Talents (4E)

4th Edition Dungeons & Dragons

Professions are the non-combat equivalence of skills, and most rules that apply to skills apply to professions as well. Professions are considered skills for abilities that affect the use of skills.

Characters start with training in one profession. More professions can be mastered by taking the Profession talent.

Background

Professions are useful in defining and fleshing out character backgrounds. Many vocations lack a corresponding profession skill. People who make their living that way are unskilled, use abilities like Strength for manual labor. Others use regular skills such as Nature for farming, hunting and fishing, or Dungeoneering for mining.

For such vocations, new profession skills can be created if desired by the player. These professions will give access to the contact and knowledge elements of the skill, but any further use is up to the DM.

Professions

A character can use a talent to learn a profession.

Actor Architect Alchemist Barber Celebrity Dancer Governor Jeweler Lawman

Leatherworker Lover Mechanic Merchant Musician Orator Overseer Sailor Singer

Soldier Smith Stargazer Stoneworker Tailor Valet Writer

This list of professions is by no means complete. Possible new professions include Cook, Farmer, and other production professions, as well as service professions such as bounty-hunter.

Rules

Professions generally have no application in combat or action scenes. Using them takes time; from several minutes to several months. Their usefulness is in downtime and in skill challenges that take longer than rounds.

Income

You can use profession skills to make a living between adventures. For simplicity's sake, this income is generally equal to your expenses for the same time. Having a good rating in an an attractive profession means you can have a high standard of living and not pay for it.

Contacts

Trained profession skills have a knowledge element. This can be used to find fellow professionals within your chosen field. It works similarly to the Streetwise skill, but only in regards to the profession in question.

Knowledge

Trained profession skills have a knowledge element. This works much like monster lore for your professional field. This allows craftsmen to know about the kinds of items they make, performers to know songs and sagas, and everyone to know of famous people in their profession.

Craft

Some professions are crafts, and can be used to create mundane items. Trained craftsmen can create magic items. This works like the Enchant Magic Item or Brew Potion rituals, but only for items relevant to the craft. The item must either be available, or crafted as part of the enhancement ritual. In the latter case, the ritual will require more time than the ritual description indicates.

See also: Craft

Support

Additionally, many professions can be used for the aid other action, both to help skills and ritual casters. Where a profession is relevant for rituals, this is noted in the description of the profession.

See also: Perform

Skill descriptions

Actor (Cha)

You can bring stories to life and portray a wide array of emotions by use of voice or gesture.

Examples: comedy, drama, mime

Interaction: Acting is a perform skill and can aid social interaction.

Rituals: Acting can aid summoning rituals.

Architect (Int)

An architect understands geometry and design, making drawings used to build houses, gardens, bridges, fortifications and other large-scale projects. It is generally impossible to make a large building (more than 30 ft. tall or 150 ft. long) without the help of an architect.

Alchemist (Int)

You refine small quantities of precious substances, like an apothecary’s medicines, potions, or the creation of ritual components. You can brew potions in batches of five, as well as recognize and identify a great variety of substances and know how they react. You can make glassware such as retorts and tubes as well as mirrors. In some settings, you can make gunpowder.

Craft: You can make potions and poisons.

Rituals: Alchemy can aid all healing rituals.

Barber (Wis)

A barber does all kinds of body care, from styling hair, nails and skin to massage and minor surgical work such as removing blemishes or making tattoos. Many barbers are also skilled in Healing, but that is not a part of the profession.

Celebrity (Cha)

To be a celebrity is not a regular profession, but it is a profession nontheless. A celebrity is well-known for whatever reason. See the fame rules.

Dancer (Cha)

Dance is the art of bodily expression, to convey meaning through stance, posture, and movement. A dancer can accompany himself using the shuffling of feet or with instruments such as tambourines and castanets, but a dance performance is often supported by a musician. You do not need this profession in order to take part in public dancing, but stage dancing or leading a public dance requires a profession roll.

Interaction: Dancing is a perform skill and can aid social interaction.

Rituals: Dancing be used to aid all divination and scrying rituals.

Governor (Wis)

A governor understands the nuisances of civilian administration and can balance a budget, keep a bureaucracy running, resolve conflicts, act as a judge, and serve as an administrator.

Jeweler (Dex)

You can work with precious stones and materials such as gold, ivory and mother of pearl to create jewelry, sculptures and other art objects.

Craft: You can craft rings, amulets and some wondrous items.

Lawman (Int)

You are familiar with law enforcement methods and enforcement procedures. You know how to make an arrest, secure evidence, book prisoners, and otherwise run a smooth law enforcement operation. You could be an investigative judge, sheriff, bounty-hunter, city guardsman or tax-collector; police as we think of them today rarely exist in fantasy worlds.

Leatherworker (Wis)

You can work with leather and hide, making clothes, leather and hide armor, and slings. Leather is also used as raw material in many other crafts.

Craft: You can craft leather and hide armor, boots, gloves and some wondrous items.

