Adventurer

An adventurer is an itinerant individual whose primary source of income is typically (but not always) an assortment of dangerous tasks. It is difficult to give an exact definition of what an adventurer is, as there is heavy overlap between adventurers and mercenaries, adventurers and travelling good samaritans, adventurers and explorers, and even adventurers and common bandits or pirates. Perhaps the only common themes are the itinerancy, the absence of official employment and the irregular (sometimes complete lack of) income.

By definition, adventurers don't usually have a permanent home (sometimes, they may have a hideout to periodically return to and store their hoard), but instead travel the world in search of lucrative opportunities. The income of a typical adventurer comes from a mix of dungeon-crawling (typically selling much of their loot afterwards), monster-hunting (typically to sell body parts), plant-gathering (typically to sell said plants), favours for locals, government contracts (e.g. assassinating notorious criminals and clearing out bandits) and occasional gig jobs, and they often supplement supplies bought in civilized areas with a mixture of hunting and foraging. Profit margins are usually minimal (as much of the profit is spent on maintaining or replacing equipment, supplies, temporary shelter, travel, etc.) and mortality rates are high among beginner adventurers, with combat, bandit attacks, monster attacks, starvation, dehydration, hypothermia, disease, poison and various environmental hazards (e.g. cave-ins) being common causes of death amongst neonate adventurers. More experienced adventurers seldom pass on their knowledge, as following retirement, they prefer ensuring that any potential offsprings live comfortably and safely.

Adventurers may work alone, but more often than not, they band together into groups of 4-8 called "parties", though larger gangs of adventurers are not unheard of either, blurring the line between an adventurer party and a mercenary company. These parties typically require each member to specialize in a certain task, role or niche, often featuring at one warrior, at least one thief, at least one mage and at least one healer.

Particularly noteworthy adventurers often go down in history remembered as "great heroes", especially if they were active during a time of crisis.

Motivations
Many factors can motivate one to take on the mantle of an adventurers. Among those who choose this occupation out of their own free will, motivations may include money (high risk, high reward), a desire to improve the world (and the perception of opportunities to do that through official channels being limited), or even a desire for adventure and liking of the nomadic lifestyle. It is important to note, that not everyone chooses to become an adventurer out of their own free will - many are forced to become adventurers due to circumstances, with common examples being disgraced sons of nobility, military veterans with no useful civilian skills, vagabonds whose only alternative to begging is to take a risk in hopes of striking big, etc.

Adventurers are characterized by risk-taking, eschewing traditional employment in favour of high-risk high-rewad adventuring.