Civilization Building Games

Introduction

Long ago, I decided that I wanted my games to be as far as possible from murderhobo campaigns. I set things up so the party would be stationed in a single place and work to build a civilization. It has worked amazingly well for over 15 years, generating great stories and games that players remember fondly. I strongly recommend running sandbox-style games where the PCs build, support, and manage tribes, cities, and empires. I know that I'm not the only GM or gaming group that does this, but it's still a minority play style, and I want to make it more popular.

Here's a brief list of campaign ideas, with a variety of tones and alignments, that fit this pattern:

1) A tribe of savages in a wilderness area has recently been converted to the worship of a civilized god, and a local power broker has hired the party to assist and guide them.

2) Due to the recent death of a powerful monster, new lands are available for settling, and the party members (and possibly their family and friends) are pioneers.

3) A war has recently ended with a peace treaty that gives independence to the contested area, and sets it aside as a new multi-species country that accepts immigrants and war refugees.

4) The region (or world) is doomed by something coming many years in the future unless enough nations can be united to prepare a defense. The party is the chosen heroes who must accomplish this.

5) The party has been assigned to govern a poor and rebellious province beset by monsters and enemies.

6) Existing civilizations are crumbling into ruin and decadence, and the party has sworn an oath to each other to carve out a new empire for themselves.

Any GM can run a civilization-building game just by deciding to do it, and it will probably work well. All you need is for the group to have a shared desire to make this kind of story happen. Even if you are a new GM, and have only run modules and published adventures, you can still run a civilization-building game by following these guidelines. Most existing modules can easily be adapted to this game style, and the civilization building is the grand narrative that ties it all together. 

I did not start by making civ-building rules and following them. I evolved the game style over time, adding innovations to nudge the gameplay in better directions. I am sharing these with you, so you will have less trial and error.

Claiming Real Estate

In a typical RPG, the party will clear the monsters out of some location, take any valuable loot they can carry, and then leave. It's rarely discussed what will happen after they leave, but it's often assumed that a new group of monsters will move in and repeat the cycle.

In a civilization-building RPG, any dungeon or wilderness location that the party clears becomes a real estate property that they own. After the party claims a property, they can work to develop it into a site. Usually this involves spending resources to fix the property up, convincing an appropriate allied population to move in, and putting an allied NPC in charge. 

The map starts with a small area surrounded by monsters, wilderness, and/or rival civs, but over the course of the game, if things go well, it turns into a large, well-developed civilization controlled by the players.

Collaborative Mapping

In a typical RPG, the map is an optional piece of fluff, but when the party is building a civilization, it is central to the game. The characters are literally rewriting the map every other session. The overarching goal of the game is to change that map and make it better (from the character's point of view). When the game is going well, the players will argue over how they should change the map, they will expend effort and resources to add new things to the map, and they will go on quests to claim control of parts of it from monsters and NPCs. Your job is to encourage this behavior.

A good GM follows the way of the Tao. This is especially true when making your campaign map at the start of the game. The best way to make a map is to not make a map. Just start with one or two places and a blank piece of paper, explain the campaign idea, and tell your players that the rest of the map will be filled out based on the identity and backstory of their characters.

For example, in my longest running game, the map started with just two places: a tribe of kobolds that had recently been converted to the worship of Bahamut, and an elf city with a patron who gave the party the mission to help them out. The players filled in the rest. One was a wizard, so we put a wizard university on the map that he named and described. Two others were elves from different societies, so those got added to the map, and then we worked out what the diplomatic situation between the three elf cities was.

My favorite mapping software is a spreadsheet. It's easy to use and easy to share. I resize all of the cells so they are square, add a very light border to make a grid, type things in, add small pictograms or images, and print it off. During the game, changes are scribbled onto the map as the party alters the world. After a few game sessions, I update the file and reprint the map. Here's what it looked like well into the campaign (after many more locations and plot twists had been introduced by me and the players):

Cooperatively generating the map alongside character creation sets a good tone for the game. It gets the players invested in the shared storytelling. Ideally, they will have families they care about who live close to the action. And it tells them that the game will be about shaping and changing the world.

Persistent NPCs

In any game, it is very helpful to have the party be accompanied by at least one NPC on every mission. They can tell the character facts about the situation, as they see them, which allows for better role-playing and description. I recommend that the 'voice of God' never tell the PCs anything directly unless it is immediately visible to their senses or they pass an appropriate skill check.

These NPCs are especially important in this kind of game, because everything the party does has long-term consequences. Things that are obvious to you may not be obvious to the party, and having an NPC ally be the 'voice of reason' is a good way of nudging them away from doing things that seem stupid to you. But keep in character and be sure that they know that all NPCs are sometimes unreliable narrators with their own agendas.

A good setup is to have three three key NPCs of the party's level, each loyal to the civ but with different priorities and goals. Each of them is a source of missions, where they ask the party to go with them to accomplish a goal or respond to a crisis. But the party will not be able to do everything they all ask, so they have to prioritize.

Make a character sheet for them and keep them at party level. If necessary, design them to cover gaps in the party. Play them in combat, and design encounters for the larger party. If you have new players, use them to demonstrate basic combat tactics and options that the players may not be aware of.

