You grew up within a community that took special effort to keep itself isolated and hidden from the outside world, so that even the most accurate of maps don't mark its location, and the most learned of scholars have never heard of it. You learned from a young age that you must keep your home a secret, which involves not only camouflaging the village itself, but also watching for intruders nearby and concealing your movements when you travel outside your home.
This background is common among pixies, sprites, green elves, miniature elves, stone dwarves, and jungle halflings, along with other races such as firbolgs and tritons.
- Skill Proficiencies: Perception, Stealth
- Tool Proficiencies: One gaming set known only to your village, and your choice of navigator's tools or herbalism kit.
- Equipment: A waterskin, a tinderbox, a gaming set (one of your choice), a lamp, a bedroll, a set of traveler's clothes, a trinket to reminds you of home, and a gemstone worth 10 gp
The location of your hidden community and the nature of its camouflage help to define your upbringing. You can roll on the following table to determine the location of your hidden village, or choose one that best fits your character.
| d10 | Location |
|---|---|
| 1 | Inside an Ancient Tree |
| 2 | Underground Burrow |
| 3 | Behind a Waterfall |
| 4 | Beneath a Volcano |
| 5 | Above the Clouds |
| 6 | In an Endless Storm |
| 7 | Uncharted Island |
| 8 | Old Druid's Grove |
| 9 | Beneath the Ocean |
| 10 | Inside a Demiplane |
Your culture and the social customs that come with it are completely unknown to the broader world outside your village or your people.
Outsiders might know your language, but they will not recognize your natural accent, nor will they be familiar with your manners of celebration, introduction, eating, mourning, and so on. Your ideas about art, philosophy, religion, and politics may be completely foreign to them. Outsiders won't recognize your village's gestures, secret phrases, heraldry, or other identifiers. They are unaware of any cultural traits from your village that could be used against you (such as difficulty with lying or a sense of duty to the community). Finally, you and your village are unknown to local governments and aren't listed in any charters, ledgers, or official documents.
Only those with knowledge of much secret lore might know something of your village and your society.
Suggested Characteristics
Life within a secluded community has a unique impact on your characteristics. You have been taught to live as an isolationist. Your mannerisms, ideas, equipment, and even the way you speak may stand out from the crowd to others in the outside world.
Use the tables for the folk hero or outlander background in the Player 's Handbook as the basis for your traits and motivations, modifying the entries when appropriate to suit your identity as a person from a shrouded isolationist community. For example, if you are using the folk hero tables, you might change references to your homeland to fit with the nature of your secluded lifestyle and location.
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