Background isn't just about the skills, it's also about who your character is

[Ewhit]

When you sit down at the table with your friends to start a game of D&D and open that book your first thoughts are
What race and class do I want to play. Then you decide the background to get those precious extra skills and move on to the basics amor weapons spells.

But what about who your character is?

If you start your character at a high level, you can still create a history of who your character is, although you may not feel your character grow as if it had started at lower levels and developed over time.

I'm sure there can be a difference of opinion, but my most memorable characters are those that started with a brief background of who they are and through game play, developed into characters that my friends and I still have memories of and of course can be added as NPC for flavor.

What I am suggesting is take some time out to think about who your character is flesh it out. I hope everyone will have characters that they will have fun playing with, growing with, and remembering log after the character is retired for adventuring.

Examples that I have used

1. Mountain Dwarf sorcerer background hermit.
Frawd was your typical new miner learning his family trade in the Dwarven home Thunderheim, located in the Thunderpeak Mountains. During his first mining mission he discovered glowing energy behind the wall he was working. Instead of notifying his superiors. Frawd, thinking he would be famous for discovering something wonderous continued in excitement. After the explosion, Frawd awoke, bathed briefly in the same glowing energy. All around him was destroyed; the mountain, the dwarves, his family and home. Frawd fled the mountain in shame. He fled into the outskirts of human lands. Shaving his head and beard, Frawd lived a secluded life as a hermit. Frawd became aware of new powers he possessed and now seeks redemption.
1. Background: life of seclusion. I retreated from society after a life changing event.
2. Discovery: I came to realize the energy from the mountain could still be there and if so, how to stop it.
3. Isolated so long that he really speaks, relying on gestures and grunts
4. If you know yourself, theres nothing else to know
5. If my discovery comes to light, it could bring ruin to the world.
6. I like keeping secrets and won't share them

Human Tempest cleric. Background sailor
Ikarus, with his sea blue eyes and windblown brown hair and beard enjoyed nothing more than the open waters as a medic on a trading vessel.
On a fateful day, Pirates attacked the ship, killing the crew and leaving Ikarus to a worse fate, abandoned at sea to die. Near death, Ikarus swore to seek revenge for the captain and crew. A voice echoed in his head. "You will not die today Ikarus. You My thunder will be your voice, my lightning will be your arm. You will be the storm that brings life as well as takes it. You will serve me and live. Ikarus washed ashore upon an island ruled by elves. The Elven clerics seeing his survival at sea as divine intervention assisted Ikarus in the long journey back home to Faerun.
1. I enjoy sailing into new ports and making friends over a flagon of ale
2. Mutual respect between captain and crew keeps things together
3. Ruthless pirates murdered the crew and I will have revenge
4. Question my courage and I will never back down.

Drow rogue/ranger background entertainer
Veralina, an entertainer, was used as a distraction by her drow clan in political murders. Seeing her talent, she was trained in the arts of stealth and assisted her clan until she could be taught to be an assassin. Her teacher soon realized that her talent far exceeded his expectations. She began learning the trade of tracking and hunting drow fugitives or escaped prisoners. The leader of the drow clan determined that averaging would serve the drow society better above land sunk get her songs poetry and storytelling to plead the cause of the drow and how they were forced to flee persecution rom the land elves. She now used this talent above to help the drow cause and eliminate those that could cause trouble or hunt the fugitives that made it to the surface.
Working with a group of adventures she hides an evil side to her with smiles and politeness. But will,this group make her see the error of her ways?

[JumboWheat01]

Indeed, I do spend almost as much time flipping through backgrounds trying to come up with something that thematically fits the character I have in mind.

[RickAllison]

My backgrounds tend to be Frankenstein's monsters because that ends up fitting the history of my characters better. My most recent had the Acolyte/Faction Agent fluff and traits, the Sage skills, and tools proficiencies to represent his favorite hobbies (industry and invention). I had a Pirate background with a fluff that was a blend of that, the Soldier, and the Acolyte.

