Backgrounds (3.5e Variant Rule)

From Dungeons and Dragons Wiki
Revision as of 12:29, 14 July 2019 by Zhenra-Khal (talk | contribs) (Created page with " {{Author |author_name=Zhenra-Khal |date_created=7/14/2019 |status=In Progress }} {{#set:Summary=Give your characters flavorful and useful splashes of abilities, in a Bloodlin...")
(diff) ← Older revision | Latest revision (diff) | Newer revision → (diff)
Jump to: navigation, search


Homebrew.png
Author: Zhenra-Khal (talk)
Date Created: 7/14/2019
Status: In Progress
Editing: Clarity edits only please
ArticleUndiscussed.png
Rate this article
Discuss this article


Backgrounds

Backgrounds are character options for giving your character a bit of depth, some flavorful "dip" abilities, and a sense of both who they were before they started adventuring, and how invested into their skills they were before they took up adventuring.

Backgrounds work like Bloodlines in that they come in three variations, and grant benefits outside of class. The levels of Expertise within a Background are:

  • Novice (Grants abilities at levels 1, 4, 8, 12, 16 and 20; Requires 1 level by level 12)
  • Veteran (Grants abilities at levels 1st and every even-numbered level; Requires 2 levels, by levels 6 and 12)
  • and Master (Grants abilities at every level; Requires 3 levels, by levels 3, 6 and 12)

If you don't take the Background levels by the required levels, you take a 20% penalty to XP gained until you do; However, unlike Bloodlines, each Background has a list of classes you can take a level in instead, called Class Substitutes; Levels in any of these classes count as Bloodline levels for the purposes of determining whether or not you take an XP penalty.

Backgrounds are designed to be used on every character, PC and NPC alike (Though monsters may easily be exempt; Nobody expects every zombie to be a Scholar or every dragon to be a Doctor), and thus will unbalance a character if only one or two PCs have Backgrounds while nobody else does. Likewise, I intend for all Backgrounds to go up to Master level of expertise, though I did allow room for players to choose to invest only a single level into a Background, and homebrewers to create simple Backgrounds with very low ceilings.

List of Backgrounds

Below is a list of Backgrounds existing under this variant rule. Feel free to add your own.


Making New Backgrounds

Below is a template; Simply add a / to this page's link, followed by the name of your Background, copy and paste the template below, and fill it out.


{{author
|author_name= <!-- User name -->
|date_created= <!-- Day Month Year -->
|status= <!-- Work in Progress, Complete -->
|balance=Monk, Fighter, Rogue, Wizard, or Unquantifiable
|isnotuser= I'm not a user<!-- if you have a username for this wiki, delete this parameter-->
}}

<!-- If your page should contain a picture, replace this line with [[File:Picturename.jpg|thumb|right|150px|Insert the caption here.]] -->


=<!--Background Name-->=
'''{{Anchor|Background Type}}:''' <!-- The type(s) of your background (Combat, Magical, Utility, Cultural). -->
'''{{Anchor|Maximum Expertise Level}}:''' <!-- The maximum level of expertise attainable in your background (Novice, Veteran or Master).-->


<!--Background description-->.

