Orphan

Your parents were killed or disappeared and you were turned over to the care of an orphanage or church. For the most part, you were cared for, though the extent of that care was generally benign neglect, another face among many in your situation. While you had a roof over your head and meals to eat, your life was likely a difficult one. You may have coped with abandonment through refusing to trust or bond with others or perhaps developed an obsession with wanting attention from your caretakers and peers.

You begin your adventuring career with enough money to live modestly but securely for at least ten days. How did you come by that money? What allowed you to break free of your desperate circumstances and embark on a better life? How do you relate to those that took you in and cared for you during this time?

Skill Proficiencies: Choose two from the following: Perception, Deception, Insight, Survival, Religion

Tool Proficiencies: Cobbler's Tools, Chef's Utensils, Painting Supplies, or Herbalism Kit

Languages: One common language spoken by your caretakers.

Equipment: A small knife, a map of the city you grew up in, a pet mouse, a token to remember your parents by, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp

Suggested Characteristics

Orphans are shaped by lives of loneliness and desperation for a family. They tend to be driven either by a commitment to the people with whom they shared life in the orphanage or by a burning desire to find a better life — and maybe find a family to call their own.

d8	Personality Trait
1	I hide scraps of food and trinkets away in my pockets.
2	I ask a lot of questions.
3	I like to squeeze into small places where no one else can get to me.
4	I sleep with my back to a wall or tree, with everything I own wrapped in a bundle in my arms.
5	I eat like a pig and have bad manners.
6	I think anyone who’s nice to me is hiding evil intent.
7	I don’t like to bathe.
8	I want everyone to like me and I'll change my mannerisms to reflect that.

d6	Ideal
1	Respect. All people, rich or poor, deserve respect. (Good)
2	Community. We have to take care of each other, because no one else is going to do it. (Lawful)
3	Change. The low are lifted up, and the high and mighty are brought down. Change is the nature of things. (Chaotic)
4	Retribution. The rich need to be shown what life and death are like in the gutters. (Evil)
5	People. I help the people who help me — that’s what keeps us alive. (Neutral)
6	Aspiration. I’m going to prove that I’m worthy of a better life.

d6	Bond
1	My town or city is my home, and I’ll fight to defend it.
2	I sponsor an orphanage to keep others from enduring what I was forced to endure.
3	I owe my survival to another urchin who taught me to live on the streets.
4	I owe a debt I can never repay to the person who took pity on me.
5	I'll always remember the other children from my orphanage.
6	No one else should have to endure the hardships I’ve been through.

d6	Flaw
1	If I’m outnumbered, I will run away from a fight.
2	Gold seems like a lot of money to me, and I’ll do just about anything for more of it.
3	I will never fully trust anyone other than myself.
4	I’d rather kill someone in their sleep than fight fair.
5	It’s not stealing if I need it more than someone else.
6	I'm too trusting, I'll believe anything that is told to me.