Origin: Raider / Reaver

You have seen the benefits of civilization and community -- and you have turned your back on them. The
fundamental idiom of your world is violence. Nothing exists for you but what can be taken and nothing
exists for anyone else but what you cannot destroy. You are a menace, formed in bloodshed, seeking
ruin.

This is an optional replacement for the Survivor background for Raiders, characters who survive not by
community but by violence. The fanatical acolytes of the Reaver Cult all have this background as a
reflection of their zealous and destructive ideology and mentality, even if the group chooses to represent
Raider characters with the Survivor background. (There’s a lot of overlap between people who would be
Raiders and people who would be Reavers.)

Even a character who has reformed, who has left the Cult or abandoned their Raider colleagues, has this
background: the Raider background determines who you were, not necessarily who you will become.

Traits:
You may choose two of the following Traits, or one Trait and one additional Perk.

Trait Benefit Drawback

Chem Reliant You may only be addicted to one chem at Roll one additional die for chem
a time. When you become addicted to a addiction. The only way your chem
new chem, your old addiction is cured. addiction can be cured is by replacing it
with another one.

Jittery Each round, add +2CD to your Initiative If you roll no successes, your Initiative is
for that round. -3 for that round.

Jinxed Anyone taking hostile action against you So do you.

Built To Destroy It takes 1 less damage for you to cause a Complications on an attack will always
Critical Hit. damage your weapon.

Paranoia Reroll 1d20 on any tests to conceal your It takes an additional Luck Point to use
nature, identity, or significance of your the Stacked Deck ability.
actions (but not your presence).

Reckless You may give the GM 3 AP to take an This is the only way you can take
additional Major Action. additional Major Actions.
​
Origin: Civilian

In the two centuries since the Great War, not all life has choked and dwindled. Not every wasteland
remains a wasteland. Some places, like the New California Republic, Ronto, or Midwest city-states under
the Brotherhood’s protection have functional -- if strange -- civilization.

You’re one of those people. You may not have even known the world you live in is the ashen ruins of a
greater civilization until you learned about it in school. You are healthier, better fed, better educated,
and you have not seen the brutal hardships of true Wasteland life.

Yet.

Traits:
You may choose two of the following Traits, or one Trait and +1 SPECIAL point.

Name Benefit Drawback

Good Natured Choose three non-combat skills. Gain Your maximum rank in combat skills is 5.
+1 rank in each of them.

Healthy Gain +3 HP while you have no Fatigue. When you first gain Fatigue, gain 1 more.

Educated You gain an additional Tag skill. When you fail a skill test using a non-Tag
skill, the GM gains 1 AP.

High Spirits Reroll 1d20 on any Rally test, or other When an ally begins dying, pass a
attempt to raise spirits or morale. Difficulty 1 CHA + Survival test or lose 1
AP.

Trigger Discipline When you Aim, reroll an additional The Fire Rate of all your ranged weapons
d20. is reduced by 1.

Overprepared You gain +25 lb. Carry Weight. If you aren’t carrying at least 100 lbs. of
items, you can’t spend AP to gain
additional Minor Actions.
Origin: Tribal

You live off the land, like your ancestors, and their ancestors before them. The world is full of invisible
and powerful spirits that will grant blessings to those who appease them -- and strike ruin on those who
defy them. To you, there is no differentiation between “religion” and “observation”: Creation is a work of
incalculable complexity and beauty and must be treated with awe and reverence.

Your gods and spirits may be primal beings of nature, they may be bobble-headed animal-men who
communicate through tinny speakers, a great dragon coiled around a windmill whose arms spin to block
a tiny hole in the base, the mighty soaring birds by which John Frum carries sacred Cargo, even the lost
hero Sam of the great tribe of Usa -- there are a thousand spirits for every human. Outsiders look down
on you and say your beliefs are silly superstitions, and then they constantly fail at everything just like the
impious people before the Great War, while here you are with the blessing of the gods and doing just
fine.

Trait: Traditional Background

Pick an environment for your tribe to originate in. Either a general type of natural biome (forest, desert,
coast, mountains / caves, etc) or a very specific type of man-made building (hospital, subway station,
library, etc). You are intimately familiar with that type of environment and the spiritual channels that
flow through it; you reduce the difficulty of Survival tests in that environment (except those to resist
death or disease) by 1, to a minimum of 0.

Work with the GM to pick a hindering tradition -- a behavior or belief that is perfectly normal among
your tribe but may be weird to outsiders and can make trouble for you. This could be something like “the
bone in my nose is haunted by the ghost of my grandfather”, “I must speak and move like the King
Presley”, “Explosive munitions are a test to determine human worthiness”, “pre-War buildings are
profane and can only be entered after spiritual cleansing”, “I must plant mutfruit seeds everywhere I
go”... something that will cause obstructions and lost opportunities from time to time, make problems
for you, but isn’t debilitating.

