Fallout: Backgrounds

Your character's background reveals where you came from, how you became a wastelander, and your place in the world. Choosing a background provides you with important story cues about your character's identity.

The most important question to ask about your background is what changed? Why did you stop doing whatever your background describes and star Adventuring? Where did you get the caps to purchase your starting gear, or, if you come from a wealthy background, why dont you have more capst? How did you learn the perks of your character? What sets you apart from ordinary people who share your background? Each background comes with equipment at tag and a special trait.

Brotherhood of Steel

A quasi-religious technological military order operating across the ruins of post-War North America, with its roots stemming from the United States Armed Forces and the government-sponsored scientific community from before the Great War.

Tag: Pilot, Athletics
Equipment: BOS Uniform, Laser Rifle, Fusion Cell 50, 25 caps

Trait: Knighthood

Your training has finally led you to becoming a Knight and venturing off in the name of the Brotherhood of Steel. With this promotion you gain your very own suit of T-45 Power Armor. If you ever lose or damage your Power Armor you can return to a Brotherhood of Steel encampment to restore and repair your Armor at a discounted price. 

The Enclave

A secretive political, scientific, and militaristic organization that is descended directly from members of the pre-War United States government, and claims to be the legally-sanctioned continuation of the government, while also styling themselves and their overall demeanor as such.

Tag: Pilot, Sneak
Equipment: Enclave Uniform, Laser Pistol, Fusion Cell 50, 40 caps

Trait: Enclave Eyebot

Throughout the wasteland the Enclave spreads its message, though they specifically designed for reconnaissance and surveillance, but are still often used to broadcast information and propaganda. You have the correct coding to control one Eyebot at a time giving you control over it. The Eyebot is immune to radiation and has 100 health. It can fly and hover up to 6 feet off the ground. You can send the Eyebot to any location that it can freely get to on its own. It has the capability to record and/or transmit audio on a certain frequency. It cannot locate you unless you specify certain coordinates for it to return too, otherwise it continues on its last know programming.  

Raider

A wastelanders who pillage, plunder, murder, or otherwise ruin the day of anyone unfortunate enough to not be one of them. Raiders tend to organize into loose confederations of gangs in the post-apocalyptic wasteland and are a constant problem. Raiders typically prey upon travelers and very small towns, leaving more populous or larger areas alone.

Tag: Small Guns, Melee Weapons
Equipment: Raider Chest Piece, Road Leathers, Pipe Pistol, .38 50, 30 caps

Trait: Raider Clan

Raiders are not known to be civil and often fight amongst other raider clans. Though they will often respect those who are more intimidating than themselves. When you come across another raider encampment they wont automatically become hostile. Instead make an Intimidation check. If successful the raider clan will treat you as friendly. If you fail they will attack you immediately.  

The Institute

An advanced scientific organization in the Wasteland. It is known and feared for its ability to produce advanced synthetic humans (also known as synths) of high enough quality to pass as true humans.

Tag: Sneak, Deception
Equipment: Institute Pistol, Fusion Cell 50, Synth Uniform, 50 caps

Trait: Secret Privileges  

Being born in the Institute has made you feel above those who live outside in the Wasteland. Your pure of disease and radiation and your body looks as such. If anyone learns you are from the Institute they become hostile towards you. You have a frequency transmitter that has access to call upon a corsair. This corsair comes only at a request to collect lost and runaways synths. For each synth collected in this manner you gain 2 of the following:

• 100 Caps
• Institute Pistol or Rifle
• Fusion Cell x100
• Food Pack x5 (Pure Water, Fresh Carrot, Melon, Funnel Cake )

After 50 synths have been collected you gain a Institute Transporter allowing only you to teleport back to the Institute where you can rest in your own quarters and shop at the Institute stores.

The Settler

Settlers are the common people of the wasteland. They can include wanderers, former residents of cities, scavengers, former raiders or Gunners, synths covertly working for the Institute, or rescued by the Railroad. Even wastelanders trying to scrape out a living, and other people, will sometimes give up their solitary life as a wanderer and move to a soon-to-be-thriving settlement.

