Wasteland Scavenger (Sands of Doom)

You came from nothing, scraping a living from the ruins and wreckage that others left behind. Where most people see only rubble, you see materials, components, and the bones of things that can be made to work again. No workshop trained you and no master taught you — you learned the maker's craft by taking the broken world apart and rebuilding it yourself. Whether you were a tinker, a salvager, a tomb-scavenger, or an orphan of war, necessity taught you to repair and improvise. Even faced with a relic you've never seen, you grasp the principles that hold it together.

Ability Scores:

Intelligence, Wisdom, Constitution
Feat:

Choose one of the following feats: Crafter, Tough, Skilled, or Magic Initiate (Wizard).

Each reflects a different path your scavenger's life took — the maker who taught himself to build, the survivor who learned to take a hit, the factotum who picked up whatever skills the wastes demanded, or the tinkerer who reverse-engineered magic from salvaged relics. Choose the one that best fits your character's story.
Skill Proficiencies:
Arcana, Survival
Tool Proficiencies:
Tinker's Tools
Languages:
One language of your choice. Primordial and Infernal are common picks for those who learned their craft among Anubian ruins or in the bureaucratic shadows of Al'Kirat.
Equipment:
Choose A or B: (A) Tinker's Tools, a Quarterstaff, a Hooded Lantern, 5 flasks of oil, 2 days of rations, a Bedroll, a set of Traveler's Clothes, and a Pouch with 8 GP; or (B) 50 GP.

Feature: Salvager's Eye

You can spend 10 minutes examining a ruin, wreck, or pile of debris to determine whether anything within is salvageable, magical, or valuable, and roughly what each item once was. You have an instinct for where useful components are hidden and how broken mechanisms were meant to work, often letting you scrounge spare parts, tools, or trade goods where others find only junk. Additionally, you know the general location of one nearby scavenging site of personal significance — work with your GM to determine what and where.

Suggested Characteristics

A wasteland scavenger is shaped by scarcity and the constant negotiation between salvage and survival. Some are quiet and methodical, treating every find as a puzzle. Others are restless, always one step ahead of debt or danger. What unites them is the refusal to be discarded — and the conviction that nothing, and no one, is beyond repair.

Personality Traits: I narrate what I'm building out loud, mostly to my own creation rather than the people around me. / I size up every room for exits, materials, and what I could take apart. / I trust my hands before I trust my words. / I'd rather mend something than replace it — including people.

Ideals: Salvage. Nothing is truly broken — everything can be remade into something that works. (Good/Neutral) / Self-reliance. People leave. Tools, if you build them right, don't. (Neutral) / Memory. The work my father did mattered, and I keep it alive by practicing it. (Lawful/Good) / Survival. Sentiment is a luxury for the well-fed. (Neutral/Chaotic)

Bonds: One of my parents may still be alive. Every relic I uncover might be a clue. / My father's craft is all I have left of him — I keep it alive by practicing it. / I owe my life to the ruins. I'll never abandon them, even when others tell me to. / The mask is not who I am — but I'm not ready to take it off.

Flaws: I trust my machines more than any person, and it shows. / I'd walk into a collapsing ruin for a rare component without thinking twice. / I don't accept help. I don't know how. / I tell myself I'm searching for someone — but I'm scared of what I'll find.

d4	Personality Trait
1	I narrate what I'm building out loud, mostly to my own creation.
2	I size up every room for exits, materials, and what I could take apart.
3	I trust my hands before I trust my words.
4	I'd rather mend something than replace it — including people.

d4	Ideal
1	Salvage. Nothing is truly broken — everything can be remade. (Good)
2	Self-reliance. People leave. Tools, built right, don't. (Neutral)
3	Memory. My family's craft mattered. I keep it alive by practicing it. (Lawful)
4	Survival. Sentiment is a luxury for the well-fed. (Chaotic)

d4	Bond
1	One of my parents may still be alive. Every relic might be a clue.
2	My father's craft is all I have left of him.
3	I owe my life to the ruins. I'll never abandon them.
4	The mask is not who I am — but I'm not ready to take it off.

d4	Flaw
1	I trust my machines more than any person, and it shows.
2	I'd walk into a collapsing ruin for a rare component without thinking.
3	I don't accept help. I don't know how.
4	I tell myself I'm searching for someone — but I'm scared of what I'll find.

Contacts

Your work in the wastes hasn't gone unnoticed. Choose one contact, or work with your GM to develop another:

A rival scavenger who works the same ruins, sometimes ally, sometimes competition. They know more about your past than you've told them.

An old druid at a remote oasis who sometimes trades you supplies and news in exchange for relics. They knew your father.

A junk-dealer in the Al'Kirat Grand Bazaar who buys your salvage at fair prices — and occasionally hires you for specific recoveries that they refuse to make themselves.

d3	Contact
1	A rival scavenger who works the same ruins. Sometimes ally, sometimes competition. Knows more about your past than you've told them.
2	An old druid at a remote oasis. Trades supplies and news for relics. Knew your parents.
3	A junk-dealer in the Grand Bazaar who buys your salvage at fair prices, and occasionally hires you for recoveries they refuse to make themselves.

Tags:

Utility

Exploration

Gartisan