Day Laborer

You kept a city running through the sweat of your brow, loading and unloading ships, serving as an extra pair of hands on a construction site, and performing other tasks. It isn’t always honest work, but it’s always hard work.

Why did you leave this life behind? How did you get your adventuring skills and equipment?

Ability Score Increases: +1 to Constitution and one other ability score.

Skill Proficiencies: Athletics and either Animal Handling or Engineering.

Tool Proficiencies: Carpenter’s tools or mason’s tools

Languages: One of your choice

Suggested Equipment (Cost 13 - 15 gold): Common clothes, crowbar, 50 feet of hempen rope, shovel or sledgehammer, carpenter’s tools or mason’s tools

Feature: Life of Hard Work.  You fit in easily with those working in your previous trade. You can easily strike up a conversation with any such people that are not hostile to you, allowing you to pick up on the talk about town. Additionally, when you are in a settlement you can take on odd jobs from locals, providing a poor (or potentially moderate for particularly rich areas or for especially illegal or dangerous work) lifestyle for yourself and your companions. If you undertake the Work downtime activity, you gain an expertise die to the check.

Adventures and Advancement. You will likely be approached to help settle labor disputes, whether between companies and employees or between the workers themselves. After you have dealt with several such issues, you become known as an advocate for the common people and count your Prestige level as count as 1 higher when speaking with fellow laborers or those directly connected to them

Connection and Memento. Roll 1d10, choose, or make up your own.

Laborer Connections

1. Your old supervisor from a previous job.
2. A fellow laborer who worked the same shift as you.
3. The person you got your dinner from after every shift.
4. A wealthy merchant or trader who took a shine to you.
5. The blacksmith, carpenter, or other worker in a specialized skill set who relied on your steady hands.
6. An fellow worker whose mistake or crime you took the blame for.
7. An old, skilled hand who took you under their wing.
8. An activist, demagogue, or other figure who promised you a better life.
9. The laborer who you traded tips, tricks, and favors with.
10. The crime boss, government agent, or other powerful figure you had to pay off.

Laborer Mementos

1. A lucky charm you were given on your first job site.
2. An old map you won at a game of chance against other workers.
3. A key to one of the buildings in your old neighborhood.
4. The knife you used daily to cut ropes, clean your nails, open packages, and countless other tasks.
5. An identifying armband that let you be waved through a specific city’s gates.
6. A scrap of paper with an unnerving symbol on it from a ship you helped load—and that later sank.
7. A holy symbol to a deity of laborers you were gifted by a mentor.
8. A small, worthless gewgaw that you took from a shipment.
9. An old meat hook, prybar, or similar tool. For you it’s a one-handed simple melee weapon that deals 1d6 bludgeoning, piercing, or slashing damage.
10. A strange figurine you found in your pocket one day after hauling crates for a mysterious client.