Tag: Survival, Detection
Equipment: Undershirt & jeans, Leather Chest Piece, Pipe Pistol, .38 50, 20 caps

Trait: The Survivor

Survival of the fittest is your name of the game. You can manage to find settlement in the roughest of environments. While out in the wasteland you are able to locate an area suitable for setting up an overnight encampment where you know that for the next 8 hours you will avoid hostile enemies and any radiation storms.. You can only use this ability once per day and only if you are not hunted by enemies or within an enemies encampment radius.

The Doctor

Doctors can restore HP as well as cleanse those with radiation poisoning. Some also offer other services, such as curing addictions, selling chems, or giving special bonuses. When injured.

Tag: Doctor, Nature Science
Equipment: Lab Uniform, Syringer, Addictol, Stimpak x2, caps 70 

Trait: You Dont Look Well

You've done it! You are a doctor and with it comes the knowledge of certain medicines and drugs and how to use them effectively. You can heal crippled limbs or replenish hit points with successful use of the Doctor skill. The skill can only be used 3 times in 24 hours on per person. In addition to healing crippled limbs, the doctor skill also heals 1d6+4 hit points per successful use, this requires 1 minute of downtime.

The Crafter

In the wasteland there are many items broken, busted or destroyed. The crafters of the wasteland manage to put together these items and create new and inventive items turning junk into something worth the caps.

Tag: Armorsmith, Weaponsmith
Equipment: Portable armor and weapon crafting station, Undershirt & Jeans, Pipe Pistol, .38 (50), 25 caps

Trait: I Can Fix This

Take one of these add some glue and wrap it all in duct tape and what do you got? The ability to fix anything! Though it may look different and not work as it originally intended that doesnt mean it wont be useful. You can combine two different types of items that you can carry in one hand. Turning them into one item. They must be two different item types and an item can only be combined once. If each item has a damage dice you add half of the dice from the item with the lowest amount of dice (round up). You can also fix yours or your allies broken equipment with a successful skill check requiring only half the repair costs.

Vault Dweller

A vault dweller is any person who lives in one of the Vault-Tec vaults.. Vaults are a type of subterranean installation initially designed by the Vault-Tec Corporation, later constructed in collaboration with RobCo Industries. Officially, they were designed for the sole purpose of sheltering up to one thousand citizens each in the event of a nuclear holocaust; however, in reality, they were a series of secret experiments orchestrated by the United States government.

Tag: Charm, Choose 1 other one
Equipment: Vault Jumpsuit, Security Baton, 10mm Pistol, 10mm 50, Vault Tech Chest Piece, 20 caps

Trait: Pip-Boy

Being raised in the Vaults you have been given a Pip-Boy at the age of 10 to help you find a role while living in the Vault. The Pip-Boy is a multi-functional device that features a built in Geiger counter and has been programmed to display the wearer's stats, area maps, inventory, and item properties. Its screen also acts as a flashlight in low visibility areas and it has a dial for tuning into radio frequencies. The Pip-Boy functions consists of:

V.A.T.S.

Only by using the Pip-Boy can you have access to Vault-Tec Assisted Targeting System giving the user special features when out in the wasteland.

Map menu

The map menu opens centered on the device's current location. It can switch between world and local maps and can be used to view current supply lines between settlements. The user can view all discovered and marked locations, set waypoints. The map automatically updates with your surrounding area within 1 mile on the world map menu and updates 120ft of your local 

Radio menu

New radio frequencies appear as they are found. If outside the broadcast range of a frequency, it will be grayed out and will not be selectable.

Pip-Boy light

The Pip-Boy display can be set to an over-bright mode to provide illumination in dark areas. The color of this light matches the user's selected display color preference, which is changed in the display options. The light illuminates in a 10ft radius centered on you.

