Fisher 5e
You have spent your life aboard fishing vessels or combing the shallows for the bounty of the ocean. Perhaps you were born into a family of fisher folk, working with your kin to feed your village. Maybe the job was a means to an end - a way out of an undesirable circumstance that forced you to take up life aboard a ship. Regardless of how you began, you soon fell in love with the sea, the art of fishing, and the promise of the eternal horizon.
Source: Ghosts of Saltmarsh
Languages: One of your choice
Equipment: Fishing tackle, a net, a favorite fishing lure or oiled leather wading boots, a set of traveler's clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp
Features
Harvest the Water: You gain advantage on ability checks made using fishing tackle. If you have access to a body of water that sustains marine life, you can maintain a moderate lifestyle while working as a fisher, and you can catch enough food to feed yourself and up to ten other people each day.
Fishing Tale: You can tell a compelling tale, whether tall or true, to impress and entertain others. Once a day, you can tell your story to willing listeners. At the DM's discretion, a number of those listeners become friendly toward you; this is not a magical effect, and continued amicability on their part depends on your actions. You can roll on the following table to help determine the theme of your tale or choose one that best fits your character. Alternatively, work with your DM to create your own fishing tale.
Fishing Tale Table
| d8 | Tale |
|---|---|
| 1 | Lobster Wrestling. You fought in hand-to-hand combat with an immense lobster. |
| 2 | It Dragged the Boat. You nearly caught a fish of monstrous size that pulled your boat for miles. |
| 3 | Fins of Pure Gold. You caught a sea animal whose fins were made of pure gold, but another fisher stole it. |
| 4 | Ghost Fish. You are haunted by a ghostly fish that only you can see. |
| 5 | Nemesis Clam. A large clam containing a pearl the size of your head claimed one of your fingers before jetting away; one day, you'll find that clam. |
| 6 | It Swallowed the Sun. You once saw a fish leap from the water and turn day into night. |
| 7 | Dive into the Abyss. You found yourself in an underwater cave leading to the Abyss, and your luck has been sour ever since. |
| 8 | Love Story. You fell in love with a creature of pure water, but your brief romance ended tragically. |
Suggested Characteristics
Fishers succeed only if they spend time at their jobs. As such, most fishers have a strong work ethic, and they admire others who earn their living honestly. Fishers tend to be superstitious, forming attachments to particular fishing lures or special fishing spots. They have a connection to the bodies of water in which they fish, and they think poorly of those whose actions adversely affect their livelihood.
Fisher Personality Traits
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I am unmoved by the wrath of nature. |
| 2 | My friends are my crew; we sink or float together. |
| 3 | I need long stretches of quiet to clear my head. |
| 4 | Rich folk don't know the satisfaction of hard work. |
| 5 | I laugh heartily, feel deeply, and fear nothing. |
| 6 | I work hard; nature offers no handouts. |
| 7 | I dislike bargaining; state your price and mean it. |
| 8 | Luck favors me, and I take risks others might not. |
Fisher Ideals
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Camaraderie. Good people make even the longest voyage bearable. (Good) |
| 2 | Luck. Our luck depends on respecting its rules—now throw this salt over your shoulder. (Lawful) |
| 3 | Daring. The richest bounty goes to those who risk everything. (Chaotic) |
| 4 | Plunder. Take all that you can and leave nothing for the scavengers. (Evil) |
| 5 | Balance. Do not fish the same spot twice in a row; suppress your greed, and nature will reward you. (Neutral) |
| 6 | Hard Work. No wave can move a soul hard at work. (Any) |
Fisher Bonds
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | I lost something important in the deep sea, and I intend to find it. |
| 2 | Someone else's greed destroyed my livelihood, and I will be compensated. |
| 3 | I will fish the many famous waters of this land. |
| 4 | The gods saved me during a terrible storm, and I will honor their gift. |
| 5 | My destiny awaits me at the bottom of a particular pond in the Feywild. |
| 6 | I must repay my village's debt. |
Fisher Flaws
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I am judgmental, especially of those I deem homebodies or otherwise lazy. |
| 2 | I become depressed and anxious if I'm away from the sea too long. |
| 3 | I have lived a hard life and find it difficult to empathize with others. |
| 4 | I am inclined to tell long-winded stories at inopportune times. |
| 5 | I work hard, but I play harder. |
| 6 | I am obsessed with catching an elusive aquatic beast, often to the detriment of other pursuits. |
Should You Be a Fisher?
