New Background: Seer (D&D 5e)

Your world is full of omens and portents. Visions and signs guide you through your days and meaning-filled dreams fill your nights. Perhaps you've been chosen by some greater force to be a channel into the world, had the veils of the mind ripped away by some lingering enchantment, or you've studied ancient secrets in pursuit of this power. Among religious circles you may be hailed as a oracular prophet or condemned as a heretic. This is a trait that many charlatans and con artists emulate and will go far out of their way to make others believe they have. Perhaps you find it a burden you would willingly pass on to them. Regardless of the source or nature, you see things others don't and it has shaped your life.

Skill Proficiencies: Investigation, Perception
Languages: Two of your choice.
Equipment: A scroll case or book filled with notes from your visions, dreams, or research, including a riddle or dream whose elusive meaning haunts you, a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch with 10gp.




Source of Sight
Where does your power come from? If it's a lingering enchantment or the result of study others may seek to learn how you came to have this power. If you were born with it or were chosen by some power, how did it come about and why were you or your line selected?

Source of Power

1. This is a power which has been passed from generation to generation in my family.
2. I was born under the signs foretold in an ancient prophecy.
3. I offended a powerful outsider who cursed me for my carelessness or callousness.
4. In a chance encounter with a fae creature I freed them from a powerful but simple ban and in their gratitude they gave this as a gift to me.
5. One of the adults raising me practiced ancient forms of fortunetelling (astrology, palmistry, etc) and taught me.
6. After an intense magical or emotional event my mind was left altered, some would say shattered, but the world makes sense in to me in a way others don't understand.
7. As a child I found some ancient ruins near my home which turned out to have a lingering connection to power which changed my life.
8. I was raised in a religious order and during devotions my sight awoke.
9. I have pursued magical power to help open myself to greater truths
10. I have studied ancient and obscure prophecies and discovered a source of accurate predictions.

Feature: Intuition

Your sight means that you are never wholly at a loss for direction. Signs and visions fill your days and as you sleep your mind is filled with half-remembered prophecy. While you can't rely on this to give you a minute-to-minute roadmap a period of meditation when you are at a complete loss or torn between paths will usually yield a new or improved perspective. 

Suggested Characteristics

Seers are defined by their sight. Whether they are bombarded with constant visions or must immerse themselves in study to find the threads of fate this trait is a central part of who they are.

Personality Trait

1. Few things surprise me and it makes life boring.
2. I don't understand how others can be so blind to the things I see.
3. I've had my warnings discounted so often that I'm cynical about the people I meet.
4. I am often lost in my visions and prophecies, seeing what is to come can blind me to what is happening now.
5. Empathy is easy to find when you know what others have been through.
6. I seem to always know the right thing to say to make friends.

Ideal

1. Hope. I want to find a path to a brighter future (Good).
2. Knowledge. The only way to self-improvement is through greater knowledge. (Neutral)
3. Power. Information is the key to power and dominion. (Evil)
4. Responsibility. I do what I must and use my power for its intended purpose. (Lawful)
5. Free Will. People must have the tools to forge their own destiny. (Chaotic)
6. Aspiration. I'm determined to use this power to make something greater of myself. (Any)

Bond

1. I was driven from my home because one of my warnings was misinterpreted.
2. I owe those who taught me about my sight and I've seen that it's a debt I may never be able to repay.
3. One of my predictions has not yet come true and it could reshape the world.
4. I know who my true friends are and they have my unswerving loyalty.
5. It is my duty to protect those I see suffer in my visions.
6. I must prevent this power from falling into the hands of those who would misuse it.

Flaws

1. I keep my secrets to myself, I expect others not to believe me beforehand and want to blame me after.
2. Forming attachments is hard when the first thing I know when I meet a new person is how they will meet their doom. 
3. I have trouble hiding my contempt for those who can't see or control the threads of fate as I do.
4. I drink to quiet my visions and would do anything to free myself of this curse.
5. I believe certain things I predict are inevitable and that there's no point trying to change them.
6. I am so used to my predictions not being believed that those who listen and believe earn my immediate trust in return.

~~*~~

This background started out as the answer to a very simple question; how do you give a Diviner proficiency with Perception. I don't, generally, like to create rules to serve such narrow purposes as making a specific skill available. However, in this case it seemed to me like a very basic connection that would give mechanical depth to the concept. The only background to grant that skill is Sailor, which is a strange and specific origin for a general concept. Existing backgrounds hint at this archetype, specifically the acolyte, hermit, and (strangely) the outlander particularly jumped out. A very technical reading of the rules says that, if you take one of the skills a background will provide (say, Arcana or History when you intend to take the Sage background) as a class skill you get a free pick from the full range of skills, but this seemed cheap.

Once I started considering a Seer background it occurred to me there are a broad range of concepts it could apply to beyond that specific type of arcane caster. Perhaps the second most obvious is a prophet or oracle, which could be most any class but seems particularly suited to divine casters. A cleric of knowledge is spectacularly suited, though a druid or even paladin could fit. These concepts aren't the only sources of "sight" in legends and mythology, another concept that I've always found interesting is the story of Cassandra and those like it. This version is open to an any class, and is probably most interesting with a fighter or rogue who would undoubtedly find these specific proficiencies useful while creating interesting roleplay based on their "unwanted" source. Of these potential characters, only the Rogue has access to Perception by class.

The class feature is based loosely off of the sage's researcher feature. Intuition is obviously (far) more general in application, so I tried to make it weaker in result, giving nudges rather than a specific location (even if that may also be an adventure). However, the inherent problem with non-specific rules is that they are so open to interpretation.

I did consider an alternate feature called prophecy which was built on the hermit's discovery. However, the extreme looseness of discovery makes that a hard feature to use and, ultimately, it felt like shackling the character to plot rails.

An edited version of this background is now available at the DM'S Guild.