Discover the possible origins for your next Daggerheart character as we evaluate each of the communties
Your community in Daggerheart is the culture or environment that shaped your character the most. It works a bit like a background in D&D, giving you one community feature to use at the table, plus a handful of suggested personality traits if you need inspiration. It’s a small choice on the character sheet, but it can steer how your character plays more than you might expect.
There are 15 communities to pick from, nine in the Core Set and six added in the Hope and Fear expansion. For each one I’ve covered the flavour and a view of that background’s utility.
Choosing a community
Community features can be divided into two types. Some are involved with Daggerheart’s Hope and Fear economy and are useful in every scene, like Seaborne or Orderborne. Others give advantage in particular situations, like Highborne and Ridgeborne. How useful these are depends on what your GM puts in front of you, so it’s worth some forethought..
A few tips for choosing your background:
- Check the campaign – If you’re heading into dungeons, caves or night travel, Underborne has far more to offer than in a urban game, where Highborne and Slyborne are more useful
- Look at the party – Features that help other people (like Hearthborne, Reborne and Duneborne) work best when the group can make use of them, and it’s worth seeing what the rest of the group already has covered in their backgrounds and other features.
- Agree how ambiguous features work with your GM-. Loreborne, Highborne and Wanderborne all have wording that’s open to interpretation, so a quick chat at session zero saves confusion with the DM later on.
Core Set communities
Highborne
Feature: Privilege
Highborne characters grew up in influential families, as part of communities where wealth brings power and there’s very little social mobility. Privilege gives you advantage on rolls to consort with nobles, negotiate prices or leverage your reputation to get what you want.
My take: Advantage is a strong reward and the triggers are broad. Haggling over equipment alone will earn its keep, and the phrase “leverage your reputation” gives you plenty of room to be creative. It’s a social feature through and through though, so it shines in campaigns heavy on talking and politics. It also pairs nicely with a Slyborne party member, covering both ends of society between you.
Rating – 3/5
Loreborne
Feature: Well-Read
Loreborne societies prize knowledge above all things. Well-Read gives you advantage on rolls that involve the history, culture or politics of a prominent person or place.
My take: The key phrase is ‘prominent person or place’, so it’s worth agreeing with your GM how far that stretches. A whole kingdom is one thing, the history of the entire world is another. In an intrigue or politics heavy campaign it’s handy, but elsewhere it can sit unused for long stretches.
Rating – 2/5
Rating – 2/5
Orderborne
Feature: Dedicated
Orderborne communities rally around discipline or faith. This could be behind a god, a doctrine or even a shared trade. With Dedicated, you can record three sayings or values from your upbringing, and once per rest, when you describe how you’re embodying one through your current action. Once done you can roll a d20 as your Hope Die.
My take: This is one of the strongest features on offer. A d20 Hope Die makes it far more likely you’ll roll with Hope. The catch is the narration, so pick three sayings broad enough to cover different situations (one for combat, one for social scenes, one for exploration, say) and one will nearly always fit. It resets on every rest, so a few short rests in a day means a few chances to use it.
Rating – 5/5
Ridgeborne
Feature: Steady
Ridgeborne call mountains and cliffs home, raised climbing in some of the most dangerous terrain around. The Steady trait gives you advantage on rolls to traverse dangerous cliffs and ledges, navigate harsh environments and use your survival knowledge.
My take: The ‘harsh environments’ clause is the part most likely to matter, as it covers a lot of ground in exploration-heavy campaigns. Cliff climbing itself is a rarer sight. If another party member already handles the wilderness side of things, you’ll get less out of it. This is fairly situational even beyond that.
Rating – 3/5
Seaborne
Feature: Know the Tide
Seaborne communities are built around large bodies of water, be that the ocean itself or a coastal town. Know the Tide lets you place a token on your community card whenever you roll with Fear, up to a number equal to your level. Before an action roll, you can spend any of them for +1 to the roll each, and unspent tokens clear at the end of the session.
My take: This is my pick for the best community. It adds a silver lining to bad rolls, and because you’ll roll with Fear regularly, particularly in combat, you’ll rarely run out. It scales with your level too. Don’t hoard the tokens, as they vanish at the end of the session. It’s modest at level 1 with only one token to hold, but it grows with your character, and that’s a big part of why it’s so popular.
Rating – 5/5
Slyborne
Feature: Scoundrel
Slyborne communities operate outside the law. Don’t mistake them for lawless though, as they could keep a code of honor within their community. Scoundrel gives you advantage on rolls to negotiate with criminals, detect lies or find a safe place to hide.
My take: All three triggers come up in most campaigns, which is why it feels so prevalent. Spotting a liar and finding somewhere to hide are broadly useful, and you can argue some villains count as criminals if your GM is feeling generous. It’s the natural counterpart to Highborne, and having one of each in a party covers a lot of ground socially.
Rating – 3/5
Underborne
Feature: Low-Light Living
Underborne societies live below the surface, which could include anything from small family burrows to vast cavern cities. Low-Light Living gives you advantage on rolls to hide, investigate or perceive details when you’re in an area of low light or heavy shadow.