[Tenmujiin]

Remember that the skills and tool/language proficiencies are basically just suggestions and equipment can be customised using rules found in the equipment section of the book. Basically the only meaningful part of backgrounds mechanically is the ability they come with so there really is no reason not to pick the most appropriate background for the character and just customise it to the proficiencies and gear you want.

Edit: I tend to do the same thing as RickAllison and mix and match every part of backgrounds to basically just create my own (except for the ability/ribbon), the traits/bonds/ideals/flaws are EXPLICITLY just suggestions. That being said, they are a great starting point for working out who your character is and can even be a good point to start character creation (in the games world your character would be created race/stats->background->class in most cases).

[mer.c]

I agree! I especially love that the Player's Handbook explicitly tells players they can work with their DM to come up with a background that fits their character.

[mgshamster]

Don't forget about the background feature, which can add a solid bit of narrative power to your character.

[Grod_The_Giant]

I'm sure there can be a difference of opinion, but my most memorable characters are those that started with a brief background of who they are and through game play, developed into characters that my friends and I still have memories of and of course can be added as NPC for flavor.

What I am suggesting is take some time out to think about who your character is flesh it out. I hope everyone will have characters that they will have fun playing with, growing with, and remembering log after the character is retired for adventuring.
Um, yes? I think literally everyone would agree with this. It's pretty much the default way you play an RPG. Even those who look at mechanics first do this.

[Specter]

As a matter of fact, there's a Human Tempest Cleric with the sailor background in my current campaign. Coincidence, huh?

[AmayaElls]

Um, yes? I think literally everyone would agree with this. It's pretty much the default way you play an RPG. Even those who look at mechanics first do this.

You might think this, but a DM I am about to begin playing with is quite shocked by me and my friend's unconventional backgrounds. Mine's not even that odd in my point of view. His entire previous group was much more focused on the fighting side of things, their backgrounds and personalities were very limited, based of basic stereotypes or existing characters in the media. While I like to play with people who flesh out their characters as well this is definitely not the case.



I like the little oddity in the past, strange juxtapositions but with a lot of room for character growth.

The character that is surprising my new DM is a Coastal Druid, I liked the spells in that circle and so was thinking about a background to explain her choice. I jokingly said to my brother "What if she had a sailor background?" and then proceeded to realise that could work and made a stereotypical sailor with her belaying pin (with a shillelagh to help). I like the juxtaposition of this burly fighter stereotype with the usual hippy or nature>civilisation druids.

[RickAllison]

Um, yes? I think literally everyone would agree with this. It's pretty much the default way you play an RPG. Even those who look at mechanics first do this.

I usually have both a paragraph-long synopsis and a full-fledged short story. They don't tend to be actual adventures (except for my two soldiers; they necessarily had been on some adventures), but more like interactions with different people that give a reference for how he might react in a given circumstance. My tiefling had this elaborate backstory that was entirely focused on the mundane life of being an apprentice shipwright (with magic). My wizard has a hook that let him interact with the greatest of heroes and the very gods... but he has never seen so much as a bugbear, much less a beholder. Close as he might have been to heroes, waiting on them at a tavern hardly qualifies as an adventure...

[BW022]

It may be.

Remember there are lots of ways of making up characters. You can have a character concept in your mind and then go to the books and try to make something as close as possible to your mental idea.

However, you can also look at the books and make up something interested by the numbers... and then try roleplaying what you come up with. If you want a select a background just because it gives you stealth and thieves' tools... for your cleric because you think it was cool... hey... now you suddenly have a background that you are an escaped criminal who devoted his life to the church after being saved from the gallows by a priest. Ok... go with it. Hey... consider it a roleplaying challenge!

[Toadkiller]

I actually find the background to be pretty bland and uninspiring. Sure, they can give you some ideas while you're brainstorming but hopefully you can get past them. They are kind of cardboard cutouts of characters, not fully realized ones.

[Ewhit]

All true. The idea is to assist people, if they want, into making more memorable characters to play than the blan, I make a dwarf fighter and start playing with no history.

Which is fine if that is what they want. As for the background list it is a template to use or give examples to create your own. I just want to show how it can be used to help give give life to a character and make it more enjoyable to play.

