D&D 5E (2014) How have you modified PHB backgrounds in your game?

[pukunui]

I usually take the 'custom' background of 2 skills & 2 tool profs or languages of my choice and marry that to an actual background option.

Complete with wedding ceremony, or is it more of a civil union / registry office sort of thing?

 

[Sword of Spirit]

I really like this idea.

So does WotC, since it is an official option in the rules, same as ability score point buy, though this one doesn't even tell you to ask for DM permission.

Unless your DM rules otherwise, the books give you permission to just show up with your own combination of any two skills, any two languages/tools, any equipment package, and any existing feature.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

So does WotC, since it is an official option in the rules, same as ability score point buy, though this one doesn't even tell you to ask for DM permission.

Unless your DM rules otherwise, the books give you permission to just show up with your own combination of any two skills, any two languages/tools, any equipment package, and any existing feature.

PHB p. 125, under "Customizing a Background", to be precise.

My group comes at the game from 3E, so we really don't have a strong appreciation for backgrounds. I've seen some people here speak about playing a "half-orc outlander fighter" as though background were just as significant an aspect of the character's mechanical identity as race and class, but that's emphatically not us. It's just an opportunity to select some extra skills and tools to round out our characters. A welcome opportunity, mind you -- if you've never played a 3E fighter, you wouldn't believe how the rules forced them into incompetence. But beyond that permission granted us on p. 125 we don't really look at the Backgrounds section of the book at all. (We don't play with Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws, either.)

 

[Henry]

I usually take the 'custom' background of 2 skills & 2 tool profs or languages of my choice and marry that to an actual background option.

I've debated doing this very thing for future 5e games, because all the backgrounds have exactly that - the hardest problem for me however has been coming up with new "features" similar to the existing ones in power and suitable roleplay use. How strong is "too strong" for the Background Feature?

 

[cbwjm]

Related to the thread topic, has anyone created specific backgrounds for their campaign or adapted them from other sources? I've created a few, can't recall all the specifics at the moment but I've made:

Darokin Diplomat
Feature: Able to find lodging in large cities at a Darokin embassy.

Tree-Keeper
As the acolyte background except the skills are Religion and Nature and one of the tools/languages is Sylvan.

Graduate of the Grand-School of Magic
A wizard specific background. The feature grants +2 1st level spells in their spellbook and allows players access to the school's facilities for research.

 

[Ganymede81]

One of the players in my group tweaked his Sage background benefit so he knew a lot about dragons as opposed to being good at researching.

Another player's swapped out his Hermit's discovery in order to be able to talk to bugs.

 

[TheCosmicKid]

How strong is "too strong" for the Background Feature?

Probably no direct combat benefits or anything that imitates a major class feature/spell/feat.

...and that's it. Remember, WotC released a background (the revenant) that literally cannot die. So just do what makes sense and don't sweat the balance.

 

[pukunui]

Remember, WotC released a background (the revenant) that literally cannot die.

Last time I checked it was a subrace, not a background.

 

[Sword of Spirit]

Backgrounds have no quantifiable mechanical effect. They explain stuff your character might (subject to role-playing and DM adjudication) be able to expect in their interaction with the world. So it can give you other ways to get lodging, connections, information, food, even potentially gold. What it wouldn't do, though, is give you any pluses, extra proficiencies, advantage on rolls, or anything else that might be granted by other character build space.

 

[SmokingSkull]

In the campaign I'm playing I simply reflavored the Soldier background into something else, I call it Seed of War. The army he was a part of had a special unit in it, The Seeds of War, of which he was a part of. Those in that unit were encouraged to educate themselves and specialize in ways that could compliment the army. He was already a natural athlete (Goliath) so from the fighter he gained Insight and Perception (One is because the language of his people is less words and more tone of voice, body language etc., and the other being he grew up as a hunter nomad, gotta keep them eyes peeled!).

As for tools during his early years in the army he befriended the quartermaster, who also happened to be a blacksmith. He also learned how to refine his leatherworking skills he grew up being taught into something more practical for everyday use in the army (Repairing and making saddles, boots, the various coats the soldiers wore under armor, straps and fittings). To emphasize this I chose Smith's and Leatherworker's tools to reflect that part of his background. I kept the feature because I honestly couldn't think of a feature that would be balanced or made more sense than the rank so I kept it, otherwise I kept the package it came with.