New Systems

The three tricks above are the most important, and they might be all you need. If the party is staying in one collaboratively-created location, claiming and developing all the real estate it clears out, and working with NPCs who are sources of quests to improve the local area, then you have a civilization-building game.

Most groups just handle the effects of development narratively. This is fine, but it can help to add a bit of structure to explicitly model and reward certain player actions.

Civilization Saving Throws

To solidify the sense that the civilization is a real thing with an identity, rather than just a collection of places on the map, it should have its own saving throw modifiers. Whenever something threatens the civ, it gets a saving throw to resist, and the players only have to get involved if it fails. I'll present simple rules for managing and improving the civ's saves later, if you want them, but really, 80% of the value of this rule comes from doing literally anything at all to allow characters to affect the saves, and having the saves affect the plot.

There are many systems you could use to track and manage these saves. Atlantis: Second Age has a flavorful system of assigning six elemental attributes to locations, which the party can work to improve. But I use the 5e system of six attribute-based saves.

The Strength modifier represents the civilization’s military and law enforcement ability. Making a Str save means sending in troops. Anything that improves the training, equipment or leadership of soldiers, police, or militia increases the Strength modifier.

The Dexterity modifier represents the civilization's ability to quickly move people and resources from one place to another. Making a Dex save means sending in money or supplies. Good transportation networks, liquid markets, and anything that increases the disposable wealth of the civ will increase its Dexterity modifier.

The Constitution modifier represents the health and quality of life of people in the civilization. Making a Con save means the people toughing out a situation, doing a lot of physical labor in a hurry, or outsiders being won over by their quality of life. Anything that increases food security, medical care, or the social support systems increases the Constitution saving throw.

The Intelligence modifier represents the level of education of the civilization. It also represents the ability of the government's internal and external intelligence apparatus to discover plots. Making an Int save means devising a good plan or a clever solution to a problem.

The Wisdom modifier represents the piety, morality, and cooperativeness of the civilization. It also represents the church’s ability to respond to supernatural threats. Making a Wis save means people looking out for their neighbors and doing the right thing for the community.

The Charisma modifier represents how loyal the population and NPCs are to the party, the government, and/or the ideal of the civilization. It also represents the pride and energy and valor of the people and NPCs. Making Cha save means people deciding to be loyal, and/or reacting with bold energy to a threat.

Write the saving throw modifiers for every friendly civilization in a box on the map, under the civ’s name. Whenever something happens in-game to strengthen or weaken a civilization, adjust its saving throw modifiers. Always tell the party that you are doing this, and mark it down immediately, so they see the effects of their actions.

Adapting Modules

The easiest way to use this system is to make the civilization saving throws decide what module to run. Choose two different level-appropriate modules that you think would be fun: one about defending some civilized place being threatened, and another about going off on an adventure to explore a dungeon or wilderness area. Then, decide on a civilization saving throw for the defensive module, using one of the saves above. If the civ fails the save, use that module, but if it makes the save, use the adventure one. In either case, change the module so that one of the key NPCs introduces the situation and accompanies the party. 

After they succeed on a defensive module, do some role-playing to increase some of the civilization's saving throws. After they succeed on an adventure module, do some role-playing to develop or rebuild the area and add it to the civ, and maybe lower one or two saving throws to represent the civ getting stretched thinner. If you want a bit more structure, supplement the role-playing with the systems I describe below.

Then repeat the process with two more modules appropriate to their new level, one defending a civilization and another clearing a new place. 

In order to give an extra incentive to build up the civilization, and the resources to do it, try to choose adventure modules that give more rewards, or add an extra treasure hoard to the adventure module. It also helps to make the tone of the defensive modules more gritty and desperate, with a risk of NPC death, and make the tone of the adventuring modules more heroic.

Military Action

When players can influence a civilization, they can command military forces, and often they will want to use those forces to go and do something. You want to let them do this, but you want to run an RPG, not a wargame. The solution is to use military action as a method to generate interesting level-appropriate encounters. 

Whenever there is a battle, do the following:

1) Split the enemy forces into roughly-equal-power fronts that would each be a Hard encounter for the party.

2) Have the civ roll a saving throw (usually Strength) for combat on each front.

2a) (optional, for larger and better-trained armies) Whenever the civ fails its first saving throw, it rolls a Charisma saving throw. If it succeeds, the unit retreats in good order and the front remains stable.

3) Wherever the civ fails one or both saving throws, the PCs, functioning as the tactical reserve, come to the rescue. Roughly 80% of the civ's forces on that front will be fleeing, 10% will be dead or wounded on the field, and 10% will be available to assist the party. 

If the party wins all of its fights, their civ wins the battle.

This should usually generate 2-3 balanced encounters (without any rest) for a fun game session, although it may stretch to two sessions with a less-experienced gaming group. In addition to being a lot easier to run, it is more realistic than a typical strategy game. Before modern armies, battles, even large ones, were often decided by the timely actions of individuals.

For more details, see my post on Mass Combat.

Civilization Level and Effects

A civilization will attract predatory attacks with challenge rating up to its level (technically, a Medium to Hard encounter for a party of that level). Monsters or armies will be attracted by the increased wealth available to loot, and the characters must defend the civilization. In general, higher-level threats don't bother looting lower-level civilizations, because the return isn't worth the trouble.

