campaign traits:

Azlanti Historian: The fallen empire of ancient Azlant fires your curiosity and drives you to adventure. Tired of only learning of the empire through dusty tomes you have followed rumours of Azlanti ruins to travel to the Echo Wood, hoping to unearth some new discovery. Perhaps you might even earn a mention of your own in a future historical tome.
You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (history) and Knowledge (local) checks, and one of these skills is a class skill for you. In addition, you gain Azlanti as a bonus language.

Aspiring Crusader: Journeying along Crusader Road, hoping to join the Mendevian Crusade against the demons of the Worldwound, you found yourself tarrying at Fort Inevitable. At first it was merely a rest before continuing on your dangerous journey. However, rumors of strange phenomena around ancient ruins in the woods have caught your interest. Like the Hellknights of the Fort, you wonder if your skills might be more useful here than at the Worldwound.

You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (planes) and Knowledge (religion) checks, and Knowledge (planes) is a class skill for you.

Blue Basilisk Recruit: The premier band of sellswords in Thornkeep, the Blue Basilisks are hired to guard caravans, escort travelers, and occasionally assault bandit hideouts. As a recent hire, you have been dispatched on the long and tiring task of accompanying a wagon of timber and goods from Thornkeep to Fort Inevitable. The journey began quietly, until halfway down Mosswater Road a band of goblins attacked, carrying off some of the cargo. The Blue Basilisks will be understanding, as goblins are a constant nuisance, but failing on your first assignment still feels shameful.

You begin play with a longsword or greatsword, and gain a +1 trait bonus to
attacks of opportunity with weapons of that type.

Darklands Delver: For as long as you can remember, you have felt at home underground: the open spaces and endless sky of the above ground world unnerve you. You believe your destiny lies deep underground, and someday you hope to see the fantastic caverns of the Darklands beneath the surface or perhaps even visit one of the ancient vaults of Orv in the deepest layers of the Darklands.

You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (dungeoneering), and Knowledge (dungeoneering) is a class skill for you. In addition, you gain a +1 trait bonus on Initiative checks when underground.

Echo Wood Native: You were raised in one of the many small villages or points of interest throughout the Echo Wood. You were raised on a farm or ranch, or perhaps a small hamlet nestled deep in the forest. To you, both Thornkeep and Fort Inevitable are “the big city”, crowded places with too many people for comfort. You’ve been raised to be equally wary of bandits, monsters, and Hellknights: any who deny folks the Six River Freedoms.

You gain a +1 trait bonus on Sense Motive checks, and Sense Motive is a class skill for you. In addition, your familiarity with the Echo Wood allows you to make untrained Knowledge (local) checks regarding the region.

Former Slave: To the Hellknight rulers of Fort Inevitable, freedom is a privilege to be earned: a privilege you lost. You spent the last few years as a slave, paying off accrued debts or as a punishment for crimes. At long last you have earned your freedom and can finally begin your life anew; friends and charitous figures have even offered to supply you with the coin and equipment to start over. Your time as a slave has left its mark. While the Hellknights prevent open abuse of slaves, few masters are kind and your enslavement has hardened you. You might have worked the fields for the fair, if heavy­handed, Naldred Tillman; at the tannery of the cruel Drurn; or staffed the bellows for the foul­tempered Tsador Ironmaker.

You gain a +1 trait bonus on all Fortitude saves.

Golden Attendant: You work as a servant or deacon at the Temple of the Golden Key in Fort Inevitable, the largest and most ornate temple in the Echo Wood region. You serve at the pleasure of High Mother Dremagne, priestess of Abadar. However, most of your time is spent following the wishes of the junior acolytes and lay priests. While you are mostly tasked with mundane jobs, your skillshave not gone unnoticed and you have been increasingly entrusted with more and more important tasks for the temple.

You gain a +1 trait bonus on Perception and Appraise checks, and once per week you can reroll an Appraise check and take the higher result (You must announce that you are using this ability before the results of the check are known).

Goldenfire Initiate: Thornkeep’s arcanist’s guild primarily serves to protect the financial interests of its members, limiting competition and preventing price undercutting. As a low ranking member of the Goldenfire Order, you are assigned the least pleasant tasks, are thankfully well­paid for your services. Members are mostly left to their own interests, so you have learned little from the guild and are beginning to realize your education might be in your hands. Some extra action might also be required to stand out in the guild and find more profitable work.

You begin the campaign with an extra 100 gp. You also gain a +1 trait bonus on
Spellcraft checks.

Hellknight Armiger: The Hellknights of Fort Inevitable were crusaders who opted to end their pilgrimage and defend Crusader’s Road for the benefit of future crusaders. The Order’s devotion to law and structure has long appealed to you and you have trained hard in the hopes of one day joining the order to protect Fort Inevitable and your kin from the endless bandits and roving beasts that prowl the land. You were initially mentored by the newly arrived Hellknight, Signifer DiViri, but she vanished some time ago while on an expedition, leaving you to continue your training on your own. Knowing that being able to ride quickly and move through the heavy underbrush of the woods is valuable, you have focused your training on the intimidating heavy armor of the Hellknights.

You reduce the armor check penalty of worn armor by 1, to a minimum penalty of 0.

Merchant Connections: You have strong ties with a merchant in either Thornkeep or Fort Inevitable, either through friendship or family. They’re willing to invest in your expeditions by spending some of their own coin purchasing treasure and are able to quickly order items you desire from elsewhere in the River Kingdoms. Pick one of the following merchants:
Thom Braddon of Braddon’s General Store in Fort Inevitable.

Mormuk Goldfoot of the Goldfoot’s Mercantile trading house in Fort Inevitable.

Yunar Barask of the Thornkeep Mercantile general store and trading post.
When dealing with that merchant you increase the base value and purchase limit in
their settlement by 50%.

Reformed Bandit: The roads of the Echo Wood are commonly frequented by brigands, particularly along the seldom­ patrolled roads leading to Thornkeep. The Hellknights have recently made it their task to stamp out banditry along Crusader’s Road, harshly punishing those outlaws they capture. You spent a number of years as a bandit, earning a living off travelers and traders. Having barely escaped justice on several occasions, you have decided it is time to retire from banditry, living a somewhat more honest life. But your meager savings will not last forever, so you will need to find some other means of employment.

You gain a +1 trait bonus on Bluff, Diplomacy, Intimidate, and Sense Motive checks when dealing with bandits, and one of these skills is a class skill for you.

Sage’s Apprentice: You have been trained in the arcane arts by Abernard Royst, the resident sage of Fort Inevitable. For the last several years your time was spent assisting the wizard with assorted research projects and experiments, long enough to see past Royst’s cantankerous exterior to the caring master underneath. The aged sage seldom leaves the Fort any more, trusting you and his other apprentices to do his errands. As the most promising of his apprentices, the difficult tasks most often fall to you.

You gain a +1 trait bonus on Knowledge (arcana) checks. Additionally, choose any one spell of the transmutation school; its save DC increases by +1.

Wolfmane Barbarian: Formerly of Numeria, the Wolfmane tribes sought a new homeland some centuries ago and have taken up residence in the Echo Wood. Dwelling in the forests around Thornkeep, the Wolfmane make their living as hunters, trappers, and scouts. You were raised in one of Kellid tribes and are comfortable in the wilds; few know the Echo Wood like the Wolfmane. But there are dangers in the woods, which might one day threaten your kin, and you feel obliged to defend your tribe.

You gain a +1 trait bonus to Knowledge (nature) and Survival checks and Survival is always a class skill
This message was last edited by the GM at 02:09, Thu 18 May 2023.