Backgrounds

Backgrounds represent additional abilities and experience beyond what is represented by your class. Most backgrounds include a single skill at levels 1 to 3. You MUST have purchased at least one skill within the class at each of the lower levels in order to purchase the next one. Occasionally a skill may have a specific pre-requisite, this will be noted on the skill and you must have purchased the pre-requisite before you may purchase the skill.

The Nobility and Merchants of Acryn share a number of similarities, they both have immense wealth and connections, although the source of their wealth varies. The nobility have built up their wealth for centuries, and will usually have connections with old groups who have shared in their families fortunes. Merchants will tend to have made most of their money themselves and have contacts with primarily mercantile groups. Of course nothing holds perfectly true, and the figure of a noble whose house has been essentially lost before the revolution and who now rebuilds their house with a merchant enterprise has become a recognisable sight within the city.

You have access to your families connections and estates in order to generate an income. Instead of the standard wealth scale, you use the one below.

You may take this skill in one of two ways:

1. The character has connections and influence among Acryn’s nobility. You will have influence among all noble house, but should also pick the house where your influence is greatest.
2. The character has connections and influence among two specific groups. Choose two groups from the factions list (other than the wayfinder's guild and council). The Character has connections and influence with these groups. Examples would include: Engineers guild, Circle of the Broken Wing, House Terrec, College of the Stars, etc.

You can leverage your families estates or your mercantile operations, as well as your own experience with managing them to expand your own personal operations. You can maintain two resources rather than just one.

You may take this skill in one of three ways (you may not take a connection with the same group twice):

1. The character has connections and influence among Acryn’s council.
2. The character has connections and influence among Acryn’s nobility. You will have influence among all noble house, but should also pick the house where your influence is greatest.
3. The character has connections and influence among two specific groups. Choose two groups from the factions list (other than groups covered by the two options above). The Character has connections and influence with these groups. Examples would include: Engineers guild, Circle of the Broken Wing, College of the Stars, etc.

Choose an organisation. You may take this background multiple times for different organisations.

You have an affiliation with a group or organisation. You might be a paying member, an employee, a relation, or similar. Other members of the organisation will tend to react well to you. In addition, you gain ONE of the following benefits (decide when buying this skill) that represents your exact relationship with the organisation (chosen at purchase):

• Loaned up to 2 pieces of standard equipment per adventure
• Organisation will investigate a question and provide an answer for you (assuming it is something they can reasonably answer and would trust you with)
• Provide you with a small wage (9 Riel per adventure)

You are a notable member of your affiliated organisation. Most members will react well to you, and very low ranking members may even take orders from you. In addition, you gain one of the benefits from Affiliation. You can choose to take the same benefit you already have, and in which case you get either a second question, 18r per adventure, 4 standard items or 2 standard items and a superior item.

You are very well known and respected in your organisation. This might be because you are a senior member, because you are one of their best fighters, or even just because you have a reputation as making problems go away. Most members will know your name and respect you. Most members who are not reasonably senior in their own right will either take orders from you or at least respect and consider any opinions you may have. You may choose one of the following additional benefits relating to you relationship with the organisation (chosen at purchase):

• Once per an adventure you may use the power of your organisation to resolve an issue (that is appropriate to them). This may be making some legal problems go away, staging some sort of distraction, arranging a meeting with someone important, or anything else appropriate to your organisation.
• A payment of 9r per adventure (will stack with anything from Affiliation and Reputed)
• Loan of a Superior item or use of up to 18r worth of provisions (e.g., alchemy) which may be used in defence of your organisations interests but otherwise returned.

The character has travelled widely, and can be assured of finding a local contact in any decently sized settlement they come to.

The character has a wide breadth of knowledge on certain subjects. Choose a relatively broad subject. Your character is well informed on the ins and outs of it.

The character has a wide breadth of knowledge on certain subjects. Choose a relatively broad subject. Your character is well informed on the ins and outs of it.

