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Archives of Nethys

Archives of Nethys

Pathfinder RPG (1st Edition) Pathfinder RPG (2nd Edition) Starfinder RPG

Rules Index | GM Screen | Player's Guide
Gamemastery Guide / Chapter 4: Variant Rules / Deep Backgrounds / Generating Deep Backgrounds

Step 5: Relationships

Source Gamemastery Guide pg. 190
This aspect of background generation determines the relationships you have with the other PCs and why your character might choose to adventure with them. This step is best performed when the entire group is sitting together and can generate and discuss these connections with each other. You should select another character and roll on the first table to generate an inspiring connection, then determine a different character and roll on the second table to generate a challenging connection. You might choose these characters randomly, or the group might decide that each character has an inspiring connection with the character of the player sitting to the left and a challenging connection with the character of the player sitting to the right.

Other players can reject a relationship connection they don’t feel fits with their vision of their own character; in this case, pick another character or a different relationship. Even though you and the other characters share a connection, only you add the skill feats from the relationships you roll to your background options.

Table 4-9: Inspiring Relationship

1d12 Result
1Animal Helpers When you and this character were younger, you worked together to nurse sick animals back to health. Add the Train Animal skill feat to your background options.
2Comrade-in-Arms You and this character were once comrades in military service, and you trained yourself and this character to improve your physical fitness. Add the Assurance skill feat for Athletics to your background options.
3Desperate Intimidation You had to frighten off pirates or slavers looking to capture you and this character. Add the Group Coercion skill feat to your background options.
4Homelessness At a time when you were both living on the streets, you taught this character valuable pointers to survive. Add the Streetwise skill feat to your background options.
5Kindly Witch This character connected you to a kindly but reclusive person who was living at the edge of civilization but had expansive knowledge to share. Add the Natural Medicine skill feat to your background options.
6Liberators You and this character worked together to free some captives—including one of your friends or relatives—from a gang of slavers. Add the Lengthy Diversion skill feat to your background options.
7Magician This character supported your brief dalliance with stage magic, which you took up as a precursor to learning actual magic or simply to keep your fingers nimble. Add the Subtle Theft skill feat to your background options.
8Missing Child When a young relative disappeared in a busy market, this character helped you question merchants and shoppers and find the child before they came to any harm. Add the Hobnobber skill feat to your background options.
9Patron of the Arts This character encouraged you to excel at a type of performance you loved, even going so far as to support you in lean times. Add the Virtuosic Performer skill feat to your background options.
10Religious Students You and this character shared some religious training in the past, even if you didn’t stick with it, and you admired their piety. Add the Student of the Canon skill feat to your background options.
11Timely Cure When a family member of yours was dying and there didn’t seem to be much hope, this character brought a simple but effective alchemical cure. You are determined to pay this favor forward. Add the Alchemical Crafting skill feat to your background options.
12Wasteland Survivors You and this character were lost in a dangerous wasteland together and depended upon each other for survival; you’re still not certain that either of you would have survived the ordeal without the other’s aid. Add the Forager skill feat to your background options.

Table 4-10: Challenging Relationship

1d12 Result
1Accidental Fall This character once inadvertently shoved you off a ledge or balcony. You’re mostly certain it was a mistake, but the fall was terrifying, and you’ve resolved to never be caught unaware like that again. Add the Cat Fall skill feat to your background options.
2Accusation of Theft You were once secretly certain that this character stole a cherished valuable from you. You were determined to steal it back, until you learned that this character wasn’t in fact to blame and you’d only misplaced the item. Add the Pickpocket skill feat to your background options.
3Called Before Judges Information provided by this character—either intentionally or inadvertently given—required you to justify yourself in front of a group of bureaucrats or magistrates. Add the Group Impression skill feat to your background options.
4Matter of Might You have long considered this character your rival in a question of strength. You are determined to prove yourself to be mightier, perhaps by intelligent application of force if you aren’t physically imposing. Add the Hefty Hauler skill feat to your background options.
5Mercantile Expertise To encourage an employer to hire you instead of this character, you worked hard to demonstrate your keen mercantile sense. It didn’t work; the employer hired this character anyway. Add the Bargain Hunter skill feat to your background options.
6Privileged Position You once sought the favor of a powerful spellcaster as a mentor, but this character was plainly the mentor’s favorite, no matter how hard you tried. Add the Quick Identification skill feat to your background options.
7Relationship Ender You once warned off an admirer seeking this character’s affections. You still maintain that the match would have been a poor one and that you did this character a favor. Add the Quick Coercion skill feat to your background options.
8Rival Trackers You and this character worked for a time as rival hunters, whether tracking animals or escaped criminals. Add the Experienced Tracker skill feat to your background options.
9Seeking Accolades You never seemed to capture the attention of the crowds at the tavern as easily as this character did, so you worked hard to practice your showmanship. Add the Impressive Performance skill feat to your background options.
10Slander You and this character were rivals for the same person’s affections, and you stooped to spreading vicious lies before the whole situation fell apart. Add the Charming Liar skill feat to your background options.
11Social Maneuvering You have always wanted to prove yourself better than this character in a fancy social situation but have yet to decisively do so. Add the Courtly Graces skill feat to your background options.
12Spy You spied upon this character in the past, either at the behest of someone else or because of your own suspicions. Add the Read Lips skill feat to your background options.