogether unique. Excited by your find, you showed it to a loved one, but when they touched it, something happened. You now know it was a curse conveyed by the item, though you don’t know why it affected them and not you. You left your old life in search of answers.
- Hard Times: Your farm had always been prosperous until the last few years. Changes in the weather caused smaller yields until you could no longer pay your tithe to the local noble. Her soldiers took what items of value they found, including a precious family heirloom. You left the struggling farm behind to find a better life.
- Razed: Your animals were killed, your crops and home set ablaze. The culprits might have been wandering bandits, raiders from a nearby isle, or hired thugs sent by a rival farm. Whoever they were, they left you with nothing. You couldn’t face the thought of starting again from scratch, so you left to make your way in the skies.
- Stolen: Your family bred hippogriffs—beautiful creatures that few could rival. When a local noble arrived with an offer to buy your prized hippogriff, your father refused. The noble struck him down where he stood and stole the hippogriff. Without that hippogriff, the renowned bloodline would end. You intend to get it back—and get revenge.
Laborer
You worked as a builder, clothes washer, forester, miner, or some other profession engaged in hard manual labor. In defining your career, think about the following questions:
What type of manual labor did you do? What important friendship did you make on the job? Where did you go with your coworkers to blow off steam when the job was done? What aspect of the job was most difficult for you?
You gain the following career benefits:
• Skills: The Endurance skill, plus two skills from your choice of either the crafting skill group or the exploration skill group
• Languages: One language
• Project Points: 120
• Perk: One exploration perk
Inciting Incidents
- Deep Sentinel: Spending your days cleaning and maintaining the sewers doesn’t make you many friends. But you found friendship among the rats. You fought the monsters that hunted your friends, which everyone else ignored. After making the sewers safe for the rats, you decided to take your talents to the surface and serve other humanoids who might appreciate your efforts in the same way.
- Disaster: A disaster, such as a cave-in, wildfire, or storm, hit your crew while you were working. You saved as many as you could, but the ones you couldn’t save weigh heavily on your mind. You took up a new life to save as many people as possible, vowing that what happened to you won’t happen again.
- Embarrassment: A noble you worked for admonished you publicly for work done poorly—and more than once. Finally, you’d had enough. You vowed to take up a new path and show this noble you’re far more than what they make you out to be.
- Live the Dream: You worked with a good friend, and on the job, you would always fantasize about what it would be like to hit the road as adventurers… someday. You didn’t count on your friend falling ill and passing away. Now it’s time to live out that dream for both of you.
- Shining Light: You kept a lighthouse along the constantly stormy cliffs of your village with your mentor. On a clear and sunny day, your mentor vanished. Finding only a cryptic notebook filled with his musings on the supernatural, you left to find out what really happened. The trail has gone cold for now, and you’re helping others find their loved ones in the meantime.
- Slow and Steady: You labored silently as an uncaring boss drove those around you into the ground, pushing you to work harder to lessen the burden on your companions. But when the boss pushed too far and killed a friend of yours, you led an uprising against them. That was the start of your adventuring life.
Mercenary
In your formative years, you fought tirelessly in skirmishes and campaigns against enemy forces. In defining your career, think about the following questions:
In which mercenary band did you serve? What conflicts were you a part of? What rank did you achieve? What heroics did you perform in the heat of battle?
You gain the following career benefits:
• Skills: One skill from the exploration skill group and one skill from the intrigue skill group
• Languages: Two languages
• Renown: +1
• Perk: One exploration perk
Inciting Incidents
- Dishonorable Discharge: You enlisted in a mercenary band to protect others, but your commander ordered you to beat and kill civilians. When you refused, things got violent. You barely escaped the brawl that ensued, but now you vow to help people on your own terms.
- Out of Retirement: You had a long and storied career as a mercenary before deciding to retire to a simpler life. But when you returned to your old home, you found your enemies had laid waste to it. Now, the skills you earned on the battlefield are helping you as you become a different kind of warrior—one seeking to save others from the fate you suffered.
- Peace Through Healing: The sight of constant bloodshed took its toll on you. You seek peace through healing and dedicate yourself to ending wars before they begin, to spare those around you from the horror.
- Sole Survivor: You were the last surviving member of your unit after an arduous battle or monstrous assault, surviving only through luck. You turned away from the life of a soldier then, seeking to become stronger so you could stand against such threats.
- Stolen Valor: Tired of eking out an existence on the streets, you joined a mercenary band. However, you were unable to escape your lower-status background until the officer leading your unit fell in battle. In the chaos that ensued, you assumed their identity and returned home a hero. To avoid suspicion, you took on a new life, staying always on the move.
