Whether you're a triton, a sea elf, a water genasi, or another sentient creature that calls the world below the waves home you all have one thing in common: surfacers barely know you exist. You know life to be vast, beautiful and complex in the deep seas but it's so remote to common folk of the surface that chances are people have never even heard of your homeland or seen any of your kind.
Your reasons for leaving the comfort of the water are your own, though certainly you find yourself wishing for its familiarity. You will undoubtedly find some of this land's ways to be strange and discomforting, you can also be sure that some things its people take for granted will be to you new wonders that you’ve never laid eyes on before. By the same token, you’re a person of interest, for good or ill, to those around you almost anywhere you go.
- Skill Proficiencies: Sometimes your survival in unknown societies depends on your ability to read people different than you. Choose two of the following: Insight, Persuasion, Deception, Perception, and Performance.
- Tool Proficiencies: Navigator's tools, and vehicles (sea).
- Languages: One language you would have access to from your home or travels.
- Equipment: A set of Navigator's tools, your choice of maritime weapon (trident, net, light crossbow, spear), 50 feet of silk rope, a small token from your home (a crest, shell, knife, etc), a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 15 gp.
While your reasons may be your own or perhaps forced upon you, it wasn't happenstance that brought you so far from home. To determine whether your departure was voluntary or involuntary, roll on the table below of choose from the options.
| d6 | Why Are You Here? |
|---|---|
| 1 | Emissary |
| 2 | Exile |
| 3 | Lone Survivor |
| 4 | Fugitive |
| 5 | Pilgrim |
| 6 | Wanderer |
Everything about you marks you as foreign and different; down to your accent, mannerisms, figures of speech. Your appearance even marks you as a stranger right on first glance. Curious glances are directed your way wherever you go, which can be a nuisance, but you also gain the friendly interest of scholars and others intrigued by far-off lands, to say nothing of everyday folk who are eager to hear stories of your homeland.
You can parley this attention into access to people and places you might not otherwise have, for you and your traveling companions. Noble lords, scholars, and merchant princes, to name a few, might be interested in hearing about your distant homeland and people.
Spell List
Considering your close relationship with water, you have a natural born ability to influence the element with magic.
| Spell Level | Spells |
|---|---|
| Cantrip | shape water |
| 1st | create or destroy water |
Suggested Characteristics
Your unique background and the subsequent attention you receive for it have left an impression on you. These are the suggested characteristics for strangers from the water.
| d6 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I have different assumptions from those around me concerning personal space, blithely invading others’ space in innocence, or reacting to ignorant invasion of my own. |
| 2 | I have a strong code of honor or sense of propriety that others don’t comprehend. |
| 3 | I love to speak of my people, and try to impart my people's wisdom, history, lore, and customs on any who would listen. |
| 4 | I have my own ideas about what is and is not food, and I find the eating habits of those around me fascinating, confusing, or revolting. |
| 5 | When I arrive at a town or a city, I always indulge a little in what it has to offer first. |
| 6 | I express affection or contempt in ways that are unfamiliar to others. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Reserved. As someone new to these strange lands, I am cautious and respectful in my dealings. (Lawful) |
| 2 | Inquisitive. Everything is new, but I have a thirst to learn. (Neutral) |
| 3 | Suspicious. I must be careful, for I have no way of telling friend from foe here. (Any) |
| 4 | Pride. I take advantage of the rumours surrounding me and the people who believe in them. (Evil) |
| 5 | Vengeance. There are powerful forces in the world that go against what I believe in, and I will not rest until they have been dispatched. (Chaotic) |
| 6 | Justice. I will do what's right by everyone to the best of my ability. (Good) |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | So long as I have this token from my homeland, I can face any adversity in this strange land. |
| 2 | I hold no greater cause than my service to my people. |
| 3 | I’m fascinated by the beauty and wonder of this new land. |
| 4 | The beauty of the ocean fills me with the burning desire to protect it. |
| 5 | I do what I do now to honor the memory of someone or something I once believed in. |
| 6 | I am ashamed of who I once was, and am seeking redemption. |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I'm all too proud of the glamour and fame surrounding me. |
| 2 | I carry a terrible burden on my shoulders, and it makes me slow to trust people. |
| 3 | I am secretly (or not so secretly) convinced of the superiority of my own culture over that of this foreign land. |
| 4 | I pretend not to understand the local language in order to avoid interactions I would rather not have. |
| 5 | I have a weakness for the new intoxicants and other pleasures of this land (including the people). |
| 6 | I don’t take kindly to some of the actions and motivations of the people of this land, because these folk are different from me. |
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