Caregiver

By choice or circumstance, some people are called to take care of those who cannot take care of themselves. You are one such caregiver. Perhaps you look after the elders in your home village, or maybe you are one of the people who looks after children at a local orphanage. You may be a nurse or orderly in a sanitarium, or you might simply volunteer to look after the sick. Your dependents might even be your own children or relatives. In any case, now or in your past, you have had the task of taking care of the daily needs and physical wellbeing of people who are dependent on you for their survival.

Skill Proficiencies: Medicine and your choice of either Perception or Insight

Languages: Two of your choice

Equipment: A set of common clothes and a pouch containing 15 gp.

Feature: Efficient Care

As a caregiver, you are familiar with what is required to take care of others, particularly on a limited budget. Your lifestyle expenses only cost half as much as normal as long as you maintain a modest lifestyle (or lower). This also applies if you are responsible for the lifestyle expenses of others.

For each person you are responsible for, you may maintain their lifestyle expenses at half the usual cost as long as you maintain a modest (or lower) lifestyle for them.

Additionally, wherever you are, you can easily locate and find work at local caregiving establishments, such as orphanages, hospitals, communal living for the elderly, or even in the homes of those who employ servants to look after their dependents.

Fleshing Things Out

Some questions to consider when determining how this background applies to your character: How do you treat your dependents? Are you benevolent? Ambivalent? Malevolent?

How did you become a caregiver? Do you like being a caregiver? What are your motivations for taking care of your charges? How selective are you about who you will care for? Who cares for your dependents while you are our adventuring?

You should also consider what caused you to take up the role of an adventurer. Did you end up an adventurer as part of a quest to do something important for one of your dependents? Did you end up as a caregiver during the course of a previous adventure? Perhaps you need to fulfill some goal in order to help or protect the ones you look after. Is it that you are adventuring to help support your caretaking efforts? Or instead, are you questing for something that will help you exploit those under your care as part of some wicked plot?

d8 Personality Trait
1 It’s a thankless job, and I resent that.
2 I have the patience of a saint.
3 I am a curmudgeon.
4 I have a great sense of humor.
5 I am a staunch optimist.
6 I tend toward extremes of emotion.
7 I don’t believe in compromises.
8 I try to keep everyone around me happy.
d6 Ideal
1 Importance. It’s not always a fun job, but it’s important. (Neutral)
2 Altruism. I love the people I look after and truly wish to help them. (Good)
3 Choice. My charges need not surrender choice in exchange for survival. (Chaotic)
4 Duty. Someone has to care for these people; might as well be me. (Lawful)
5 Selfishness. I care for my charges because it benefits me. (Evil)
6 Priority. My most critical concern is the survival of my dependents. (Any)
d6 Bond
1 At least one of my dependents is a member of my family.
2 I can’t stop until I’ve repaid my debt.
3 One of my charges has important information that people want.
4 I grew up an orphan, so I can relate to the helpless.
5 Someone died under my care due to my negligence, and I haven’t forgiven myself.
6 I can’t have children of my own, so this is the next best thing.
d6 Flaw
1 I secretly resent my dependents and their constant needs.
2 I abuse substances to help deal with the stress.
3 I automatically assume everyone needs me to take care of them in some way.
4 I complain about how hard my job is to anyone who will listen.
5 I try not to get attached to anyone if I can help it.
6 I take out my frustrations on my charges.
Section 15: Copyright Notice

The Big Book of Backgrounds Copyright 2019, P.B. Publishing, Phil Beckwith, and Cody Faulk.

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