Character Background, Alternate Boon

[Draco_Lord]

So I am making a character for a 5e game, and I am having a bit of trouble with my background. I want to make a Cleric who was part of a noble house, basically a bit of Shakespearean tragedy happens and her uncle ends up killing her father, the rightful Lord, to take control of the house. He ends up locking her away, you know bargaining chip and so on, but thanks to some lightning (Leading to her taking up faith with Talos) she escapes from the city and goes on to become an adventurer, planning on building up strength and capital to one day return and take back her House.

Anyways, the two noble boons from the backgrounds don't really work for her. She does not have the House providing funds, and given her situation she has started wearing a face covering to avoid recognition in the City (Her uncle branded her face cause I'm a bit extra like that). So socializing is out. My DM has given me permission to come up with something else as a replacement. But I am drawing a blank on what to do, so I was hoping I could get some help.

[Biggstick]

Well what has she been doing since escaping the clutches of Uncle? Whatever she's been doing to survive at this point would be what I look to utilize. Has she been living with the common folk? The Folk Hero feature may fit. Has she been living out in the wilderness? The Outlander feature might work.

Otherwise, if she's fresh out of "imprisonment," she honestly wouldn't have another background feature imo. This is because of the story you've written for her. She doesn't necessarily have anything that makes her worthy of another background feature.

So to recap, you can include a bit more information about her time after being imprisoned by her Uncle, or more information about what she did prior to being imprisoned by her Uncle. This will open up the possibilities to what might be chosen from the other available background features.

[Jophiel]

Well, if you want something you can just slot in, the Acolyte feature would work (assistance from shrines of Talos) since you're a cleric.

If you want something fresher that fits directly with your story, maybe a feature allowing you to gain information, gossip, etc about nobles and their houses? Even if you're personally in exile, you know the right strings to pull or questions to ask to find out information through second-hand sources and how to process it into something useful. ("Gossip is that Lady Claire was riding east to visit family in Hightower Keep but I know that all her family comes from the Pine Valley so...")

[nickl_2000]

So I am making a character for a 5e game, and I am having a bit of trouble with my background. I want to make a Cleric who was part of a noble house, basically a bit of Shakespearean tragedy happens and her uncle ends up killing her father, the rightful Lord, to take control of the house. He ends up locking her away, you know bargaining chip and so on, but thanks to some lightning (Leading to her taking up faith with Talos) she escapes from the city and goes on to become an adventurer, planning on building up strength and capital to one day return and take back her House.

Anyways, the two noble boons from the backgrounds don't really work for her. She does not have the House providing funds, and given her situation she has started wearing a face covering to avoid recognition in the City (Her uncle branded her face cause I'm a bit extra like that). So socializing is out. My DM has given me permission to come up with something else as a replacement. But I am drawing a blank on what to do, so I was hoping I could get some help.

She has been imprisoned for a longer period of time. I'm thinking that she would have been kept without many of life's essentials. Some ideas that come from that
-Given a needle and thread she has the ability to repair and modify clothing making it usable and functional again (basically she never got new clothing, so she had to repair and modify what she had over and over again to make it keep fitting her). This could be used for making disguises or ever repairing non metal armor that has been through battle.

-She is steadfast and unflappable. No one is able to get under her and bother her no matter how insulting, crude, or rude they may be to her. She can always keep calm.

-She is has been locked in her room for awhile, with very little to entertain her. So, she had to learn to entertain herself. Thus she can make toys, games, or gaming sets out of every day objects.

-She has endured hardship already, being starved repeatedly by her Uncle and his cruel wishes. She can go 1 day without eating and doesn't have any ill effects. She will need to eat twice as much the next day to make up for it or she will suffer exhaustion.

-Everything was taken from her and anything she wanted to keep she had to keep hidden. She is an expert at hiding objects in places where they won't easily be found. She can palm any object in her hands and hide it out of sight of people in the room without attracting attention.



That's all I've got at the moment, but will add more options if I think of them. Obviously they will need to be fleshed out, but hopefully there is enough to work from in each idea.

[Joe the Rat]

Boons generally give you Contacts (criminal, military/mercenary, guild), Information (Discovery, never get lost, know how to research, City secrets), Access (Libraries, all the right parties), Upkeep (free board, get out of misdemeanors free), or something unique (Dual Identities, Retainers, Inheritance).

So where to go?

If you envision building support - actual, useful in the meantime support - Upkeep (akin to Folk Hero) or Contacts (La Resistance) is probably the best. If you want to emphasize the dual roles, the Charlatan Dual Identity gives you the proper "identification" to be your true self, but you have a fleshed out alternate persona for safety. Inheritor is a fun one - you have some sign, birthmark, or slightly fancy item that signifies you as the Rightful Heir, which could draw support or assault depending on the loyalties of the audience.

[JellyPooga]

I don't quite understand why the Retainers feature (the alternate Noble feature) doesn't fit; three retainers that are still loyal to the rightful heir and maybe even helped her escape seems like a perfect fit to me; fellow exiles they follow and help her because they too wish to return home and cannot while the "usurper" sits in the Lords chair.

There's lots of scope for roleplaying and strategic plans when you effectively have four characters; because they're implicitly non-combatants, you effectively have four times as much "downtime" to play with if you don't drag them hither and thither and down dungeons on your adventures. Leave them in town cementing your alliances or earning funds, for example. You can even enlist the help of the other players in your group when it comes to roleplaying your retainers. Your character might not be a socialite, but your Retainers could be.

[Sigreid]

I say take the folk hero boon. Lower class people who are still loyal put you up and shield you as long as the risk isn't too great.