Backgrounds In D&D 2024

Backgrounds get some increased importance in D&D 2024 and our guide is here to tell you all about them.

Character creation is going through some big changes with D&D 2024. One of the bigger changes is the increasingly important role backgrounds will now play. In D&D 2014, backgrounds felt kind of tacked on and unimportant. Sure you got a couple of skills, but they were quite easily forgotten.

Yet your background is part of what makes your character and their inherent abilities should come not just from their training in a class, but also through the way they grew up. Increasing the importance of backgrounds not only makes sense, but also means characters are even more customisable with races, classes and backgrounds all being core aspects of your character build.

In this article, I’ll take you through everything that’s changing with backgrounds and how they’ll work.

What changes are coming to backgrounds?

Ability scores: The biggest change is that your ability score increases will now, no longer be determined by your race/species, but by your background. You’ll be given 3 ability scores you could increase with each background, and can either increase by 2 points in one score and 1 point in another, or you can increase all 3 scores by 1 point.

The nice thing here is there will be more variety in race-class combinations as you’re not as pigeon-holed by the ability score you’d have received from your race.

Origin feats: The other big change is that you get an origin feat as part of your background. These are feats available at level 1 that include abilities a level 1 character might expect to have. This means that now, every character gets a feat at level 1 (making characters even more customisable).

There’s power-scaling with feats now as different feats come in at different levels:

Origin feats – Level 1
Fighting style – Level 1-2 for some martial classes like the fighter, paladin and ranger
General feats – Level 4
Epic boons – Level 19

Background attributes: Alongside all of this, there’s a more formal structure to what you get with each background:

3 Ability score increases
1 Origin feat
2 skill proficiencies
1 tool proficiency
Equipment (or you can choose to take 50gp and buy your own equipment)

All backgrounds for D&D 2024

The 2024 Player’s Handbook comes with 16 backgrounds that you can use and more have been released in rule expansions like Heroes of Faerun with 37 currently published. However, if none of those take your fancy, you can use a previously published background. There are rules around how to upgrade a background to ensure you don’t miss out on those ability scores and feats (more on how that works later).

Below, I’ve included tables detailing what you get from each background as well as providing some classes I think will work well with those backgrounds. Not every option in a background will fit perfectly to each class, but the most important aspects you should consider are the ability scores, then origin feat, then the skill proficiencies:

Player’s Handbook backgrounds

Name	Recommended classes	Ability scores	Origin feat	Skill proficiencies	Tool proficiency
Acolyte	None, the spread of ability scores suits no class	Charisma, intelligence, wisdom	Magic initiate (cleric)	Insight, religion	Calligrapher’s supplies
Artisan	Artificer, barbarian, fighter (eldritch knight), rogue (arcane trickster)	Strength, dexterity, intelligence	Crafter	Investigation, persuasion	One kind of artisan’s tools
Charlatan	Barbarian, bard, monk, paladin, ranger, rogue, sorcerer, warlock	Dexterity, constitution, charisma	Skilled	Deception, sleight of hand	Forgery kit
Criminal	Artificer, barbarian, fighter, monk, ranger, rogue	Dexterity, constitution, intelligence	Alert	Sleight of hand, stealth	Thieves tools
Entertainer	Bard, fighter, paladin, sorcerer, warlock	Strength, dexterity, charisma	Musician	Acrobatics, performance	One kind of musical instrument
Farmer	Barbarian, cleric, druid, fighter, monk, ranger	Strength, constitution, wisdom	Tough	Animal handling, nature	Carpenter’s tools
Guard	Cleric, fighter (eldritch knight), ranger	Strength, intelligence, wisdom	Alert	Athletics, perception	One kind of gaming set
Guide	Cleric, druid, fighter, monk, ranger, rogue	Dexterity, constitution, wisdom	Magic initiate (druid)	Stealth, survival	Cartographer’s tools
Hermit	Bard, sorcerer, warlock	Constitution, wisdom, charisma	Healer	Medicine, religion	Herbalism kit
Merchant	Artificer, bard, fighter (eldritch knight) paladin, Rogue (arcane trickster) sorcerer, warlock, wizard	Constitution, intelligence, charisma	Lucky	Animal handling, persuasion	Navigator’s tools
Noble	Fighter (eldritch knight), paladin	Strength, intelligence, charisma	Skilled	History, persuasion	One kind of gaming set
Sage	Artificer, cleric, druid, ranger, wizard	Constitution, intelligence, wisdom	Magic initiate (wizard)	Arcana, history	Calligrapher’s tools
Sailor	Monk, Fighter, dance bard, ranger	Strength, dexterity, wisdom	Tavern brawler	Acrobatics, perception	Navigator’s tools
Scribe	Artificer, cleric, druid, ranger, wizard	Dexterity, intelligence, wisdom	Skilled	Investigation, perception	Calligrapher’s supplies
Soldier	Barbarian, fighter, monk, paladin, ranger, rogue	Strength, dexterity, constitution	Savage attacker	Athletics, intimidation	One kind of gaming set
Wayfarer	Bard, druid, monk, sorcerer, warlock	Dexterity, wisdom, charisma	Lucky	Insight, stealth	Thieves’ tools

