Each part of your character’s origin reflects facets of your character, their life, and the circumstances that started them on the path to adventure.
If you choose a background or a species from an older book, see the sidebar “Backgrounds and Species from Older Books” in chapter 2 for how to use them with the options here.
Character Backgrounds
Your character’s background is a collection of characteristics that represent the place and occupation that were most formative before your character embarked on a life of adventure.
Each background includes a brief narrative of what your character’s past might have been like. Alter the details of this narrative however you like.
Parts of a Background
A background includes the following parts.
Ability Scores. A background lists three of your character’s ability scores. Increase one by 2 and another one by 1, or increase all three by 1. None of these increases can raise a score above 20.
Feat. A background gives your character a specified Origin feat (described in chapter 5).
Skill Proficiencies. A background gives your character proficiency in two specified skills.
Tool Proficiency. Each background gives a character proficiency with one tool—either a specific tool or one chosen from the Artisan’s Tools category. Tools are detailed in chapter 6.
Equipment. Each background offers a choice between a package of equipment and 50 GP.
Character Species
When you choose your character’s species, you determine whether your character is a human or a member of a fantastical species, such as dragonborn or gnome.
The peoples of the D&D multiverse hail from different worlds and include many kinds of sapient life forms. A player character’s species is the set of game traits that an adventurer gains from being one of those life forms.
Some species can trace their origin to a single world, plane of existence, or god, while other species first appeared in multiple realms at once. Whatever a species’ genesis, its members have spread across the multiverse and contribute to many different cultures.
Members of most species live for about 80 years, with exceptions noted in the text about the species in this chapter. Regardless of life span, members of all species reach physical maturity at about the same age. Your character can be any age that isn’t beyond their species’ normal life span.
Parts of a Species
A species includes the following parts.
Creature Type. A character’s species determines the character’s creature type, which is described in the rules glossary. Every species in this chapter is Humanoid; playable non-Humanoid species appear in other D&D books.
Size. Your character’s species determines the character’s size. Individuals within a species cover a wide range of heights, and some species include such diversity of size that you can choose whether your character is Small or Medium.
Speed. Your character’s species determines the character’s Speed.
Special Traits. Each species gives a character special traits—unique characteristics based on the species’ physiology or magical nature. When you choose a species, your character gets all the special traits listed for it. Some traits involve making a choice from a handful of options.
Four backgrounds are presented in this section in alphabetical order:
Acolyte
Criminal
Sage
Soldier
Acolyte
Ability Scores: Intelligence, Wisdom, Charisma
Feat: Magic Initiate (Cleric) (see chapter 5)
Skill Proficiencies: Insight and Religion
Tool Proficiency: Calligrapher’s Supplies
Equipment: Choose A or B: (A) Calligrapher’s Supplies, Book (prayers), Holy Symbol, Parchment (10 sheets), Robe, 8 GP; or (B) 50 GP
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 religion. 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.
Criminal
Ability Scores: Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence
Feat: Alert (see chapter 5)
Skill Proficiencies: Sleight of Hand and Stealth
Tool Proficiency: Thieves’ Tools
Equipment: Choose A or B: (A) 2 Daggers, Thieves’ Tools, Crowbar, 2 Pouches, Traveler’s Clothes, 16 GP; or (B) 50 GP
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.
Sage
Ability Scores: Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom
Feat: Magic Initiate (Wizard) (see chapter 5)
Skill Proficiencies: Arcana and History
Tool Proficiency: Calligrapher’s Supplies
Equipment: Choose A or B: (A) Quarterstaff, Calligrapher’s Supplies, Book (history), Parchment (8 sheets), Robe, 8 GP; or (B) 50 GP
You spent your formative years traveling between manors and monasteries, performing various odd jobs and services in exchange for access to their libraries. You whiled 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.
Soldier
Ability Scores: Strength, Dexterity, Constitution
Feat: Savage Attacker (see chapter 5)
Skill Proficiencies: Athletics and Intimidation
Tool Proficiency: Choose one kind of Gaming Set (see chapter 6)
Equipment: Choose A or B: (A) Spear, Shortbow, 20 Arrows, Gaming Set (same as above), Healer’s Kit, Quiver, Traveler’s Clothes, 14 GP; or (B) 50 GP
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.
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 times, 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.
Four species are presented in this section in alphabetical order: Dwarf, Elf, Halfling, and Human.
Dwarf
Dwarves were raised from the earth in the elder days by a deity of the forge. Called by various names on different worlds—Moradin, 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.
On some worlds in the multiverse, the first settlements of dwarves were built in hills or mountains, and the families who trace their ancestry to those settlements call themselves hill dwarves or mountain dwarves, respectively. The Greyhawk and Dragonlance settings have such communities.
Dwarf Traits
Creature Type: Humanoid
Size: Medium (about 4–5 feet tall)
Speed: 30 feet
As a Dwarf, you have these special traits.
Darkvision. You have Darkvision with a range of 120 feet.
Dwarven Resilience. You have Resistance to Poison damage. You also have Advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the Poisoned condition.
