Lin Yun discovered that the background section on the character sheet worked differently from a real character sheet. Here, you could write as much background as you wanted, and it would all fit. It was nothing like real life, where you had to type everything out or write it by hand. Here, all you had to do was think it, and it appeared. It was incredibly convenient.
(Someone really wished they had a typing system like this.)
Originally, Lin Yun had only wanted to give it a quick try. He had noticed that the character sheet's settings and spells were a mess, but they were also very true to life. Looking at the different class sections, some used 3R rules, some used PF rules, and most used 5E.
These were the three most popular editions of DND, and the only three Lin Yun was familiar with.
For people of Lin Yun's generation, 3R was already the oldest edition. As the number 3 suggested, it was the third edition of DND. PF was also known as the Pathfinder edition. To be precise, it was really more like version 3.5, though it was made by an entirely different company.
But since PF was based on the d20 system, some people called it version 3.5. As for the fourth edition, many people weren't happy with it, so it got a bad rap.
These days, people mostly played PF and 5E, with 3R seeing less use.
Both the PF and 5E editions had background options. In PF, though, you needed the DM's approval to use a custom background, while 5E even provided templates. But for some people with a touch of obsessive-compulsive disorder, whose minds were always buzzing with strange ideas, writing their own background was the most fun.
Usually, the DM would grant a player some skill or tool proficiencies based on their background.
Lin Yun had figured that even if his background got rejected, it would just mean he wouldn't have one. At most, he'd miss out on a few skill proficiencies. Honestly, skill proficiencies could be a huge help in advancing the plot, but their effect on combat ability was debatable. The most useful ones were Arcana, Nature, and History. To some extent, these three skills could help identify the strengths and weaknesses of certain unusual enemies. Arcana could identify special enemies connected to magic, while Nature was useful for beasts and monsters found in the wilderness. History depended on the situation, though, and ultimately, it was up to the DM.
All in all, Lin Yun figured it wouldn't be a big deal if this DND campaign space rejected his background. At worst, he'd be a silent tin can—well, a perfect fit for his character.
Besides, DMs like Lin Yun, who appreciated players taking their backgrounds seriously, would usually grant them an Inspiration die, a chance to turn their fate around. So, figuring he might as well take whatever advantage he could get, Lin Yun wrote a background that could practically serve as the outline for a full-length novel...
To start with, the basic background was that of a noble. He worshiped magic and had wanted to become a wizard ever since he was a child. But his Intelligence was too low, making that a difficult goal, so he decided to worship the Eye of Omniscience instead, hoping to learn magic through it. And, while he was at it, he could pick up some Divine Magic too.
Before all that, Lin Yun used the noble background to write that, at his father's insistence, Silent had to learn how to survive even if he lost his high noble status. So his father spent a fortune hiring a Dwarven Clan Craftsman to teach Silent smithing and brewing, a gnome clan artisan to teach him jewelry-making and mending, and an elven artisan to teach him alchemy, Wood Carving, and herb lore. They also hired a Halfling cook and leatherworker, along with all kinds of human masters—whether they were calligraphers, cartographers, cobblers, painters, weavers, navigators, Poisoners, or Thieves. Silent's father brought in one expert after another to teach him, hoping he would learn as much as possible.
As he learned, he picked up all kinds of skills. For example, all that strenuous exercise while learning smithing made Lin Yun very athletic. Learning jewelry-making gave him a knack for appraising gems. Studying alchemy, Wood Carving, and herb lore made him knowledgeable about geography, nature, and related subjects. Cooking taught him how to hunt and find his bearings, making him very skilled at survival. Cartography, in particular, made it easier for him to navigate. Calligraphy made him better at mimicking handwriting and learning languages. Cobbling taught him how to track footprints. Painting helped him read people's emotions—to read their expressions, in other words. As for the Poisoner, they taught Lin Yun not only how to use and identify poison, but also how to make it and protect himself from it. He even underwent some resistance training. Even without Detect Poison, he could tell whether those rolls were poisonous just by looking at them—though he couldn't be entirely sure. He still had to stay suspicious.
Silent was fairly resistant to poison, but... he still had to be wary. What if he was unlucky?
Under the Thief's tutelage, Lin Yun became nimble with his hands, skilled at disabling devices and traps, and good at staying hidden.
On top of that, he was a Priest who worshiped the Eye of Omniscience. Since it was all-knowing, he had picked up a jumble of knowledge: Arcana, dungeon lore, engineering, geography, history, Human Geography, Planar Studies, Religious Studies, and Nobility Studies, which he'd learned as a noble. Lin Yun wrote a whole pile of skills into the background.
Lin Yun himself only knew a little about a lot of things. After all, as a DM, if a player used a tool to try to make something and he simply checked the DC, had them roll, then said, "You passed," that would be no fun at all. It would break immersion.
So, to make his descriptions more vivid, Lin Yun often read up on all sorts of random things.
That way, players could feel... suitably impressed.
In short, he included all kinds of professional details, like Damascus Steel and Moutai, to make the background sound convincing and impressive. And so Silent emerged as someone who wasn't very intelligent, but was full of inspiration.
