Life is a story and the world is your captive audience.
The Gleeman is obsessed with stories, and often write themselves into their own - be it the Noble adventurer, the swarthy swashbuckler, or the roguish treasure-hunter, your adventuring life is one of the imagination.
And yet, while you find yourself at yone with your own thoughts, or lost in a good storybook, you are quite good at involving others in the theatre of your mind. Years of careful practice have seen you become quite adept at the art of storytelling, and audience's are seldom bored by the tales you can tell.
- Skill Proficiencies: History, Performance
- Tool Proficiencies: Calligrapher's tools, Sewing Kit
- Equipment: An ornate journal or illuminated book of stories, tales, and folklore, a patchwork cloak, and a pouch containing 15 gp
A Gleeman is a lover of stories, and seeks them out with an oft-concerning fascination; yet, without an audience, their art of storytelling dies. Whether by formal training, or simply your own powers of acting and memorization, you know three stories by heart. Choose these, or roll randomly on the Tales for the Telling table below.
| d10 | Tales for the Telling |
|---|---|
| 1 | The Minstrel Goes to Market |
| 2 | The Toad, the Cat, and the Fisherman |
| 3 | The Sisters Seven |
| 4 | The House Made of Glass |
| 5 | When the Fire Dies |
| 6 | The Little Lyre Boy |
| 7 | Six Pheasants, a Poet, and a Pig |
| 8 | The Mountain Men of Khol |
| 9 | The Two Pies |
| 10 | The Good Knight, and his First Mistake |
Having heard (and told) fantastical tales about countless ancient and mystical realms, filled with monstrous creatures, you like to think that you know a little about everything. With a DC set at the DM's discretion, you may make an Intelligence check, adding your proficiency, to see what you know about a creature, object, location, or plane of existence.
Suggested Characteristics
Successful entertainers have to be able to capture and hold an audience’s attention, so they tend to have flamboyant or forceful personalities. They’re inclined toward the romantic and often cling to high-minded ideals about the practice of art and the appreciation of beauty.
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | If there's a story, I'll find it. |
| 2 | Folks find me easy to talk to, and I'm happy to listen. |
| 3 | When I find my true love, we'll have a storybook romance. |
| 4 | It's hard to stay mad when you're always smiling. |
| 5 | The more outrageous the criticism, the funnier it seems. |
| 6 | I can find a stage anywhere - that stump will do just fine for tonight! |
| 7 | I never tell a tale the same way twice. |
| 8 | True anger is unbecoming, but a useful tool for an act. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Imagination. My stories have the power to take us to a better place. (Good) |
| 2 | Tradition. The stories, legends, and songs of the past must never be forgotten, for they teach us who we are. (Lawful) |
| 3 | Innovation. I'll tell you a story, the likes of which you've never heard. (Chaotic) |
| 4 | Vanity. I’m the most important part of any story. (Evil) |
| 5 | Glee. My purpose in life it to lift the spirits of my audience, even if it's only for a little while. (Neutral) |
| 6 | Sincerity. A story doesn't need to be true, but it must be told from the heart, with everything I have. (Any) |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | My storybook is my most treasured possession, and it reminds me of days gone by. |
| 2 | Hard times found my selling my journal, but someday soon I'll get it back. |
| 3 | I want to be famous, whatever it takes. |
| 4 | I idolize a hero of the old tales and measure my deeds against that person’s. |
| 5 | I will do anything to prove myself to my mentor. |
| 6 | My friends are the true heroes of my stories; I would do anything for them. |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I love to be in the spotlight; even if it means pushing someone else out of it. |
| 2 | For as charming as I am, I'm terribly awkward around those I find attractive. |
| 3 | I promised myself I wouldn't go home until I was famous - it's taking a bit longer that I thought. |
| 4 | I often hide my own thoughts within my stories; often not as cleverly as I'd like to think. |
| 5 | There's little that gets me going like being dismissed out of hand. |
| 6 | Despite my best efforts, I am unreliable to my friends. |
While a Gleeman's stories often include excitement and peril, the story always inspires joy and, unsurprisingly, glee, at it's conclusion. Yet, not all stories have happy endings.
Be a sense of morning curiousity, or simply a natural insight into those things that people fear in the dark of a moonless evening, the Ghostwhisperer stories will chill you to the bone. Often found haunting wayward campfires along lonesome, dusty highways, these entertainers spend their days (or more specifically, their nights) telling tales of things that go 'bump' in the night. You may replace your journal or storybook with powders that, when thrown into a fire, change it's color, and your trinket from an admirer to a chilling item from one of your frightful tales.