It's my first time DMing, one of my players has chosen to come from a Nobility background, being the fisrtborn son of a well known family (5E). That's pretty straightforward. Except in his backstory he states that he left his family, and life of nobility behind because he felt that it bored him a sullied his potential. Would he then lose his title? He's also stated that in his new life he has been living a almost homeless lifestyle, and taking reckless low skill job after job. 

In gameplay the player still plays as though he has all the benefits of his title, including using his family name for favors or clout among others of the Noble community. Im wondering if this would still be possible? That there would be no real repercussion for denouncing his life as a noble, and not taking his place in his family's lineage? Im not looking to strip him of anything, just wanted to see if anyone had any way they would change his status/advantages based on those choices? Or if there is an actual rule/provision in the player's handbook for this situation. Thanks so much!

Some basic rules quotes about the Nobel Background to set context:

You might be a pampered aristocrat unfamiliar with work or discomfort, a former merchant just elevated to the nobility, or a disinherited scoundrel with a disproportionate sense of entitlement.

What’s your position in the family? Are you the heir to the head of the family? Have you already inherited the title? How do you feel about that responsibility? Or are you so far down the line of inheritance that no one cares what you do, as long as you don’t embarrass the family? How does the head of your family feel about your adventuring career? Are you in your family’s good graces, or shunned by the rest of your family?

Feature: Position of Privilege

Thanks to your noble birth, people are inclined to think the best of you. You are welcome in high society, and people assume you have the right to be wherever you are. The common folk make every effort to accommodate you and avoid your displeasure, and other people of high birth treat you as a member of the same social sphere. You can secure an audience with a local noble if you need to.

I imagine, in terms of the feature, that a character with this background is able to "play the part" of a noble. - They know the mannerisms, the etiquette, how to act and talk; and therefore people that interact with them will assume their social standing and treat them as such.

Now, that aside, all the issues of title, family standing, standing with other nobles that know the family, etc - that's all up to you and the player to work out.

Given the rest of how you described the character, if I was the DM, I'd say the character retains his title, which is likely to be something like "Lord", "Master", or "Ser". The title would be unlikely to be "Baron", "Duke" etc as that would be reserved for the head of the family. As firstborn, but having abandoned his responsibilities, I'd say the character has been stripped of their inheritance in favor of a younger sibling, or whoever is next in line, at least until such time as they return to the fold.

So when he tries to use his family name to his advantage, I'd have the results depend a bit on who he's talking to -

Someone that doesn't know his family might see him as just another noble, to be respected, feared, or ignored depending on the NPC's own status.

Someone that knows the family name but little else, the player can probably leverage their name effectively.

Someone that knows the family well will know the character is not in good standing with the family and might actually have a negative reaction to his attempts at leverage, perhaps even contacting, or threatening to contact the family about it.

Hi,

That sounds like a great role play and adventure hook. To answer your question: if you are going to do something bad to the player (take away his nobility status) you should give him a chance to affect the outcome. I would do something like have his parents track him down and demand that he come home from being a bum and do his part for the family, or else they will disown him and thus his character would lose his privilege.

For some reason this is coming into my mind: "It's time for you to honor your prearranged marriage to a person you have never met/you hate so the family can marry into more land, or else you will be disowned." Now if he chooses to abandon his family, it's his fault he lost his bonus, and not your fault for just arbitrarily taking it away.

Plus if he chooses to get married, the party can have fun planning a wedding and bachelor party and it can be a plot hook for something. Then maybe he has to send all the treasure he finds on adventures home to satisfy the lavish lifestyle of his high class wife. (I'm assuming genders, but you know what I mean)

To answer your other questions: I don't think there are specific rules about this, but even if there are they aren't important. This is the kind of thing that it is up to you to be creative with and find a fair way to enforce.

Even if you don't like that specific idea I hope this was useful to you!

Hey all!

Thanks so much for the replies! I think i have some good guidance now on how to handle it + what to ask the player about to make sure everything runs smooth and in a fun way.