Parfumier

Background

Proficiencies & Equipment

Skill Proficiencies:: Nature, Investigation
Tool Proficiencies:: Alchemist's supplies, herbalism kit
Languages:: No additional languages
Equipment:: Herbalism kit, a leather satchel containing perfume recipes, research notes, and chemical and botanical samples; 1d4 metal or crystal (shatter-proof) perfume bottles, a set of fine clothes, and a silk purse containing 10 gp

Description

You are educated and ambitious. You spent your youth apprenticed among a city's more reputable greenhouses, laboratories, and perfumeries. There, you studied botany and chemistry and explored properties and interactions with fine crystal, rare metals, and magic. You quickly mastered the skills to identify and process rare and complex botanical and alchemical samples and the proper extractions and infusions of essential oils, pollens, and other fragrant chemical compounds—natural or otherwise.

Not all (dramatic) changes to one's lifestyle, calling, or ambitions are a result of social or financial decline. Some are simply decided upon. Regardless of your motivation or incentive for change, you have accepted that a comfortable life of research, science and business is—at least for now—a part of your past.

Features

Aromas and Odors and Airs, Oh My.

Before you became an adventurer, you crafted perfumes for customers in your home town or city. When not out adventuring, you can fall back on that trade to make a living. For each week you spend practicing your profession, you can craft one of the following at half the normal cost in time and resources: 5 samples of fine perfume worth 10 gp each, 2 vials of acid, or 1 vial of parfum toxique worth 50 gp. As an action, you can throw a vial of parfum toxique up to 20 feet, shattering it on impact. Make a ranged attack against a creature or object, treating the parfum as an improvised weapon. On a hit, the target takes 1d6 poison damage and is poisoned until the end of its next turn.

Suggested Characteristics

Overview

d8	Personality Trait
1	I do not deal in absolutes. There is a solution to every problem, an answer for every riddle.
2	I am used to associating with educated and “elevated” society. I find rough living and rough manners unpalatable.
3	Years spent witnessing the dealings, intrigues, and industrial espionage of the Bouquet Districts' mercantile-elite have left me secretive and guarded.
4	I have a strong interest and sense for fashion and current trends.
5	I eagerly discuss the minutiae, subtleties, and nuances of my profession to any who will listen.
6	I am easily distracted by unusual or exceptional botanical specimens.
7	I can seem distant and introverted. I listen more than I speak.
8	I always strive to make allies, not enemies.

d6	Ideal
1

Profit.

d6	Ideal
1	Responsibility. It is my duty to share my exceptional gifts and knowledge for the betterment of all. (Good)
2	Pragmatism. I never let passion, preference, or emotion influence my decision-making or clear headedness. (Lawful)
3	Freedom. Rules, particularly those imposed by others, were meant to be broken. (Chaotic)
4	Deep Science. I live a life based on facts, logic, probability, and common sense. (Lawful)
5	Notoriety. I will do whatever it takes to become the elite that I was witness to during my time among the boutiques, salons, and workshops of the noble's district. (Any)
6	Profit. I will utilize my talents to harvest, synthesize, concoct, and brew almost anything for almost anyone. As long as the profit margin is right. (Evil)

d6	Bond
1	I will return to my home city someday and have revenge upon the elitist perfume consortium and corrupt shipping magnates who drove my dreams to ruin.
2	I have been experimenting and searching my whole career for the ultimate aromatic aphrodisiac. The “alchemists' stone” of perfumery.
3	My home is safely far behind me now. With it go the unfounded accusations, spiteful rumors, and perhaps some potential links to a string of corporate assassinations.
4	I am cataloging an encyclopedia of flora and their various chemical, magical, and alchemical properties and applications. It is my life's work.
5	I am dedicated to my craft, always seeking to expand my knowledge and hone my skills in the science and business of aromatics.
6	I have a loved one who is threatened (held hostage?) by an organized gang of vicious halfling thugs who control many of the “rackets” in the perfumeries in my home city.

d6	Flaw
1	I am driven to reclaim the status and respect of the socially and scientifically elite and will sacrifice much to gain it.
2	I am highly competitive and not above plagiarizing or stealing the occasional recipe, idea, formula, or sample.
3	I am hard-pressed to treat anyone who is not (by my standards) “well schooled” or “well heeled” as little more than lab assistants and house servants.
4	A pretty face is always able to lead me astray.
5	I am secretly addicted to a special perfume that only I can reproduce.
6	On a stormy night, I heard a voice in the wind, which led me to a mysterious plant. Its scent was intoxicating, and I consumed it. Now, that voice occasionally whispers in my dreams, urging me to some unknown destiny.