The Stout Folk are well known for their artisanship and the worth of their handiworks, and you have been trained in that ancient tradition. For years you labored under a dwarf master of the craft, enduring long hours and dismissive, sour-tempered treatment in order to gain the fine skills you possess today. After mastering your craft you took your wares over the great waters to sell up and down the coast. Now you are a fine craftsman and trained in the nuances of a sailing merchants life.
On a rickety barge, you carried a hundred longswords in fish barrels right past the dock master’s oblivious lackeys. You have paddled a riverboat filled with stolen elven wine under the gaze of the moon and sold it for twice its value in the morning. In your more charitable times, you have transported innocents out of war zones or helped guide herd animals to safety on the banks of a burning river.
You are most likely a dwarf, but not necessarily—particularly in the North, the shield dwarf clans learned long ago that only proud fools who are more concerned for their egos than their craft turn away promising apprentices, even those of other races. If you aren’t a dwarf, however, you have taken a solemn oath never to take on an apprentice in the craft: it is not for non-dwarves to pass on the skills of Moradin’s favored children. You would have no difficulty, however, finding a dwarf master who was willing to receive potential apprentices who came with your recommendation.
- Skill Proficiencies: History, Insight, Athletics, Deception
- Tool Proficiencies: Vehicles (water), and one type of artisan’s tools
- Languages: Dwarvish or one other of your choice if you already speak Dwarvish
- Equipment: A set of artisan’s tools with which you are proficient, a maker’s mark chisel used to mark your handiwork with the symbol of the clan of crafters you learned your skill from, a set of traveler’s clothes, and a pouch containing 25 gp and a gem worth 10 gp.
Every clan sea born merchant has that one tale that sets them apart from common businessmen or smugglers. By wits, sailing skill, or a silver tongue, you lived to tell the story — and you tell it often. You can roll on the following table to determine your claim or choose one that best fits your character.
| d6 | Claim to Fame |
|---|---|
| 1 | Spirit of the Whale. You smuggled illicit dwarven spirits in the body of a dead whale being pulled behind a fishing boat. When you delivered the goods, the corpse suddenly exploded, sending whale meat and whiskey bottles for half a mile. |
| 2 | Cart and Sword. You drove a cart filled with stolen art through the middle of a battlefield while singing sea shanties to confuse the combatants. |
| 3 | The Recruit. You enlisted in another nation’s navy for the purpose of smuggling stolen jewels to a distant port. You attained a minor rank before disappearing from the navy and making your way here. |
| 4 | River of Shadows. Your riverboat accidentally slipped through the veil into the Shadowfell for several hours. While you were there, you sold some stolen dragonborn artifacts before returning to this plane and paddling home. |
| 5 | Gold-Hearted. You agreed to transport a family escaping a war. The baby began to cry at a checkpoint, and you gave the guards all your gold to let you pass. The family never found out about this gesture. |
| 6 | Playing Both Sides. You once smuggled crates of crossbow bolts and bundles of arrows, each destined for an opposing side in a regional war, at the same time. The buyers arrived within moments of each other but did not discover your trickery. |
As well respected as clan crafters are among outsiders, no one esteems them quite so highly as dwarves do. You always have free room and board in any place where shield dwarves or gold dwarves dwell, and the individuals in such a settlement might vie among themselves to determine who can offer you (and possibly your compatriots) the finest accommodations and assistance.
In addition, you are also acquainted with a network of smugglers who are willing to help you out of tight situations. While in a particular town, city, or other similarly sized community (DM’s discretion), you and your companions can stay for free in safe houses. Safe houses provide a poor lifestyle. While staying at a safe house, you can choose to keep your presence (and that of your companions) a secret.
Suggested Characteristics
Use the tables for the guild artisan background below as the basis for your traits and motivations, modifying the entries when appropriate to suit your identity as a clan crafter. (For instance, consider the words “guild” and “clan” to be interchangeable.)
Your bond is almost certainly related to the master or the clan that taught you, or else to the work that you produce. Your ideal might have to do with maintaining the high quality of your work or preserving the dwarven traditions of craftsmanship.
In general, clan sea born merchant's value survival, and then profit, above other things. One could be a part of a larger organization, or might run a small merchant/smuggling vessel of their own. Clan sea born merchant's live the lies they have told, and they have a natural ability to recall all the falsehoods and half-truths they have ever spouted.
| d10 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I love being on the water but hate fishing. |
| 2 | I believe that anything worth doing is worth doing right. I can’t help it—I’m a perfectionist. |
| 3 | I love gold but won’t cheat a friend. |
| 4 | I always want to know how things work and what makes people tick. |
| 5 | I’m rude to people who lack my commitment to hard work and fair play. |
| 6 | I become wistful when I see the sun rise over the ocean. |
| 7 | I don’t part with my money easily and will haggle tirelessly to get the best deal possible. |
| 8 | I’m well known for my work, and I want to make sure everyone appreciates it. I’m always taken aback when people haven’t heard of me. |
| 9 | I enjoy doing things others believe to be impossible. |
| 10 | I think of everything in terms of monetary value. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Aspiration: I work hard to be the best there is at my craft. (Any) |
| 2 | Wealth. Heaps of coins in a secure vault is all I dream of. (Any) |
| 3 | Generosity. My talents were given to me so that I could use them to benefit the world. (Good) |
| 4 | Freedom. Everyone should be free to pursue his or her own livelihood. (Chaotic) |
| 5 | All for a Coin. I’ll do nearly anything if it means I turn a profit. (Evil) |
| 6 | People. For all my many lies, I place a high value on friendship. (Any) |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | The workshop where I learned my trade is the most important place in the world to me. |
| 2 | My vessel was stolen from me, and I burn with the desire to recover it. |
| 3 | I owe my guild a great debt for forging me into the person I am today. |
| 4 | I pursue wealth to secure someone’s love. |
| 5 | I intend to become the leader of the network of smugglers that I belong to. |
| 6 | I was tricked by a fellow smuggler who stole something precious from me. I will find that thief. |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I'm never satisfied with what I have― I always want more. |
| 2 | I’ll do anything to get my hands on something rare or priceless. |
| 3 | I’m quick to assume that someone is trying to cheat me. |
| 4 | I tend to assess my relationships in terms of profit and loss. |
| 5 | I would kill to acquire a noble title. |
| 6 | Few people know the real me. |
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