Traits are the abilities that you get from your race. All tabaxi are naturally stealthy and perceptive, this is on top of the skills they get from their class and their background.
Rollback Post to RevisionRollBack
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
also when it comes to subraces - (not including traits that physically change the character) is it possible to turn them into backgrounds?? or would the trait gains mess things up?
RAW, racial traits and background features are not interchangeable. In point of fact, most background features before they decided to make the transition to using feats with them were very soft features that didn't interact with core game mechanics the way most racial traits do.
RAW, racial traits and background features are not interchangeable.
if possible, could you please direct me to this part??
also what would you consider the core game mechanics to be or is there a list somewhere?? (personally havent played a game yet - mainly just enjoying the creative/learning aspects for now)
was thinking along the lines of: (since it seems to be something learnable rather the inherent that it might fit into backgrounds rather then racial traits - if that makes sense ) Background: stablehand you grew up handling animals at a local stable, You gain proficiency in the animal handling skill
RAW, racial traits and background features are not interchangeable.
if possible, could you please direct me to this part??
also what would you consider the core game mechanics to be or is there a list somewhere?? (personally havent played a game yet - mainly just enjoying the creative/learning aspects for now)
was thinking along the lines of: (since it seems to be something learnable rather the inherent that it might fit into backgrounds rather then racial traits - if that makes sense ) Background: stablehand you grew up handling animals at a local stable, You gain proficiency in the animal handling skill
At present Backgrounds are- in mechanical terms- two skill proficiencies, some combination of two tool proficiencies, vehicle proficiencies, or languages, and either a soft feature typically involving social interactions or knowledge or- as of maybe two years ago now- a specific feat. Based on what we've seen, the upcoming update is dropping the fixed templates and soft features and just tells you to pick your skills and tools/vehicles/languages and take a feat (a bit lacking in the flavor area compared to the templates, but background feature implementation in play has always been spotty, so I can see why they decided to shift to something more concrete).
Based on what we've seen, the upcoming update is dropping the fixed templates and soft features and just tells you to pick your skills and tools/vehicles/languages and take a feat (a bit lacking in the flavor area compared to the templates, but background feature implementation in play has always been spotty, so I can see why they decided to shift to something more concrete).
This is already how the DnD Beyond character creator works, you pick any 2 skills you want, and then either 2 tools, 2 languages, or 1 tool / 1 language. Then name your background whatever you want to call it.
So just select your race and class skill proficiencies first since those are either defined or limited lists to pick from, then pick any remaining 2 that you want as your background
What is the purpose of “moving” proficiencies gained from a racial trait to a background? I don’t understand what you’re trying to achieve? Normally you would get the proficiencies from all sources (class, race & subrace, and background).
was thinking of putting together a custom race and background so looked over the races i got access to for a rough layout/template to what goes where thats where some of the subraces and backgrounds started to seem similar and confused me a little
was trying to work of the following (a guess of whats needed so far... any suggestions would be appreciated) ------------ Ability Score Increase: +2 (eg. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.) Age: Alignment: Size: (eg. Your size is Small.) Speed: (eg. Your base walking speed is 30 feet) ------------- Racial Traits (eg. physical features: long-limbed, equine build, claws, etc..) 1 - 6 (4 being the average) -------------- Sub-Racial Traits (eg. physical features: long-limbed, equine build, claws, etc.. - and/or background??) Ability Score Increase: +1 (eg. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.) 1 - 3 (3 being the average) -------------- Racial Languages 1 or 2 (1 being the average) -------------- Background -------------------- Ability Score Bonus: (unsure about - maybe a +1) Skill Proficiencies: (eg. skills learnt: survival, animal handling, etc.. ) 1 or 2 (2 being the average) ------------------- Tool Proficiencies: (eg. eguipment: smiths, woodcarvers, leatherworkers, etc.. ) 1 ------------------- Background Languages 1 or 2 (1 being the average) --------------
Age is now standardized to approximately 100 years same as humans.
Alignment is no longer a racial trait at all.
Languages have been standardized to Common + 1.
Ability Score increases have been standardized to either (+2/+1), or (+1/+1/+1) player’s choices.