+2 Body Hits

+2 Body Hits

+2 Body Hits

You have a basic understanding of the channels of power, and can usually find out who you need to speak to to address an issue in a new area.

You’re good at spinning tales, which people tend to listen to. As long as full blown combat is not in progress, you can, once per encounter, say “Just hear me out” and follow it with up to thirty seconds of talking. If you do, intelligent creatures will always listen to the end before kicking anything off, giving you a chance to give your side of the story (or for your three mates to sneak up on them).

Your character, through taunts or fast talking, is good at drawing foes attention. After talking to/taunting a target for a few seconds, you can say “keep looking at me”, after which they should do so as long as you continue talking/taunting, and they are not surprised by an attack from another direction (which breaks their concentration on you).

As long as you are travelling through relatively normal terrain (woods, plains, tracks, hills etc.), and somewhat more challenging ones (dense forests, mountains) you never receive any penalties for extended travel, and can keep party members happy for longer on the road. You will also find it easier to hunt, track, and otherwise function in these terrains. You gain a DODGE while in any of these terrains.

As long as you have a Survivalist skill sufficient to cover the terrain you’re travelling in, gain one ENTANGLE per encounter that can be called at anyone within five metres.

As long as you have a Survivalist skill sufficient to cover the terrain you’re travelling in, the whole party gains a dodge. For you, this is in ADDITION to the one you get from Survivalist.

The character can carry out field repairs to standard quality armour of all classes, and can fix shattered standard equipment with access to a smithy. You may call RENEW ZERO with 10 seconds work on an inorganic creature which is dying.

As Crafter one, but the character can repair superior equipment, and gains the ability to field repair standard weaponry and shields. With 10 seconds work on an inorganic creature on 0 hits, you may call RENEW 4 (or restore an inorganic creature UP TO 4 hits outside combat). In addition, the character can craft a single standard item between each adventure.

You know how to build most common types of building. When purchasing simple resources you pay only 75% of the cost to represent the purchase of materials and labour used to construct the resource yourself. You may construct resources for other characters, you pay 75% of the cost as usual and pass the resource to the other character in exchange for whatever arrangement has been worked out between your characters.

Pre-req: Craftsman Lv2
Pick one of the following:

1. Adjust Armour: Once per an encounter, you may (with a few seconds work) adjust some armour to give the wearer a single resist to ONE of the following effects, which must be chosen in advance: Strikedown/Rend/Weaken
2. Adjust Weapon: Once per an encounter, you may (with a few seconds work) adjust a weapon to give the user a single resist to ONE of the following effects, which must be chosen in advance: Disarm/Shatter

You are a healer and are able to use your skills to restore hitpoints. The process of healing someone can be taxing, and by default all healing abilities (abilities which allow you to call HEAL x) will WEAKEN the character they are used on until the end of the next encounter. Healing abilities will always have a number of free uses (i.e., the number of times an encounter you can use the ability before characters start getting weakened). You cannot treat an already weakened patient unless you are using one of your free uses.

Using medical abilities will also involve a number of seconds of “medical roleplay”, this essentially just means physrepping your treatment but does require using two hands and a patient who is not yourself (unless the skill states otherwise). The Memento Mundi setting supports a reasonable variety of medical practices, so long as you are physically interacting with the patient (e.g., cutting, sewing, herbs, poultices, etc), spiritual healing is the domain of priests and mages.

You may, with 10 seconds of medical roleplay, restore 1 HP to a character on 0 HP. This ability can be used as many times as necessary in an encounter without weakening the patient.

You may, with 10 seconds of medical roleplay, restore 4 HP to a character on 0 HP. You can also use this ability to restore anyone on less than 4hp to 4hp between encounters. You may use this ability as many times as necessary in an encounter without weakening the patient.

This ability can be used on yourself, but the difficulty is much greater and cannot be achieved in combat.

With 10 seconds of medical roleplay, you may restore up to 6HP. You may use this ability three times without weakening the patient.

This ability can be used on yourself, but the difficulty is much greater and cannot be achieved in combat.

