UADnD Character creation: Part Four:Why have a background concept

Several different forms of Dungeons and Dragons have tried various techniques for background history, based on the concept that, as with the real medieval world, a person in an imaginary medieval fantasy world can have his present life affected by his upbringing.

For the most part, a low social class should not overly inconvenience the player. If he rolls very low, and it doesn't work with his character concept, the DM should try to be understanding. Anything below serf (which a character without a background is assumed to be) should be considered optional unless everyone is getting it. If a player is willing to play it, the DM should be generous with other things, like one-time XP bonuses, or finding a decent weapon to start, and offset the loss in starting funds.

What's the point of a background, though? Other than the ability to maybe get bonus proficiencies and extra money, why should it matter?

Imagine you're in charge of the Justice League. The bad guys have hatched a plan to screw over the USA by hitting it in the Bread Basket, screwing over midwestern crop and cattle production. Which of your Superheroes do you send?

You send Superman....and not just because Superman is the one you should always send, but because Superman grew up on a farm, and knows about tractors and crops and cows.

Now imagine you're still in charge of the Justice League, and a rich socialite daughter of a crazy engineer is missing...who do you send?

You send Superman, because sending any other superhero is dumb, unless the badguy has Kryptonite, but let's assume Superman's still busy in Kansas: You send Batman, who has experience with socialites and gadgets.

So your background helps round out your character, explains why your Superman knows a haystack from a heifer, and also provides you with a small sense of reality for the character. It did not come into being the moment it was rolled, but instead it grew up on a farm in Kansas or where ever, and as a result has some small amount of information regarding how to plow a field or harvest grain.

Since we use a proficiency system, that's how it is expressed, by giving bonus proficiencies.

The following describes the method I use for determining background. It is a bit extensive, and it's almost unchanged for 25 years, so that's kind of impressive, yeah?

Step One: Legitimacy Roll 1d6, if you roll 1-4, go to Step two. If you roll a five, your character is a bastard, the son of an unknown person raised by your mother, go to step Three. If you roll a 6, your character was raised in an orphanage or in fosterage, your parents are unknown to you. You begin with normal starting funds, money you've scraped together or that was given to you out of charity, skip the entire background process and go to Part Four: Proficiencies.

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Step Two: Social Class Difference (If Any) Determine Parent's Social class difference. Roll 1d6. If you roll a 1-5, go to Step Three. If you roll a 6, your Mother or Father married "Below" his/her station and you should go to Step Four.

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Step Three: Social Class Roll on the following chart to determine your Parents Social Class (If your character is a bastard, reduce all scores except 100, 99, 98 by five points. This is because the Nobility and Royalty will ignore a Bastard and all other Social classes will reduce the woman in their esteem, occasionally reducing her Social class altogether.)

Racial Note: Non-Drow Elves- Reroll all scores below 16

Class Note: All Knight Characters or Paladins playing Knight-like Paladins count all rolls beneath 93 as "Chivalric."

1d100 Class

1 or less Slave or poverty (player's choice)

2-15 Poverty

16-60 Serf

61-75 Yeoman

76-85 Tradesman

86-92 Guildsman

93-97 Chivalric

98-99 Nobility

00 Royalty/Other

Social Class Descriptions

Slave: The character is a former slave, begins at -500XP and gains three bonus Proficiencies based on duties (DM’s choice), but no starting funds, just clothes. That is the total of the character’s background information; the character can skip to Part Four: Proficiencies.

Poverty: The character grew up with nothing. If the character has a large family (s)he may want to send money to them. Half starting funds. The character does gain the bonus Proficiencies of brawling and begging, however. The player skips to step six of the character background information.

Serf: Serfs farm on land they don't own, and receive 1/12th of the land to farm for themselves. It's not fair, but it is a living. The character stands to inherit nothing...except maybe debt. Serf background characters with living parents and good alignments often donate some of their profits to their parents in the hope that the parents may buy the land off. Starting funds are normal, but result from well-earned savings. In cities, the serf character often seems like he just fell off of the turnip cart, and it may well be that he arrived in the city on an actual turnip cart. The character chooses one of the following proficiencies: Agriculture, Animal handling: Shepherd, Animal handling: Swineherd, Animal handling: Goatherd, Animal handling: Poultrer, or Animal handling: Fowler. The player skips to step six of the character background information.

