Black Company backgrounds

[Thorindale]

I’m in the process in incorporating the character backgrounds from The Black Company Campaign Setting for my campaign. Has anyone tried this? Most of the backgrounds will work just fine, but there are a few that have to be ironed out, as some of the skills and feats from the BCCS don’t fit well in the typical D&D game.

As I’m using the standard D&D spell-casting system, all the magical skills and feats from the BCCS do not apply. So, here’s my idea on how to update the Magician’s Apprentice background:

APPRENTICE (under revision)

Skills: You gain four skill points to divide as you wish among Concentration, Decipher Script, Knowledge (any one), and Spellcraft. Each level beyond first, you gain an additional skill point to place in any one of these skills. These are always class skills for you.
Background Feat: You gain either Collegiate Wizard or Precocious Apprentice as a bonus feat.
Background Trait: In addition to the benefits from your background feat, you also receive … (still working on this part)

Also, I plan on dropping the Command skill and feats (while these would work great in a militaristic game, they wouldn’t fit well in my game). [This affects the Officer and Solider backgrounds, as both that receive Command as a class skill] So, what would be a replacement for the Command skill?

Lastly, I plan for these backgrounds are for humans only (based loosely on the guidelines from the BCCS p58)