Gambler 5e
All you need to make a lot of gold is a little gold. Except at those times when all you need to have no gold at all is a little gold. Whether you're a good gambler or a bad one rarely matters, because no one can divine the whims of Lady Luck. Sometimes you're up, sometimes you're down. But the thing about gambling is that someone is always willing to take a bet.
Source: Acquisitions Incorporated
Tool Proficiencies: One gaming set
Languages: Any one of your choice
Equipment: One gaming set, a lucky charm, a set of fine clothes, and a belt pouch containing 15 gp
Feature
Never Tell Me the Odds: Odds and probability are your bread and butter. During downtime activities that involve games of chance or figuring odds on the best plan, you can get a solid sense of which choice is likely the best one and which opportunities seem too good to be true, at the DM's determination.
Suggested Characteristics
Some gamble out of necessity. Others do so out of boredom. Still others become addicted to the thrill of winning or losing everything on a turn of fortune. For some, gambling is less a matter of chance and more a matter of seeking every advantage to ensure the outcome. The best gamblers can lose everything, and the worst gamblers sometimes win. Regardless, you can always tell gamblers by the look in their eyes. Lady Luck haunts them.
Gambler Personality Trait
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I plan for every contingency. Leave nothing to chance! |
| 2 | Every copper wants to be a silver. Each bet is an opportunity. |
| 3 | I'm one of Lady Luck's favored. Anything I try is destined to succeed. |
| 4 | I've lost so much to gambling that I refuse to spend money on anything anymore. |
| 5 | Nothing is certain. Planning is a coward's act. |
| 6 | I can't be sure who I've swindled, cheated, or defeated, so I keep a low profile in public. |
| 7 | The perfect bet is out there somewhere. I just have to keep my eyes open. |
| 8 | I have beaten my addiction, but all it takes is one weak moment and I'll be back at the card table. |
Gambler Ideals
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Knowledge. Knowledge is power, and knowing which horse to back is the key to success. (Any) |
| 2 | Fate. Whatever happens is fated, regardless of any planning or striving. (Lawful) |
| 3 | Bravery. If you want to succeed, you have to take risks. (Chaotic) |
| 4 | Survival. You can't win if you're dead. Live to fight another day - when the odds might be more in your favor. (Any) |
| 5 | Reliability. When I was in need, I was able to rely on others. Now I want to be the one others rely on. (Good) |
| 6 | Victory. Winning is the real measure of a person. In the end, the only thing that matters is the scoreboard. (Evil) |
Gambler Bonds
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | One person in particular owes me a lot of money, and I need to keep them alive if I want to be repaid. |
| 2 | I'm loyal to the friend or family member who taught me how to gamble. |
| 3 | The person who saved me from my gambling addiction is the only reason I'm alive today. |
| 4 | A patron once fronted me money in exchange for a percentage of my winnings. I owe them a debt of gratitude. And a lot of cash. |
| 5 | A criminal syndicate I once played for isn't happy I left the game, and its enforcers are looking for me. |
| 6 | Urchins once helped me find marks for my games. Now I'm driven to help them escape the streets. |
Gambler Flaws
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I don't know when to quit. Especially when everyone else is telling me to. |
| 2 | I save my sympathy for my friends, and I have no friends. |
| 3 | You think we're in trouble now? Let me tell you how bad things are likely to get! |
| 4 | You can loan me a little, right? I've got a sure thing. I'll double your money, guaranteed. |
| 5 | I was once a terribly flawed person, like you. Let me tell you how you can save yourself. |
| 6 | I'm a great gambler. I'm just bad at math and logic. |
Should You Be a Gambler?
Review by Sam West, Twitter:@CrierKobold
Of the five backgrounds presented in the Acquisitions Incorporated book, Gambler stands out to me as an actual background I’d expect to work at just about any table. I’d consider it if I wanted to build the kind of wanderer character that gambles their way into debt, dipping out of town when their winnings run dry or they have to pay up.
This option fits seamlessly alongside the Player’s Handbook backgrounds. It's what your character has largely been doing prior to adventuring- you’re not a con artist, not a thief, but a real, honest gambler that takes their wins with their losses.
Now, does it need to exist when Charlatan and Criminal both can functionally do the same thing with some light reflavoring? Probably not, but it stands enough on its own that I'm not bothered by it.
Feature: Never Tell Me the Odds
Unfortunately, Never Tell Me the Odds is the kind of background feature I’d expect to never matter. Not once. It doesn’t help you get into gambling situations, nor does it explicitly empower your gambling odds in any useful way. Instead, you just can tell where your best odds are for gaining a handful of gold from time to time. I promise you your DM hasn’t gone through and made the odds for each game (assuming there's more than one), leaving this as a way to potentially get your DM to go “Oh, uh, sure you’ve got better odds at cards than dice, I guess?”
Skills
Deception and Insight both tell a great story about the kind of character you’re playing while also being useful abilities to have on social characters like Bards or Warlocks. If you want a character whose identity is reading the room and getting in and out of trouble, these skills belong on your sheet.
Other Proficiencies
A gaming set hardly empowers a character- its the little brother to artisan’s tools, which in turn is less useful than the kits and thieve’s tools available. At best, this will reward you with a handful of gold. It usually is an afterthought that offers no meaningful benefit to your sheet.
Equipment
The standout equipment is the lucky charm and gaming set- neither on their own are going to consistently find use. The lucky charm gives you some fun character building opportunity, but beyond that, this equipment isn’t going to help you much.
Bonus Tables
Gambler’s personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws tables all tie into a gambler’s life. Few of these are generic- all have to do with the compulsion to spend gold on gambling. They push you towards specific styles of play that expand from the dice to combat decisions. Options like “I’ve lost so much to gambling that I refuse to spend money on anything anymore” and “You can’t win if you’re dead. Live to fight another day- when the odds might be more in your favor” tell a story about how the gambling escapades of the past have gone while informing how your character may act in the future.
My favorite of the bunch is the flaws table, with “I don’t know when to quit. Especially when everyone else is telling me to.” They are rich, silly, yet have opportunities to shine in serious environments as well and leave tons of room to grow.
All Together
Having a non-feature for your background feature and no meaningful bonus proficiencies will lead me to recommend taking the personality elements of the bonus tables and applying them to a different background you take for mechanics. On its own, it's lacking even when stacked against the Player’s Handbook options.
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