Backgrounds
Many of the backgrounds presented in the Player's Handbook can be used in a modern setting with a little adjustment, but they don't cover the full range of occupations and lifestyles of a modern era. These backgrounds are presented as a supplement to those in the Player's Handbook.
As the classes in this module don't give any tool proficiencies (excluding the Smart Hero), these backgrounds typically have more tool proficiencies than those in the Player's Handbook. If converting a Player's Handbook background for use with this module, add an additional tool proficiency to bring them in line with these backgrounds.
An example of an adjusted Player's Handbook background is given in the Criminal background. It is always worth remembering that backgrounds should be very free-form, so you are free change anything right down to an individual level.
Backgrounds and Wealth
The backgrounds presented here use the Wealth and Reputation systems introduced in this document. If you aren't using these systems, multiply the Wealth bonus by 10 and add it to the character as gp (or whatever equivalent currency you are using), and ignore any Reputation bonuses.
Academic
As an academic, you have spent significant time employed within educational systems. You may have been employed to teach a particular subject, or you may be researching independently.
Academics include librarians, archaeologists, scholars, professors, teachers, and other education professionals. The standard academic typically doesn't cover magical or otherwordly topics, but this is setting dependent.
- Skill Proficiencies: History, plus your choice of one from among Arcana, Nature, and Religion
- Tool Proficiencies: Two of your choice
- Languages: Two of your choice
- Wealth Bonus: +3
Specialty
To determine the nature of your academic pursuits, roll a d8 or choose from the options in the table below.
| d10 | Specialty |
|---|---|
| 1 | Ancient Languages |
| 2 | Prehistory |
| 3 | Librarian |
| 4 | Discredited Academic |
| d10 | Specialty |
|---|---|
| 5 | Professor |
| 6 | Researcher |
| 7 | Obscure Religion |
| 8 | World CUltures |
Feature: Researcher
When you attempt to learn or recall a piece of knowledge, if you do not know that information, you often know where and from whom you can obtain it. Usually, this information comes from a library, research laboratory, university, or an expert in that field of knowledge. Your GM might rule that the knowledge you seek is secreted away in an almost inaccessible place, or that it simply cannot be found.
Suggested Characteristics
Academics live to learn and teach, and their characteristics often reflect this. Academics typically highly value esoteric or complex information, whether for its own sake or as some means to an end.
Use the suggested characteristics for the Anthropologist or Archaeologist backgrounds in Tomb of Annihilation, or the Sage background in the Player's Handbook for a character with the Academic background, modifying them as necessary to suit your character.
Adventurer
You live for thrills and exploration, and spend your time in search for your next big adventure. Many adventurer's have been living this way for most of their lives, although some do turn to the wild life after years of mundanity.
Adventurers include relic hunters, explorers, field scientists, and others called to roam the world for a variety of reasons.
- Skill Proficiencies: Survival, plus your choice of one from among Arcana, Nature, and Religion
- Tool Proficiencies: One of your choice
- Languages: One of your choice
- Wealth Bonus: +1
Feature: Historical Knowledge
When you enter a ruin or dungeon, you can usually ascertain its original purpose and determine who built it, whether they were Aztecs, Egyptians, Babylonians, Mesopotamian, or some other ancient civilisation. In addition, you can correctly determine the monetary value of art objects more than a century old.
Suggested Characteristics
Adventurers often have a great curiosity for the world around them, usually expressed by a desire to experience as much of it as is possible.
Use the suggested characteristics for the Folk Hero background in the Player's Handbook or the Archaeologist background in Tomb of Annihilation for a character with the Adventurer background, modifying them as necessary to suit your character.
Athlete
Athletes include amateur athletes of Olympic quality and professional athletes of all types, including gymnasts, weight trainers, wrestlers, boxers, martial artists, swimmers, skaters, and those who engage in any type of competitive sport.
- Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, plus your choice of one from among Acrobatics, Medicine and Intimidation
- Tool Proficiencies: One of your choice
- Wealth Bonus: +1
Event
To determine your particular athletic specialty, roll a d10 or choose from the options in the table below.
| d10 | Event |
|---|---|
| 1 | Running |
| 2 | Watersports |
| 3 | Archery |
| 4 | Shooting |
| 5 | Martial Arts |
| d10 | Event |
|---|---|
| 6 | Ball Games |
| 7 | Gymnastics |
| 8 | Weight Lifting |
| 9 | Mixed Events |
| 10 | Other |
Feature: Athletic Conditioning
You have conditioned your body for performance under the harshest circumstances. As long as you can exercise for one hour daily, you only need half the amount of food and sleep normally required to avoid exhaustion. In addition, you can hold your breath twice as long as normal.
