You are a very convincing duplicate of an actual person, created by the fey and switched when the person was an infant or very young child. You grew up in the society of mortals and carried on your charade convincingly, as you quickly figured out what happens to changelings who get discovered. (It isn’t pretty.)
Attribution: Published with permission. From Brandes Stottard's great article, "Fey-Touched Backgrounds."
Design Notes
The Changeling goes a bit further afield with mechanical intrusion than I would usually want to see in a Background, with a limited-use feature. That said, it’s made from fey magic and should carry appropriate weaknesses. It’s a deeply risky background if the story embraces the design intent, but you’ve always wanted to play pseudo-Pinocchio, right? The other possible approach to this idea is a subrace, but with a lot of races that would sort of give the game away. “Yeah, sure you’re a real wood elf, where the hell is your Fleet of Foot or Mask of the Wild?” Also, the revenant showed us just how awkward a “universal subrace” can get.Mask-Sense has limited usage because it stands to be such a mystery spoiler, if you can game it carefully. Social information-gathering is a tricky feature niche to write for, but I think if it’s done right it can help players to feel active and useful in substantial interaction scenes.
- Skill Proficiencies: Deception, Sleight of Hand
- Tool Proficiencies: Disguise kit
- Languages: Sylvan
- Equipment: A set of common clothes, a disguise kit, a clay poppet of the person you replaced, and a belt pouch with 10 gp.
The fey magic that created you is so convincing that you have all of the racial features of a normal member of your race. Every changeling has a subtle tell, though, for fey glamour cannot perfectly match the gods’ works of creation. Roll randomly or choose a tell from the Changeling Sign table.
| d10 | Changeling Sign |
|---|---|
| 1 | The sound of church-bells causes you intense pain. |
| 2 | While on sanctified ground, you look like you are made of wicker and flowers. |
| 3 | Iron objects (not including steel) burn your flesh, dealing 1 point of damage per round of contact. |
| 4 | Your eyes are an unnatural color for your apparent race. |
| 5 | You can chew up and eat a much wider variety of substances than others of your apparent race. |
| 6 | Your teeth are unnaturally sharp-looking. |
| 7 | When you hear music, you have to dance; the way you move reveals you as unnatural. |
| 8 | Your fingers and toes are each one joint longer than others of your apparent race. |
| 9 | Your blood flows slow and thick, like sap. |
| 10 | If your bones are ever exposed – perhaps from serious wounds – they look like branches and vines. |
-
Other than me, who here has the persona most unlike their true self?
-
Of the people here, who has the highest Charisma (Deception) modifier?
-
Other than me, do any of the people here have a fey-touched Background? (This only grants a yes/no answer.)
Suggested Characteristics
A changeling is painfully aware of the artificiality of their lives and attitudes, to the point that many have difficulty separating what they want or believe for themselves from what they want or believe as part of their purported identity. Changelings struggle to hide their true natures from a society that utterly rejects them. Some few changelings find a welcome when they reunite with the fey that created and placed them, but far more find that even the fey regard them as non-beings.
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I desperately want to feel natural emotions – whether love or hate or anything else. |
| 2 | I have another constructed identity to switch into if this one gets compromised. |
| 3 | I am so self-conscious of my Changeling Sign that I accidentally call attention to it. |
| 4 | I tell stories of the fey, because I secretly wish they would take me back. |
| 5 | I keep my friends’ secrets even more rigorously than I keep my own. |
| 6 | I quietly try to dig up secrets about everyone I get to know, in case I need leverage. |
| 7 | I ask deeply probing questions, especially when it’s socially awkward, because I want to know how actual people think. |
| 8 | I am uncomfortable around mirrors because they remind me of my borrowed face. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Knowledge. What does it mean, to be a real and complete person? (Neutral) |
| 2 | Beauty. The only beauty is a mask drawn over the ugly true things of the world. (Chaotic) |
| 3 | Honesty. Even telling a half-truth is better than a whole lie. (Lawful) |
| 4 | Might. I will gather enough power to carve out a place for myself among the mortals or the fey. (Evil) |
| 5 | Generosity. I may not be altogether real, but that just frees me for bold choices that others shouldn’t have to make. (Good) |
| 6 | Aspiration. My existence is transient, but I want to leave a lasting mark on the world. (Any) |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | I’ve come to care for the family that raised me, even if they don’t know what I really am. |
| 2 | The fey must be punished for their casual cruelty. |
| 3 | If I dedicate myself to the gods, they will make me real. |
| 4 | I’m driven to find the person that I replaced. |
| 5 | I have to keep moving, because my lies will eventually catch up with me. |
| 6 | There is one person who knows my secret and cares for me anyway. I will do anything to protect and aid them. |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I cannot think of anything that would convince me to trust someone. |
| 2 | For the promise of becoming a real person, I am too eager to do anything asked of me. |
| 3 | Someone out there knows my secret, and they won’t hesitate to use it against me. |
| 4 | At the first hint of things going sour, I am out the door. |
| 5 | My Changeling Sign causes me to resent the gods deeply. |
| 6 | I’m in a hurry to live hard, die young, and leave a strange-looking body behind. |
Comments