Dwarven Toughness. Your Hit Point maximum increases by 1, and it increases by 1 again whenever you gain a level.
Stonecunning. As a Bonus Action, you gain Tremorsense with a range of 60 feet for 10 minutes. You must be on a stone surface or touching a stone surface to use this Tremorsense. The stone can be natural or worked. You can use this Bonus Action a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.
Elf
Created by the god Corellon, the first elves could change their forms at will. They lost this ability when Corellon cursed them for plotting with the deity Lolth, who tried and failed to usurp Corellon’s dominion. When Lolth was cast into the Abyss, most elves renounced her and earned Corellon’s forgiveness, but that which Corellon had taken from them was lost forever.
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.
An environment subtly transforms elves after they inhabit it for a millennium or more, and it grants them certain kinds of magic. Drow, high elves, and wood elves are examples of elves who have been transformed thus.
Drow
Drow typically dwell in the Underdark and have been shaped by it. Some drow individuals and societies avoid the Underdark altogether yet carry its magic. In the Eberron setting, for example, drow dwell in rainforests and cyclopean ruins on the continent of Xen’drik.
High Elves
High elves have been infused with the magic of crossings between the Feywild and the Material Plane. On some worlds, high elves refer to themselves by other names. For example, they call themselves sun or moon elves in the Forgotten Realms setting, Silvanesti and Qualinesti in the Dragonlance setting, and Aereni in the Eberron setting.
Wood Elves
Wood elves carry the magic of primeval forests within themselves. They are known by many other names, including wild elves, green elves, and forest elves. Grugach are reclusive wood elves of the Greyhawk setting, while the Kagonesti and the Tairnadal are wood elves of the Dragonlance and Eberron settings, respectively.
Elf Traits
Creature Type: Humanoid
Size: Medium (about 5–6 feet tall)
Speed: 30 feet
As an Elf, you have these special traits.
Darkvision. You have Darkvision with a range of 60 feet.
Elven Lineage. You are part of a lineage that grants you supernatural abilities. Choose a lineage from the Elven Lineages table. You gain the level 1 benefit of that lineage.
When you reach character levels 3 and 5, you learn a higher-level spell, as shown on the table. You always have that spell prepared. You can cast it once without a spell slot, and you regain the ability to cast it in that way when you finish a Long Rest. You can also cast the spell using any spell slots you have of the appropriate level. Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for the spells you cast with this trait (choose the ability when you select the lineage).
Fey Ancestry. You have Advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the Charmed condition.
Keen Senses. You have proficiency in the Insight, Perception, or Survival skill.
Trance. You don’t need to sleep, and magic can’t put you to sleep. You can finish a Long Rest in 4 hours if you spend those hours in a trancelike meditation, during which you retain consciousness.
Elven Lineages
| Lineage | Level 1 | Level 3 | Level 5 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Drow | The range of your Darkvision increases to 120 feet. You also know the Dancing Lights cantrip. | Faerie Fire | Darkness |
| High Elf | You know the Prestidigitation cantrip. Whenever you finish a Long Rest, you can replace that cantrip with a different cantrip from the Wizard spell list. | Detect Magic | Misty Step |
| Wood Elf | Your Speed increases to 35 feet. You also know the Druidcraft cantrip. | Longstrider | Pass without Trace |
Halfling
Cherished and guided by gods who value life, home, and hearth, halflings gravitate toward bucolic havens 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, particularly 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 Charmalaine. The same gift might contribute to their robust life spans (about 150 years).
Halfling communities come in all varieties. For every sequestered shire tucked away in an unspoiled part of the world, there’s a crime syndicate like the Boromar Clan in the Eberron setting or a territorial mob of halflings like those in the Dark Sun setting.
Halflings who prefer to live underground are sometimes called strongheart halflings or stouts. Nomadic halflings, as well as those who live among humans and other tall folk, are sometimes called lightfoot halflings or tallfellows.
Halfling Traits
Creature Type: Humanoid
Size: Small (about 2–3 feet tall)
Speed: 30 feet
As a Halfling, you have these special traits.
Brave. You have Advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the Frightened condition.
Halfling Nimbleness. You can move through the space of any creature that is a size larger than you, but you can’t stop in the same space.
Luck. When you roll a 1 on the d20 of a D20 Test, you can reroll the die, and you must use the new roll.
Naturally Stealthy. You can take the Hide action even when you are obscured only by a creature that is at least one size larger than you.
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 commended, respected, and feared on many worlds.
Humans are as diverse in appearance as the people of Earth, and they have many gods. Scholars 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 multiverse 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.
Human Traits
Creature Type: Humanoid
Size: Medium (about 4–7 feet tall) or Small (about 2–4 feet tall), chosen when you select this species
Speed: 30 feet
As a Human, you have these special traits.
Resourceful. You gain Heroic Inspiration whenever you finish a Long Rest.
Skillful. You gain proficiency in one skill of your choice.
Versatile. You gain an Origin feat of your choice (see chapter 5). Skilled is recommended.