Backgrounds I–R

This section contains backgrounds from Ice Fisher through Relief Warden. Each entry presents the background as it is used in Eldareth, together with its published source and any setting-specific adaptation made for the campaign.

Ice Fisher

Source: Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn

You learned to earn a living in bitter cold, working frozen waters where patience and close attention could mean the difference between a successful catch and an empty day. The work strengthened both your body and your awareness of the environment around you.

Origin Feat: Alert

Skill Proficiencies: Animal Handling, Athletics

Tool Proficiency: Woodcarver's Tools

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Woodcarver's Tools, Basket, Block and Tackle, Bucket, Chain, Hunting Trap, Net, Pole, Rations (3 days), Rope, Traveler's Clothes, 32 GP
B. 50 GP

Inquisitive

Source: Eberron: Forge of the Artificer

You developed a talent for following evidence and finding answers that others overlooked. You may have worked independently, for an investigative agency, for the authorities, or wherever people were willing to pay someone to uncover the truth.

Origin Feat: Alert

Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Investigation

Tool Proficiency: Thieves' Tools

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Thieves' Tools, Bullseye Lantern, Crowbar, Oil (10 flasks), Traveler's Clothes, 10 GP
B. 50 GP

Investigator

Source: Ravenloft: The Horrors Within

You trained yourself to follow evidence, question assumptions, and uncover information others overlooked or wanted concealed. You may have pursued crimes, disappearances, corruption, unusual phenomena, or private cases, but the habit of looking more closely has stayed with you.

Origin Feat: Sharp Eye

Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Investigation

Tool Proficiency: Disguise Kit

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Disguise Kit, Manacles, Shovel, Traveler's Clothes, 3 Vials, 16 GP
B. 50 GP

Ironwake Operative

Source: Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn (published as Zhentarim Mercenary)

You worked within the Ironwake Cartel's commercial and criminal networks. You might have served as hired muscle, a courier, smuggler, thief, collector, or trusted field operative, learning quickly that reputation and reliability mattered almost as much as the work itself.

Origin Feat: Ironwake Ruffian

Skill Proficiencies: Intimidation, Perception

Tool Proficiency: Forgery Kit

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Club, Dagger, Forgery Kit, Fine Clothes, Hooded Lantern, Oil (3 flasks), 2 Pouches, String, Tinderbox, 11 GP
B. 50 GP

Feat Reference: Ironwake Ruffian

Ironwake Ruffian is the Eldareth name for Zhentarim Ruffian, published in Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn. Only the setting-specific name has been changed; use the published feat rules.

Merchant

Source: Player's Handbook (2024)

You learned commerce through practical experience, buying, selling, transporting, or arranging goods for others. Your work brought you into contact with people from different places and taught you how to negotiate, judge an opportunity, and keep goods moving.

Origin Feat: Lucky

Skill Proficiencies: Animal Handling, Persuasion

Tool Proficiency: Navigator's Tools

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Navigator's Tools, 2 Pouches, Traveler's Clothes, 22 GP
B. 50 GP

Mortuary Scholar

Source: Arcana Unleashed (published as Covenant of the Grave Recruit)

You studied the boundary between life and death through medicine and necromancy. Your training taught you to approach death as a subject that can be examined and understood, whether your work took place in an academy, a temple, a medical setting, or under an individual mentor.

Origin Feat: Arcane Undertaker

Skill Proficiencies: History, Medicine

Tool Proficiency: Herbalism Kit

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Dagger, Herbalism Kit, Book (anatomy), Shovel, 16 GP
B. 50 GP

Noble

Source: Player's Handbook (2024)

You were raised among wealth, status, and political or social expectation. Your upbringing gave you access to education and taught you how to navigate formal society, understand the weight of reputation, and deal with people accustomed to influence.

Origin Feat: Skilled

Skill Proficiencies: History, Persuasion

Tool Proficiency: Choose one kind of Gaming Set

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Gaming Set of the chosen kind, Fine Clothes, Perfume, 29 GP
B. 50 GP

Pact Seeker

Source: D&D Beyond Drops (May 2026)

An encounter with a powerful extraplanar being changed the course of your life. You sought that entity out, encountered it unexpectedly, or were drawn into circumstances that ended with a bargain between you. The connection grants you a measure of planar power without making you a Warlock.

Origin Feat: Choose one Planar Pact feat

Skill Proficiencies: Arcana, Persuasion

Tool Proficiency: Calligrapher's Supplies

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Book, Calligrapher's Supplies, Ink, Ink Pen, Parchment (10 sheets), Traveler's Clothes, 2 GP
B. 50 GP

Planar Initiate

Source: Arcana Unleashed (published as Horizon Weaver Initiate)

You studied the spaces between worlds and learned how magical travel can cross boundaries that ordinary movement cannot. Your interest may have begun through scholarship, exploration, or direct exposure to planar phenomena.

Origin Feat: Portal Jumper

Skill Proficiencies: Acrobatics, Survival

Tool Proficiency: Weaver's Tools

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Shortbow, 20 Arrows, Weaver's Tools, Map, Quiver, Rope, Traveler's Clothes, 18 GP
B. 50 GP

Ravenwatch Agent

Source: Arcana Unleashed (published as Bejeweled Conclave Spy)

You were trained to gather information without always appearing to seek it. Ravenwatch work may have placed you under an assumed identity, among people who could not know your purpose, or in situations where noticing the right detail mattered more than openly confronting a threat.

Origin Feat: Arcane Eloquence

Skill Proficiencies: Deception, Perception

Tool Proficiency: Disguise Kit

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Disguise Kit, Fine Clothes, Perfume, 5 GP
B. 50 GP

Relief Warden

Source: Arcana Unleashed (published as Ward of the Sheltering Hands)

You learned to respond when ordinary life was disrupted by disaster or hardship. Your experience centered on protecting people, treating injuries, organizing practical aid, and helping communities recover when circumstances overwhelmed their normal resources.

Origin Feat: Arcane Safeguard

Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Medicine

Tool Proficiency: Cook's Utensils

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Cook's Utensils, Blanket, Healer's Kit, Lamp, Oil (3 flasks), Tinderbox, Traveler's Clothes, Waterskin, 40 GP
B. 50 GP