You are a farrier, one trained in the shoeing of mounts and the care of their feet and hooves. You are skilled at calming these animals and preparing them for the rigors of the road or overland travel. You might have your own smithy, be set up in partnership with a livery stable, or be a traveling farrier. With your kit (and a fire) handy, you can repair or replace a shoe in the field.
In a campaign with commonly-used non-horse mounts, you are skilled in tending their needs as well.
- Skill Proficiencies: Animal Handling
Choose one of Insight, Medicine, Persuasion or Survival
- Tool Proficiencies: Farrier's Kit (a specialized version of Smith's tools, it comes with a small hoof stand, a sharp hoof trimming blade, a hoof pick, hammer, horseshoes and nails, some oils and glues). Choose 'Smith's Tools' but make a note or edit on your character sheet.
Vehicles, Land. You're very familiar with carts and wagons and can easily transfer your experience to other wheeled vehicles pulled by critters.
- Equipment: A cart and a mule, a set of farrier's tools, a leather work apron, a letter of testimony from a satisfied customer, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 15 gp
As a well-known farrier, you can count on steady employment from people who work with animals. You can maintain a modest or comfortable lifestyle and find work in any community, sufficiently large farmstead or military camp.
Farriers are known by word of mouth, and sometimes people route customers to you. The passing noble whose courser has a sore hoof, the warlord whose destrier threw a shoe, the farmer whose draft horse has gone lame are all steered to you. This may be a source of tips and bonuses for good and speedy work, but also clues, valuable contacts or opportunities. And as someone who travels, people may just want to talk with you about conditions on the road, what people are doing in the next town, or the rumors circulating in their own.
Suggested Characteristics
Farriers are among the most ordinary people in the world — until they set down their tools and take up an adventuring career. Due to their work tending poorly cared-for mounts, some farriers tend toward hostility against those who mishandle animals.
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I believe that anything worth doing is worth doing right. I can’t help it — I’m a perfectionist. |
| 2 | I prefer my animal customers to my human ones. |
| 3 | I always look for the stone in the shoe, or the hidden solution. It's in there if you look carefully. |
| 4 | I’m full of homespun wisdom and have a proverb for every occasion. |
| 5 | I’m rude to people who lack my commitment to hard work and fair play. |
| 6 | I've built up big muscles. I like to show them off by picking up anvils, etc. |
| 7 | People who don't take good care of their animals are going to get an earful, regardless of their rank. |
| 8 | I speak quietly and calmly. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Community. It is the duty of all civilized people to strengthen the bonds of community and the security of civilization. (Lawful) |
| 2 | Kindness. What I do takes the pain away. (Good) |
| 3 | Freedom. Everyone should be free to pursue his or her own livelihood. (Chaotic) |
| 4 | Hitting. I like smacking things with hammers. (Evil) |
| 5 | Animals. I’m committed to the animals I care about, not to ideals. (Neutral) |
| 6 | Aspiration. I work hard to be the best there is at my craft. (Any) |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | The farmstead (stable, camp) where I learned my trade is the most important place in the world to me. |
| 2 | I left the service of a faithless noble. I’m still looking for someone worthy to serve. |
| 3 | I owe my former master a great debt for forging me into the person I am today. |
| 4 | I work with animals to better know the people who own them. |
| 5 | One day I will make enough money to buy back the mount I raised. |
| 6 | I will get revenge on the evil forces that destroyed my place of business and ruined my livelihood. |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I might steal a mount if I thought I'd be saving it from its owner. |
| 2 | I was cheated once. Now I have to see their money first and count the change afterward. |
| 3 | I was kicked in the head at a young age. Sense make I don't sometimes. |
| 4 | I work with critters all day; I'm starved for conversation with people! |
| 5 | I think nobles don't care for their animals - or their people. |
| 6 | I met an adventurer once. Now my head is full of magic and monsters... who needs normal? Come on, let's go! |
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