Classes as Backgrounds

Xanathar's Guide to Everything arrived this week at the start of Thanksgiving break, and I have been going through it pretty intensively. In general, I like this format for non-core rulebooks: it sounds better than Players' Handbook II, and substantively, it has a more experimental feel to it. Rather than saying "rush out and buy your copy so that you can incorporate all the new official rules into your game", the conceit of a monster's thoughts on different character types and aspects of the world frames the offerings in a more playful way, presenting different ideas and variants that you could take or leave, and that stimulate thinking about changes you can introduce into your own games.

Xanathar's Guide isn't perfect. Without getting into the DM's section (which I haven't read yet), I feel that several questionable decisions were made when the player's section was put together. Four archetypes from the Sword Coast's Adventurer's Guide were included in the new book with virtually no changes. This was not done to ensure that all of the archetypes not in the Players' Handbook could be found in one place, because there are eight specializations that are not included (so if you are being accepting of all published variants, you still have to lug the SCAG with you). The reason for reprinting four variants in the new book has more to do with the fact that not a sufficiently large number of variants published in freely available Unearthed Arcanas over the last two years received a sufficiently high fan rating, and their place was taken by the more popular SCAG subclasses.  Some of the offerings seem overpowered - especially the Rogue Inquisitive, which is popular precisely because it allows you to play a constantly backstabbing Sherlock Holmes. Some, like the Monster Slayer Ranger, seem redundant - isn't slaying monsters already what the Hunter Ranger does?

But on the whole, most of the class options are well done, and those that went through two iterations before making it onto the pages of this new book definitely benefited from playtesting, criticism, and editing - a lot of the rewritten features are much crisper, clearer, and more flavorful than the early prototypes. However, what stood out most for me were the flavor tables that introduced each class. These tables allow players to generate (or choose) backstory options relating to the person who trained or patronized them, icons that symbolize them, places that serve as their base prior to the start of their adventuring life, and so on. In a later section, a series of tables list options for why a character chose to enter a particular class. These are all very much optional offerings, and are unnecessary for good players who are motivated to come up with detailed backstories. But they do kindle the imagination and make it easy even for middling players to come up with interesting histories for their characters. They also help situate characters in the world, and provide more evidence that classes are not just bags of mechanics, but real social entities in game settings.

Since I have engaged in numerous discussions about the last point over the last several years, I thought it only right that I should rewrite these "class as background" options for my Lukomorye setting, since it differs somewhat from the standard fantasy setting assumed in D&D splatbooks. I have certainly borrowed heavily from the options in Xanathar's in some instances, but largely ignored them in others to emphasize the social over the purely personal. I'll probably rework some of these and make them a bit more descriptive before putting them into my own Players' Guide, but I like these as a first pass.

Lukomorye Class Backgrounds

Bards:


Typical Performance Spaces:

1. Churches
2. Boyar/merchant feast circuit
3. Princely palaces
4. The street/markets
5. Taverns/hostels
6. Villages/the road

Main Instrument:

1. Gusli (zither)
2. Gudok (viol)
3. Flute/horn/kuvykly (pan pipes)
4. Domra (mandolin)
5. Percussion (drum, tambourine, rattle, etc.)
6. Vocals

Biggest Failure/humiliation

1. Whistled down by people for poor performance
2. Performance disaster (fire, animal attack, etc.)
3. Beaten down by authorities for lewdness/profanity
4. Chased away by notable for insult
5. Defeated in a musical contest by rival
6. Lost a public bet/failed to live up to a boast

Muse:

1. Saint/pagan deity
2. Hero/companions
3. Rival/enemy
4. Paramour (generally high-born, dead, or otherwise unattainable)
5. Common people
6. Nechist' ('unclean' nature spirit)/other monster

Bogatyrs:

Origin of might:

1. Visit of holy people to home
2. Inherited at birth from superhuman ancestor
3. Fell into vat of a potion of superhuman strength
4. Awakened from magical sleep without memory of past life
5. Granted power from consuming a magical draught/food
6. Granted powers by monstrous/wondrous creature

Prominent physical feature:

