Background: Former Minion

[SirKnightBJ]

My Gm and I were having a couple beers last night and discussing a future level 1, one off session. We will be introducing D&D to a friend. When I got home I had a little alcohol induced character inspiration.

My one off character is going to be a Human Wizard Necromancer, Neutral Evil. The catch is, he is affraid of his own shadow. So I envision his personality being a cross between Shaggy Rogers and Peter Pettigrew.

I thought, "Wouldn't it be funny if he had formerly been the lackey/minion of an arch villain? and what if he somehow managed to accidentally kill his master?" So I wrote this.

- Background Name: Former Minion
- Feature: Master's Power
- Description: You were the minion of an Arch Villain. You were either disposed of, Left for dead, or managed to murder your former employer/boss/master. You have endured much on your path to eternal knowledge and power. Every step of the way has been trying, to say the least, even torturous. But you remained loyal and strong until the very end/you couldn't take it anymore. And now, you are your own master, and there is nothing stopping you! Except, perhaps a little PTSD. But at least you didn't walk away empty handed/for the worse. You now have an unnatural ability or an uncommon item imparted on you by/stolen from your former master/employer. Life seems to be looking up! For now...
- Specialty: (Magic, Fighting, Stealth, etc?)
- Skills: Perception, your choice of Survival, Investigation, Insight, or Religion
- Languages: One of your choice
- Lifestyle: Modest
- Equipment: A keepsake/uncommon item from your former Master
- Personality:
- Ideal:
- Bond:
- Flaw:

I'm having a difficult time with the deciding what the unnatural ability is. My thoughts are that this background might be useful for a variety of classes such as: Wizards, Warlocks, Sorcerers, Blackguard, Rogues, and maybe even Fighters. what I have so far is: the ability to use one spell slot above your normal level, or +1d6 to any melee attack.

I'm also having issues creating multiple options for the Personality, Ideal, Bond, and Flaw sections. So I figured the EN World hive mind might have a little fun coming up with different ideas for each of these.

Also if you have any other suggestions for this background, I'm all ears!

Thanks,
~BJ

 

[Cap'n Kobold]

Generally the feature of backgrounds is a social effect or bonus. Not a direct combat boost.

Maybe the same feature of the Pirate background while you're wearing your old uniform?

Or an extensive knowledge of minion etiquette and ability to mollify someone that you have angered in a social situation?

Or a network of retired minions and ex-villains that could give you information on particular threats etc?

 

[Quartz]

Skill: Persuasion
Special ability: grovelling. Once per short rest you can Grovel to gain Expertise on your Persuasion roll.

 

[Hawk Diesel]

I would look to the Haunted One's background feature in the Curse of Strahd supplements for inspiration. Also one of the Planeshift articles has some gothic backgrounds that are good models. But I agree with [MENTION=6802951]Cap'n Kobold[/MENTION]. The background feature should not be a mechanical power so much as a role playing feature.