Speed and Size remain the same
All other racial traits have been standardized to 4 total.
For Backgrounds
2 Skill Proficiencies
2 total proficiencies in any combination of languag(es) and/or tool(s)
1 feat
The feat in the background seems iffy. Backgrounds usually don’t give a feat except two settings, that I recall: Strixhaven and Dragonlance. One D&D (and the upcoming 2024 PHB) has a feat as part of the background but it is a curated list of 1st level specific feats.
Age is now standardized to approximately 100 years same as humans.
Alignment is no longer a racial trait at all.
Languages have been standardized to Common + 1.
Ability Score increases have been standardized to either (+2/+1), or (+1/+1/+1) player’s choices.
Speed and Size remain the same
All other racial traits have been standardized to 4 total.
For Backgrounds
2 Skill Proficiencies
2 total proficiencies in any combination of languag(es) and/or tool(s)
1 feat
The feat in the background seems iffy. Backgrounds usually don’t give a feat except two settings, that I recall: Strixhaven and Dragonlance. One D&D (and the upcoming 2024 PHB) has a feat as part of the background but it is a curated list of 1st level specific feats.
But I could be mistaken.
Also the Bigby's and Planescape backgrounds. Basically as of Strixhaven they've used a feat instead of a soft feature for new published backgrounds.
Age is now standardized to approximately 100 years same as humans.
Alignment is no longer a racial trait at all.
Languages have been standardized to Common + 1.
Ability Score increases have been standardized to either (+2/+1), or (+1/+1/+1) player’s choices.
Speed and Size remain the same
All other racial traits have been standardized to 4 total.
For Backgrounds
2 Skill Proficiencies
2 total proficiencies in any combination of languag(es) and/or tool(s)
1 feat
The feat in the background seems iffy. Backgrounds usually don’t give a feat except two settings, that I recall: Strixhaven and Dragonlance. One D&D (and the upcoming 2024 PHB) has a feat as part of the background but it is a curated list of 1st level specific feats.
But I could be mistaken.
Also the Bigby's and Planescape backgrounds. Basically as of Strixhaven they've used a feat instead of a soft feature for new published backgrounds.
I never got into any of those books, Strixhaven, Dragonlance, Bigby’s or Planescape so am curious if they have defined feats for the backgrounds (I recall from videos that Strixhaven had its own feat you could choose with the background) or are they open to all published feats? The popularity of vHuman and Custom Lineage were to pick up feats like GWM, SS, XBow Expert, etc. if all these new backgrounds do the same then vHuman and Custom Lineage are that much stronger.
Age is now standardized to approximately 100 years same as humans.
Alignment is no longer a racial trait at all.
Languages have been standardized to Common + 1.
Ability Score increases have been standardized to either (+2/+1), or (+1/+1/+1) player’s choices.
Speed and Size remain the same
All other racial traits have been standardized to 4 total.
For Backgrounds
2 Skill Proficiencies
2 total proficiencies in any combination of languag(es) and/or tool(s)
1 feat
The feat in the background seems iffy. Backgrounds usually don’t give a feat except two settings, that I recall: Strixhaven and Dragonlance. One D&D (and the upcoming 2024 PHB) has a feat as part of the background but it is a curated list of 1st level specific feats.
But I could be mistaken.
Also the Bigby's and Planescape backgrounds. Basically as of Strixhaven they've used a feat instead of a soft feature for new published backgrounds.
I never got into any of those books, Strixhaven, Dragonlance, Bigby’s or Planescape so am curious if they have defined feats for the backgrounds (I recall from videos that Strixhaven had its own feat you could choose with the background) or are they open to all published feats? The popularity of vHuman and Custom Lineage were to pick up feats like GWM, SS, XBow Expert, etc. if all these new backgrounds do the same then vHuman and Custom Lineage are that much stronger.
They all specify particular feats from the books that are associated with the backgrounds.
Age is now standardized to approximately 100 years same as humans.
Alignment is no longer a racial trait at all.
Languages have been standardized to Common + 1.
