Addict (5e Background)

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This content deviates from 5e standards. Its use could dramatically alter campaigns, take extreme care.

Caution - Here there be monsters! This content intends to provide a different experience, or goes beyond the scope of the anticipated subjects and situations, than the 5e rules were intended to handle. Some portions of the content below may not be what you expect from traditional game content. When implementing this content, DMs and Players should read over all the information carefully, and consider the following specific notes of interest:

This background heavily deviates from how backgrounds work in 5e and is more of a disease. The acts of withdrawal are also suggested examples of roleplay that is heavily encouraged to be used for simulationism.

Addict

Addiction can happen to anyone. While genetics can help increase or decrease the chances of addiction, everything that causes pleasure can become an addiction.

You've became dependent on some sort of substance or activity. You become jittery and unreasonable if you don't feed your addiction for a while. You may be working to rid yourself of the addiction, became numb to it, or revel in it. In a way, you are a sick person afflicted with a disease that keeps you hooked. You may have tried to get help. Did it work? Are you on recovery?Or perhaps you recovered and fell back into the hole, or even found some new form of addiction. It's a slippery slope, after all.

When you pick this background, talk with your GM about any addictive substances in the campaign. Is there support for addicts or is knowledge on addictions vague or nonexistent? How long have you been addicted? Is your addiction deadly? What are your withdrawal symptoms and when do they start occurring? And do you do anything to help subdue withdraw and/or the addiction itself? When discussing with your GM, it is recommended you make an addiction that is feasible to the campaign to sustain. It should not be something overly rare, just to keep it always within reach.

Skill Proficiencies: Choose between Deception or Persuasion, your 2nd skill must be related to something you've learned from your addiction (ie: sex or drugs could be medicine, gambling could be sleight of hand).

Tool Proficiencies: 1 tool set that facilitates your addiction (ie: alchemy lab for drugs, game set for gambling, a bondage set for sex.)

Languages: Any one

Equipment: Medical diagnosis papers, paraphernalia that relates to your addiction (usually the tool you are proficient in), a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 5gp.

Addiction

Not all addicts are the same. Anything can become addictive with the right person; even symptoms can vary from addict to addict.

d6	Addiction
1	Drugs (can be recreational or medicinal, be sure to know the drug and its intended effects)
2	Food (whether this shows up as a crazy chocolate hunter/lover type, or an unhealthy reaction to purging and unhealthy diets type, is up to you)
3	Gambling and/or gaming.
4	Sex and/or masturbation.
5	A certain activity (maybe you just REALLY love climbing trees, perhaps your fingers tingle and shake to knit scarves, you just can't go very long without needing to do that activity)
6	You constantly find yourself in and out of various addictions and often have multiple addictions at the same time (some sort of disorder or symptom? Or maybe you simply never learned about self control when you were a child)

Feature: Strong Highs & Lows

As an addict, your mental and physical state deal heavily with how you have fed your addiction. When you indulge in your addiction, you start to feel euphoric and powerful. You might make risky decisions or become stupidly cockamamie. It is also what keeps you normal and happy, able to enjoy things.

On the other side of the spectrum, if you don't feed your addiction you start to feel withdrawal. You might feel anxious, jittery, weak, and may even become dangerously erratic. The agitation caused makes you a danger to yourself and others around you as you recklessly may do dangerous things to try and feed your addiction. For example, if you are addicted to sexual activities, you may steal money from even allies to spend on prostitutes.

Talk with your GM about your high and the withdrawal symptoms. How long do they last? Do you suffer madness without your fix? How much of your chosen addiction do you require to get high? Is it getting worse?

ALT Feature: Enabled

You have an enabler that feeds your addiction. This could be a drug dealer, a sex friend, a goblin with 3 cups and a ball, or whoever might be feeding this addiction. Somehow the enabler always finds you, and it is up to you whether you like this. This keeps you fairly stable, because bankrupting or killing you would not be in the enablers' interest.

Discuss the enabler with the GM. Are they abusive? Are you in their debt? How often do they appear? Are they a help or hindrance to party activities? Are they, in fact, another party member?

ALT Feature: Recovering Addict

You have seen the error of your ways and are trying to quit. But it is not easy. When in the presence of your addiction you feel the urge to engage in the substance or activity. Depending on what you and your GM discuss to be your threshold of resistance, your character will have variable difficulty not dropping whatever it is they are doing to chase after their next euphoric high. If you successfully resist, you can go about as usual. But if you can't resist, you will inevitably go running off.

Work with the GM to determine your road to recovery. How hard is it to resist? It can depend on what your addiction is. You can use Wisdom or Constitution saves if necessary. Is it worse over time? Will you ever fully recover and if so, when? What benefits might you gain when you finally quit for good?

Suggested Characteristics

d8	Personality Trait
1	I think constantly about my choice of substance/activity.
2	I will do anything to get more of what I want.
3	I try to get other people addicted as well.
4	I dislike interventions and will begrudgingly go along (assuming I do so)
5	I'm fully self aware of my predicament.
6	I frequently twitch and babble about whatever comes to mind.
7	My way of processing emotions have seem to be effected, and I now tend to find myself in emotionally inappropriate situations.
8	I'll spend most of my earnings on my addiction whenever I'm not keeping myself in check.

d6	Ideal
1	Love and Betterment I'm trying to get a better handle on my addiction so that I can be better for someone I love. (Good)
2	Magic Cure I'm chasing the cure for my addiction because the process to quit is WAY too much work. (Chaotic)
3	Self Improvement . I am determined to get my life in order. (Lawful)
4	Ambrosia I believe my addiction is the key to happiness and spiritual transcendence. (Neutral)
5	Improvement I can make my addiction even better, with the right tweaks I could reach new highs. (Neutral)
6	MORE I want more, I want it all to myself, I can never get enough, and no one can stop me. (Evil)

d6	Bond
1	My addiction is my choice, if I want to let it run my life, that's my prerogative.
2	I am trying to get better for the sake my family and friends.
3	I will never stop trying to relive that first high.
4	my addiction was the only thing that kept me going in trying times.
5	I owe someone a mountain of debt.
6	I made a tidy sum from other addicts but can't use the money (guilt or the law)

d6	Flaw
1	I'm allergic (to the material, substance, food, drink, activity, etc, required for my addiction)
2	I've become a bit defined by my addiction.
3	I have to bring the supplies to aid/sustain my addiction and sometimes people say it's more trouble than it's worth.
4	I have an uncontrollable twitch that never stops, not even when I sleep.
5	When going through withdrawal, I become prone to very sudden and aggressive mood swings.
6	When I don't get my addiction satisfied I can barely sleep.

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