D&D: Five Underrated Backgrounds to Enjoy While You Can
Backgrounds can be one of the more underrated elements of 5th Edition. Here are five to try before D&D 2024 changes everything.
In D&D, backgrounds are often underrated. From the surface, they’re just a way to get a few random skill proficiencies and maybe something like a feat, if you’re lucky. And in D&D 2024, that’s exactly what we think they’ll be. But look a little closer, and there are actually some fantastic features that, personally, I’ll be sad to see go. These little narrative and mechanical hooks are a unique part of 5E that often goes underused.
So, if you’re making a character before D&D 5.5E comes out in September, you might want to consider taking one of these underrated D&D backgrounds. Just try and make sure you’re ready to use all the features.
Noble
We’ll start with one of my favorites. Now, a quick disclaimer here, this background comes with a feature that sort of relies on the DM to be any good. And that’s not always great. Not every DM is prepared to know how to use this stuff. I don’t blame them, WotC gives precious little guidance to DMs on how to incorporate these Background features. They trust that everyone has common sense, which is a huge mistake. Especially D&D players. Common might be the language everyone speaks, but it is not a sense the majority of players have. Don’t believe me, look at any plan your D&D party has ever come up with. Yeah. Exactly.
But, that aside, Noble has one of the best background features in the game. It’s basically the power of money. It’s the best superpower in the world, and it proves true here. The feature is called Position of Privilege and it reads thusly (emphasis mine):
Thanks to your noble birth, people are inclined to think the best of you. You are welcome in high society, and people assume you have the right to be wherever you are. The common folk make every effort to accommodate you and avoid your displeasure, and other people of high birth treat you as a member of the same social sphere. You can secure an audience with a local noble if you need to.
This is a sort of comfort feature, right? It positions your character in the world and sets up how people will default treat them. If D&D were a video game, you’d get more positive dialogue reactions and exclusive dialogue options with NPCs. Now you can’t rely on that with a DM, but you can certainly remind them, “people should assume I have the right to be wherever I am.” Which can be a great help when you’re sneaking around. Or when you try to do something of questionable legality, people will assume the best of you. It’s privilege. Don’t check it, weaponize it, with this background.
Simic Scientist
This background is out of the Guildmaster’s Guide to Ravnica, and it is another fantastic option that carries severe lore implications for how people should treat your character. I like stuff like this, because it’s planting a flag both mechanically and narratively that says “this is how my character should feel in the world, this is the weight they carry”. DMs can do that for any NPC by saying “this guy is the king.” It’s nice to have a way for players to do the same with their characters.
Granted you’d have to work a little to reflavor this outside of the Simic Guild, but it’s not that much extra work. There are two big features I love about this one. First up is the Clades and Projects; essentially as a Simic Scientist you are part of a diverse group of researchers working on a dedicated project. You can pick a specialization like “protection and durability” or “movement” or “intelligence and counterintelligence.” And within that specialty there’s a lot of room for broad interpretation. I love it because it bakes an in-world goal into your character right away.
The other feature is your Contacts, which give you both an ally and a rival within and without the guild. I love anything that gives you NPCs with whom you have a relationship. I know it may create extra work for the DM, but trust me, most DMs will be absolutely ecstatic to see a character who wants connections filled in. And the best thing about this is it isn’t the player saying “I know a smuggler who can get me all the adamantine armor I want and he loves me so he sells it to me for silver on the gold” which could easily be abused, but it gives the player a type of character they know, that the DM then gets to fill in. “I have an old friend who has retreated into a secluded life as a philosophical hermit.” Or, “my former supervisor studies giant monsters now.” And then when those come up in the story, the DM has something to organically work with already.
Smuggler
This is another flavor-filled background. You’re a smuggler. You have an amazing knack for getting goods where they aren’t supposed to be. But this background goes a step further. It bakes in a minor tall tale for your character. Your Claim to Fame might be something like smuggling dwarven spirits in a dead whale, that then exploded. Or selling arms to both sides of a regional war. It’s a nice little character flourish that suggests something you’ve done already, but nothing so outlandish that people might ask “why are you still level 1 then?”
The other thing I love about it is the Down Low feature. This lets you contact a network of other smugglers and criminal types. You can hide out in safe houses (at the DM’s discretion) and can keep your and your companions’ presence a secret if you want. Which is just a great little thing to have when your party might need a place to hide.
Haunted One
Those of you who’ve played Baldur’s Gate 3 might know this background as well. A Haunted one is someone who has faced unimaginable horror and been haunted by the darkness lurking in the mists. Before becoming an adventurer, your life was marked by a harrowing event, which is already a great hook for a DM.
But then the feature you get for picking this background is perfect. Heart of Darkness is another one of those “NPC attitude adjustment” features. But it has a wildly different flavor:
Those who look into your eyes can see that you have faced unimaginable horror and that you are no stranger to darkness. Though they might fear you, commoners will extend you every courtesy and do their utmost to help you. Unless you have shown yourself to be a danger to them, they will even take up arms to fight alongside you, should you find yourself facing an enemy alone.
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It’s a great backbone for any character.
Hermit
Finally, the humble hermit. This is a great background feature if you want to hook your character in to the “main plot” of the adventure. It does require a bit of work on both the player and DM’s part, because the feature, Discovery, requires a lot of background knowledge:
The quiet seclusion of your extended hermitage gave you access to a unique and powerful discovery. The exact nature of this revelation depends on the nature of your seclusion. It might be a great truth about the cosmos, the deities, the powerful beings of the outer planes, or the forces of nature. It could be a site that no one else has ever seen. You might have uncovered a fact that has long been forgotten, or unearthed some relic of the past that could rewrite history. It might be information that would be damaging to the people who or consigned you to exile, and hence the reason for your return to society.
In essence, you get to know a big, cool thing about the world. And you’re special because you know it. This is the kind of stuff that campaigns can hinge on. Though it can be tricky to make sure you don’t come down with “main character syndrome”, it’s worth it if you want a fun little feature to give you some time in the spotlight.
What are your favorite, underrated background features?