A civilization will have NPCs with a level up to its own. These NPCs are not automatically loyal to the party, but with good role-playing and investment they might be recruited to assist with quests. In general, however, the NPCs spend their time pursuing their own goals and dealing with lower-level threats to the civilization.

These two rules produce a realistic way to supply the party with level-appropriate encounters, assuming that the civilization's level is about the same as the party's level, which will usually be the case if things are going well. 

There are two choices for deciding the civ's level. 

1) Handle it narratively and use it as a balancing mechanism. If things are going badly, the civilization is a few levels lower than the party, which makes things easier to deal with. Conversely, if the party achieves extraordinary success, the civilization will be a couple levels higher than they are, and they may be overextended.

2) The level of the civilization is equal to the number of fully developed sites it has on the map. Depending on the scale you choose, a site could be an entire province or nation, but I usually run smaller-scale games where a site is a town, mine, port, or farming region. To develop a location into a site, the party must first clear monsters or enemies out by adventuring there, and then work to develop it. At your discretion, you can also require some work or attention at existing sites to level up the civ.

If using the rules for hit dice activities below, the amount of work required to develop a site and integrate it into the civ is a number of successful projects equal to the civ's current level (some of which might take place at other sites).

Ideally, the players see leveling up the civilization as its own reward; making a high-level civ means victory in the game. But you can choose to give them other benefits. Here are a few suggestions: 

Buying, Trading, and Selling Magic Items

The players can attempt to purchase magic items if (and only if) they are closely linked to a civilization. They choose the type of item they want, then roll a Persuasion or Investigation check, with a bonus equal to the civ's level. Add 1 to the DC for each level the party should be to purchase the item. If they succeed, they roll on the appropriate table, and may pay the item's cost to purchase it.

For example, using the D&D 5th edition DMG:
DC 15: Table A (50 gp)
DC 20: Table B, or permanent common items (100 gp)
DC 25: Table C or F (500 gp)
DC 30: Table D or G (5,000 gp)
DC 35: Table E or H (50,000 gp)
DC 40: Table I (500,000 gp)

The DC increases by 2 for each previous attempt, success or failure, to make any trade in the magic item market since the civilization last gained a level.

For every 5 points that the roll beats the DC, the number of items available to purchase is doubled.

For example, if a PC wants a permanent uncommon item, and beats a DC 25 (which usually requires a level 5+ civ even with a decent skill and roll) they can roll for an item on Table F, and pay 500 gp if they like it. If they beat a DC 30, they roll twice and may purchase either one for 500, or both for 1000.

It is usually best to give surplus items to aligned NPCs. However, if necessary, the same procedure can be used to trade or sell items. A PC can try to replace one item with a different random item of the same type by using the procedure above, and paying the item instead of money, or they can get 10x(d6+4)% of the item’s cash value. 

Buying Mundane Items and Vehicles

The procedure to buy magic items can also be used to purchase expensive mundane items, like warhorses or plate armor or ships. Treat them as a magical item, and interpolate the DC (e.g. plate armor, at 1500 gp, would require DC 28)

Additionally or alternately, the civ’s sites can be used to restrict what items can be purchased. For example, metal items could require a mine or a port, perhaps in addition to the proper level.

Producing Magic Items

There are two different philosophies and rules systems for producing magic items. One says that production should be a unique and complicated affair, and another allows for mass production. I actually recommend using both.

Unique Item Quest

The same rules can be used for producing an item in a unique way, reassembling an ancient broken item, and questing for an item. If the party is closely connected to a civ, they can try to purchase a formula or map or clues for an item that can be obtained locally. Then, to get the item, the party goes on adventure, appropriate to their level, that gives no other treasure.

The difficulty and expense is one step on the table below purchasing the item directly. For example, meeting a DC 25 check allows the party to learn about an adventure that will result in a random item on Table G, and they can purchase the details (which could be a map, a required key, or the assistance of an NPC in crafting or reassembling it) for 500 gp. 

Mass Producing Items

In D&D 5e, using DMG rules, most of the difficulty of producing a magic item comes from finding the formula. Once you have that, it is relatively easy to make more. Some people may disagree, but I like leaning into this and making it a feature of the world. The PCs should be allowed and encouraged to set up a site that manufactures items for use and export. Civilizations can be known as the place that makes a particular item.

If the party is connected to a civ, the party can attempt to develop and/or commission a formula for an item that can be mass-produced with local materials. The item will be random, and developing the formula for is one step on the table above the item. For example, a formula for a random Table A item requires a DC 20 and costs 100 gp. Once they have the formula, they can set up a site and staff it with NPCs to produce the item. This does not necessarily require spellcasters, anyone with appropriate tool proficiencies and a thematic connection to the item should work.

Once the site is up and running, its output will scale with the civilization. The scaling should be roughly exponential rather than linear. In general, the site should start by producing one permanent item, or four temporary items, per year. The first few times the civ levels up, the output is doubled, and after that, it increases by a smaller percent. For example, a level 7 civ with a new site for making +1 halberds will produce one every year, but a level 17 civ should produce hundreds.

Much of the early output will likely be prototypes, or go to NPCs who helped provide the skills or raw materials or capital to make the production site happen. But once the site is regularly producing, the PCs can regularly buy the items at the listed price, or make a skill check to buy the items at half the listed price.

