Quacksalver

The gold standard for medicine may be the divine healing clerics are able to provide, and some students of nature or the arcane may offer similar -- but who do the common folk turn to when no holy hands are available? When magic comes at too high a cost? To you, of course.

You know what people want -- ailments cured, youth prolonged, strength enhanced, pain dulled -- and you know how to sell it to them. What you actually deliver, however, is up to you. 

Skill Proficiencies: Medicine, and one from among Arcana, Deception, Insight, Investigation, Nature, Performance, Persuasion or Religion.

Tool Proficiencies: Forgery Kit, and one from among Carpenter's Tools, Herbalism Kit, Poisoner's Kit, Alchemist's Supplies, or Brewer's Supplies.

Equipment: A Forgery Kit, one other kit or set of tools/supplies with which you are proficient, a set of clothes specific to your flavor of Quackery, a medical text or a notebook of formulae, and a belt pouch containing 15 gp.

Suggested Characteristics

The personalities and motivations of Quacks range from the naively well-intentioned to the unscrupulously good; from the merely opportunistic to the outright malicious.

d10	Personality Trait
1	I rummage through my equipment when I am bored, organizing and re-organizing it, ensuring I know what I have and where I'm keeping it when the need arises.
2	I am always the first to rush in and offer my aid; be it out of genuine generosity, for a good first impression, or to secure a favor to call in later.
3	I can easily read the difference between someone seeking a cure and someone seeking intoxication -- and will happily sell them either.
4	I have a magnetic personality and a theatrical bent, dazzling crowds with demonstrations of my gleaming-sharp tools or vials of colorfully swirling liquid.
5	I take pride in my bedside manner. I speak to the sick, infirm, weak and injured with unerring compassion, in calming and gentle tones.
6	I am constantly (and loudly!) taking note of potential signs and symptoms of malady in the people I meet.
7	My wit is as sharp as my scalpel.
8	I keep multiple holy symbols on me and invoke whatever deity I think might be most popular among onlookers at any given moment.
9	Nothing can shake my cheerful confidence, optimism and sense of humor, even (especially?) when such cheerfulness would be inappropriate.
10	The horrors of blood, injury, sickness and disease don't faze me at all.

d12	Ideal
1	Aspiration. I'm determined to learn real skills and make something of myself, despite my ignoble beginnings. (Any)
2	Empathy. All I care about is the relief my skills bring to others -- even if that relief is a placebo. (Good)
3	Experimentation. In the eyes of science, a patient is just as useful dead or alive. (Any)
4	Fairness. I never defraud people who can’t afford to lose a few coins. (Lawful)
5	Greed. Your money is worth more than your life. (Evil)
6	Improvisation. Rules are for cowards -- if it works, it works -- and I can adapt to any situation with the tools I have. (Chaotic)
7	Independence. No one tells me what to do, and I prefer to be beholden to no one. (Chaotic)
8	Power. I enjoy holding the fates of others in my hands. (Any)
9	Preservation. Life must be preserved by any means. (Any)
10	Profit. I need to keep myself supplied with the finer things in life, and people always need the medical arts. It's what I would call a symbiotic relationship. (Neutral)
11	Respect. I won't work without it. (Any)
12	Sadism. I take an odd enjoyment from the pain my treatments cause, and the fact that I can get away with causing it. (Evil)

d8	Bond
1	I'll never forget the place where I learned my craft -- regardless of the circumstances under which I left.
2	I am secretly working on a cure for the plague that decimated my home.
3	One day I hope to innovate or discover (or stumble upon) the next big breakthrough in my field -- and be immortalized for it.
4	I have a terminal disease and I am trying to develop a cure before it's too late.
5	I must earn enough money to repay a great debt, one to which my life will be forfeit if I can't pay it back in full.
6	I swindled and harmed a person who didn't deserve it. I seek to atone for my misdeeds but might never be able to forgive myself.
7	I crossed the wrong person and must work to ensure that this individual never crosses paths with me or those I care about.
8	I owe everything I know to my mentor -- a terrible person who's probably rotting in jail somewhere.

d8	Flaw
1	I’m too greedy for my own good. I can’t resist taking a risk if there’s money involved.
2	I can’t resist swindling people who are more powerful than me.
3	I hate to admit it, but I’ll run and save my own skin if the going gets tough or my past threatens to catch up with me.
4	I’m always in debt. I spend my ill-gotten gains on decadent luxuries faster than I bring them in.
5	My insatiable curiosity sometimes leads me in over my head.
6	Who has time to clean their tools?
7	If a potion mixture fails, I'll top the vial up with grain alcohol and sell it anyway.
8	I use hard drink to numb myself to stress.