UPDATE: The partial backgrounds found in this article are a preview. They are fully available as a Pay What You Want product on the DMs Guild in a pretty PDF with art and 13 other ready to roll backgrounds.

They’re baaaaaaaack. I’ve already shown you the demolitions expert and harvester from the Exploration Age Campaign Guide. Now it’s time to show off a two more backgrounds I designed for my players to use at my table that will also be in the book – the farmer and the tinkerer.

Farmer

Bonus points if you can ID the mini of which this reminds me.

You have worked the land and hand-raised livestock from birth to feed the mouths of many. As a farmer, you woke up before the sun and came in from working the fields after it set. You have left behind a mundane life to seek adventure for thrill or fame or fortune. Work with your DM to determine the types of livestock and crops you had on your farm. It might have been pigs and corn, or perhaps you raised deep rothe and mushrooms in The Underdark.

Skill Proficiencies: Animal Handling, Nature

Tool Proficiencies: Vehicles (land)

Languages: One of your choice

Equipment: A relative’s recipe for homemade stew, an iron pot, 50 feet of hempen rope, 2 gp worth of trade goods (your choice), a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch with 10 gp.

Tinkerer

I came to tink.

You have crafted mechanical marvels and improved existing technologies. You know that nothing in this world is perfect and everything could be improved. You’re often the one finding ways to improve them. You might have a workshop filled with categorically organized projects and plans, or just a crate filled with random, half-complete inventions you’ll get to someday. Whatever the case, you know the best way to make a mark is to leave a lot of physical things behind which others appreciate.

Skill Proficiencies: Arcana, Investigation

Tool Proficiencies: One type of artisan’s tools, mechs

Equipment: A set of artisan’s tools (one of your choice), a bottle of black ink, a quill, a puzzle-box containing the plans to your next creation, parchment, a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp.

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Comments
  1. joelastowski says:

    You do realize that the Backstreet Boys are going to be in my head all day now. Darned title…

    Oh, and that’s my favorite commoner mini, the pig farmer: http://www.coolminiornot.com/pics/pics13/img4882dc0177754.jpg

    What skill would you use for farming? Athletics? Nature? Medicine? Looking at the Farmer’s proficiencies, I got to thinking about that. You could make “plows” or “farm implements” a tool type, but they really wouldn’t have any practical purpose in the game, and would just be fluff. Maybe Herbalist tools? Just throwing ideas out.

    And I’d really like to see the tinkerer matched with something other than a gnome… how would an elvish tinkerer differ in approach from a dragonborn one? I know where my spare thoughts will be going today.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Love that pig farmer mini!

      I feel like probably nature, though farming is one of those things that is also about the amount of work one has to do. So it may not require a check as much as it requires a bunch of time?

      I agree! Gnome tinkerers are cool, but other people are allowed to play too!

      Liked by 1 person

  2. Jon Bupp says:

    Wonderful! A few more to add to my collection!

    Liked by 1 person

  3. Thanks! However, with all the writing and podcasting, do you ever sleep?

    Liked by 1 person

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