Creating a Character in One D&D Part II

Our previous article discussed how OneD&D has altered and added removed races. Today, we will look at character backgrounds, which are no longer a minor part of character creation. Backgrounds have undergone a radical change, becoming a significant part of building your hero. For those that play Pathfinder 2, you'll see several similarities. 

The playtest material contains three different methods for creating your background. You can build a Background by using the rules in the "Build Your Background" section, choose from one of the pre-made backgrounds, or tailor an existing background to fulfill your heart's desires. It goes on to say that your choices should be based on how your character views the world and themselves. Those of us that spend a decent amount of time creating a backstory already do this. Now you are almost required to spend time thinking about who your character was before becoming an adventurer. You could decide to pick some pre-packaged vanilla background just to get the stats, but I urge you to use this opportunity to flesh out your character. Putting down on paper what drives them, what flaws they have, and where they see themselves in the future brings your character to life.

Using a pre-made background is relatively self-explanatory, so let's focus on building your own background. Here's the list of things you'll need to come up with to make a complete background:

Background Features Ability Scores. When you determine your character's ability scores, choose two, and increase one by 2 and the other by 1. Alternatively, choose three ability scores, and increase each of them by 1. 

This is easily the most significant change in D&D in a long time. Removing ability score bonuses from your pick of race is a sensitive topic. The luggage that comes with ability score increases by race is well detailed. Removing ability score penalties based on race happened a few editions back. Honestly, I think that had less to do with subtle racism than wanting to make characters start off as powerful heroes. I understand why the creators have now eliminated ability score increases, and even though I don't necessarily agree with it, the change is a good one, and I'll embrace it.

As we discussed, picking your race is still an essential part of the game. Each race has valuable features, whether they are something as simple as gaining darkvision to being able to breathe a 15-foot cone of acid. Now you aren't "forced" to pick your race to increase the ability scores that worked best for your character class. Nothing prevented you from playing a gnome barbarian, but people would complain that you weren't optimizing your character. It's a silly argument since you should always play what you want. It will all work out in the end.

Let's get back on topic. You'd want to think about what you did in your previous life and choose your increases accordingly. A Sage having a +2 Intelligence and +1 Wisdom fits with the theme of the background. Once again, it's important to remember that you should always play how you want. A Gladiator background typically comes with +2 Strength and +1 Constitution ability bonuses. Does that mean you can't play a wizard? Of course not. Your Gladiator could have studied the arcane arts when they weren't in the fighting pits and, upon retirement, dedicated themselves full time to their new passion.

Skill Proficiencies. Choose two Skills. Your character gains Proficiency in them. 

Tool Proficiency. Choose one tool. Your character gains Tool Proficiency with it. 

There aren't any changes to the Skill Proficiencies part of one's background; you get two, as every background did in the 5th edition. Most backgrounds granted a character a tool proficiency, but not all of them. That playing field is now balanced, and you can choose whether you want to play the lute or become an expert in alchemy. 

Language. Choose one language from the Standard Languages and Rare Languages tables (these appear later in the document). Your character knows that language. 

There are now two sets of languages, standard and rare. I have never understood the fascination with languages in D&D. It's not that I don't understand the concept of how language works, but why it seemingly has so much importance in the game. I've never run into a situation where the party could not converse with a creature, regardless of what languages they were able to speak/write. I'm not saying it should be as simple as everyone speaks common because that makes no sense, but it's like encumbrance. You never think about it until the DM asks you, and there's always a workaround.

Feat. Choose one 1st-level Feat. Your character gains that Feat. 

This replaces the Background Feature trait, and it's a bold move. Gaining a feat is no longer limited to having to play a variant human because everyone gets one. This also continues the trend of characters being superheroes right out of the gate. Feats are pretty powerful at lower levels. They lose some of their 'oomph' as you level up, but I'm not complaining about by +4 Initiative bonus at the 10th level via the Alert feat I took at character creation. 