Suggested Characteristics
Athletes usually love competition, and many find the spotlight of their career very appealing. Most have a strong sense of fair play or sportsmanship, but there are always athletes which try to bend the rules.
Use the suggested characteristics for the Entertainer or Folk Hero backgrounds in the Player's Handbook for a character with the Athlete background, modifying them as necessary to suit your character.
Blue Collar
Blue Collar workers are often referred to as the hands of a nation, and in your case this couldn't be more true. You have spent your career doing largely manual labour.
Blue collar occupations include factory work, food service jobs, construction, service industry jobs, taxi drivers, postal workers, and other jobs that are usually not considered to be desk jobs.
- Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, plus your choice of one from among Animal Handling, Insight and Intimidation
- Tool Proficiencies: One type of artisan's tools (including electrical or mechanical tools), plus one of your choice
- Equipment: One set of tools with which you are proficient.
- Wealth Bonus: +2
Feature: Working Class
You can usually find a place to hide, rest or recuperate among other working class citizens, unless you have shown yourself to be a danger to them. They will shield you from the law or anyone else searching for you, though they will not risk their lives for you. Additionally, you can usually find someone willing to lend you tools and certain equipment used in manufacturing or shipping.
Suggested Characteristics
Working class citizens typically value community and solidarity; your friends and family will matter a lot.
Use the suggested characteristics for the Guild Artisan or Folk Hero backgrounds in the Player's Handbook for a character with the Blue Collar background, or perhaps the Urchin background if you come from a particularly poor background.
Celebrity
A celebrity is anyone who has been thrust into the spotlight of the public eye. It's said everyone eventually gains their 15 minutes of fame. The typical celebrity stretches that time into a career. You may have inherited fame, stumbled into it accidentally, or sought it out yourself.
Actors, entertainers of all types, newscasters, radio and television personalities, and more fall under this background.
- Skill Proficiencies: Performance, plus your choice of one from among Persuasion, Deception and Sleight of Hand
- Tool Proficiencies: One of either disguise kit or one type of musical instrument, plus one of your choice
- Languages: One of your choice
- Reputation Bonus: +1
- Wealth Bonus: +4
Debut
There are 101 ways to become famous. To determine the triggering event of your fame, roll a d6 or choose from the options in the table below.
| d6 | Debut |
|---|---|
| 1 | TV Appearance |
| 2 | Viral Video |
| 3 | News Story |
| 4 | Popular Song |
| 5 | Live Performance |
| 6 | Slow Rise to Fame |
Feature: By Popular Demand
You can always find a place to perform, usually in a nightclub or bar but possibly at a festival or theatre, or even at a private party. At such a place, you receive free lodging and food of a modest or comfortable standard (depending on the quality of the establishment), as long as you perform each night. In addition, your performance makes you something of a local figure. When strangers recognize you in an area where you have performed, they typically take a liking to you.
Suggested Characteristics
Perpetually chasing the spotlight, celebrities often must fight to stay relevant.
Use the suggested characteristics for the Entertainer background in the Player's Handbook for a character with the Celebrity background, modifying them as necessary to suit your character.
Creative
The creative background covers artists of all types who fan their creative spark into a career. A creative may make various forms of art, or they may be a performer particularly dedicated to the spirit of their act.
Illustrators, copywriters, cartoonists, graphic artists, novelists, magazine columnists, actors, sculptors, game designers, musicians, screenwriters, photographers, actors and web designers all fall under this background.
- Skill Proficiencies: Persuasion, plus your choice of one from among Insight, Performance and Perception
- Tool Proficiencies: One type of artisan's tools or one type of musical instrument, plus one of your choice
- Languages: One of your choice
- Wealth Bonus: +2
Pursuit of Passion
To determine the nature of your creative pursuits, roll a d10 or choose from the options in the table below
| d10 | Pursuit |
|---|---|
| 1 | Poetry |
| 2 | Writing |
| 3 | Painting |
| 4 | Sculpting |
| 5 | Photography |
| d10 | Pursuit |
|---|---|
| 6 | Music |
| 7 | Performance Art |
| 8 | Film |
| 9 | Animation |
| 10 | Drawing |
Feature: Body of Work
You can usually find the local haunts of the creative community, and will be welcomed there as one of their own. These places are generally less frequented by the general public, and you can expect some additional privacy there than more mainstream establishments. Additionally, you may be recognised for your work among certain circles, and if someone does so they typically take a liking to you.
