Character Concept Package - Gnome Rocktender

Character Concept Package

The character concept package is a collection of backgrounds, feats, equipment, and other role playing ideas related to a single concept. Materials in a package can be used by any character of any class. Though a particular concept might be race related, they can generally be used by any race as well.

 This is the second package I've posted to my blog (the first was for a toy maker) beta testing and feedback. Eventually, I'll be publishing a final product on DMsGuild. I look forward to constructive feedback.

Gnome Rocktender *


Background

Rock and stone are not merely a resource to be harvested or treasures to be hoarded. They are ancient entities who form the foundation of the world. From an early age, you intuitively understood this. Perhaps that's why you spent most of your childhood studying and meditating upon the geology in and around your burrow. And why, when those familiar benefactors could teach you no more, you set out to discover others who might further your enlightenment. That quest led you far away from home to the highest peaks and deepest caverns of the lands. It was a solitary existence but it only proved what you already knew in your childhood. Rock and stone have souls.

 Skill Proficiency: Survival, Nature
Tool Proficiency: Mason's tools
Languages: Primordial
Equipment: explorer's pack and clothes, mason's tools, small pouch with samples of favorite common rocks and minerals, one small uncut precious gem worth 10GP

Feature: Heart of Stone

You have a deep love and knowledge of the geology of the region(s) in which you spent your years of solitary study. You know the likeliest locations of specific mineral and rock deposits in those regions. (Of course, you are loathe to share this information with anyone who might be a threat to the land.) You also have a reliable sense of when and where geological events might occur, from micro-events such as a collapse in a cave to macro-events such as earthquakes or volcanic eruptions.

Suggested Characteristics: 

Many gnomes at some point in life strike out on adventures in order to see the sites and meet new people. Your travels were not spawned by such base wanderlust. You wanted to commune with geological wonders as a means to gain wisdom and knowledge. Perhaps you found what you were looking for. Perhaps not. You prefer wooden and stone weapons to metal ones. You also avoid metal armor and all-metal shields. Sure, you'll use those in a pinch, but you'll feel as though you've betrayed a loved one in doing so.

Magic Items

Wintukisha's Pot

Wondrous item, uncommon
Once per day, fill this 8-inch copper pot with rocks and stones. Place it on an open flame. Over the period of 1 minute, the rocks will transform into a simple meal. Add water to produce soup instead. The exact contents of the meal are unpredictable. A successful Wisdom (Survival) check can, however, shape the final results. If you have cooking utensils and are proficient with them you can add your proficiency bonus to this check. Any uneaten portion of the meal disappears after one hour.  

The meal will nourish up to four creatures. Any creature that partakes of the meal will be cured of all diseases and poison. They will also not need to eat or drink for the next 24 hours.

Equipment

Geologist's Tools

This set of hand tools is used to excavate and harvest rock and mineral samples. Unlike mining tools, which are meant to bust through rock, or even mason tools, which are meant to shape rock, geologist tools are designed for precise and delicate removal of specimens. Proficiency with these tools lets you add your proficiency bonus to any ability checks you make to collect, preserve, and examine rock and mineral samples.

Improved Headlamp

The improved headlamp can either be strapped to a wearer's head or affixed to a hard cap. Though much smaller than a typical lamp, it casts bright light in a 30-foot cone and dim light for an additional 30 feet. Once it's lit, it burns for 6 hours on a flask (1 pint) of oil.

Feats

Earth Elemental Affinity

Earth elementals are naturally friendly toward you.
  • Increase your Wisdom score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
  • You know the Terran language (the language of earth elementals).
  • If you ever lose control of an earth elemental you have conjured, it will not become hostile toward you or your companions.
  • You have advantage on all Charisma (Persuasion) and Charisma (Performance) skill checks against earth elementals, regardless of whether you conjured them.

Metal Promise

You have specialized in wearing non-metal armor.
  • You gain proficiency with all non-metal armor (such as padded, leather, and hide armor).
  • While wearing padded, leather, hide, or other non-metal armor, gain an additional +1 to your AC.
  • Wearing non-metal armor that normally imposes disadvantage on your Dexterity (Stealth) checks does not impose disadvantage.

Spelunker

You have extensive experience exploring underground environments.
  • Increase your Dexterity score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
  • You gain proficiency in the Athletics skill. If you're already proficient in it, your proficiency bonus is doubled for any check you make with it.
  • You learn the Light and Feather Fall spells. You can cast Feather Fall once without expending a spell slot, and you regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest.

Troglodyte Lifestyle

You have extensive experience living in caves and other natural underground environments.
  • Increase your Constitution score by 1, to a maximum of 20.
  • You gain proficiency in the Survival skill. If you're already proficient in it, your proficiency bonus is doubled for any check you make with it.
  • You learn the Prestidigitation and Goodberry spells. You can cast Goodberry once without expending a spell slot, and you regain the ability to do so when you finish a long rest.

Spells

Speak with Rocks

3rd-level transmutation
Casting Time: 1 action
Range: Self (30-foot radius)
Components: V, S
Duration: 10 minutes

 You imbue all boulders, rocks, stones, and other geological formations (regardless of whether they are natural or worked) within 30 feet of you with limited sentience, giving them the ability to communicate with you. You can ask about events in the spell's area within the past day, gaining information about creatures that have passed, weather, and other circumstances.

 If an earth elemental is in the area, you can communicate with it as if you shared a common language, but you gain no magical ability to influence it.
* This concept package is based on the rocktender character kit as it appeared in The Complete Book of Gnomes and Halflings, an AD&D rules supplement.

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