1. Booming voice
2. Thunderous gait
3. Very long hair/beard/hirsuite
4. Pronounced feature (very large hands, very blue eyes, etc.)
5. Very strong smell
6. Intense gaze/radiant smile

Mission:

1. Glory
2. Defense of the Realm/people
3. Justice
4. Specific duty (slaying a monster, finding an item, etc.)
5. Service of God/gods
6. Revenge

Heroic Flaw:

1. Boasting
2. Bloodlust
3. Envy
4. Gluttony/drunkenness/lust
5. Stubborn/narrow-minded
6. Issues with authority

Druids (volkhvy):

Temple:

1. Bathhouse
2. Barn/granary
3. Thunderstone
4. Cave/grotto
5. Enclosure with standing stones in woods
6. Covered wooden shrine (usually hidden)

Cover (to remain hidden from authorities):

1. Hermit
2. Healer
3. Shepherd/animal whisperer
4. Communal elder
5. Artificer (smith, potter, weaver, etc.)
6. None - openly challenging authorities

Secret:

1. An astrological sign betokening a god's return/disaster
2. Compromising knowledge about an authority figure
3. Knowledge of birth of a great hero/prince
4. Location of mystical item/landscape feature
5. Location of portal to Otherworld
6. Vision of own doom

Circle contact/mentor:

1. Voice in a dream (maybe spirit of dead ancestor)
2. An ancient crone or hermit
3. A family member
4. A local notable
5. A nechist' creature
6. A shapeshifter

Fighters:

Training Company:

1. Peasant self-defense force
2. Town militia
3. Company of princely or boyar servitors
4. Local fighting society
5. Guard for travelers/caravans
6. Raider/brigand/criminal enforcer

Company Tradition:

1. Marching song
2. Clothing article or other marking (headband, face paint, etc.)
3. Honor code
4. Unit legend
5. Slang
6. Hazing ritual

Unit type/position in unit:

1. Point/anchor
2. Tactician
3. Support/specialist (archer, siege engineer, etc.)
4. Quartermaster (in charge of supplies)
5. Heart of the unit (mediator/peacemaker)
6. Auxiliary/skirmisher

Fools:

Foolish conceit:

1. Easily distracted
2. Talks to self/disembodied voices
3. Credulous/apparently credulous
4. Tells long, pointless stories
5. Lazy malingerer
6. Disgusting or weird personal habit (nosepicking, incessant laughter, etc.)

Cravings:

1. Sweets/food
2. Drink
3. Nice clothes
4. Cute animals
5. Praise
6. Fast movement (on vehicle, horseback, etc.)

Special possessions:

1. Garish outfit
2. Cheap object you are convinced is magical
3. Bag of useless items
4. Toy (doll, rattle, etc.)
5. Book or text fool can't read
6. Improvised weapon/armor (pot, broom, etc.)

Priests:

Reason for entering the Church:

1. Family business
2. Best career option
3. Heard a voice
4. Promised God to do so after near-death experience
5. Atonement for past sins
6. Witnessed a miracle

Service:

1. Rural parish (White clergy)
2. Urban neighborhood church or monastery (either)
3. Wilderness monastery (Black clergy)
4. Ecclesiastical administrator (Black clergy)
5. Confessor attached to noble (either)
6. Diplomat/missionary (Black clergy)

Habits:

1. Expounding prophecy
2. Proselytism
3. Self-flagellation
4. Berating others/threatening fire-and-brimstone
5. Must always work (the devil makes work for idle hands)
6. Seeks the devil everywhere

Crises of Faith:

1. When faith conflicts with reason
2. When bad things happen to good people
3. When you are passed over for advancement/hurt
4. When you get away with sinning/succumb to temptation
5. When people who don't share your faith act righteously
6. Never (completely dogmatic)

Rangers:

Reason for becoming a ranger:

1. Desire for wealth, fame, and advancement
2. Service of boyar or prince
3. Called on as bringer/protector of civilization
4. Exile
5. Raised on the frontier
6. Seeking knowledge (possibly about own origins)

Views of the world:

1. You yearn for the sweet smoke of your fatherland
2. Your duty is to protect people from the terrors of the frontier
3. Settled lands must continue to expand to tame the frontier
4. Towns and villages are fine places to rest and carouse
5. The world beyond the frontier is soft, and no place for a hero
6. The frontier is honest, settled regions - corrupt

Attitudes toward favored enemies:

1. Respect - we are all just struggling to survive
2. Hatred - they must be crushed, so they can never threaten the world again
3. Disdain - they are worthy of humiliation whenever possible
4. Sympathy - kill only those that directly threaten you, protect the rest
5. Disinterest - it's a job - deal with them, and move on
6. Obligation - they will always be our enemies - it's part of the natural order

Rogues:

Reasons for becoming a rogue:

1. Village wiped out by plague, fire, famine, or raiders
2. Escaped slave, peon, or indebted scofflaw
3. Heathen whose home has been destroyed and people scattered
4. Demobilized soldier with no employ
5. Impoverished, non-inheriting noble
6. Second (or third, etc.) generation rogue

Lifestyle:

1. Beggar
2. Goon
3. Hustler
4. Gambler
5. Tavern regular
6. Libertine

Organization:

1. Goon in the employ of noble/VIP
2. Neighborhood/locale self-defense force
3. Unskilled worker 'craft guild'
4. Gang-member led by criminal ataman
5. Thief-in-law
6. Lone wolf

Secrets:

1. Ways to buy stolen/contraband goods
2. Compromising information on noble/VIP
3. Location of a treasure hoard
4. Location of rival gang hideout
5. Presence of (hidden?) monsters in locale
6. Way to sneak into town/citadel/stronghold

Sorcerers:

Physical Marks:

1. Extra digit/webbed hands/feet
2. Clubfoot/cloven hoof on one foot
3. Conspicuous birthmark
4. Vestigial tail/horns
5. Enlarged teeth/elongated maw
6. None (but born with a caul)

Awakening:

1. After adolescent illness
2. After bout of madness
3. During a sexual encounter
4. During violent/injurious incident
5. After drinking from mysterious pond/stream
6. Power imparted by other sorcerer (on deathbed)

Community response:

1. Shunned (unless services are needed)
2. Driven out (perhaps more than once)
3. Oblivious (you are good at hiding your gifts)
4. Accepted (community is in crisis/Church is far away)
5. Prophecy has made some powerful people seek you
6. You have a protector (for reasons that may not be clear)

Main activity:

1. Selling your services to villagers/townspeople
2. Living alone in the woods and keeping curious visitors away
3. Trying to avoid unlife by performing righteous and pious deeds
4. Seeking gain by working with criminals/bandits
5. Looking for others belonging to your bloodline
6. Battling a rival sorcerer/authorities

Warlocks:

Reason for making pact:

1. Ideological (hatred of Church/priests)
2. Revenge/jealousy (power to act against rivals)
3. Necessity (to avoid death/other serious problem)
4. Curiosity (knowledge of secrets)
5. Solicited by coven members
6. Solicited by patron

Terms of Pact:

1. Service of labor
2. Blood sacrifice
3. Retrieving an item
4. Takeover of settlement/organization
5. Siring/bearing and granting offspring
6. Unclear/immortal soul

Patron Relationship:

1. Patron treats warlock as family member (and will become furious if betrayed)
2. Patron is completely unpredictable at each encounter
3. Patron is a stern taskmaster
4. Patron is an abusive sadist
5. Patron likes to make deals/renegotiate
6. Patron is inscrutable/incomprehensible

Coven size:

1. You have no coven
2. d4 plus yourself
3. d6 plus yourself
4. d8 plus yourself
5. d10 plus yourself
6. d12 plus yourself

Chapter 21 - The Enchanted Forest

Wherein the Otherworld begins to yield its gifts...

Having packed the bear meat onto Druvvaldis’ mule, the five unlikely trekkers through the Otherworld finally depart from the temple. The recently freed Vasya, as the person who has spent the most time here, is put in charge of leading the group through the dense woods. It is difficult progress – the tree roots are craggy, and the absence of heavenly bodies makes traveling in one direction difficult, so the bear-man does the best he can with the aid of his companions and the occasional appearance of the three riders, which all seem to travel in the same direction.

Khurshid awakes in the
Otherworld

By nightfall, the group comes to a lake. There is a small island with a single tree a little ways offshore, and Vasya insists that if they continue traveling left from the standing stone, they have to keep going straight, and through the island. After some discussion, the rest of the group agrees, but for this, a vessel must be fashioned. Chonkorchuk finds a suitable tree, and begins fashion a dugout from it. After resting for the night, the work resumes, and by late morning, the dugout is ready (in the meantime, Plamen summons up restorative magic to rid Chonkorchuk of his festering wound, and his lockjaw, to boot). Finally, after dispelling the mule, the group climbs into the dugout, and paddles to the island. After arriving, the discover a sleeping man, dressed in leather, and armed with a spear, snoring away behind the tree. After being awakened and questioned, the band discovers that the man is named Khurshid ibn Ali, and that he is a noble and courtier from far-off Rakhman lands. The last thing he remembers is being waylaid in the mountains by bandits, and he has no idea how he came to appear in this strange land. Having martial gifts, he agrees to accompany and protect the band while he searches for answers.

After taking refreshment, the group of six continues rowing across the lake, until reaching the opposite shore. Here, they disembark, and continue on foot across particularly difficult terrain. As they travel upland, Chonkorchuk discovers a copper necklace with a green stone hanging from a thorny bush. There is no indication how the item got there, but the hermit soon discovers that the item possesses magics that aid their wearer against noxious gasses and other dangers. During that night, Plamen discovers another arcane item nearby the group’s camp – it is a shepherd’s pipe that seemingly whistled to him. In the morning, he attempts to play it, and succeeds in frightening Katarina and Vasya, who have to be restrained by their companions to prevent them from fleeing into the woods. At the end of the night, the White Rider seemingly charges the band as it breaks camp, but instead of attacking, he just rides by, and accidentally drops a fur-lined hat. When Druvvaldis examines it, he discovers that the hat allows the wearer to magically disguise himself.

The group sets off with its new finds, and by dusk finds itself before a body of water. A brief investigation reveals that they have circled around and returned to the same lake they crossed not two days earlier.

Chapter 20 - The Otherworld

Wherein our heroes explore a new world...

Vasya complains about being chained to the standing stone, and pleads (or demands) to be released. He claims Baba Yaga placed him, along with the cauldron of silver, for the party of suitors, to dispose of as they see fit, but Chonkorchuk is skeptical. He believes Vasya will escape, and leaves him chained, while he retreats to the high-gabled temple inside the compound.

A heathen shrine rises above the heath

The temple is clean and empty of any statuary. No one seems to be present. At the center of the hall is a lit fire pit, but it gives off no heat whatsoever. The ceiling is covered with symbols that Chonkorchuk cannot read, but it reminds him of the scratchings inside his hermitage. Soon, his companions join him. Meditating by the cold fire, Chonkorchuk and Druvvaldis recall stories of the old gods – Perun – ruler of the sky, Veles – ruler of the Netherworld, and Mokosh – the Moist Mother Earth. The Thunderlord and the Lord of Cattle had a disagreement over who could claim Mokosh – a disagreement that reflects the permanent state of strife among the Old Gods. Sitting by the fire, both, along with Plamen, who is also their servant, intuit that this is the reason why the Old Gods lost control of the Visible World Yav’, from which they hail, to the adherents of the New Faith. The Old Gods retreated, or were forced to retreat, here, to the Otherworld, where they marshal their forces, and wait for their chance to reclaim Yav’ for themselves. Mokosh – the keeper of Fates – tries to maintain the peace and to work for the reconciliation of her divine kinsmen, but often to no avail. In other forms, she is known as Baba Yaga.

