Spells as a Background Feature

[Rerem115]

I was looking over Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica, and I was absolutely floored that there was published Wizards of the Coast content that granted spells for picking a certain background (up to 15 in the case of Izzet!). Granted, it's not AL legal, but even still, it paves the way for homebrew options, and I've had a lot of fun designing some for campaigns I'm affiliated with.

However, I haven't seen much discussion on the topic here; have we just decided to collectively forget about it, the same way we have with the Yuan-Ti Pureblood? :smalltongue:

What are your thoughts on granting spells as a background feature?

[Amdy_vill]

I like it but feel that backgrounds using said idea need to be run by the dm

[Man_Over_Game]

The problem is that you either need to have everyone in the party sway one way or the other. If you're going to have guild spells, then everyone needs to be in on it or it's an outright unbalanced choice. Or just have everyone ignore the Ravnica bonuses.

Or, put another way, if you have the Ravnica spells, you basically just tossed out the validity of several dozen backgrounds. You didn't gain content, you just swapped it for something else, and that's pretty bad design. So most people ignore it.

A good solution is to have a balanced choice of getting the Ravnica spells OR Not, with both options being equally valid.

Something like this:

• Players who train in the guild have limited experience in other backgrounds, having learned to solve their problems with magic. When you pick your background, you pick a single skill, tool, or language it provides you, and gain no other proficiencies from that background.
• Players who do not practice in the guild have specialized training to help them survive in a world of magic. These characters start with an extra feat.