Suggested Characteristics
Creatives can cover a wide range of people, from struggling bohemians who live for their art to types that see all others as spiritually and intellectually inferior.
Use the suggested characteristics for the Entertainer or Guild Artisan backgrounds in the Player's Handbook for a character with the Creative background, modifying them as necessary to suit your character.
Criminal
Criminals cover all types who have habitually found themselves on the wrong side of the law. Often, people are born into this life and know nothing else, but more rarely people turn to this life with a far-fetched grand plan for vast personal gain.
Criminal covers a huge range of backgrounds, including con artists, burglars, thieves, crime family soldiers, gang members, bank robbers, professional hackers, and any other types of career criminals.
- Skill Proficiencies: Deception, plus your choice of one from among Persuasion, Stealth and Intimidation
- Tool Proficiencies: Thieves' tools or hacking tools, plus one of your choice
- Wealth Bonus: +1
Feature: Criminal Contact
You have a reliable and trustworthy contact who acts as your liaison to a network of other criminals. You know how to get messages to and from your contact, even over great distances; specifically, you know the local messengers, corrupt officials, and seedy characters who can deliver messages for you.
Criminal Specialty
There are many kinds of criminal, and whether part of a larger organisation or not most individual criminals have their own specialties.
To determine your particular criminal specialty, roll a d10 or choose from the options in the table below
| d10 | Specialty |
|---|---|
| 1 | Blackmailer |
| 2 | Burglar |
| 3 | Enforcer |
| 4 | Fence |
| 5 | Mugger |
| d10 | Specialty |
|---|---|
| 6 | Hacker |
| 7 | Hired Killer |
| 8 | Pickpocket |
| 9 | Smuggler |
| 10 | Dealer |
Suggested Characteristics
Most criminals are irreversibly changed by their checkered past, and have usually seen more harrowing events and hardship than most. They often have disdain for authority, viewing it as an oppressive force, though if they were a component of a more structured criminal organisation this may in fact be reversed.
Use the suggested characteristics for the Criminal or Urchin backgrounds in the Player's Handbook for a character with the Criminal background, modifying them as necessary to suit your character.
Dilettante
Dilettantes usually get their wealth from family holdings and trust funds. The typical dilettante has no job, few responsibilities, and at least one driving passion that occupies their day. That passion might be a charity or philanthropic foundation, an ideal or cause worth fighting for, or a lust for living a fun and carefree existence.
- Skill Proficiencies: Persuasion, plus your choice of one from among Acrobatics, Performance and History
- Tool Proficiencies: One set of artisan's tools, plus one of your choice
- Languages: Two of your choice
- Reputation Bonus: +1
- Wealth Bonus: +6
Feature: Old Money
While you have significant financial resources of your own, you can also draw on your family’s extensive funds in a pinch. However, this assistance is rarely without strings attached. In exchange for additional resources you may be expected to make certain public appearances, or perhaps you may even be set up in an arranged relationship.
Suggested Characteristics
Diettantes often flit between a variety of interests, usually struggling to commit to a single goal or activity for a long period of time. They typically display a great passion in their works before quickly growing bored.
Use the suggested characteristics for the the Noble background in the Player's Handbook for a character with the Dilettante background, modifying them as necessary to suit your character.
Doctor
The doctor background covers all forms of medical professionals or anyone that uses anatomical and biological knowledge to treat others
A doctor can be a physician (including general practitioners and specialists), a nurse, a surgeon, or a psychiatrist.
Optionally, you could include rural healers using their knowledge of natural resources to treat ailments and injuries.
- Skill Proficiencies: Medicine, plus your choice of one from among Insight, Persuasion and Animal Handling
- Tool Proficiencies: Herbalism kit or chemistry kit, plus one other of your choice.
- Languages: One of your choice
- Wealth Bonus: +4
Feature: Medical Access
You have access to medical equipment that you might not otherwise be able to requisition, such as X-ray machines and medical labs. In addition, you can write prescriptions for various substances that are otherwise illegal to obtain.
Suggested Characteristics
Some doctors enter into the profession through a noble desire to help people and save lives, whereas others might take up the mantle out of desire for financial gain.
