The career you were trained to pursue

ALTHOUGH LORD DRAKEWYN DECLARED adventuring an honorable occupation, it’s not exactly a profession. You don’t sign up for adventurer school or train as a hero’s apprentice—not at first, anyhow. More likely, you did something a bit more practical before you embraced the adventurer’s life.

Your background represents that past life. It’s a chapter of the story that defines who you are and helps to explain the way you think and your personality. It also serves as fodder for writing your backstory. Do you have friends from your old life who might be available to help you out in a pinch? Did you make enemies that haven’t forgotten you, even though you’ve moved on? Are there particular accomplishments, or perhaps failures, that stick with you to this day?

Aetaltis puts a lot of emphasis on the story your back- ground tells, but in game terms, backgrounds are the same as in the standard Fifth Edition ruleset. The background you select adds features, proficiencies, and equipment that help round out your character. Any Fifth Edition compatible background will work fine in an Aetaltis campaign.

What You Won’t Find
There is one main difference in the way Aetaltis uses backgrounds compared to the standard Fifth Edition rules: we don’t use the Personality Trait, Ideal, Bond, or Flaw. You’re still welcome to use these as inspiration if the background you’ve selected includes them. In Aetaltis, however, the combination of a character’s Culture, Background, and Calling should together provide enough inspiration to determine these characteristics.

Background Listing
The backgrounds found below are:
• Acolyte of Lensae A character who trained for a career in the clergy.
• Arcane Apprentice A student of the arcane arts expected to eventually become a wizard.
• Healer An individual trained as a non-magical healer.
• Noble (Agthorian) Those born into a noble family in Agthor.
• Noble (Freefolk) Those born into a noble family in the Free Kingdoms.
• Sailor (Calliosan) Seafarers who learned to ply the waves on Calliosan merchant vessels.
• Shopkeeper A character trained for a mercantile career.
• Spice Cutter Characters trained to work harvesting spices in the Zhamayen Jungle.
• Spiritguide Those who help the living and dead safely pass first to Numos and then Lensae.

Acolyte of Lensae
An acolyte of Lensae is a person training for the Lensaen priesthood. They are not full priests or priestesses yet, but the role of acolyte is the last step in their training. There is no formal amount of time one spends as an acolyte before ascension, but it typically lasts between five and ten years.

As an acolyte of Lensae, you were training to serve in a Temple of Lensae, one of the pantheonic temples where all Enaros are represented and worshiped. You studied the rituals and ceremonies of the temple, learned the ancient prayers, studied the Enaros and their avatars, and prepared for your eventual leadership role in the clergy.

Skill Proficiencies Insight, Religion
Languages Enooric (L) 87 Equipment A holy symbol of Lensae, a travel-sized Lensaen prayer book, acolyte’s robes, a portable altar, and 10 sp
Wealth Die d4

Feature: Ordained
You left your studies to pursue the life of an adventurer, but unless you were cast out of the temple you retain the right to perform all the lesser sacred ceremonies of the Enaros. You can lead penitents in prayer, perform sacrifices on behalf of others, and execute the lesser rites such as naming ceremonies and marriages.

Feature: Sacred Shelter
An acolyte of Lensae in good standing with the clergy is granted a bed and meal at any temple upon request. This is limited only by the temple’s ability to provide these boons, although even the poorest temples will attempt to fulfill their duty. In turn, an acolyte who wishes to retain their good standing is expected to use this right sparingly and only as needed.

Arcane Apprentice
You studied the arcane arts as the apprentice of an experienced arcane spellcaster. Unlike students of the arcane who attend magical colleges, where the education is formal and academic, your training was hands-on and practical. You saw with your own eyes how magic impacts the world around us, discovered the secrets of how essence interacts with everyday objects, and learned to see magic through the eyes of an Aetaltan commoner.

Each arcane apprentice has a unique experience. Some study under amateur hedge mages—spellcasters unaffiliated with any circle or college who wander from town to town offering their services for a bit of food, a few pieces of silver, and a place to stay for the night. Other apprentices work with formally trained wizards who left academia behind— either by choice or by compulsion—and today conduct private research in remote towers.

Prerequisite Arcane spellcaster class
Skill Proficiencies Arcana, History
Specializations Magic theory
Languages You are literate in all languages you speak
Equipment Apprentice’s hooded robe, spell component belt, 5 pieces of chalk, 5 wax candles, 10 sparksticks, and 10 sp
Wealth Die d6

Feature: Mastered Cantrip
You have mastered the casting of a single cantrip. This is the first spell your master taught you, and you have cast it so many times that today you can cast it without even thinking. Select one of your cantrips. You never need to make a spellcasting roll when casting that spell.