Other Downtime Activities

Most downtime activities can be gated by the civ’s level and/or the sites it has on the map. For example, Carousing may not be possible unless the civilization is at least level 5, or has a proper urban location.

Rules Changes

Aside from the civilization level rules and item purchasing, everything I've discussed so far can apply to any game system, but a few of my recommended rules changes are specific to the modern-rules D&D family of games (3rd+ and Pathfinder). If you are using another system, you probably want to make similar adjustments.

Yearly Long Rests

One of the biggest problems in the flow of the game is that the party has an incentive to take a long rest after each encounter. Good GMs constantly have to fight this to preserve game balance, by inventing reasons why resting is impossible. One very good tool is to switch to the Gritty Realism rest variant, but you can go a lot farther.

I recommend changing the rules so that an 'adventuring day' becomes an adventuring year. A long rest takes 3 months, and characters can benefit from no more than one per year. A short rest takes one month. Any magic items or class abilities that refresh per day now refresh once per year.

Aside from the narrative and flavor, this changes very little about the flow of the game. There will usually be some role-playing and a couple of combat encounters between each short rest. You might have to adapt published adventures that are designed around rest periods, by making the events stretch over longer times, but most shorter modules are unaffected.

This rest variant encourages a grand and epic scale of role-playing. It might take 50 years of game time to get to level 20, even if the party is handling as many encounters as they can every year. It forces hard choices, because the characters will not be able to handle every threat. It allows for more depth of strategy, like using intrigues and plots and feints to burn through spell slots of an enemy spellcaster and then attacking before they can long rest (and the PCs should be paranoid that someone is trying to do this to them).

Hit Dice Activities

Any game system that allows people to do things outside of adventures needs rules for determining how many things the PCs can do, and how successful they are likely to be. This system is one I've used successfully for years. The flavor is that hit dice represent a pool of energy, vigor, focus, knowledge, and connections that can be used to accomplish many things, not just healing. Whenever a player wants to undertake a major project, they must spend a hit die to roll a skill check.

To support this, there are two rules changes:

1) A long rest restores half of the characters' hit points, but all of their hit dice.

2) A player's lifestyle proves a bonus to hit dice recovery: +1 for Comfortable, +2 for Wealthy, +3 for Aristocratic. This can allow them to have more hit dice than their level.

If you introduce a situation, or if it develops naturally, it is usually not appropriate to require spending hit dice. Just roll the checks as normal. Spending a hit die should be something that the player chooses to do, to affect the world, over a period of weeks or months. Some examples of projects that require a hit die are:

Discovering an important piece of information (trying to find who committed a crime, searching a ruin for clues, etc.)
Teaching skills to the population
Training the army or militia
Recruiting an NPC ally
Purchasing a magic item
Negotiating a peace treaty with a neighboring civ or creature
Learning a new language or tool proficiency
Resolving a dispute between factions in the civ
Helping with the harvest to ensure a good food supply
Supervising a construction project

Turning a dungeon or ruin into a new fortress or settlement will require several of these construction projects. After the party clears out a new space, ask them what they want to do with it, and give them an estimate of how many successful hit-die checks it will take to accomplish that task.

Most XGE downtime activities should also use up a hit die, but increase the scale, so it represents about a month of work rather than a week.

This system forces interesting choices, and has two mechanical advantages. First, it makes combat interesting even if there is little or no risk of defeat. The party always has an incentive to win as efficiently as possible, to preserve their capacity for downtime action. And second, it makes leveling up matter in a game that is mostly about skill use and role-playing, with relatively few combat encounters. 

Earning Money and Lifestyle Costs

In order to practice a profession and earn money, characters spend a hit die and roll a skill or tool check. They get the check result times 50 gp. Or they can play it safe and take a 7 on the die roll, simply spending a hit die to guarantee a minimal income. 

Optional rules: Each character can earn money a number of times per year equal to half the civ’s level, rounded up. In general, civs below level 5 can only support one roll for each skilled profession, so there could be trouble if another PC or key NPC wants to practice the same profession. If they cannot negotiate and both attempt to practice, then whoever rolls lower gets somewhere between nothing and half the roll.

A Modest lifestyle costs 350 gp a year, Comfortable costs 700, Wealthy costs 1400, and Aristocratic costs 3,500. For simplicity, pay these costs at the beginning of each long rest, and apply the relevant hit die bonuses.

Most PHB background features will provide either free lifestyle support or advantage on the profession skill check, as long as the character acts appropriately. (It might be hard to use Folk Hero Rustic Hospitality to get a free Modest lifestyle if you have been acting like a tyrant). Any feature that does not give a feat or a regular gameplay benefit should benefit the character in this way. If a feature provides a free modest lifestyle, then all others cost 350 less.

If a character is unable to afford a Modest lifestyle and has no appropriate background feature, then the civilization will provide it, although this will cause a reduction in a save modifier. (A desperate leader is an ill omen and will cause doubts.)

1st-level characters with no external means of support must use their only hit die to support themselves, unless they looted enough money in their adventuring year. This can create a sense of scarcity and desperation, which they eventually grow out of. This is often appropriate for skilled players, but for new players, you usually want to be nicer. I recommend giving them a free Comfortable or Wealthy lifestyle from some source, so they are not desperate, and they have two or three hit dice to spend on healing and civilization-boosting projects.

