Bastard Background

You have spent your life as a half-child, receiving the love of one parent but the resentment of another. You seek belonging, but that sense of loneliness has created a drive and discipline that is rare among others your age. Although less likely to form friendships, those few bonds that you do have are strong and uneasily broken. You have also learned to blend in (as much as is possible), to stay out of the eye of those who might mock you. You're also adept at entertaining yourself and spending long periods in solitude.

Skill Proficiencies: Choose two from Deception, Intimidation, Insight, or Stealth.

Tool Proficiencies: Forgery kit or disguise kit

Languages: One of your choice.

Equipment:  A worn leather satchel stuffed with notes and musings (possibly artistic) from your hours of solitude, a memento from your natural parent, a set of common clothes, a forgery kit, and 10 gp.

Feature: Unknown Heritage

You carry in your body and heart the blood of an unknown parent, with abilities, beliefs, and passions with which you are unfamiliar. At least one aspect of this unknown parent will likely affect your life in an unexpected way, either in an important moment or through constant small interactions with the world around you. You might have an ability, a latent talent, a predisposition to a certain skill, or even a power that is atypical for your profession or class. This remnant of your unknown parent may manifest when you least expect it, in surprising ways.

Work with your DM to determine the details of your heritage, how that heritage might manifest itself in known as well as unexpected ways, and its impact on the campaign.

Suggested Characteristics
Some bastards spend their lives trying to fit in and win the approval of their adopted parent or family. Others live lives marked by bitterness as they hate those who do not accept them. Still others live lives of honor and respect, spending their waking moments trying to prove their worth to those who would write them off as the refuse of society.