Jump to content
Black Chicken Studios Forums

Some boring and probably unbalanced backgrounds!


Mikka

Recommended Posts

Every single one of my characters (that aren't going to be used for roleplaying) chooses the Comet, Broken Mirrors or Isle-quake, Family: artisans, and Friendship: Actually, Bitter Hatred. They're just so good in compared to many abilities that simply give you +4 skills- as +1 Attribute beats +4 skills. In truth, the attribute backgrounds are just plain overpowered, but they're so nice that I can't resist taking them anyway.

 

Hand in hand to that, there are currently options to gain +2 Luck and +2 Intelligence from background choices, while you can only gain +1 on most others.

 

Thus, I wrote out various other more then likely overpowered attribute backgrounds. I'm not sure if any of them would be of use, but figured I'd post them because, er, well, I wrote them. Yep. ^^;; If they could be of use to the game, yay, if not, well, they didhn't take long to write. ^^

 

 

Family: Skypirates

By selecting this Background, you gain +1 CHA, +1 Acrobatics/Knots/Navigation, -2 relationship with two different professors (preferably one of them being Regent of yer collage, if that could be programmed)

 

Your parents’ occupation is illegal. They’ve never lied to you about that. While they run a soft business of delivering letters and packages, it’s only a cover for their raiding and looting other ships. Your application to the Academagia being accepted was a surprise to all involved, and it seems some of your professors will be keeping a more than suspicious eye on you.

 

On the other side, you know better how to sail a ship then likely any student in your year. And no matter what the adults think, a combination of watching your parents talk their way out of trouble and the sheer ‘cool’ factor of being the child of sky pirates means that making friends is never going to be a trouble for you.

 

(End of the year option: Back to the skies for you!

 

If chosen: After everything you’ve experience this year, a life of pirating almost sounds boring. Still, you’re sure that your parents are eager to hear all the adventurers you got up to, and you certainly have many to share... and they probably do, too! You’ll all have a fun time discussing what you got up to when you were separated.

 

And then you’ll be told to go back to navigating, fetching, spotting, and most of all staying out of the way when the actual battles start. Still, maybe this year, your parents will allow you to actually participate. Certainly, all the magic you learned would be quite useful in the sort of situations your family often finds themselves in. And maybe with all the traveling you’ll be doing you can visit some of your friends over the summer!

 

Though the ship should probably be docked a bit away from their home. Just as a precaution.)

 

 

Apprenticeship: Spy

By selecting this background, you gain +1 Finesse, +1 Poisons, and are informed on all Espionage and Blackmail skills.

 

When nobles send for children to study under them and take on a duty as a Page, that’s usually exactly what they mean. Not so for your Master. Under his tutelage, you learned the arts the courts depend on yet despise (except for the inevitable moment when they look on them with desperation and desire), and you also were taught how to put them in to motion. While your letter to the Academagia arrived before you could put them to much use, you’re well aware that there’s a profession on the sneaker side of life waiting for your presence if your studies in magic don’t quite pan out the way you expect.

 

[Can’t be taken with Page. Probably shouldn’t be taken with History Royal, Heroes, or Traitors either, as those are just too notable, but that’s getting a bit

 

 

Omen: Blood Moon

By selecting blah blah, you gain +1 Fitness, +1 Archery and Wresting (…and then either +1 to either Command and Logistics, or Armoror and Weaponsmithing...? Maybe the first would be best.))

 

As your birth-cry tore out of your throat, one of the moons of Cyva shined a dim, frightening red. The omen was a dire one, promising unhappy endings and many funerals to come: not for you, though, but for the enemies you were certain to one day make. The stain of your birth omen has had little influence on the path you’ve been able to tread, but sometimes when you gaze up to the sky, you have a feeling that the air itself holds its breath as it prepares for the future the starts insist you will conquer.

 

[Can’t be taken with other Omens, or Astrology: Noon (or Eclipse?).]