The companions inspect the grounds. The other standing stones are tended, but no offerings have been left anywhere but at the stone to which Vasya is chained. The compound stands atop a hill, and a narrow path leads down. A huge, dense forest surrounds the hill, but a patch of rocky, open land several versts wide surrounds the hilltop. No visible rivers wind through the land, which is, however, dotted with lakes and ponds. No sun is visible in the sky, which is nevertheless bathed in golden light. The sounds of hoofbeats are heard below, and Plamen espies an armored rider, dressed in white, and mounted on a white steed, charging by down below. The forest is illumined in bright light.

Bride? Horse? Death?!?

The three companions, along with Katarina, descend down the steep winding path, and find themselves on a desolate heath. At the very bottom of the path is a large boulder with an arcane inscription. A raven sits on it and pecks at it. The writing is the secret script used by the volkhvy – the servants of the Old Gods – and Plamen, instructed by his uncle when he was yet a child – is the only one who can read it. The boulder is a Doomstone, and proclaims that those who go left will win a wife, those who go right will win a steed, while those who go straight will lose their life. Plamen attempts to converse with the raven and asks what lies about this place, and whether there are any towns or settlements. The bird responds that there are small settlements scattered in the woods, but no large towns are to be found anywhere near. Only Baba Yaga and her servitors, along with the strange riders, go by here. Plamen searches for the healing and nourishing berries he found in great abundance in his own world, but here, none are to be found. Snow covers the earth, and winter grips the land.

The companions go back up the hill, and put in a halfhearted effort to free Vasya from his chains – Chonkorchuk is still not convinced he should be freed, though Katarina argues for his release. In any event, the group only succeeds in bending the links out of shape, which makes the chain harder to remove. They then head off to search for food, promising a desperate Vasya that they will return once they have found some sustenance. Druvvaldis summons a mule spirit, to help them carry back whatever they find.

They proceed leftward past the Doomstone, not wishing to find their death, and having apparently already found a bride. Soon, they find themselves in a dense wood. It is hard making their way in one direction, as there is no sun in the sky, and no familiar growth on the south side of trees. Nevertheless, the party proceeds as best they can. They find no game, but as scramble over gnarled roots and prepare to turn back, they are set upon by a monstrous bear, which roars out that it will destroy them. Plamen attempts to fend it off with his cudgel, while Chonkorchuk and Druvvaldis try to blast it from a distance. Druvvaldis' mule comes in to help the beleaguered healer, while Katarina shouts that she feels power within herself, but cannot release it without some sort of channeling mechanism. The bear rips at Plamen’s chest, and lays him out onto the turf, but Chonkorchuk is able to put the beast down with a well-placed blast, while Druvvaldis summons forth a helpful serpent spirit to revive Plamen, who is now sporting a nasty scar.

The group returns to the temple, their mule loaded down with bear meat. Along the way, they search for a way to let Katarina release the power she acquired after the bathhouse initiation, until Chonkorchuk grants her the ivory-handled dagger he took from the smugglers. Plamen tends to Chonkorchuk’s wound acquired in that fight, and wonders if they should return to their own world to seek the aid of Hegumen Yaakov. Katarina finds a tree struck by lightning, and two loadstones near the Doomstone, to use as casting components. As they approach the hill, a black-clad rider on a black horse passes nearby, and soon, the land is shrouded in darkness.

The mysterious third rider

Upon their return, the party begins to roast the meat, and then settles down for the night, which passes uneventfully. After a red-clad rider passes by down below, the sky lights up, and the group rises for breakfast. Chonkorchuk has trouble chewing, however, and Plamen surmises that this is the result of being stabbed with a rusty blade by one of the skeletons in the warren. He again brings up returning to the Lazar’ and Liudmilla Abbey, but soon realizes that the power to purify and make things whole resides in him no less than in Hegumen Yaakov, though it will take a little time to summon it forth. In the meantime, he invokes the bear spirit that he calls on during battles, and grants its power to Vasya, who finally, with some help from Katarina (who uses her newfound magic to realign the deformed links) rips the chain off the standing stone. As the group makes preparations to descend back down, Chonkorchuk peers into the temple fire one least time to see whether it is a good idea to free Vasya. He sees only Baba Yaga’s laughing face in the fire.