Longfolk Archer (Troika! Community Jam: Backgrounds 2024)

I'm back with another piece of Troika! content for another community jam hosted by Hod Publishing and the Melsonian Arts Council. Last time was for a bestiary entry, this time it's a player character background inspired by some of my old Ivory Tower University junk.

Check the jam out here!

Longfolk Archer

You have done the forbidden, and ventured beyond the Axebitten Woods to hunt the corruption that squirms rotten and sickly-sweet from the depths of the Reossos Basin. Your elongated twelve-foot tall, ash-painted frame is unnerving to outsiders, as is your even taller longbow. But when the decaying monsters show up, they appreciate having you and your meters-long arrows to protect them.

You've also developed a taste for archery competitions with little folk who call your bow too huge and unwieldy to use.

Possessions

• Prodigious Back Muscles.
• Longfolk Bow (Damage as Fusil) & 2d6 Spear-Sized Arrows.
• Ash Ritual Paint (Armour: 1 until it gets washed off).
• Jar of Horn Glue.

Advanced Skills

3 Bow Fighting
2 Eagle-Eyed
2 Firemaking
2 Woodworking
1 Mimic Tree

A rather modest Longfolk Bow, sporting only a single trophy.
(Image Credit: The Theory and Practice of Archery)

Special

You may challenge someone to an archery competition. The target must Test their Luck or be forced to accept. If you win, you may take their bow as a trophy and add it to your own like some kind of mismatched multi-recurve penta-bow abomination. For every trophy bow you add this way, you gain +1 to Damage rolls with your Longfolk Bow.

If you ever roll max damage with your bow (the damage die shows a natural 6), all your trophy bows explode from the force of the draw and your bonus resets to 0.

A band of mercenaries, playing with some stolen Longfolk arrows.
(Image Credit: Rijksmuseum)