Crafting

Crafting uses the same rules as earning money: Spend a hit die and roll a tool check, and add value to the project equal to the check result times 50 gp. Usually this means turning 50 gp of materials into 100 gp of finished goods. If players were spending a hit die to earn a living in a related profession, then higher rolls can turn into crafted items. For example, a player working as a blacksmith who rolls a 19 can get a Comfortable lifestyle from the first 14, and then turn 250 gp of metal into 500 gp of items.

If the civilization has a formula for a magic item, and a working site devoted to that item, a character with spellcasting, an appropriate tool proficiency, and/or thematic connection to the item can craft the magic item in this way. This increases the civ’s base rate of production rather than replacing it.

Capital Improvements

I do not use complicated rules for how to manage a civilization. I'm not trying to make a tabletop equivalent of a grand strategy game like Crusader Kings. Usually we just narratively handle the growth of civilizations and the character's interactions with them. However, good role-playing often comes from forcing discussions and hard choices about how to spend limited resources.

So here's a simple system that links uses an abstracted resource called Capital. Capital includes physical objects like trade goods, specie, tools, and weapons, but also social capital like the population's skills, loyalty, cultural pride, and cohesiveness. You can make the Capital tracking as simple or as complicated as your group wants. You can have it all be a big lump, or just separate physical and social capital, or be specific about what was earned after each mission.

A core loop of a civilization-building RPG is the party claims locations, and acquires Capital, and uses the Capital to fix up the locations and improve their civ. This should be handled abstractly, in a freeform storytelling kind of way. Most parties will have lots of ideas for what they want to do. The main function of Capital as a resource is to force them to make choices. There should always be more locations to develop than Capital on hand, so they have to choose which locations they care about most.

Spending a unit of Capital replaces a successful Hit Die Activity. A project that would normally require a hit die and skill check can be accomplished with Capital instead. If you are tracking different types, you can require that an appropriate type be used for a project, or count it as two successes if you think the party used it in a clever or appropriate way.

At the end of some missions, the party obtains Capital. If you want this to be roughly balanced with the standard rate of treasure accumulation, then the Capital replaces the money, gems, and art objects in treasure hoards; and the party should get about one unit of Capital per level per year. Magic item rolls from the hoard can be given at the same time, but it is often better to give them out in different missions. A good 'adventuring year' is to have one session where the party goes out to clear a new location and hopefully get magic-item loot, and two sessions where they are handling threats and earning Capital (by looting the invaders and/or generating trust and loyalty in the population)

In addition to boosting the civ like a Hit Die success, one unit of Capital can also be used to produce 500 gp of specie and/or trade goods, or give two players a Modest lifestyle, or give one player a Comfortable lifestyle, or upgrade a Comfortable lifestyle to Wealthy. 

Capital can also be used to provide estates for the players. Two units of capital is enough to set up an estate that gives a Modest income each year, and four is a Comfortable lifestyle. This does not mean that they are earning an interest rate of 25% a year, it means that they have an efficient setup with trusted servants, so they're no longer paying hotel and restaurant prices for their lifestyle.

Increasing Civ Save Modifiers

At your discretion, Capital (and Hit Die activities) can be used to increase the civilization's saving throw modifiers. If the type of capital is appropriate, the cost is two times the new modifier (minimum 2). For less appropriate forms of capital, it could be three or four times the new modifier.

If you do not use this rule, be sure to sometimes increase the modifiers based on the plot and the PC actions.

Play example: A level 5 party just led the army in a victory against a horde of thousands of zombies. The army did most of the work, but the party intervened in a few places where the battle was going badly. They are hailed as saviors, earning 3 units of social Capital. The civ's Charisma saving throw is +1, and the party would like to boost it. The GM decides that this is an appropriate use of the Capital. It will cost 4 Capital to raise it to +2, so a player decides to spend a Hit Die to add the 4th. Given the situation, the GM calls for a DC 10 Persuasion check, and the character easily passes. The civ's saving throw is increased, and the change is marked.

Recommended Game Flow

A good flow for the game sessions is to start with the PC's going on a mission that they chose and planned last session, or handling a crisis or cliffhanger that was revealed last session. Do what you can to wrap that up when there is about an hour left in the session. Then, they return to their home base, take a short rest, and roll several civ saving throws against new events. Events can be chosen at random on the table below, or they can be based on what just happened in that game session, or they could be a 'slow burn' plot development from previous events. I recommend one of each.

After the rolls, the party holds a planning discussion. Different key NPCs will present their opinions and lobby for different actions. The party can role-play and make skill checks to learn more and decide what to do. Ideally, this ends the session. Before the next session, plan and create the session and encounters for the event that the party chose to intervene in, possibly by finding and adapting a module. Usually this is a straightforward combat mission or role-playing, but it could also involve investigation or going on a quest to find a special item.

After three such sessions (usually spring, summer, and autumn) there is winter, and a long rest, and the next session will be spring of the next year.

Rolling for Events

One at a time, announce the event, and have a player roll the initial save. After the save, read the result. Encourage the player to tell a more detailed story about what happened. If the event causes the PCs to roll saving throws on a failure, or otherwise does not have a secondary Civ saving throw, handle it immediately.

