Editing Dungeons & Dragons 5th Edition (section)

==Backgrounds==
A new addition to the character sheet, beyond race and class. A Background represents who you were before you took up adventuring. Backgrounds each offer two skill proficiencies, some mixture of new tool proficiencies, gaming set proficiencies, musical instrument proficiencies, and languages, a bit of extra equipment and money, and a unique "background feature" that gives you some sort of roleplaying advantage. Most of them offer benefits to the social aspect of the game, with Outlander and Uthgardt Tribesperson as the two outlying exceptions. Essentially, it's the Career system from [[Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay]], only not tied to class progression. Each also comes with some roleplaying suggestions to help flesh out your character, as well as ways to make the eviler-sounding background more palatable to goody-goodies.

This is probably the character component most friendly to homebrewing or personal interpretation, and the rules explicitly encourage this, with the usual DM approval clause.

===Player's Handbook===
* ''Acolyte'': You are a part of, and possibly even raised by, a church or cult. You gain proficiency in Insight, naturally, Religion, and your background feature lets you ring up churches of your faith for free help for your party and freeload on their couch. It also lets you pick a single specific temple, somewhere in the world, where you can expect free assistance.

* ''Charlatan'': A con-artist background, complete with proficiency in forgery and disguise kits. Naturally, it comes with proficiency in Deception and Sleight of Hand, a list of possible cons you're good at running, and a feature that lets you switch to a fake identity when the heat's on, as well as perfectly copy handwriting and statuary so long as you have a sample to study.

* ''Criminal'': Just a regular ol' crook, though you can pick which kind from a list that includes blackmail, smuggling, burglary, or just plain hired murder. Proficiency in Deception and Stealth (what a surprise), with a background feature that gives you a reliable, trustworthy contact in the criminal underworld, and the ability to stay in touch with him wherever you go. (Honor among thieves and all that.)

:: ''Spy'': A "variant" criminal, who gets the same skillset, but uses it for espionage. Might be a loyal servant of your government or a free agent, and your "contact" is now your "handler."

* ''Entertainer'': ...It's not ''just'' the bard background, okay? Covers a wide variety of different kinds of entertainer, from musician to storyteller to actor to fire-eater. Gains proficiency in Acrobatic and Performance, and has a fun background feature that lets them perform somewhere for free room and board, as well as improving their reputation in places they've performed before.

:: ''Gladiator'': A "variant" entertainer, who engages in a flashy kind of "performance" combat. They use their background feature in fight pits and arenas and get free medical care from battling there. Also, luchador or no guts.

* ''Folk Hero'': One of the more "freeform" backgrounds. A folk hero is a lowly peasant kid who did something cool that sent them off on a life of adventure. You can pick what from a list or make up your own. You're proficient in Animal Handling and Survival, thanks to your blue collar roots, and the common people and peasantry love you and will do anything short of dying to protect you. You also gain proficiency in vehicles (land), so have fun in high-speed wagon chases.

* ''Guild Artisan'': Not really a wild artiste type so much as a union man (or woman) through and through (a medival guild was basically halfway between a trade union and a cartel). You are proficient in not only the tools of your trade, but in Insight and Persuasion, because art is good and all but you gotta be good at selling it too. Your background feature gives you a ''huge'' list of benefits, and the ability to cozy up to bigger boys in the guild with donations of money and magic items: so long as you're in the union, the union's got your back. However, you also have to keep paying your union dues, or the union's gonna cut you off, so better hope you aren't stuck on one of those lame wilderness adventures where half the "social" background features are useless, because then you'll have to keep track of backpay.

:: ''Guild Merchant'': A variant, representing someone who buys and sells rather than manufactures and sells. You can swap out your tool proficiency for proficiency with navigator's tools, a vehicle, or an extra language, and can swap out your starting tool for a mule and cart.

* ''Hermit'': Somebody who spent time in seclusion from the secular world, whether as a monk looking for spiritual enlightenment or a reclusive inventor or artist. You are proficient in Medicine and Religion (presumably from all that contemplation), and your Background feature is one of the weirdest in the game: some kind of "discovery." Exactly what this is supposed to do is maddeningly inexact, and it doesn't have a list of actual benefits like most of the other backgrounds, so much that the book outright admits that you should sit down with your DM and try to figure out what it actually ''does''.