Note: Feats will be undergoing some changes. If you look closely at the existing feats in the UA, you'll see they are listed as 1st level feats. One can only conclude we'll see other feats of higher level down the road. How that will work and if higher-level feats will have requirements remains to be seen. I suggest looking at how feats work in PF2. I think that is the direction OneD&D is headed in, but probably in a more simplistic fashion.

Equipment. Your character gains 50 GP to spend on starting equipment. The character keeps any unspent GP as spare coin.

I always bought my own equipment. Now, everyone is encouraged to do the same. Saving a silver piece here and a gold piece there can make a difference at the beginning of the game. Let someone else lug 50 feet of rope around and save yourself the coin. Any smaller items come standard in various equipment packs you don't need. 

Now that we know the requirements, we'll examine an existing background and create one of our own based on the above conditions. First is the Criminal, one of the backgrounds included in the UA.

CRIMINAL
Ability Scores: +2 Dexterity, +1 Intelligence
Skill Proficiencies: Sleight of Hand, Stealth 
Tool Proficiency: Thieves' Tools 
Language: Thieves Cant 
Feat: Alert 

You learned to earn your coin in dark alleyways, cutting purses or burgling shops. Perhaps you were part of a small gang of like-minded wrongdoers, who looked out for each other. Or maybe you were a lone wolf, fending for yourself against the local thieves' guild and older, more fearsome lawbreakers. 

Equipment: Crowbar, Dagger (2), Pouch (2), Thieves' Tools, Traveler's Clothes, 16 GP

Overall, I'd say this is a good background build, given what information we currently have to work with. Apparently, there are no stupid criminals in D&D since the background grants a +1 bonus to Intelligence. All joking aside, it does make sense since Investigation is a crucial skill in their line of work. Wisdom would also work here, depending on your character class and expectations. Skill Proficiencies previously included Deception, which was dropped and replaced with Sleight of Hand. Not a huge fan of this, but both work.

Thieves' tools are the only Tool Proficiency for the Criminal background, whereas it also had gaming tools in this category. If you have to drop one, gaming tools are the obvious choice. Thieves' cant is your language. Again, it's a no-brainer. The Criminal Feat is Alert. The options are limited, so Alert is the best fit, given your choices. I can see this changing down the road as more feats are added. Finally, your equipment includes the tools of the trade for any criminal, with enough gold left over to buy whatever odds and ends you think your character needs.

Now, let's make our own background.

BLACKSMITH
Ability Scores: +2 Strength, +1 Intelligence 
Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, History
Tool Proficiency: Smith's Tools
Language: Dwarvis
Feat: Durable

You spent your younger years as an apprentice. Perhaps you studied under your father or maybe with a local guild member. You can twist and mold metal to your will using a hammer and forge. Building weapons, armor, and shields are your stock and trade, paying the bills and allowing you to afford a decent life. Your craft has also given you a deep understanding of metals, rivaling that of the dwarves you work, trade, and compare notes with.

Equipment: Smith's tools, a sledgehammer, a tinderbox, block and tackle, a crowbar, a set of common clothes, 24 gp

Looking at the background build, the first thing that stands out is the +1 Intelligence as the secondary ability score boost. Some people will argue that Constitution would be a better fit. I agree Constitution would work here, but I went Intelligence because a blacksmith needs to also have a great deal of knowledge about his materials and the creativity to craft more complex items. If you jump down, you'll see that the blacksmith has the Durable Feat, which increases Constitution, making the above argument a bit less effective. The rest of the build is self-explanatory. Any other language works here if your character's race is a dwarf.  

Some people will enjoy the new emphasis on backgrounds, and others will hate it. If you enjoy developing your own personal background, I say great. Enjoy yourself and create a rich and detailed background of what your character did before becoming an adventurer. For those of you that are totally against it, there's nothing to say you can keep playing the 5th edition.

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