Crazed Hermit (5e Background)

Crazed Hermit

You either grew up isolated in nature or chose to leave civilization to be alone. Either way, your years apart from other sentient beings have left you distinctly off-balance. But one man’s ‘crazy’ is another man’s ‘uncharacteristically in tune with all things primordial’. After so much time tending to your own needs, following your own daily rituals, living through the earth and landscape, and speaking to an inanimate object that has become your surrogate for all social needs, you find yourself navigating the civilized world with great difficulty. Why did you leave civilization? What is your attitude toward populated places, settlements, and other people in general? Are you able to adapt to being back amongst others of your kind, or have you grown so accustomed to your loneliness that a return to the norm is almost unthinkable?

Skill Proficiencies: Nature, Survival

Tool Proficiencies: Herbalism kit

Languages: One of your choice

Equipment: Any small useless object (often given a name), stitched fur garments, a small knife, a journal, a quill, a jar of ink, a belt pouch with 5gp

Type of Eremetism

d6	Specialization
1	Spiritualist
2	Artist/Poet
3	Runaway
4	Disillusioned Cynic
5	Outcast
6	Practitioner of Questionable Things

Feature: A Different Level

Your time in the wilderness has left you with an altered perspective that most people cannot appreciate. You have difficulty conversing about the mundane, and people often find you incomprehensible. As such, you often find yourself at odds with grounded folk, who have no time to waste on your ramblings, just as you have no patience for their limited perspectives. However, you find yourself able to connect easily with people of the mystical and cryptic variety—prophets, enlightened priests, fellow hermits, wise ancient creatures and spirits, crazed homeless fellows dancing naked in the streets—and as such are able to befriend such characters and exchange information with them with relative ease. You can use Wisdom rather than Charisma when making Persuasion checks against magic users and you have advantage on Insight checks against non-humanoid characters.

Suggested Characteristics

d10	Personality Trait
1	I believe that all things are sacred.
2	No one can me make me do anything. I'm my own person.
3	I find it sad that most people are so weighed down by the material that they neglect the spiritual.
4	I like my personal space and become violent when it is violated.
5	I like to tinker with things, even if it is dangerous. Or life-risking.
6	I love the suffering of others. It’s a shame that most find this love an aberration. But at least in the wilderness, there is no one to judge me.
7	I often talk to plants or animals because I prefer their company.
8	I believe that arcane magic is a corrupting influence in society and needs to be limited or destroyed.
9	I worship unsavory or indifferent entities under the belief that it is no more evil or insane than the worship of approved deities.
10	I have harmed others in the past and must atone for my mistakes.

d6	Ideal
1	Peace. I desire to share the calm I have found within these woods with all who would have it. (Good)
2	Harbinger. I am Nature's Wrath. I shall bring Her judgment to all who have harmed her. (Lawful)
3	Knowledge. It is time I returned and judged for myself which is better, Nature or Civilization. (Any)
4	Ascension. The less comfort we experience, the closer we are to the gods. (Neutral)
5	The Rule of Beasts. Out in the wilds, I have seen the order of things. The strong survive, the weak perish. (Evil)
6	Escape. Society is trying to control me. I'll show them what real freedom is! (Chaotic)

d6	Bond
1	I have grown wise in the wilds, and now I feel drawn to philosophers and the learned so that I might debate with them on all I have contemplated in my solitude and share my revelations.
2	None shall destroy the sanctity of Nature, not on my watch. I love every plant and creature as my brethren.
3	I have found my God in the wilds, and I will carry out its will.
4	I feel a kinship with those who are lonely.
5	My inanimate friend is my soulmate. I still speak to them daily.
6	I have a penchant for mind-altering substances and those who use them.

d6	Flaw
1	I lose sight of the finer details and focus on the big picture.
2	I cannot interact normally with anyone, and this makes me impatient and short-tempered.
3	I’ve been eating bad berries for a long time, and have epileptic fits on occasion as a result.
4	I condescend to people, and they hate me for it.
5	I am a total hedonist and have no regard for consequences.
6	I’ve been in the wilds so long that I have no clue about anything that happened in the last [x] years, and no respect for “civilized” customs.

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