Ability Score increases have been standardized to either (+2/+1), or (+1/+1/+1) player’s choices.
Speed and Size remain the same
All other racial traits have been standardized to 4 total.
For Backgrounds
2 Skill Proficiencies
2 total proficiencies in any combination of languag(es) and/or tool(s)
1 feat
The feat in the background seems iffy. Backgrounds usually don’t give a feat except two settings, that I recall: Strixhaven and Dragonlance. One D&D (and the upcoming 2024 PHB) has a feat as part of the background but it is a curated list of 1st level specific feats.
But I could be mistaken.
Also the Bigby's and Planescape backgrounds. Basically as of Strixhaven they've used a feat instead of a soft feature for new published backgrounds.
I never got into any of those books, Strixhaven, Dragonlance, Bigby’s or Planescape so am curious if they have defined feats for the backgrounds (I recall from videos that Strixhaven had its own feat you could choose with the background) or are they open to all published feats? The popularity of vHuman and Custom Lineage were to pick up feats like GWM, SS, XBow Expert, etc. if all these new backgrounds do the same then vHuman and Custom Lineage are that much stronger.
They all specify particular feats from the books that are associated with the backgrounds.
Yes. But they each include a feat. That’s all I wrote. I didn’t get into specifics is all.
They all specify particular feats from the books that are associated with the backgrounds.
looking through the UA character origins and so far the pilgrams "healer" feat and the sailors "tavern brawler" feat interest me the most - atleast for what i had in mind also wished they included a kobold or bugbear to see how they might change as a species (or if they lineages)
in other news my critter is slowly coming along, currently questioning if: 1. fey ancestry is needed for a species that comes from the feywild?? or if its optional 2. if there are other (fun/negative) traits like sunlight sensitivity?? or if species can even have sunlight sensitivity....
Fey ancestry is not required for all species that come from the feywild, the centaur, changeling, fairy, and satyr species are all Fey, and none of them have Fey Ancestry.
Most players hate traits like Sunlight Sensitivity, that’s why it got dropped from the kobold species when they redid it.
thats unfortunate - quite liked the concept of sunlight sensitivity (seemed like a reasonable trade for darkvision) but then again never played a game so unsure how impactful it actually was
might be a silly question (2 parts)
but whats the difference between a racial trait and a skill proficiencies from backgrounds??
was looking at tabaxi and noticed their trait "cats talent" basically just gave proficiency in 2 skills
Cat’s Talent
You have proficiency in the Perception and Stealth skills.
so i was wondering if a trait can be moved to backgrounds if it only gives proficiency in a skill (or two)??
Traits are the abilities that you get from your race. All tabaxi are naturally stealthy and perceptive, this is on top of the skills they get from their class and their background.
Find your own truth, choose your enemies carefully, and never deal with a dragon.
"Canon" is what's factual to D&D lore. "Cannon" is what you're going to be shot with if you keep getting the word wrong.
thank you
also when it comes to subraces - (not including traits that physically change the character)
is it possible to turn them into backgrounds?? or would the trait gains mess things up?
RAW, racial traits and background features are not interchangeable. In point of fact, most background features before they decided to make the transition to using feats with them were very soft features that didn't interact with core game mechanics the way most racial traits do.
if possible, could you please direct me to this part??
also what would you consider the core game mechanics to be or is there a list somewhere?? (personally havent played a game yet - mainly just enjoying the creative/learning aspects for now)
was thinking along the lines of: (since it seems to be something learnable rather the inherent that it might fit into backgrounds rather then racial traits - if that makes sense )
Background: stablehand
you grew up handling animals at a local stable, You gain proficiency in the animal
handling skill
https://www.dndbeyond.com/sources/basic-rules/personality-and-background#Backgrounds
At present Backgrounds are- in mechanical terms- two skill proficiencies, some combination of two tool proficiencies, vehicle proficiencies, or languages, and either a soft feature typically involving social interactions or knowledge or- as of maybe two years ago now- a specific feat. Based on what we've seen, the upcoming update is dropping the fixed templates and soft features and just tells you to pick your skills and tools/vehicles/languages and take a feat (a bit lacking in the flavor area compared to the templates, but background feature implementation in play has always been spotty, so I can see why they decided to shift to something more concrete).
