Help choosing a background

[GreyBlack]

Hey all! So my gaming group is going to be starting a new adventure and I decided to slide back into an old character I played from a previous edition (3.5). I've got a build written up, but am having some trouble choosing a background. Build is going to look like a Fighter 12/Warlock 8, as the character was originally a Hexblade, but my DM isn't allowing the Hexblade UA, so that's a thing.

So. Character I'm envisioning was a cultist to a dark goddess who was raised to become the dark goddess's consort, but wound up fleeing the cult after sacrificing his own father during one of their rituals. Since then, he's sort of fallen into a well of depravity, preferring to drown himself in pleasures of the flesh but vowing to fight the cult wherever he finds it.

Any recommendations? I'm sort of torn between Acolyte and Charlatan, given the character's simultaneous religious upbringing, but also their predilection towards just having fun. If you want any more background I'll provide.

[Specter]

The most fitting one would be Acolyte. Others would require changing your story a bit, like focusing on books if you want to be a Sage guy.

[bid]

Any recommendations? I'm sort of torn between Acolyte and Charlatan, given the character's simultaneous religious upbringing, but also their predilection towards just having fun. If you want any more background I'll provide.
Backgrounds are only samples, you can build the one you want.

Your first goal should be finding which background feature can work. The acolyte feature "shelter of the faithful" won't work with your falling out. Charlatan's "false identity" is better if you want to be safe from your old cultists.

Other features that might work: hermit's discovery, noble's knight if you escaped with helpers, urchin's city secrets. SCAG's inheritor has inheritance, if you kept a memento from your cult.

You can prolly adjust the feature to match your past, see with your DM how to make it fit with the campaign.


Skills that might fit best: religion/arcana, insight, intimidation/deception. Religion + deception seems good? I would suggest an exotic language (deep speech or similar) and a tool (disguise/forgery) to complete your custom background.

[lebefrei]

I'm also in the "work with your DM to make your own background" camp. I'm always happy to do this with any player that asks, it means my player is invested in their character's origin and is more likely to roleplay.

[Joe the Rat]

Agreed, Acolyte as-is won't work. You'd need a different feature. Hermit suggests reclusive religious order as one of its flavors - that's pretty close. Discovery - "there's this crazy evil cult" might work.

I like the Inheritor angle the best. You have some indicator of your status as Chosen Sacrifice/Consort of Demon Lord #8274. Strange markings or tattoos are stated options.
You could probably angle that with your DM - if you feel Acolyte fits best for upbringing, see if you can use Inheritance or Discovery as your feature.

You should also figure out where Fighter gets into the mix - was martial training part of your upbringing, or was this something you picked up more on the run?

[The Aboleth]

I'm going to dissent against the popular opinion and say Acolyte can work as-is if you work with your DM. How big is this cult? If it's pretty big, there might be other dissenters like your character--ones who haven't had the courage to leave the cult themselves yet, but who might be sympathetic to your character and provide the shelter that the feature normally allows.

Or, conversely, if the cult is fairly decentralized perhaps the other "branches" are unaware that your character has left the cult and could still act as if they are a member in good standing (thus utilizing the feature as intended). That bit might require a Deception roll from your DM, though.

Point is, if you don't want to create a custom background then I can see ways in which Acolyte could still be used, but it'll require a bit of creativity and coordination with your DM.