* ''Noble'': The upper-crust background, covering all manner of nobles from the militaristic to the foppish. Proficiency in History and Persuasion from your classical education, and your background feature not only gives you some basic social benefits from being privileged, and you can get audiences with local nobles.

:: ''Knight'': Even moar military nobles. Instead of the noble's many social benefits, you gain three henchmen who can help you do things. They don't fight, and they'll bolt if you treat them like shit (meaning this is ''theoretically'' one of the few background features that can be permanently lost, although if that happens your DM is either a dick or you deserve it). But beyond that, they can do a lot of other mundane tasks, and can be given your signet ring and such to grease the wheels for the party.

* ''[[The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind|Outlander]]'': The ranger to the Entertainer's bard, the Outlander is a backwoods country bumpkin who's used to hard living in the wilderness. Offers proficiency in Athletics and Survival, and has a background feature that, unlike the social benefits of others, improves your ability to navigate and lets you feed yourself and up to five people without skill checks required, so long as it's not an area of wasteland where nature's bounty is too scarce to allow that.

* ''Sage'': The "went to college" background, meaning you can pick your major. You're proficient in Arcana and History, and your background feature gives you the ability to recall where, exactly, you can go to try to unearth information you might need, though it notes that this power can sometimes just tell you "I 'unno, lol." Most DMs will, hopefully, not screw you out of your background's big feature unless you try to ask for the secrets of the cosmos or something.

* ''Sailor'': Just what it sounds like. Offers proficiency in navigator's tools and water vehicles along with Perception and Athletics. Your background feature lets you easily secure passage for your party during sea travel via your waterside connections, though doing so means that you'll have to help out along the way.

:: ''Pirate'': The obvious sailor variant. Instead of the sailor's background feature, you've got a reputation, deserved or not, as a mean son-of-a-bitch, meaning that you can get away with some minor criminal offenses, like breaking down doors or skipping out on your tavern bill, because people are too scared of you to confront you ''or'' to call the cops.

* ''Soldier'': Hoo-hah. Another beautiful day outside of this man's army. You're proficient in Athletics and Intimidation, and you still have your old military rank, meaning you can throw some orders around and lower-ranking people will obey, you can temporarily requisition supplies like horses and carts, and you can usually get access to friendly military fortresses and checkpoints.

* ''Urchin'': It's a hard knock life. You grew up on the mean streets, and to get by you got proficient with Stealth, Sleight of Hand, and thieves' tools. You also have a cute pet mouse and a memento of your poor dead, dead parents, because [[dawww]]. Your background feature lets you easily navigate urban environments, moving through them twice as fast as normal out of combat.

===Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide===
Many of these backgrounds are explicitly intended for use in the ''Forgotten Realms'', and will need rejiggering (some ''extreme'' rejiggering) to work elsewhere.

* ''City Watch'': It ain't easy being the law. But you've decided, if you can't beat those pesky adventurers... join 'em. You gain proficiency in Athletics and Insight, and you can find both the local cops and the local crooks pretty easily from experience.

:: ''Investigator'': A variant for the detectives in the City Watch, rather than the beat cops. Instead of an alternate background feature, you swap out Athletics for Investigation.

* ''Clan Crafter'': You trained under a master of dwarven crafts. Not ''technically'' dwarf-restricted, although non-dwarves can't take on apprentices of their own. You are proficient in History, Insight, and the tools of your trade, and your background feature gives you the undying admiration of all dwarves everywhere forever. Seriously, dwarves will fight over the ''privilege'' of giving you free room and board.

* ''Cloistered Scholar'': If Sage is the "went to college" background, yours is the "spent all high-school prepping for college, then spent all college prepping for a Masters' degree" background. You gain proficiency in History and one of the other non-Investigation Intelligence skills of your choice, and your background feature is a mirror of the Sage's: while he gets a good idea of where to go and who to ask to learn vital information, ''you'' can easily access any library in the world, paying no fees, easily navigating any political or bureaucratic hold-ups therein, and having access to all but the most secret, sacred, or dangerous of knowledge.

* ''Courtier'': The bureaucrat background. Unlike the poncy nobles, you ''earned'' your government job. You are proficient in Insight and Persuasion, and your background feature gives you an easy road map to navigating any political situation, knowing who to ask for what, and how to get ahold of things like records or minutes.

