The reason why i hate backgrounds is because they limit backstory opportunities (you can choose a background that doesn’t apply to your backstory but it won’t make sense)
You can always alter the details of Background narrative however you like as suggested;
Character Backgrounds
Your character’s background is a collection of characteristics that represent the place and occupation that were most formative before your character embarked on a life of adventure.
Each background includes a brief narrative of what your character’s past might have been like. Alter the details of this narrative however you like.
It is also possible to male homebrew backgrounds, but I feel like mine is close enough to what I’m going for (even if it and my species are older ones.) Honestly though, I’m not quite sure what I’d do for a new character at this point. Probably one of the boring generic ones if I had to.
The point is I understand where you are coming from.
New backgrounds can be created using the rules for Creating a Background in the DM's Toolbox of the DMG. While this is technically the purview of the DM I have not had a problem with any DMs disallowing my creations (and players are allowed to create custom backgrounds for Adventurers League).
Of course I would recommend speaking with your DM first and creating a background that feels cohesive rather than just an excuse to grab certain specific abilities, but I doubt that most DMs would even blink an eye if you created a background identical to Soldier, except you took the feat of Tough instead of Savage Attacker.
Creating your own background prior to 5.5 was more of an issue since each background had its own special thing. Now they have an Origin Feat which might be shared between multiple backgrounds and which can always be taken by anyone when they hit level 4, so it's really not a big deal.
e.g., For a character I am currently playing I created the 'Dwarven Soldier' background. It was essentially identical to Soldier, but I swapped out Tough for Savage Attacker and a choice of tools to have proficiency in (Smith's Tools, Brewer's Tools) instead of a gaming set.
That one makes sense. I rolled a soldier Barbarian back during the 14 rules, so when we updated i felt kind of stuck with it. If i could have rerolled knowing not just about starting feats in 2024 but the campaign and my origin town I would have certainly chosen farmer. But such is the game.
But yeah, you gotta be careful you’re not just taking tough with thieves tools and perception/stealth. That’s just game breaking!
Not all that game breaking. If was truly game breaking then I promise you that you would see a massive number of Rogues with the Farmer background.
The real issue with a 'grab bag' background is that it conveys a bad message (I'm only interested in 'winning') and you probably don't want to be conveying that message while asking for a favor.
The provided backgrounds aren't about what you get, they are about what you give up. Basically you have to decide whether you are giving up your desired stats, skills origin feat or tool proficiency.
Say you want MI Wizard on your Paladin you have to give up stats, skill choice or race.
Might even force you to double up on a tool prof without recourse.
Want to play a healer, oh you have go Hermit, so give up a skill for religion that you may not have wanted on a Druid. Rather make up a new Background, Veterinarian take Wis/Con, Healer Feat and the Medicine plus Handle Animal Skill.
Fair enough esampson, but I think our points are the same: optimizing (no mater what skills for what species/class) can take the challenge out of it.
I get what you’re saying too Taenx, but at the same time you don’t want a character to be too powerful or worse have everything. DnD (for the most part) is meant to be a team game. Also, what you can do sais a lot about you, so you don’t want to be complex in that regard (in my opinion.)
Remember too there is the option to make homebrew classes. I’m not sure what limits they have, but I don’t know if there is a limit to how powerful you can make them (having multiple starting feats for example.) I realize it’s bot the same as having something ironed out by the developers, but you could come up with something more fun! You never know…
No. A homebrew background using the DMG rules can only give 1 Origin Feat.
Three Abilities that can receive bonuses.
One Origin Feat
Two Skill Proficiencies (though you can have a list to chose from for each one)
One Tool Proficiency (again, it can be chosen from a list)
50 GP of equipment, plus unspent gold that should not include Martial Weapons or Armor. Players can chose to skip that package and just take the 50 GP.
I suppose to be absolutely technically correct, you aren't suppose to have lists to chose from for the Proficiencies, but the normal backgrounds do, and given that this is a custom background for a specific character it doesn't really matter.
I suppose to be absolutely technically correct, you aren't suppose to have lists to chose from for the Proficiencies, but the normal backgrounds do, and given that this is a custom background for a specific character it doesn't really matter.
None of the core backgrounds actually provide a list. There are a few that provide a choice of Artisan Tool, Musical Instrument, or Gaming Set, but I don't really consider that a list.