My take: This might be the most valuable community of all – in the right setting. Daggerheart doesn’t lean on darkvision the way D&D does, so dark places can be risky, and an Underborne character can offset the trouble darkness causes. If your party is delving into dungeons or travelling at night, it’s well worth having one in the group. In a bright, above ground game it’ll see far less use.
Rating – 3/5
Wanderborne
Feature: Nomadic Pack
Wanderborne characters have no permanent home, and pick up knowledge of a wide variety of cultures along the way. Nomadic Pack adds a pack to your inventory, and once per session you can spend a Hope to pull out a mundane item that’s useful to your situation, working with the GM to decide what it is.
My take: This one is about flexibility more than power. The item could be a practical piece of kit, something that helps in a pinch, or just a fun roleplaying prop – at the GM’s discretion. It does cost Hope, which needs to be balanced with your other features. Most importantly you’ll want a GM who’s happy to say yes to creative requests or discuss the limits in advance.
Rating – 3/5
Wildborne
Feature: Lightfoot
Wildborne characters grew up deep in the forest. Lightfoot makes your movement naturally silent, giving you advantage on rolls to move without being heard.
My take: There are no conditions attached, so it works anywhere, whatever the light or terrain. It’s a great fit for backline characters and stealthy types like Rogues and Rangers, while a character clanking around in heavy armour will find it a harder sell to the GM. Best on the right build.
Rating – 4/5
Hope & Fear communities
Duneborne
Feature: Oasis
Duneborne communities have made homes in the desert, finding clever ways to stay cool and traverse the sands. During a short rest, Oasis lets you or an ally reroll a die used for a downtime move and take the higher result.
My take: Modest, but useful. Short rests come round often, so it’s regularly available, and a better result on a healing or Stress-clearing downtime roll is always welcome. It won’t top any power rankings, but its interesting flavour and not without its uses.
Rating – 3/5
Freeborne
Feature: Unbound
Freeborne communities once lived under tyrannical rule and are now free, bound together by this experience. Once per session, Unbound lets you change a roll with Fear into a roll with Hope.
My take: Simple and potent. It’s a once per session safety net, so save it for a roll that really matters. It doesn’t repeat as often as Orderborne’s feature, but it needs no narration or setup, which makes it easy to use at the right moment.
Rating – 4/5
Frostborne
Feature: Hardy
Frostborne come from lands of snow and ice, where survival depends on making every resource count. Hardy clears a Hit Point whenever you take a rest.
My take: It’s not flashy, but it’s free and automatic, with no trigger to remember and no resource to spend. Over a long campaign, a Hit Point back every rest adds up, especially for a character without much healing of their own. A dependable choice for anyone who likes a steady, low maintenance feature.
Rating – 3/5
Hearthborne
Feature: Close-Knit
Hearthborne characters come from humble villages where neighbours know each other well and are quick to help. Once per long rest, Close-Knit lets you spend any number of Hope to give an ally within Far range the same amount.
My take: This one’s quite teamwork based. It’s a handy way to fuel an ally’s big ability or set up a team attack, and it pairs well with classes that produce plenty of Hope of their own. You’re spending your own Hope though, so be careful to leave enough for yourself!
Rating – 3/5
Reborne
Feature: Found Family
Reborne characters were once part of another community but are no longer, whether they left by choice, were forced out, so they are good at finding new friends. Once per rest, Found Family lets you spend a Hope to use an ally’s Experience as if it were your own, describing how your time with them prepared you. You can also swap this card permanently for a new community later on.
My take: How useful it is depends on the Experiences your allies have, but borrowing one can open up options your own list doesn’t cover. It’s a cute fit for a character searching for where they belong – but needs coordination to shine. Also it’s really only useful when needing 2 party members of a similar experience is required. Not totally useless, but it feels like there will only be specific situations it will come into play.
Rating – 2/5
Warborne
Feature: Brave Face
Warborne communities come from places ravaged by war. They tend to be resourceful, skilled at self defence and hold some scars from their experience. Once per session, when you’d be forced to mark a Stress, Brave Face lets you spend a Hope instead.
My take: This is the weakest of the new bunch in mechanical terms. It’s once per session, it only triggers when you’d mark Stress, and Hope is often the more precious resource, so you’re frequently trading something valuable for something cheaper. Take it if the concept fits your character, but it will be less useful than some.
Rating – 2/5
Summary
Overall, I think the communities are a strong set, and there isn’t a really bad one in the bunch. Even the weakest options give you something useful, so you can pick on flavour without feeling like you’ve shot yourself in the foot.
The standouts are the features that plug straight into Daggerheart’s Hope and Fear economy. Seaborne, Orderborne and Freeborne all let you bend the dice in your favour in some way, and Hearthborne does the same for your allies. That’s why Seaborne is the community I see most often, with Orderborne and Slyborne close behind.
The situational communities, like Highborne, Slyborne, Ridgeborne and Loreborne, are a different story. Their value comes down to your campaign and how generously your GM reads the wording, so it’s worth having that conversation early.e.
