Stranded (5e Background)

Stranded

No one can hear you...

You landed on some foreign shores, tossed here against your will, perhaps left for dead. Where are you? How will you survive here? Who are the inhabitants? Are they friendly, or do they mean harm? There is foreign danger all around you, and you are stuck. You must adapt to survive.

Those stranded often were victims of unfortunate circumstances. Think outside the typical Robinson Crusoe idea of a shipwrecked person on strange, new shores. You could very easily have been left behind as a result of a treacherous bunch or by accident as you traveled with your group. Perhaps you are not even necessarily a denizen of this world, coming from a place beyond the stars, similar to the illithids. Nomads periodically leave those unfit to travel to suit the needs of the group. This poor soul is then left to fend for themselves in a different place they mostly have little to no experience with. They rely wholly on their wits and ability to figure out solutions from basic survival to communication with inhabitants.

As a person stranded, you are already on a journey. You have been displaced. Do you wish to return to where you came from? Where was that? Who do you have waiting for you, if any? Or perhaps your stranding was more hostile, and you wish for things like vengeance rather than reconciliation. Do you instead wish to forge onward, to what your original destination was, rather than return to your origin?

Skill Proficiencies: Survival, Insight or Stealth

Tool Proficiencies: One musical instrument of your choice, and a gaming set

Languages: A language from this new place you've acquired

Equipment: A piece of jewelry or note from your origin, worn maps to your original destination, one musical instrument of your choice, traveler's clothes, and a belt pouch of 5 gp

Stranded Locations

Where were you stranded in relation to where you were going or what you were doing? Were you perhaps a spy now forgotten behind enemy lines? Or were you an innocent merchant who has now lost everything in a seemingly deserted new place?

d6	Location
1	Enemy Territory (Wartime)
2	Deserted Land
3	Alternate Plane
4	Unknown City
5	Foreign Country
6	Different World

Feature: Scrappy

Despite your meager circumstances, you remain unwilling to give up. You have about you your basic wits and abilities to stave away death and make the best of your circumstances. You can easily recognize simple formations of terrain that will lead you to optimal areas for shelter and clean water.

Alternate Feature: Stranger

Your plight leaves you in a new place with not many bearings and possibly completely unknown. People take note of your presence very lightly. They do not often recall you to be anyone significant and officials will have a hard time locating anything about you.

Suggested Characteristics

Stranded people have a variety of personalities that can appear awkward or weird in a new land. They themselves may be distrustful of the locale and be very cagey or protective. Remember that these are people who are driven to desperate measures that can be total wild cards.

d8	Personality Trait
1	I tend to be very withdrawn.
2	Bad sleep makes me incoherent.
3	I love to talk about where I came from, even if no one listens.
4	I am easily irritated by different things.
5	People being nosy drives me insane.
6	A man is just as dangerous as any beast.
7	Strength is what tides me over in my worst moments.
8	I try to help others in the same straits as me.

d6	Ideal
1	Escape. I don't care, I just want out. (Chaotic)
2	Return. I want to get back home! (Any)
3	Onward. This is just a setback. I need to keep going. (Lawful)
4	Conquest. I think I can use these inhabitants to my advantage... (Evil)
5	Survival. If I can hang on, someone will definitely come for me... (Neutral)
6	Hope. I think I was meant to be here to help someone. (Good)

d6	Bond
1	I have people waiting for me back where I came from.
2	I am a self reliant person who needs no one.
3	These natives are in need of someone like me.
4	I grow attached to these new people I come to live with.
5	I cannot sup with those with different customs.
6	My ways are superior that of the others here so they should listen to me.

d6	Flaw
1	I am very arrogant about my culture.
2	I can be overly intolerant of others.
3	I am deathly shy.
4	Other languages are hard for me.
5	I would rather die than try some new things.
6	I think too much of myself and neglect the needs of others.

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