[KorvinStarmast]

Remember that the skills and tool/language proficiencies are basically just suggestions and equipment can be customised using rules found in the equipment section of the book. Basically the only meaningful part of backgrounds mechanically is the ability they come with so there really is no reason not to pick the most appropriate background for the character and just customise it to the proficiencies and gear you want. in re the bolded part: Nope.
There's more to this game than mechanics.

I also would like to express my happiness with the tailored background approach so that the DM and the player can build a custom background. There is so much room to work there.

[smcmike]

It's also fun to try to use a trinket (from the table or not) as a point to build from.

[KorvinStarmast]

It's also fun to try to use a trinket (from the table or not) as a point to build from. Bingo. My first cleric in 5e (the name for this GiTP account) did just that. We had much fun but died and got eaten by ogres. (I hope they got indigestion!) The rest of the party (well, our dwarf died and got eaten as well) barely managed to get out of that particular encounter alive.
Re roll, press on. When they finally cleared that lair, the trinket was not found. I am guessing that the hobgoblin or other allies of the ogre took a fancy to it and kept it.

[Linker2k]

I dont like the background mechanic as it is on the PHB. On my table i asked everyone to come up with a custom homebrew background and created, flaws, skills, etc based on their story.

Most of the times none of the options provided are fit to what i have in mind.

[RickAllison]

I dont like the background mechanic as it is on the PHB. On my table i asked everyone to come up with a custom homebrew background and created, flaws, skills, etc based on their story.

Most of the times none of the options provided are fit to what i have in mind.

So let me get this straight. No combination of two skills, two tool proficiencies or languages, any of the features in the book, and the various personality traits could be combined into whatever they came up with? Because the PHB encourages you to pick and choose the various components to best fit whatever background you come up with.

[Naanomi]

Its good for easy npc creation also, in terms of skills and whatnot as well as RP inspiration

[Pex]

It would be interesting to play a goody-two shoes Devotion Paladin with a criminal background. He could be someone who repented and trying to assuage his guilt of past crimes. Heaven has already forgiven him, hence being a Paladin, but he's having a hard time forgiving himself.

Alternatively, he could be the white sheep of a Mafia-type family.

[smcmike]

I dont like the background mechanic as it is on the PHB. On my table i asked everyone to come up with a custom homebrew background and created, flaws, skills, etc based on their story.

Most of the times none of the options provided are fit to what i have in mind.

The chapter encourages this sort of tampering, though, and i think it's a great starting place to encourage embeddedness in society - you are not a free-floating "fighter," you are a soldier, with a rank and everything, and you've given some thoughts to ideals and bonds and flaws, even if you had to come up with your own to get it just right.

[Giant2005]

The background mechanics aren't there to hold back your concepts.
It is always best to ignore the background options, come up with a concept and just choose related skills via the custom background option, then choose a fortuitous background and then be forced to mold your concept around it.

[Joe the Rat]

I like ideas that flip it around - it's not what you did before you went to Bard Camp, it's what you did with your Class abilities before you decided to take up adventuring. The Wizard who uses his arcane knowledge to work his way up the Criminal organization. A less conventional leg-breaker.

The Tempest Cleric that uses his "special powers from a sea god, so I probably won't be shipwrecked" aspect to get free passage on boats, and learned a few things about boats in the process (or swap out a tool set for dice proficiency for all that time gambling with the crew).

The Rogue Acolyte - another criminal model reformed by a priest. Just because you're one of the faithful does not mean you're a spellcaster.

The Fighter who was a squire, but is now pretending to be a knight. Could be Noble, could be Charlatan, depending on how much you want Chaucer to hang around.



The backgrounds given (and explored and expanded upon in the game seasons) are a good starting point, particularly for newer players. Once they get the ideas, they'll start to mix and match more, or start building from scratch. It is by far the most flexible part of character creation.

[mephnick]

I like the backgrounds for players that want them, but I don't use them. I prefer my characters to come in as relative blank slates and decide on their background/personality as I go through the campaign. This may seem lazy to some people, but I find it a lot more natural than writing a story about a character I've yet to interact with and following it word for word despite what happens in the game. I want to figure out if my character protects innocents when I come across innocents that need protecting, not to refer to my background I wrote 2 months ago to make my decision for me.

