You've always been in the game of seduction and deception. You offer your companionship... for the right price, of course. Secrets you've learned in the trade are how to play with the hearts of men and women alike, becoming desire and passion embodied. You have even been able to get your clientele to loosen their lips after pressing them against yours, making you a valuable source of information and blackmail. Having worked in a brothel, you have entertained many types of people with both your looks and your skills in certain performances. Admirers may pay the house, but may also pay you in other different ways.
This Courtesan background aims to be a more balanced fusion of Courtesan by ThomasTaylorRoss and Courtesan - Brothel by SisterWinter.
- Skill Proficiencies: Your silver tongue works both ways. Gain proficiency in Persuasion or Deception, and Performance.
- Tool Proficiencies: You know how to make certain disguises or makeup looks for specific paying clients. Gain proficiency with Disguise Kits.
- Languages: Your clientele has ranged from the common to exotic foreigners. You've been able to pick up one language from them, whether it be standard or exotic, barring languages your DM does not allow or do not exist in your setting. You cannot pick up a 'dead' language.
- Equipment: A set of fine clothes, a disguise kit, a gift from a client (a love note, a small locket with the client's picture, a small gilded ring, earrings, an item worth no more than 10gp), a small leather book, a quill, a small jar of ink, and a pouch containing 15gp
This table suggests some reasons for your background, whether it be Courtesan or the variant Concubine.
| d6 | Courtesan Background |
|---|---|
| 1 | I was sold off to my brothel/harem, and had no choice but to learn to survive. |
| 2 | I willingly entered my brothel/harem, due to my lust for secrets... and more. |
| 3 | My family all were courtesans. After joining the profession myself, I saw why they were. |
| 4 | I was running away from something or someone, and the brothel/harem took me in for safety. Little did I know this was a price. |
| 5 | I was popular before I became a courtesan/part of the harem. Now everyone pays for me/is jealous of me. |
| 6 | I was indebted to the brothel/harem leader. One of their courtesans/concubines died, and I was called in to work off my debt to them. |
Your small leather book, what some would call a 'little black book', contains things you have picked up about regular clients. This can include information such as residence, their family, the trade they specialize in, their preferences towards you, and a secret about them that can be discussed with your DM. Client secrets could range from something as small as a secret side-trade to something like murder or a bastard child. When you encounter a past client, you can ask for up to 5gp, food, housing, information or eyes on something by either recounting pleasures you have done for them, or threatening to reveal their secret to the public. It is up to the DM to set the CR for such a roll, and it is not always guaranteed to work.
When you are in the location your brothel is in, you can ask for lodging for you and your party, but you must service clients and forgo pay for doing so.
Suggested Characteristics
Courtesans master their silver tongues and deceptive beauty, as well as politics of an upper class despite not being involved in them. They could be said to wear a mask of sorts, ensnaring their prey. However, under that mask can be anything: a woman who dislikes her job after being forced into it, or a man who enjoys manipulating and snaking his way into the hearts and minds of his clients. No two courtesans are truly alike under their carefully-made gaze.
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I enjoy the attention and the flattery my profession gets me. |
| 2 | I love performing for an audience. It makes my whole week. |
| 3 | Underneath my mask, my heart sometimes breaks for my clientele. I would never let them know. |
| 4 | I have a knack for acting dumb to get what I need. |
| 5 | I often drop names of nobles that have bought my services. I must look important to others. |
| 6 | I hate being a courtesan/concubine, but the wealth and power I am afforded by my position is what keeps me the same. |
| 7 | I've lived life poor and I've lived life large and rich. I must never be poor again. |
| 8 | I must maintain my beauty, no matter what. |
| d8 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Wealth. I want to get rich and powerful. I will not lose either without a fight. (Neutral) |
| 2 | Charity. The power and wealth from my profession will be able to change the world into a better place than I was born in. (Good) |
| 3 | Power. The power I acquire will be used to mold life into the same cold reflection I see. (Evil) |
| 4 | Love. I am here to make people feel good, to please them. (Chaotic) |
| 5 | Advancement. I will become a noble myself, and become part of the society I was not born into. (Lawful) |
| 6 | Change. The world isn't the way I want it to be. I will rise above and make my vision the only vision. (Chaotic) |
| 7 | Beauty. It will fade, so I must make the most of it. (Neutral) |
| 8 | Kindness. Life is unfair. I try not to make it worse for others, unless I absolutely have to. (Neutral) |
| d8 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | I will be the most popular courtesan. |
| 2 | I long to see a lover from my past. My life is half of what it was without them. |
| 3 | I want revenge on those who have betrayed me. |
| 4 | My clients are my livelihood. I must protect them in any way possible. |
| 5 | My brothel/harem leader made me into what I am now. They focused me into a tool I enjoy being. Without them, I would be lost. |
| 6 | I long to travel to places my clients/harem leader have told me about, and to see the world. |
| 7 | I ran from my harem because I was framed by another concubine. One day, I will have their head. |
| 8 | I was abused by a client in my brothel. I have left to raise hell on them and whoever is close to them. |
| d8 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I am willing to put other's lives on the line, so I can have an easier one. |
| 2 | I get jealous easily. My sharp tongue doesn't help. |
| 3 | I am wild and passionate, even if it is to my detriment. |
| 4 | I discard people when they are no longer of use to me. |
| 5 | If I start getting attached to someone, I will try to push them away and leave them so they don't get hurt. |
| 6 | I have been away from the outside world so long that I am a bit naïve about it, and easily impressed by new developments. |
| 7 | If someone makes me look less than perfect around lords and ladies, I will never forgive them, ever. |
| 8 | I don't like following authority that I don't know. If I'm not calling the shots, I will do anything to save myself first and foremost. |
Instead of serving a brothel, you were instead a concubine for a noble or even a ruler. You may have picked up the language instead from another concubine, or the noble or ruler themselves, as part of a fetish of theirs for certain languages. Whatever led to you being kicked from the harem can also be discussed. Did you fail to please them and were exiled? Or perhaps did you run away, slipping under the cover of night to go see the world? Either way, you have had a different life from regular Courtesans.
You may still be in contact with two concubines from the harem. You can send them messages, providing you do so secretly, as to not anger the nobility. Using these contacts will enable you to learn about certain things the one you were beholden to knows, such as events going on in the noble world, or even secret information the general public does not know. If a message is too dangerous to answer, you will get a simple feather sent back, as they will act to preserve their lives and status. You may only send one message every 5 days, and it takes 1d4 days after sending to get a message back.
If a contact is exiled, executed, or otherwise dies or leaves the harem, you cannot replace them. If a contact has ran away and you run into them, you may be able to ask them for up to 3 secrets of the nobility, before they become dry of information. Secrets are at the DM's discretion. A contact seen in this way may tag along, but will not follow you into danger or dungeons, fleeing at the first sign of conflict.
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