You have experience with the use and construction of many varieties of magical war machines and/or technologically advanced vehicles, both land and air based. You have spent time building them, and driving them, and expertly know the ins and outs of their inner workings.
Be sure to work with your DM to make sure that this background is appropriate for their setting. In Eberron, where magic trains and airships are common, fitting this background in should pose no problem, but in more medievil settings like the Forgotten Realms it might take some reflavouring and recontextualisng to make this mesh with the technology available in that setting.
Also note that land and air vehicles are incredibly expensive, and it would be extremely unlikely that an adventurer would would have one at the start of their journey. Work with your DM and consider how you were able to use these machines in the past, and why you no longer have access to them.
- Skill Proficiencies: Choose two from among Sleight of Hand, Arcana, Investigation, or Perception
- Tool Proficiencies: Choose two from among Vehicles (land), Vehicles (sea/air), Smith's Tools, or Tinkerer's tools.
- Equipment: A set of artisan's tools of your choice, a logbook detailing all your previous flights, a set of traveler’s clothes, and a leather pouch with 10 gp
There are many facets to the running of a tightly knit mechanical operation. While all aspects of the craft might interest you, you are likely to have had a particular focus. Choose your particlar area of expertise, or roll on the table below.
| d6 | Life in the Fast Lane |
|---|---|
| 1 | Military: You worked for the army, maybe ferrying soldiers to and from the frontlines, or perhaps operating a heavily equipped war machine in the heat of battle. |
| 2 | Private Contractor: You flew for weathly clients, either taking them on joy rides, or drastically shortening their travel time. Perhaps you were hired by large companies to carry goods across countries and continants, or by criminals for other dirty work. |
| 3 | Mechanic: Your home is the factory floor, or your garage. You love fiddling away with cogs and gears and pipes, and keeping the operation of these machines silky smooth. |
| 4 | Designer: Not content with the current offerings, you worked tirelessly to improve and iterate on existing technology to make these machines faster, sturdier and cheaper to build. |
| 5 | Ground Control: At the large cities where airships and the like coalecse, your jobs was to organise the traffic in and out of busy airspace, avoiding mid air collisions etc. |
| 6 | Hobbyist: This is your passion and in the past you've dedicated a good chunk of your free time to these machines. Perhaps you built one in your garage out of scrap, or visit airfields frequently to catch a glimpse of these vehicles in action. |
A deep knowlage of the inner workings of your vehicles is important, in case something breaks far from civiliasation. Given this, you can perform repairs on a metallic land or air vehicle provided you have smiths' tools or tinkerer's tools. When you use this ability, you restore a number of hit points to the hull of a metallic land or air vehicle equal to 5 × your proficiency modifier. A vehicle cannot be patched by you in this way again until after it has been parked and fully repaired.
Suggested Characteristics
Driving the lastest magictech vehicles, often at incredible speeds, Pilots have an air of glamor to the common folk. They have had to work tirelessly to get to where they are, and have a tight knit, and sometimes cliquey community based around their profession, but having probably seen many different areas of the world they have a good understanding of different cultures.
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I love talking and being heard more than I like to listen. |
| 2 | I’m extremely fond of puzzles. |
| 3 | I thrive under pressure. |
| 4 | I love sketching and designing objects, especially vehicles and machines. |
| 5 | I’m not afraid of hard work — in fact, I prefer it. |
| 6 | I adore the smell of fuel and the whirring of cogs and gears. |
| 7 | I have an endless supply of stories from the myriad of places I've visited. |
| 8 | I don’t mind getting my hands dirty. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Crew. Many hands make light work, and if one part of a machine fails, it all fails. We work best if we work together. (Good) |
| 2 | Balance. Every tiny peice must be in just the right place for the machine to work efficiently. (Lawful) |
| 3 | Freedom. The open road, or the endless blue sky is where I feel the most at home. (Chaotic) |
| 4 | Perfection. To measure a being and find it lacking is the greatest disappointment. (Evil) |
| 5 | Diligence. There's no problem that attention to detail and getting your hands dirty wont fix. (Any) |
| 6 | Hope. The horizon holds the greatest promise. (Any) |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | I long to see all the corners of this world, and these machines will take me there. |
| 2 | My father taught me to fly, and one day I hope to pass on what he taught me. |
| 3 | I'm perfecting the design of an incredible new engine, that need this one last rare material to finally make it work. |
| 4 | I repair broken things to redeem what’s broken in myself. |
| 5 | I will craft the fastest vehicle the world has ever seen. |
| 6 | My vehicle, my pride and joy, was stolen from me. One day I will find it and take it back. |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I don’t know when to throw something away. You never know when it might be useful again. |
| 2 | I get frustrated to the point of distraction by shoddy craftsmanship. |
| 3 | I treat my vehicles with an overt fondness, as one would a child or pet, that most people find strange. |
| 4 | I live life at a million miles per hour. Everyone else has to keep up or be left behind. |
| 5 | I’m judgmental of those who are not skilled with tools of some kind. |
| 6 | I can talk about mechanics for hours and hours, often boring other people to tears. |
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