[rhouck]

IThe backgrounds given (and explored and expanded upon in the game seasons) are a good starting point, particularly for newer players. Once they get the ideas, they'll start to mix and match more, or start building from scratch. It is by far the most flexible part of character creation.

So much this! WOTC did a great job with making 5e accessible to new players, and the backgrounds are part of that.

Does it match the customizability of picking through dozens of Non-Weapon Proficiencies? Of course not. But it makes rolling up a brand new character a LOT easier for someone with little to no familiarity with the rules.

The same is true for the Personality/Ideals/Bond/Flaw mechanic -- if you are an experienced roleplayer, then you should never feel confined to those recommendations. But for people who are new (or just uncreative when it comes to thinking of those sorts of quirks), it is an easy tool to give them SOMETHING to base their character's personality on.

[Joe the Rat]

I like the backgrounds for players that want them, but I don't use them. I prefer my characters to come in as relative blank slates and decide on their background/personality as I go through the campaign. This may seem lazy to some people, but I find it a lot more natural than writing a story about a character I've yet to interact with and following it word for word despite what happens in the game. I want to figure out if my character protects innocents when I come across innocents that need protecting, not to refer to my background I wrote 2 months ago to make my decision for me.
So what system do you use to give them the two skills and two language/tool proficiencies that backgrounds provide?

[mgshamster]

So what system do you use to give them the two skills and two language/tool proficiencies that backgrounds provide?

And the background feature?

[INDYSTAR188]

It would be interesting to play a goody-two shoes Devotion Paladin with a criminal background. He could be someone who repented and trying to assuage his guilt of past crimes. Heaven has already forgiven him, hence being a Paladin, but he's having a hard time forgiving himself.

Alternatively, he could be the white sheep of a Mafia-type family.

Seems pretty compelling to me! Backgrounds are awesome because they give you an opportunity to think about how the character fits into the world. I like the general offerings, the freedom to customize them, and the module specific backgrounds really give characters a reason to care.

Edit to add in my game we have two new players who loved reading and picking the background that was best for them. I even got a "this is so much cooler than a video game" and a "I wouldnt have thought about this, just trying to figure it all out, he feels like a real person." Those are awesome things to hear as a DM!

[SmokingSkull]

I agree, a background really shapes your character's persona and beliefs. I customized mine a bit by swapping out a skill and both my tools, kept the feature cause the other ones didn't really fit. I also made my own personality traits/flaws/bonds/ideals. I remember my backstory was like a few sentences when I started this campaign, now it's developed into something completely different. I play on Roll20 and the bio for my char is actually various quote bubbles from my character himself about things.

How he describes himself and the rest of the crew, it's fun to revise what he says about others especially if his opinion of them is changed.

[McNum]

I'm playing a Paladin right now who definitely benefited personality-wise from picking a non-traditional background for a Paladin: Entertainer. Combined with one free tool proficiency from a custom race, I'm playing a Baker/Bouncer turned Hero of Justice, with all of the enthusiasm of a Baker's Daughter finding out that yes, she actually is special and chosen for great things. And behaves as she thinks a hero should. ...which of course is a bit a character flaw, but that's what makes it fun.

It's come up twice already, once where she rallied a small village with a performance celebating the death of a man-eating monster (all, except the one who unleashed the monster, so she flushed out the badguy with an improv musical number, best timed Natural 20 ever!), and the other is still ongoing, but thanks to her upbringing in a bakery, she helped figure out an important clue as to what was going on in a ghost town. And got the ability to throw flour at monsters, especially invisible ones.

She's going to be a Paladin of the Ancients, though with a variant of the oath itself being more like an Oath of the Hero, but mechanically, it's the same thing. I'm having fun playing such a strange variant of Paladin. I mean, yeah, indignant fury is still part of the deal, but she's going for "Be an exemplar"" over "Yell at rogues!" ...even if the rogue got yelled at, but he earned it. Darn muffin thief. They were even for him!

[mephnick]

So what system do you use to give them the two skills and two language/tool proficiencies that backgrounds provide?


