Hello adventurers! Welcome to my spellbook and we are going to be doing something a little bit unconventional. From this article we are going over the. Which is found in the mythic odysseys of theros which is an interesting adventure book doesn’t offer too too much in way of actual mechanics but this is one of them.
So we will go over it just in case you would like to check our dnd backgrounds list if you haven’t yet then you can go with the given link after this athlete dnd 5e background. First let us start with its description mentioned below.
Table of Contents
Overview
You always strive to be perfect yourself physically and in execution of everything that you do. Here the thrill of competition lights fire in your blood, and also the roar of a crowd drives you forward. Even though the tales of your exploits precede you and it might open the doors or even loosen tongues.
Probably, whether in one of the poleis, between them, or else among to the nonhuman peoples of Theros, physical contests and those who are pursue them command respect bordering on the reverence. The Athletes arise from all of the walks of life and also all the cultures and more quite frequently cross different paths with one another.
Favored Event
Because of many athletes are practice many types of games and events, most of the excel at a single form of competition. So you can roll or select from the different options in the Favored Events table in order to determine the athletic event in which you excel.
| d8 | Favored Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | Marathon |
| 2 | Long-distance running |
| 3 | Wrestling |
| 4 | Boxing |
| 5 | Chariot or horse race |
| 6 | Pankration (mixed unarmed combat) |
| 7 | Hoplite race (racing in full armor with a unit) |
| 8 | Pentathlon (running, long jump, discus, javelin, wrestling) |
The book provides a d8 table if you want to roll to see what your favorite event is. However feel free to come up with your own i usually prefer that. Anyways these tables really only help if you don’t particularly care or if you’re trying to make quick random characters for something like tomb of annihilation for example. Now let’s take a quick look at its mechanics here.
Mechanics:
- Skill Proficiencies: Acrobatics, Athletics
- Languages: One of your choice
- Tool Proficiencies: Vehicles (Land)
- Equipment: A bronze discus or leather ball, a lucky charm or past trophy, a set of traveler’s clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp
You get two skill proficiencies such as one in acrobatics and one in athletics which makes sense. You’re also proficient with land vehicles now which is super helpful especially if you are on a larger continent in particular. Under languages you get one of your choice which is always nice.
And under equipment you get a bronze discus or leather ball, I would consider that to be fairly optional it might play into your favorite event however. A lucky charm or past trophy, a set of traveler’s clothes and a pouch containing 10 gold piece which is fairly average for the backgrounds overall.
There’s nothing too too exciting about the mechanics of the athlete, it’s just good overall especially if you’re playing more of a martial class or even more of a mobile class. Now let’s move on to their feature echoes of victory.
Feature: Echoes of Victory
As per this feature you have been attracted admiration among to the spectators, fellow athletes, and trainers in some of the region which is hosted your past athletic victories.
Whenever you are visiting any kind of settlement within 100 miles of where you grew up, so there is a 50% of chance that you can find someone there who shall admire you and is willing to arrange some information and also temporary shelter.
However, between the adventures, you may be compete in an athletic events sufficient enough for maintaining a comfortable lifestyle, as per “Practicing a Profession” downtime activity in a chapter 8 of the Players Handbook.
I really like this, i think it’s pretty cool! I think the biggest problem with his feature however is that it does fix you to a certain point. So there’s a couple ways you could go about it. If i was a DM i’d do both of these. So the easiest way to kind of get around this is to have events that are set up in whatever city you’re visiting or major capitals at the very least.
And then you can participate in those events and based on how well you do with this feature will carry on or another way you can do it is within a 100 miles that’s a 50% chance, within 200 miles is it 25%, within 300 miles let’s say it’s like a 10% all those would be relatively easy to figure out just by rolling. But that’s another way you could do it.
I would probably do both if i was a dungeon master for this particular character, but that’s of course is my two cents. Now let’s move on to the suggested characteristics here.
So what i was going here with here was kind of just a poor support, very talented, very capable but very poor in terms of how much they respect the game and maybe even their fellow competition.
Suggested Characteristics
The competition could be forge strong bonds in between the teammates and also rivals or else the ignite bitter feuds those are burn outside the arena. Of course the athletes most frequently apply lessons from their training to their lives in general.