 

 

Prodigy: Mental

By selecting this background, you gain +1 Insight, +1 Awareness/Ethics/Art Appreciation

 

Some people isolate themselves from the world and spend years meditating and pondering the wisdom of those whom have passed and what can be learned from the world around them. And then some people are born with a calm, quiet outlook that allows them to see and appreciate the world around them, finding wisdom in raindrops and answers in sunrays.

 

That sort of person is you. And while you will gain the quiet enmity of monks everywhere if you ever decide to write a book about your talent, for now your way of looking at the world is a blessed gift.

 

 

(This is a complete and total joke due to the fact that I simply could not come up with a STR background. Obviously, not really meant to be used. Don’t take it too seriously. The Sims Medieval was just amusing me at the time.)

Deed: Avenger of Hopeful Orphans / Whale-Slayer

By selecting background yadda dada, +1 Strength & +1 Hunting/Fish or Mammals. Or +2 with Gwendy.

 

When you were very young, the adults called you cute when you would march around proudly with a stick you called a spear and pot on your head. When you turned seven, they started calling you a bit odd. Sometime around ten, they stopped calling you anything and instead switched to whispering behind your back… until they fell in to a muted silence of disbelief.

 

No matter how high the Islands fly, rivers and waterways dot the landscape. And in them are very big, ugly creatures. That cause deaths by drowning to thousands (or at least hundreds) of parents each year, as they attempt to fish peacefully and earn a live-hood. Angered by this travesty, you watched, learned, and waited. Then finally, you hunted, and in hunting, found yourself victorious. At least one of those monsters will never slay another beloved parent again.

 

 

Family: Shrine-keepers

Choosing this background increases your chance of discovery by 3% (or perhaps increases discovery only for hostile actions by a larger amount- 7%?), but in turn gives you a free background point.

 

Not too far from the place that you call home is a forest, and not too far in that forest is a small shrine. There are no paths to it: each trip to the shrine requires the worshipers to step carefully, and straighten the grass they trodded on and disturbed. Yet you could find your way to that shrine both blindfolded and in your sleep. Your family is, after all, the shrines caretakers.

 

There are no images on the shrine. The offerings left are simple: foods, flowers, money, nothing remarkable. The adults at the Academagia may look askance at you, but your family’s religion is the business of your family alone, and you reveal nothing.

 

Especially not that sometimes, as you drift to sleep, you hear crooning. Reptilian crooning…

 

[Definitely shouldn’t be take-able with Black Sheep, as the answer ‘well, the character then turns in their family!’ would be far too easy, but I could see it working with family of traitors… oh, definitely wouldn’t go with the Religious background, either.]

 

(End of the year option: The image of the shrine your family has tended to for so long comes to mind.

 

If chosen: Your parents may be concerned about what you’ve been taught in the Academagia influencing you, but you assured them before you left that you wouldn’t let your mind be changed so easily. Still, they’ll likely have questions for you. The greetings may be a bit uncomfortable before they move past their worries and truly welcome you home, but you’re sure it won’t take long. Then they’ll be hugs and treats…

 

…And then, shrine-tending. Now that you’ve gotten older and matured, your parents may be more likely to explain some of the things you’ve wondered about. You’ll likely be expected to spend your summer in contemplation when you’re not doing your duties, but you’re sure you’ll have time to get done all the fun things you’re looking forward to.)

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Family: Skypirates <--- We might need a different introduction event for this background - you can't very well be standing in the Academagia thinking of that "To fight pirates." line!

 

I loved the Sims Medieval too! The only downside is that you are so limited in who you can play (I'd love to have multiple wizards and knights and play as a farmer and build a proper town.....)

 

Prodigy: Ugly Hulk For STR if whale is too much

Link to comment
Share on other sites

  • 2 weeks later...

Family: Skypirates <--- We might need a different introduction event for this background - you can't very well be standing in the Academagia thinking of that "To fight pirates." line!

 

Might be nice to give a +1 or +2 relations bonus with Carmine... He has a soft spot for pirates.

Link to comment
Share on other sites

Archived

This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.

×
×
  • Create New...