You are a bodyguard, sworn to protect a person known as your charge. Perhaps you grew up in a family of retainers destined to protect a noble or religious figure. Maybe you joined a guild, sect, or organization that offers personal protection among other services. You might even travel the land as a free agent, offering your guardianship to the highest bidder. However you came into this line of work, you take your duties seriously, holding the safety and health of your charge as equal to (or perhaps more important than) your own.
- Skill Proficiencies: Most bodyguards are trained in perception, the better to detect threats to their charges. They also have some knowledge of medicine, should they ever need to patch themselves or their charges up after a scuffle or a rescue.
- Tool Proficiencies: You are trained in the use of a poisoner's kit, which you most usually use to concoct antidotes in the event your charge is poisoned. You are also trained in your choice of navigator's tools or land vehicles (carriage, cart, chariot, and wagon) for escorting your charge or escaping danger.
- Languages: You are fluent in one non-exotic language that your charge knows that you do not already know from some other source. If you already share all of your charge's non-exotic languages, you may select one of your choice.
- Equipment: A set of traveler’s clothes, a poisoner's kit, a simple or martial weapon with which you are proficient, and a pouch containing 10 gp.
Your experience as a bodyguard allows you to find hidden, little-used pathways that you can use to traverse a town or city with your charge. When you aren’t in combat, you and companions that you lead can travel between two locations in a moderate to large sized settlement twice as fast as your speed would normally allow.
In addition, you may travel these paths in order to bypass crowds (such as during a city's yearly Founders' Festival) or obstacles (such as blockades or checkpoints), but while doing so your travel time is doubled due to the many twisting paths and loop-backs you must take. While traveling in this way helps you avoid detection and circumvent obstacles you are aware of, it does not prevent you from encountering unforeseen dangers or obstacles in the alleys, backstreets, or sewers that you traverse; the DM may instigate a skill challenge to determine whether you encounter any such events.
Suggested Characteristics
Your line of work can forge strong bonds between a bodyguard and their charge, or incite bitter anger should a job go south and a charge be hurt or lost. Bodyguards often apply lessons from their work to their lives in general.
Use the following suggestions from the Athlete background to determine your character's personality traits and characteristics, altering any athlete-specific text to better fit your Bodyguard background.
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I feel most at peace during physical exertion, be it exercise or battle. |
| 2 | I don’t like to sit idle. |
| 3 | I have a daily exercise routine that I refuse to break. |
| 4 | Obstacles exist to be overcome. |
| 5 | When I see others struggling, I offer to help. |
| 6 | I love to trade banter and gibes. |
| 7 | Anything worth doing is worth doing best. |
| 8 | I get irritated if people praise someone else and not me. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Competition. I strive to test myself in all things. (Chaotic) |
| 2 | Triumph. The best part of winning is seeing my rivals brought low. (Evil) |
| 3 | Camaraderie. The strongest bonds are forged through struggle. (Good) |
| 4 | People. I strive to inspire my spectators. (Neutral) |
| 5 | Tradition. Every game has rules, and the playing field must be level. (Lawful) |
| 6 | Growth. Lessons hide in victory and defeat. (Any) |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | My teammates are my family. |
| 2 | I will overcome a rival and prove myself their better. |
| 3 | My mistake got someone hurt. I’ll never make that mistake again. |
| 4 | I will be the best for the honor and glory of my home. |
| 5 | The person who trained me is the most important person in my world. |
| 6 | I strive to live up to a specific hero’s example. |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I indulge in a habit that threatens my reputation or my health. |
| 2 | I’ll do absolutely anything to win. |
| 3 | I ignore anyone who doesn’t compete and anyone who loses to me. |
| 4 | I have lingering pain from old injuries. |
| 5 | Any defeat or failure on my part is because my opponent cheated. |
| 6 | I must be the captain of any group I join. |