Backgrounds

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 backgrounds chapter provide both concrete benefits (features, proficiencies, and languages) and roleplaying suggestions.

Proficiencies
Each background gives a character proficiency in two skills.

In addition, most backgrounds give a character proficiency with one or more tools.

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.

Languages
Some backgrounds also allow characters to learn additional languages beyond those given by race.

Equipment
Each background provides a package of starting equipment.

Suggested Characteristics
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.

Backgrounds List

 * Acolyte
 *  Feature:  Shelter of the Faithful
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  Insight, Religion
 *  Languages:  Two of your choice
 *  Equipment:  A holy symbol (a gift to you when you entered the priesthood), a prayer book or prayer wheel, 5 sticks of incense, vestments, a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 15 gp
 * Charlatan
 *  Feature:  False Identity
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  Deception, Sleight of Hand
 *  Tool Proficiencies:  Disguise kit, forgery kit
 *  Equipment:  A set of fine clothes, a disguise kit, tools of the con of your choice (ten stoppered bottles filled with colored liquid, a set of weighted dice, a deck of marked cards, or a signet ring of an imaginary duke), and a belt pouch containing 15 gp
 * City Watch
 *  Feature: Watcher's Eye
 * Skill Proficiencies:  Athletics, Insight
 *  Languages:  Two of your choice
 *  Equipment:  A uniform in the s tyle of your unit and indicative of your rank, a horn with which to summon help, a set of manacles, and a pouch containing 10 gp
 *  Variant:  Investigator
 * Clan Crafter
 *  Feature:  Respect of the Stout Folk
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  History, Insight
 *  Tool Proficiencies:  One type of artisan's tools
 *  Languages:  Dwarvish or one other of your choice if you already speak Dwarvish
 *  Equipment:  A set of artisan's tools with which you are proficient, a maker's mark chisel used to mark your handiwork with the symbol of the clan of crafters you learned your skill from, a set of traveler's clothes, and a pouch containing 5 gp and a gem worth 10 gp
 * Cloistered Scholar
 *  Feature:  Library Access
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  History, plus your choice of one from among Arcana, Nature, and Religion
 *  Languages:  Two of your choice
 *  Equipment:  The scholar's robes of your cloister, a writing kit (small pouch with a quill, ink, folded parchment, and a small penknife), a borrowed book on the subject of your current study, and a pouch containing 10 gp
 * Courtier
 *  Feature:  Court Functionary
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  Insight, Persuasion
 *  Languages:  Two of your choice
 *  Equipment:  A set of fine clothes and a pouch containing 5 gp
 * Criminal
 *  Feature:  Criminal Contact
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  Deception, Stealth
 *  Tool Proficiencies:  One type of gaming set, thieves’ tools
 *  Equipment:  A crowbar, a set of dark common clothes including a hood, and a belt pouch containing 15 gp
 *  Variant:  Spy
 * Entertainer
 *  Feature:  By Popular Demand
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  Acrobatics, Performance
 *  Tool Proficiencies:  Disguise kit, one type of musical instrument
 *  Equipment:  A musical instrument (one of your choice), the favor of an admirer (love letter, lock of hair, or trinket), a costume, and a belt pouch containing 15 gp
 *  Variant:  Gladiator
 * Far Traveler
 *  Feature:  All Eyes on You
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  Insight, Perception
 *  Tool Proficiencies:  Any one musical instrument or gaming set of your choice, likely something native to your homeland
 *  Languages:  Any one of your choice
 *  Equipment:  One set of traveler's clothes, any one musical instrument or gaming set you are proficient with, poorly wrought maps from your homeland that depict where you are in Yl'daren, a small piece of jewelry worth 10 gp in the style of your homeland's craftsmanship, and a pouch containing 5 gp
 * Folk Hero
 *  Feature:  Rustic Hospitality
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  Animal Handling, Survival
 *  Tool Proficiencies:  One type of artisan’s tools, vehicles (land)
 *  Equipment:  A set of artisan’s tools (one of your choice), a shovel, an iron pot, a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp
 * Guild Artisan
 * Feature: Guild Membership