* ''Faction Agent'': Meant to interact with the "faction" semi-mechanic from the Forgotten Realms, but works just as well with other settings' big international movers and shakers. You work for some kind of big international organization, like the Harpers, the Zhentarim, or the Lords' Alliance. To that end, you're proficient in Insight and ''any one mental skill of your choice'' (so long as it fits faction theming), and your background feature gives you access to things like safe houses or meetings with other operatives that can help you out with room and board and information, though they won't risk their lives for you.

* ''Far Traveler'': The "dirty foreigner" background. You've moved into perpetually-Medieval not!Europe from somewhere else, whether not!Asia, not!Africa, the not!Middle East, etc. You are proficient in Insight, Perception, and [[Go|some game or musical instrument native to your home country]], and your background feature makes you a natural curiosity. This has a number of potential uses, whether in drawing attention in a crowd away from your sneaky friends, or being invited to parties for others to gawk at.

* ''Inheritor'': Rivaling the Folk Hero and Hermit for free-form-ness, this is one of the least-defined backgrounds in the game. You inherited a thing. That's it. Its mechanical effect is just as maddeningly inexact and "I unno figure it out yourself or ask your DM lol" as the Hermit's. Anyway, you get Survival and one skill of your choice from among Arcana, History, or Religion, hopefully related to the whatever-the-fuck you inherited.

* ''Knight of the Order'': A variant of a variant, the Knight of the Order is intended to slot into one of the many such organizations that exist in the ''Forgotten Realms''. You are proficient in Persuasion, plus either Arcana, History, Nature, or Religion, depending on what kind of Order you joined, and your background feature is basically along the lines of the Acolyte's, though with a few modifications if your order is civic or philosophical rather than religious, and with the caveat that your supporters ''will'' risk their lives to help you escape or rally to your defense if they see you wavering.

* ''Mercenary Veteran'': Technically tied to the ''Realms'', but like the Knight Order, it's easily disentangled. You're a vet from a group of famous mercenaries, and you've decided to start freelancing. You're proficient in Persuasion, because mercs need to also be businessmen, and Athletics, and your background feature not only lets you identify and locate mercs and places where mercs meet, but to maintain a comfortable lifestyle at no additional cost between adventures by freelancing around.

* ''Urban Bounty Hunter'': Awwww yeah, fantasy [[Star Wars| Boba Fett]] time! Well, sorta. You can flavor it different ways, depending on whether you hunt upper or lower crust targets. Anyway, you can pick two skills of your choice from a list of Deception, Insight, Persuasion, and Stealth, meaning it can be custom flavored for different methodologies. Your background feature gives you a contact in any city you visit who can brief you on the local people and places to best let you find your quarry.

* ''Uthgardt Tribe Member'': Explicitly a generalized "barbarian tribesperson" background, rather than strictly tied to the Uthgardt. Very similar to the Outlander, you are trained in Athletics and Survival, and your background feature lets you find twice as much food and water when you forage in the wilderness. It also lets you gain hospitality from other barbarians or nature-loving hippies, and grants you a knowledge of the geography of the North. (Or, presumably, whatever other wilderness region you were from if you're not Uthgardt.)

* ''Waterdhavian Noble'': You're a noble from the decadent city of Waterdeep, and one of the harder ones to homebrew outside of the ''Forgotten Realms'' unless a similar landscape is in play. While very similar to the Noble background, with proficiency in History and Persuasion, your background feature more-or-less just lets you live it up in the city of Waterdeep itself or the proximity thereoff without having to worry about money as your family foots the bill.

===Curse of Strahd===
* ''Haunted One'': You've seen some shit that'd turn others ''white''. (...Look, it's a horror background from a horror campaign, let me have my ''Ghostbusters'' jokes!) You get to pick what, exactly, spooked you out, gain proficiency in two from your choice of Arcana, Investigation, Religion, and Survival, one "monster" language, like Abyssal, Draconic, or Undercommon, and your background feature lets you not only get commoners to help you, but rally them to your side in a torches-and-pitchforks mob.

===Tomb of Annihilation===
* ''Anthropologist'': You're a scholar of different cultures, living and dead, and this makes you more adept at interacting with foreign cultures. You get free proficiencies in the skills of Insight and Religion, two bonus languages, the basic tools needed to document your findings (diary, ink pot, ink pen), a trinket of personal significance, and a pouch containing 10 gold pieces. Your features are Cultural Chameleon, which lets you select a humanoid culture (from a d8 table consisting of [[aarakocra]], [[dwarf]], [[elf]], [[goblin]], [[halfling]], [[human]], [[lizardfolk]], and [[orc]], though naturally DMs will adjust for their setting) and be treated as a native of that culture for cultural lore, and Adept Linguist, which lets you figure out the necessities to enable basic communication with a  new race/culture after spending 1 day studying and interacting with them.