And the background feature?

I know what I want the character to do mechanically, so I just customize it around that. Like I know I want to play a stealthy dude who knows about religion and uses disguises, because I like those skills. However, I feel constrained having to decide "I will never forgive a bully!" before I even use the character. I'll decide how I treat bullies the first time I encounter a bully and then that will become part of my character. Even before 5e I've never written a background other than maybe decided what part of the world I come from. I feel like discovering what kind of person my character is through playing is more interesting than locking myself into playing a specific character before the campaign even starts. I'm not sure that explains it.

[mgshamster]

I know what I want the character to do mechanically, so I just customize it around that. Like I know I want to play a stealthy dude who knows about religion and uses disguises, because I like those skills. However, I feel constrained having to decide "I will never forgive a bully!" before I even use the character. I'll decide how I treat bullies the first time I encounter a bully and then that will become part of my character. Even before 5e I've never written a background other than maybe decided what part of the world I come from. I feel like discovering what kind of person my character is through playing is more interesting than locking myself into playing a specific character before the campaign even starts. I'm not sure that explains it.

That explains it really well. As far as extra proficiencies goes, that's easy enough to just pick up - especially since the background rules let you modify what proficiencies you get.

For me, if you were my player, I'd still want you to pick a background feature, even if you don't have the specifics of your background set in yet - and I'd let you do it based off mechanics if you don't have the RP down. The background feature is an important addition to the character which adds narrative power, and as a GM I wouldn't want you to miss out.

[INDYSTAR188]

That explains it really well. As far as extra proficiencies goes, that's easy enough to just pick up - especially since the background rules let you modify what proficiencies you get.

For me, if you were my player, I'd still want you to pick a background feature, even if you don't have the specifics of your background set in yet - and I'd let you do it based off mechanics if you don't have the RP down. The background feature is an important addition to the character which adds narrative power, and as a GM I wouldn't want you to miss out.

I think I would ask you to make a personality trait as a starting point to build off (plus the background feature and mechanics). This gives the rest of the group a basic understanding of who the character is while allowing you to grow into the RP as you prefer.

[mgshamster]

One thing I've done is have my players reevaluate their Personality Trait, Ideal, Bond, and Flaw every few levels. This can help represent how a character has grown over time and experience - or if their character has grown deeper into one of those.

[Arial Black]

For Curse of Strahd I chose the City Watch background with the Investigator variant. So far in the game there has been little fighting and plenty of investigating, and since I am a detective of the Baldur's Gate Watch then I have something to do (and do well), as well as the excuse to do it.

We found a body and my investigation showed that it was killed by wolves. We found a sealed letter in his pocket. The paladin (fresh out of lawful stupid paladin school) said that we cannot open it because that would be illegal. I pointed out that detectives have the authority to do just that while investigating a murder, and the paladin believed me.

So, yeah, I'm loving this background. It could be said that I didn't need the official background mechanic to be a police detective, but it would seem to be a liberty just to say I've got all this authority etc; the background mechanic makes it legitimate and fair, and TBH I may not have even thought about it if I hadn't seen the City Watch Investigator background, so I'm happy.

I'm also quite able and willing to swap out skill/tool proficiencies. I kept the skills (Investigation and Insight) but swapped the two bonus languages for proficiency in Thieves' Tools (to investigate behind locked doors!) and Forgery Kit (not to make forgeries, but to spot them. I've already used it on that letter!).

[Joe the Rat]

I know what I want the character to do mechanically, so I just customize it around that. Like I know I want to play a stealthy dude who knows about religion and uses disguises, because I like those skills. However, I feel constrained having to decide "I will never forgive a bully!" before I even use the character. I'll decide how I treat bullies the first time I encounter a bully and then that will become part of my character. Even before 5e I've never written a background other than maybe decided what part of the world I come from. I feel like discovering what kind of person my character is through playing is more interesting than locking myself into playing a specific character before the campaign even starts. I'm not sure that explains it.
That is a far more "old school" mentality for character design, which to me is awesome. Instead of backstory, think of backgrounds as a framework: Here are all the skills and training I want, how would someone end up with this mix of abilities?