To activate the Pip-Boy light, hold down the button as a bonus action.

Adapter plug

A unique feature of the Pip-Boy 3000 Mark IV is an adapter plug attached to the underside of the device. This plug is used to perform diagnostics on power armor, as well as open and close the main doors of vaults in the Wasteland, effectively making the Pip-Boy a vault key. In addition, the plug is also used to gain control of robots if the Robotics Expert perk is active.

Mercenary

A gun-for-hire operating in the Wasteland. Mercenaries are usually seen in the employ of a traveling merchant, escorting the merchant and his/her pack brahmin as they travel across the Wasteland, while defending them from threats such as raiders or hostile Wasteland creatures.

Tag: Intimidation, Small Guns
Equipment: Military fatigues, Combat Chest Piece, Assault Rifle 5.56mm 50, 40 caps

Trait: Respected Presence

Through training or hard times you have honed your skills as a hired gun. Your passing presence gives off an aura of intimidation and those who see you know your as tough as you look. Wastelanders whose level fall under your Charisma score are fearful of you and tend to avoid contact unless spoken too. Also if you fail an intimidation skill check, you can attempt the check again taking the new one instead.

Merchant

Merchants are the primary source of buying and selling goods within the Wasteland. Multiple merchants can be found in major settlements. There also travelling merchants who can be found around the Wasteland. Merchants are the life of any city getting supplies out to the other wastelanders, for a price.

Tag: Barter, Animalism  
Equipment: Undershirt & Jeans, Pipe Pistol, .38 50,  100 caps
Pet: You have a well tamed Brahmin with saddle bags. includes 20 days of feed.

Trait: Merchant Network

Buying, selling and trading is your game and your very good at it. Throughout your merchant career you have built up a solid network of friendly merchants. Whenever you meet a new merchant you can add him to the network of merchants. You can use your network of merchants to quickly transport goods to another merchant if he doesnt have what your looking for. Also for 1000 credits you can set up a new merchant vendor in a populated area and add that merchant to your network. You decide which type of merchant is going to be set up from one of these choices. Chems, Food, Weapons, Armor, Junk, Facial Reconstruction, Stylist or Clothier.

Farmer

The back breaking work that others tend to shy away from. Farmers are those who sow seeds into soil to grow crops. Crops that fuel merchant inventory and keep the other wastelanders and their settlements stocked with food.

Tag: Herbalism, Wilderness Lore
Equipment: Torn shirt & Tattered Jeans, Tato plant x3, Pipe Pistol, .38 50, 25 caps

Trait: Let it Grow

Sow the seeds of life as you feed the wasteland with your knowledge of farming. Crops that you plant grow twice as fast and produce twice as much food. Also you are skilled enough to grow radiation free crops, making them twice as valuable as normal crops. 

Scientist

Scientists are people who love to find reason in everyday occurrences, whether it be from physics, chemistry, biology or anything in between. However, in this pursuit for excessive knowledge about these occurrences, it can blow up in their faces... sometimes quite literally.

Tag: Robotics, Electronics 
Equipment: Lab Uniform, Laser Pistol, Fusion Cell 50, Science Book (your choice), 40 caps

Trait: Body of Knowledge

Studying hard and reading text after text you have filled yourself up with the knowledge of science. The equations, formulas and specimens run through your mind like H20.  You can attempt to take apart anything to figure out how it works. Make an intelligence skill check and if you succeed you learn the basics of how it works, how it lives, how it moves and all weaknesses and strengths it has. If you fail the check you get a stacking +5 on the next check you make to take apart the type of item. This requires 1 hour of downtime to preform. Once you succeed on taking apart something you gain a permanent +5 to all checks dealing with said item.

Minutemen

The Minutemen were a civilian militia founded as a result of the efforts by various small communities to protect themselves against the numerous threats present within the Wasteland.

