Dancing Bear Guide

The Lodge of the Dancing Bear is a loose, widespread organization that stretches from Bjeornheim to the northern coast of the Grand Duchy. Members of the lodge—known as guides—are a rough and tumble lot. As a dancing bear guide, you are at home in the wilds of Midgard, but you make forays into civilization for the express purpose of exposing city-dwellers to the freedom of the wilds. Closed-off streets strewn with garbage and filth mask the truth the wider world has to offer. You’ll show them what they’ve forgotten, and when they see, they’ll understand. Wilderness guides, trappers, teamsters, and smugglers, the guides take any job that involves dragging civilized folk through the brambles to expand their horizons.

Skill Proficiencies: Persuasion, Survival

Tool Proficiencies: Vehicles (land)

Languages: One of your Choice

Equipment: A set of traveler’s clothes, a map of the region around your home marked with shortcuts and secluded hideaways, a hunting trap, and a pouch containing 10 gp.

Suggested Characteristics

Dancing bear guides might appear gruff and unapproachable when they're in towns, but that has more to do with their discomfort in urban settings than with their personalities. In the wilderness they love, most dancing bear guides are personable and friendly, and they even have an endearing if rough sense of humor. They'll form connections with anyone who displays a love for the wilderness or a sincere desire to learn its ways. Guides offer their services readily.

d8	Personality Trait
1	Gates are meant to keep city folk in, not keep me out.
2	I enjoy the discomfort of fancy folk when they slog through the mud.
3	No trails, no problem!
4	My clothes are stained and my hair is tangled, but I’m well-spoken and polite.
5	No sense getting bent out of shape when things don’t go your way; it’s better to laugh at misfortune and then show it who’s boss.
6	I tolerate cities, but I thrive in the wild.
7	I don't waste nature’s bounty, and I dislike those who do.
8	I use few words. Actions matter more.

d6	Ideal
1	Protection. Until you know what’s out there, the wild can be deadly. I’ve got your back. (Good)
2	Honesty. My word is my bond. (Lawful)
3	Freedom. Walls and fences make a person shrink. (Chaotic)
4	Strength. I revel in flaunting my might to cow the weak. (Evil)
5	Service. I ply my skills in the service of any who lack them. (Neutral)
6	Nature. It’s easy to lose sight of the beauty and importance of the world outside the cities. I’ll remind those who forget. (Any)

d6	Bond
1	I have a good relationship with a particular city, and I’ll come to its aid whenever it needs me.
2	I lost someone I loved in the trackless wild. No one else should know that pain.
3	I’m keeping something safe in my wanderings by always keeping it moving from place to place.
4	Anyone threatening those under my charge will reap death and ruin.
5	Good will between neighboring cities must be maintained.
6	I’m always watching for threats to my homeland during my time on the road.

d6	Flaw
1	If there’s a choice between the easy way and the hard way, the hard way is always best. Easy is for the weak and incompetent.
2	There’s bad blood between me and someone, or something, out beyond the city lights. It’s just a matter of time until the reckoning.
3	People died because of my mistakes, and I’ll do anything to keep that secret.
4	Locked gates are a challenge, and I never back down.
5	There’s a certain type of client I hate, and I have a hard time keeping that hidden.
6	I get too used to creature comforts when I’m in town, and sometimes I get lost in drink, soft beds, and company.