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
I went into this not positive this background needed to exist; after all, Sailor is in the Player’s Handbook and could cover 90% of what this does. Having read through it now, I’m glad they printed this, even if we’re left with a flavor-rich option that fails to offer enough mechanical empowerment to justify taking it.
Features: Harvest the Water and Fishing Tale
Harvest the Water may come up more than you’d think; a fishing tackle typically only has use when, you know, you’re fishing. Adventurers looking to get up to wacky sit-com style hijinx may find it does quite a bit more. Beyond the advantage it grants, you also get a free method to feed the party plus some NPCs over downtime. It’s not particularly riveting but does add something you can use from time to time to your sheet. Its slightly better than an average Player’s Handbook option, but not by much.
Fishing Tale adds an epic backstory element to your character that serves more as a tool for developing personality than an actual improvement to social encounters or out-of-combat exploration. At a minimum, this table can add a lot of embellishment to your sheet, directly associating you with either a Folk Hero-esque larger-than-life tale or otherwise set you up as somebody with a flair for the dramatic.
Mechanically, both combined are nowhere near a feat in terms of power, though. If you’ve got players starting with Strike of the Giants or Scion of the Outer Planes, you’ll probably want a feat alongside this like Skilled or Tough for it to play closer to “fair”.
Skills
History may be the least called for skill in all of Dungeons & Dragons. Most of the time, it’s a tool the DM leverages to rave about the world they’re making, and less so a real tool for progressing narrative or plot.
Survival at least comes up fairly often when navigating wilderness or searching for clues like tracks.
Other Proficiencies
One language comes as close to nothing as you can get as far as bonus proficiencies go. I’m baffled this option doesn’t include proficiency in sea vehicles. I kept checking over and over and no, somebody whose job it is to go out to sea on fishing vessels can’t use said vessel effectively.
Equipment
“Fishing tackle” is a kit that includes “a wooden rod, silken line, corkwood bobbers, steel hooks, lead sinkers, velvet lures, and narrow netting” (Player’s Handbook). I can think of dozens of adventures that’d want access to one or more of these neat little tools; combined, they help you catch fish. Independently, they each bring a little bonus utility, from tying easy to break knots to hooking and hoisting up an unconscious creature from a sheer fall.
A net is also a neat weapon to have in your arsenal; it uses a special attack action that restrains on hit instead of damaging the target. It can trade an attack for a creature’s action, which has some value in specific circumstances. Multi-attacking thrown-weapon characters likely can find the most use out of it.
Oiled leather wading boots aren’t regularly going to be that relevant, nor is a favorite fishing lure, but both help tell the story of your character. You’ve gone from honest work catching fish to a life of danger and adventure- these cosmetic items shine a light on the journey you’re character is undertaking.
Bonus Tables
The Fishing Tale table is a treat. It comes baked with potential plot hooks and motivations for your character you and your DM can engage with as much or as little as you please. You can take inspiration from Captain Ahab and hunt your white whale or Captain Nemo and reject society and capitalism, finding truth and meaning in the great seas of the world. Maybe you’re all in on recovering that fish made of pure gold out of greed, maybe it's out of a need to prove to a scientific community that the creature is real. All of these are simple, concise backstory premises that offer a well of inspiration and opportunity for you to jump in with.
The personality traits, ideals, flaws, and bonds are also solid for an option that is open to a lot of potential generality. Nature, crew, and labor are core ideas explored here, with options ranging from “Rich folk don’t know the satisfaction of hard work” to “I work hard- nature offers no handouts” giving a wide range in experiences and dispositions.
The Ideals I find most inspired; Lawfulness being associated with traditional “luck” and repeated habits fits the alignment while diverging from common “law abiding” tropes many other tables succumb to.
There still are a handful of generic options, which the Flaws table highlights’ “I work hard, but I play harder” and “I have lived a hard life and find it difficult to empathize with others” don’t come with a ton of Fisher specific reasoning. Still, these are some of the better background table options for embodying a specific kind of literary trope; I’d take these on a variety of characters who are related to the sea.
Final Thoughts
I’m truthfully surprised this isn’t lumped into Sailor or another kind of “Workman” background. I adore the fluff it provides, including the little utility packed into Harvest the Water and the equipment table. If you’re at a table using Player’s Handbook backgrounds, this should fit in well, even if the skills aren’t that stellar.
It fails to keep up with modern backgrounds, though. Lacking water vehicle proficiency I find inexcusable, especially given that the only other bonus proficiency offered is a single language. If you staple a mediocre feat to this like Tough or Skilled, I’d say it's still a good enough time you could consider it if you want to get wacky with a fishing pole and some hooks.
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