Pre-req: Medical Knowledge (Doctor Background) or Patch Up
You may, with 30 seconds of medical roleplay, fully restore a character’s HP. You may use this ability once without weakening the patient.

You are a healer and are able to use your skills to restore hitpoints. The process of healing someone can be taxing, and by default all healing abilities (abilities which allow you to call HEAL x) will WEAKEN the character they are used on until the end of the next encounter. Healing abilities will always have a number of free uses (i.e., the number of times an encounter you can use the ability before characters start getting weakened). You cannot treat an already weakened patient unless you are using one of your free uses.

Using medical abilities will also involve a number of seconds of “medical roleplay”, this essentially just means physrepping your treatment but does require using two hands and a patient who is not yourself (unless the skill states otherwise). The Memento Mundi setting supports a reasonable variety of medical practices, so long as you are physically interacting with the patient (e.g., cutting, sewing, herbs, poultices, etc), spiritual healing is the domain of priests and mages.

You may, with 10 seconds of medical roleplay, restore 1 HP to a character on 0 HP. This ability can be used as many times as necessary in an encounter without weakening the patient.

Necessary for the diagnosis and curing of minor diseases, and for the diagnosis of addictions. Very minor diseases may well be curable with a herbal preparation. You will always be able to ease the suffering of an individual, and the use of this ability (an hour or two in a settlement) is likely to win you the favour of the locals.

Pre-req: Medical Knowledge or Patch Up (First Aid Background)
You may, with 30 seconds of medical roleplay, fully restore a character’s HP. You may use this ability once without weakening the patient.

Twice per adventure you may apply a Strengthen to a character for an encounter with ten seconds of medical roleplay. Additionally, that character may call RESIST to the first call of weaken against them.

This ability can be used on yourself, but the difficulty is much greater and cannot be achieved in combat.

You are an Alchemist and treated as such for the purposes of taking and producing Alchemical Potions. You may mix ingredients to produce Alchemical Effects. You have 6 potion slots for mixing potions you know between adventures. You may additionally recognise any potion you know how to mix, you may choose a single Class D potion to learn how to make.

You know how to mix a second Class D potion.

+3 additional potion slots for mixing between adventures

Pre-Req: Mix Class D potion You know how to mix a single Class C potion.

You are especially skilled at ensuring that your blows are non-fatal. So long as you are calling Single (or less) with a short (36in or less) weapon, an opponent you are engaged with will not sustain life threatening injuries. Once the opponent you are engaging has been dropped to zero hits, you can call HEAL ZERO. If you wish, you may specify that the subdued opponent is unconscious, if you do not then they will be conscious.
Note: This skill represents your ability to cause non-fatal injury, and cannot affect any character already reduced to zero hits.

Gain 1 use of Disarm per an encounter with a short weapon (under 36in)

You are even more experienced with subduing an opponent, and gain the ability to call Doubles with a short (36in or less) weapon while you are using the subdual ability. You must call HEAL ZERO if you drop an opponent while using this ability.

Choose a weapon that you have specialised in. You may take this background multiple times for different weapons.

You may fight with any appropriate weapon physrep of the class you choose. Weapon types available to fighters are:

• Sword
• Axe
• Mace/Hammer
• Great Weapon
• Spear
• Rapier
• Staff
• Flail
• Bastard (Weapon) ¹⁾

If you have the Use skill for a one-handed weapon, and fight with an appropriate weapon of 36” or less, you may make one WEAKEN call per encounter (this does NOT stack for ambidexing).

Note that a Bastard Weapon must be greater than 36“ in length.

• Great Weapon:You may strike for DOUBLE with a great weapon. You may combine this with effect calls. You also gain 1 WOUND 10 per encounter.
• Axe: You gain 1 REND and 1 WEAKEN call per encounter.
• Spear/Staff: You gain 1 STRIKEDOWN and 1 WEAKEN call per encounter.
• Mace/Hammer: You gain 2 STRIKEDOWN call per encounter.
• Rapier: You gain 2 calls per encounter of DISARM or WEAKEN.
• Sword: You gain 1 WOUND 10 and 1 STRIKEDOWN per encounter.
• Flail: You gain 1 DISARM and 1 WOUND 10 per encounter.
• Bastard (Weapon): You may strike for DOUBLE with a bastard weapon. You may combine this with effect calls. You also gain 1 WOUND 10 per encounter while wielding the weapon in two hands.

