Charlatan (2026)

You learned early on that people believe what they want to believe and the power of turning a stranger's suspicion into foolish trust through words alone. Whether you were a child who could talk a debt-collector into leaving empty-handed or a shopkeeper's assistant who could effortlessly charm your way into getting others to buy more than they needed, you learned that the truth is flexible when the person across from you needs it to be.

That calling was found somewhere between a market stall and a mummer's stage — hawking tonics that cured nothing, telling fortunes you invented on the spot, borrowing a name and a title for as long as it took to empty a purse. You learned the rhythms and flow of a con: the slow build of trust, the moment of doubt, the close before the mark can think twice. You learned which lies people are grateful to be told.

Now the easy marks of your hometown have dried up or word has finally caught up with your face or you've simply outgrown the small stakes of a single street corner. Either way, you're ready to test your talents against a wider world. One that, as far as you're concerned, runs not on honest coin but on your gift for becoming whoever the moment requires.

Ability Scores: Dexterity, Constitution, Charisma

 

Feat: Alert, Crafter, Lucky or Skilled

 

Skill Proficiencies: Deception and Sleight of Hand

 

Tool Proficiencies: Forgery Kit, Favorite Scheme's Tools: Choose between a Gaming Set, a Forgery Kit, a Poisoner's Kit, a Disguise Kit, Thieves' Tools or an Artisan's Tool of your choice (Alchemist's Supplies, Calligrapher's Supplies, Jeweler's Tools, Painter's Supplies and Tinker's Tools)

If your Favorite Scheme's tool also gives you proficiency with a Forgery Kit, choose a different tool of your choice for this second proficiency.

 

Languages:  

 

Equipment: Choose A or B: (A) Choose A or B: (A) Forgery Kit, Costume, Fine Clothes, The Tools of the Con of Your Choice (same as above), and 15 GP; or (B) 100 GP

Choose your Favorite Scheme's Tools: A Gaming Set, a Poisoner's Kit, a Forgery Kit, a Disguise Kit, Thieves' Tools or an Artisan's Tool of your choice (Alchemist's Supplies, Calligrapher's Supplies, Jeweler's Tools, Painter's Supplies and Tinker's Tools)

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Design Note: Due to how many of the Favorite Schemes Tools (like the Poisoner's Kit, Alchemist's Supplies, Tinker's Tools, etc.) cost 50 GP on their own the budget for this background has been expanded so that any player can afford even the most expensive of those tools alongside their starting gear, rather than being forced to trade away half their equipment just to take it.

I fully understand that a 100 GP budget breaks from the standard 50 GP every other background uses and I don't take that lightly. It's just that from my perspective it would be better to bend the formula in accordance with the reality of equipment costs rather than hand a player a choice that quietly punishes them for picking the "wrong" tool. I hope that makes sense at your table and thanks for reading this far.

 

Spell List

 

Spell Level	Spells

 

Suggested Characteristics

Charlatans are colorful characters who conceal their true selves behind the masks they construct. They reflect what people want to see, what they want to believe and how they see the world, with the best ones starting to forget which face is underneath. These traits lean into that ambiguity: a charlatan is rarely a simple villain, but rarely simply sympathetic either.

d8	Personality Trait
1	I remember every name, every face, every favor and I always collect.
2	I tell people exactly what they need to hear and I've stopped being sure which version of me is real.
3	I silently critique every lie I hear, including the ones people tell about me.
4	Real kindness makes me deeply uncomfortable and I never know what to do with it.
5	I can't sit with my back to a door and I never say why.
6	I've started keeping mementos from marks I liked. Not to use against them, just to remember them.
7	I've never stayed anywhere long enough to find out what happens if I do.
8	Every mark gets one honest moment from me, right before the con closes. I don't know why.

d6	Ideal
1	Aspiration. I'm determined to make something of myself.
2	Justice. Everyone I con has taken more than their share from someone else first. I'm just evening things out.
3	Survival. Everyone lies to get by. I'm just better at it than most.
4	Appetite. There's always another mark, another city, another name to wear. Why would I stop?
5	Redemption. Someday I'll pull one last con and walk away clean. I just haven't found a score big enough yet.
6	Cruelty. The world made a fool of someone like me first. I'm only returning the favor.

d6	Bond
1	I fleeced the wrong person and must work to ensure that this individual never crosses paths with me or those I care about.
2	I owe everything to my mentor – someone who's probably dead or rotting in jail somewhere.
3	There's a con I never finished and it eats at me more than the ones I did.
4	I quietly fund a shelter for kids like the one I used to be, and no one there knows the money comes from grifting.
5	Somewhere out there is a city where no one's ever heard my real name and I intend to find it before I die.
6	I have a protégé now, someone as gullible as I once was, and I'm still deciding what to make of them.

d6	Flaw
1	I can't walk away from an easy mark, even when it isn't worth the risk.
2	I've lied so consistently that I no longer notice when I'm doing it.
3	I'm convinced that no one could ever fool me the way I fool others.
4	I'll always take the smaller, safer score over the bigger risky one, and some part of me hates that I do.
5	When cornered, I'll sell out an ally before I'll drop the act.
6	I secretly want to be caught by someone who actually knows the real me.

Contacts

Charlatans don't offer friendship freely, and tend to make poor allies as a result. A charlatan's contacts are usually people they have influence over: assistants kept on payroll to handle the unimportant (and deniable) parts of the work, officials on the receiving end of a bribe, friends and rivals alike who've unknowingly become blackmail material. A clever charlatan keeps a thorough tally of who owes them what. The trouble is, the reverse is just as true: your contacts have their own reasons and means to call on you.

d8	Contact
1	A city clerk who altered your records once for a fee and flinches every time you visit.
2	A former mark turned reluctant informant who feeds you information about wealthy targets to keep you away from their family.
3	A rival swindler who knows your real face and you know theirs. Neither of you has used it. Yet.
4	A fence who's covered for you more than once and is starting to expect the debt repaid in something other than coin.
5	A theater troupe leader who lends you costumes, names and expertise while worrying more than they should about what you've become.
6	A guard captain who arrested you once and let you go for reasons neither of you has ever said out loud.
7	An assistant who handles your dirty work and knows enough to hang you both if they ever talk.
8	A crime boss who's decided your schemes are cutting into their territory, and wants a cut of your take to look the other way.