After all initial saves are rolled, the party chooses whether to follow up on successes. All success rolls require spending a hit die to attempt. Then, if there were any failures, the party chooses whether and where to intervene. If failure would cause a site to be lost, decide which site is at risk, and tell the party now. At your discretion, if there are two failures at the same site, the party can try to handle both of them, but they will not get a short rest between the two missions.

All events and encounters are the level of the civilization unless otherwise noted. If the party fails or retreats from its mission, failure is automatic; there is no secondary saving throw.

After the party returns from whatever mission it chose, they learn what happened in other failures. Roll the secondary saves. If the site is lost, it is replaced with either the civ's undeveloped property or an enemy location. This could be a ruin, or an active enemy site. It can be attacked and or reclaimed later. If every major population center in the civ (usually towns and cities) is lost, the civilization collapses into ruin and chaos. (This should not mean the end of the campaign. The PCs can continue to adventure in the ruins, salvaging what and who they can. If you have plans for the story to continue after civ failure, then the players will know that failure is a real possibility. For real tension, try to set things up so that there is a 25% chance of civ failure even if the players do their job well, and tell them that you are doing this.)

In the early game, I recommend just two or three rolls for the entire civilization. As the civilization grows to more sites, and accumulates competent NPCs and increases its saving throws, and as the players become more comfortable with the system, make more rolls. For a forgiving game, low-level civs start with save modifiers of 0, with one or two at +1. For more gritty games, start with modifiers between -3 and +1.

Events Table

If rolling randomly on the entire table, roll d100 and add the civ's level. If rolling randomly within a type, roll d10 and treat the 0 as a 0.

0s. Environmental Events

Intervening requires a number of successful hit-dice skill checks equal to the civ's level. It is rare that these problems can be solved by fighting things, but at your discretion, the party might do a task for a deity or larger organization capable of assisting.

0. Grazing lands are barren. Wisdom DC 10.
Success. People find new pasture in your civ. No effect.
Failure: Herders move into neighboring lands, triggering conflict. Strength DC 15 or roll two Invasion Events.

1. Crop yields are lower. Dexterity DC 10.
Success: Food is delivered. No effect.
Failure: Lean times. Constitution DC 10 or an NPC is lost (either they ran away or starved).

2. Grazing lands are barren. Wisdom DC 10.
Success. People find new pasture in your civ. No effect.
Failure. Herds must be culled. Intelligence DC 10 or -1 Strength

3. Crop yields are lower. Dexterity DC 10.
Success: Food is delivered. No effect.
Failure: Widespread theft and riots. Strength DC 10 or -1 Dexterity

4. Grazing lands are barren. Wisdom DC 10.
Success. People find new pasture in your civ. No effect.
Failure. People consider abandoning the area. Dexterity DC 10 or site is lost.

5. Crop yields are lower. Dexterity DC 10.
Success: Food is delivered. No effect.
Failure: Refugees. Wisdom DC 10 or -1 Charisma.

6. Lack of timber. Intelligence DC 10.
Success: Replacements are found. No effect.
Failure: Constitution DC 15 or -1 Dexterity.

7. Crop yields are lower. Dexterity DC 10.
Success: Food is delivered. No effect.
Failure: Murmurs of rebellion. Charisma DC 10 or site is lost.

8. Crop yields are lower. Dexterity DC 10.
Success: Food is delivered. No effect.
Failure: Plague. Wisdom DC 10 or roll three Disease Events.

9. Foul weather. Dexterity DC 10.
Success: No effect.
Failure: Travel is hindered. If the PCs go anywhere this season other than adjacent sites, they must make a DC 10 Constitution save or lose a hit die or take a level of exhaustion.

10s. Disease Events

Party intervention in failure might involve going on a quest to find rare healing items, or to petition the assistance of gods or another organization, or in some cases, to track down the disease vector.

10. Dysentery. Constitution DC 12.
Success: No effect.
Failure: Constitution DC 15 or an NPC dies.

11. Barracks fever. Constitution DC 10.
Success: No effect.
Constitution DC 15 or -1 Strength.

12-14. Disease spreads everywhere. Constitution DC 10.
Success: No effect.
Failure: All PCs immediately make a DC 12 Constitution save or suffer one level of exhaustion.

15-17. Evervation. Constitution DC 10.
Success: No effect.
Failure: All PCs immediately make a DC 12 Constitution save or lose hit dice equal to one third of their maximum, rounded up.

18. An outbreak of ague. Constitution DC 10
Success: No effect.
Failure: Intelligence DC 15 or -1 Con.

19. A key NPC is infected with lycanthropy. Constitution DC 12.
Success: They are partly cured and remain in control, and gain a shifter racial ability.
Failure: Charisma DC 15 or they become a monstrous adversary.

20s. Political events

Intervention in failure is role-playing, investigating, and possibly attacking ringleaders or mobs.

20. A key NPC has low morale. Charisma DC 10.
Success: No effect.
Failure: Dexterity DC 15 or lose the NPC.

21. A group of religious fundamentalists claims that society is corrupt. Charisma DC 10.
Success: They send you a plan to improve society. DC 10 religion for 2 Capital.
Failure: They riot and threaten to rebel. Strength DC 15 or site is lost.

22. A new tavern opens. Intelligence DC 10.
Success: DC 15 Performance for 2 Capital.
Failure: An NPC develops an addiction. Wisdom DC 15 or they spiral into insanity.

