Mechanical Design

Backgrounds: ADHD SRD (System Reference Document)

Every story has a beginning. Your character’s background reveals where you came from, how you became an adventurer, and your place in the world. Your fighter might have been a courageous knight or a grizzled soldier. Your wizard could have been a sage or an artisan. Your rogue might have gotten by as a guild thief or commanded audiences as a jester.

 

Choosing a background provides you with important story cues about your character’s identity. The most important question to ask about your background is what changed? Why did you stop doing whatever your background describes and start adventuring? Where did you get the money to purchase your starting gear, or, if you come from a wealthy background, why don’t you have more money? How did you learn the skills of your class? What sets you apart from ordinary people who share your background?

 

The sample background in this chapter provides both concrete benefits (features, proficiencies, and languages) and roleplaying suggestions.

Proficiencies

Each background gives a character proficiency in two skills. In addition, most backgrounds give a character proficiency with one or more tools. If a character would gain the same proficiency from two different sources, he or she can choose a different proficiency of the same kind (skill or tool) instead.

Additional Languages

Some backgrounds also allow characters to learn additional languages beyond those given by race.

Equipment

Each background provides a package of starting equipment. If you use the optional rule from the Equipment section to spend coin on gear, you do not receive the starting equipment from your background.

Suggested Characteristics

A background contains suggested personal characteristics based on your background. You can pick characteristics, roll dice to determine them randomly, or use the suggestions as inspiration for characteristics of your own creation.

Customizing a Background

You might want to tweak some of the features of a background so it better fits your character or the campaign setting:

Choose Any Two Skills

Choose a Total of Two Tool Proficiencies OR Languages from the sample backgrounds

FIX THIS WRITING

You can either use the equipment package from your background or spend coin on gear as described in the Equipment section. (If you spend coin, you can’t also take the equipment package suggested for your class.) Finally, choose two personality traits, one ideal, one bond, and one flaw. If you can’t find a feature that matches your desired background, work with your DM to create one.

Written by
Beth the Bard (@ItsBethTheBard)

She/Her | Pro DM & Coach | ADHD | Best-Selling DnD Author of Feminist Curse of Strahd Book | D&D in a Castle DM | Creator of TTRPG University

Related Articles

How to PlayMechanical Design

What is a polyhedral dice set? A guide to the “math rocks” of D&D.

Hey, there! I’m your resident go-to when learning how to play various...

Mechanical Design

Dwarf Traits: Dungeons & Dragons System Reference Document

Need audio instead? Here you go! You can even listen while you...

Game EducationMechanical Design

Elf Traits: Dungeons & Dragons System Reference Document

Need audio instead? Here you go! You can even listen while you...

Mechanical Design

Races & Species: Dungeons & Dragons System Reference Document

Need audio instead? Here you go! You can even listen while you...

Skip to content