* ''Archaeologist'': You're a scholar of the ancient and the lost, specializing in dead civilizations and relics from the past. This background greants you free proficiency in History, Survival, and either Cartographer's Tools or Navigator's Tools, a bonus language of your choice, a map containing the location of a ruin or a dungeon, a bullseye lantern, a miner's pick, a shovel, a two-person tent, a trinket from one of your past dig sites and 25 gold pieces. It's got two background features; Dust Digger (you have a "signature item" from a short list of explorer's items: 10ft pole, crowbar, hat, hooded lantern, medallion, shovel, sledgehammer, whip) and Historical Knowledge, which lets you identify the original purpose of a ruin or dungeon as well as the race that built it, and also lets you figure out the monetary value of any art object that's at least 100 years old.

===Plane Shift: Innistrad===
* ''Inquisitor'': Burn the heretic. Kill the lycanthrope. Purge the unclean. You have proficiency in Investigation and Religion (duh) as well as Thieves’ tools and one set of artisan’s tools of your choice. Your background feature allows you to arrest, interrogate, pass judgment on, and execute all enemies of the church (so basically "I EM THE LAW!"). But be careful. Kill too many obvious innocents or abuse the power for personal gain too often, and the Inquisition will come for you.

===Plane Shift: Amonkhet===
* ''Initiate of the Five Gods'': You're a devout worshipper of one of the Five Gods of [[Amonkhet]], seeking to prove your worthiness to undergo the Trial of Zeal and earn a glorious death. You get proficiencies in Athletics, Intimidation, one type of gaming set, and the use of land vehicles. You start the game with a gaming set, a scroll containing the basic teachings of the Five Gods, a simple puzzle box, some clothes, 15 gold pieces, and potentially some cartouches, if you've completed some of the trials already. Your background feature gives you access to free room and board, but only so long as you follow the expectations of both an initiate and a citizen of Naktamun; if you fail to act like a proper citizen, you may end up being branded a Dissenter.

* ''Amonkheti Vizier'': You are one of the priest-bureaucrats who serve the Five Gods of [[Amonkhet]] and oversee the Trials. You get free proficiencies in History, Religion, a set of artisan's tools and a musical instrument, you start the game with either artisan's tools or an instrument, a vizier's cartouche, a scroll of your god's teaching, some fine clothes, and 25 gold pieces. Your background feature allows you to command initiates and expect obedience, but be careful; abuse this, and your god may punish you for it. ''Personally''.

* ''Naktamunian Dissenter'': You don't buy into the whole Trials thing at all, and as far as the rest of Naktamun is concerned, that makes you a [[heretic]]. This Background actually builds from the others; you take either the Initiate or Vizier background to represent who you were before you fell from grace, but replace your background feature with "Shelter of Dissenters", which lets you tap into an underground network of dissenters who will provide you with what you need to avoid being killed for heresy.

===Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica===
Membership in any of the 10 Guilds is treated as a Background here, with an added bonus for spellcasters in the form of free bonus spells based on their Guild - for example, [[Sorcerer (Dungeons & Dragons)|sorcerers]] in the Boros Legion have access to [[Paladin]] spells like Heroism, Aid and Blinding Smite, whilst [[wizard]]s in the Golgari Swarm have access to [[Druid]] spells like Entangle, Plant Growth, Giant Insect and Insect Plague. Martials get nothing more from their background beyond the standard background feature.

===Ghosts of Saltmarsh===
The first chapter, in addition to examining how the PHB backgrounds can fit into the town of Saltmarsh, also has a couple of locale-appropriate backgrounds as well.

* ''Fisher'': You caught fish for a living growing up. What else needs to be said? Your bonus proficiencies are History and Survival, and you start with a bundle of fisher's gear (tackle, a net, either a favorite fishing lure or some oiled leather wading boots, a set of traveler's clothes, and 10 gold pieces). Your background feature is "Harvest the Waters", which grants you advantage on checks made with fishing gear, and allows to sustain yourself at a moderate lifestyle through access to a fishable body of water, including being able to feed yourself and up to 10 other people per day.

