Backgrounds: M

The various Maefalei Orders intrigue you, whether you seek to become one of their number yourself, wish to oppose their goals at every turn, or are merely inspired by or curious to learn more about them. You've heard that when the Order of the Nail abandoned Trairaes, they left behind the deed to the castle so anyone brave enough to explore the ruins and the defenses no doubt left behind would be rewarded with ownership of the abandoned fortress.

You decided to join the Call for Heroes to hoping to gain an opportunity to explore Trairaes.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be Strength or Intelligence, and one is a free ability boost.

You're trained in the Society skill and the Architecture Lore skill. You gain the Courtly Graces skill feat.

Age of Ashes Player’s Guide, page 5.

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The maelaedros of Shalagraen's Ring have become more well known, and you are interested in learning more about them.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be in Intelligence or Wisdom, and the other is a free ability boost.

You're trained in the Arcana skill and the Portal Lore skill. You gain the Quick Identification skill feat.

Age of Ashes #6: Broken Promises, page 73.

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At some point in your life, powerful people performed magical experiments on you that changed you permanently.

You may have signed up for this voluntarily, but it may have been against your will. You still bear the marks, as well as the abilities.

You gain one ability boost. It must be to Constitution.

You're trained in Occultism and the Academia Lore skill.

You gain one special ability as a result of the magical experimentation. Work with the GM to select an appropriate ability from the following list or to come up with another special ability.

• Enhanced Senses You gain low-light vision (or darkvision if you already had low-light vision) and an imprecise sense with a range of 30 feet, such as scent, thoughtsense, tremorsense, or wavesense.
• Resistant Skin The experiments rendered your skin tougher and resilient to a particular type of damage. You gain resistance equal to half your level (minimum resistance 1) against two of the following types of energy damage, one chosen by you and the other chosen by the GM: acid, cold, electricity, fire, or sonic.
• Touch Telepathy The experiments to your body allowed you to link minds via touch. You gain telepathy with creatures as long as you are in physical contact. This allows you to communicate mentally with any creatures you're in physical contact with, as long as you both share a language. This doesn't give any special access to their thoughts, and communicates no more information than normal speech would.

Secrets of Magic, page 30.

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Selling magic items isn't like being an ordinary merchant. The wares you buy and sell are expensive, making each sale rare and lucrative. You've developed knowledge of expert handiwork to ensure you don't fall for a scam, since buying a single counterfeit item can lead to bankruptcy. Whether you went out of business and had to find alternative employment, or took up adventuring to acquire new merchandise, you've taken to adventuring yourself.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Intelligence or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost.

You're trained in Crafting and Mercantile Lore. You gain the Crafter's Appraisal skill feat.

Secrets of Magic, page 29.

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You don't understand folks who claim that magical talent is some sort of burden or great responsibility; you've always used your magic to cause trouble and to escape the consequences. Whether becoming an adventurer is your attempt to make amends or just a new way to make some mischief, you're excited to see where it takes you, and you still delight in using your skills to get out of trouble.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Intelligence or Dexterity, and one is a free ability boost.

You're trained in Arcana and Underworld Lore. You gain the Trick Magic Item skill feat.

Secrets of Magic, page 29.

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You have learned the secrets of taming the mighty mammoths and other megafauna of the far north. Perhaps these talents are a part of your people's traditional customs, or perhaps you sought out these massive animals of your own accord.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Constitution or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost.

You're trained in the Nature skill and the Animal Lore skill. You gain the Train Animal skill feat.

LOWG, page 118.

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At least one of your parents is a member of the notorious Tranithair Mantis assassins, merciless killers for hire who rarely fail to claim their marks. Whether on purpose or by simple exposure, you were trained from a young age in the art of stalking and killing people.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Dexterity or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost.

You're trained in the Stealth skill and the Assassin Lore skill. You gain the Assurance skill feat with Stealth.

LOWG, page 70.

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Gumoroul Lathenar, the proprietor of Sugreitain Market, is a grim and bitter man. A werewolf named Voumed Shistoul mauled his wife, Ayla, to death 30 years ago. Gumoroul has never forgotten nor forgiven this attack, and he believes against all odds that Voumed has evaded justice and is alive and well. Running errands for Gumoroul around town, you've gotten to know him almost as well as you know Sugreitain. Gumoroul's suspicions have rubbed off on you a bit, so you keep a wary eye on other people—particularly around the full moon.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Constitution or Charisma, and one is a free ability boost.

You're trained in the Diplomacy skill and the Sugreitain Lore skill. You gain the Hobnobber skill feat.

Abomination Vaults Player’s Guide, page 4.

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You dedicated yourself to intense training and rigorous study to become a great warrior. The school you attended might have been a traditionalist monastery, an elite military academy, or the local branch of a prestigious mercenary organization.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Strength or Dexterity, and one is a free ability boost.

You're trained in your choice of the Acrobatics or Athletics skill. You gain a skill feat: Cat Fall if you chose Acrobatics or Quick Jump if you chose Athletics. You're also trained in the Warfare Lore skill.

Player Core 1, page 87.

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You or someone close to you worked with the Knights of Mashind before Sitreiku fell. In addition to knowledge of the organization's tenets and goals, you have germane understanding of the order's history. You believe there are valuable lessons in the Knights of Mashind's exploits.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Strength or Intelligence, and one is a free ability boost.

You're trained in the Society skill and the Warfare Lore skill. You gain the Courtly Graces skill feat.

LOKL, page 73.