Heroes of Faerun backgrounds

Name	Recommended classes	Ability scores	Origin feat	Skill proficiencies	Tool proficiency
Chondathan freebooter	Barbarian, fighter, cleric, druid, ranger	Strength dexterity, wisdom	Skilled	Athletics, sleight of hand	Weaver’s tools
Dead magic dweller	Barbarian, fighter, cleric, druid, paladin, ranger	Strength, constitution, wisdom	Healer	Medicine, survival	Leatherworker’s tools
Dragon cultist	Artificer, rogue, wizard	Dexterity, constitution, intelligence	Cult of the dragon initiate	Deception, stealth	Calligrapher’s supplies
Emerald enclave caretaker	Artificer, cleric, druid, ranger, wizard	Constitution, intelligence, wisdom	Emerald enclave fledgling	Nature, survival	Herbalism kit
Flaming fist mercenary	Barbarian, fighter, paladin, warlock	Strength, constitution, charisma	Tough	Intimidation, perception	Smith’s tools
Genie touched	Bard, cleric, druid, monk, paladin, ranger, sorcerer, warlock	Dexterity, wisdom, charisma	Magic initiate (wizard)	Perception, persuasion	Glassblower’s tools
Harper	Artificer, bard, rogue, sorcerer, warlock	Dexterity, intelligence, charisma	Harper agent	Performance, sleight of hand	Disguise kit
Ice fisher	Barbarian, fighter, paladin, ranger	Strength, dexterity, constitution	Alert	Animal handling, athletics	Woodcarver’s tools
Knight of the Gauntlet	Eldritch knight, ranger	Strength, intelligence, wisdom	Tyro of the gauntlet	Athletics, medicine	Smith’s tools
Lord’s Alliance vassal	Eldritch knight, paladin	Strength, intelligence, charisma	Lords’ alliance agent	Insight, persuasion	Calligrapher’s supplies
Moonwell pilgrim	Bard, cleric, druid, ranger	Constitution, wisdom, charisma	Magic initiate (druid)	Nature, performance	Painter’s supplies
Mulhorandi tomb raider	Artificer, rogue, wizard	Dexterity, constitution, intelligence	Lucky	Investigation, religion	Mason’s tools
Mythalkeeper	None, this is a poor spread of ability scores	Intelligence, wisdom, charisma	Crafter	Arcana, history	Jeweler’s tools
Purple dragon squire	Banneret, cleric, paladin	Strength, wisdom, charisma	Purple dragon rook	Animal handling, insight	Navigator’s tools
Rashemi wanderer	Barbarian, fighter, paladin	Strength, constitution, charisma	Tough	Intimidation, perception	Cartographer’s tools
Shadowmasters exile	Artificer, rogue, sorcerer	Dexterity, intelligence, charisma	Savage attacker	Acrobatics, stealth	Thieves’ tools
Spellfire initiate	Artificer, bard, paladin, sorcerer, warlock, wizard	Constitution, intelligence, charisma	Spellfire spark	Arcana, perception	One kind of gaming set
Zhentarim mercenary	Barbarian, fighter, paladin, rogue, warlock	Strength, dexterity charisma	Zhentarim ruffian	Intimidation, perception	Forgery kit

Astarion’s Book of Hungers backgrounds

Name	Recommended classes	Ability scores	Origin feat	Skill proficiencies	Tool proficiency
Carouser	Bard, paladin, rogue, sorcerer, warlock	Dexterity, intelligence, charisma	Tireless reveler	Deception, persuasion	One mind of gaming set
Vampire devotee	Barbarian, fighter, paladin, ranger, warlock	Strength, constitution, charisma	Vampire’s plaything	Persuasion, stealth	Cook’s utensils
Vampire survivor	Barbarian, cleric, druid, ranger	Dexterity, constitution, wisdom	Vampire hunter	Insight, religion	Woodcarver’s tools

Can you use backgrounds from D&D 2014?

You most certainly can. The new PHB includes a section that explains how to upgrade old backgrounds into the new format.

Essentially, you take everything you gain from the old background and make the following additions:

Choose whatever ability scores you want to increase (with 3 points available spread across 2 or 3 different abilities)
Choose any origin feat you want to take

In fact, if you’re feeling sneaky, you may find it’s easier to make a background work if you simply go for one outside of the 2024 backgrounds. That way you can mix and match the options that suit you.

And that’s it! Of course, if there’s an updated background, then it’s suggested you use that instead.

That’s everything changing with backgrounds in D&D 2024. Let me know what you think of the changes in the comments below.