// Character options
Backgrounds
Backgrounds are who your character was before they took up an OCC — where you grew up, who raised you, what marked you. Each pairs with any class and any ancestry.
Each background grants two attribute boosts (one chosen from a listed pair, plus one free), training in one skill and one Lore, and a 1st-level skill feat. Most Rifts professions became full classes, so these are deliberately life paths rather than jobs. The Federation Grunt is a martial class (a Soldier) taken with the Federation Military background below.
The backgrounds
| Background | Attribute boosts | Trained (skill / Lore) | Skill feat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Federation Military Drilled in a FS unit — discipline, weapons, the Party line. | Str or Con, + free | Intimidation; Federation Warfare Lore | Intimidating Glare |
| Wasteland Survivor Grew up in the open wilds, where everything is trying to kill you. | Con or Wis, + free | Survival; Wasteland Lore | Forager |
| Outworlder Refugee Came through a rift into a human world that doesn't want you. | Con or Cha, + free | Society; a homeworld Dimensional Lore | Multilingual |
| Sprawl Dweller Raised in the shantytowns ringing a Federation city. | Dex or Cha, + free | Society; Sprawl Lore | Streetwise |
| Black Marketeer Moved goods that weren't supposed to move — and the lies that grease the deal. | Int or Cha, + free | Deception; Underworld Lore | Lie to Me |
| Relic Hunter Dug through Pre-Rifts ruins for tech worth more than your life. | Int or Dex, + free | Crafting; Pre-Rifts Technology Lore | Specialty Crafting |
| Mercenary Upbringing A camp kid raised in a merc company; you marched before you could vote. | Str or Dex, + free | Athletics; Mercenary Lore | Combat Climber |
| Rift-Touched Born by a ley line or rift, left with a faint mark — a sensitivity, a glow. | Wis or Cha, + free | Occultism; Ley Line Lore | Oddity Identification |
| Apprentice Trained under a master — a mage, a technomancer, a scholar. | Int or Wis, + free | Arcana; Magic Lore | Recognize Spell |
| Federation Defector Served the Federation, then ran. You know how it thinks. | Con or Int, + free | Stealth; Federation Lore | Experienced Smuggler |
| Pit Fighter Earned your scars in the arenas, for a crowd that wanted blood. | Str or Con, + free | Athletics; Gladiatorial Lore | Titan Wrestler |
| Dimensional Trader Ran goods across rifts and borders, haggling in a dozen tongues. | Int or Cha, + free | Diplomacy; Mercantile Lore | Bargain Hunter |
| Wilderness Tribe Raised in a surviving wilderness culture that kept its old ways. | Wis or Con, + free | Nature; a regional or tribal Lore | Natural Medicine |
| City Orphan Came up alone on fortified-city streets; fast hands kept you fed. | Dex or Wis, + free | Thievery; a City Lore | Pickpocket |
| Pre-Rifts Believer Raised in a faith or ideology older than the Rifts; you carry its certainties. | Wis or Cha, + free | Religion; Pre-Rifts Lore | Student of the Canon |