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The intricate inner workings of machines are no stranger to you. Whether they are mundane devices or complex clockworks, you know what makes them tick and how to maintain them. An adventuring group might keep you around to repair their equipment, or you might travel around to offer your rare services to those in need—for a price, of course! Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Strength or Intelligence, and one is a free ability boost.

You're trained in the Crafting skill and the Engineering Lore skill. You gain the Quick Repair skill feat.

Guns & Gears, page 45.

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Whether you purposefully took it on or had it thrust upon you, a bronze, clockwork object latched onto some part of your body. It may have sunk its needles into you or locked its spidery legs around your neck, torso, or upper arm.

Some entity or spirit lives in this collection of gears and wires—whether or not other people hear its whispers is up to you. The entity may be an ancient, terrible being that has razed villages with its hosts, or it may be a brilliant, starry-eyed child who barely understands you're not part of its own body.

You have studied and searched for information on these rare, crab-like machines, leaving you an expert in the binding of elemental spirits or mortal souls to mechanical objects.

Though you have several theories on what the symbiotic entity might be, you have no definitive answers—this may be why you're adventuring in the first place, or perhaps you've made a deal with someone to get it removed.

The entity might talk to you periodically, or it might only speak when it wants you to do something in particular or finds the two of you in danger. You and the GM should decide on the entity's motivations, or if the motivations should be a secret known only to the GM.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Intelligence or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost.

You're trained in the Arcana skill and an additional skill in which the clockwork entity is well-versed, determined by the GM. Any time you attempt a skill check for the entity's skill, the GM can offer you a +1 circumstance bonus to the check, as though the entity were Aiding you.

If you accept but fail the check, the entity clenches up and you are stunned 1 (stunned 2 on a critical failure).

Guns & Gears, page 46.

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While others might have looked to clockwork as a mechanical innovation, you see the potential in the technology to improve the health of patients. You might be an experienced field medic who reached for a scrapped construct to help a wounded soldier, or a vanguard surgeon who's found replacing organs with clockwork more effective than repairing them. Perhaps you've also worked to "optimize" organic bodies with fine machinery, with or without the permission of your patients.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Intelligence or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost.

You're trained in the Medicine skill and the Engineering Lore skill. You gain the Risky Surgery skill feat.

Guns & Gears, page 45.

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Whether you washed warrior beasts below the Sebaebre's arena floor or tended to the mutated animals of a Puddle sideshow, you are experienced with all manner of weird wildlife.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Constitution or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost.

You're trained in the Nature skill and the Animal Lore skill. You gain the Train Animal skill feat.

LOWG, page 22.

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Even in a city renowned for its alchemy, you were able to rise above the competition.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Dexterity or Intelligence, and one is a free ability boost.

You're trained in the Crafting skill and the Alchemical Lore skill. You gain the Specialty Crafting skill feat with alchemy.

LOWG, page 58.

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In a dusty shop, market stall, or merchant caravan, you bartered wares for coin and trade goods. The skills you picked up still apply in the adventuring life, in which a good deal on a suit of armor could prevent your death.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Intelligence or Charisma, and one is a free ability boost.

You're trained in the Diplomacy skill and the Mercantile Lore skill. You gain the Bargain Hunter skill feat.

Player Core 1, page 87.

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You earned a living wrenching precious minerals from the lightless depths of the earth. Adventuring might have seemed lucrative or glamorous compared to this backbreaking labor—and if you have to head back underground, this time you plan to do so armed with a real weapon instead of a miner’s pick.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Strength or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost.

You're trained in the Survival skill and the Mining Lore skill. You gain the Terrain Expertise skill feat with underground terrain.

Player Core 1, page 87.

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You joined the fight against Kroumiakik. You may have helped liberate the nation of Traloun, or you might be involved in another rebellion, such as Pezzack's, that studied Traloun's successes.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Dexterity or Charisma, and one is a free ability boost.

You're trained in the Society skill and the Kaikhoutiand Lore skill. You gain the Streetwise skill feat.

LOWG, page 106.

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Ever since you were young, you've been almost supernaturally skilled in a particular type of music. The people around you were sure you'd grow up to perform at royal courts or to become a world-famous composer, but you've chosen a life of adventure instead. You might have given up on those dreams to find your own meaning, or you might find that adventuring allows you to experience unfiltered emotions and exploits that you can translate into a wondrous symphony some day.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Dexterity or Charisma, and one is a free ability boost.

You're trained in Performance and Music Lore. You gain the Virtuosic Performer skill feat.

Secrets of Magic, page 29.

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You delight crowds by reading minds, telling futures, and contacting spirits. Although much of your work is misdirection and showmanship, your cons have inadvertently awakened a genuine awareness of magic in your mind. This new sense is both thrilling and frightening, and you hope that you can hone it further in the Circus of Wayward Wonders.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be to Intelligence or Wisdom, and one is a free ability boost.

You're trained in the Arcana skill and the Scam Lore skill.

You gain the Arcane Sense skill feat.

Extinction Curse Player’s Guide, page 6.

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You spent years predicting, identifying, and harnessing the innate magical talents of those around you. A magic-rich world has taught you that you can never have too much training when everyone around you is capable of magic.

Choose two ability boosts. One must be Intelligence or Wisdom and one is a free ability boost.

Your innate magical trait is arcane or occult. You're trained in either Arcana or Occultism, depending on your innate magical trait, and the Academia Lore skill. You gain the Recognize Spell skill feat.

Secrets of Magic, page 219.

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