Pre-req: Weapon Talent 1

• Great Weapon: You gain 3 STRIKEDOWN calls per encounter.
• Bastard weapon: You gain 3 STRIKEDOWN calls per encounter which you can use while wielding the weapon in two hands.
• All others: Gain 1 dodge while fighting with your chosen weapon.

• Great Weapon: You gain 1 SHATTER call per encounter.
• Rapier: You may strike for SINGLE THROUGH with your chosen weapon.
• Bastard Weapon: You gain 1 STRIKEDOWN and 1 DISARM call per encounter (in one or two hands), as well as 1 SHATTER call per adventure so long as you are using the weapon in 2 hands.
• All others: You may strike for DOUBLE with your chosen weapon. You may combine this with effect calls.

You may wear Heavy Armour. This gives the user 6 extra hits. While wearing Heavy Armour, all dodges you would usually have become RESIST calls to STRIKEDOWN, REND, or WOUND instead. You may repair a suit of Heavy armour with half an hours work. You may call RENEW ZERO with 10 seconds work on an inorganic creature which is dying.

Heavy armour is worth an additional +3 hits.

Heavy armour is worth an additional +3 hits.

You may wear Medium Armour. This gives the user 4 extra hits. You may repair a suit of Medium armour with half an hours work. You may call RENEW ZERO with 10 seconds work on an inorganic creature which is dying.

You gain an additional +2 hits while wearing Medium Armour.

You gain an additional +2 hits while wearing Medium Armour.

You may fight with a buckler, this can be done in one of two ways:

• When held in your hand, you may ignore any blow that hits your buckler and may use other relevant shield skills.
• When strapped to your arm, you may treat blows that hit the buckler as if they had hit your weapon or use relevant shield skills.

You can use a medium shield. You gain 2 uses of Resist Shatter, Disarm, or Strikedown per encounter against blows which hit your shield.

Additionally, you CAN wield a large shield with this skill, but do not gain any of the benefits of Large Shield use while still losing all dodges, nor can you use other shield skills while using a large shield.

When fighting with a weapon and shield, resists from shield skills can be applied to strikes against either your shield or your weapon.

Gain an additional dodge while using a shield.

You gain 2 uses of Resist Shatter, Disarm, or Strikedown per encounter against blows which hit your shield.

You can use a large shield. When using a large shield you lose all dodges you would otherwise have. Instead, you gain one use of Resist Shatter, Disarm, or Strikedown per encounter against blows which hit your shield for each dodge you would have had. This is in addition to any resists gained through Heavy Armour Use.

Additionally, you CAN wield a medium shield with this skill, but do not gain any of the benefits of Medium Shield use nor can you use other shield skills while using a medium shield.

When fighting with a weapon and shield, resists from shield skills can be applied to strikes against either your shield or your weapon.

You gain 2 uses of Resist Shatter, Disarm, or Strikedown per encounter against blows which hit your shield.

You may use a bow/crossbow, arrows from which do a DOUBLE by default and may not be DODGED (unless a skill states otherwise).

You gain 1 DODGE while holding a bow or crossbow, or while you are putting it away.

Pre-Req: Bow Mastery Lv2 You may add STRIKEDOWN to your damage calls (do not combine effect calls) when using a bow or crossbow.

You may call TRIPLE with a bow or crossbow, which may be combined with effect calls.

Within the last few months something strange has been happening to Archers, and especially those who are just learning to use a bow. Very few have any idea why, but certain magic-like effects seem to be manifesting as arrows hit their target. Conversely, mages trained in the use of implements find themselves developing a seemingly untrained aptitude for the use of a bow.