23. Foreign criminals arrive. Charisma DC 10.
Success: Local 'power brokers' make them an offer they can't refuse. No effect.
Failure: Local criminals join them. Intelligence DC 15 or Wisdom -1.

24. Diplomatic dispute with neighbor. Charisma DC 10.
Success: Dispute is resolved.
Failure: They demand tribute. Dexterity DC 15 or roll two Invasion Events.

25. An honest cop has been poisoned. Intelligence DC 12.
Success: NPC investigators find the perpetrator and antidote.
Failure: Constitution DC 12 or NPC dies.

26. Police corruption. Wisdom DC 8 + Strength mod.
Success: Clerics succeed in anti-corruption reforms.
Failure: Charisma DC 15 or -1 Wisdom.

27. Succession crisis. Charisma DC 10.
Success: A change of government or personnel that has no direct effect on the party's operations.
Failure: Wisdom DC 15, or a key NPC is exiled (or killed), and replaced with a different NPC three levels lower. 

28-29. Neighbor requests help. Constitution DC 12.
Success: NPCs can handle it.
Failure: Send lawyers, PCs, or money. Intelligence DC 15, Dexterity DC 15, or -1 Wisdom and the neighboring civ loses a site or is destroyed.

30s and 40s. Military events

Party intervention in failure is leading a military response. Roll seven DC 10 Strength checks, and every failure is a level-appropriate encounter against a mass of troops led by an officer.

30-31. Portal to another plane opens. Add a portal location to the map. Wisdom DC 10.
Success: Local priests seal the portal - for now.
Failure: Hordes of demons or extraplanar creatures. Wisdom DC 12 and Charisma DC 12 or site is lost.

32. Great Modron March. Intelligence DC 10.
Success: People work around them. No effect.
Failure: Conflict. Strength DC 10 and Constitution DC 15 or site is lost.

33. A horde of undead. Constitution DC 12.
Success: People build traps and barricades and hold out until the undead collapse.
Failure: Strength DC 10, Wisdom DC 10, and Charisma DC 10 or site is lost.

34. A horde of undead. Strength DC 12.
Success: The militia handles it.
Failure: Strength DC 10, Wisdom DC 10, and Charisma DC 10 or site is lost.

35. The plants come alive. Wisdom DC 10.
Success: Druids negotiate a peace. Nature DC 10 for two Capital.
Failure: They attack. Strength DC 15 and Charisma DC 10 or site is lost.

36. Workers are disgruntled. Charisma DC 12.
Success: Local officials talk things out and restore the peace.
Failure: Riots and Rebellion. Strength DC 15 or site is lost.

37. Low morale in border troops. Charisma DC 10 + Strength mod.
Success: Local officials talk things out.
Failure: Troops demand more pay and threaten rebellion. Dexterity DC 15 or site is lost.

38. A warlord emerges. Add location to map. Strength DC 12.
Success: The local garrison bottles them up - for now.
Failure: They defeat the militia and demand tribute. Dexterity DC 15 or roll two Invasion Events.

39. Nomad cavalry. Dexterity DC 10 and Strength DC 10.
Success: They are driven off.
Failure: They defeat the militia and demand tribute. Dexterity DC 15 or roll two Invasion Events.

40s. Invasion Events

This subset of military events represents enemy states conducting an organized and determined invasion. When rolling a random d100 event, ignore all Invasion Events if the borders are well-scouted, there are good diplomatic relations with all neighbors, and there are no unclaimed planar portal locations near your civ. Whenever a site is lost due to one of these events, roll another Invasion Event next short rest until the enemy is defeated or a peace is negotiated.

40-44. Army marches across your borders. Strength DC 15.
Success: Local commanders force them to retreat. No effect.
Failure: Strength DC 12 and Charisma DC 10 or site is lost.

45. Army marches across your borders. Charisma DC 15.
Success: Partisans disrupt their supplies and force them to retreat. No effect.
Failure: Strength DC 12 and Charisma DC 10 or site is lost.

46. Army marches across your borders. Dexterity DC 15.
Success: Their commander is bribed to fake logistical difficulties. No effect.
Failure: Strength DC 12 and Charisma DC 10 or site is lost.

47. Army marches across your borders. Intelligence DC 15.
Success: Your agents assassinate their commander, and the army retreats in confusion. No effect.
Failure: Strength DC 12 and Charisma DC 10 or site is lost.

48. The enemy tries to raise a fifth column. Charisma DC 10.
Success: No effect.
Failure: Your civ immediately gets -2 Strength, which can be restored if the PCs succeed in negotiating with or assassinating the right people. Strength DC 15 or roll two Invasion Events.

49. Enemies approach a partially fortified choke point. Add site to map. Constitution DC 15
Success: The fortification is completed and they are held off.
Failure: Strength DC 13 or -1 Strength and site is lost.

50s. Monster Events

Intervention is usually fighting things.

50-52. The ground stirs; something is burrowing. Add lair location to map. Constitution DC 10.
Success: Locals seal and fence it in - for now.
Failure: Monsters emerge and terrorize the countryside. Strength DC 10 and Charisma DC 10 or site is lost.

53. A preteen has powerful innate magic. Wisdom DC 10.
Success: DC 15 persuasion for a new NPC.
Failure: People start dying. Charisma DC 12 or -1 Dexterity.

