Drakkenheim Backgrounds & Relationships
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Local Healer

You were the first—and sometimes only—line of defense against illness and injury in your local community, whether a small hamlet or an overcrowded city district. Whether trained or self-taught, you earned the trust—or relied on the desperation—of the townsfolk by tending the sick, bandaging wounds, and crafting poultices. Sometimes you learned the most from those you couldn't save, or by experimenting on the bodies left over.

Ability Scores: Intelligence, Constitution, Wisdom

Origin Feat: Patch-up Job or Healer

Proficiencies: Two of Arcana, Investigation, Medicine, or Nature

Tool Proficiency: Doctor's Bag*, or Investigator's Tools*

Equipment Choose A or B: (A) Tool Kit (same as above), Healer's Kit, 2 Pouches, Traveler's Clothes, Book (Diseases), 18 gp; or (B) 50 gp

Feat: Patch-up Job
When you stabilize a dying creature with a Healer’s Kit, they also regain 1 hit point. 
As part of a Short Rest, you can tend to a number of injured creatures, up to 1 + your proficiency bonus. If they spend one or more Hit Dice to regain Hit Points, they also roll a number of d4s equal to your proficiency bonus and regain that many additional Hit Points. 

Variant: Battlefield Medic
You served as a medic during the Westemär civil war, using crude but effective treatments to keep as many of the wounded alive as possible, with sometimes grisly results. Out of necessity, you’ve learned to adapt, improvise, and heal with whatever was at hand.

Personality Traits (1d8)

  1. I’m always checking on the health of others, even if they didn’t ask.

  2. I’m calm under pressure; if I lose my head, others will lose their lives.

  3. I keep a detailed log of every treatment I administer.

  4. I sometimes forget not everyone is comfortable with blood and wounds.

  5. I’ve seen too much suffering to take life lightly.

  6. I take pride in healing without divine aid.

  7. I never waste supplies—every scrap of cloth or herb could save someone later.

  8. I recount grisly stories or use dark humor to cope with grim situations.

Ideals (1d6)

  1. Compassion. Every life has value, and deserves treatment. (Good)

  2. Duty. Healing is not just my skill, but my responsibility. (Lawful)

  3. Freedom. No edict or custom can stop me from doing what I believe is necessary. (Chaotic)

  4. Pragmatism. Sometimes hard choices must be made—one life for many. (Neutral)

  5. Selective Mercy. Not every life is worth saving—only those who can serve my goals. (Evil)

  6. Truth. The body does not lie; its mysteries are there to be uncovered. (Any)

Bonds (1d6)

  1. A comrade-in-arms owes their life to me, and our fates are bound together.

  2. Someone I care for is ailing and I will find them a treatment or cure.

  3. I swore an oath to treat the sick and wounded, and I will never break it.

  4. My mentor taught me everything—I'll protect their legacy.

  5. There’s someone I couldn’t save. I seek redemption in every patient.

  6. My hometown still relies on me, even from afar.

Flaws (1d6)

  1. I can be cold or detached, treating patients as problems rather than people.

  2. I sometimes push untested remedies or experiments, even when the risks are high.

  3. I drink, gamble, or find other vices to dull the memories of blood and screams.

  4. I withhold help from those I feel don't deserve it.

  5. I secretly believe I’m not good enough, and every failure reinforces it.

  6.  I instinctively prioritize the injured over myself, no matter the cost.