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  Insight, Persuasion
 *  Tool Proficiencies:  One type of artisan’s tools
 *  Languages:  One of your choice
 *  Equipment:  A set of artisan’s tools (one of your choice), a letter of introduction from your guild, a set of traveler’s clothes, and a belt pouch containing 15 gp
 *  Variant:  Guild Merchant
 * Hermit
 *  Feature:  Discovery
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  Medicine, Religion
 *  Tool Proficiencies:  Herbalism kit
 *  Languages:  One of your choice
 *  Equipment:  A scroll case stuffed full of notes from your studies or prayers, a winter blanket, a set of common clothes, an herbalism kit, and 5 gp
 * Inheritor
 *  Feature:  Inheritance
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  Survival, plus one from among Arcana, History, and Religion
 *  Tool Proficiencies:  Your choice of a gaming set or a musical instrument
 *  Languages:  Any one of your choice
 *  Equipment:  Your inheritance, a set of traveler's clothes, any items with which you are proficient, and a pouch containing 15 gp
 * Knight of the Order
 *  Feature:  Knightly Regard
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  Persuasion, plus one from among Arcana, History, Nature, and Religion, as appropriate for your order
 *  Tool Proficiencies:  One type of gaming set or musical instrument
 *  Languages:  One of your choice
 *  Equipment:  One set of traveler's clothes, a signet, banner or seal representing your place or rank in the order, and a pouch containing 10 gp
 * Mercenary Veteran
 *  Feature:  Mercenary Life
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  Athletics, Persuasion
 *  Tool Proficiencies:  One type of gaming set, vehicles (land)
 *  Equipment:  A uniform of your company (traveler's clothes in quality), an insignia of your rank, a gaming set of your choice, and a pouch containing the remainder of your last wages (10 gp)
 * Noble
 *  Feature:  Position of Privilege
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  History, Persuasion
 *  Tool Proficiencies:  One type of gaming set
 *  Languages:  One of your choice
 *  Equipment:  A set of fine clothes, a signet ring, a scroll of pedigree, and a purse containing 25 gp
 *  Variant:  Noble Knight
 *  Variant Feature:  Retainers
 * Outlander
 *  Feature:  Wanderer
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  Athletics, Survival
 *  Tool Proficiencies:  One type of musical instrument
 *  Languages:  One of your choice
 *  Equipment:  A staff, a hunting trap, a trophy from an animal you killed, a set of traveler’s clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp
 * Sage
 *  Feature:  Researcher
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  Arcana, History
 *  Languages:  Two of your choice
 *  Equipment:  A bottle of black ink, a quill, a small knife, a letter from a dead colleague posing a question you have not yet been able to answer, a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp
 * Sailor
 *  Feature:  Ship's Passage
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  Athletics, Perception
 *  Tool Proficiencies:  Navigator’s tools, vehicles (water)
 *  Equipment:  A belaying pin (club), 50 feet of silk rope, a lucky charm such as a rabbit foot or a small stone with a hole in the center (or you may roll for a random trinket on the Trinkets table in chapter 5), a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp
 *  Variant:  Pirate
 *  Variant Feature:  Bad Reputation
 * Soldier
 *  Feature:  Military Rank
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  Athletics, Intimidation
 *  Tool Proficiencies:  One type of gaming set, vehicles (land)
 *  Equipment:  An insignia of rank, a trophy taken from a fallen enemy (a dagger, broken blade, or piece of a banner), a set of bone dice or deck of cards, a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp
 * Urban Bounty Hunter
 *  Feature:  Ear to the Ground
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  Choose two from among Deception, Insight, Persuasion, and Stealth
 *  Tool Proficiencies:  Choose two from among one type of gaming set, one musical instrument, and thieves' tools
 *  Equipment:  A set of clothes appropriate to your duties and a pouch containing 20 gp
 * Urchin
 *  Feature:  City Secrets
 *  Skill Proficiencies:  Sleight of Hand, Stealth
 *  Tool Proficiencies:  Disguise kit, thieves’ tools
 *  Equipment:  A small knife, a map of the city you grew up in, a pet mouse, a token to remember your parents by, a set of common clothes, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp