With this page, you can easily create unique but balanced D&D characters with appropriate ability scores for their class. It is written for someone who is new to the game, but anyone can use it. It has been updated to the 2024 release, but also has species features from the older version (and some that recall earlier days of the game).
When you see a list, if you have a character concept in mind, choose something from the list. If you don't, roll on the list with a die appropriate to its size, or follow the instructions. Text in italics is recommendations or options or rules reminders.
Read all instructions in a Step before clicking on any links.
Step 0: Read the Instructions and Print a Character Sheet
Read the Playing the Game section of the Free Rules, at least through the Proficiency section. It is helpful to read the whole page, but you can stop after the list of skills if necessary.
I have created a custom fillable character sheet for my games, which can be downloaded here. Download it, open it in a pdf viewer, and type in the details. Or print and fill things out with a pencil (not a pen!).
Step 1: Class
After selecting a class, write it on your character sheet, and write down its listed ability scores. Then go to the linked description and copy down the hit points, proficiencies, equipment, and all of the Level 1 features. Proficiencies are marked by selecting the dot next to a skill or saving throw name, or writing them in the appropriate boxes.
Every adventuring party should have a brain, a heart, and a face. In games with a lot of fighting, there should also be a shield. Check with your GM or other players to see if anything is missing.
Brain
Your character is focused on strategic planning, tactical thinking, and knowing facts about the world. This role is best for players who are interested in learning the lore of the setting, and understanding the combat system and rules of the game.
1: Artificer. Intelligence 16, Constitution 14
2: Fighter. Strength 16, Intelligence 14
3: Rogue. Dexterity 16, Intelligence 14
4: Wizard. Intelligence 16, Constitution 14
Heart
Your character is focused on understanding the motivations of non-player characters, being aware of immediate threats, and managing logistics. This role is best for players who can help the group get along with each other, and stay on task and avoid getting distracted.
1: Barbarian. Strength 16, Wisdom 14
2-3: Cleric. Wisdom 16, Constitution 14
4: Druid. Wisdom 16, Constitution 14
5: Monk. Dexterity 16, Wisdom 14
6: Ranger. Dexterity 16, Wisdom 14
Face
Your character is focused on convincing other people to help the party. This role best for players who are focused on role-playing and telling stories and making sure everyone has fun.
1: Bard. Charisma 16, Dexterity 14
2: Paladin. Strength 16, Charisma 14
3: Sorcerer. Charisma 16, Constitution 14
4: Warlock. Charisma 16, Constitution 14
Shield
In combat, your character's job is to charge in, be the target of attacks, and not get knocked out. Let other people worry about dealing damage; you will carry a shield and fight defensively so the other party members are protected.
1: Barbarian. Strength 14, Dexterity 12, Constitution 14
2: Fighter. Strength 14, Constitution 16
3: Paladin. Strength 14, Constitution 14, Charisma 12
4: Ranger. Dexterity 14, Constitution 14, Wisdom 12
Step 2: Species, Upbringing, and Background
After choosing or rolling a species, click on the link to go to that species' description, adjust ability scores, and write down its features. Whenever an ability score increases, if you have not yet written down a number for it, set it to 10 before the increase. If you would ever increase an ability score above 17, you must instead boost some other ability score that is less than 16. (For example, elves get +2 Dexterity. If you are an elf druid, set your Dexterity to 12. If you are an elf rogue, increase your Dexterity to 17, and then either increase your Intelligence to 15, or set some other ability score to 11.) Constitution is recommended for new players.
Then choose or roll an Upbringing from the species entry list, and click on its link and write down its features. When choosing languages, you usually start by selecting a language that matches your species, if there is one, and then roll others, unless you have a different character concept in mind. If you want to play either the standard species from the new release or a traditional subrace from the older one, choose one of the upbringings with instructions or notes in italics and take the indicated choices in the upbringing.
Then choose or roll a Background from the upbringing entry, increase one of the listed abilities, and write down its features on the linked page, including choosing or rolling for a trait, ideal, bond, and flaw. If the background has any setting-specific information, for example referring to a particular location or organization or event, replace that with a more generic thing that you will describe in your backstory, and your feature will work in any appropriate location.
Then return here (you can click your browser's Back button twice to quickly return) and go to Step 3.
If rolling for species, new players should use a d10, veterans use a d20. (The description in parentheses is a very loose analogy for people who do not know D&D lore, and in most cases relates more to attitude or heritage than physical appearance.)
1: Aasimar (angel people)
2: Dragonborn (dragon people)
3: Dwarf (badger people)
4: Elf (fox people)
5: Gnome (mouse people)
6: Goliath (giant people)
7: Halfling (weasel people)
8: Human (ape people)
9: Orc (boar people)
10: Tiefling (demon people)
11-14: Monstrous Species
15-20: Uncommon Species
Monstrous Species
"Monstrous" species are those that are often encountered as enemies, because groups of them are often bandits or savages. Among uneducated people, they often encounter prejudice, but adventurers and those who hire them are usually accustomed to dealing with people of many different types. Choose or roll d10:
1: Bugbear (bear people)
2: Centaur (horse people)
3: Goblin (monkey people)
4: Hobgoblin (wolf people)
5: Kobold (gecko people)
6: Lizardfolk (gator people)
7: Minotaur (ox people)
8: Plasmoid (ooze people)
9: Satyr (goat people)
10: Yuan-ti (snake people)
Uncommon Species
Uncommon species are likely to be the objects of curiosity rather than fear. Choose or roll d20:
1: Hybrid
2: Air Genasi (air people)
3: Changeling (shapeshifters)
4: Construct (mechanical people)
5: Earth Genasi (earth people)
6: Fairy (flying people)
7: Firbolg (forest giants)
8: Fire Genasi (fire people)
9: Giff (hippo people)
10: Gith (space people)
11: Half-Elf (dog people)
12: Hadozee (squirrel people)
13: Harengon (rabbit people)
14: Kenku (raven people)
15: Leonin (lion people)
16: Loxodon (elephant people)
17: Tabaxi (cat people)
18: Thri-kreen (insect people)
19: Tortle (turtle people)
20: Water Genasi (water people)
Step 3: Backstory and Deity
Use the This is Your Life guidelines to create a backstory, choosing or rolling for every table.
Choose or roll a deity to worship, either on this table or a different list appropriate to the setting. (‘God’ and ‘lord’ are a gender-neutral terms; most theologians say that the proper pronouns for gods are id/eius/ei.) Write at least one of the deity's commands as an ideal or bond.
1: Avandra is the chaotic good god of change. Id delights in freedom, trade, travel, adventure, and the frontier. Eius temples are few in civilized lands, but eius wayside shrines appear throughout the world. Merchants and all types of adventurers are drawn to ei worship, and many people raise a glass in ei honor, viewing ei as the god of luck. Avandra's commandments are few:
• Luck favors the bold. Take your fate into your own hands, and Avandra smiles upon you.
• Strike back against those who would rob you of your freedom and urge others to fight for their own liberty.
• Change is inevitable, but it takes the work of the faithful to ensure that change is for the better.
2: Bahamut, the Platinum Dragon, is the lawful good god of justice, protection, nobility, and honor. Paladins often revere ei, and metallic dragons worship ei as the first of their kind. Monarchs are crowned in ei name. Bahamut commands eius followers thus:
• Uphold the highest ideals of honor and justice.
• Be constantly vigilant against evil and oppose it on all fronts.
• Protect the weak, liberate the oppressed, and defend just order.
3: Corellon is the chaotic good deity of spring, the arts, magic, beauty and the fey. Id seeded the world with arcane magic and planted the most ancient forests. Artists and musicians worship ei, as do those who view their spellcasting as an art, and eius shrines can be found throughout magical and wild areas. Corellon urges eius followers thus:
• Cultivate beauty in all that you do, whether you’re casting a spell, composing a saga, strumming a lute, or practicing the arts of war.
• Seek out lost magic items, forgotten rituals, and ancient works of art. Corellon might have inspired them in the world’s first days.
• Share beautiful things widely, and help others become more beautiful in all ways.
4: Erathis is the lawful neutral god of civilization, inventions, and law. Rulers, judges, pioneers, and devoted citizens worship ei, and eius temples are present in most major cities of the world. Erathis commands eius devoted followers with three of eius many laws:
• Work with others to achieve your goals. Community and order are always stronger than individuals.
• Tame the wilderness to make it fit for habitation, and defend the light of civilization against darkness.
• Seek out new ideas, inventions, lands and wilderness. Build machines, cities, and empires.
5: Ioun is the true neutral god of knowledge, skill, and prophecy. Sages, seers, and tacticians revere ei, as do all who live by their knowledge and mental power. Libraries and wizard academies are built in ei name. Ioun's commands are also teachings:
• Seek the perfection of your mind by bringing reason, perception, and emotion into balance with one another.
• Accumulate, preserve, and distribute knowledge in all forms.
• Pursue education, build libraries, and seek out lost and ancient lore.
6: Kord is the chaotic neutral storm god and the lord of battle. Id revels in strength, battlefield prowess, and thunder. Fighters and athletes revere ei. Id is a mercurial god, unbridled and wild, who summons storms over land and sea; those who hope for better weather appease ei with prayers and spirited toasts. Kord gives few commands:
• Be strong, but do not use your strength for wanton destruction.
• Be brave and scorn cowardice in any form.
• Prove your might in battle to win glory and renown.
7: Melora is the true neutral god of nature, wilderness and wildspace. Id is often worshipped by hunters and rangers. Sailors often make offerings to ei before they embark on their voyages. Melora commands eius followers thusly:
• Protect the wild places of the world from destruction and overuse. Oppose the rampant spread of cities and empires.
• Hunt aberrant monsters and other abominations of nature.
• Do not fear or condemn the savagery of the wild. Live in harmony with the wild.
8: Moradin is the lawful good deity of creation and patron of artisans, especially miners and smiths. Id carved the mountains from primordial earth and is the guardian and protector of the hearth and the family. Dwarves from all walks of life follow ei. Moradin demands these behaviors of eius followers:
• Meet adversity with stoicism and tenacity.
• Demonstrate loyalty to your family, your clan, your leaders, and your people.
• Strive to make a mark on the world, a lasting legacy. To make something that lasts is the highest good, whether you are a smith working at a forge or a ruler building a dynasty.
9: Pelor is the neutral good god of the sun and summer. Id is the keeper of time. Id supports those in need and opposes all that is evil. As the lord of agriculture and the bountiful harvest, id is the deity most commonly worshiped by farmers, and eius priests are well received wherever they go. Paladins and rangers are found among eius worshipers. Pelor directs eius followers thus:
• Alleviate suffering wherever you find it.
• Bring Pelor’s light into places of darkness, showing kindness, mercy, and compassion.
• Be watchful against evil.
10: Raven is the lawful neutral god of death. Id is the spinner of fate and the patron of winter. Id marks the end of each mortal life, and mourners call upon ei during funeral rites, in the hope that id will guard the departed from the curse of undeath. Raven expects eius followers to abide by these commandments:
• Bring down the proud who try to cast off the chains of fate. As the instrument of the Raven, you must punish hubris where you find it.
• Hunt down and destroy the undead.
• Do not be sad for those who die, for death is the natural end of life.
11: Sehanine is the chaotic neutral deity of the moon and autumn, trickery and illusions. Id is the deity of love and protector of the trysts of lovers. Scouts and thieves ask for ei blessing on their work. Sehanine's teachings are simple:
• Follow your goals and seek your own destiny.
• Keep to the shadows, avoiding the blazing light of zealous good and the utter darkness of evil.
• Seek new horizons and new experiences, and let nothing tie you down.
12: Roll twice
Step 4: Finish
After setting all of your ability scores according to the instructions, you will usually have at least one with no number. With your backstory and proficiencies in mind, decide what you want your character to be bad at, and set one unfilled ability score to 8 and the rest to 10. In the rare case where all of your ability scores already have numbers, decrease one of them by 2.
Make sure that no ability score is higher than 17. If it is, reduce it to 17 and increase some other ability score by that amount.
Write down a reminder of the Cultural Immersion trait that matches your Upbringing. (Don't write down all the details, but you can read them below.) If you rolled an unusual upbringing (14-20 on the Other Upbringing table), instead write down a Cultural Immersion reminder for your Background.
Now follow the normal instructions in the rules, starting with Determine Ability Modifiers, to finish filling out your sheet.
When it comes time to choose an alignment, also consult this chart to see different perspectives on alignment.
Cultural Immersion
You have advantage on Charisma (Intimidation, Performance, and Persuasion) checks when interacting with people who share your upbringing, and on Wisdom (Insight) checks on someone like you who is not trying to deceive you. (Deception and Insight cancel out; they know how to lie better, but you know how to see though them.)
You have advantage on all Wisdom and Intelligence checks on things you grew up with, including Animal Handling checks for animals like the ones you grew up with.
You have advantage on all checks related to downtime activities performed in areas with many people who share your upbringing.
When you are not in areas with many people who share your upbringing, you must make either an Intelligence (History), Wisdom (Insight), or Charisma (Persuasion) check to take advantage of your Background feature, instead of it happening automatically. The DC for this check is 10 to 15, based on the cultural distance as determined by the DM.
By default, Cultural Immersion benefits work wherever there are people who grew up with a similar upbringing, because it is based on thinking and acting a certain way, not because of a character's history in any particular place.
People with an unusual upbringing are less likely to interact with people who share their upbringing, but they often form close bonds to those of their background, so a Werewolf Soldier would benefit from Cultural Immersion when interacting with any veteran or military encampment or equipment. The background feature of such characters almost always works.
Tables
Origin Feats
1: Alert
2: Crafter
3: Healer
4: Lucky
5: Magic Initiate
6: Musician
7: Savage Attacker
8: Skilled
9: Tavern Brawler
10: Tough
Other Upbringing
New players should use a d12, veterans use a d20:
1: Caravan
2: City
3: Factory
4: Farmland
5: Freehold
6: Mystic
7: Nomad
8: Orchard
9: Outcast
10: Slum
11: Suburb
12: Tribal
13: Multicultural
14: Animal
15: Child Soldier
16: Fell From Heaven
17: Magemarked
18: Reborn
19: Vampire
20: Werewolf
Other Background
Roll d6 (the tens digit) and d10:
10-11: Acolyte: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
12: Anthropologist: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
13: Archaeologist: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
14: Athlete: +2 Strength or Dexterity
15: Caravan Specialist: +2 Constitution or Wisdom
16: Celebrity Adventurer's Scion: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
17-18: Charlatan: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
19: City Watch: +2 Strength or Wisdom
20: Costumed Hero: +2 Constitution or Charisma
21: Courtier: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
22-23: Criminal: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
24: Detective: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
25: Dragon Casualty: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
26-27: Entertainer: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
28: Ex-Convict: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
29: Failed Merchant: +2 Intelligence or Charisma
30: Far Traveler: +2 Constitution or Wisdom
31: Feylost: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
32: Fisher: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
33-34: Folk Hero: +2 Strength or Wisdom
35: Gambler: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
36: Gladiator: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
37-38: Guild Artisan: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
39: Guild Merchant: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
40: Haunted One: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
41: Hermit: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
42: Inheritor: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
43: Inquisitor: +2 Constitution or Intelligence
44: Insurgent: +2 Dexterity or Wisdom
45: Investigator: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
46: Knight: +2 Intelligence or Charisma
47: Livestock Rustler: +2 Dexterity or Wisdom
48: Marine: +2 Strength or Wisdom
49: Miner: +2 Strength or Wisdom
50-51: Noble: +2 Intelligence or Charisma
52-53: Outlander: +2 Strength or Wisdom
54: Pirate: +2 Strength or Wisdom
55-56: Sage: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
57-58: Sailor: +2 Strength or Wisdom
59: Smuggler: +2 Strength or Charisma
60-61: Soldier: +2 Strength or Charisma
62: Spy: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
63: Urban Bounty Hunter: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
64: Urchin: +2 Dexterity or Wisdom
65-69: Roll twice on this table, rerolling duplicates. Do not increase any ability scores, but take all other features of both backgrounds including all money and starting equipment.
Species List
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 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.
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2.
Age. Aasimar can live for up to 160 years.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. You are Medium or Small. You choose the size when you select this race.
Speed. 30 feet.
Healing Hands. As an action, you can touch a creature and roll a number of d4s equal to your proficiency bonus. The creature regains a number of hit points equal to the total rolled. Once you use this trait, you can’t use it again until you finish a long rest.
Light Bearer. You know the Light cantrip. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for it.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Fell From Heaven
2: Magemarked (Healing or Hospitality)
3-4: Caravan (Celestial Revelation)
5: Suburb
6: Other
Air Genasi
Air genasi are part elemental, imbued with elemental air. Most are descended from djinn, the genies of the Elemental Plane of Air, but they can also be formed from magical accidents or curses, deliberate self-experimentation, or de novo mutations. You decide your character's origin.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Age. A typical genasi has a life span of 120 years.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. You are Medium or Small. You choose the size when you select this race.
Speed. 35 feet.
Unending Breath. You can hold your breath indefinitely while you’re not incapacitated.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Caravan
2-3: Mystic (Airbending)
4: Nomad
5: Magemarked (Passage or Storm)
6: Other
Bugbear
Bugbears descended from large predatory animals.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2.
Age. Bugbears reach adulthood at age 16 and live up to 80 years.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid. You are also considered a goblinoid for any prerequisite or effect that requires you to be a goblinoid.
Size. Bugbears are between 6 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 250 and 350 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. 30 feet.
Long-Limbed. When you make a melee attack on your turn, your reach for it is 5 feet greater than normal.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Orchard
2: Freehold
3: Slum
4-5: Tribal (Warrior Spirit(Powerful Build, Sneaky), Surprise Attack)
6: Other
Centaur
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2.
Age. Centaurs reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.
Creature Type. You are a Fey.
Size. Centaurs stand between 6 and 7 feet tall, with their equine bodies reaching about 4 feet at the withers. Your size is Medium.
Speed. 40 feet.
Equine Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push or drag. In addition, any climb that requires hands and feet is especially difficult for you because of your equine legs. When you make such a climb, each foot of movement costs you 4 extra feet, instead of the normal 1 extra foot.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Caravan
2-3: Nomad
4: Orchard
5: Tribal
6: Other
Changeling
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age. Changelings reach adulthood in their middle teens and live less than a century. While a changeling can transform to conceal their age, the effects of aging still affect them.
Creature Type. You are a Fey.
Size. You are Medium or Small. You choose the size when you select this race.
Speed. 30 feet.
Change Appearance. As an action, you can change your appearance and your voice. You determine the specifics of the changes, including your coloration, hair length, and sex. You can also adjust your height and weight, but not so much that your size changes. You can make yourself appear as a member of another species, though none of your game statistics change.
You can't duplicate the appearance of a creature you've never seen, and you must adopt a form that has the same basic arrangement of limbs that you have. Your clothing and equipment aren't changed by this trait.
You stay in the new form until you use an action to revert to your true form or until you die.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1-2: Caravan (Diplomat)
3: City
4: Multicultural
5: Roll d12 on the Other Upbringing table.
6: Roll d20 on the Other Upbringing table.
Construct
You are an artificial lifeform. Depending on the setting and culture, you might be called a golem, warforged, autognome, or robot. Where you came from, artificial life may be mass-produced in factories or creation forges, or an extremely rare result of magical experimentation, or anything in between. You can decide your origin and life history, or roll on this History table.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age. The maximum lifespan of most constructs remains a mystery. Well-built ones show no signs of deterioration due to age, and many of them have no knowledge of their age. You are immune to magical aging effects.
Creature Type. You are a Construct.
Size. Constructs are constructed in many sizes. You are Medium or Small. You choose the size when you select this race.
Speed. 30 feet.
Healing Machine. If the Mending spell is cast on you, you can spend a Hit Die, roll it, and regain a number of hit points equal to the roll plus your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1 hit point). In addition, your creator designed you to benefit from several spells that preserve life but that normally don't affect Constructs: Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Mass Cure Wounds, Mass Healing Word, and Spare the Dying.
Mechanical Nature. You have Resistance to Poison damage and immunity to disease. You also have Advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the Paralyzed and Poisoned conditions. You don't need to eat, drink, or breathe.
Sentry's Rest. When you take a long rest, you must spend at least six hours in an inactive, motionless state, rather than sleeping. In this state, you appear inert, but it doesn't render you unconscious, and you can see and hear as normal.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Child Soldier
2: City
3: Factory
4: Outcast
5-6: Suburb (Armor Modding, Education(Practicum), Utility Belt)
7-8: Other
Dragonborn
Dragonborn look like 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. Some have vestigial wings. Most come from parents who are also dragonborn, but they can also be formed from natural hybridization (dragons often use magic to take humanoid form), magical accidents or curses, deliberate self-experimentation, or de novo mutations. You decide your character's origin.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2.
Age. Young naturally-born dragonborn grow quickly. They walk hours after hatching, attain the size and development of a 10-year-old human child by the age of 3, and reach adulthood by 15. They live to be around 80.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. Most natural dragonborn are tall and heavy, standing well over 6 feet tall and averaging almost 250 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. 30 feet.
Draconic Link. Through either heritage or magical influence, you are tied to a particular type of dragon. Choose or roll d20:
1-2. Black - Acid
3-4. Blue - Lightning
5-6. Green - Poison
7-8. Red - Fire
9-10. White - Cold
11. Brass - Fire
12. Bronze - Lightning
13. Copper - Acid
14. Gold - Fire
15. Silver - Cold
16. Amethyst - Force
17. Crystal - Radiant
18. Emerald - Psychic
19. Sapphire - Thunder
20. Topaz - Necrotic
Draconic Flight. When you reach character level 5, you can channel draconic magic to give yourself temporary flight. As a Bonus Action, you sprout spectral wings on your back, or your physical wings grow strong enough to fly. This effect lasts for 10 minutes or until you retract the wings (no action required) or have the Incapacitated condition. During that time, you have a Fly Speed equal to your Speed. Your wings appear to be made of the same energy as your Breath Weapon. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a Long Rest.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Factory
2: Freehold
3: Outcast (Strength, Charisma, Resistance based on Draconic Link)
4-5: Tribal (Breath Weapon, Spirit-Touched(Resistance), both based on Draconic Link))
6: Other
Dwarf
Dwarves descended from burrowing mammals, and are most comfortable underground. Most of them prefer to live in hills and mountains with natural cavern systems that can be expanded and mined. The name is a misleading relic of ancient times; many species are smaller and shorter than they are (although a dwarf will usually be the shortest person in a group of people wielding heavy weapons like pikes or greatswords).
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age. Dwarves become physically mature by age 25, but they're considered young until they reach the age of 50. On average, they live about 350 years.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. Dwarves stand between 4 and 5 feet tall and average about 120 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. 25 feet. Your speed is not reduced by wearing armor.
Darkvision. You have Darkvision with a range of 120 feet.
Burrowing Instinct. You have advantage on Survival checks to avoid getting lost in underground environments, and on Perception checks to notice underground architectural features like hidden doors, or dangers related to collapsing walls or tunnels.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1-2: Factory (mountain dwarf: Poison resistance, Labor-Mason's tools)
3-4: Freehold
(standard: Bouncer, Lumberjack, Trapper(Tremorsense))
(hill dwarf: Bouncer, Lumberjack, Scab(Mason))
5: Magemarked (Warding)
6: Mystic (duergar: Sunlight Sensitivity, Mental Discipline, Weapon Magic(battleaxe, handaxe and warhammer), Intelligence, Fleshbending)
7: Suburb
8: Other
Earth Genasi
Earth genasi are part elemental, imbued with elemental earth. Most trace their ancestry to dao, the genies of the Elemental Plane of Earth, but they can also be formed from magical accidents or curses, deliberate self-experimentation, or de novo mutations. You decide your character's origin.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age. A typical genasi has a life span of 120 years.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. You are Medium or Small. You choose the size when you select this race.
Speed. 25 feet.
Merge with Stone. You know the Blade Ward cantrip. You can cast it as normal, and you can also cast it as a bonus action a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Factory
2: Farmland
3: Magemarked (Sentinel or Warding)
4-5: Mystic (Earthbending)
6: Other
Elf
Elves descended from a fox-like creature whose diet was mostly fruit. They developed a civilization based on cultivating orchards (possibly after magical influence or uplift from fey forces), and are most comfortable in dense forests or solarpunk urban environments.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Age. Although elves reach physical maturity at about age 25, the elven understanding of adulthood goes beyond physical growth to encompass worldly experience. An elf typically claims adulthood and an adult name around the age of 100 and can live to be 750 years old.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. Elves range from under 5 to over 6 feet tall and have slender builds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. 30 feet.
Fey Ancestry. You have Advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the Charmed condition.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.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1-2: City
(high elf: Advanced Notes(Detect Magic, Misty Step), Cantrip(Prestidigitation), Cantrip Flexibility, Field Work(Perception))
(old high elf: Cantrip, Cosmopolitan, Field Work(Perception), Gym(longsword, shortsword, longbow))
3: Magemarked (Shadow)
4: Mystic
(drow: Creature of the Night, Charisma, Lightbending.)
5-6: Orchard
(wood elf: Darkvision, Nature Magic (Lifebending), Fleet of Foot)
(old wood elf: Wisdom, Education(Field Work(Perception), Gym((longsword, shortsword, longbow)), Fleet of Foot, Mask of the Wild)
(sea elf: Wisdom, Education(Field Work(Perception), Gym((light crossbow, trident, net)), Speak with Beasts, Child of the Water)
7: Tribal
(eladrin: Cloud's Jaunt, Spirit-Called(Fey Fire))
(shadar-kai: Cloud's Jaunt, Spirit-Called(Raven's Resistance))
(astral elf: Cloud's Jaunt, Primal Magic(Dancing Lights))
8: Other
Fairy
"Fairy" is the common term for any humanoid creature with wings that can fly. The wings can resemble those of birds or insects. There are many different types, with their own societies and abilities and names. Many have magic of some type.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Age. Fairies have a life span of about a century.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid or a Fey. You choose the type when you select this race.
Size. You are Medium or Small. You choose the size when you select this race.
Speed. 30 feet.
Flight. Because of your wings, you have a flying speed equal to your walking speed. You can't use this flying speed if you're wearing medium or heavy armor, or if you're encumbered.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Magemarked
2-3: Mystic
(Fairy: Plantbending)
(Siren: Mindbending)
4: Outcast (Owlin: Creature of the Night)
5: Slum (Aarakocra: Getting Around(Nature Magic(Mark(Storm))))
6: Other
Firbolg
The first firbolgs were distant cousins of giants who wandered the primeval forests of the multiverse. You could be from a long line of firbolg, but you could also get your size and abilities from recent hybridization, magical accidents or curses, deliberate self-experimentation, or de novo mutation.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2.
Age. Firbolg have long lifespans. A firbolg reaches adulthood around 30, and the oldest of them can live for 500 years.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid or a Fey. You choose the type when you select this race.
Size. Firbolg are between 7 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 240 and 300 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. 30 feet.
Powerful Build. You have Advantage on any saving throw you make to end the Grappled condition. You also count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity.
Magical Senses. You can cast the Detect Magic spell once per long rest.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Magemarked (Finding, Handling, or Healing)
2: Mystic (Fleshbending)
3: Nomad
4-5: Orchard (Camouflage, Speak with Beasts, Nature Magic(Fleshbending))
6: Other
Fire Genasi
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2.
Age. A typical genasi has a life span of 120 years.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. You are Medium or Small. You choose the size when you select this race.
Speed. 30 feet.
Flame Essence. You have resistance to fire damage.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: City
2: Factory
3: Magemarked (Making or Scribing)
4-5: Mystic (Firebending)
6: Other
Giff
Giff are descended from large herbivores, and often resemble hippos or rhinos. Their strength and natural buoyancy make them good swimmers.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2.
Size. You are Medium.
Speed. 30 feet,
Natural Swimmer. You have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed, and you have advantage on Athletics checks to swim.
Powerful Build. You have Advantage on any saving throw you make to end the Grappled condition. You also count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Caravan
2: City
3: Nomad
4-5: Suburb (Firearms, Weapon Modding, Working Out, choose pistol or musket for Attic Rummaging.)
6: Other
Gith
Gith are descended from people who have been exposed to the astral plane and wildspace for generations. Originally there were two main factions, but in recent years these have splintered into a larger variety.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age. Gith reach adulthood in their late teens and live for about a century.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. You are Medium.
Speed. 30 feet.
Psychic Resilience. You have resistance to psychic damage.
Space Heritage. You are adapted to zero gravity. Being weightless doesn’t give you disadvantage on any of your melee attack rolls or other ability checks.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1-2: Factory (Githyanki: Magewright(Spacebending), Cramming OR Gym(shortswords, longswords, and greatswords)
3: Fell from Heaven
4: Magemarked
5-6: Mystic (Githzerai: Mental Discipline, Spacebending)
7-8: Other
Gnome
Gnomes descended from small mammals that were constantly on the watch for danger from magic-using predators.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age. Gnomes are physically mature by the age of 25, and most are expected to settle into adult life around the age of 40. They can live to 350 years on average, but it's not too uncommon for them to reach 500 years of age.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. Gnomes are between 3 and 4 feet tall and weigh around 40 pounds. Your size is Small.
Speed. 25 feet.
Gnomish Cunning. You have Advantage on Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saving throws.Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1-2: City
(rock gnome: Cantrip(Mending), Cantrip(Prestidigitation), Engineering, Track)
(old rock gnome: Engineering, Lore(Artifice))
3: Factory
4: Magemarked (Scribing)
5-6: Orchard
(forest gnome: Intelligence, Fleet of Foot, Natural Illusionist, Speak with Beasts)
(deep gnome: Intelligence, Darkvision, Fleet of Foot, Camouflage)
7: Suburb
8: Other
Goblin
Goblins descended from curious and adventurous small primates that found a niche in dangerous environments. They have highly variable genetics, based on what their ancestors endured.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Age. Goblins reach adulthood at age 8 and live up to 60 years.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid. You are also considered a goblinoid for any prerequisite or effect that requires you to be a goblinoid.
Size. Goblins are between 3 and 4 feet tall and weigh between 40 and 80 pounds. Your size is Small.
Speed. 25 feet.
Grit. Roll (do not choose) 1d12 on the Mystic Arcane table.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Factory
2: Nomad
3: Slum
4-5: Suburb (Slipping Out, Weapon Modding, Education(Track))
6: Other
Goliath
Towering over most folk, goliaths have physical characteristics that are reminiscent of a particular type of giant. For example, some goliaths look like stone giants, while others resemble fire giants. Each goliath has the ability to quickly grow and temporarily approach the height of goliaths’ gigantic kin. You could be a distant descendant of giants from a long line of goliaths, but you could also get your size and abilities from recent hybridization, magical accidents or curses, deliberate self-experimentation, or de novo mutation.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2.
Age. Goliaths enter adulthood in their late teens and usually live less than a century.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. Goliaths are between 7 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 280 and 340 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. 35 feet.
Large Form. Starting at character level 5, you can change your size to Large as a Bonus Action if you're in a big enough space. This transformation lasts for 10 minutes or until you end it (no action required). For that duration, you have Advantage on Strength checks, and your Speed increases by 10 feet. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a Long Rest.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Freehold
2: Mystic
3: Slum
4-5: Tribal (Choose or roll d6 for ancestry, Powerful Build)
6: Other
Hadozee
Hadozees’ progenitors were mammals no bigger than housecats. Hunted by larger natural predators, they took to the trees and evolved wing-like flaps that enabled them to glide from branch to branch.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Age. Hadozee enter adulthood in their late teens and usually live less than a century.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. You are Medium or Small. You choose the size when you select this race.
Speed. 30 feet.
Glide. When you fall at least 10 feet above the ground, you can use your reaction to extend your skin membranes to glide horizontally a number of feet equal to your walking speed, and you take 0 damage from the fall. You determine the direction of the glide.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: City
2: Orchard
3: Outcast
4-5: Tribal (Stone's Endurance, Dexterous Feet)
6: Other
Half Elf
Some half-elves are hybrids of humanoids and fey creatures, some are born from two half-elf parents, and others are the result of deliberate or accidental magic. You decide your character's origin.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age. Half-elves reach adulthood at the age of 20, and live up to 180 years.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. Half-elves vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.
Speed. 30 feet.
Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put you to sleep.
Passing. You have advantage on checks to disguise yourself as either a human or an elf, and pass as an ordinary member of either of those species.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1-2: Caravan (Diplomat)
3: City
4: Magemarked (Detection or Storm)
5: Mystic
6: Orchard
7: Roll d12 on the Other Upbringing table.
8: Roll d20 on the Other Upbringing table.
Halfling
Halflings descended from a small mammal in the middle of the food chain. They have an instinct to be alert to danger and opportunity, and can sometimes turn failure to success in a way that appears to be supernatural luck.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Age. Halfling reach adulthood at the age of 20 and usually live about 150 years.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. Halflings average about 3 feet tall and weigh about 40 pounds. Your size is Small.
Speed. 25 feet.
Second Chance. When you roll a 2 on the d20 of a D20 Test, you can reroll the die, and you must use the new roll.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1-2: Freehold
(stout: Bouncer, Dirt Farmer, Moonshiner (Dancing))
(Kender: Dirt Farmer, Moonshiner (Taunt))
3: Magemarked (Hospitality or Healing)
4: Orchard
5-6: Suburb (standard or old lightfoot: Avoiding Attention, Dancing, Heroic Stories)
7: Roll d12 on the Other Upbringing table.
8: Roll d20 on the Other Upbringing table.
Harengon
Harengons are bipedal, with the characteristic long feet of the rabbits they resemble and fur in a variety of colors.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Age. Harengon enter adulthood in their late teens and usually live less than a century.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. You are Medium or Small. You choose the size when you select this race.
Speed. 30 feet.
Rabbit Hop. As a bonus action, you can jump a number of feet equal to five times your proficiency bonus, without provoking opportunity attacks. You can use this trait only if your speed is greater than 0. You can use it a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Orchard
2: Freehold
3-4: Suburb (Breakdancing, Education(Field Work(Perception)), take the Alert origin feat)
5: Were-rabbit
6: Other
Hobgoblin
Hobgoblins descended from pack-hunting predators.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2, and your Strength score increases by 1.
Age. Hobgoblins reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid. You are also considered a goblinoid for any prerequisite or effect that requires you to be a goblinoid.
Size. Hobgoblins are between 5 and 6 feet tall and weigh between 150 and 200 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. 30 feet.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Child Soldier
2: Farmland
3-4: Factory (Senior Management(Gym) OR Line Management)
5: Freehold
6: Other
Human
Humans descended from apes who found a niche as pack-hunting exhaustion predators. They are most comfortable on savannas and open spaces where they can freely move about.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age. Humans reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. Humans vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.
Speed. 30 feet.
Resourceful. You gain Heroic Inspiration whenever you finish a Long Rest.
Marathon Endurance. You have advantage on Athletics checks to jog and hike long distances.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1-2: Caravan (standard or old variant: Self-made)
3: Farmland (old base human)
4: Magemarked (Finding, Handling, Making, Passage, or Sentinel)
5: Nomad
6-7: Roll d12 on the Other Upbringing table.
8: Roll d20 on the Other Upbringing table.
Hybrid
Roll two different species, rerolling duplicates.
Age. Your lifespan and time to maturity is an average of the two parent species
Creature Type. Choose either creature type of the two parent species.
Size. You can choose to be either Small or Medium, unless both parent species are the same size, without allowing any choice.
Speed. Your speed is the lowest of the two parent species.
Take all features and ability score increases from both parent species. Then, your lowest physical ability score (Strength, Dexterity, or Constitution) decreases by 3.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Roll on the Upbringing table of the first species.
2: Roll on the Upbringing table of the second species.
3: Caravan
4-5: Outcast
6: Roll on the Upbringing tables of both species. If you get the same result, take it. Otherwise, Multicultural with those two upbringings.
Kenku
Kenku resemble some kind of bird, usually a raven or other corvid, but are flightless. Most descend from other kenku, but some are formed when a humanoid is affected by magical accidents or curses, deliberate self-experimentation, or de novo mutations. You decide your character's origin.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Age. Kenku reach maturity at about 12 years old and can live to 60.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. You are Medium or Small. You choose the size when you gain this race.
Speed. 30 feet.
Mimicry. You can accurately mimic sounds you have heard, including voices. A creature that hears the sounds you make can tell they are imitations only with a successful Wisdom (Insight) check against a DC of 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Caravan
2-3: City (Expert Duplication, Recall, any two Studies or Field Work)
4: Nomad
5: Orchard
6: Other
Kobold
Kobolds are small reptilian creatures.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.
Age. Kobolds reach adulthood at age 6 and can live up to 120 years.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. Kobolds are between 2 and 3 feet tall and weigh between 25 and 35 pounds. Your size is Small.
Speed. 30 feet.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Mystic
2: Suburb
3: Slum
4-5: Tribal (Dragon's Cry, Intuition OR Primal Magic OR Spirit-Touched(Mental Discipline))
6: Other
Leonin
Leonin descended from savannah predators.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.
Age. Leonin reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid or a Fey. You choose the type when you select this race.
Size. Leonin are typically over 6 feet tall, with some standing over 7 feet. Your size is Medium.
Speed. 30 feet.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Caravan
2: Nomad
3-4: Slum (Cause Fear, Getting Around(Fleet of Foot), Skills)
5: Tribal
6: Other
Lizardfolk
Lizardfolk descended from aquatic reptilian predators.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age. Lizardfolk reach maturity around age 14 and rarely live longer than 60 years.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. Lizardfolk are typically around 6 feet tall and 150-200 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. 30 feet, and you have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed.
Hold Breath. You can hold your breath for up to 15 minutes at a time.
Natural Armor. You have tough, scaly skin. When you aren't wearing armor, your AC is 13 + your Dexterity modifier. You can use your natural armor to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield's benefits apply as normal while you use your natural armor.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Mystic
2: Orchard
3: Outcast
4-5: Slum (Frenzy, Scavenger, Skills)
6: Other
Loxodon
Loxodon descended from elephants and are noted for their trunk.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constutution score increases by 2.
Age. Loxodons mature at the same rate as humans, however, they are considered mature by their people at 60 years old. Their lifespan can be as long as 450 years.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. Loxodons are between 7 and 8 feet tall and weigh between 300 and 400 pounds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. 30 feet.
Trunk. You can grasp things with your trunk, and you can use it as a snorkel. It has a reach of 5 feet, and it can lift a number of pounds equal to five times your Strength score. You can use it to do the following simple tasks: lift, drop, hold, push, or pull an object or a creature; open or close a door or a container; grapple someone; or make an unarmed strike. It can't wield weapons or shields or do anything that requires manual precision, such as using tools or magic items or performing the somatic components of a spell.
Keen Smell. Thanks to your sensitive trunk, you have advantage on Wisdom (Perception), Wisdom (Survival), and Intelligence (Investigation) checks that involve smell.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Farmland
2-3: Freehold (Dirt Farmer, Hunter (Powerful Build), Laborer)
4: Orchard
5: Slum
6: Other
Minotaur
Minotaurs descended from large migratory animals.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2.
Age. Minotaurs reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. Minotaurs average over 6 feet in height, and they have strong, stocky builds. Your size is Medium.
Speed. 30 feet.
Powerful Build. You have Advantage on any saving throw you make to end the Grappled condition. You also count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity.
Terrain Recall. You always know which direction is north, and you have advantage on any Wisdom (Survival) check you make to navigate or track.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Freehold
2-3: Nomad
4-5: Slum (Rush, Hammering, Skills)
6: Other
Orc
Orcs are, on average, tall and broad. They have gray or green skin, ears that are sharply pointed, and prominent lower canines that resemble small tusks.
Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2.
Age. Orcs reaching adulthood around age 14 and rarely live longer than 75 years.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. Orcs are usually 6 to 7 feet tall. Your size is Medium.
Speed. 30 feet.
Darkvision. You have Darkvision with a range of 120 feet.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Freehold
2: Magemarked (Finding)
3: Slum
4-5: Tribal
(standard: Warrior Spirit(Adrenaline Rush, Adrenaline Rush), Relentless Endurance)
(old half-orc: Warrior Spirit(Intuition, Relentless Endurance), Savage Attacks)
(old orc: Warrior Spirit(Adrenaline Rush, Powerful Build), Relentless Endurance OR Intuition)
6: Other
Plasmoid
Plasmoids are amorphous beings with no typical shape. Some are descended from other plasmoids and grew up in a community of their kind, but many are formed when an ooze is uplifted to sapience, or when a humanoid is affected by magical accidents or curses, deliberate self-experimentation, or de novo mutations. You decide your character's origin.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 1.
Age. The maximum lifespan of plasmoids remains a mystery, and many of them have no knowledge of their age.
Creature Type. You are an Ooze.
Size. You are Medium or Small. You choose the size when you gain this race.
Speed. 30 feet.
Amorphous. You can squeeze through a space as narrow as 1 inch wide, provided you are wearing and carrying nothing larger or more rigid than a bag, dagger, or wand. You also have advantage on ability checks you make to initiate or escape a grapple.
Shape Self. As an action, you can reshape your body to give yourself a humanoid form, or a four- or many-legged form, or you can revert to a limbless blob. This gives you several features:
*While you are not in a two-legged shape, you count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.
*While you have a humanoid shape, you can wear clothing and armor made for any Humanoid of your size.
*As a bonus action, you can extrude a pseudopod that is up to 6 inches wide and 10 feet long or reabsorb it into your body. As part of the same bonus action, you can use this pseudopod to manipulate an object, open or close a door or container, or pick up or set down a Tiny object. The pseudopod can’t attack or lift more than 10 pounds.
*As a bonus action, you can temporarily lengthen your limbs so that your reach for your next melee attack is 5 feet greater than normal.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Farmland
2: Freehold
3-4: Outcast (Constitution and your class's secondary ability score, Poison resistance)
5: Tribal
6: Other
Satyr
Satyrs have goatlike legs, cloven hooves, and ram or goat horns.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Age. Satyrs enter adulthood in their late teens and usually live less than a century.
Creature Type. You are a Fey.
Size. Satyrs range from just under 5 feet to about 6 feet in height, with generally slender builds. Your size is medium.
Speed. 35 feet.
Leaps. Whenever you make a long jump or a high jump, you can roll a d8 and add the number rolled to the number of feet you cover, even when making a standing jump. (This extra distance costs movement as normal.)
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Caravan
2: Freehold
3: Orchard
4-5: Slum (Hustler(Performance, Persuasion), Wild(Spirit-Touched(Spell Resilience)))
6: Other
Tabaxi
Tabaxi descended from catlike creatures, and most resemble cats. They have claws that allow them to quickly climb, and usually go around barefoot or in special shoes that allow them to use their claws.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Age. Tabaxi reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. You are Medium or Small. You choose the size when you select this race.
Speed. 30 feet.
Climbing Claws. If you are barefoot or wearing special shoes, you have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed, you have advantage on Athletics checks to climb, and if you are unencumbered, you may use Dexterity rather than Strength to climb. Modifying shoes to use this feature costs 5 gp, or 50 gp if the footwear is a magic item.
Roll d6 for Upbringing:
1: Animal (cat)
2: City
3-4: Slum (Parkour, Skills(Perception and Stealth), Speed Burst)
5: Suburb
6: Other
Thri-kreen
Thri-kreen have insectile features and two pairs of arms. Their bodies are encased in protective chitin. They can alter the coloration of this carapace to blend in with their natural surroundings.
Although thri-kreen don’t sleep, they do require periods of inactivity to revitalize themselves. During these periods, they are fully aware of what’s happening around them.
Thri-kreen speak by clacking their mandibles and waving their antennae, indicating to other thri-kreen what they are thinking and feeling. Other creatures find this method of communication difficult to interpret and impossible to duplicate. To interact with other folk, thri-kreen rely on a form of telepathy.
Age. Thri-kreen enter adulthood in their late teens and usually live less than a century.
Creature Type. You are a Monstrosity.
Size. You are Medium or Small. You choose the size when you select this race.
Speed. 30 feet.
Chameleon Carapace. While you aren’t wearing armor, your carapace gives you a base Armor Class of 13 + your Dexterity modifier. As an action, you can change the color of your carapace to match the color and texture of your surroundings, giving you advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks made to hide in those surroundings.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of yourself as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You discern colors in that darkness only as shades of gray.
Secondary Arms. You have two slightly smaller secondary arms below your primary pair of arms. The secondary arms can manipulate an object, open or close a door or container, pick up or set down a Tiny object, or wield a weapon that has the light property.
Sleepless. You do not require sleep and can choose to remain conscious during a long rest, though you must still refrain from strenuous activity to gain the benefit of the rest.
Thri-kreen Telepathy. Without the assistance of magic, you can’t speak the non-thri-kreen languages you know. Instead you use telepathy to convey your thoughts. You have the magical ability to transmit your thoughts mentally to willing creatures you can see within 120 feet of yourself. A contacted creature doesn’t need to share a language with you to understand your thoughts, but it must be able to understand at least one language. Your telepathic link to a creature is broken if you and the creature move more than 120 feet apart, if either of you is incapacitated, or if either of you mentally breaks the contact (no action required).
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1-2: Farmland (but roll on the Other Background table)
3: Nomad
4: Outcast
5: Tribal
6: Other
Tiefling
Tieflings are people with innate magic, usually tied to fiendish power. Most of them have visible demonic features like horns or a tail. Some are hybrids of humanoids and fiendish creatures, some are born from two tiefling parents, and others are the result of magical accidents or curses, deliberate self-experimentation, or de novo mutations. You decide your character's origin.
Age. Tieflings reach adulthood in their late teens and live about a century.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. Tieflings vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.
Speed. 30 feet.
Fiendish Legacy. Each legacy has a cantrip and two spells. You know the cantrip. When you reach character level 3, you learn the second spell, and at level 5, you learn the third. You always have these spells prepared. You can cast each one 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 legacy). The chosen ability increases by 1. Traditionally, Charisma was chosen, but it is recommended to choose your highest ability. Choose or roll d4:
1: Abyssal. Poison Spray, Ray of Sickness, Hold Person
2: Chthonic. Chill Touch, False Life, Ray of Enfeeblement
3: Infernal. Fire Bolt, Hellish Rebuke, Darkness
4: Your legacy is an older one, tied to a specific ancient power. Choose or roll:
-1: Asmodeus. Thaumaturgy, Hellish Rebuke, Darkness
-2: Baalzebul. Thaumaturgy, Ray of Sickness, Crown of Madness.
-3: Dispater. Thaumaturgy, Disguise Self, Detect Thoughts.
-4: Fierna. Friends, Charm Person, Suggestion.
-5: Glasya. Minor Illusion, Disguise Self, Invisibility.
-6: Levistus. Ray of Frost, Armor of Agathys, Darkness.
-7: Mammon. Mage Hand, Tenser's Floating
Disk, Arcane Lock.
-8: Mephistopheles. Mage Hand, Burning Hands, Flame Blade.
-9: Zariel. Thaumaturgy, Searing Smite, Branding Smite.
-10. Roll 1d12 on the Mystic Innate Magic table. Do not gain the additional ability.
Otherworldly Presence. You know the Thaumaturgy cantrip. If you already know it, choose or roll a new cantrip from the Fiendish Legacy table. When you cast it with this trait, the spell uses the same spellcasting ability you use for your Fiendish Legacy trait.
1: Farmland
2: Freehold
3-4: Outcast (Poison, Necrotic, or Fire resistance based on legacy.)
5: Tribal
6: Other
Tortle
Carrying their shelter on their backs gives tortles a special feeling of security wherever they go, for even if they visit a far, unknown country, they have a place to lay their heads.
Tortles exhibit the same range of coloration and patterns found among turtles, and many tortles enjoy adorning their shells in distinctive ways.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2.
Age. Young tortles crawl for a few weeks after birth before learning to walk on two legs. They reach adulthood by the age of 15 and live an average of 50 years.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. You are Medium or Small. You choose the size when you select this race.
Speed. 30 feet.
Hold Breath. You can hold your breath for up to 1 hour.
Natural Armor. Your shell provides you a base AC of 16 (your Dexterity modifier doesn’t affect this number). You can’t wear light, medium, or heavy armor, but if you are using a shield, you can apply the shield’s bonus as normal.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Caravan
2: Farmland
3: Mystic
4-5: Slum (Defensive Crouch, Getting Around(Goofing Off(Armor Modding)), Skills)
6: Other
Water Genasi
Water genasi are part elemental, imbued with elemental water. Most are descended from marids, aquatic genies from the Elemental Plane of Water, but they can also be formed from magical accidents or curses, deliberate self-experimentation, or de novo mutations. You decide your character's origin.
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Age. A typical genasi has a life span of 120 years.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. You are Medium or Small. You choose the size when you select this race.
Speed. 25 feet, and you have a swimming speed of 35 feet.
Amphibious. You can breathe air and water.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Magemarked (Healing or Storm)
2-3: Mystic (Waterbending)
4: Nomad
5: Orchard (Triton: Speak with Beasts, Nature Magic(Waterbending OR Airbending)
6: Other
Yuan-Ti
Ability Score Increase. Your Dexterity score increases by 2.
Age. Yuan-ti reach adulthood in their late teens and live less than a century.
Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.
Size. Yuan-ti vary widely in height and build, from barely 5 feet to well over 6 feet tall. Regardless of your position in that range, your size is Medium.
Speed. 30 feet.
Serpent Essence. You can cast Animal Friendship an unlimited number of times, but you can target only snakes with it.
Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Animal (Poisonous Snake)
2: City
3-4: Mystic (Spell Resilience, Charisma, Venombending or Mindbending)
5: Slum (Naga: Grappling OR Poison, Wild(Spirit-Touched(Poison Resistance)))
6: Other
Upbringing List
Animal
You were an animal for most of your life. Choose a beast of challenge rating 0 or challenge rating 1/8. You decide if you were turned into one when you were a baby, or if you were born an animal before something gave you sapience and the ability to transform into a member of your species. In some ways you still are an animal, and integrating into the society around you can be somewhat difficult.Alignment. Any, although usually non-lawful.
You speak (but do not read or write) Common and one other standard language.
Choose or roll an Origin Feat.
Affinity. When making any skill check to interact with beasts of the type you chose, can can add twice your proficiency bonus instead of any other proficiency bonus that may apply.
Speech. You can cast Speak with Animals and Animal Friendship an unlimited number of times, but can only target beasts of the type you chose.
Transformation. As a bonus action, you can transform into the beast you chose. You can do this once per short rest if it is CR 1/8th, or three times per short rest of it is CR 0. You can stay in the animal form as long as you want. You can revert to your normal form earlier by using a bonus action on your turn. You automatically revert if you fall unconscious, drop to 0 hit points, or die.
While you are transformed, the following rules apply:
Your game statistics are replaced by the statistics of the beast, but you retain your alignment, personality, and Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma scores. You also retain all of your skill and saving throw proficiencies, in addition to gaining those of the creature. If the creature has the same proficiency as you and the bonus in its stat block is higher than yours, use the creature's bonus instead of yours.
When you transform, you assume the beast's hit points and Hit Dice. When you revert to your normal form, you return to the number of hit points you had before you transformed. However, if you revert as a result of dropping to 0 hit points, any excess damage carries over to your normal form, For example, if you take 10 damage in animal form and have only 1 hit point left, you revert and take 9 damage. As long as the excess damage doesn't reduce your normal form to 0 hit points, you aren't knocked unconscious.
You can't cast spells, and your ability to speak or take any action that requires hands is limited to the capabilities of your beast form. Transforming doesn't break your concentration on a spell you've already cast, however, or prevent you from taking actions that are part of a spell, such as Call Lightning, that you've already cast.
You retain the benefit of any features from your class, race, or other source and can use them if the new form is physically capable of doing so. However, you can't use any of your special senses, such as darkvision, unless your new form also has that sense.
You choose whether your equipment falls to the ground in your space, merges into your new form, or is worn by it. Worn equipment functions as normal, but the DM decides whether it is practical for the new form to wear a piece of equipment, based on the creature's shape and size. Your equipment doesn't change size or shape to match the new form, and any equipment that the new form can't wear must either fall to the ground or merge with it. Equipment that merges with the form has no effect until you leave the form.
Choose or roll d4:
1: Familiar. You were once a familiar or a lab animal. +2 Intelligence. You have proficiency with the Arcana and Nature skills.
2: Pet. You were once a pampered pet and now you are an uncannily attractive member of your species. +2 Charisma. You have proficiency with the Persuasion and Performance skills.
3-4: Wild. You were once a wild animal. +2 Wisdom. You have proficiency with the Perception and Survival skills.
Choose or roll a random Background.
Caravan
You grew up among people who constantly traveled from one settlement to the next, such as merchants, itinerant laborers, or performers. Your life was freedom, fresh air, and the open road or sea or sky, knowing no law or master but one's own virtue. You and your people are often viewed with suspicion by settled provincial folk, so you developed unusual skills or became good at making friends. Caravans are typically welcoming of outsiders, and accustomed to people with odd ancestry and abilities on spiritual journeys.
Alignment. Tends toward chaotic good, although individuals can be of any alignment.
You know Common and two other standard languages.
Choose or roll:
1: Celestial Revelation. +2 Charisma. +1 Constitution. You have Resistance to Necrotic damage and Radiant damage.
When you reach character level 3, you can transform as a Bonus Action using one of the options below (choose the option each time you transform). The transformation lasts for 1 minute or until you end it (no action required). Once you transform, you can’t do so again until you finish a Long Rest. Once on each of your turns before the transformation ends, you can deal extra damage to one target when you deal damage to it with an attack or a spell. The extra damage equals your Proficiency Bonus, and the extra damage’s type is either Necrotic for Necrotic Shroud or Radiant for Heavenly Wings and Inner Radiance.
-Heavenly Wings. Two spectral wings sprout from your back temporarily. Until the transformation ends, you have a Fly Speed equal to your Speed.
-Inner Radiance. Searing light temporarily radiates from your eyes and mouth. For the duration, you shed Bright Light in a 10-foot radius and Dim Light for an additional 10 feet, and at the end of each of your turns, each creature within 10 feet of you takes Radiant damage equal to your Proficiency Bonus.
-Necrotic Shroud. Your eyes briefly become pools of darkness, and flightless wings sprout from your back temporarily. Creatures other than your allies within 10 feet of you must succeed on a Charisma saving throw (DC 8 plus your Charisma modifier and Proficiency Bonus) or have the Frightened condition until the end of your next turn.
2: Diplomat. +2 Charisma. +1 Wisdom. You have proficiency with two of the following skills of your choice: Deception, Insight, Intimidation, and Persuasion. Gain the Linguist feat. Gain a Diplomat's Pack.
3: Itinerant. Roll d20 on the City Education table, d12 on the Freehold Hardscrabble table, d12 on the Slum Survival Strategy table, d8 on the Suburb Hobbies table, and d10 on the Tribal Primal table.
4: Journey of Discovery. Roll d12 on the Mystic Innate Magic table, d10 on the Orchard Ways of Nature table, and d10 on the Tribal Ancestral Boon table.
5: Self-made. +2 Any. +1 Any. You gain proficiency in one skill of your choice. You gain an Origin Feat of your choice. (If you are a new player, reroll.)
6: Side Hustle. Choose or roll a Background from the Other table (not the Caravan list). Gain both of its ability score increases, not just one, and all features and benefits, including money and equipment.
Choose or roll for Background:
1: Astral Drifter: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
2: Caravan Specialist: +2 Constitution or Wisdom
3: Dragon Casualty: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
4: Entertainer: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
5: Failed Merchant: +2 Intelligence or Charisma
6: Far Traveler: +2 Constitution or Wisdom
7: Gambler: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
8: Gladiator: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
9: Guild Merchant: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
10: Haunted One: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
11: Miner: +2 Strength or Wisdom
12: Planar Philosopher: +2 Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma
13: Sailor: +2 Strength or Wisdom
14: Smuggler: +2 Strength or Charisma
15: Spy: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
16: Wildspacer: +2 Strength or Wisdom
17-20: Other
Choose or roll an Origin Feat if you did not take Astral Drifter, Planar Philosopher, or Wildspacer background.
Child Soldier
You grew up knowing nothing but training for battle or special operations, in an isolated barracks or camp. You decide if you escaped or were discharged at some point to make your own way in the world, or if you are currently still loyal to the organization and on a mission for it.Alignment. Any. Decide about who trained you, why, what the training was like, and how that shaped you.
You speak (but do not read or write) Common and one other standard language.
Choose or roll an Origin Feat.
Early Training. Gain all of the features of the first level of Barbarian, Fighter, Monk, or Rogue, except hit points, as though you were multiclassing into that class. This does not require you to meet any ability score prerequisites, and does not count as your current class, but if you do meet the multiclassing prerequisites, you can later advance in the chosen class as a normal multiclassed character. You are still a level 1 character for the purposes of experience and encounter calculations and proficiency bonus.
If you left, choose or roll a random Background. If not, choose or roll:
1: Inquisitor: +2 Constitution or Intelligence
2: Insurgent: +2 Dexterity or Wisdom
3: Marine: +2 Strength or Wisdom
4-5: Soldier: +2 Strength or Charisma
6: Spy: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
City
You grew up in an advanced or wealthy metropolis, with palaces, universities, and often a bustling port: a place of art and learning and intrigue, bound to the flows of politics and commerce, rather than the cycles of nature. You received a formal liberal arts education in a structured environment, often one that taught the basics of magic.
Alignment. Tends toward neutral, although individuals can be of any alignment.
You know Common and one other standard language. Read and write (but do not speak) Elvish or a rare language.
Capstone. Choose or roll:
1: You gain the Crafter feat.
2: You gain the Healer feat.
3: You gain the Magic Initiate feat.
4: You gain the Skilled feat.
Well Educated. +3 Intelligence.
Repeat four times: Choose or roll d20 on the Education table (rerolling duplicates only for Cantrip Flexibility, Cipher Study, Expert Duplication, or Recall). If you gain a skill twice, then instead of gaining proficiency in a different skill, you may gain expertise in it. If you choose or roll a Study twice, you also speak the languages. Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for any spells you learn.
Education
1: Advanced Notes. Choose a level 1 spell and a level 2 from the Wizard spell list. When you reach character level 3, you learn the level 1 spell, and at level 5, you learn the level 2 spell. After you learn them, you always have these spells prepared. You can cast each one 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.
2-3: Arcana Study. You have proficiency in the Arcana skill. You can read and write (but not speak) Infernal and Primordial.
4: Cantrip. You know one cantrip of your choice from the Wizard spell list.
5: Cantrip Flexibility. Whenever you finish a Long Rest, you can replace a cantrip you earned from this Upbringing with a different cantrip from the Wizard spell list.
6: Ciphers. You can ably create written ciphers. Others can't decipher a code you create unless you teach them, they succeed on an Intelligence check (DC equal to your Intelligence score + your proficiency bonus), or they use magic to decipher it.
7: Cosmopolitan. You learn one standard language. Then choose another upbringing, and gain the Cultural Immersion benefits for it.
8: Cramming. Whenever you finish a long rest, if you have access to appropriate reference materials or someone willing to tutor you, you gain proficiency in one skill, tool, or weapon of your choice. This proficiency lasts until the end of your next long rest.
9: Engineering. Using Alchemist's Supplies, Tinker's Tools, or Jeweler's Tools, you can spend 1 hour and 10 gp worth of materials to construct a Tiny device (AC 5, 1 hp). (You are not proficient with these tools for other purposes.) You can have three such devices in existence at a time. When you create a device, choose one effect of the Prestidigitation or Thaumaturgy cantrip; the device produces that effect whenever you or another creature takes a Bonus Action to activate it with a touch. If the chosen effect has options within it, you choose one of those options for the device when you create it. For example, if you choose the spell's ignite-extinguish effect, you determine whether the device ignites or extinguishes fire; the device doesn't do both.
If you choose or roll Engineering again, you get Advanced Engineering:
When you create a device, you may choose to replicate the effects of a spell that has the ritual tag from the Artificer or Wizard spell lists. The spell’s level can be no higher than a third of your level (rounded up), and you must have mastered it. You start the game with two mastered spells, and gain a new one whenever your proficiency bonus increases. The device must include any material components the ritual requires. It can be activated as an action once, and is consumed. If you replicate the Find Familiar spell, then the device instead becomes a Servo that acts as your familiar.
11: Field Work. You have proficiency with the Investigation or Perception skill.
12: Gym. You have proficiency with three weapons of your choice. If you are already proficient with martial weapons, instead take Track.
13: History Study. You have proficiency in the History skill. You can read and write (but not speak) Draconic and Undercommon.
14: Lore. Your specialized study of a topic gives several benefits:
*Whenever you make an Intelligence check related to the object of your study, you can add twice your proficiency bonus instead of any other proficiency bonus that may apply.
*You have advantage on Wisdom (Perception) and Intelligence (Investigation) checks made to detect the presence of objects of your study, and if they are nearby, you automatically make these checks even if you are not actively searching for them.
*When crafting or purchasing items related to your study, you get a 20% discount instead of any other discount that may apply.
Choose or roll a topic:
1. Animals.
2. Architecture. buildings, secret doors
3. Artifice. magical, alchemical, or technological items
4. Culture. art items, clothing, food and drink
5. Plants
6. Crafts. Roll d6+4 on the Factory Jobs table. The object of your study is the indicated crafted items.
16: Nature Study. You have proficiency in the Nature skill. You can read and write (but not speak) Druidic and Sylvan.
17: Practicum. You gain two tool proficiencies of your choice.
18: Recall. When you make an ability check using any skill in which you have proficiency, you can give yourself advantage on the check before rolling the d20. You can give yourself advantage in this way a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
19: Religion Study. You have proficiency in the Religion skill. You can read and write (but not speak) Celestial and Abyssal.
20: Track. Your base walking speed increases by 5 feet.
Choose or roll for Background:
1: Anthropologist: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
2: Archaeologist: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
3: Athlete: +2 Strength or Dexterity
4: Celebrity Adventurer's Scion: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
5: Charlatan: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
6: Costumed Hero: +2 Constitution or Charisma
7: Courtier: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
8: Detective: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
9: Entertainer: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
10: Far Traveler: +2 Constitution or Wisdom
11: Inheritor: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
12: Investigator, reporter, or journalist: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
13: Noble: +2 Intelligence or Charisma
14: Sage: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
15: Spy: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
16-20: Other
Factory
You grew up in a society closely tied to a factory, mine, foundry, shipyard, or similar industrial enterprise. Your people are organized around the production process, working iron and stone and other raw materials to their will. You are accustomed to hierarchies, rules, standards, procedures, tradition, honor, and regimentation.
While most people in factory societies are laborers, there are some who use magic to help with the production process, and there are always a few people who direct and organize (some might say oppress) labor.
Alignment. Tends toward lawful neutral, although individuals can be of any alignment.
You know Common, Dwarvish, one other standard language, usually one that uses the Dwarvish script (Giant, Gnomish, Goblin, or Orc).
Choose or roll an Origin Feat.
Protective Equipment. Choose one:
*You gain proficiency with light armor.
*If you already have proficiency with light armor, gain proficiency with medium armor.
*If you already have proficiency with medium armor, gain proficiency with heavy armor.
*Elemental Resistance. You have the knowledge and equipment to alter your clothing or armor so that it gives you resistance to a category of elemental damage from attacks and hazards (but not anything ingested) while you wear it. Choose or roll:
1-2: Acid and Lightning
3-4: Cold and Necrotic
5-6: Fire
7-8: Force, Psychic, Radiant, and Thunder
9-10: Poison
During a long rest, you can pay 25 gp, or undertake the equivalent crafting, to change the category.
Choose or roll d10 on the Jobs table:
Jobs
1: Senior Management. Gain all of the following:
*Management Experience. +2 Intelligence. Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to economics, heraldry, logistics, or military tactics, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
*Education. Choose or roll d20 on the City Education table.
*Advanced Saving Face. You are careful not to show weakness, for fear of losing status. If you miss with an attack roll or fail an ability check or a saving throw, you can gain a bonus to the roll equal to the number of allies you can see within 30 feet of you (maximum bonus of +5). You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Choose or roll a background from the City list.
2: Line Management. Gain all of the following:
*No Nonsense. +2 Wisdom. You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the charmed condition on yourself.
*Oversight. You can use this trait to take the Help action as a bonus action, and you can do so a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. Starting at 3rd level, choose one of the options below each time you take the Help action with this trait:
-Move It! You and the creature you help each increase your walking speeds by 10 feet until the start of your next turn.
-Punch It! Until the start of your next turn, the first time the creature you help hits a target with an attack roll, that target has disadvantage on the next attack roll it makes within the next minute.
-Suck It Up! You and the creature you help each gain a number of temporary hit points equal to 1d6 plus your proficiency bonus.
*Saving Face. You are careful not to show weakness, for fear of losing status. If you miss with an attack roll or fail an ability check or a saving throw, you can gain a bonus to the roll equal to the number of allies you can see within 30 feet of you (maximum bonus of +3). You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Choose or roll a background from the City list.
3-4: Magewright. Gain all of the following:
*Production Magic. +2 Intelligence. Choose or roll d12 on the Mystic Innate Magic table.
*Education. Choose or roll d20 on the City Education table.
Choose or roll a background from the City list.
5-10: Labor. Gain all of the following:
*Strength of the Worker. +2 Strength. Gain the Protective Equipment feature again. If you choose Elemental Resistance twice, you can add two categories to your armor at once if it is medium or heavy armor.
*Tool Mastery. You have used a type of tool for so long that it has become an extension of your body and will. You gain several benefits:
-You gain proficiency in the tool.
-You gain proficiency in the indicated weapons that resemble the tool.
-If you have used a tool to do at least five days of work, then you may treat that tool as a weapon of the indicated type when wielding it, instead of an improvised weapon.
-Whenever you make an Intelligence (History) check related to the origin or properties of something created with those tools, you are considered proficient in the History skill and add double your proficiency bonus to the check, instead of your normal proficiency bonus.
5: Carpenter's tools (axe or adze); handaxe and battleaxe; wooden structures
6: Glassblower's tools; blowgun; glasswork. When you use a blowgun, it deals 1d8 piercing damage, and you may use your Constitution modifier for the attack and damage rolls.
7: Leatherworker's tools; dagger and rapier; leatherwork
8: Mason's tools; light hammer and warhammer; stonework
9: Smith's tools; light hammer and warhammer; ironwork
10: Woodcarver's tools (saw); shortsword and longsword; woodwork
Choose or roll for Labor Background:
1: Acolyte: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
2: Athlete: +2 Strength or Dexterity
3: Costumed Hero: +2 Constitution or Charisma
4: Criminal: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
5: Ex-Convict: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
6: Folk Hero: +2 Strength or Wisdom
7: Gambler: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
8: Gladiator: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
9: Guild Artisan: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
10: Haunted One: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
11: Investigator: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
12: Marine: +2 Strength or Wisdom
13: Miner: +2 Strength or Wisdom
14: Sage or engineer: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
15: Union Organizer: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
16: Union Enforcer: +2 Strength or Wisdom
17-20: Other
Farmland
You grew up in an area dominated by intensive grain cultivation. Because grain is easy to confiscate and store, and allows high population densities, this situation tends to be associated with large armies, nobility and empires. Your upbringing focused on work or duty, and fixing your weaknesses, rather than learning idle hobbies or fancy tricks. Traditionally this upbringing was associated with humans.
Alignment. Tends toward lawful evil, although individuals can be of any alignment.
You know Common and two other standard languages.
Choose or roll an Origin Feat.
Well-rounded. At the end of character creation, after all ability scores have been assigned, gain +2 in each of your lowest three scores.
Choose or roll for Background:
1: Acolyte: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
2: Charlatan: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
3: Courtier: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
4: Criminal: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
5: Entertainer: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
6: Folk Hero: +2 Strength or Wisdom
7: Guild Artisan: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
8: Hermit: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
9: Inheritor: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
10: Inquisitor: +2 Constitution or Intelligence
11: Knight: +2 Intelligence or Charisma
12: Livestock Rustler: +2 Dexterity or Wisdom
13: Marine: +2 Strength or Wisdom
14: Noble: +2 Intelligence or Charisma
15: Sailor: +2 Strength or Wisdom
16: Soldier: +2 Strength or Charisma
17-20: Other
Fell From Heaven
You were found in a crater surrounded by shards of strange magical material. You have the body of a young adult, but no memories of your life before except brief flashes and strange dreams. Since then you've made your way through the world as best you could, although you have difficulty understanding how this world works, and have recently begun to manifest innate magical powers.Alignment. Tends toward lawful good, although individuals can be of any alignment.
You know Celestial. You speak (but do not read or write) Common and one other standard language.
Choose or roll an Origin Feat.
Out of Place. Your Intelligence score decreases by 2.
Heavenly Power. +2 Charisma. Gain all of the features of the first level of Bard, Paladin, Sorcerer, or Warlock, except hit points, as though you were multiclassing into that class. This does not require you to meet any ability score prerequisites, and does not count as your current class, but if you do meet the multiclassing prerequisites, you can later advance in the chosen class as a normal multiclassed character. You are still a level 1 character for the purposes of experience and encounter calculations and proficiency bonus.
Choose or roll a random Background.
Freehold
You grew up among independent homesteads, usually on the fringe of civilization, often pioneers in an area recently devastated by war, plague, or monster attacks. You are accustomed to scratching a living for you and your family from land that is often hostile and unforgiving. Although freeholders seek freedom and self-determination, they are not completely isolated from civilization, and usually maintain economic and cultural connections with larger settlements, sometimes working there as laborers when times are rough or they need more money. People from this upbringing tend to be fiercely independent, resisting any kind of outside authority.
Alignment. Tends toward chaotic neutral, although individuals can be of any alignment.
You speak (but do not read or write) Common.
Choose or roll an Origin Feat.
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.
Repeat three times: Choose or roll d12 (rerolling any features you already have), on the Hardscrabble table. If you would gain a weapon proficiency and you are already proficient in all martial weapons, instead you either speak (but do not read or write) one other standard language, or read and write a language you speak.
Hardscrabble
1: Bouncer. You have Resistance to Poison damage. You also have Advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the Poisoned condition.
2-3: Dirt Farmer. You have advantage on saving throws to avoid or end the frightened condition on yourself. You gain proficiency with the flail and trident.
4: Hunter. Roll d10 on the Tribal Primal table. You gain proficiency with the hand crossbow or heavy crossbow.
5: Interesting Past. Choose or roll an extra background on the Freehold Background Table. Do not gain any ability score increase, but gain all other features and benefits, including money and equipment. Your Constitution score decreases by 1.
6: Laborer. Hard work has given you a Thick Hide. When you aren't wearing armor, your AC is 12 + your Constitution modifier. You can use your Thick Hide to determine your AC if the armor you wear would leave you with a lower AC. A shield's benefits apply as normal while you use your Thick Hide. (Reroll if you have heavy armor proficiency or high Dexterity)
7: Lumberjack. Your Hit Point maximum increases by 1, and it increases by 1 again whenever you gain a level. You gain proficiency with the battleaxe and handaxe.
8: Moonshiner. You gain proficiency with brewer's supplies. Either take Dancing from the Suburb Hobbies table, or roll d12 on the Slum Survival Strategy table.
9: Prospector. You gain proficiency with the light hammer, warhammer, war pick, alchemist's supplies, and cartographer's tools. You gain advantage on Perception and Investigation checks to locate ores, gems, or precious metals, and on Nature and Arcana checks to appraise them.
10: Scab. Roll d6+4 on the Factory Jobs table. Gain the associated Tool Mastery ability and any features in the entry, but not Strength of the Worker.
11: Teamster. You gain proficiency with the whip and the Animal Handling and Intimidation skills.
12: Trapper. When you use a Hunting Trap, the DCs of the Dexterity saving throw and Strength checks to escape, as well as any Wisdom (Perception) checks to notice a hidden trap, are increased by your proficiency bonus. Roll d12 on the Orchard Ways of Nature table.
Choose or roll for Background:
1: Acolyte or backwoods preacher: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
2: Criminal: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
3: Dragon Casualty: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
4: Entertainer: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
5: Ex-Convict: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
6: Feylost: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
7: Fisher: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
8: Folk Hero: +2 Strength or Wisdom
9: Haunted One: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
10: Hermit: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
11: Insurgent: +2 Dexterity or Wisdom
12: Livestock Rustler: +2 Dexterity or Wisdom
13: Miner: +2 Strength or Wisdom
14: Outlander: +2 Strength or Wisdom
15: Sailor: +2 Strength or Wisdom
16-20: Other
Magemarked
Alignment. Any. Decide how society reacted to your appearance and powers, and how that shaped you.
You know Common and one other standard language.
Choose or roll an Origin Feat.
Choose or roll d12 on the Mark table. Each of the marks has an ability score increase, and gives the following features.
*Spellcasting. You know any listed cantrip. You can cast each listed 1st-level spell once per long rest. Starting at 3rd level, you can cast each listed 2nd-level spell once per long rest. The ability score that the mark increased is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
*Skill Boost. You are proficient in the listed tools or skills. Whenever you make an ability check using them, you can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to the total ability check.
Mark
1. Detection: +2 Intelligence; Detect Magic, Detect Poison and Disease, See Invisibility; Investigation, Insight
2. Finding: +2 Wisdom; Hunter's Mark, Longstrider, Locate Object; Perception, Survival
3. Handling: +2 Wisdom; Animal Friendship, Speak With Animals, Calm Emotions; Animal Handling, Nature
4. Healing: +2 Wisdom; Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Lesser Restoration; Medicine, Herbalism Kit
5. Hospitality: +2 Charisma; Prestidigitation, Purify Food and Drink, Unseen Servant; Persuasion, Brewer's supplies, Cook's Utensils
6. Making: +2 Intelligence; Mending, Identify, Magic Weapon (does not require concentration); Arcana, Artisan's tools you are proficient with
7. Passage: +2 Dexterity; Expeditious Retreat, Jump, Misty Step; Acrobatics, one type of vehicles
8. Scribing: +2 Intelligence; Message, Comprehend Languages, Magic Mouth; History, Calligrapher's tools
9. Sentinel: +2 Wisdom; Compelled Duel, Shield, Shield of Faith; Insight, Perception
10. Shadow: +2 Charisma; Minor Illusion, Disguise Self, Invisibility; Stealth, Performance
11. Storm: +2 Charisma; Feather Fall, Fog Cloud, Gust of Wind; Acrobatics, Navigator's tools
12. Warding: +2 Intelligence; Alarm, Mage Armor, Arcane Lock; Investigation, Thieves' tools
Choose or roll a random Background.
Multicultural
You grew up in two different cultures, and know both of their folkways and are at home in both of them. Roll d12 on the Upbringing table twice, rerolling duplicates.Alignment. Any. Decide how being exposed to different philosophies of life has shaped you.
Starting with the languages, follow the instructions under both upbringings, taking or choosing features as directed. However, do not take an Origin Feat from either Upbringing.
As normal, if you would gain the same proficiency from two different sources, you can choose a different proficiency of the same kind (skill, martial weapon, simple weapon, tool) instead. However, if given a choice, you cannot deliberately choose a proficiency you already have in order to trigger this.
Do not take any background.
Mystic
You grew up in a society that was heavily tied to magic, often in a different plane of existence, or an ecosystem where the primary producers draw energy from emanations of elemental magic rather than sunlight. You have absorbed some of this power, though diet and training and exposure.
Alignment. Any. There are many different planes of existence and magical societies.
You know Common, one other standard language, and one rare language.
Choose or roll an Origin Feat.
Choose or roll 1d12 on the Arcane table:
Arcane
1: Creature of the Night. You have Darkvision; you can see in dim light within 120 feet of yourself as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. You discern colors in that darkness only as shades of gray. Additionally, you are proficient in the Stealth skill.
2-3: Mental Discipline. You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the charmed, frightened, and stunned conditions on yourself.
4: Spell Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against spells.
5: Weapon Magic. You have proficiency with three weapons of your choice. While wielding these weapons, you can perform the somatic components of your spells without a free hand.
6: You have resistance to Acid and Lightning damage.
7: You have resistance to Cold and Necrotic damage.
8: You have resistance to Fire damage.
9: You have resistance to Force, Psychic, Radiant, and Thunder damage,
10: You have Resistance to Poison damage. You also have Advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the Poisoned condition.
11-12. Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of the attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight. Choose or roll d10 twice on this table.
Choose Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma. (It is usually best to choose whichever is already highest.) Gain +2 in the chosen ability score. Then choose or roll on the Innate Magic table. You know the listed cantrip and can cast it at will. At 3rd level, you can cast the second spell once per long rest. At 5th level, you can cast the third spell once per long rest. You can also cast these spells using any spell slots you have of the appropriate level. These spells don't require the material components normally required. The ability you chose is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Innate Magic
1: Airbending. Shocking Grasp, Feather Fall, Levitate. You have advantage on saving throws against spells and effects that deal acid and lightning damage, and you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on attack rolls that deal acid and lightning damage and target you or a target that is within 5 feet of you.
2: Earthbending. Mold Earth, Earth Tremor, Pass Without Trace. You can move across difficult terrain without expending extra movement if you are using your walking speed on the ground or a floor. You can use your reaction to grant this ability to a creature moving within 30 feet of you.
3: Firebending. Produce Flame, Burning Hands, Flame Blade. You have advantage on saving throws against spells and effects that deal fire damage, and you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on attack rolls that deal fire damage and target you or a target that is within 5 feet of you.
4: Fleshbending. Disguise Self, Enlarge/Reduce, Invisibility. You have resistance to necrotic damage.
5: Lightbending. Dancing Lights, Faerie Fire, Darkness. You gain proficiency in the Perception skill. You have advantage on saving throws against spells and effects that deal radiant damage, and you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on attack rolls that deal radiant damage and target you or a target that is within 5 feet of you.
6: Lifebending. Druidcraft, Longstrider, Pass Without Trace. You have resistance to necrotic damage.
7: Mindbending. Friends, Sleep, Suggestion. You have resistance to psychic damage and have advantage on saving throws against effects that would sense your emotions or read your thoughts.
8: Plantbending. Druidcraft, Entangle, Spike Growth. You gain proficiency with the herbalism kit, and you do not need to own a kit to use its abilities. You can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on attack rolls from plant creatures that target you or a target that is within 5 feet of you.
9: Spacebending. Mage Hand, Jump, Misty Step. You have advantage on all saving throws against effects that would push, pull, teleport, or banish you, and you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on attack rolls that push, pull, teleport, or banish you or a target that is within 5 feet of you.
10: Venombending. Poison Spray, Detect Poison and Disease, Dragon's Breath (poison only). You have resistance to poison damage.
11: Waterbending. Acid Splash, Create or Destroy
Water, Water Walk. You have advantage on saving throws against spells and effects that deal poison damage, and you can use your reaction to impose disadvantage on attack rolls that deal poison damage and target you or a target that is within 5 feet of you.
12: Mark. Roll d12 on the Magemarked Mark table for your three spells. Do not gain the ability score increase or the Skill Boost feature. You have proficiency in one of the listed skills.
Choose or roll a random Background.
Nomad
You grew up as a nomadic hunter, herder, or raider. Your people ranged over a vast terrain, usually a steppe, roaming wild and moving like the wind. Settled civilization is alien to you, a threat to be avoided or a resource to be plundered. Either you spent so much time in the saddle that you know how to act as one with your mount, or you have the body to act as both a mount and rider yourself.
Alignment. Tends toward neutral, although individuals can be of any alignment.
You speak (but do not read or write) Common and three other standard languages.
Choose or roll an Origin Feat.
Horse Sense. +2 Wisdom. You have proficiency in one of the following skills of your choice: Animal Handling, Medicine, Nature, or Survival. You have proficiency with the lance, and the longbow or shortbow.
If you have the Equine Build, Powerful Build, or Shape Self ability:
*You can wield a lance with one hand.
*You have advantage on Athletics checks to run, jog, and hike long distances, and on Constitution saving throws to avoid exhaustion from extended exercise.
*You have learned to use your feet and/or your head as natural melee weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
*Charge. If you move at least 30 feet straight toward a target and then hit it with a melee weapon attack on the same turn, you can immediately follow that attack with a bonus action, making one attack against the target with your unarmed strike.
If you do not:
*You start the game with a beast one size larger than you of CR 1/8 or 1/4 that doesn't have a flying speed, typically a Riding Horse, Pony, Mastiff, or Wolf. It is accustomed to being ridden in combat, and you own a saddle and all appropriate gear for it.
*You are proficient in the Animal Handling skill. You have advantage on all Animal Handling checks to interact with the mount you start with.
*Charge. If you are mounted and move at least 30 feet straight toward a target and then hit it with a melee weapon attack on the same turn, you can immediately follow that attack with a bonus action, directing your mount to make an attack against the target.
*At 5th level, you can cast the Find Steed spell once per seven long rests. If you have had the same mount since character creation, or are otherwise closely bonded to your mount as determined by the DM, its ability scores upgrade to that of a Warhorse or similar CR 1/2 beast, it becomes your choice of celestial, fae, or fiend, its Intelligence score increases to 6 if it is lower, and you can cast Find Steed once per long rest to summon it.
Choose or roll for Background:
1: Acolyte: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
2: Athlete: +2 Strength or Dexterity
3: Caravan Specialist: +2 Constitution or Wisdom
4: Dragon Casualty: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
5: Far Traveler: +2 Constitution or Wisdom
6: Feylost: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
7: Folk Hero: +2 Strength or Wisdom
8: Gladiator: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
9: Haunted One: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
10: Inheritor: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
11: Insurgent: +2 Dexterity or Wisdom
12: Knight: +2 Intelligence or Charisma
13: Livestock Rustler: +2 Dexterity or Wisdom
14: Noble: +2 Intelligence or Charisma
15: Outlander: +2 Strength or Wisdom
16-20: Other
Orchard
You grew up in a culture that strove to eliminate any distinctions between nature and civilization. You lived in a magical or genetically engineered environment that had been shaped to serve you, often an orchard of plants or fungi that was carefully stewarded to be in harmony with the environment and appear natural. Your people were friends of the plants and animals, and know how to use the earth and stones and weather to their advantage.
Alignment. Tends toward neutral good, although individuals can be of any alignment.
You know Elvish and Sylvan. You speak (but do not read or write) Common and one other standard language.
Choose or roll an Origin Feat.
Natural Observer. Choose Intelligence or Wisdom. (It is usually best to choose whichever is already highest.) Gain +2 in the chosen ability score.
Repeat three times: Choose or roll d12 (rerolling any features you already have), on the Ways of Nature table. No feature can be chosen more than once.
Ways of Nature
1. Education. Repeat two times: Choose or roll d20 on the City Education table.
2. Camouflage. You gain proficiency in the Stealth skill. You have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks to hide in natural terrain.
3. Darkvision. You have superior vision in dark and dim conditions. You can see in dim light within 120 feet of you as if it were bright light, and in darkness as if it were dim light. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray. Additionally, you gain proficiency in the Perception skill.
4. Fleet of Foot. You gain proficiency in the Athletics skill. Your base walking speed increases by 5 feet.
5. Mask of the Wild. You gain proficiency in the Stealth skill. You can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena.
6. Natural Illusionist. You gain proficiency in the Arcana skill. You know the Minor Illusion cantrip.
7. Speak with Beasts. You always have the Speak with Animals spell prepared. You can cast it without a spell slot a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest. You can also use any spell slots you have to cast the spell.
8. Timberwalk. You gain proficiency in the Survival skill. Ability checks made to track you are at disadvantage and you can move through difficult natural terrain made of non-magical plants and overgrowth without expending extra movement.
9. Tremorsense. As a Bonus Action, you gain Tremorsense with a range of 60 feet for 10 minutes. 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.
11: Goofing Off. Choose or roll d8 on the Suburb Hobbies table. You gain proficiency in a gaming set or musical instrument of your choice.
12. Nature Magic. Choose or roll d12 on the Mystic Innate Magic table. Do not gain the additional ability. The ability you chose for Natural Observer is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Choose or roll for Background:
1: Acolyte: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
2: Anthropologist: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
3: Athlete: +2 Strength or Dexterity
4: Caravan Specialist: +2 Constitution or Wisdom
5: Detective: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
6: Entertainer: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
7: Far Traveler: +2 Constitution or Wisdom
8: Feylost: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
9: Folk Hero: +2 Strength or Wisdom
10: Guild Merchant: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
11: Hermit: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
12: Outlander: +2 Strength or Wisdom
13: Sage: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
14: Smuggler: +2 Strength or Charisma
15: Spy: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
16-20: Other
Outcast
You grew up on the fringes of society, either alone, or in an isolated clan or family, or as a sequestered servitor. People in normal society feared and shunned you because of your appearance or heritage, and you learned to make the most of your innate gifts.
Alignment. Any. Resting the inclination to evil and/or chaos is often hard for those who are alone, and those in a tight-knit clan often develop extreme views in some direction.
You know Common, one other standard language, and one rare language.
Choose or roll an Origin Feat.
Personal Training. Choose two ability scores. Increase each one by 2. (Constitution and Dexterity are recommended.)
Choose or roll 1d12 on the Mystic Arcane table.
Choose or roll for Background:
1: Archaeologist: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
2: Astral Drifter: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
3: Costumed Hero: +2 Constitution or Charisma
4: Criminal: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
5: Ex-Convict: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
6: Gladiator: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
7: Haunted One: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
8: Hermit: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
9: Inheritor: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
10: Outlander: +2 Strength or Wisdom
11: Sailor: +2 Strength or Wisdom
12: Smuggler: +2 Strength or Charisma
13: Urban Bounty Hunter: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
14: Urchin: +2 Dexterity or Wisdom
15: Wildspacer: +2 Strength or Wisdom
16-20: Other
Reborn
You have died yet, somehow, still live. Some reborn exhibit the scars of fatal ends, their ashen flesh or bloodless veins making it clear that they’ve been touched by death. Other reborn are marvels of magic or science, being stitched together from disparate beings or bearing mysterious minds in manufactured bodies. You decide your character's origin. You can choose or roll on the Reborn Origins table, or tell your own story.
Alignment. Any. Reborn often suffer from some manner of discontinuity, an interruption of their lives or physical state that their minds are ill equipped to deal with. Decide how this has affected you.
You know Common and one other standard language.
Choose or roll an Origin Feat. Alternately, you may instead double the benefits of the Ancestral Legacy you roll below. Usually this means rolling twice instead of once on the relevant table.
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2.
Ancestral Legacy. Scraps of your old self remain. Choose or roll:
1: Caravan. You have proficiency with two of the following skills of your choice: Deception, Insight, Intimidation, and Persuasion.
2: City. Repeat two times: Choose or roll on the Education table.
3: Factory. Choose or roll d6+4 on the Jobs table. Gain the associated Tool Mastery ability and any features in the entry, but not Strength of the Worker.
4: Farmland. At the end of character creation, after all ability scores have been assigned, gain +2 in your lowest score.
5: Freehold. Choose or roll on the Hardscrabble table.
6: Mystic. Choose or roll on the Arcane table.
7: Nomad. You have proficiency in two of the following skills of your choice: Animal Handling, Medicine, Nature, and Survival.
8: Orchard. Choose or roll on the Ways of Nature table.
9: Outcast. Choose or roll on the Arcane table.
10: Slum. Choose or roll on the Survival Strategy table.
11: Suburb. Choose or roll on the Hobbies table. You know another standard language.
12: Tribal. Choose or roll on the Primal table. You know another standard language.
Deathless Nature. You have escaped death, a fact represented by the following benefits:
*You have advantage on saving throws against disease and being poisoned, and you have resistance to poison damage.
*You have advantage on death saving throws.
*You don’t need to eat, drink, or breathe.
*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 an inactive, motionless state, during which you retain consciousness.
Knowledge from a Past Life. You temporarily remember glimpses of the past, perhaps faded memories from ages ago or a previous life. When you make an ability check that uses a skill, you can roll a d6 immediately after seeing the number on the d20 and add the number on the d6 to the check. You can use this feature a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Roll a random Background.
Slum
You grew up either wandering on your own with no steady income, or in a group of people with a lifestyle disconnected from or opposed to mainstream society. Sometimes this was because they chose an existence of unattached revelry with no thought to the future, but usually it was because they were downtrodden and dispossessed, forced to scratch a living in an urban or rural slum. Often your people form a pack or gang that supports them against the uncaring or hostile world, but individuals are always alert to opportunities to gain personal power within the gang. Because poverty or oppression kept real weapons from you, and/or violence often happened to or around you in a sudden and brutal way, you have learned to use your body as a weapon.
Alignment. Tends toward neutral evil, although individuals can be of any alignment.
You know Common and one other language, usually a standard language or Thieves Cant.
Choose or roll an Origin Feat.
Ability Score Increase. Your Wisdom score increases by 2.
Packrat Poverty. After collecting the equipment from your background and class, replace the money with 3 copper pieces. Roll a random trinket for each 5 gp you lost in this way.
Natural Weapon. You have learned to use a part of your body as a natural weapon, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. Teeth deal piercing damage, claws deal slashing damage, and most other body parts (horns, tails, feet, etc.) deal bludgeoning damage. If you hit, you deal damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier if you are Medium, or 1d4 + your Dexterity modifier if you are Small.
Choose or roll d10:
1: Frenzy. As a bonus action, you can make a special attack with your natural weapon. If the attack hits, it deals its normal damage, and you gain temporary hit points equal to your proficiency bonus. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
2: Grappling. If you hit with your natural weapon, the target is grappled (escape DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier). Until this grapple ends, the target is restrained, and you can’t grapple on another target.
3: Poison. If you hit with your natural weapon, your target must make a Constitution saving throw (DC 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier). On a failed save, the target takes 1d4 poison damage.
4: Rush. Immediately after you use the Dash action on your turn and move at least 20 feet, you can make one melee attack with your natural weapon as a bonus action.
5-10: Choose or roll on the Survival Strategy table below an additional time.
Repeat two times: Choose or roll d12 (rerolling any features you already have) on the Survival Strategy table:
Survival Strategy
1: Cause Fear. As a bonus action, you can threaten your enemies. Creatures of your choice within 10 feet of you that can hear you must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or become frightened of you until the end of your next turn. The DC of the save equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Constitution modifier. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
2: Defensive Crouch. You can focus on defense an action. Until you stop, you gain a +4 bonus to your AC, and you have advantage on Strength and Constitution saving throws. While in your crouch, you are prone, your speed is 0 and can’t increase, you have disadvantage on Dexterity saving throws, you can’t take reactions, and the only action you can take is a bonus action to emerge from your crouch.
3: Getting Around. Choose or roll d12 on the Orchard Ways of Nature table.
4: Hammering. +1 Strength. Immediately after you hit a creature with a melee attack as a part of the Attack action on your turn, you can use a bonus action to attempt to shove that target. The target must be within 5 feet of you and no more than one size larger than you. Unless it succeeds on a Strength saving throw against a DC equal to 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Strength modifier, you push it up to 10 feet away from you.
5: Hustler. +2 Charisma. Your Wisdom score decreases by 2. You have proficiency in two of the following skills. Choose or roll:
1: Deception
2: Intimidation
3: Performance
4: Persuasion
6: Parkour. You have learned several useful tricks:
-Climbing. If you move horizontally at least 10 feet, then for the rest of your turn, you have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed.
-Landing. I you jump down on your turn as part of your movement, you can make an Athletics or Acrobatics check and reduce the falling damage by the result of the check.
-Moving. You can move through difficult terrain in an artificial environment, such as rubble and fences, without expending extra movement.
7: Scavenger. +1 Wisdom. You gain proficiency with leatherworker's tools, and start the game with them. While you have these tools, as part of a short rest, you can harvest bone and hide from a slain beast, construct, dragon, monstrosity, or plant creature of size Small or larger, or other similar materials from your environment. You use these materials to create one of the following items, or more in the case of harvesting from larger creatures or richer environments: a shield, any simple melee weapon, sling, net, or blowgun, 1d20 darts or pieces of ammunition, a holy symbol or spellcasting focus, or, with DM permission, an appropriate item of adventuring gear costing 1 gp or less, such as a bag of caltrops, a sack, a waterskin, or a torch.
8. Silent Speech. You can speak telepathically to any creature within 30 feet of you. The creature understands you only if the two of you share a language. You can speak telepathically in this way to one creature at a time.
9: Skills. You have proficiency in two of the following skills. Choose or roll:
1: Acrobatics
2: Animal Handling
3: Athletics
4: Insight
5: Medicine
6: Nature
7: Perception
8: Sleight of Hand
9: Stealth
10: Survival
10: Speed Burst. When you move, you can double your speed until the end of the tum. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you move 0 feet on one of your turns.
11: Taunt. You have an extraordinary ability to fluster creatures. As a bonus action, you can unleash a string of provoking words at a creature within 60 feet of yourself that can hear and understand you. The target must succeed on a Wisdom saving throw or it has disadvantage on attack rolls against targets other than you until the start of your next turn. The DC equals 8 + your proficiency bonus + your Charisma modifier. 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.
12: Wild. Choose or roll d10 on the Tribal Primal table.
Choose or roll for Background:
1: Charlatan: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
2: Costumed Hero: +2 Constitution or Charisma
3: Criminal: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
4: Ex-Convict: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
5: Failed Merchant: +2 Intelligence or Charisma
6: Gambler: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
7: Gangster (Pirate, but replace water vehicle with land vehicle): +2 Strength or Wisdom
8: Gladiator: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
9: Haunted One: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
10: Insurgent: +2 Dexterity or Wisdom
11: Outlander: +2 Strength or Wisdom
12: Sailor: +2 Strength or Wisdom
13: Urban Bounty Hunter: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
14: Vehicle Thief: +2 Dexterity or Wisdom
15: Urchin: +2 Dexterity or Wisdom
16-20: Other
Suburb
You grew up in a well-ordered (some might say boring) community. You decide the details of your hometown, but suburbs usually feature a mixture of cozy houses and well-tended vegetable gardens. They are often more prosperous and/or advanced than the world around them, and typically gated or hidden to keep the residents safe from outsiders. Suburbs tend to be safe and well-policed, with an aim to protecting individual rights.
Alignment. Tends toward lawful good, although individuals can be of any alignment.
You know Common and one other standard language, usually Halfling. Read and write (but do not speak) Dwarvish or a rare language.
Choose or roll an Origin Feat.
Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.
Repeat three times: Choose or roll (rerolling any features you already have) on the Hobbies table.
Hobbies
1: Armor Modding. During a long rest, you can use Alchemist's Supplies or Tinker's Tools to alter your armor (including natural armor) or clothing. If you alter armor, you gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class when wearing that armor. That armor can't be removed from your body against your will, unless someone succeeds in a Tinker's Tools check opposed by yours, or they destroy the armor. If you alter clothing, that clothing gives you Armor Class of 13 + your Dexterity modifier. (Nobody else gains any benefit from your mods.)
2: Avoiding Attention. You can take the Hide action even when you are obscured only by a creature that is at least one size larger than you, or by a crowd of people your size.
3: Breakdancing. When you fail a Dexterity saving throw, you can use your reaction to roll a d4 and add it to the save, potentially turning the failure into a success. You can't use this reaction if you're prone or your speed is 0.
4: Dancing. Your base walking speed increases by 5 feet. You can move through the space of any creature by making a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check, DC 5 if it is Indifferent and DC equal to its Wisdom score if it is hostile. You get advantage on this check if the creature is of a size larger than yours.
5: Education. Choose or roll d20 on the City Education table, and you know an additional standard language.
6: Firearms. You have proficiency with all firearms and ignore the loading property of any firearm. In addition, attacking at long range with a firearm doesn't impose disadvantage on your attack roll.
7: Heroic Stories. You have Advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the Frightened condition.
8: Rock throwing. You treat small throwing rocks as though they were thrown daggers or darts, except they do bludgeoning rather than piercing damage. (1d4 Bludgeoning, Finesse, Light, Thrown (Range 60), Nick) OR (1d4 Bludgeoning, Finesse, Thrown (Range 60), Vex). In addition,
-Your ranged attacks with rocks ignore Half Cover and Three-Quarters Cover.
-Being within 5 feet of an enemy doesn’t impose Disadvantage on your attack rolls with rocks.
-Attacking at long range doesn't impose Disadvantage on your attack rolls with rocks.
9: Slipping Out. You can take the Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each of your turns.
10: Utility Belt. While you are carrying alchemist's supplies or tinker's tools, you can add a d4 to one attack roll, ability check, or saving throw you make, and you can do so after seeing the d20 roll but before the effects of the roll are resolved. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
11: Weapon Modding. During a long rest, you can use alchemist's supplies or tinker's tools to add a number of mods to your weapon(s) equal to your proficiency bonus. Mods may take the form of special ammunition or coatings, or single-use runes or devices attached to the weapon. These mods last until you take another long rest. Once per turn, when you hit a target with a modded weapon, you can expend a mod to cause the target to take extra damage equal to your proficiency bonus. The damage type is set when you create the mod, and is based on what materials you can find in the environment or have collected.
12: Working Out. You have advantage on Strength-based ability checks and Strength saving throws.
Attic Rummaging. Roll d12. You begin the game with the additional equipment indicated. If you have Armor Modding, Firearms, Utility Belt, or Weapons Modding, you may choose from 1-4, instead of rolling randomly.
1: Alchemist's Supplies
2: Tinker's Tools
3: A pistol with a -1 penalty to damage, which can be removed by spending 200 gp or doing the equivalent work in item crafting.
4: A musket with a -1 penalty to damage, which can be removed by spending 300 gp or doing the equivalent work in item crafting.
5: Burglar's Pack and Thieves' tools
6: Diplomat's Pack
7: Dungeoneer's Pack and three random trinkets.
8: Entertainer's Pack. Roll a random Species for each of the three Costumes.
9: Explorer's Pack, Cartographer's tools, and a random trinket.
10: Priest's Pack, and holy symbols for three different deities (roll randomly from the list in Step 3).
11: Scholar's Pack
12: A random uncommon item. You begin the game attuned to it, even if it does not normally require attunement. It has three random minor detrimental properties, each of which can be removed by spending 150 gp or completing a small quest. You may not end attunement while any detrimental properties remain.
1: Acolyte or parish priest: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
2: Archaeologist: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
3: Bureaucrat or minor elected official: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
4: Celebrity Adventurer's Scion: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
5: City Watch: +2 Strength or Wisdom
6: CSI: Investigator, but replace one of the languages with proficiency in Alchemist’s supplies. +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
7: Entertainer: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
8: Far Traveler: +2 Constitution or Wisdom
9: Fisher: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
10: Folk Hero: +2 Strength or Wisdom
11: Guild Artisan: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
12: Inheritor: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
13: Miner: +2 Strength or Wisdom
14: Sage: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
15: Spy: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
16-20: Other
Tribal
You grew up in a band of foragers hunting and gathering in an untamed environment. Your people are primeval hunters and savage warriors, tied to the wild spirits of the land. They learned that they must place the survival of themselves and their tribe first, and often have little consideration for outsiders, especially those who threaten to push them off their land.
Alignment. Tends toward chaotic evil, although individuals can be of any alignment.
Speak (but do not read or write) Common and two other languages of your choice.
Choose or roll an Origin Feat.
Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2, and your Wisdom score increases by 1.
Choose or roll on the Ancestral Boon table. You can use the chosen benefit a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest (for 1-10):
Ancestral Boon
1: Cloud's Jaunt. As a Bonus Action, you magically teleport up to 30 feet to an unoccupied space you can see. Additionally, you have proficiency in the Perception skill.2: Fire's Burn. When you hit a target with an attack roll and deal damage to it, you can also deal 1d10 Fire damage to that target.
3: Frost's Chill. When you hit a target with an attack roll and deal damage to it, you can also deal 1d6 Cold damage to that target and reduce its Speed by 10 feet until the start of your next turn.
4: Hill's Tumble. When you hit a Large or smaller creature with an attack roll and deal damage to it, you can give that target the Prone condition.
5: Stone's Endurance. When you take damage, you can take a Reaction to roll 1d12. Add your Constitution modifier to the number rolled and reduce the damage by that total.
6: Storm's Thunder. When you take damage from a creature within 60 feet of you, you can take a Reaction to deal 1d8 Thunder damage to that creature.
7: Breath Weapon. Choose a damage type. When you take the Attack action on your turn, you can replace one of your attacks with an exhalation of magical energy in either a 15-foot Cone or a 30-foot Line that is 5 feet wide (choose the shape each time). Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC 8 plus your Constitution modifier and Proficiency Bonus). On a failed save, a creature takes 1d10 damage of the chosen type. On a successful save, a creature takes half as much damage. This damage increases by 1d10 when you reach character levels 5 (2d10), 11 (3d10), and 17 (4d10).
8: Dragon's Cry. As a bonus action, you let out a cry at your enemies within 10 feet of you. Until the start of your next turn, you and your allies have advantage on attack rolls against any of those enemies who could hear you.
9: Fey Fire. Immediately after you move, each creature of your choice that you can see within 5 feet of you takes fire damage equal to your proficiency bonus.
10: Raven's Resistance. When you take damage, you can take a Reaction to gain resistance to all damage until the start of your next turn.
11-20: Warrior Spirit. Choose or roll d10 twice on the Primal table below. If the same feature is selected twice, and it regains expended uses when you finish a Long Rest, then you regain all expended uses when you finish a Short or Long Rest. (If it does not have limited uses, reroll.)
Choose or roll d12 on the Primal table.
Primal
1: Adrenaline Rush. You can take the Dash action as a Bonus Action. When you do so, you gain a number of Temporary Hit Points equal to your Proficiency Bonus. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your Proficiency Bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a Long Rest.
2: Dexterous Feet. If you are barefoot or wearing special shoes, you gain several benefits. Modifying shoes to use this feature costs 5 gp, or 50 gp if the footwear is a magic item.
- You have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed.
- As a bonus action, you can use your feet to manipulate an object, open or close a door or container, or pick up or set down a Tiny object.
3: Intuition. You have proficiency with two of the following skills of your choice: Animal Handling, Insight, Intimidation, Medicine, Nature, Perception, and Survival. Additionally, you become literate in two of the languages you can speak.
4: Powerful Build. You have Advantage on any saving throw you make to end the Grappled condition. You also count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity.
5: Primal Magic. You know one cantrip of your choice from the sorcerer spell list. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for that cantrip.
6: Relentless Endurance. When you are reduced to 0 Hit Points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 Hit Point instead. Once you use this trait, you can't do so again until you finish a Long Rest.
7: Savage Attacks. When you score a critical hit with a melee weapon attack, you can roll one of the weapon's damage dice one additional time and add it to the extra damage of the critical hit.
8: Sneaky. You gain proficiency with one of the following skills of your choice: Investigation, Sleight of Hand, or Stealth. In addition, without squeezing, you can move through and stop in a space large enough for a creature one size category smaller than you.
9: Spirit-Touched. Choose or roll 1d12 on the Mystic Arcane table.
10: Surprise Attack. If you hit a creature with an attack roll, the creature takes extra damage equal to your proficiency bonus if it hasn’t taken a turn yet in the current combat.
11-12: Spirit-Called. Choose or roll d10 on the Ancestral Boon table above. Your Wisdom score decreases by 1.
Choose or roll for Background:
1: Astral Drifter: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
2: Athlete: +2 Strength or Dexterity
3: Caravan Specialist: +2 Constitution or Wisdom
4: Criminal: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
5: Ex-Convict: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
6: Far Traveler: +2 Constitution or Wisdom
7: Feylost: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
8: Fisher: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
9: Folk Hero: +2 Strength or Wisdom
10: Gladiator: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
11: Hermit: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
12: Inheritor: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
13: Insurgent: +2 Dexterity or Wisdom
14: Livestock Rustler: +2 Dexterity or Wisdom
15: Outlander: +2 Strength or Wisdom
16: Pirate: +2 Strength or Wisdom
17: Wildspacer: +2 Strength or Wisdom
18-20: Other
Vampire
At an early age, you were bitten by a vampire, or possibly transformed by some form of dark magic (choose or roll on the Dhampir Origins table), and have lived on the fringes of society since then. You are weaker than most vampires, but still alive and (mostly) in control of your urges (choose or roll on the Dhampir Hungers table).
Alignment. Tends toward lawful evil, although individuals can be of any alignment.
Speak, read, and write Common and one language of your choice.
Choose or roll an Origin Feat.
Darkvision. You can see in dim light within 60 feet of you as if it were bright light and in darkness as if it were dim light. If you already have darkvision, its range increases by 60 feet.
Sunlight Sensitivity. You have disadvantage on attack rolls and Wisdom (Perception) checks that rely on sight when you, the target of the attack, or whatever you are trying to perceive is in direct sunlight.
Vampiric Bite. Your fanged bite is a natural weapon, which counts as a simple melee weapon with which you are proficient. You add your Constitution modifier to the attack and damage rolls when you attack with your bite. Your bite deals 1d4 piercing damage on a hit. While you are missing half or more of your hit points, you have advantage on attack rolls you make with this bite. When you use your bite and hit a creature that isn’t a Construct or an Undead, you can empower yourself in one of the following ways of your choice:
*Regain hit points equal to the damage dealt by the bite.
*Gain a bonus to the next ability check or attack roll you make; the bonus equals the damage dealt by the bite.
You can empower yourself with your bite a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.
Vampiric Power. Choose one:
*Mobility. +2 Dexterity. Your base walking speed increases by 5 feet, and you have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed. In addition, at 3rd level, you can move up, down, and across vertical surfaces and upside down along ceilings, while leaving your hands free.
*Compulsion. +2 Charisma. You know the Friends cantrip. At 3rd level, you can cast the Charm Person spell once per long rest. At 5th level, you can cast the Suggestion spell once per long rest. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
Roll a random Background.
Werewolf
At an early age, you were bitten by a werewolf (or some other kind of lycanthrope), and have lived on the fringes of society since then. You have (perhaps very recently) learned to control your shifting, and do not shift involuntarily, although this has come at a cost: you are not as powerful as many others of your kind.
Alignment. Tends toward chaotic neutral, although individuals can be of any alignment.
Speak (but do not read or write) Common and one language of your choice.
Choose or roll an Origin Feat.
Wild Nature. +2 Strength. You have proficiency in two of the following skills of your choice: Acrobatics, Athletics, Intimidation, Perception, or Survival.
Shifting. As a bonus action, you can assume a more bestial appearance. This transformation lasts for 1 minute, until you die, or until you revert to your normal appearance as a bonus action. When you shift, you gain temporary hit points equal to 2 x your proficiency bonus. You can shift a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, and you regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest. Whenever you shift, you gain an additional benefit based on your aspect.
Aspect. Choose or roll:
1: Beasthide. You gain 1d6 additional temporary hit points. While shifted, you have a +1 bonus to your Armor Class.
2: Longtooth. When you shift and as a bonus action on your other turns while shifted, you can use your elongated fangs to make an unarmed strike. If you hit with your fangs, you can deal piercing damage equal to 1d6 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
3: Swiftstride. While shifted, your walking speed increases by 10 feet. Additionally, you can move up to 10 feet as a reaction when a creature ends its turn within 5 feet of you. This reactive movement doesn’t provoke opportunity attacks.
4: Wildhunt. While shifted, you have advantage on Wisdom checks, and no creature within 30 feet of you can make an attack roll with advantage against you unless you’re incapacitated.
Roll a random Background.
Appendix: Notes
This system combines the post-Tasha paradigm that every race should be able to excel at every class with classic D&D rules that had some definition for each species aside from their features. So an elf can do a good job any class, but it's very rare for any of them to be clumsy.
It uses older backgrounds with their roleplay and support features, and uses Upbringing to assign origin feats.
My species + upbringing combos give more than the default-rules species, because ability scores and origin feats are attached to them instead of assigned separately. In the default rules, the standard array is 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8, and backgrounds give +2 to one ability score and +1 to another. In my rules, the class gives a 16 and a 14, which is the 15, the 14, and the +1. I have the background give +2, so that leaves 5 for me to distribute, in addition to the species features and the origin feat. Each species gives 3-4 worth of features, and an origin feat is worth a bit less than 2, so that is a total of about 10.
I've decided that every species should give 3 and every upbringing should give 7. Biological things are in species and socially learned things are in upbringing. Most species-upbringing combos give +2 to two different ability scores, and 5-6 of value in features. This usually results in characters that have more features, but an ability score that is lower by 1.
For the two extremes of this, see Thri-kreen and Hobgoblin. All thri-kreen features are innate physical facts, there is nothing is learned or shared with others. So I put all of their racial features in the species and steered them to Farmland. Hobgoblin features are all cultural, so I give them +3 worth of physical ability scores, and put all of their features, plus an extra ability and 2 ability score boosts, in the Factory Management upbringing option.
Species boost physical ability scores, upbringings usually boost mental ability scores. Tieflings and Aasimar are the only exceptions.
The 2024 species can be replicated almost exactly, and it is possible to get fairly close to almost all old species and subraces, although some sacrifices were made for balance and flavor and keeping things simple. The combinations in italics that give you an existing species will replicate their features and give an origin feat, +4 to ability scores, and features worth about a half-feat. Dwarves, Gnomes and Halflings keeping 25 feet of movement is not an oversight; I wanted to balance out their traits while still giving them +2 to an ability. In most cases, the Upbringings restore the speed.
The main difference is I took darkvision away from most species. It is an extra complication that almost never matters in the games I run. Features should feel special, not something that 60-80% of the party has and one left-out person does not.
Species were chosen to match the games I run, and also to match what Lego minis are available. I also adjusted the descriptions a little to match the minis, for example making hobgoblins look like wolves and Giff like rhinos. I avoided most non-spelljammer setting-specific races, but made an exception for Leonin and Loxodon because we have Chima minis for them.
Thank you for posting this, I find the visual comparison between the species and Minifigures pretty helpful and even aside from that this seems like a very useful resource for people getting into DND. Maybe someday I'll find some other people to play it with.
ReplyDeleteThanks, I am glad you like it. I'll warn you that D&D purists may not agree with some of my minifig choices; for example, canonically Giff only look like hippos.
ReplyDeleteWith the popularity of 5th edition, there are lots of people playing D&D now. The hard part is finding or making a group you have fun with. But in most places, there are more players than GMs, so if you post on Meetup or a forum, and show off your table setup, you usually attract interest, and then all you have to do is filter for the right people.
And if you happen to be in the DC area, let me know.