- Vow of Sacrifice: You promised a fellow mercenary that you’d protect his family if he ever fell in battle. When he did, you traveled to his village but found its people slain or scattered by war. Driven by your vow, you have dedicated your life to finding any survivors and protecting others from a similar fate.
Performer
You can sing, act, or dance well enough that people actually pay to see you do it. Imagine that! In defining your career, think about the following questions:
What is the tone of your performances? What song, role, or dance are you most known for? Did you perform in the same place throughout your career, or did you travel? Were you part of a troupe, or were you a solo act?
You gain the following career benefits:
• Skills: The Music or Perform skill, plus two skills from the interpersonal skill group
• Renown: +2
• Perk: One interpersonal perk
Inciting Incidents
- Cursed Audience: During a performance, you watched in horror as the audience was suddenly overcome by a curse that caused them to disintegrate before your eyes. You aren’t sure what happened, but seeking an answer quickly led you to places where only the brave or foolish dare to go.
- False Accolades: After a poor performance, you found a script to a well-written play left in your dressing room. The accompanying note asked that if you performed the play, you should give the author credit. But after a commanding performance, you claimed to be star and playwright both—and the curse hidden on those pages activated. A small portion of your skin has begun to transform into scaly flesh, and the only cure is to prove you have become selfless.
- Fame and Fortune: You thought you were famous—then that delver came to your show. Suddenly, all eyes were on the adrenaline-seeking brute instead of on the stage where they belonged. The audience even gave them a standing ovation when they entered the room. All you got was polite applause. Fine. If people love delvers so much, then a delver you shall be.
- Songs to the Dead: Your performances have always been tinged with a bit of melancholy. During a particularly soulful performance, spirits disturbed the living audience and sat in their chairs. They begged you to prevent their demise, providing no other details before disappearing. You set out to see if you could help your most dedicated fans.
- The Show Must Go On: You were once part of a famous traveling troupe until a tragedy struck—one by one, your fellow performers vanished without a trace. You now perform solo, searching for any clue that might lead you to your missing friends.
- Tragic Lesson: When a producer who once shortchanged you shouted out on the street for you to stop a thief who had picked their pocket, your spite toward the producer inspired you to let the thief run right on by. But that decision led to tragedy when the thief later harmed someone you loved. From that moment on, you made it your responsibility to protect others.
Pit Fighter
In the past, you entertained the masses with flashy displays of violence in the pits. In defining your career, think about the following questions:
What led you to this life of violence? Who was your biggest rival? What happened during your most famous match?
You gain the following career benefits:
Skills: The Brag or Intimidate skill, plus two skills from the exploration skill group
Languages: One language
Renown: + 1
Perk: One exploration perk
Inciting Incidents
- Betrayed: A local crime lord offered you money to throw your last bout, promising that you’d live through the ordeal and get a cut of all the wagers placed on the match. You upheld your end of the deal—which made the knife in your back after the bout so surprising. You woke in a shallow grave, barely alive and ready to mete out justice.
- Heckler: As you stood victorious in the pit, a voice cried out among the cheering. “This violence is just for show. You should be ashamed. There are people who need you—who need your skills!” Why did that voice ring so clearly? And why did it sound so familiar? You never saw the face of the person who uttered those words, but they weighed heavy on you. The next day, you fled the arena to begin a new life.
- Joined the Pits: As a child, you loved matches, captivated by the fierce displays of showmanship, never giving much thought to how the competitors ended up in the ring. Then, your friend was unable to pay a debt and forced to compete. You went in their place. After viewing what life was like for those with no choice but to fight, you survived long enough to pay off your friend's debt and resolved to help those forced into the ring.
- New Challenges: You earned every title you could. You beat every opponent willing to face you in the pit. Your final battle with your rival ended with you victorious—and still, you were unsatisfied. There are other, greater foes out there—and you mean to find them.
- Scion’s Compassion: You were born a noble, but the duplicitous and power-hungry nature of your family had you seeking your own fortune in the pits. You saw that competitors brought there by circumstance and not choice suffered. You gave all you could of your family money to those less fortunate folk and then set out to make a real difference in this cruel world.
- Warriors’ Home: The orphanage you grew up in secretly supplied fighters to the pit. Forced to fight against many childhood friends as an adult, you vowed to dismantle the pits and free other victims. You became a liberator, dedicated to ending the oppression of others until your dying breath.
Politician
You worked as a leader within a formal, bureaucratic organization or government. You might have been appointed, born, or elected into your position, but getting people to agree and make decisions for the people you serve (or who served you) was your job. In defining your career, think about the following questions:
Who were you responsible for ruling or representing? What was your official title, and how did you earn it? Who was your greatest political rival? What secret do you know that could tear apart the entire system you worked within?
You gain the following career benefits:
• Skills: Two skills from the interpersonal skill group
• Languages: One language
• Renown: +1
• Wealth: +1
• Perk: One interpersonal perk
Inciting Incidents
- Diplomatic Immunity: Your political power allowed you to be foolish without consequence. Through sheer carelessness or on a dare, you accidentally harmed or killed an innocent bystander. Due to your position as an official, you faced no consequences. But this event was the final straw for the person you loved or respected most, and they turned away from you. You left the world of political machinations behind to earn back their trust.
- Insurrectionist: You secretly funded a rebel organization intent on overthrowing the corrupt establishment. Someone discovered your treason, and you were forced to leave or risk execution.
- Respected Consul: You were seneschal to a leader, able to sway their opinions, but gossip convinced the leader you were plotting a coup, and you were ousted from court.
- Right Side of History: You tried to work on policy change from the inside of a bureaucratic organization. There were others like you who were more vocal. You started to notice those colleagues were disappearing overnight. Not wanting to find out if you were next on the list, you left to enact change in more direct ways.
- Self-Serving: You used your skills to collect incriminating or scandalous information about your opponents to blackmail them. A rival got one step ahead of you and stole your book of dirty secrets, but instead of using it against you, they gave you an opportunity to leave the world of politics behind.
- Unbound: The red tape required to achieve anything through your political position resulted in a crisis being mishandled and countless people being harmed or killed. After that unfortunate event, you resolved to be unfettered by bureaucratic interference and sought to do good through action, not paperwork.
Sailor
You worked on a ship that might have been a merchant cog, a mercenary or military craft, or a pirate vessel. You might have been a deckhand, a mate, or even the captain. In defining your career, think about the following questions:
What is the name of the vessel you sailed on, and what type of business was the crew engaged in? What was your job aboard the boat? What’s the longest amount of time you’ve spent in the skies? Who or what did you lose on your long flights?
You gain the following career benefits:
• Skills: Sail, plus two skills from the exploration skill group
• Languages: Two languages
• Perk: One exploration perk
Inciting Incidents
- Ghost Ship Survivor: One fateful night, your vessel crossed paths with a ghostly ship that should not have existed. You were the only survivor, found drifting alone in the sky. Now, you seek answers to what happened and whether the spectral vessel still haunts the high winds.
- Bound by Chains: You were once enslaved by sky pirates who forced you into their ranks. After escaping, you now dedicate yourself to hunting them down, freeing others, and ensuring no one else suffers the same fate.
- Forgotten: You awoke aboard your ship with no memory of who you were. Though the other sailors insisted they knew you, you didn’t know them. The next time you went ashore, you decided to stay, determined to find out who you really are.
- Jealousy: You had the favor of your captain, which earned you many rivals aboard your ship. One night, your fellow sailors pulled you from your bunk and threw you overboard. By some miracle, you were scooped from the air by a passing vessel. You worked off your debt to them, then set out on a new life with less pettiness.
- Marooned: There was a mutiny, and you were on the losing side. You were marooned on an island and escaped when a merchant vessel was blown off course by a storm and found you. Your reputation is ruined among sailors, so you seek adventure elsewhere.
- The Merchant’s Lies: You were once a simple sailor working for a wealthy merchant, but you discovered their cargo was not what it seemed—smuggled souls, forbidden artifacts, or worse. When you tried to expose them, you were branded a traitor and forced to flee.
Spy
You worked as a spy for a government or organization. In defining your career, think about the following questions:
Who did you work for? Who did you spy on? Who shouldn’t know your true identity and allegiance but does? Who did you burn or leave behind to get a job done?
You gain the following career benefits:
• Skills: The Sneak skill, plus one skill from the interpersonal skill group and one skill from the intrigue skill group
• Languages: Two languages
• Perk: One intrigue perk
Inciting Incidents
- Disavowed: While on a dangerous espionage assignment, things went sideways. Although you escaped with your life, the mission was a public failure thanks to bad information your organization gave you. They denied you work for them, and you went on the run.
- Faceless: Your identity was always hidden. It was your way of protecting those around you because the work you did spying on powerful entities came with dangers. Then your world came crashing down when a rival spy unmasked you, causing you to lose everything— your privacy, livelihood, and loved ones, all gone in the blink of an eye.
- Free Agent: There was a time in your life when you used to sell information to the highest bidder. Your acts were unsanctioned by any one organization, but you were connected enough to trade in secrets. Politics never mattered much to you until the information you sold wound up causing a ripple effect of harm that eventually destroyed the place you once called home.
- Informed: After years of cultivating a rich list of informants, one of those informants risked everything to expose the heinous plans of powerful individuals. You promised to protect your informant, but your agency left them hanging—literally. You cut ties with your employer and swore to always make good on your word.