This is already how the DnD Beyond character creator works, you pick any 2 skills you want, and then either 2 tools, 2 languages, or 1 tool / 1 language. Then name your background whatever you want to call it.
So just select your race and class skill proficiencies first since those are either defined or limited lists to pick from, then pick any remaining 2 that you want as your background
What is the purpose of “moving” proficiencies gained from a racial trait to a background? I don’t understand what you’re trying to achieve? Normally you would get the proficiencies from all sources (class, race & subrace, and background).
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
was thinking of putting together a custom race and background so looked over the races i got access to for a rough layout/template to what goes where
thats where some of the subraces and backgrounds started to seem similar and confused me a little
was trying to work of the following (a guess of whats needed so far... any suggestions would be appreciated)
------------
Ability Score Increase: +2 (eg. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.)
Age:
Alignment:
Size: (eg. Your size is Small.)
Speed: (eg. Your base walking speed is 30 feet)
-------------
Racial Traits (eg. physical features: long-limbed, equine build, claws, etc..)
1 - 6 (4 being the average)
--------------
Sub-Racial Traits (eg. physical features: long-limbed, equine build, claws, etc.. - and/or background??)
Ability Score Increase: +1 (eg. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.)
1 - 3 (3 being the average)
--------------
Racial Languages
1 or 2 (1 being the average)
--------------
Background
--------------------
Ability Score Bonus: (unsure about - maybe a +1)
Skill Proficiencies: (eg. skills learnt: survival, animal handling, etc.. )
1 or 2 (2 being the average)
-------------------
Tool Proficiencies: (eg. eguipment: smiths, woodcarvers, leatherworkers, etc.. )
1
-------------------
Background Languages
1 or 2 (1 being the average)
--------------
The current standard is different than that.
For Races
For Backgrounds
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
this helps alot - thank you
Happy to help.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
The feat in the background seems iffy. Backgrounds usually don’t give a feat except two settings, that I recall: Strixhaven and Dragonlance. One D&D (and the upcoming 2024 PHB) has a feat as part of the background but it is a curated list of 1st level specific feats.
But I could be mistaken.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
Also the Bigby's and Planescape backgrounds. Basically as of Strixhaven they've used a feat instead of a soft feature for new published backgrounds.
I never got into any of those books, Strixhaven, Dragonlance, Bigby’s or Planescape so am curious if they have defined feats for the backgrounds (I recall from videos that Strixhaven had its own feat you could choose with the background) or are they open to all published feats? The popularity of vHuman and Custom Lineage were to pick up feats like GWM, SS, XBow Expert, etc. if all these new backgrounds do the same then vHuman and Custom Lineage are that much stronger.
EZD6 by DM Scotty
https://www.drivethrurpg.com/en/product/397599/EZD6-Core-Rulebook?
They all specify particular feats from the books that are associated with the backgrounds.
Yes. But they each include a feat. That’s all I wrote. I didn’t get into specifics is all.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
looking through the UA character origins and so far
the pilgrams "healer" feat and the sailors "tavern brawler" feat interest me the most - atleast for what i had in mind
also wished they included a kobold or bugbear to see how they might change as a species (or if they lineages)
in other news
my critter is slowly coming along, currently questioning if:
1. fey ancestry is needed for a species that comes from the feywild?? or if its optional
2. if there are other (fun/negative) traits like sunlight sensitivity?? or if species can even have sunlight sensitivity....
Fey ancestry is not required for all species that come from the feywild, the centaur, changeling, fairy, and satyr species are all Fey, and none of them have Fey Ancestry.
Most players hate traits like Sunlight Sensitivity, that’s why it got dropped from the kobold species when they redid it.
Creating Epic Boons on DDB
DDB Buyers' Guide
Hardcovers, DDB & You
Content Troubleshooting
sweet if its not required - away it goes :)
thats unfortunate - quite liked the concept of sunlight sensitivity (seemed like a reasonable trade for darkvision)
but then again never played a game so unsure how impactful it actually was