D&D 5E All About Backgrounds

[dmccoy1693]

I posted a blog post at Wizards.com, talking about backgrounds. Read it here.

All About Backgrounds

I'm really liking backgrounds. I like the idea of making a mage that use to work as a bounty hunter or a priestly monk. But the current list of backgrounds is far too limited. There are alot I would like to see made someday. Here are a few:

Escaped slave - You ran away from your former masters and are always looking over your shoulder for bounty hunters.

Merchant - You travel around alot, know the lay of the land and the value of just about everything.

Plague surviver - This is less former career than defining moment in your early life. You have marks to show that you survived illness and are tougher now as a result.

Scribe - You copied manuscripts and are now adept at additional linguistics.


Those are just a few I would like to see. What would you like to see? Do you like the "defining moment" kind of backgrounds? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Until next time, keep playing.

 

[Kobold Stew]

Agreed! There are man more backgrounds I would like to see, focusing particularly on the lower classes:

Freed Slave. (Though I prefer your suggestion of escaped slave!)

Farmer. (I mean seriously)

I'd also like Sailor pulled out from the list of Commoner options. Add maybe Galley Slave/Oarsman.

"Servant" (in Commoner) at the moment is pretty vague -- I presume it's a Footman or Groom or something like that. In which case, there is a space for Barkeep/Tavern Wench and perhaps Thrall.

And just imagine if they had Husband or Wife as one of the possible backgrounds, with the Trait "Somewhere, back home, somebody loves you, and always will." I know, I know: too many people would not recognize that as D&D...

 

[tuxgeo]

Start with the list of backgrounds for 4e. Ask yourself about each one: "Is this evocative of something I like?" Then ask yourself about the ones that you found to be evocative: "Is there some mechanic in 5e that this background should award to anyone who has it?" The backgrounds that pass both tests might be good candidates for inclusion in 5e.

However, it might be stretching things to assign mechanics to some of those ideas. For example, the "Child of Fate" background has the PC bearing a birthmark associated with a member of a fey Court (the "Gloaming Court"); should this background give the PC advantage on checks to traverse a fey crossroads? How often does that come up? Should it give a bonus to dealings with fey creatures? What kind of bonus?

There may not be enough good ideas to spread across all the old 4e backgrounds in order to adapt them into 5e.

 

[Pseudopsyche]

IMHO the 4e backgrounds weren't hefty enough. I think a better starting point is the 4e themes. Recall that themes were pitched as representing what the PC was doing just before they became an adventurer.

Sure, some of the more specific ones can wait for later, such as "clone of Halaster" or "masked lord of Waterdeep", but what about cultist, escaped slave, mercenary, outlaw, trapsmith, vile scholar, etc.?

 

[TarionzCousin]

Those are just a few I would like to see. What would you like to see? Do you like the "defining moment" kind of backgrounds? Share your thoughts in the comments below.

Until next time, keep playing.

More backgrounds would be better, IMHO.

But in other news, when I see your username I think "Dammit, Jim. I'm a doctor, not a message board poster!"

 

[dmccoy1693]

But in other news, when I see your username I think "Dammit, Jim. I'm a doctor, not a message board poster!"

I gat that a fair amount.

 

[Ratskinner]

Part of me would like all the backgrounds to have some kind of embedded hook or twist, not even a big one. I like the Escaped Slave for this reason. Maybe any nobles could be Impoverished Nobility. I just like the way that gives DMs a way to bring them into the game more often, and the adjective can be ignored if you want.

Of course, the other part of me says that many will object to this.

 

[dmccoy1693]

Part of me would like all the backgrounds to have some kind of embedded hook or twist, not even a big one. I like the Escaped Slave for this reason.

I'm glad you liked that. I've thought of a number of others since writing this blog that have a similar hook or twist. i.e. Deposed Noble, Orphan, Fire Scarred​ are just a few.

 

[Henrix]

I posted a blog post at Wizards.com, talking about backgrounds. Read it here.

I can't reach it, the link seems broken, I fear.

Those are just a few I would like to see. What would you like to see? Do you like the "defining moment" kind of backgrounds?

Defining moments and plot twists are great ideas, but can be very campaign specific.

Having an optional twist to a straight background would be very nice.

(Though escaped slave seems generic enough - few would play a slave character. It'd be a nice option to play that, but wouldn't suit every campaign.)

I'm thinking perhaps:

Alchemist - with an option that you found your master poisoned and his laboratory in disarray. Was it a health and safety issue, or murder? Does the alchemist's guild suspect you?

 

[dream66_]

I can't reach it, the link seems broken, I fear.

You necro'd a year old post might have something to do with it