- Spies and Lovers: While embedded in an undercover assignment, you fell for someone on the other side. They discovered you were a double agent, and though you insisted your feelings were real, the deceit cut too deep for your love interest to ignore. They exposed you, spurned you, or died because of their closeness to you.
- Turncoat: You spent your life in service of your country or an organization that upheld your values. During your undercover operations, you discovered everything you were told was a lie. Whether you confronted your superiors or were exposed, you were stripped of your service medals.
Warden
You protected a wild region from those who sought to harm it, such as poachers and cultists bent on the destruction of the natural world. Knowing your land well, you could also serve as a guide or the leader of a rescue party for those wandering the wilds. In defining your career, think about the following questions:
What environment did you protect? Were you part of a formal group of wardens, or did you take the job upon yourself? Which animal became your constant companion while you worked in the wild? What mysterious creature or wanderer did you meet in the forest, and what prophecy did they share with you?
You gain the following career benefits:
• Skills: Nature, plus one skill from the exploration skill group and one skill from the intrigue skill group
• Languages: One language
• Project Points: 120
• Perk: One exploration perk
Inciting Incidents
- Betrayed: When outsiders arrived in your lands with the intent to exploit the wilds for their resources, you spoke out against them. However, several other wardens spoke in favor of these outsiders and allowed them in to despoil nature. Refusing to watch your homeland destroyed, you left. Now, you help others avoid such a fate.
- Corruption: A disease has infected the lands you protect, causing animals to become violent and twisting plants into something dark and sinister. You’ve tried everything, magical and mundane, to stop the scourge, but it continues to spread. As such, you’ve set out in search of a cure or an unblighted land to protect.
- Exiled: You made a mistake that could not be forgiven. The other wardens of the region decided your fate, exiling you from your lands with an order never to return.
- Honor the Fallen: A group of travelers arrived in your territory with trouble close on their heels. You fought alongside them to turn back the evil, but it was too much. The travelers fell, and your wilderness was forever altered. Though your lands are beyond saving, there are other lands you can help.
- Portents: There were signs. You tried to ignore them, but when a great beast died at your feet, you had to recognize the truth. You were meant to leave your home territory, meant to fight a battle for the fate of all lands—and so you gave up the only life you’ve ever known.
- Theft: You were responsible for guarding something precious, something vital to your region’s survival. But you let someone in, and they betrayed your trust by stealing the thing you were meant to guard. You left your chosen territory to atone for your mistake.
Watch Officer
You served as an officer of the law for a local government. You might have been a single person in a much larger city watch or the only constable patrolling a small village. In defining your career, think about the following questions:
What type of settlement did you protect? What was your law enforcement style like? Were you a by-the-book officer, a more lenient but fair type, or totally corrupt? What criminal still eludes your grasp to this day? Whose life did you save in the line of duty? What is the most absurd call you ever responded to, and how did you handle it?
You gain the following career benefits:
• Skills: Alertness, plus two skills from the intrigue skill group
• Languages: Two languages
• Perk: One exploration perk
Inciting Incidents
- Bigger Fish: You grew bored and disillusioned with chasing down petty thieves and imprisoning folks just trying to survive. Surely, there are greater threats in the world. You will find that evil wherever it may lurk, and you’ll be the one to stop it.
- Corruption Within: You joined the force to help the helpless and bring justice to those wronged. You weren’t prepared for the rampant corruption reaching the top of your organization. You refused to cover for your fellow officers and were told in no simple terms to leave town or face the consequences. Now, you travel as a hired sword, acting as the protector you always wanted to be.
- Frame Job: Your partner was murdered. That much is irrefutable. But you didn’t do it, despite what the evidence implies. When it became clear you’d take the fall, you fled, leaving everything behind. Not content to cower in the shadows, you decided to live under a new name while you work to clear your own.
- Missing Mentor: You learned everything you know about the job from someone you always looked up to in a corrupt organization. One night, they sent you a cryptic message saying they had discovered “something big,” but before you found out more, they disappeared. No longer sure who you could trust, you slipped away and sought a new life. Now, you do what good you can and search to find the truth.
- One That Got Away: A particularly violent or depraved criminal began targeting you—perhaps stealing something personal or hurting someone you love—after slipping through your grasp. You left your career to pursue the criminal, but the trail has gone cold … for now. Might as well help folks in the meantime.
- Powerful Enemies: You made it your responsibility to root out and bring down the region’s foremost crime syndicate. They sent goons to burn down your home and teach you a lesson, leaving you bleeding in the street with nothing left except your life. You’ve since taken on a new life to gain the power and influence you need to destroy the syndicate once and for all.
That is all for this week. Let me know what you think in the comments below! Next time, we'll review my changes and tweaks to kits and complications!