Details
- Abilities: Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom
- Skills: Insight, Investigation
- Tool: Calligrapher's Supplies
- Feat: Skilled
Description
You are a meticulous observer and chronicler, skilled at uncovering truths hidden beneath the surface. Your keen insight and investigative mind allow you to perceive motives and details others overlook. With steady hands and practiced artistry, you preserve knowledge and events in elegant script, ensuring that history’s lessons are not lost to time.
Equipment
Choose A or B: (A) Calligrapher's Supplies, a Traveler's Clothes, a Pouch containing 10 GP, a Book, and a Bottle of Ink, 5 GP; or (B) 50 GP
At a glance
- Table role: Records and secrets
- Family: Scholarly
- Primary pillar: Intrigue
- Secondary pillar: Social
- Themes: information gathering, hidden motives, documenting events, calligraphy skill, truth seeking
What this background is good for
Choose Recorder if you want a character who turns information gathering, hidden motives, documenting events, calligraphy skill, and truth seeking into usable table momentum. Its skill package points toward Insight and Investigation, so the background naturally rewards players who ask questions, notice patterns, and act on practical details. As a Scholarly background, it gives the character a clear place in the world instead of just a mechanical bonus. The Skilled feat, Calligrapher's Supplies, and Dexterity, Intelligence, and Wisdom abilities help define how this character contributes before initiative is rolled.
Play this if...
- You want to play a Truth Seeker rather than a generic adventurer.
- You want scenes built around information gathering, hidden motives, documenting events, calligraphy skill, and truth seeking.
- You are considering Rogue, Wizard, Bard, and Cleric and want the background to support that identity.
How to play this background
You uncover hidden truths and preserve history’s lessons through precise observation and elegant script.
Table cues
- Identify who controls the flow of information.
- Note subtle changes in recorded documents.
- Watch for characters hiding motives behind words.
- Track who benefits from revealed or concealed truths.
For Dungeon Masters
Use Recorder when the campaign benefits from scenes about information gathering, hidden motives, documenting events, calligraphy skill, and truth seeking. The Scholarly angle gives you a quick way to attach NPCs, locations, favors, and complications to the character. Build scenes where Insight, Investigation, and Calligrapher's Supplies can reveal information, open a route, or change how an NPC reacts. A simple recurring cue: identify who controls the flow of information.