Feature: Mastered Spell
This spell was your teacher’s favorite. They taught you a number of secret tricks and techniques that make it especially easy to cast this spell. Select one of your 1st level spells. Whenever you make a spellcasting roll to cast that spell, you gain advantage on the roll.

Healer
As a healer you are skilled in the use of herbs, prayers, rituals, and talismans to treat simple injuries and to cure common illnesses. There aren’t many small settlements lucky enough to have a cleric in residence, but every village has a healer. Many healers perform their craft in addition to some other occupation, not as their sole profession.

Most of your techniques are based on wisdom passed down through the generations. Your methods are a mix of superstition, religion, hedge magic, and science. As a result, sometimes your treatments help and sometimes they don’t, but it’s better than nothing when someone needs help.

Skill Proficiencies Medicine
Tool Proficiencies Healer’s Kit
Equipment A healer’s kit, a metal hand mirror, a robe, a plague mask, a potion of healing, five applications of your signature cure, and 10 sp
Wealth Die d4

Feature: Wound Care
During a short rest, you may provide basic care for your companions’ wounds. A successful DC 15 Wisdom (Heal- er’s Kit) check will heal 1d4 points of damage. You may only treat an individual once per short rest, but you may treat a number of different individuals during the short rest up to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1).

Feature: Signature Cure
You have a particular talisman, potion, or ritual you absolutely swear by for curing all manner of ills. Perhaps it’s a stinking poultice you’ve seen cure everything from ulcers to burns, or maybe it’s a particular talisman design that you’re certain brings luck to everyone who wears one. You decide what your signature cure is, and it is up to the gamemaster to determine how real its effects are.

Noble (Agthorian)
Born into Agthor’s ruling class you grew up among the nobility. You enjoyed all the benefits of wealth and power, from always having enough to eat to receiving an exemplary education from the finest teachers. Yours was a life of wants, not of needs.

With these advantages came responsibility. You owed unwavering loyalty to the higher-ranking noble to whom your family pledged their allegiance. To those beneath you, you were expected to provide order, leadership, and security. You may have even been called to war by your lord or lady, forced to the battlefield for the good of the greater kingdom.

The question you must answer is, why did you leave this life behind? Did you fail to take your responsibilities seriously and found yourself cast out of Agthor’s upper class? Or perhaps you were so far down the line of inheritance your future offered little more than comfort and duty.

Prerequisites Agthorian culture
Skill Proficiencies Animal Handling, Persuasion
Specializations Riding
Languages You are literate in all languages you can speak
Equipment An Agthorian noble’s outfit, a cloak, a signet ring, wealthy leather riding gloves, and 25 sp
Wealth Die d10

Feature: Duty
Members of the nobility have a number of duties and responsibilities. In all things you are held to a higher standard than the common people, and your punishments for break- ing the law or even transgressing on social norms are more serious than for a person of lower birth. In addition, you are expected to answer the call to war and raise an army at your own expense if your liege commands.

Feature: Foreign Dignitary
When traveling outside of your homeland, you are a representative of a foreign power. Your actions reflect directly on your home country, and any behavior that reflects poorly on your country will be severely punished on your return. At the same time, your status may open doors among foreign nobles—assuming they are on good terms with your people.

Feature: High Profile
From your mannerisms to your wealth, you stand out in a crowd. Lower class citizens of any culture will recognize you for what you are, and they are unlikely to forget you, whether you interacted with them directly or not.

Feature: Right to Bear Arms
As a member of the nobility, you have the right to own martial military gear and use them as you see fit anywhere in Agthor. This includes, but is not limited to, heavy armor, broadsword, and lance. You may purchase such equipment without special permission, and you may carry a sword in public at your pleasure.

Feature: Valuable Hostage
An enemy that recognizes you as a member of the nobility will view you as a valuable hostage. Rather than attempting to kill you, they will want to capture you alive so they may ransom you back to your family. Unfortunately, this also makes you a prime target for bandits and kidnappers.

Noble (Free Kingdoms)
In your youth, one of your parents or an appointed guard- ian stood at a high tower window with you, pointed to the surrounding countryside, and told you "Someday, all this will be yours." Unlike most people in the Free Kingdoms, you were born with the hereditary right to land, power, and wealth. As a noble of the Free Kingdoms you are entitled to all the privilege of your class—but only if you and your family can hold onto it.