When your tradition actually gets in your way, causing you to get into trouble you could have otherwise
avoided or making you go out of your way to honor the custom, the spirits smile on you for your faith
and perseverance and grant you a Luck point, once per scene.

Finally, either choose another hindering tradition, or add +1 to your PER, END, or AGI.
Expanded Origin: Brotherhood of Steel

The Brotherhood Initiate in the core book only represents one type of Brotherhood member, and is also
kind of underpowered. (It is strictly and wildly inferior to Vault Dweller except for starting gear, which
isn’t that much better, and that becomes less relevant as characters level up.) If the group agrees, they
may choose to use this Brotherhood of Steel origin instead.

Trait: The Chain That Binds

You are a member of the Brotherhood of Steel and are bound by its chain of command: the Chain that
Binds. You must obey the orders of your superiors and see to the well-being of your subordinates.

Choose a branch of service. Gain a free Tag skill in one of the three skills offered by that branch. Once
per adventure, you may spend 2 AP to call on your branch for reinforcements and assign them to a task.
They will not do anything too dangerous or important -- nothing that solves the plot -- and you won’t get
any experience or loot from it, but they can take care of tasks that are time-consuming,
attention-splitting, or otherwise a good choice to delegate and happen “off screen”.

You do not directly command this group as if they were subordinates; you just inform your superiors of
an opportunity to make a tactically advantageous decision. You may have to make a CHA + Speech check
at difficulty 1 to convince your superiors this task is a good idea to devote manpower and materiel
towards, if it isn’t immediately apparent. This can be raised to Difficulty 2 or even 3 if your request is
obviously for some kind of dumb nonsense you got into on your own.

Service Branch Tag Skill Assignment

Midwest: Tactical Small Guns, Big Guns, Explosives Protect something from attack.

Midwest: Intelligence Speech, Science, Sneak Learn the location of something.

Midwest: Logistics Repair, Pilot, Survival Repair or transport something.

Midwest: Navigation Speech, Athletics, Survival Secure a wilderness area.

Mariposa: Lost Hills Unarmed, Sneak, Medicine Make sure a secret never gets out.

Mariposa: Eastern Energy Weapons, Repair, Science Secure a location of technological

Mariposa: Outcast Energy Weapons, Medicine, Destroy or ruin an asset so nobody else
Explosives can control it.
Perks

The Chain That Binds Us All

Each time you take this Perk, choose an appropriate branch of service of the Brotherhood from the list
on Brotherhood Initiate. You have made inroads and connections with that branch, and gain the ability
to spend 2 AP to call in reinforcements from that branch once per adventure.

You are subject to the Chain that Binds if you weren’t already. You don’t have to have the Brotherhood
Initiate origin to take this Perk, you just need to be a member of the Brotherhood, even if you aren’t
human. (The fact you have to take a Perk to get access to reinforcements is not a representation of the
Midwest Brotherhood being slow to accept nonhumans, it’s a reflection of the fact that you already got
an Origin that gave you cool stuff.) A nonhuman could even join a Mariposa branch, if they have proven
themselves so competent the Brotherhood can’t afford to turn down their help.

Each time you take this Perk, the required Level increases by 3.

Visionary
Ranks: 2
Requirements: Tribal, level 2+, CHA 6+, LUK 7+

As a shaman you may seek the guidance and wisdom of the spiritual world, going on a vision quest to
prepare yourself and your allies for the challenge ahead.

With a dose of Voodoo, Punga, or other appropriate psychedelic, you and up to nine others may embark
on a vision quest, once per adventure. (There is no risk of addiction; you know how to properly
administer the drug for religious purposes, even for Ghouls, Super Mutants, and Deathclaws.) This vision
quest will assail you all with four hours of hallucinations that seem to reflect the future, the past, and
your darkest fears. Memories, enemies, omens, and Shmault-Tec Bubbleheads will assail you all. The GM
may choose to describe the visions, have each player give a short summary of what they see, or just
leave it to your imaginations.

No skill tests are needed for this process; whether you overcome these threats or just have a very, very
bad trip, the echoes of the future have prepared you all for what is to come. For the next two days, the
shaman may choose to spend his Luck Points for other participants to use the Stacked Deck ability, and
they will use the shaman’s LUK instead of their own when he does so.

At rank 2, the benefit of the vision quest lasts for the entire adventure, not just a couple of days.

Each time you take this Perk, the required Level increases by 5.
VOODOO

A common psychedelic among tribals, this is a mixture of about 50% herbs and mushrooms and 50%
cough syrup. Whether or not it puts you in touch with the true nature of the universe, you sure as hell
feel like it does.

Re-roll 1d20 on all AGI and LUK tests. Lasting.

Addictive 3, Rarity 3