Peasant Hero

Description

The Peasant Hero is the "local boy done good." the home-town warrior who fights and adventures to the delight of the people in his home area. The Peasant Hero is the most common sort of fighter found wandering the land and adventuring; every village has one or has had one within living memory.
There are no ability-score requirements to be a Peasant Hero.

Role

In the campaign, the Peasant Hero is the fellow who won't forget that his roots are in the country and in the soil. He can be a rebel against the crown in lands where the peasants are especially oppressed; he can be the farmboy who becomes a mighty general; he can be the noble's child (secretly raised by peasants) who grows up to fulfill an ancient prophecy; but in every case, he remembers his origins and strives to make things better for his family and home community.

Weapon Proficiencies

The player may choose his character's weapon proficiencies, but may not choose any that the DM feels would be unusual for his campaign-world's peasants. Short sword, spear, bow, footman's weapons and the like are all very appropriate; horseman's weapons, exotic polearms, lances, long swords, tridents and the like are not. This is only a restriction when the character Is first created: afterwards, of course, he can learn any weapon he receives training with.

Non-weapon Proficiencies

Bonus Proficiencies

Agriculture or Fishing (player choice), Weather Sense or Animal Lore (player choice)

Recommended

Any of the General proficiencies

Equipment

The Peasant Hero may spend his starting gold any way he sees fit, but may have no more than 3 gp left when he begins play.

Special Benefits

No matter what he's done or what anyone thinks of him, the Peasant Hero always has shelter and often has other help when he's in his own community. Unless it is known that the Peasant Hero has hurt people from his own community, he'll always find people to put him up, hide him and companions from the law, supply them with food and drink and what little weaponry can be scraped together (usually daggers), and even provide them with helpers — earnest 0-level youths who want to grow up to be like their hero.

Special Hindrances

Since the Peasant Hero is looked upon as a patron and hero by the people from his home, they will frequently come to him for help. Whenever the village is losing people to nocturnal predators, whenever a village overlord turns out to be a dangerous tyrant, whenever a local citizen is jailed and tried for something he didn't do, the citizens turn to the Peasant Hero for help. And if he turns them away, he loses their respect and earns a -2 reaction from all of the peasants in the land until he is once again in his home community's good graces.

Wealth Options

The Peasant Hero gets the standard 5d4x10 gp starting money.

Races

The Peasant Hero is a distinctly human sort of character; it's also appropriate to halflings, and to half-elves living among humans. But no other demihumans should have Peasant Hero characters unless the DM decides that their cultures are very much like rural human society.

[Complete Fighter's Handbook]