Perhaps you come from one of the founding families and enjoy a storied lineage of famous monarchs and victorious warriors. Or maybe your family boldly seized their noble destiny through war, marriage, or deceit in the more recent past, building a new kingdom up from nothing.

The reasons a Free Kingdoms noble might set out on the path to adventure are many and varied. Some wish to achieve glory through adventuring as a way to increase their standing back home or to prove that they are best suited to inherit their parents’ power when the time comes. Others see adventuring as a way to develop the skills and talents needed to achieve victory in the wars that regularly ravage the countryside. Still others grew tired of the noble life and seek something more real than the lies and deceit of the courts.

Prerequisites Freefolk culture
Skill Proficiencies Animal Handling, Intimidation Specializations Riding
Equipment A Freefolk noble’s outfit, a cloak, a signet ring, wealthy leather gloves, and 15 sp
Wealth Die d8

Feature: Fealty
You have pledged fealty to a higher-ranking noble. You hold your rank and holdings at their pleasure, and you are honor bound to obey their orders. It is expected that wherever you go, you defend their lands, their wealth, and their honor with your life if needed.

Feature: Foreign Dignitary
When traveling outside of your homeland, you are a representative of a foreign power. Your actions reflect directly on your home country, and any behavior that reflects poorly on your country will be severely punished on your return. At the same time, your status may open doors among for-
eign nobles—assuming they are on good terms with your people.

Feature: High Profile
From your mannerisms to your wealth, you stand out in a crowd. Lower class citizens of any culture will recognize you for what you are, and they are unlikely to forget you, whether you interacted with them directly or not.

Feature: Right to Bear Arms
As a member of the nobility, you have the right to own martial military gear and use them as you see fit anywhere in the Free Kingdoms. This includes, but is not limited to, heavy armor, broadsword, and lance. You may purchase such equipment without special permission, and you may carry a sword in public at your pleasure.

Feature: Right of Satisfaction
Honor is extremely important to the people of the Free Kingdoms, and a slight to the honor of a noble person or their family demands satisfaction. The aggrieved party may demand a specific type or amount of redress, although the offender may negotiate with the aggrieved party. The most notorious form of redress, and the default form of satisfaction if another resolution cannot be agreed upon, is to challenge the other party to a duel. Nobles of the Free Kingdoms are honor bound to participate in such a duel or risk an even greater loss of honor and standing.

Sailor (Calliosan)
Before you joined the ranks of Aetaltis’s adventurers, you made your living plying the waves of the Amethyst Sea. In your youth, you signed up to serve as crew aboard one of the many merchant vessels sailing out of Callios. Perhaps your ship ran the coastline, moving goods between the city-states, or maybe you crewed one of the long-haul ships, following the clockwise current that runs round the Ame- thyst Sea.

As a sailor, you’ve met your share of unsavory scoundrels and hard-edged ne’er-do-wells. You’ve learned language as salty as the sea and experienced the many pleasures the world offers in more ports of call than you can count. At the same time, you know what it means to be part of a team, where every person looks out for every other, and you know when a team pulls together, they can accomplish anything.

Languages Ship’s Signals (Flags and Lamp), Calliosan or Common (select one)
Skill Proficiencies Acrobatics, Athletics
Tool Proficiencies Sailing Ships
Specializations Nautical navigation
Equipment A sea chest, a sailor’s outfit, a sailor’s lantern, a bottle of Red Coral, a wood mess kit, a compass, and 5 sp
Wealth Die d4

Feature: Sea Legs
You move about the decks of ships with ease. The rock and sway, even in stormy seas, don’t impede you at all. You treat the decks of ships as normal terrain, even if a rolling sea might make it difficult terrain for others.

Shopkeeper
Before your life as an adventurer, you were a humble shop- keeper. Each morning, you raised the shutters, swept the walk, and set out your wares in preparation for the daily rush of eager shoppers. You haggled and traded, weighed coins, stocked the shelves, and otherwise worked to turn a healthy profit selling your chosen products.

Over the years, you honed your ability to size up a customer at a glance, convince hesitant buyers to hand over their hard-earned silver, and make personal connections with people from all walks of life. You also mastered the ins and outs of owning a small business, as well as how to navigate the endless red tape of both guild and governmental bureaucracies.

Skill Proficiencies Insight, Persuasion Specializations Appraisal, Haggle
Languages Common (L)
Equipment A merchant’s outfit, a portable scale and weights, a wired purse, a hand cart, and 40 sp worth of trade goods
Wealth Die d6

Feature: Non-Verbal Trading
Over the course of your career, you ran into your share of shoppers who didn’t speak your language. As a result, you’ve perfected the skill of trading with others, even if you do not speak their language. In simple trades with others whose language you don’t speak, you can haggle as effectively as if you spoke and understood their language.

