Step 2: Backgrounds

Acolyte

You devoted yourself to service in a temple, either nestled in a town or secluded in a sacred grove. There you performed rites in honor of a god or pantheon. You served under a priest and studied re-ligion. Thanks to your priest's instruction and your own devotion, you also learned how to channel a modicum of divine power in service to your place of worship and the people who prayed there

Artisan

You began mopping floors and scrubbing counters in an artisan's workshop for a few coppers per day as soon as you were strong enough to carry a bucket. When you were old enough to apprentice, you learned to create basic crafts of your own, as well as how to sweet-talk the occasional demanding customer. Your trade has also given you a keen eye for detail.

Charlatan

Once you were old enough to order an ale, you soon had a favorite stool in every tavern within ten miles of where you were born. As you traveled the circuit from public house to watering hole, you learned to prey on unfortunates who were in the market for a comforting lie or two- perhaps a sham potion or forged ancestry records.

Criminal

You eked out a living in dark alleyways, cutting purses or burgling shops. Perhaps you were part of a small gang of like-minded wrongdoers who looked out for each other. Or maybe you were a lone wolf, fending for yourself against the local thieves' guild and more fearsome lawbreakers.

Entertainer

You spent much of your youth following roving fairs and carnivals, performing odd jobs for musicians and acrobats in exchange for lessons. You may have learned how to walk a tightrope, how to play a lute in a distinct style, or how to recite poetry with impeccable diction. To this day, you thrive on applause and long for the stage.

Farmer

You grew up close tot he land. years tending animals and cultivating the earth rewarded you with patience and good health. You have a keen appreciation for nature's bounty alongside a healthy respect for nature's wrath.

Guard

Your feet ache when you remember the countless hours you spent at your post in the tower. You were trained to keep one eye looking outside the wall, watching for marauders sweeping from the nearby forest, and your other eye looking inside the wall, searching for cutpurses and troublemakers.

Guide

You came of age outdoors, far from settled lands. Your home was anywhere you chose to spread your bedroll. There are wonders in the wilderness- strange monsters, pristine forests and stream, overgrown ruins of great halls once trod by giants- and you learned to fend for yourself as you explored them. From time to time, you guided friendly nature priests who instructed you in the fundamentals of channeling the magic of the wild.

Hermit

You spent your early years secluded in a hut or monastery located well beyond the outskirts of the nearest settlement. In those days, your only companions were the creatures of the forest and those who would occasionally visit to bring news of the outside world and supplies. The solitude allowed you to spend many hours pondering the mysteries of creation.

Merchant

You were apprenticed to a trader, caravan master, or shopkeeper, learning the fundamentals of commerce. You traveled broadly, and you earned a living by buying and selling the raw materials artisans need to practice their craft or finished works from such crafters. You might have transported goods from one place to another (by ship, wagon, or caravan) or brought them from traveling traders and sold them in your own shop.

Noble

You were raised in a castle, surrounded by wealth, power, and privilege. Your family of minor aristocrats ensured that you received a first-class education, some of which you appreciated and some of which you resented. Your time in the castle, especially the many hours you spent observing your family at court, also taught you a great deal about leadership.

Sage

You spent your formative years traveling between manors and monasteries, performing various off jobs and services in exchange for access to their libraries. You while away many a long evening studying books and scrolls, learning the lore of the multiverse - even the rudiments of magic - and your mind yearns for more.

Sailor

You lived as a seafarer, wind at your back and decks swaying beneath your feet. You've perched on barstools in more ports of call than you can remember, faced mighty storms, and swapped stories with folk who live beneath the waves

Scribe

You spent formative years in scriptorium, a monastery dedicated to the preservation of knowledge, or a government agency, where you learned to write with a clear hand and produce finely written texts. Perhaps you scribed government documents or copied tomes of literature. You might have some skill as a writer of poetry, narrative, or scholarly research. Above all, you have a careful attention to detail, helping you avoid introducing mistakes tot he documents you copy and create.

Soldier

You began training for war as soon as you reached adulthood and carry precious few memories of life before you took up arms. Battle is in your blood. Sometimes you catch yourself reflexively performing the basic fighting exercises you learned first. Eventually, you put that training to use on the battlefield, protecting the realm by waging war.

Wayfarer

You grew up on the streets surrounded by similarly ill-fated castoffs, a few of them friends and a few of them rivals. You slept where you could and did odd jobs for food. At time, when the hunger became unbearable, you resorted to theft. Still, you never lost your pride and never abandoned hope. Fate is not yet finished with you.

Step 3: Species

Aasimar

Aasimar (pronounced AH-sih-mar) are mortals who carry a spark of the Upper Planes within their souls. Whether descended from an angelic being or infused with celestial power, they can fan that spark to bring light, healing, and heavenly fury.

Aasimar can arise among any population of mortals. They resemble their parents, but they live for up to 160 years and have features that hint at their celestial heritage, such as metallic freckles, luminous eyes, a halo, or the skin color of an angel (silver, opalescent green, or coppery red). These features start subtle and become obvious when the aasimar learns to reveal their full celestial nature.

Dragonborn

The ancestors of dragonborn hatched from the eggs of chromatic and metallic dragons. One story holds that these eggs were blessed by the dragon gods Bahamut and Tiamat, who wanted to populate the multiverse with people created in their image. Another story claims that dragons created the first dragonborn without the gods' blessings. Whatever their origin, dragonborn have made homes for themselves on the Material Plane.

Dragonborn look like wingless, bipedal dragons- scaly, bright-eyed, and thick-boned with horns on their heads-and their coloration and other features are reminiscent of their draconic ancestors.

