Background

## Words from the Masters

To the D&D Old Hands, this background description should feel familiar - it starts with the Wizards' own SRD-blessed description. Now it's time for some brutal honesty: if your character was a knight or a soldier (especially the "grizzled" variety), you're not actually creating a level-1 character. These guys have operational skills.

So there's the first House Rule regarding backgrounds: unless the character was sheltered or incompetent, either keep the back story to non-adventuring experiences or work with your DM to grant some class levels to your hero.

Choosing a background provides you with important story cues about your character’s identity. The most important question to ask about your background is what changed? Why did you stop doing whatever your background describes and start adventuring? Where did you get the money to purchase your starting gear, or, if you come from a wealthy background, why don’t you have more money? How did you learn the skills of your class? What sets you apart from ordinary people who share your background?

The list below is mostly from the Player's Handbook (PHB), with two from the Tomb of Annihilation (ToA) campaign. They provide both concrete benefits (features, proficiencies, and languages) and roleplaying suggestions.

### Past is Prologue

The background provides momentum for the character to launch into an adventuring career. It may be directly related, exactly opposite or completely tangential. More often than not, the background is simply what the character was doing in the world before the player settled in as the guide. Think of yourself as the manifestation of free will: before you, the character was simply adrift in the turbulence of world events.

So, given that momentum of background-to-character class, here are the stock background and where they usually lead a character in life:

## Life is Geography

Each stock background gives a character proficiency in two skills, as well as one or more tools. For allies and adversaries, this remains the recommendation.

For the subjects of the Marquisate or the Commonwealth, things change drastically. There, Books of Learning are the norm, leading to a highly developed educational system. It's not even a little bit balanced, nor fair, but it is an honest reflection of how much Primal Magic has had an impact.

Characters who are Marquisate or Commonwealth subjects may choose either two additional skills, or one additional skill and double their bonus for one the their three skills. A character who grew up with a family member employed by House Stonehearth (or the SMC) may choose two additional skills *and* double the bonus of one their four skills.

If a character would gain the same proficiency from two different sources, he or she can choose a different proficiency of the same kind (skill or tool) instead.

In certain circumstances, a Stonehearth-native may have an expended or second feature and most will also benefit from a relevant and class-related **feat**.

### Languages

In the Forgotten Realms, "Common" is a version of a language known as Thorass, which itself has five subgroups and a dozen more dialects. True to the "common" moniker, the language is extremely wide-spread, but it's not the primary language everywhere.

Multiple language skills are extremely handy, especially if the character is regularly dealing with the locals of an area where other languages are common.

### Equipment

*Hogwash.*

The Wizards' template is attempting is to make sure your character isn't overpowered and is otherwise equipped to keep a balance with a level-1 challenge framework. That's a noble gesture for beginning players and DMs, but doesn't reflect reality.

For this campaign, even for the allies and adversaries, creating an adventurer doesn't mean that character is otherwise destitute. Unless your character actually was a street urchin, they're going to be able to afford a bit more than an itinerant adventurer freshly discharged from Mudfog's orphanage.

They could have a cottage in the country, a husband and kids at home, and they still own the plot of land in town where their bakery burned down (and inspired them to take up arms against the orcs). Here's where that backstory is coming to play.

Ask your DM what's right for this campaign.

### Suggested Characteristics

The personality traits are excellent for those new to roleplaying. Choose one ideal, one bond, and one flaw. If you can’t find a feature that matches your desired background, work with your GM to create one.

If you're an old hand at roleplaying games (or a writer), you'll create something far more compelling than anything we can seed in a table.

### Customizing a Background

You might want to tweak some of the features of a background so it better fits your character or the campaign setting. To customize a background, you can replace one feature with any other one, choose any two skills, and choose a total of two tool proficiencies or languages from the sample backgrounds. Per the notes in the Proficiencies section above, this number increases for residents of the Marquisate or Commonwealth.

For a better idea of the range of Wizards-created backgrounds, check the excellent 5e tools website. For some excellent homebrew ideas, check the D&D wiki.

## Where to From Here?

* Go back to **Character construction****...**
* Check out the **Feats** list...