Use the suggested characteristics for the the Folk Hero, Guild Artisan, or Sage backgrounds in the Player's Handbook for a character with the Doctor background, modifying them as necessary to suit your character.
Emergency Services
Emergency Services covers all forms of quick response personnel called in to deal with dangerous or urgent situations.
Rescue workers, firefighters, paramedics, hazardous material handlers, and emergency medical technicians fall under this category.
- Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, plus your choice of one from among Medicine, Perception and Animal Handling
- Tool Proficiencies: One type of civilian vehicles, plus one other of your choice
- Wealth Bonus: +2
Feature: Local Hero
In the past, you have been involved in at least one incident which caught the public eye - maybe you saved several people from a burning building, or perhaps you disarmed a bomb in a public building. Whatever the incident, you gained significant status locally, and to a lesser extent other areas the incident was reported. People in or around the area of the incident may recognise you, and you can likely find a place to hide, rest or recuperate in the area with ease. To a lesser extent, people recognising you or that are familiar with the event will shield you from anyone searching for you, though they will not risk their lives for you.
Suggested Characteristics
Many people go into emergency services work through a sense of heroism, or perhaps just an honest career. In certain situations, people go into emergency services careers due to a particular ideal or cause. For example, certain fire fighters may take up the task due to a love of a particular forest prone to wildfires.
Use the suggested characteristics for the the Folk Hero or Sailor backgrounds in the Player's Handbook for a character with the Emergency Services background, modifying them as necessary to suit your character.
Entrepreneur
Entrepreneurs have an obsession about being their own boss. They believe in themselves, have an abundance of confidence, and the ability to acquire the funds necessary to bankroll their newest moneymaking venture.
These small to large business owners have a knack for putting together business plans, gathering resources, and getting a new venture off the ground. They rarely want to stick around after the launch, however, as they prefer to put their energies into the next big thing.
- Skill Proficiencies: Persuasion, plus your choice of one from among Deception, Insight and History
- Tool Proficiencies: Computers, plus one of your choice
- Languages: One of your choice
- Reputation Bonus: +1
- Wealth Bonus: +4
Feature: Network
You have a network of contacts in the business and financial world that you can use as a source of information, loans, or equipment requisitions, usually in return for favours. Additionally, you can usually acquire an invite to various business galas and launch events.
Suggested Characteristics
Many entrepreneurs would consider their "vision" their most valuable asset, and pride themselves on their ability to anticipate what will work and what will flop.
Use the suggested characteristics for the the Guild Artisan or Noble backgrounds in the Player's Handbook for a character with the Entrepreneur background, modifying them as necessary to suit your character.
Investigative
The Investigative background covers all sorts of people who make your business their business.
There are a number of jobs that fit within this background, including investigative reporters, photojournalists, private investigators, police detectives, criminologists, criminal profilers, espionage agents, and others who use their skills to gather evidence and analyze clues.
- Skill Proficiencies: Investigation, plus your choice of one from among Insight, Perception and Stealth
- Tool Proficiencies: Forensics kit, plus one of your choice
- Languages: One of your choice
- Wealth Bonus: +2
Feature: Connected
When you attempt to learn or recall a piece of information, if you do not know that information, you often know where and from whom you can obtain it. Usually, this information comes from an anonymous informant, a law enforcement agency, or criminal contacts. Your GM might rule that the information you seek is almost impossible to get out of your sources, or that it simply cannot be found.
Suggested Characteristics
Investigative types may simply be the curious sort, or they could be actively suspicious about most they meet. Somewhat ironically, many investigative types have dark secrets of their own which they conceal at all costs.
Use the suggested characteristics for the the Soldier or Sage backgrounds in the Player's Handbook for a character with the Investigative background, modifying them as necessary to suit your character.
Credits
Document and contents by Dylan Richards (Reddit: u/Altavus , Tumblr: decision-paralysis, Blogger: Decision Paralysis)
Art
Backgrounds
Oxford Skyline: Oxford University Prints Boxing Gloves: OohBother Celebrity: Gaby-Aya on DeviantArt Painter: ClipArt ETC Handcuffed: Wikimedia Commons The Ambulance: Noldofinve on DeviantArt Detective: GENZOMAN on DeviantArt
Source Material
"d20 Modern" role-playing game by Wizards of the Coast.
Built heavily upon "d20 Modern 5e Conversion" by Edward Wilson.