Hi all. Newbie home brewer here.

I'm trying to home brew a private character background for my own campaign that gives a character the ability to cast a spell. I want this spell to be available to characters with this background no matter what their class is. Sort of like what you can do with races, and something I have done successfully with a cantrip for a home brew variant human race.

Specifically, I am trying to add the 1st level Ceremony spell from Xanathar's as a benefit of the background. I have bought access to the spell and only want to use privately. I am able to select the spell when creating the background. It even shows up in the description of the background, but the spell doesn't appear in my test characters' spell lists.

What am I missing?

Spells added via backgrounds only get added to class spell lists. In other words if a wizard has a background that adds cure wounds, that wizard can learn the spell the same as any other wizard spell (but isn't known automatically), but a monk with the same background doesn't have a spell list and therefore doesn't learn the spell.

What you need to do is put the spell on a feat or item, so the non-casters can use it.

Thanks DxJxC. That was the next thing I was going to try, using the Variant Human option so players can choose to start characters with this spell, which was my intention in using a background.

Interesting idea about using an item, that could be useful.

Thanks again.