Well, according to the rulebook, learning a tool proficiency took 250 days, and each day cost a certain amount of Gold Coins. In Lin Yun's version, Silent had studied from the age of six until he was about twenty-eight—a total of twenty-two years—before joining the Church of the Eye of Omniscience and starting his life as a Priest. Having spent practically his entire life studying, Silent was somewhat awkward around people and easily embarrassed. So he hid himself inside an iron helmet. Though awkward, he was kind and helpful, without the foul temper common among nobles. He enjoyed helping people and the warm feeling it gave him. He had never lacked money and was generous with it, often giving it to ordinary people in need. But he kept forgetting that he was traveling and hadn't brought much money along. As a result, he now had only 1 Gold Coin left on him. Pitiful was the word for it.
It was all so convincing and well supported that anyone would believe it. After finishing, Lin Yun thought that even a novel wouldn't dare go this far. He felt like toning down the overpowered parts, but then decided to let it go. He'd already spent enough time on it. Well, mainly because Lin Yun didn't like being passionate about the same thing for too long. Usually, he just got carried away for a while.
And so, he submitted the background.
Then, after Lin Yun switched to the character on the character sheet and arrived in this world, he found that he had a lot more things on him than the ones he'd bought. Come to think of it, 5E backgrounds always came with a few items. The Clan Craftsman background, for example, came with a Clan Artisan Badge—the very one Lin Yun now held.
And now, Lin Yun was carrying a whole bunch of proof.
"Fine. I hope you really have the skills to match the title of Clan Craftsman. Let me make this clear: if you don't, I'll have reason to suspect you stole some Clan Craftsman's badge and are using it to deceive people. I'll tie you up and contact the Dwarven Kingdom." The dwarf blacksmith stared at Lin Yun with a grave expression.
"Then let's see." Lin Yun shrugged, looking unconcerned. But no one knew that behind his iron helmet, he was actually terribly nervous.
He didn't need to do this, but he simply wanted to find out how useful this Clan Craftsman ability was. It would also give him a chance to try out his other tool proficiencies and get a feel for them.
Besides, he needed to show off his abilities a little in front of the young people. He couldn't relax when he left the initiative in someone else's hands—especially a player's. He had to demonstrate his abilities in front of the kids, and, preferably, become someone steady and trustworthy.
Honestly, Lin Yun wasn't sure what to do. Fortunately, as soon as he took the chain mail from the dwarf blacksmith, he started thinking about how he could modify it.
Before Lin Yun could react, his hands started moving on their own. A hammer appeared in his hand from who knew where, and he began hammering away in a flurry. Just as everyone was starting to wonder whether he was having a fit or trying to wreck the place, he suddenly said quietly, "Done."
"?????" What the hell?
"Hey, are you here to wreck the place or something?" The Thief from earlier glared at Lin Yun and shouted angrily.
"Yeah, yeah! I've never seen anyone hammer metal so recklessly. You're just making a mess!" The employee standing nearby looked just as displeased.
But they hadn't noticed the dwarf blacksmith on the other side, staring gravely at the chain mail on the table. He gently picked it up and leaned in close. "This is..."
"Boss, what should we do? Should we call the guards?" Though this was only a small town, it still had a few guards, who basically acted like a city enforcement team. Seeing Lin Yun causing trouble, the employee wanted to have the guards take him away.
"Stop! What are you doing? Apologize to the master!" But just then, the dwarf blacksmith shoved the employee, making him stagger, and spoke in a stern voice.
"What? Why?" The employee was confused.
"Look carefully." The dwarf blacksmith held up the chain mail, and now everyone could see it. At the center, some of the links that should have been connected had been practically fused together. Even more amazingly, they bulged out just enough—well, just the right size to hold the Goddess Priestess's headlights.
And because the Goddess Priestess's arms were so slender, the sleeves—which had originally been made extra wide—were even looser. Lin Yun had hammered the wide sleeves on both sides into a more fitted shape. In a way, he'd turned the chain mail into half chain mail and half scale mail. Some of the links had been hammered into something resembling scales, though there was still another layer behind them. In the end, it was still chain mail.
"Sir, you've combined chain mail and scale mail! What a stroke of genius! You compressed and flattened the open links with a hammer. How did you do it without any other tools, and without compromising the chain mail's stability?" The dwarf blacksmith said with a frown.
"Given the time, this was as far as I could go. I made sure not to reduce its protection, and at least it won't hinder movement. But I'll need to make some proper adjustments later." Lin Yun spoke casually now. With his current character sheet, just looking at the chain mail made him feel that something was off. Yet the dwarf blacksmith looked utterly amazed, and Lin Yun didn't know what to say.
Smithing required a dice roll. It represented how much of your ability you could bring to bear. Given Lin Yun's character as a Dwarven craftsman, his minimum result was low. How low? Lin Yun's Intelligence was 0, and his proficiency with the tool gave him +2. Clan Craftsman only raised the minimum result—in other words, it lowered the DC. It didn't provide a bonus, so his total modifier was +2. By all rights, it should've been a piece of cake. But, perhaps because his mind was a mess too, Lin Yun somehow rolled "D20+2=11 success," and came up with this barely usable, passable-looking contraption—one whose craftsmanship was impressive at most, and which was otherwise just flashy nonsense.
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