D&D (2024) D&D Background and Origin Feat Article

Chaosmancer

Legend
Just popped onto reddit, saw this posted, didn't see anyone else making a thread on it yet.


The parts of the background seem exactly like we've been told.
  • Ability Score improvements
  • Origin feat
  • two skill profs
  • one tool prof
  • Either 50 gp to buy your own stuff, or a pre-selected list of items
We know there are 16 options, and we are told the names and some blurbs about them
  • Acolyte
  • Charlatan
  • Artisan
  • Criminal
  • Entertainer
  • Guard
  • Farmer
  • Guide
  • Hermit
  • Noble
  • Merchant
  • Sage
  • Sailor
  • Soldier
  • Scribe
  • Wayfarer
They briefly touch on old backgrounds and how they will work, then tell us about the origin feats. Which include

Alert: Add your Proficiency Bonus when you roll Initiative. Can also swap your Initiative with a willing ally in the same combat.

Crafter: Gain proficiency with three different sets of Artisan’s Tools. Gain a 20 percent discount on nonmagical items. Can craft an item from a Fast Crafting table, which lasts until you finish another Long Rest.

Healer: When you Utilize a Healer’s Kit as an action, a creature can expend one Hit Dice to heal. Your Proficiency Bonus is added to the roll. When you roll to determine Hit Points when healing with this feature or a spell, you can reroll the dice if it rolls a 1. You must use the new roll.

Lucky: After finishing a Long Rest, you have a number of Luck Points equal to your Proficiency Bonus. You can expend one when you make a D20 Test to give yourself Advantage. You can also expend one to impose Disadvantage when a creature rolls a d20 to make an attack roll against you.

Magic Initiate: You gain two cantrips and one level 1 spell from the Cleric, Druid, or Wizard spell list, and can replace them with another spell of the same level from the same list when you gain a level. You choose Wisdom, Intelligence, or Charisma as your spellcasting modifier for these spells when you take this feat. You can cast these spells once per Long Rest without expending a spell slot, and can cast them again using spell slots.

This feat can be taken more than once, but you must choose a different spell list each time.

Musician: You gain proficiency with three musical instruments of your choice. At the end of a Short or Long Rest, you may play the instrument and grant Heroic Inspiration to a number of allies equal to your Proficiency Bonus.

Savage Attacker: Once per turn, when you hit a target with an attack, you can reroll the damage dice and use either roll against the target.

Skilled: You gain proficiency in any combination of three skills or tools of your choice. You can take this feat more than once.

Tavern Brawler: When you hit with an Unarmed Strike you can deal 1d4 + your Strength modifier. If the damage dice for your Unarmed Strikes roll is a 1, you can reroll it and must use the new roll. You have proficiency with improvised weapons. Once per turn, when you hit a creature with an Unarmed Strike as part of the Attack action, in addition to dealing damage, you can push the target 5 feet away from you.

Tough: When you first gain this Origin feat, your Hit Point maximum increases by twice your character level. Thereafter, your Hit Point maximum increases by 2 each time you level up.


Crafter tells us about the existence of a fast crafting table, that looks fascinating and useful. Healer allows an action heal using the targets HD, that's awesome and really welcome. Skilled allows for tools which can be interesting, especially if you take skilled and crafter.

Rest look to be about what we expected.
 

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Lucky: After finishing a Long Rest, you have a number of Luck Points equal to your Proficiency Bonus. You can expend one when you make a D20 Test to give yourself Advantage. You can also expend one to impose Disadvantage when a creature rolls a d20 to make an attack roll against you.

Whoever designs this nonsense needs to actually play at a table with all this fiddly order of operations garbage. As written, you should be imposing disadvantage before they roll. Meaning you announce the target of Buttwhipper the Mighty, the guy with lucky will stare at you blankly, then as soon as it's a hit will whine to use it retroactively.

Either make it reroll after the fact and balance accordingly or ditch that aspect to speed up table flow.

Same goes for any "after the roll but before the outcome is known" crap.

Tavern Brawler is some serious weaksauce. Gimme the BG3 version lol.

Kind of tempted to remove Tough as an option. I feel almost everyone is going to take that at my table.
 
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Whoever designs this nonsense needs to actually play at a table with all this fiddly order of operations garbage. As written, you should be imposing disadvantage before they roll. Meaning you announce the target of Buttwhipper the Mighty, the guy with lucky will stare at you blankly, then as soon as it's a hit will whine to use it retroactively.

Either make it reroll after the fact and balance accordingly or ditch that aspect to speed up table flow.

Same goes for any "after the roll but before the outcome is known" crap.

Tavern Brawler is some serious weaksauce. Gimme the BG3 version lol.

Kind of tempted to remove Tough as an option. I feel almost everyone is going to take that at my table.
This is not the actual text of the book. So don't complain about order of operations stuff until we actually see the text.
 

Whoever designs this nonsense needs to actually play at a table with all this fiddly order of operations garbage. As written, you should be imposing disadvantage before they roll. Meaning you announce the target of Buttwhipper the Mighty, the guy with lucky will stare at you blankly, then as soon as it's a hit will whine to use it retroactively.

Either make it reroll after the fact and balance accordingly or ditch that aspect to speed up table flow.

Same goes for any "after the roll but before the outcome is known" crap.

Tavern Brawler is some serious weaksauce. Gimme the BG3 version lol.

Kind of tempted to remove Tough as an option. I feel almost everyone is going to take that at my table.
If the guy with Lucky can't be bothered to remember their own feat, I'm not doing it for them.
 

If the guy with Lucky can't be bothered to remember their own feat, I'm not doing it for them.
I agree, but it interrupts the flow. I'd prefer to not have to pause to give the opportunity, which is what this would require. IMO, its a negative play experience for the table. I often have 4 adults and a couple of kids around 10 years old at the game, so do everything I can to speed up play.
 

The much debated Lightly Armored is NOT on the list of Origin feats. So that's one side of the debate happy. I have to presume that it still exists in some form as a General feat. But I have to wonder what form it will take and what ASI is attached to it. If it's just Str or Dex, for example, it's going to be a lot harder for a Blade Pact Warlock to take it.
 

Has anything been stated about customizing backgrounds? I glanced thru the article but didn't see that confirmed anywhere

Obviously it is easy to just allow customized backgrounds (which I would definitely do as a DM), but I'm mostly curious whether it's in the official rules since that probably determines whether DND Beyond character creation will support it
 


Has anything been stated about customizing backgrounds? I glanced thru the article but didn't see that confirmed anywhere

Obviously it is easy to just allow customized backgrounds (which I would definitely do as a DM), but I'm mostly curious whether it's in the official rules since that probably determines whether DND Beyond character creation will support it
This is a PHB preview, snd Background customization was confirmed for the DMG
 


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