Yeoman: Yeomen have it nice. Small-time landlords, these people own the land that the serfs farm and are ruled in turn by the chivalric class. The character stands to inherit little or nothing, as most Yeoman are in debt to their lords, either due to low crop production, unruly serfs or tyranny. The character's starting funds are normal. The character gains the following proficiencies: Accountancy, Read/Write regional language, Maths, Riding, land based: Horse, and selects one of the following: Agriculture, Animal handling: Shepherd, Animal handling: Swineherd, Animal handling: Goatherd, Animal handling: Poultrer, or Animal handling: Fowler. The player skips to step six of the character background information.

Tradesman, Guildsmen: Tradesmen and Guildsmen are skilled workers who inhabit cities. While the PC may have a small inheritance of money or a building, his family has no land or title. Tradesmen are lesser paid, semi-skilled workers, whereas Guildsmen are masters of their craft, often spending years as an apprentice. The character whose social class is Guildsman or Tradesman gets normal starting funds, but must roll for his parent's profession (Step Five) Note that characters that were instructed to roll on the table in Step four may need to roll a profession for each parent. The player goes to step five of the character background information.

Chivalric: Parents have a land grant, they own and patrol lands until they pass away. Character stands to inherit little or nothing. Characters get normal starting Funds, but may re-roll any ones. The character gains the proficiencies of Land-based riding: Horse, Heraldry, Etiquette, Sewing, Read/Write: Common, Maths, and Languages, Ancient: Dm's Choice (spoken). The player skips to step six of the character background information

Nobility: Parents and character are titled, 98 indicates Barons, Dukes, etc., 99 indicates lesser Royalty, Princlings, Royal sibling, etc. The character gains the same bonus proficiencies as the Chivalric class, plus Barristry, Fencing, Animal Handling: Falconry, Musical Instrument (DM’s Choice), Higher Maths and Read/Write: Languages, Ancient: DM's Choice (written) plus a bonus weapon proficiency in Sabre, Rapier or Main-Gauche (regardless of class) The human or half-elven character will be 1d8yrs older than other starting characters, as he is required to go to school until age 13, when he then must serve as squire, page or apprentice for another 3. The Character has twice normal funds, but may be subject to the whims of his family. The player skips to step six of the character background information

Royalty: The character is heir to a throne, the present king/queen's immediate sibling or the child of a god, Powerful figure or similar being. Character begins with the same proficiencies as the Nobility, but with four times the starting funds. The character's face may well be on several of the coins of the realm and he will be recognized in his homeland. The player skips to step six of the character background information.

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Step Four: Multiple Social Classes (If you have been told to skip to Step Five or Six, this does not apply to you.) Use Table below to roll one parent's class, discarding 15 or less, then roll d100 Note: you gain the abilities of the higher social class, and the starting fund thereof. It is your choice which parent is higher, mother or father.

1d100 Difference in professions:

01-20 Lower by three or poverty (higher of the two)

21-40 Lower by two or poverty (higher of the two)

41-75 Lower by one or poverty (higher of the two)

76-85 Higher by one(discard if first score is Royalty)

86-95 Higher by two (disregard if first score is Royalty or Nobility)

96-00 Higher by three (disregard if 1st is Royalty, nobility or Chivalric)

If parents are Guildsman or Tradesman, go to step Five, rolling on the appropriate chart. (if both are, roll twice) If parents hold two different G or T skills, you may take both bonus proficiencies, otherwise go to step six.

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Step Five: Guildsman or Tradesman Skills: Determine parent's profession on the “Guildsman or Tradesman Professions” chart (following pages). If a class is determined by "G" or "T", the profession is allowed only of a Guildsman or Tradesman. If your bonus proficiency includes a bonus you already have, count it as taking the proficiency twice. Then go to step six.

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Step Six: Parents and Siblings Determine family size, birth order and parent's status. When complete, go to Step seven. If a 1(or less, if a modifier appears) is rolled on # of siblings, character is an only child. Oldest (of character or siblings) is first born, same year indicates twins if desired. Choose gender, or, if desired, roll even-sided die to determine gender of siblings, even is female, odd male. In the case of multi-race siblings, roll the die for sibling age for the appropriate race. It is completely likely for Half-Elves have human or elven siblings, and there is a small chance of many other races having half-breed offspring. If this fits in your character concept, you can roll the “% sib dif race” on percentiles. You may choose any other characteristics of your siblings.

Family Size By Race (from Step Six)
Character Race:	# of siblings	sibling age:	% chance siblings are alive	% chance parents alive: Both/One/Neither	% Sib dif race
Changeling	1d6-4	1d20-1X10+d100	40%	20%/40%/40%	0%
Dwarf- default	1d10	1d100	60%	60%/30%/10%	0%
Elf-default	1d8-4	2d100	80%	80%/15%/5%	5% half-elf
Elf-Grey	1d8-4	3d100	50%	30%/50%/20%	5% half-elf
Fey/Sidhe	1d6-2	1d20-1X10+d100	90%	90%/9%/1%	0%
Gnome-default	1d10	1d100	60%	70%/20%/10%	0%
Half-Elf-default	1d10-3	1d100	75%	20%/70%/10%	15%human 40%elf
Half-Elf-Grey	1d6-2	1d100+2d20	60%	20%/70%/10%	5%human 20%elf
Half-Giant	1d4-2	1d20	50%	30%/30%/40%	5%human 5% giant
Half-Orc	1d8-3	1d20	30%	20%/50%/30%	1% human 20% orc
Halfling	3d6-3	5d20	90%	80%/15%/5%	0%
Human	1d20	1d20+2d10	60%	50%/30%/20%	1%half-orc 1%half-gia 5%half-elf
Ogre	1d20	1d20+2d10	50%	30%/50%/20%	0%
Wolfen	1d20	1d20+2d10	50%	30%/50%/20%	0%
Zandar	1d10	1d100	40%	30%/50%/20%	0%

Guildsman or Tradesman Professions (From Step Five)
d100	Parent’s Trade	Bonus Proficiencies			d100	Parent’s Trade	Bonus Proficiencies
1	Apothecary	Herbalism, 1st-Aid, Lab Skills			55(G)	Goldsmith	Goldsmithing
2 (G)	Architect	Architect., Maths Read/Write: 1 lang			55 (T)	Hatter	Haberdashery , Millinery
2 (T)	Architect’s Assistant	Read/Write: 1 lang			56(G)	Harpmaker	Musical Inst:Harp Wiredrawing
3-6	Armorer	Armorer, Smelting			56(T)	Hewer	Hewer
7	Alchemist	Alchemy, Herbalism, Lab skills			57(G)	Herald	Read/Write
8-9	Arrowsmith	Arrowsmithing, Fletcher			57(T)	Hosier	Tailor
10 (G)	Assassin (d20/level)	Anatomy, Venom Handling			58 (G)	Herbalist	Herbalism, Lab Skills
10 (T)	Fence	Appraising, Fast-talking			58 (T)	Joiner	Carpentry
11 (G)	Astronomer	Astronomy, Read/Write			59	Horner	Taxidermy
11 (T)	Astrologer	Astrology, Read/Write			60 (G)	Hosteler	Read/Write, Management
12	Baker	Baking			60 (T)	Tavern Help	Brawling
13	Barber	First Aid			61	Ironmonger	Smelting
14	Barrister	Barristry, Read/Write			62(G)	Leech	Anatomy, Healing First-Aid
15	Bellmaker	Smelting			62 (T)	Knife-Grinder	WP:Knife, Knowledge:Knives
16	Blacksmith	Blacksmith, Animal Handling:Horse			63	Latoner	Brass and lead working,smelting
17	Bloomer	Smelting, Mining			64(G)	Locksmith	Locksmithing
18	Bladesmith	Bladesmith, Smelting			64 (T)	Laundress	Sewing, Soapmaking
19	Bookbinder	R/W 2 languages			65 (G)	Lute-maker	Wiredrawing, Craft Instrument:Lute, MI:Lute
20	Bard	Musical Instrument, local history			65 (T)	Laborer	+1 to STR score
21	Bowyer	Bowyer			66 (G)	Marbler	Masonry
22	Brazier	Brassworking			66 (T)	Limeburner	Mining, Fire-building, Lab Skills
23	Brewer	Brewing			67	Limner	R/W 1lang, Calligraphy, Illumination, Art.Abil:painter
24-26(G)	Mason	Masonry, Engineer. and Stonemasonry			68	Minstrel	Musical Instrument, Local History.
24-26 (T)	Bricklayer	+1 to STR, Bricklaying			69 (G)	Minter	Appraisal, Forgery (coins only) or +2 to forge coins.
27	Butcher	Butcher, Anatomy			69 (T)	Messenger/ Porter	Read/Write, direction sense
28	Carpenter	Carpentry			70	Mercer	Haggling, Appraisal, Knowledge:Textiles
29 (G)	Page/Courier	Lo.History, Politics, direction sense			71 (G)	Navigator	Navigation, Astronomy, sailing
29 (T)	Carrier/ Messenger	Read/Write, direction sense			72 (T)	Miller	Miller, Baking
30	Cartwright	Carpentry			32	Chandler	Candlemaking
31	Carver	Artistic Ability: Carving			33	Chapman	Haggling, Appraisal

Guildsman or Tradesman Professions (From Step Five) (Continued)
34	Clerk	Organization, Read/Write			73	Needler	Smelting, wiredrawing
35	Clockmaker	Clockwork			74	Paper Maker	Papermaking
36	Cobbler	Cobbling			75	Prostitute	Courtesan
37	Coppersmith	Coppersmith			76	Pewterer	Smelting, Pewterer
38	T: Cook G: Chef	Cooking, Etiquette			77	Saddler	Leatherworking, Land- based Riding: Horse
39	Cooper	Carpentry, Knowledge:Barrels			78 (T)	Rat-Catcher	Pest-Control, Biology, Venom Handling
40	Cordwainer	Cobbling, Leatherworking			78 (G)	Sage	Two NWP, DM’s choice, based on race and culture
41	Cutler	Bladesmith, Knowledge:Knives			79	Potter	Pottery
42 (G)	Dragoman	Lo.History, 3 Mod. languages			80	Scribe	Read/Write 2 languages.
42 (T)	Draper	Tailor, Knowledge: Fabrics			81	Scrivener	Read/Write, Politics, Maths
43 (G)	Embroiderer	Embroidery, Sewing			82 (G)	Shipwright	Shipwright, Carpentry
43 (T)	Dyer	Tailor, Dye-Making			82 (T)	Sailor	Sailing, Swimming
44(G)	Enameller	Craft: Enameling			83	Spy	Espionage, Tailing
44 (T)	Farrier	Blacksmithing, Animal Handling: Horse			84	Seamster/ Seamstress	Seamstress/Tailor
45 (G)	Engraver	Engraving			85	Shepherd	Animal handling: Pick one: Sheep, goat, pig, cattle,deer
45 (T)	Fisherman	Fishing, Butcher, Net use, Knowledge:Fish			86	Vintner	Winemaking
46	Fletcher	Fletcher			87	Skinner	Tanner/Furrier, Butcher
47	Forrester	Hunting, Forestry, Survival: Temp. Forest			88	Soapmaker	Soapmaking, Herbalism
48	Furrier	Tanner/Furrier, Butcher			89	Tanner	Tanner/Furrier, Butcher
49	Gardener	Agriculture, Gardening, Knowledge:Plants			90	Teamster	Teamdriving, Animal Handling: (pick 2)Horse,Ox, Elephant, Goat, Gi.Lizard
50 (T)	Gem-cutter	Gem-Cutting, Appraisal			91	Tinner	Tinkering, Tinsmith
51	Glover	Leatherworking, Craft:Gloves			92	Trapper	Set Snares, Butcher, Tanner
52	Glassblower	Glassblowing			93	Waterlender	Haggling, Teamdriving
53 (G)	Glazier	Glazier, Lab skills			94	Weaver	Weaving, Knowledge: Textiles
53 (T)	Groom	Animal Handling:Horse			95	Wheelwright	Carpentry, Craft: Wheels
54	Goldbeater	Craft: Gold Foil			96	Tinker	Tinker, Haggling, Tinsmith
72(G)	Nailer	Smelting, wiredrawing			97	Multiprofessional	Roll twice.

Step Seven: Starting funds

Using the multipliers in your social class, if any, roll according to the class below, and then go to “Part Four Proficiencies” on the next page:

Character Type	Starting fund dice		Character Type	Starting fund dice
Men at arms	5d4 X 10gp		Spellcasters	(1d4+1) X10gp
Rogues	2d6 X 10gp		Clergy	3d6 X 10gp
Mentalists	3d4x10gp