Feral Child (5e Background)

Feral Child

Some people are abandoned or lost when they are young, and subsequently survive in the wild by some freak stroke of luck. You are one such person. Were you raised by animals, or did you survive entirely by yourself? Are you an orphan? Did your parents abandon you in the woods because of poverty or apathy? Were you accidentally lost when your relatives were walking through the wilderness with you? It is possible you have no memory at all of your parents or how you ended up separated from them in the first place. After your first encounter with humanoids, how did you come to live in humanoid society? Did you seek out other people or were you forced away from your home and into a world you had no connection to or understanding of?

Skill Proficiencies: Survival and Animal Handling

Tool Proficiencies: Herbalism kit, Poisoner's kit

Equipment: A herbalism kit, an object you collected from the wilderness such as a shiny stone or seashell, a set of traveler's clothes, a patch of fur from an animal, and a large waterskin that can hold two gallons of water.

Animal Caretakers

If you were raised by animals, you should choose between being raised by predators or primates; here’s a list of possible animals you could have been raised by:

d10	Predators	Primates
1	Wolves	Baboons
2	Black Bears	Gorillas
3	Brown Bears	Orangutans
4	Lions	Chimpanzees
5	Tigers	Bonobos
6	Mountain Lions	Spider Monkeys
7	Panthers	Howler Monkeys
8	Foxes	Diademed Sifaka Lemurs
9	Wolverines	Gibbons
10	Hyenas	Mandrills

You understand the body language of the species of animal you were raised by, and can use your own body language to indicate non-hostility towards those animals.

Feature: Scent of the Wild lands

Your sense of sight and smell was finely tuned during your years in the wild. When you enter a forest or thick meadows, you can correctly ascertain tracks of any beast or humanoid. In addition, you can determine a safe harbor closest to you.

Suggested Characteristics

Due to the fact that you didn’t grow up around humanoids, you have a difficulty learning their languages and social rules. While growing up among wild animals it is very possible that you had a constant nagging feeling that you were somehow abnormal or malformed. After all, you didn’t look at all like the creatures around you. You have always felt like an outsider in some way. It wasn’t until you encountered humanoids that you knew there were others in the world that looked like yourself. This may have been a relief or a disturbing realization. Due to the fact that you didn’t grow up around humanoids, you have a difficulty learning their languages and social rules. After you entered humanoid society you were probably treated as a freak or a fascination. It took you a while to learn to speak to other people and you still have some trouble with communication. Social rules are confusing and difficult for you to remember.

d8	Personality Trait
1	I didn’t grow up wearing clothes, and I still don’t like the feel of them on my body.
2	I am more comfortable around animals than people.
3	I don’t put much stock into money. I would rather have things that are useful or beautiful than valuable. I don’t need material possessions to keep me happy.
4	I love learning new words and hearing them roll off my tongue. I’ll often repeat a word I just learned over and over again.
5	I would rather live in the woods than in a city.
6	I don’t understand the role of religion.
7	People’s problems in civilized society seem trivial to me.
8	I’m fascinated by technology.

d6	Ideal
1	Nature. I grew up in the wild and I’ll do anything to preserve my first home. (Neutral)
2	Freedom. I never fit into society and I have found the only way to be content is to express myself without regard for rules. (Chaotic)
3	Learning. Ever since I discovered the humanoid world I have felt an unending desire to learn more about myself and the world around me. There are so many wonderful new things I have been exposed to. (Any)
4	Harmony. I think of myself as an ambassador between the wild and civilization. This comes with the responsibility of balancing the needs of people and animals for the mutual good of everyone. (Good)
5	Dominance. I worked to be dominant in the group of animals I grew up with and now I want to work to exert my dominance in humanoid society. (Evil)
6	Friendship. Relationships matter to me more than ideals or material goods. (Neutral)

d6	Bond
1	Somebody hurt my animal family and they will pay for it.
2	I want to discover where I came from and who my birth parents are.
3	I feel a deep connection to the wild and want to protect it from destruction.
4	I fell in love with one of the humanoids who discovered me and I want to impress them.
5	I feel a deep bond to my animal family.
6	I want to see as much of the world or the humanoid world as I can.

d6	Flaw
1	I am impulsive. I often follow my whims even when it’s inappropriate.
2	I believe the natural order is for the strong to rule over the weak.
3	In the wild, my animal friends were my lifeline. Now, I often become possessive of my friends.
4	I’d give up my own blood before sharing my food.
5	I’m suspicious of people I don’t know.
6	I have deep anger and hold long grudges towards those who harm animals or animals from the species that raised me.

5.00

(one vote)

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