You were forged in the forgotten ruins and scorched deserts of the Wastes, where only the desperate, faithful, or visionary dare tread. Whether a Hadiri born under burning skies or an outcast scholar from distant lands, your life has revolved around scavenging the remnants of the Ancient Ones. You’ve uncovered sacred relics, battled cursed beasts, and wandered half-buried cities where the wind still whispers forgotten truths.
The Wastes are death to the unwary, but to you, they are memory and purpose. You seek lost knowledge, magical blueprints, and perhaps the truth of what ended the Ancients. Whether driven by faith, coin, or obsession, you reclaim what the sands forgot.
- Skill Proficiencies: Survival, Arcana or Religion
- Tool Proficiencies: Tinker's Tools or Cartographer's Tools
- Languages: One dialect of Aurelian (choose Hadiri, Keshan, or Endish)
- Equipment: A worn desert cloak with your faction's emblem or ritual marks, a relic fragment (nonmagical but mysterious in origin), A weather-stained journal with sketches of ruins and notes in Aurelian, and a pouch containing 15 gp
You know how to navigate ruins of the Ancient Ones, identifying salvageable components, deciphering worn symbols, and recognizing unstable architecture or magical traps. In any ruin, wreckage, or site tied to ancient civilizations, you can spend 1 hour to discover one of the following:
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A hidden passage or chamber
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A scrap of text, schematic, or blueprint relevant to the Ancients
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A component usable in magical crafting or research (DM's discretion)
In addition, when negotiating with factions that value such artifacts (scholars, Hadiri elders, Qorim-Kesh archivists, or Velassian artificers), you have advantage on Charisma checks to barter or establish credibility.
Suggested Characteristics
Reclaimers of the Wastes are shaped by desolation, mystery, and the thrill of unearthing truths buried by time and sand. Many are grim survivors who have seen things others wouldn’t believe—ruins that speak, relics that pulse with divine memory, or monsters shaped by magic long dead. Whether driven by faith, greed, or obsession, reclaimers live on the edge of the world and often walk the line between reverence and recklessness. Their solitude hardens them, but each relic they uncover reminds them they are part of something ancient and unfinished.
| d6 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I talk to ruins as if they’ll answer me. Maybe one day, they will. |
| 2 | Everything has a use—even broken, half-buried junk. |
| 3 | I carry the sand of home with me in a small vial. It reminds me why I endure. |
| 4 | I am more comfortable sleeping under open skies than under a roof. |
| 5 | I believe I was chosen by fate to find something hidden deep in the Wastes. |
| 6 | I mistrust those who’ve never been cut by desert wind. |
| d5 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Preservation. The truth of the past must be uncovered and protected. (Lawful) |
| 2 | Freedom. No empire can claim what lies beneath the sands. (Chaotic) |
| 3 | I found a map or fragment that hints at a hidden vault of the Ancients. |
| 4 | My family was exiled, and I reclaim artifacts to buy back their honor. |
| 5 | A dying Hadir once entrusted me with their final vision—I'm still trying to understand it. |
| d5 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | A fellow reclaimer vanished in the Wastes—I won’t leave them forgotten. |
| 2 | I’m sworn to return any relics I find to a specific temple, order, or archive. |
| 3 | Nothing is more important than the other members of my family. |
| 4 | I am in love with the heir of a family that my family despises. |
| 5 | My loyalty to my sovereign is unwavering. |
| d5 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I take reckless risks if it means I might find something valuable. |
| 2 | I hoard relics I don’t understand and won’t let anyone else study them. |
| 3 | I am haunted by dreams of the Ancients and their final days. |
| 4 | I distrust anyone who hasn’t earned their place in the desert. |
| 5 | I’m secretly afraid of what I might find—and what it might reveal about us. |
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