Tag: Leadership, Charm
Equipment: Minutemen Outfit, Laser Musket, Fusion Cell 50, Flare Gun, Flares 10, Caps 30

Trait: Rally the Wasteland

Shining bright in a greenish grayish type fog wasteland? Well whatever it is you manage to stand out and protect those who need protecting and with that they stand by you. When traveling to a new settlement you have the chance to have that settlement join the Minutemen cause. After getting them to become a friendly settlement they will join the Minutemen and come to your aid when called upon. When you shoot a flare from your flare gun any minutemen in the area will come support you in whatever your fighting at the time. Once the fight is over they will return to their settlement.

Railroad

The Railroad assists runaway synths.  They maintain a network of safehouses and clandestine contacts reminiscent of their namesake, the 19th century Underground Railroad, which helped slaves escape and reach free areas. To remain covert, members use a special marking system called "Railsigns" to mark cache, safehouse, and dead drop locations, as well as the presence of allies and/or danger.

Tag: Lockpick, Sneak
Equipment: Flannel Shirt & Jeans, Hunting Rifle, .308 50, Caps 30

Trait: Railsign Observer 

Only those of the Railroad know how to decipher the special system of symbols that the Railroad uses. You are passively aware and always on the lookout for Railsigns, and can identify what they lead to. You can also use this same symbol system in populated areas to find others who are part of the Railroad. While in a city you can set up a Railsign with a decipher to meet at a special location and time. A member of the Railroad will meet you at this location and time with information or supplies whichever you need for a discounted price. You can also send a runaway synth with the Railroad operative and gain 2 of the following.

• 50 Caps
  
• 50 ballistic ammo of your choice
• Short Shotgun or Hunting Rifle
• Food Bundle x5 (Tato, Mutafruit, Pure Water)

After you manage to secure 50 synths in this manner you are rewarded with the Railway Rifle and 100 Railway spikes. After which each synth gives you 10 railway spikes in addition to your above choices.

The Cook

Some of the most deadly effects of the wasteland are that of uncooked and ill prepared foods. This can lead to disease, illness, radiation and even death. Being well versed in the wasteland cuisine not only servers as a vital importance to your own safety but that of many others. Everyone can cook but only those with the proper skill select can make and prepare some of the best meals around. Your expert cooking brings out not only the amazing flavors of each dish but also enhances the raw ingratiates to make powerful meals that benefit any who eat it.

Tags: Herbalism, Survival
Equipment: Long Johns, Pipe Pistol, .38 (50), Caps 25, 10 recipes of yur choice. Cook-Cook Fiend Stew Recipe, Portable Cooking Station 5bs.

Cook-Cook Fiend Stew

This amazing meal requires Beer (2), Brahmin Meat (1), Tato (1), Jalapeño Peppers (1) (can be obtained from jalapeño plants). The effects of this Stew are listed below and are based on your Survival Skill. 

Survival Skill Effects

Skill      Effect Per Round/STR Doesn't Stack      Radiation Reduction 
10         +2 Hit Point, +1 Strength for 1m               -96 Rads  
20        +2 Hit Point, +1 Strength for 1m               -112 Rads 
30        +3 Hit Point,+1 Strength for 1m,               -128 Rads 
40        +3 Hit Point, +1 Strength for 1m               -144 Rads 
50        +4 Hit Point, +2 Strength for 1m              -160 Rads 
60        +4 Hit Point, +2 Strength for 1m              -176 Rads 
70        +4 Hit Point, +2 Strength for 1m              -192 Rads 
80        +5 Hit Point, +2 Strength for 2m             -208 Rads 
90        +5 Hit Point, +2 Strength for 2m             -224 Rads 
100       +6 Hit Point, +3 Strength for 2m            -240 Rads

Trait: I Cook Shit For The Gang

When you use a cooking station to cook any of your recipes or any other food you do not need to make a cooking check. You also know whether any food or drink has any ill effects without having to make a skill check. Additionally, when you prepare one of your recipes you know you make an amount equal to 1d4+1 servings.