Gambler

You haven’t met your match at dice or cards. A career of high stakes and daring escapades has taught you when to play close to the chest and when to risk it all—but you haven’t yet learned when to walk away.

Are you a brilliant student of the game, a charming master of the bluff and counterbluff, or a cheater with fast hands? What turned you to a life of adventure: a string of bad luck, or an insatiable thirst for risk?

Ability Score Increases: +1 to Charisma and one other ability score.

Skill Proficiencies: Deception, and either Insight or Sleight of Hand.

Tool Proficiencies: Gaming set (dice set, playing cards set).

Suggested Equipment (Cost 16 gold): Fine clothes, dice set, playing card set.

Feature: Lady Luck. Each week you may attempt a “lucky throw” to support yourself by gambling. Roll a d6 to determine the lifestyle you can afford with your week’s winnings (1–2: poor, 3–5: moderate, 6: rich).

Adventures and Advancement. Once you’ve had more than your fair share of lucky throws, you attract the attention of richer opponents. You add +1 to all your lucky throws. Additionally, you and your friends may be invited to exclusive games with more at stake than money.

Gambler Connections

1. The mentor you have now surpassed.
2. The duelist who will never forgive you for fleecing them.
3. The legendary gambler you aspire to beat.
4. The friendly rival who always keeps you on your toes.
5. The noble who publicly accused you of cheating.
6. An ink-stained academic who wants you to test a risky theory about how to beat the house.
7. The gang leader who would rather kill you than pay up.
8. The kid who strives to emulate you.
9. The cardsharp rival who cheats to win.
10. The rival who won something from you that you want back.

Gambler Mementos

1. Gambling debts owed you by someone who’s gone missing.
2. Your lucky coin that you’ve always won back after gambling it away.
3. The deeds to a monster-infested copper mine, a castle on another plane of existence, and several other valueless properties.
4. A pawn shop ticket for a valuable item—if you can gather enough money to redeem it.
5. The hard-to-sell heirloom that someone really wants back.
6. Loaded dice or marked cards. They grant advantage on gambling checks when used, but can be discovered when carefully examined by someone with the appropriate tool proficiency (dice or cards).
7. An invitation to an annual high-stakes game to which you can’t even afford the ante.
8. A two-faced coin.
9. A torn half of a card—a long-lost relative is said to hold the other half.
10. An ugly trinket that its former owner claimed had hidden magical powers.