Lover (Cha)

Anyone who puts their mind to it can have a satisfying love-life with a familiar partner; this is making a profession of it and being able to sexually stimulate strangers.

Mechanic (Int)

You can build mechanical devices, such as crossbows, clocks, traps, and locks. Compared to other crafts, the mechanic is not self-sufficient, needing parts made by a smith, founder and even jeweler to practice the craft. In some settings, you can make firearms.

Craft: You can craft mechanical objects, weapons and traps.

Merchant (Int)

A merchant understands the laws of supply and demand and is able to move and market goods while maintaining a steady profit. Scrupulous traders insure goods come to the right buyers in a timely and efficient manner, to the benefit of everyone.

Musician (Cha)

You can play instruments of all sorts, from flutes and drums to harpsichords and organs.

Interaction: Musician is a perform skill and can aid social interaction.

Rituals: Use of the appropriate instrument can aid any ritual.

Orator (Cha)

A speaker is a performer using words, presenting a story or script in a clear, audible, and enjoyable way. It is used in public speaking, storytelling, playacting and other verbal presentation. A speaker is not inherently skilled in social skills; the profession concerns the presentation of a script, not choosing the right words for an occasion. Still, this profession can be highly useful if you wish to use social skills against many people at once or in a noisy setting.

Interaction: Oratory is a perform skill and can aid social interaction.

Rituals: Oratory can be used to aid binding rituals.

Overseer (Wis)

You know how to lead willing or unwilling workers. You know when to encourage or punish, when to give instructions, and how to keep up morale. In general, an overseer also has another profession. Thus, a ship's captain is an Overseer with the Sailor profession (and possibly Stargazer as well), an officer is a Soldier with Overseer, a businessman is a Merchant with Overseer, and so on.

Sailor (Wis)

You are comfortable on ships and boats and know how to handle small craft or serve as crew on larger ones. You can navigate coastal waters in reasonable safety as long as you only sail by day. You cannot navigate at sea using this profession alone. See Stargazer for navigation.

Scribe (Int)

Being literate is one thing; being a trained scribe something else entirely. A scribe is a master of calligraphy and bookbinding, able to scribe easily readable books and manuscripts. A scribe is also familiar with various archivist systems, and is more able to find books in a library or archive than most people. This allows the Scribe profession to substitute for all knowledge rolls as long as the documents are available, but each roll takes an hour.

The scribe skill is not concerned with the contents of the text, only with presentation. It is not a substitute for the Writer profession or regular interaction skills. However, an attractive presentation using calligraphy and proper paper has a better chance of ever being presented.

Singer (Cha)

You can use your voice as an instrument. Your voice can enthrall an audience and be audible in a wide area. A professional singer has a wide repertoire and can vary volume and timbre, and can also act as a chanter, leading other less skilled singers.

Interaction: Singer is a perform skill and can aid social interaction.

Rituals: Singing be used to aid exploration rituals.

Soldier (Con)

You know how to work as part of a disciplined military unit. A soldier knows how to maintain equipment, understand orders, make camp, march and fight in formation and other military tasks.

Smith (Str)

You can shape all kinds of metal and make armor and weapons, tools, and other useful objects such as horseshoes and nails.

Craft: You can craft metal items such as weapons and armor, shields, helmets, bracers, greaves and some wondrous items.

Stargazer (Int)

You know the position of celestial bodies in the sky, and can use them to tell the time and to orient yourself. This main use it for navigation without landmarks, such as at sea, on rolling plains, or in the deep desert. It can also be used to mark time and for astrological and astronomical observations.

Rituals: This profession can be used to aid scrying and travel rituals.

Stoneworker (Str)

You can work stone, building smaller buildings, walls and the like or realize the plans of an architect. A trained stoneworker can also do sculpting and decorative work in stone.

Craft: You can craft items from stone.

Tailor (Dex)

You can makes clothes and cloth armor, along with tents, and tarpaulins. You understand weaving and other fabric-making techniques, such as felt making and carpet knitting. A good tailor can make and repair these things quickly and efficiently; an excellent tailor can make them beautiful and attractive, often using expensive imported materials. Tailored objects make excellent gifts.

Craft: You can craft cloth armor, capes, shoes, gloves and some magic wondrous items.

Valet (Wis)

You are good at caring for the creature comforts of others. This includes maintaining clothes and personal hygiene, providing basics such as light, food, and warmth, handling personal expenses efficiently, and knowing when you are needed or not. A novice valet is a servant or maid, as you progress in skill you might move on to become an innkeeper or major-domo.

Writer (Int)

A writer creates literary works of art; compositions, prose, poetry, and drama. These can then be published or performed by speakers and spread ideas, educate, praise, or condemn. A good writer can have an enormous effect on the people of an area, which is why rulers often try to control what is written, both by reward and persecution. This works much like the Diplomacy skill, but uses the written word.

You must be trained in a type of performance to write for it; Oratory for plays, Singer for vocal music and so on.

Rituals: Writing can be used to aid binding rituals.

See also

• Talents

External links

• List of medieval professions