Chamber Warden

Chamber Warden

Privacy is not created by closing a door. You used to be the person who made certain of that.

You worked as a Chamber Warden, preparing secure private rooms for nobles, diplomats, temples, pleasure houses and clients whose conversations or intimate lives could not safely become public. You inspected locks, tested privacy wards, identified sightlines, checked escape routes, searched for hidden apertures and made sure servants, spies and magical observers had fewer opportunities than they hoped.

Work with your GM to determine where you practiced. Perhaps you served a noble estate, a diplomatic house, an elite inn, a temple or an independent security service. Your clients may have wanted secrecy for romance, negotiation, worship, confession or crime. Your job was usually to secure the room, not judge what happened inside it.

Skill Proficiencies: Arcana, Investigation

Tool Proficiencies: Thieves’ tools

Languages: One of your choice

Equipment: A set of thieves’ tools, a small ward-testing crystal, a coil of fine cord, sealing wax, a compact mirror, a diagram book of locks and privacy wards, a key from a chamber you once protected, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp

Feature: Private Architecture

You have a practiced eye for features that affect privacy and security. When examining a chamber, suite or similar interior space, you can usually identify obvious sightlines, ordinary hiding places, inadequate locks, poorly placed screens, suspicious apertures, recently altered panels and other mundane weaknesses that could compromise privacy.

You also recognize common forms of privacy wards and anti-scrying precautions by their visible components or ordinary installation patterns, though identifying the exact spell, bypassing a ward or detecting concealed magic may still require an ability check or magical assistance.

Innkeepers, stewards, locksmiths and security professionals generally understand your trade. In settled communities, you can usually learn who installs locks, privacy wards or discreet security measures and where such services can be obtained.

Suggested Characteristics

Chamber Wardens spend years thinking about what other people might see, hear, steal or overhear. Some become discreet professionals with impeccable boundaries; others never again manage to sit in a room without mentally cataloging every entrance and potential hiding place.

d8	Personality Trait
1	I choose seats that let me see the door.
2	I test locks without thinking about it.
3	Curtains are decorative until I know what is behind them.
4	I dislike mirrors I did not place myself.
5	I remember rooms by their exits rather than their furnishings.
6	I can ignore an intimate scene more easily than I can ignore an unsecured window.
7	I instinctively lower my voice when a room carries sound too well.
8	When someone says a place is completely private, I start looking for the flaw.

d6	Ideal
1	Privacy. People deserve places where observation requires permission. (Good)
2	Security. A precaution taken before trouble is worth ten taken afterward. (Lawful)
3	Discretion. What happens in a protected room belongs to the people inside it. (Neutral)
4	Freedom. Surveillance should not become the price of ordinary life. (Chaotic)
5	Professionalism. The reason for the security matters less than whether I promised to provide it. (Any)
6	Trust. Privacy is one of the foundations upon which intimacy is built. (Good)

d6	Bond
1	A former client trusted me with a secret important enough to kill for.
2	My mentor disappeared after discovering a flaw in a supposedly perfect ward.
3	I once failed to secure a room, and the consequences still follow me.
4	A particular key in my possession opens a door I have never dared revisit.
5	An innkeeper gave me work when nobody else trusted my reputation.
6	Someone has begun reproducing my security methods for purposes I strongly oppose.

d6	Flaw
1	I assume every unsecured room contains something worth finding.
2	I find it difficult to relax when I cannot see the exits.
3	I sometimes invade privacy while convincing myself I am testing it.
4	A clever lock can distract me from more important concerns.
5	I once kept a copy of a key I was supposed to destroy.
6	I am deeply suspicious of anyone who claims they have nothing to hide.