New Rogue Archetype: The Physician (Expert in Medieval Medicine)
Plague Doctor backgroundEmpireofchaos, I'm interested in your build for a physician background. It could be cobbled together as a hybridization using elements of Guild Artisan and Hermit, but other possibilities exist, so I'd appreciate seeing what you've come up with.
Well, now you've forced me to finish it.
It's not properly speaking a physician background, but specifically a plague doctor background (though it may be more broadly applicable in some of its aspects.
Attached and pasted.
Plague Doctor Background
You received some training as a physician, but were thrust into the front lines of fighting a deadly plague epidemic that struck at your city with some regularity. Every day, you went forth to do battle against the pox, armed with your scalpel, your leeches, and your caduceus, and protected by your full-length dark robe, brimmed hat, and a waxed mask with glass eyes and a beak containing spices that is supposed to serve as a filter against the “bad air” generated by the disease. As you were employed by your city, you had to take an oath of service that required you to follow a physician’s code, and you had to treat everyone – the rich as well as the poor. But you also had to learn how to navigate the city’s bureaucracy, how to stay (relatively) safe and sane, and how to make sure you got paid. Since you knew the majority of your patients were going to die regardless of what you do, you and your fellow plague doctors developed a unique outlook on life that combined self-interest, altruism, fatalism, and a quaint egalitarianism born of the fact that the plague recognized no social distinctions.
Skill Proficiencies: Medicine, Nature
Tool Proficiencies: Chirurgeon’s tools
Equipment: A set chirurgeon’s tools, a plague doctor’s leather outfit (including mask), a vial of live leeches (or frogs), a caduceus (usable as a spell focus), and a pouch containing 10 gp.
Feature: The Grim Reaper’s Herald
If you are sighted on the streets of a city dressed in your plague doctor’s regalia, people are likely to assume the worst. You may be able to clear the streets, and perhaps to enter restricted places if you make a believable claim you are there to treat a plague victim. You are also one of the few people who can legally handle corpses and perform autopsies.
d8 Personality Trait
1 You take your work and oath seriously, and would like to be treated as an authoritative professional
2 You know that your profession is a mere fraud, and this colors your outlook on life in general
3 You are not above lifting a few valuables here and there – their owners are probably not long for this world, and won’t need them anyway
4 You use your position to befriend rich people you treat – it might come in handy
5 You know a few secrets and scandals involving your city’s administration
6 The only way to stay sane at a time like this is to live life to the fullest every waking moment
7 You believe yourself invulnerable to the Plague, and other things as well
8 You think you have insight into the meaning of the Plague, and invent various apocalyptic theories on this score
d6 Ideal
1 Bon Vivant. Enjoy yourself – it’s later than you think (Chaotic)
2 Salvation. I work to save people, and by doing so, perhaps make myself worthy of being saved as well. (Good)
3 Rules. If you don’t follow proper protocol, things would be even worse (Lawful)
4 Judgment. I have the power to decide who lives and dies – as I should (Evil)
5 Fate. We have no control over the forces that govern life and death (but we might glimpse signs of Destiny if we look) (Neutral)
6 Aspiration. I work hard to make a difference (and a name for myself) (Any)
d6 Bond
1 I have lost my whole family to the plague, and don’t know why I was spared
2 I know the source of the Plague, but I’m prevented from making this knowledge public
3 I have recently learned of a miraculous cure (but it is hard to get)
4 I don’t like it when the powerful put on airs – the great and the lowly stand equal before Death
5 My master had high expectations for me as a physician, but in becoming a mere plague doctor, I have failed him
6 If you want to get results, take your oath seriously, and do everything by the book
d6 Flaw
1 Sometimes it is better to put people out of their misery
2 I have a compulsion to use my position to enrich myself and my family
3 I have become a thrill seeker, and like to tempt Death
4 There are definitely scapegoats to blame for the Plague and other things going wrong
5 I’m jealous of others’ skill and accomplishments, and look for ways to make them mine
6 I dabble in divination, perhaps a little too much
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