Amateur Ecologist
You have experience working for the Unders Ecological Institute , though this doesn’t make you a full blown member of their ranks. Still, they couldn’t succeed without the help of Amateurs like yourself. They may have employed you for simple labor or for your particular skills. Either way you have the opportunity to attend their regular lecture series and have gained a knack for this kind of work.
Often being an amateur ecologist means survey missions. Keeping guard and helping handle the collection and return of zoological, arcanological, and fungicological samples for further research. Perhaps you devoted time to study independently and consider yourself more of an academic, eventually crossing paths with the Institute and finding a common interest.
Skill Proficiencies Nature, Survival
Tool Proficiencies Cartographer’s Tools, Painter’s Tools, or a Spelunker’s Sextant
Equipment A climber’s harness. An Unders guidebook with pressed fungus prints bound in beetle wings. 10gp from the last expedition you went on.
Lifestyle Modest
Features
Spelunker. When in a natural environment free of containments you can spend 1 minute to vibe with the natural rythym of things. By testing the gravity, assessing the taste of the air, noticing the kinds of stone in the walls and other clues you can determine your depth in relation to Sanctuary. You can determine if you are even with it, deeper, or shallower. Accuracy determined by a Nature check
| DC |
Accuracy |
| 10 |
Within one mile |
| 15 |
Within half a mile |
| 20 |
Within 1000 ft |
| 25 |
Within 200 ft |
Suggested Characteristics
Ecologists are focused on how things are interconnected. It becomes hard to ignore when you really start to investigate and learn about the natural world. There is a tendency towards curiosity and exploration. It is easy to discover things when you are in a place that is otherwise unexplored. As much as they tend to have a broad view of the world, they can also be a little bit myopic and fail to notice things if they aren’t part of the greater system they understand. Many are drawn to ecology, sometimes because they feel lost, and sometimes for the thrill of discovery.
Traits
| 1d8 | Personality Traits |
|---|
| 1 | I like to lean against bare stone, it gives me a feeling of connection to the world around me. |
| 2 | Questions drive me, I constantly have inquiries and look to satisfy my curiosity. |
| 3 | I tend towards telling stories or lectures on my favorite topics. |
| 4 | I’ve made liking a specific kind of animal into a personality trait. |
| 5 | My fashion tends towards practical because I spend much of my time in wilderness and away from people. |
| 6 | Caring for things and making them grow is extremely rewarding for me. |
| 7 | My curiosity overwhelms my fear when encountering something new. |
| 8 | I obsess over taking notes on my observations. |
Ideal
| 1d6 | Ideals of the Institute |
|---|
| 1 | Harmony. We can find a way to thrive with our environment while making it healthier as well. |
| 2 | Discovery. There are incredible things to be seen that haven’t been seen by science before and I’m going to find them. |
| 3 | Education. Teaching people about the incredible discoveries of the Ecological Institute will help preserve what we have left of the world. |
| 4 | Exploration. There is much to see in the world, having accurate maps is key to safely exploring and coming to understand it. |
| 5 | Preservation. We learn so we can serve a better tomorrow, writing our discoveries down and preserving rare specimens allow us to give a bounty of knowledge to our dependents. |
| 6 | Community. Our ecosystem is not just something to observe, but a part of us as well. We serve to build out community at large, both local and more broadly. |
Bond
| 1d6 | Bonds |
|---|
| 1 | I had an incredible experience when exploring, an encounter with a particular creature that has become my personal cause to protect. |
| 2 | While training I took on a tutee of my own who is still learning the ropes. |
| 3 | My family are farmers/fishermen/hunters and I preserve nature to preserve our way of life. |
| 4 | There is a natural geographical location that holds special meaning to me. I try to visit it often and would be devastated to find it damaged. |
| 5 | I found a different kind of connection while on expedition and have someone I love very dearly who I’m ready to save the world for, if I can. |
| 6 | I planted a lichen garden with a loved one, they are gone but I tend the garden to remember them. |
Flaw
| 1d6 | Flaws |
|---|
| 1 | Death is a part of the natural order, but I’ve let my familiarity desensitize me to it. |
| 2 | Despite using Jargon that excludes people from understanding me, I look down on people who can’t follow my complicated explanations. |
| 3 | My nature and experience as an observer has led me to forget that I am on the menu down here. My comfort leads me to sometimes take risks when faced with natural monsters. |
| 4 | My particular area of expertise is clearly more important than other expertises. I sometimes cannot contain my eye rolls. |
| 5 | I tend to think I know better than the locals, even though they have lived experience and knowledge I can’t replicate with books and data. |
| 6 | I have a strong need to collect specimens, creatures, and the like. More than might be reasonable, but being surrounded by these things gives me comfort despite the damage it might be doing. |