* ''Marine'': This is basically a Soldier trained for coastal raids and boat-based battles. You get bonus proficiencies in Athletics, Survival, Water Vehicles and Land Vehicles. You start with a dagger (from a fallen buddy), a folded flag bearing your ship or company's symbol, some traveler's clothes, and 10 gold pieces. Your background feature is "Steady", which gives you two bonuses. Firstly, you can move twice as far as a normal person before being subject to the downsides of a forced march. Secondly, if a safe route exists to land a boat on a particular shore, you can automatically find it.

* ''Shipwright'': An Artisan variant specialized in building boats, from small canoes to full-fledged battleships. You have proficiency in History, Perception, Carpenter's Tools and Water Vehicles. You start with a set of carpenter's tools, a blank book for sketching things in, an ink pen (with 1 ounce of ink for it), a set of traveler's clothes, and 10 gold pieces. Noticing a theme here yet? Your feature is "I'll Patch It!", which lets you make stop-gap repairs on damaged water vehicles. You need access to carpenter's tools and wood to pull this off, obviously. Your efforts restore 5 X Proficiency Bonus hit points to the vehicle, but you can only do this once; after that, it needs to be taken in and given a full dock-side repair job.

* ''Smuggler'': Again, what needs to be said here? You're a special kind of coastal thief, and as such, your feature is "Down Low", which gives you access to smuggler's safe houses that can keep you (and, if necessary, your buddies) up for free and in secret, if you need it. You have Proficiency in Athletics, Deception, and Water Vehicles, whilst you start the game with either a fancy leather vest or a pair of leather boots, a set of common clothes, and 15 gold pieces.

===Acquisitions Incorporated===
*''Celebrity Adventurer’s Scion'': At least one of your parents was a famous adventurer, and you've been able to rely on their reputation to make your own life smoother all your life. Basically, a "D&Dification" of the famous media figure's spoiled brat offspring archetype. Your background feature is "Name Dropping", which allows you to wrangle minor assistance from a major campaign figure, and allows you trade on your heritage to potentially score free meals or places to sleep by playing on your family name.

*''Failed Merchant'': You used to run a mercantile business of some kind. Then it went under. Really, you need more of an explanation than this? Its background feature is "Supply Chain", which gives you connections amongst the mercantile class that you can call upon when looking for items and information.

*''Gambler'': Again, the name is pretty self-explanatory; you love to gamble, and you're good enough at it that you made a living by seeking out and winning at games of chance. Its background feature is "Never Tell Me The Odds"; during a downtime activity that involves either games of chance or figuring odds on the best plan, at the DM's discretion, you can get solid sense of which is likely to be the best and which is likely to be too good to be true.

*''Plantif'': Flavor-wise, this background is presented as "a guy we legally wronged, but suckered into dropping the complaints by luring them into joining the company instead", which matches with the name, but the tables themselves feel more suited for a lawyer type character. Its background feature is "Legalese", which grants you a firm knowledge of the ins and outs of your local legal system, something that might enable you to use ominous sounding legal terms to intimidate or deceive the common folk to gain favors and special treatment.

*''Rival Intern'': You used to belong to an entirely different organization to the one that you are now part of; make up your own reason why you left and are now hanging around with the PCs. Its feature, "Inside Information", means you still have connections inside your former group or organization, which you can contact to try and score information.

===Eberron: Rising from the Last War===
*''House Agent'': You are a retainer (or family member if you carry a Dragonmark) to a particular Dragonmarked house, whose duty is to act as the eyes and ears for this House. Which Dragonmarked House you pick won't affect your skill proficiencies, but it will grant you proficiency in different tools. It's feature is "House Connections", which provides you with whatever amenities and contacts you need from within the house you serve.

===Descent into Avernus===
In addition to providing new features and/or tables to tie many existing backgrounds directly into Baldur's Gate culture, this adventure contains the following new background:
*''Faceless:'' For whatever reason, you are a persona non-grata in your original identity, whether it's due to something that you personally did, or the legacy of your family or an organization you were once a prominent part of. So you've created an entirely different persona to try and shake the heat, creating a new identity, background, personality, etc, and living it so as to keep people ignorant as to who you really were. This background's feature is "Dual Personalities", which basically allows you to obfuscate efforts to find out who you are by switching between your original and invented personas; people can only learn the whole truth about you if they figure out that the two personas are one in the same person.