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Message: <blockquote data-quote="I'm A Banana" data-source="post: 6296787" data-attributes="member: 2067">I don't think that's ever really been the case, though. In 4e, PC classes were specifically for heroic PC's, never for NPCs, so the guy-who-marries-you was almost NEVER a cleric (his skills were pretty much whatever the DM wanted them to be). In 3e, NPC classes such as Adept or Expert filled much the same role (anyone who could train up Religion, probably). In 2e and earlier, various 0-level NPC's would have been doing the wedding ceremonies of most people according to the core rules (though certainly there's probably some waffling on the topic -- IIRC, at least one cleric spell in 2e was the "use this spell do to a priestly ceremony" spell). In 5e, background don't seem to fill that role of "profession." People conducting weddings and brises and blood sacrifices to Krom need not be clerics (the class), or Acolytes (the new background), or Priests (the old background). I imagine the default will be something like, "You probably don't need a mechanical game element to determine who can do religious rites." What might fill that role of profession in games that want it for PC's, I'm wagering, is the downtime system. If your character -- be they Throg the Actolye-Barbarian, Tommy the Soldier-Cleric, or Esther the Squire-Warlock -- wants to also be the person doing weddings and funerals and naming ceremonies, they can dedicate their downtime to that. NPCs have pretty much 100% "downtime" so an NPC who is going around doing weddings is just going to spend their time doing that. (Tentatively, this might allow for things like a low-WIS/low-INT bumbling local priest who suuuuucks at his job and has no real training in it, but who nonetheless is the only dinkus for the job). So if Esther wants to bless people's union in the unspeakable name of the Things Beyond The Stars and the Blood Knight of Rigel 7, she spends her downtime doing that (possibly even as a Priest). And Tommy spends his downtime leading people through the wilderness he once campaigned in as a medic, so he's a Guide. And Throg spends his downtime policing the border, speading the word of Krom, and putting down rebellions, so he's a Knight in his downtime. It's just a matter of definition:<ul> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Backgrounds represents your background before you became an adventurer -- your fundamental training.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Class is your skillset as an adventurer -- what you're improving and working towards while killin' goblins.</li> <li data-xf-list-type="ul"> Profession is what you do other than adventure -- what you spend your time away from the dungeon doing. (This could overlap with Crafts -- makin' stuff -- and other downtime activities) NPC's don't typically get a class, they're just Background + Downtime, thus solving the problem of the 20th-level commoner: dirt farmers don't get levels, they just get some basic skills, and a loose mechanic for how they do them on the daily. </li> </ul>That's me extrapolating a bit from the downtime mechanic to include profession-based activities, but I think that's a reasonable use of downtime. So anyone can perform these religious rites (though presumably someone with a high INT or WIS would be better at them) just by spending their time doing it, Cleric or Acolyte or otherwise.My impression is that, as a background, these things are about this history of the character -- I grew up on a farm, or I was raised as a princess, or I had a reality TV show and a mullet, or I was raised on the mean streets of Waterdeep. These are all things that, by the time the character is played, are historical. The character learned to grow crops, or learned courtly ettiquette, or learned how to track people down, or learned how to wear ice and drink Cristal. Maybe they still do these, maybe not, that's not what the Background is saying. If it's something that is about the character's present state, that is more like their profession, and thus more about their downtime -- I go back to the farm to harvest every autumn, or I still have to come back and hear peasants whine at me a few weeks out of the year, or I find people in hiding for local guards all the time, or I go back to my roots and live in my dirty tenement by the docks to keep it real.That need not be true, though. A "commoner" background, by level 1, might be in the character's history entirely. Maybe they were knighted because they killed a few goblins raiding the farm and now they spend their downtime keeping the peace. A "noble" background, by level 1, might be over. Maybe they lost all their wealth due to some Game of Thrones-style Red Wedding and now the character is a Rogue who lives by her wits and her daggers and her ability to impersonate the wealthy. A "bounty hunter," by level 1, might be another lifetime. Maybe they exhibited pity, let one criminal escape because it reminded them of their son, and now live under a cloak of infamy while they seek the true meaning of Justice as a paladin. A  "thug," by level 1, might be ancient history. Maybe their beautiful singing voice got them noticed by a wealthy patron who took them from the hood and made them rags to <s>bit</s>riches, and now they're a first level bard who performs shows in their downtime.Background is historical, not necessarily current, is the impression I get.</blockquote>

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