Personality Trait
So under personality trait, I get irritated if people praise someone else and not me.
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I feel most at peace during physical exertion, whether exercise or battle. |
| 2 | I don't like to sit idle. |
| 3 | I have a daily exercise routine I refuse to break. |
| 4 | Obstacles exist to be overcome. |
| 5 | When I see others struggling, I offer to help. |
| 6 | I love to trade banter and gibes. |
| 7 | Anything worth doing is worth doing best. |
| 8 | I get irritated if people praise someone else and not me. |
Ideal
Under ideal, Triumph, The best part of winning is seeing my rivals brought low. And this will typically take you towards the evil direction.
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Competition: I strive to test myself in all things. (Chaotic) |
| 2 | Triumph: The best part of winning is seeing my rivals brought low. (Evil) |
| 3 | Camaraderie: The strongest bonds are forged through struggle. (Good) |
| 4 | People: I strive to inspire my spectators. (Neutral) |
| 5 | Tradition: Every game has rules, and the playing field must be level. (Lawful) |
| 6 | Growth: Lessons hide in victory and defeat. (Any) |
Bond
Under Bond, i will overcome a rival and prove myself their better.
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | My teammates are my family. |
| 2 | I will overcome a rival and prove myself their better. |
| 3 | My mistake got someone hurt. Ill never make that mistake again. |
| 4 | I will be the best for the honor and glory of my home. |
| 5 | The person who trained me is the most important person in my world. |
| 6 | I strive to live up to a specific hero's example. |
Flaw
So flaw, Any defeat or failure on my part is because my opponent cheated.
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I indulge in a habit that threatens my reputation or health. |
| 2 | I'll do absolutely anything to win. |
| 3 | I ignore anyone who doesn't compete and anyone who loses to me. |
| 4 | I have lingering pain of old injuries. |
| 5 | Any defeat or failure on my part is because my opponents cheated. |
| 6 | I must be the captain of any group I join. |
There’s a lot of different ways you can go about this. I particularly…so personally i like characters that go against party dichotomy at least for the most part. As long as it doesn’t get too adversarial and so long as when it comes time to step up to the plate everyone’s on the same page that’s not an issue.
However i do like the idea of everyone thinking the pc is kind of crazy. But actually have their rival be cheating and just appear all perfect and stuff kind of like a boy who cried wolf kind of scenario where the rivals cheating but comes across as perfect and the player character is actually just trying their genuine hardest but its kind of a jerk so everyone doesn’t believe him when he cries foul.
It’d be pretty fun, pretty interesting and you could play it the reverse way and have there be some sort of a character arc where their rival is kidnapped and they have to rescue them and in doing so understand that you know, may be at the end of the day whoever wins the game at the end isn’t really the better person but it’s more of just a moral standard that we hold ourselves to something to that effect would be really interesting.
Of course treat these like a living breathing document and change them as needed, it’s pretty cool stuff i really do like it and of course there’s always the option where the player character is just genuinely evil and tries to constantly assassinate their rival and sabotage them and things of that nature.
So however you want to play it there’s a lot of different directions you can take as a dungeon master and as a player as well. Now let’s move on to my personal thoughts on it.
Thoughts
Overall the athlete is, i want to say fairly strong. It’s very reminiscent of the acolyte. Opposite in some way shape of form but very similar feature, fairly similar mechanics, the description is mirrored of each other of course but still pretty similar.
The only thing i would change as i mentioned earlier as i’d make it so that feature had an ability to scale, if you want to implement some kind of a reputation based system or renown that’s totally up to the dungeon master. I find the easiest way to get around this is just by spreading fame and in various cities and you could have some kind of momentum build up through that.
Maybe even make popular news agencies, report on the exploits of this character. Something to that effect might be interesting as well.
Conclusion
With that being said, i hope you all have a great day and let me know what you think of athlete down beneath before i let you go. Mention any thoughts, questions, comments, concerns or how you would really make the background your own and if you’ve played as the athlete let me know down beneath and how it turned out. That being said, i hope you all have a great day and as always happy adventuring everyone.