You must either be a Mage with the “Implement Use” or a non-mage with the “Use Bow” skill to take this background and skill. You gain the following benefits:

Mage

You may use a bow to call SINGLE. If you have the “Implement Experience” skill, this improves to SINGLE STRIKEDOWN.

Non-Mage

Choose one rite from those available to Mages tree. As long as you have a bow on your person, you have access to the knack for that rite. As long as you have the Bow Mastery 1 skill, you also gain Mana Sense (as the skill) while you have an arrow nocked to your bow.

You generate 1 protomana per an encounter.

Once per an encounter, when successfully striking a target with an arrow, you may apply the appropriate effect from the list below for any rite for which you can either cast a spell or know the knack. You may expend protomana, crystal mana or implement-stored mana to use these skills an additional time.

• Scribing: Call ZERO BLAST.
• Wounding: Call WOUND 15 on the limb of your choice.
• Binding: Call DISARM on item the target is holding. You may call DISARM on that item whenever the target picks it up until you next strike a target with an arrow.
• Consumption: Hit someone with an arrow, and an empty vial on your person will fill with one of the following potions which will expire before the beginning of the next encounter: HEAL 4, STRENGTHEN for 30 seconds, The Veil (giving you a short insight into the person whom you shot).
• Fracturing: For the rest of the encounter, you may call +1 damage whenever you strike the target.
• Other rites: On request, you terrible monsters.

You gain the following benefits:

Mage

The base damage of your arrows increases to DOUBLE. You may apply the effects of Returning Implement to your bow if you have the skill, and can store mana in your bow as if it were an implement (though it does not generate mana) if it is not one already. If it *is* your implement, it can store (and generates between adventures) 2 additional mana.

Non-Mage

You gain the effects of the Minor Ritualist skill. Any rituals you perform must involve your bow in some way. In addition, if you have the “Bow Mastery 2” skill, you may store 2 mana in your implement as per the implement experience skill (including the reservoir filling between adventures).

For one encounter per an adventure you gain the following effect relating to either your primary rite or knack.

• Fracturing: Once every 20 seconds you may teleport to the location of one of the arrows you have fired in this encounter. Call DISAPPEARING and APPEARING. If you are in between arrows for more than 10 seconds you will not be able to return to the encounter.
• Scribing: For every arrow that you knock you gain a single use of FEAR which can be targeted at anyone within 5 meters. This fear is lost when you loose the arrow.
• Binding: When you have struck a target with an arrow, you may immediately follow up with ENTANGLE (limb).
• Wounding: Every time you successfully strike a target with a superior arrow you gain a single protomana (up to your usual maximum).
• Consumption: Call your normal damage, and HEAL 6 to yourself or an ally.

When your hand comes into contact with a bow an unsettling change comes over it, a thin veneer of scales forms along its length. When pulling its string back, a thin beam of light forms in the place of the arrow.

When attacking with archery you count as STRENGTHENED for the purposes of damage. If you are using standard arrows, your damage increases to a maximum of SINGLE THROUGH, although you must still wait 10 seconds to reload and may only fire at those within 5 meters.

You have basic criminal talents, such as lockpicking or sneaking past a sleepy guard at night.

You are exquisitely skilled at striking deadly blows on unprepared targets. If you strike a blow on someone from behind with a dagger without them noticing you before the blow struck, you may call BACKSTAB 20.

You are skilled at stealthily ranging ahead of the party and getting into prime positions. Any time a combat starts that is not a sudden surprise to your party, you may choose to begin the encounter in cover away from the main party. Monsters will usually not notice you until you move or take an offensive action.

Pre-Req: Backstab

You may now use your backstab calls with any bladed weapon.

You have basic criminal talents, such as lockpicking or sneaking past a sleepy guard at night.

If you spend five seconds uninterrupted in close proximity to another person without them paying attention to you, you may tell a GM and you will have stolen something from their pockets.

