Failed Merchant 5e
Maybe you come from a long line of merchants. Perhaps you were an entrepreneur. Regardless. your ventures ended poorly. Whether it was because of outside influences, bad luck, or simply because your business acumen was weak, you lost everything.
With failure, however. comes experience. You're free of that old life, having made some connections and learned your lessons. Prepared to pursue the life of an adventurer, your insight into the world of commerce brought you into the sphere of Acquisitions Incorporated - and a franchise just might be in your future.
Source: Acquisitions Incorporated
Skill Proficiencies: Investigation, Persuasion
Tool Proficiencies: One type of artisan's tools
Languages: Any one of your choice
Equipment: One set of artisan's tools, merchant's scale, a set of fine clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp
Feature
Supply Chain: From your time as a merchant, you retain connections with wholesalers, suppliers, and other merchants and entrepreneurs. You can call upon these connections when looking for items or information.
Suggested Characteristics
Being a merchant involved having a head for numbers, a strong personality. the ability to make deals with hostile adversaries, a strong sword arm to fight off bandits, and the intuition for knowing what people want and need. The art of business is the art of finding the best path to profit, and that path might be different with each transaction. It takes a strong mind and a stronger stomach to succeed. So why did you fail?
Failed Merchant Personality Trait
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I didn't have the cutthroat attitude necessary to succeed. I won't make that mistake again. |
| 2 | Even my competitors said I was affable and talented. Those traits should serve me well. |
| 3 | To prosper, you have to be in control. |
| 4 | The customer is always right. |
| 5 | I was cutting corners and breaking deals to maximize profit. That's why I failed. |
| 6 | When I get an idea, I am single-minded in its execution - even if it's a terrible idea. |
| 7 | If I can be everyone's friend, I'll always have support. |
| 8 | My heart wasn't in being a merchant, so I failed. I'm not all that keen on adventuring either, but I need the money. |
Failed Merchant Ideals
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Survival. Where there's life, there's hope. If I remain alive and flexible, I can succeed. (Any) |
| 2 | Generosity. People helped me when I was down. Now that I'm back on my feet, I'll pay it forward. (Good) |
| 3 | Excitement. Caution got me nowhere in my previous business. I'm not going to let it hold me back now. (Chaotic) |
| 4 | Wealth. With enough coin, I can buy comfort, power, knowledge, and even eternal life. Nothing will stand between me and money. (Evil) |
| 5 | Stability. The mercantile trade was too chaotic for me. I need a nice stable profession, like adventuring. (Lawful) |
| 6 | Redemption. Too many people consider me a failure. So I need to prove them wrong. (Any) |
Failed Merchant Bonds
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | My family means everything to me. I failed them before, and I must not do so again. |
| 2 | My church provides a connection to my god, so I must ensure that it is protected and funded. |
| 3 | My former business partner fell ill, and then our business failed. Part of my new venture involves earning enough to take care of their family. |
| 4 | If I take care of my possessions, they'll take care of me. People come and go, but a weapon or a wand is something you can always rely on. |
| 5 | Although my business failed, the people of my community were kind to me. I'll do everything in my power to protect them. |
| 6 | I owe a dangerous person a lot of money. As long as they're happy, they let my debt rest unpaid. |
Failed Merchant Flaws
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | Why spend gold here when you can buy the same thing for copper in the next town? |
| 2 | I must have the best of everything. Like, right now. |
| 3 | You haven't heard of me? I'm sure that's because of your ignorance and low breeding. |
| 4 | I failed, but I'm awesome. So when anyone else is successful, it must be because of nepotism, dishonesty, or dumb luck. |
| 5 | I find that most people are trustworthy. Hey, where's my belt pouch? |
| 6 | Nothing gets between me and danger except my fellow adventurers. So I'll be sure to put them there. |
Should You Be a Failed Merchant?
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
Conceptually, I love this background. You’ve got nowhere else to turn- you’ve tried your hand at honest work, but have failed so spectacularly you must turn towards adventure to pay the bills. I don’t think it nails the flavor, namely because the background gets tools that would make for a good merchant. If it can’t land the flavor, this is going to feel like any given background with some decent skills, an artisan’s tools proficiency, and nothing remarkable to set it apart from the actual merchant background in the Player’s Handbook.
Feature: Supply Chain
Supply Chain is as close to a non-feature as you can get. It's kind of knowing something relative to your backstory- which is just what a backstory is. Nobody is going to treat you substantially differently, or at least treat you as something interesting with this background.
The big sin here is you’re a failed merchant, not a successful one. I would expect one of the reasons this character fails is an inability to build meaningful connections, or have bad information about their past life. There should be conflict when delving into this past as you have to confront mistakes- this feature doesn’t help address any of that.
If anyone in the group is taking a Background that offers a feat, this is going to feel substantially worse, as it's a non-feature by comparison.
Skills
Investigation and Persuasion are half the skills Guild Merchant gets as well, but instead of Investigation, it gets Insight. If you really prefer Investigation over Insight, which I rate similarly, this option is a side grade and uses nearly identical flavor.
Other Proficiencies
Proficiency in any artisan’s tools of your choice undeniably is handy. These tools tend to range in usefulness, but any of your choice at least sets you up to have ready to go resources for crafting on the road. Of the lot, alchemist’s supplies, tinker’s tools, and woodcarver’s tools are my highest rated, but they all will heavily depend on DM flexibility and your creativity with them. They aren’t going to match the kits, though- I rate all of the miscellaneous adventuring supply proficiencies higher than every artisan’s tools proficiency.
Check out the expanded rules in Xanathar’s Guide to Everything if you want some expanded rules that add features to these tools.
Equipment
Failed Merchant provides you with artisan’s tools- maybe you’re good at making, and not so good at selling. The merchant's scale is also a great tool to randomly get access to- its the kind of equipment that will randomly pop up in a session where you’re checking for a fake object or need to know how much a special rock weighs to outsmart a trap. It won’t come up often, but it makes this equipment selection at least unique.
Bonus Tables
The four tables give you optional personality traits with Ideals, Bonds, Flaws, and Personality Traits, and the majority of them don’t scream to me “I’m bad at being a merchant”. In fact, most single successful merchants, from “Even my competitors said I was affable and talented” to “To prosper, you have to be in control”.
I will say the flaws table highlights what I’d expect out of a failed merchant- leaning into those elements likely can embody this character archetype better than most of the other traits listed.
All Together
If you want Investigation over Insight, this background is a side-grade to Guild Merchant or Guild Artisan from the Player’s Handbook. It sure doesn’t justify existing given how much of it just is describing a successful merchant. It probably is too narrow a category to properly embody an entire background. We don’t distinguish between a “successful” and “failed” criminal or acolyte because that outcome is contained within the broader category.
This option is mostly a waste of ink.
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