D&D 5.5e: Feats and Backgrounds Get Big Changes in the New Core Rulebooks
In D&D 5.5E, there are 75 feats, including ones you’ll get for picking your background. Here’s what we know so far.
Backgrounds in D&D have undergone some pretty big changes since 2014. Following a shift we started to see in some of the later campaign settings and/or adventure books like Strixhaven and Dragonlance, where a background specific to the setting came coupled with a new feat at 1st level, it seems every background will come with a feat now. But, it goes a step further.
Your background won’t just give you a feat. It’ll help set your skills. Your tool proficiencies. Even your ability score modifiers. This rules change echoes the way Pathfinder does their ability scores but is tuned to characters in 5.5E. Here’s a look at what we know from WotC so far.
New Feats and Background Rules in D&D 5.5E
First, the big changes. Backgrounds are now the big final determiner of your ability scores. You’ll still have the +2/+1 or +1/+1/+1 options folks might be used to from Tasha’s Cauldron. But instead of doing that to any stat, each background will give you a list of three stats to pick from.
As you can see here, both Sage and Noble have different stat spreads. Sage gets Con, Int, and Wis, while Noble gets Str, Int, and Charisma. You can apply the bonuses to two or all three of the states from your background, which is a fun way to do it.
Each background also gets a suite of proficiencies and an “origin feat”. What is an Origin Feat? Mostly, just a feat that is suitable for a level 1 character. It feels very much like “you don’t get a big combat feat” at level 1. But who knows? We see both Magic Initiate and Skilled as possible options here, and Crawford mentions Alert. So I wouldn’t be surprised to see Tough either. These are all feats that are nice to have, but will they optimize your whole build? Absolutely not.
Speaking of “your build,” It sounds like the species you can play got some extra attention. We already know that Goliath, Orc, and Aasimar are joining the ranks of Elf, Dwarf, Dragonborn, etc. But weirdly enough, there’s a lot more flexibility here. For instance, Aasimar, unlike in the Playtest, can decide what manner of Celestial Revelation to go with. This means you might be a swan-winged angel one day and then radiate with necrotic energy and bat wings the next.
All this is just paving the way for more mechanical options for your character, which is a double-edged sword. A lot of these features, WotC says will keep from “fading into the background.” But it feels like a loss of flavor to miss out on the Noble’s ability to always be thought the best of or a Criminal’s network of contacts. But those are probably features your DM can bake in.
You’ll just have to be a little clearer about what your backstory means for the game.
See these changes and more in the Player’s Handbook 5.5E, out September 17th, 2024.