Spice Cutter
Unlike most people who take up the spice cutter’s trade, you somehow escaped the life. Before the moment when you finally secured your freedom, you combed the foliage-choked floor of the Zhamayen Jungle searching for the blooms, roots, nuts, and fruit used to make the fabled Calliosan spices.

Most spice cutters are indentured servants of the spice trading companies that employ them. Your freedom from their control makes you a special case. Perhaps you showed the forethought to squirrel away every spare coin until you could buy your way free from their control. Or maybe you fled, leaving your masters, and your unpaid debt, behind.

There is also the question of what sort of spice you were harvesting. Did you harvest the well-known and highly sought-after spices used by chefs around the Amethyst Sea to flavor their dishes? Or did you hunt for the other type of spices, the kinds in demand for their mind-altering effects that are illegal (or at least highly frowned upon) in most of the kingdoms in the Amethyst Sea basin?

Prerequisites Spicer culture
Skill Proficiencies Perception, Survival
Tool Proficiencies Spice Knife
Specializations Jungle environment, spice plants Languages Calliosan (Spicer) or Common
Equipment A spicer’s outfit, three tattoos, a pair of dice, and 5 sp
Wealth Die d4

Feature: Spice Tolerance
Even if they harvest culinary spices, every spicer is exposed to the other variety. This exposure makes you more resistant to spice and alcohol. When making a Constitution saving throw to resist the negative effects of spice or alcohol, you have advantage.

Feature: Spicers’ Bond
Spicers form tight-knit bonds that are not easily broken. As far as other spicers are concerned, you are, and forever will be, a spicer. This means that you automatically have the trust and aid of other spicers you meet, something you may find useful as you travel to new lands where you know no one and have few friends. Of course, you owe the same in return to other spicers you meet.

Feature: Squirrel Away
To avoid losing your coin or to pocket some spice on the side, you learned a trick for squirreling away a tiny object on your person in a way that makes it extremely difficult to find. If you are stripped of your possessions, robbed, or searched you can make a Dexterity (Stealth) check as a reaction to stash a single tiny item on your person so it isn’t found.

Spiritguide
As a spiritguide, you perform the last rites that guide spirits of the dead to Numos. Without the blessings and spiritual intervention of a spiritguide, a spirit might struggle to find its way to Numos, become lost during the journey, or worst of all, run afoul of a practitioner of dark magic. The spiritguide’s rites also secure the body against being used to create undead.

Although spiritguides are instrumental in guiding spirits on to their eternal rest in the Halls of Lensae, you are not part of a religious order. This is due to the prohibition on communion with spirits outside of one’s immediate family by the lyceums. Although you do not actually commune with the spirit during the rite, the act of providing guidance to a spirit is murky territory and thus, is generally regarded as taboo among the clergy.

Skill Proficiencies Religion
Tool Proficiencies Spiritguide’s Kit
Languages Enooric
Equipment A spiritguide’s kit, a spiritguide’s staff, 10 blocks of incense, a metal incense burner, a flask of holy water, and 20 sp
Wealth Die d4

Feature: Rite of Passage and Purification
You perform the ancient Rite of Passage and Purification that guides spirits to their eternal rest and wards the body against being used to create undead. At least 20% of the de- ceased person’s body is required to perform the rite proper- ly. Less than this and any associated checks to perform the rite have disadvantage.

After the rite is performed, neither the body nor the spirit of the individual may be used to create a bound undead, although the body may be used to create an animated undead. It is impossible to raise or resurrect an individual who has had the rite performed on their body.

You may perform this action over the period of a short rest. You may perform the rite simultaneously on a number of dead individuals up to your Wisdom modifier (minimum of 1). At the end of the rite, you must succeed at a DC 10 Wisdom (Religion) check. If the check fails, it means something has already interfered with the spirit or spirits of the deceased. The rite fails and may not be attempted again.

Feature: Last Wish
You may discover the last wish of a deceased person as long as the Rite of Passage and Purification has not been performed. You must concentrate uninterrupted for a full minute while in direct contact with the body of the deceased. At the end of that time, the gamemaster reveals the departed’s last wish. The communication of the last wish is a one-way sharing of information presented in the form of visions and emotions. It is up to the gamemaster to determine how much detail is provided and whether the last wish has any relevance to you or your adventure.