You are skilled at stealthily ranging ahead of the party and getting into prime positions. Any time a combat starts that is not a sudden surprise to your party, you may choose to begin the encounter in cover away from the main party. Monsters will usually not notice you until you move or take an offensive action.

Pre-Req: Pickpocket
You are adept at putting together a disguise to cover your looks.

Pre-Req: Pickpocket
You are a skilled climber. The effects of this are at GM discretion, but it’s very useful for breaking and entering. Additionally, you may use any skill which requires an appropriate terrain in an urban environment.

You may call SINGLE THROUGH with daggers

You gain one dodge while fighting with a dagger in either hand.

You gain Two REND calls while fighting with a dagger in either hand. If you fight with a melee dagger in each hand, you gain this effect for both.

Pre-Req: Dagger Mastery Lv2 You may call DOUBLE THROUGH with daggers.

You gain a dodge while fighting with a weapon in each hand (including a main-gauche).

You may fight with any weapon you have the skill to use, in both hands at once.

You gain 1 DISARM call per encounter while fighting with a weapon in your off-hand.

Gain an additional dodge while wielding in each hand a weapon that you are skilled in using.

The following backgrounds represent more in depth and defining aspects of your character's past, and thus take two of your background slots to purchase.

You have some magical talent, but not enough to truely be considered a mage. Either you are a dabble who has never invested the time and effort to truely learn, or you were simply not talented enough to pick up the skills and abilities required to master the art. You may use mana crystals as usual. A true mage who takes this background will instead gain 2 free level 1 spells from their primary rite. A dabbler mage gains a pool of protomana casts they can use per adventure before any further casting attempt will cause a burnout.

Choose one level one spell from your rite. You know and can cast that spell. You can cast up to four spells per adventure and a maximum of two per encounter using protomana before any further casting will cause a burnout.

You can feel the presence of nearby caches of mana, and can track down hidden stocks of it (or focus for a few seconds and work out whether someone has some in their pockets.

Choose one level one spell from your rite. You know and can cast that spell. You can cast up to two additional spells per adventure and an additional one per encounter using protomana before any further casting will cause a burnout.

You may cast one spell per encounter using protomana without it counting towards your per adventure limit. Your casting cap per encounter remains the same.

Choose one level two spell from your rite. You know and can cast that spell. You can cast up to two additional spells per adventure and an additional one per encounter using protomana before any further casting will cause a burnout.

You are a lay-worshipper of one of the gods of Acryn. For some reason you have found your words have power, and that by chanting and praying to your god you can bring about minor miracles. People with this background are often travelling preachers, missionaries, or those lay-worshippers who devote the bulk of their lives to aiding the churches. You must choose a single god that favours you. You may take this background multiple times for different gods.

At character gen, a Priest taking this background instead gains 2 free level 1 miracles. Priests may pick this background up in play, with suitable IC justification. A priest with the Divinely Favoured background will realise that using the abilities given to them by another god while they have the gaze of the gods upon them will end badly, almost certainly losing them their gods favour and becoming an excommunicant.

As of Oblitus Mundi, all priests and those with Divine Favour need to be blessed by either their god or a priest who has been blessed by their god in order to bind their soul to that source of power. This is a free feature of being a Priest or having a Divine Favour and metaphysically ties your soul to another being. You should note who has blessed you with this pact. Without this pact, you will be unable to use miracles of your god.

If you acquire multiple Soul Pacts for some reason, please note this to the LARPO who will provide you with additional effects.

Choose one level 1 miracle from the priest tree for your god. You may use this miracle once per encounter by carrying out the appropriate length of roleplaying.

Choose one level 1 miracle from the priest tree for your god. You may use this miracle once per encounter by carrying out the appropriate length of roleplaying.

You gain the Divine Aura 1 ability appropriate to your god. As an exception, Divine Favoured of the Traitor may choose to take the skill Traitors Cloak in place of Divine Aura.

Choose one level 2 miracle from the priest tree for your god. You may use this miracle once per encounter by carrying out the appropriate length of roleplaying.