==<!--Background Name--> Features==

{| class="zebra d20" style="text-align: left;"
|+ {{Anchor|Table: The <!-- Name --> Background}}
|- style="text-align: center;"
! rowspan="2" | Character<br/>Level || colspan="3" | Abilities Gained
|- style="text-align: center;"
! Novice || Veteran || Master
|- 
| class="right" | 1st || Skills and Proficiencies || Skills and Proficiencies || Skills and Proficiencies, [[#<!-- Feature 1 --> |<!-- Feature 1 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 2nd || — || [[#<!-- Feature 1 --> |<!-- Feature 1 -->]] || [[#<!-- Feature 2 --> |<!-- Feature 2 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 3rd || — || — || [[#<!-- Feature 3 --> |<!-- Feature 3 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 4th || [[#<!-- Feature 1 --> |<!-- Feature 1 -->]] || [[#<!-- Feature 2 --> |<!-- Feature 2 -->]] || [[#<!-- Feature 4 --> |<!-- Feature 4 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 5th || — || — || [[#<!-- Feature 5 --> |<!-- Feature 5 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 6th || — || [[#<!-- Feature 3 --> |<!-- Feature 3 -->]] || [[#<!-- Feature 6 --> |<!-- Feature 6 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 7th || — || — || [[#<!-- Feature 7 --> |<!-- Feature 7 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 8th || [[#<!-- Feature 2 --> |<!-- Feature 2 -->]] || [[#<!-- Feature 4 --> |<!-- Feature 4 -->]] || [[#<!-- Feature 8 --> |<!-- Feature 8 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 9th || — || — || [[#<!-- Feature 9 --> |<!-- Feature 9 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 10th || — || [[#<!-- Feature 5 --> |<!-- Feature 5 -->]] || [[#<!-- Feature 10 --> |<!-- Feature 10 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 11th || — || — || [[#<!-- Feature 11 --> |<!-- Feature 11 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 12th || [[#<!-- Feature 3 --> |<!-- Feature 3 -->]] || [[#<!-- Feature 6 --> |<!-- Feature 6 -->]] || [[#<!-- Feature 12 --> |<!-- Feature 12 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 13th || — || — || [[#<!-- Feature 13 --> |<!-- Feature 13 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 14th || — || [[#<!-- Feature 7 --> |<!-- Feature 7 -->] || [[#<!-- Feature 14 --> |<!-- Feature 14 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 15th || — || — || [[#<!-- Feature 15 --> |<!-- Feature 15 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 16th || [[#<!-- Feature 4 --> |<!-- Feature 4 -->]] || [[#<!-- Feature 8 --> |<!-- Feature 8 -->]] || [[#<!-- Feature 16 --> |<!-- Feature 16 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 17th || — || — || [[#<!-- Feature 17 --> |<!-- Feature 17 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 18th || — || [[#<!-- Feature 9 --> |<!-- Feature 9 -->]] || [[#<!-- Feature 18 --> |<!-- Feature 18 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 19th || — || — || [[#<!-- Feature 19 --> |<!-- Feature 19 -->]]
|- 
| class="right" | 20th || [[#<!-- Feature 5 --> |<!-- Feature 5 -->]] || [[#<!-- Feature 10 --> |<!-- Feature 10 -->]] || [[#<!-- Feature 20 --> |<!-- Feature 20 -->]]
|}

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Name --> Bonus Proficiencies}}:''' At 1st level, you gain bonus proficiency with <!-- Weapons/Armor/Shields/Tools -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Name --> Bonus Class Skills}}:''' The <!--Skill-->, <!--Skill-->, <!--Skill-->, <!--Skill--> and <!--Skill--> skills are always class skills for you.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 1 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 2 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 3 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 4 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 5 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 6 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 7 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 8 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 9 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 10 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 11 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 12 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 13 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 14 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 15 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 16 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 17 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 18 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 19 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

'''{{Anchor|<!-- Feature 20 Name -->}} {{<!--Ex, Su, Sp or Ps, as appropriate-->}}:''' <!-- Feature Description -->.

==<!--Background Name--> Class Substitutes==

Levels in the following classes count as <!--Background Name--> levels for the purposes of avoiding XP penalties: <!--List of valid classes, separated by commas-->.

==Playing a <!--Background Name-->==

===<!--Background Name--> Roleplaying===

<!--Ways to roleplay characters with this background, such as a doctor who's seen it all, or an uptight psychic with a dark past-->.

===<!--Background Name--> Adventures===

<!--Ways to integrate this background into quests, like a scholar questing to find a mythical city, or a beastmaster taking down a cruel zoo-->.

----
{{3.5e Breadcrumb}} → [[3.5e Variant Rules|Variant Rules]] → [[Backgrounds (3.5e Variant Rule) | Backgrounds]]


Back to Main Page3.5e HomebrewVariant Rules

AuthorZhenra-Khal +
Identifier3.5e Variant Rule +
RatingUndiscussed +
SummaryGive your characters flavorful and useful splashes of abilities, in a Bloodline-like form that is basically Gestalt Lite. +
TitleBackgrounds +