That said, I am not a fan of the 2024 backpeddling so we give a choice of origin feat and all six attributes. I expect this to be RAW with an update to "Customized Origin" from Tasha's. Until then, it's house rules.
The only real “remedy” to this is to add things like feats, ASI and gold manually in the character viewer. It does take the feel out of the game more though.
The reason why i hate backgrounds is because they limit backstory opportunities (you can choose a background that doesn’t apply to your backstory but it won’t make sense)
You can always alter the details of Background narrative however you like as suggested;
It is also possible to male homebrew backgrounds, but I feel like mine is close enough to what I’m going for (even if it and my species are older ones.) Honestly though, I’m not quite sure what I’d do for a new character at this point. Probably one of the boring generic ones if I had to.
The point is I understand where you are coming from.
New backgrounds can be created using the rules for Creating a Background in the DM's Toolbox of the DMG. While this is technically the purview of the DM I have not had a problem with any DMs disallowing my creations (and players are allowed to create custom backgrounds for Adventurers League).
Of course I would recommend speaking with your DM first and creating a background that feels cohesive rather than just an excuse to grab certain specific abilities, but I doubt that most DMs would even blink an eye if you created a background identical to Soldier, except you took the feat of Tough instead of Savage Attacker.
Creating your own background prior to 5.5 was more of an issue since each background had its own special thing. Now they have an Origin Feat which might be shared between multiple backgrounds and which can always be taken by anyone when they hit level 4, so it's really not a big deal.
e.g., For a character I am currently playing I created the 'Dwarven Soldier' background. It was essentially identical to Soldier, but I swapped out Tough for Savage Attacker and a choice of tools to have proficiency in (Smith's Tools, Brewer's Tools) instead of a gaming set.
That one makes sense. I rolled a soldier Barbarian back during the 14 rules, so when we updated i felt kind of stuck with it. If i could have rerolled knowing not just about starting feats in 2024 but the campaign and my origin town I would have certainly chosen farmer. But such is the game.
But yeah, you gotta be careful you’re not just taking tough with thieves tools and perception/stealth. That’s just game breaking!
Not all that game breaking. If was truly game breaking then I promise you that you would see a massive number of Rogues with the Farmer background.
The real issue with a 'grab bag' background is that it conveys a bad message (I'm only interested in 'winning') and you probably don't want to be conveying that message while asking for a favor.
The provided backgrounds aren't about what you get, they are about what you give up. Basically you have to decide whether you are giving up your desired stats, skills origin feat or tool proficiency.
Say you want MI Wizard on your Paladin you have to give up stats, skill choice or race.
Might even force you to double up on a tool prof without recourse.
Want to play a healer, oh you have go Hermit, so give up a skill for religion that you may not have wanted on a Druid. Rather make up a new Background, Veterinarian take Wis/Con, Healer Feat and the Medicine plus Handle Animal Skill.
Fair enough esampson, but I think our points are the same: optimizing (no mater what skills for what species/class) can take the challenge out of it.
I get what you’re saying too Taenx, but at the same time you don’t want a character to be too powerful or worse have everything. DnD (for the most part) is meant to be a team game. Also, what you can do sais a lot about you, so you don’t want to be complex in that regard (in my opinion.)
Remember too there is the option to make homebrew classes. I’m not sure what limits they have, but I don’t know if there is a limit to how powerful you can make them (having multiple starting feats for example.) I realize it’s bot the same as having something ironed out by the developers, but you could come up with something more fun! You never know…
Good luck!
No. A homebrew background using the DMG rules can only give 1 Origin Feat.
I suppose to be absolutely technically correct, you aren't suppose to have lists to chose from for the Proficiencies, but the normal backgrounds do, and given that this is a custom background for a specific character it doesn't really matter.
None of the core backgrounds actually provide a list. There are a few that provide a choice of Artisan Tool, Musical Instrument, or Gaming Set, but I don't really consider that a list.
That said, I am not a fan of the 2024 backpeddling so we give a choice of origin feat and all six attributes. I expect this to be RAW with an update to "Customized Origin" from Tasha's. Until then, it's house rules.
How to add Tooltips.
My houserulings.
Wow. That does kind of stink a little.
The only real “remedy” to this is to add things like feats, ASI and gold manually in the character viewer. It does take the feel out of the game more though.