Being who you are, you could never be a hero. Whether due to your class, your people, your family, or your sins, something about you prevents you from effectively pursuing the path you've chosen. Even so, that doesn't stop you. You've left your old face behind, taking on a new persona, becoming something more.
Characters with the faceless background don a disguise—literally or otherwise—as they adventure. This persona might be dramatic or subtle. In a way, though, many characters have such larger than life personalities. Therefore, this background largely focuses on detailing the hero behind the mask.
Skill Proficiencies: Deception, Intimidation
Tool Proficiencies: Disguise kit
Languages: One of your choice
Equipment: A disguise kit, a costume, and a pouch containing 10gp
Faceless Persona
A faceless character adventures behind a mask of a public persona. This persona is as natural to them as their hidden, true face, but it disguises their identity. Roll on the Faceless Personas table to determine your persona, or work with the DM to create a persona that's unique to your character and suits the tone of your game.
Faceless Personas
| d10 |
Faceless Persona |
| 1 |
A flamboyant spy or brigand |
| 2 |
The incarnation of a nation or people |
| 3 |
A scoundrel with a masked guise |
| 4 |
A vengeful spirit |
| 5 |
The manifestation of a deity or your faith |
| 6 |
One whose beauty is greatly accented using makeup |
| 7 |
An impersonation of another hero |
| 8 |
The embodiment of a school of magic |
| 9 |
A warrior with distinctive armor |
| 10 |
A disguise with animalistic or monstrous characteristics, meant to inspire fear |
Feature: Dual Personalities
Most of your fellow adventurers and the world know you as your persona. Those who seek to learn more about you—your weakness, your origins, your purpose—find themselves stymied by your disguise. Upon donning a disguise and behaving as your persona, you are unidentifiable as your true self. By removing your disguise and revealing your true face, you are no longer identifiable as your persona. This allows you to change appearances between your two personalities as often as you wish, using one to hide the other or serve as convenient camouflage. However, should someone realize the connection between your persona and your true self, your deception might lose its effectiveness.
Suggested Characteristics
A faceless character usually plays their persona—the hero or extraordinary person they are every day. That's all a facade, though, or a part of them expressed to an extreme. To define a persona, feel free to choose characteristics from other backgrounds, particularly folk hero, hermit, or noble. For the person behind the persona, the one who truly strives to be faceless, consider a distinct set of faceless characteristics. As a result, those with this background have two sets of characteristics, one for their persona, and one for their faceless selves.
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