Whether you were a tribal witch-doctor, a medicine man, an arcane healer, a holy man, a field medic, or a formally trained physician, you specialize in the treatment of the suffering.You have seen all kinds of injury, disease, poison, and death. As a medical professional you have sworn a sacred oath to protect life and all those who suffer.
- Skill Proficiencies: Medicine, Nature
- Tool Proficiencies: Herbalism kit
- Languages: One of your choice
- Equipment: A scroll case stuffed full of notes from your studies or prayers, a badge and certificate identifying you as a healer, a winter blanket, a set of common clothes, an herbalism kit, and 10 gp
Healers come in many varieties in the forgotten realms - from the academically trained physician to the villager who helps their neighbors in need with simple folk remedies and attentive care. All share the bond of working to treat people who are sick and injured. Very often this places them in positions of respect in the communities where they serve.
| d6 | Medical Tradition |
|---|---|
| 1 | I am a professionally trained physician. I have spent many years studying my craft in a highly structured curriculum. |
| 2 | I am a combat medic. I have seen the horrors of war, and brought back more lives than I took. |
| 3 | I am a village healer. Every patient I treated was always someone I knew personally, whether we were friends or not. |
| 4 | I am a faith healer. I trust in the power of the gods to restore the health of those whom the gods bring to me. |
| 5 | I am a healer dedicated to a noble family, I will do everything I can to maintain the health of my lords. |
| 6 | I am apprenticed to a healer. I hope to eclipse them some day. |
Thanks to the time you have spent practicing your craft on the sick and injured, you are familiar with all kinds of maladies and afflictions which might burden your patients. When making a diagnostic medicine check you do so with advantage. You also are familiar with, and where to find many varieties herbs and materials needed for healing.
Suggested Characteristics
Healers for the most part genuinely care for others and wish to help them get better. They are raised in an environment that sees and cares for others as a priority. Being a healer comes with great responsibility.
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I save lives. What you do is probably not nearly as important. |
| 2 | Everything can be understood and explained. If I don't know, I will try to find out. |
| 3 | I am constantly pointing out the flaws in others and their arguments, as if diagnosing and illness. |
| 4 | I feel tremendous empathy for all who suffer. |
| 5 | I’m oblivious to etiquette and social expectations. |
| 6 | I am entranced and inspired by the brilliance and glory of the living body. |
| 7 | I often get lost in my own thoughts and contemplation, becoming oblivious to my surroundings. |
| 8 | I have spent years writing and collecting my insights into the practice of medicine which I hope to publish. I love sharing my ideas. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Greater Good. My craft is meant to be shared with all, not used for my own benefit. (Good) |
| 2 | Logic. Emotions must not cloud our sense of what is right and true, or our logical thinking. (Lawful) |
| 3 | Free Thinking. Inquiry and curiosity are the pillars of progress. (Chaotic) |
| 4 | Power. Those who seek my craft will pay through the nose to get it, either through coin or favor. (Evil) |
| 5 | Pragmatism. Why do what I do? I am good at it and I'm always professional. That is the best anyone can do. (Neutral) |
| 6 | Meaningful. It may not always be glamorous, but what I do is valuable. (Any) |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | I long to visit the place where I first learned to practice medicine. |
| 2 | My mentor up and disappeared. I have to find them, maybe out of honest or concern or because they owe me something. |
| 3 | I took up the profession because someone close to me died of something treatable. |
| 4 | I was pushed, or encouraged, into the field by my parents, who are expecting great things from me. |
| 5 | I know how similar we are to animals, and now I can't stand to eat meat anymore. |
| 6 | I see service to others as the greatest honor and calling anyone can have. |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I am perpetually disappointed in the abilities of other people. |
| 2 | I made a terrible mistake that cost many lives - and I would do anything to keep that mistake a secret. |
| 3 | I am far too good at my job and now some powerful organization I do not like wants to recruit me, with progressively greater pressure. |
| 4 | I will stop at nothing to find the cure that evades me. |
| 5 | Most people run at the site of something hideous while I stop to take notes about it. |
| 6 | When a patient dies, I am overcome with grief and become angry or dismissive with those around me. |
This healer background assumes a contemplative sort of healer that allows room for careful and considerate care of their patients. If you want to go in a more religious direction, the acolyte might be what you’re looking for. Or you could even be a charlatan, posing as a wise and holy person and letting pious fools support you.
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