Fortune tellers appear to predict information about a person’s life and their craft appears similar to divination magic to casual observers.
As a fortune teller, you can quickly read people and know their deepest desires and fears. You tell people their fortune using your insight and they pay you for sharing your mystical powers. Your fortune telling abilities are not based in magic, but rather a variety of skills you have learned. Your ability to tell fortune requires you to draw marks in by making vague statements that they willingly add in the details for you. As they concentrate on your effective use of your prop, you weave a story so convincing, that sometimes you even believe it will come true. You always need to be careful not to reveal the secret of your “gift”, especially around experienced magic users.
- Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Deception
- Tool Proficiencies: One type of fortune teller’s tools Languages: One of your choice
- Equipment: a set of fortune teller’s tools (one of your choice, best if it matches your specialty), a set of traveler’s clothes, a costume, and a pouch containing 15 gp.
Specialty
To determine the nature of your “gift”, roll a d10 or choose from the options below.
| d10 | Specialty |
|---|---|
| 1 | Astrologist |
| 2 | Card Reading (Cartomancy) |
| 3 | Clairvoyant |
| 4 | Crystallomancy (reading of a crystal sphere) |
| 5 | Face Reading |
| 6 | Numerologist |
| 7 | Palmistry (reading of the palms) |
| 8 | Pendulum Reading |
| 9 | Spirit Board Reading |
| 10 | Tasseography (reading tea leaves in a cup) |
Features
Feature: Fortune Telling
As a fortune teller, you can always find a place to tell fortunes for money, such as a tavern, market, carnival, or even a noble’s court. In addition, anyone who is a willing participant that has their fortune told by you, will want to believe anything plausible that you reveal to them, until future events prove otherwise.
Note: You could decide if the participant believes the fortune using an opposed Insight or Deception check with advantage for the player.
Suggested Characteristics
You learned your art from a family member, old friend or even another fortune teller you met on the road.
Your bond might be directly related to how you learned the trade of fortune telling or how you intend to use your “gift”.
Source: Steampunk Adventures for 5th Edition
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I fall in and out of love easily, and am always pursuing someone. |
| 2 | I have a joke for every occasion, especially occasions where humor is inappropriate. |
| 3 | Flattery is my preferred trick for getting what I want. |
| 4 | I’m a born gambler who can’t resist taking a risk for a potential payoff. |
| 5 | I lie about almost everything, even when there’s no reason to. |
| 6 | Sarcasm and insults are my weapons of choice. |
| 7 | I keep multiple holy symbols on me and invoke whatever deity might come in useful at any given moment. |
| 8 | I pocket anything I see that might have some value. |
| d6 | Ideal |
|---|---|
| 1 | Independence. I am a free spirit—no one tells me what to do. (Chaotic) |
| 2 | Fairness. I never target people who can’t afford to lose a few coins. (Lawful) |
| 3 | Charity. I distribute the money I acquire to the people who really need it. (Good) |
| 4 | Creativity. I never run the same con twice. (Chaotic) |
| 5 | Friendship. Material goods come and go. Bonds of friendship last forever. (Good) |
| 6 | Aspiration. I’m determined to make something of myself. (Any) |
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | I fleeced the wrong person and must work to ensure that this individual never crosses paths with me or those I care about. |
| 2 | I owe everything to my mentor—a horrible person who’s probably rotting in jail somewhere. |
| 3 | Somewhere out there, I have a child who doesn’t know me. I’m making the world better for him or her. |
| 4 | I come from a noble family, and one day I’ll reclaim my lands and title from those who stole them from me. |
| 5 | A powerful person killed someone I love. Some day soon, I’ll have my revenge. |
| 6 | I swindled and ruined a person who didn’t deserve it. I seek to atone for my misdeeds but might never be able to forgive myself. |
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | I can’t resist a pretty face. |
| 2 | I’m always in debt. I spend my ill-gotten gains on decadent luxuries faster than I bring them in. |
| 3 | I’m convinced that no one could ever fool me the way I fool others. |
| 4 | I’m too greedy for my own good. I can’t resist taking a risk if there’s money involved. |
| 5 | I can’t resist swindling people who are more powerful than me. |
| 6 | I hate to admit it and will hate myself for it, but I’ll run and preserve my own hide if the going gets tough. |