It might not hurt to come in with a motivation - why this person is adventuring. That can become one of your traits - a goal, a connection, a foible, or a quirk. Now you have a touchstone for Inspiration until the rest of the characterization gels.

[INDYSTAR188]

For Curse of Strahd I chose the City Watch background with the Investigator variant. So far in the game there has been little fighting and plenty of investigating, and since I am a detective of the Baldur's Gate Watch then I have something to do (and do well), as well as the excuse to do it.

We found a body and my investigation showed that it was killed by wolves. We found a sealed letter in his pocket. The paladin (fresh out of lawful stupid paladin school) said that we cannot open it because that would be illegal. I pointed out that detectives have the authority to do just that while investigating a murder, and the paladin believed me.

So, yeah, I'm loving this background. It could be said that I didn't need the official background mechanic to be a police detective, but it would seem to be a liberty just to say I've got all this authority etc; the background mechanic makes it legitimate and fair, and TBH I may not have even thought about it if I hadn't seen the City Watch Investigator background, so I'm happy.

I'm also quite able and willing to swap out skill/tool proficiencies. I kept the skills (Investigation and Insight) but swapped the two bonus languages for proficiency in Thieves' Tools (to investigate behind locked doors!) and Forgery Kit (not to make forgeries, but to spot them. I've already used it on that letter!).

This is so awesome! In my OotA game we have a Moon Elf Arcana Cleric Sage (Researcher) from the High Forest. He took the alternate background feature, Underdark Experience and has a bond with a Deep Gnome Alchemist which is how he got interested in the Underdark. He had never actually been in the Underdark so only has a notebook/journal to reference and write observations. What I really like is that even though the character doesn't have a huge Intelligence score, he's still writing observations and taking samples and such.

[Democratus]

I like the backgrounds for players that want them, but I don't use them. I prefer my characters to come in as relative blank slates and decide on their background/personality as I go through the campaign. This may seem lazy to some people, but I find it a lot more natural than writing a story about a character I've yet to interact with and following it word for word despite what happens in the game. I want to figure out if my character protects innocents when I come across innocents that need protecting, not to refer to my background I wrote 2 months ago to make my decision for me.

Totally fair approach. Gygax himself once said, "the first 6 levels are the character's back story."

[TentacleSurpris]

So can all the playgrounders just agree to stop jamming Sailor onto their "builds" for the Athletics and Perception?

[RickAllison]

So can all the playgrounders just agree to stop jamming Sailor onto their "builds" for the Athletics and Perception?

There shouldn't be a need to. Unless someone is in AL, they can just say "I am a scout for an army. I think I'll take Perception for spotting trouble and Stealth for not being the one spotted."

[Naanomi]

There shouldn't be a need to. Unless someone is in AL, they can just say "I am a scout for an army. I think I'll take Perception for spotting trouble and Stealth for not being the one spotted."
AL lets you customize backgrounds

[RickAllison]

AL lets you customize backgrounds

Well you learn something new every day! I don't have AL near me, so I'm pretty oblivious to their rules.

[mephnick]

For me, if you were my player, I'd still want you to pick a background feature, even if you don't have the specifics of your background set in yet - and I'd let you do it based off mechanics if you don't have the RP down. The background feature is an important addition to the character which adds narrative power, and as a GM I wouldn't want you to miss out.

Oh, yeah I still pick a background feature. It's the best part! But I generally do as you say and divorce the mechanics and fluff until I figure out how I'm going to use it.

Now to be fair, I tend to decide most things quite early and don't use my lack of background as an excuse to waffle back and forth depending on what's most advantageous at the time. If I decide I hate slavers at level 1, I hate slavers forever.

[mgshamster]

Oh, yeah I still pick a background feature. It's the best part! But I generally do as you say and divorce the mechanics and fluff until I figure out how I'm going to use it.

Now to be fair, I tend to decide most things quite early and don't use my lack of background as an excuse to waffle back and forth depending on what's most advantageous at the time. If I decide I hate slavers at level 1, I hate slavers forever.

That's actually how I assumed you were doing it. My most memorable character had his background built the same way.