Dwarf

Dwarves were raised from the earth in the elderdays by a deity of the forge. Called by various names on different worlds-Morad in, Reorx, and others-that god gave dwarves an affinity for stone and metal and for living underground. The god also made them resilient like the mountains, with a life span of about 350 years.

Squat and often bearded, the original dwarves carved cities and strongholds into mountainsides and under the earth. Their oldest legends tell of conflicts with the monsters of mountaintops and the Underdark, whether those monsters were towering giants or subterranean horrors. Inspired by those tales, dwarves of any culture often sing of valorous deeds-especially of the little overcoming the mighty.

Elf

No longer able to shape-shift at will, the elves retreated to the Feywild, where their sorrow was deepened by that plane's influence. Over time, curiosity led many of them to explore other planes of existence, including worlds in the Material Plane.

Elves have pointed ears and lack facial and body hair. They live for around 750 years, and they don't sleep but instead enter a trance when they need to rest. In that state, they remain aware of their surroundings while immersing themselves in memories and meditations.

Gnome

Gnomes are magical folk created by gods of inven-tion, illusions, and life underground. The earliest gnomes were seldom seen by other folk due to the gnomes' secretive nature and their propensity for living in forests and burrows. What they lacked in size, they made up for in cleverness. They con-founded predators with traps and labyrinthine tunnels.

Gnomes are petite folk with big eyes and pointed ears, who live around 425 years. Many gnomes like the feeling of a roof over their head, even if that "roof" is nothing more than a hat.

Goliath

Towering over most folk, goliaths are distant de-scendants of giants. Each goliath bears the favors of the first giants-favors that manifest in various supernatural boons, including the ability to quickly grow and temporarily approach the height of goliaths' gigantic kin.

Goliaths have physical characteristics that are reminiscent of the giants in their family lines. For example, some goliaths look like stone giants, while others resemble fire giants. Whatever giants they count as kin, goliaths have forged their own path in the multiverse-unencumbered by the internecine conflicts that have ravaged giantkind for ages-and seek heights above those reached by their ancestors.

Halfling

Cherished and guided by gods who value life, home, and hearth, halflings gravitate toward bucolic ha-vens where family and community help shape their lives. That said, many halflings possess a brave and adventurous spirit that leads them on journeys of discovery, affording them the chance to explore a bigger world and make new friends along the way. Their size- similar to that of a human child-helps them pass through crowds unnoticed and slip through tight spaces.

Anyone who has spent time around halflings, par-ticularly halfling adventurers, has likely witnessed the storied "luck of the halflings" in action. When a halfling is in mortal danger, an unseen force seems to intervene on the halfling's behalf. Many halflings believe in the power of luck, and they attribute their unusual gift to one or more of their benevolent gods, including Yondalla, Brandobaris, and Charma-laine. The same gift might contribute to their robust life spans (about 150 years).

Human

Found throughout the multiverse, humans are as varied as they are numerous, and they endeavor to achieve as much as they can in the years they are given. Their ambition and resourcefulness are com-mended, respected, and feared on many worlds.

Humans are as diverse in appearance as the people of Earth, and they have many gods. Schol-ars dispute the origin of humanity, but one of the earliest known human gatherings is said to have occurred in Sigil, the torus-shaped city at the center of the multi verse and the place where the Common language was born. From there, humans could have spread to every part of the multiverse, bringing the City of Doors' cosmopolitanism with them.

Orc

Ores trace their creation to Gruumsh, a powerful god who roamed the wide open spaces of the Material Plane. Gruumsh equipped his children with gifts to help them wander great plains, vast caverns, and churning seas and to face the monsters that lurk there. Even when they turn their devotion to other gods, ores retain Gruumsh's gifts: endurance, deter-mination, and the ability to see in darkness. Ores are, on average, tall and broad. They have gray skin, ears that are sharply pointed, and prominent lower canines that resemble small tusks. Ore youths on some worlds are told about their ancestors' great travels and travails. Inspired by those tales, many of those ores wonder when Gruumsh will call on them to match the heroic deeds of old and if they will prove worthy of his favor. Other ores are happy to leave old tales in the past and find their own way.

Tiefling

Tieflings are either born in the Lower Planes or have fiendish ancestors who originated there. A tiefling (pronounced TEE-fling) is linked by blood to a devil, a demon, or some other Fiend. This connection to the Lower Planes is the tiefling's fiendish legacy, which comes with the promise of power yet has no effect on the tiefling's moral outlook. A tiefling chooses whether to embrace or lament their fiendish legacy. The three legacies are de-scribed below

Legacies

ABYSSAL

The entropy of the Abyss, the chaos of Pandemo-nium, and the despair of Carceri call to tieflings who have the abyssal legacy. Horns, fur, tusks, and peculiar scents are common physical features of such tieflings, most of whom have the blood of de-mons coursing through their veins.

CHTHONIC

Tieflings who have the chthonic legacy feel not only the tug of Carceri but also the greed of Gehenna and the gloom of Hades. Some of these tieflings look cadaverous. Others possess the unearthly beauty of a succubus, or they have physical features in common with a night hag, a yugoloth, or some other Neutral Evil fiendish ancestor.

INFERNAL

The infernal legacy connects tieflings not only to Gehenna but also the Nine Hells and the raging battlefields of Acheron. Horns, spioes, tails, golden eyes, and a faint odor of sulfur or smoke are com-mon physical features of such tiefli, gs, most of whom trace their ancestry to de-,.,i: •

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