Every story has a
Beginning. Your character’s
BACKGROUND reveals where you came from, how you became an adventurer, and your place in the world. Your
fighter might have been a courageous
knight or a grizzled soldier. Your
wizard could have been a sage or an
Artisan. Your
rogue might have gotten by as a guild thief or commanded audiences as a jester.
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 sample
BACKGROUND presented here provides both concrete benefits (features,
proficiencies, and
languages) and
Roleplaying suggestions.
Each
BACKGROUND gives a character
Proficiency in two
Skills (described in “Using
Ability Scores”).
In addition, most
Backgrounds give a character
Proficiency with one or more
tools (detailed in “
Equipment”).
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.
Some
Backgrounds also allow
Characters to learn additional
Languages beyond those given by race. See “
Languages.”
Each
BACKGROUND provides a package of starting
equipment. If you use the optional rule to spend coin on
gear, you do not receive the starting
Equipment from your
BACKGROUND.
A
BACKGROUND contains suggested personal
Characteristics based on your
BACKGROUND. You can pick
Characteristics, roll dice to determine them randomly, or use the suggestions as
Inspiration for
Characteristics of your own creation.
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. You can either use the
equipment package from your
BACKGROUND or spend coin on
gear as described in the
Equipment section. (If you spend coin, you can’t also take the equipment package suggested for your
class.) Finally, choose two
Personality Traits, 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.