54. People report that their loved ones have been replaced by imposters. Wisdom DC 10.
Success: Invasion is stopped early.
Failure: Strength DC 10 and Intelligence DC 10 or site is lost and roll an Invasion Event.

55. A glowing meteorite falls from the sky. Intelligence DC 10.
Success: Materials are harvested. Arcana DC 10 for 2 Capital.
Failure. Local wildlife mutates. Strength DC 12 or site is lost.

56. Giant ants. Constitution DC 12.
Success: They are contained in pens and can be fed and trained. Animal Handling DC 10 for 2 capital.
Failure. Strength DC 10 and Wisdom DC 10 or site is lost.

57-59. A portal to another plane opens. Add a portal location to the map. Wisdom DC 10.
Success: Local priests seal the portal - for now.
Failure: Demons or extraplanar creatures emerge and terrorize the countryside. Strength DC 10 and Charisma DC 10 or site is lost.

60s. City Events

When rolling a random d100 event, ignore these events if the civilization has no large population centers.

60. Angels (civ level +3) appear to cast judgment. Wisdom DC 7.
Success: No effect.
Failure: Intelligence DC 15 and Charisma DC 15 or site is lost.

61. People talk politics in salons. Wisdom DC 10.
Success: Ideas for social improvement. History DC 10 for two Capital.
Failure: Revolution foments. Charisma DC 15 or roll three Political Events.

62. Homeowners install traps in their houses. Intelligence DC 10.
Success: History DC 10 for two Capital.
Failure: A beloved child has been killed by a neighbor's trap. Risk of riots. Wisdom DC 15 or -1 Charisma.

63. Scholars study ancient tomes. Wisdom DC 10.
Success: History DC 10 for two Capital.
Failure: They are compelled by evil magic. Strength DC 10 and Intelligence DC 10 or a new adversary NPC is created that causes an event every short rest for the next year.

64. Arcane college opens. Add location. Intelligence DC 10.
Success: They consider integrating into society. Persuasion DC 15 to gain new arcane-caster NPC. An arcane-caster PC or allied NPC can make a DC 15 Arcana check to make the location the civ's property.
Failure: Their loyalties are elsewhere, and they attract many of your smartest people. Dexterity DC 15, or -2 Intelligence until they are integrated.

65. Sewers overflow. Dexterity DC 10.
Success: Repairs are made.
Failure: Constitution DC 15 or roll three Disease Events.

66. A magician lures all of the vermin away. Wisdom DC 8.
Success: Nature DC 10 for 2 capital. Persuasion DC 15 for a new NPC Ally.
Failure: The city tries to cheat them out of payment, and they lure away all the children. Dexterity DC 15 or -2 Wisdom.

67. Cathedral opens. Add location to map. Wisdom DC 10.
Success: They consider integrating into society. Persuasion DC 15 to gain new divine-caster NPC. A divine-caster PC or allied NPC can make a DC 15 Religion check to make the location the civ's property.
Failure: They denounce your sinful civilization, and call down the wrath of the gods. Strength DC 15 or roll a Monster Event every short rest until they are defeated or negotiated with.

68. Thieves guild opens. Intelligence DC 12.
Success: Pragmatists in your government reach an arrangement. Persuasion DC 15 to gain new NPC.
Failure: Someone needs to hunt them down before they rob everyone. Strength DC 15 or -2 Dex.

69. Houses of ill repute. Wisdom DC 10.
Success: Proper precautions are taken. No effect.
Failure: Intelligence DC 15 or roll three Disease Events.

70s. Mine Events

When rolling a random d100 event, ignore these events if the civilization has no mine sites.

70. Rust monsters. Charisma DC 10.
Success: Druids handle them. No effect.
Failure: Strength DC 10 and Intelligence DC 10 or site is lost.

71. Delving greedily and deeply. Wisdom DC 7.
Success: A rich vein. 1 Capital. Persuasion DC 12 or repeat this event next short rest at +1 DC.
Failure: Demon is unearthed (civ level +3). Strength DC 15 and Charisma DC 15 or site is lost.

72. Delving timidly and shallowly. Intelligence DC 10.
Success: No effect.
Failure: Low productivity. The mine is unprofitable and may be abandoned. Wisdom DC 12 or site is lost.

73. An influx of gold. Dexterity DC 10.
Success: Goods are imported. History DC 10 for two Capital.
Failure: Inflation and economic disruption. Intelligence DC 10 or -1 Wisdom.

74. Connecting to the Underdark. Add location to map. Intelligence DC 10.
Success: The tunnels are sealed and guarded - for now.
Failure: Monsters are unleashed. Strength DC 10 and Charisma DC 15 or site is lost.

75. Dwarf refugees are hired as workers. Wisdom DC 10.
Success: Higher productivity. History DC 10 for 2 Capital.
Failure: They feel underpaid and disrespected, leading to tension. Charisma DC 12 and Dexterity DC 12 or -1 Wisdom.

76. Weapons-grade adamantium is discovered. Wisdom DC 10.
Success. Arcana DC 10 for two Capital.
Failure. Your neighbors feel threatened and require diplomatic assurances. Dexterity DC 15 or roll two Invasion Events.

77-79. Monsters in the mines. Constitution DC 12.
Success: Miners collapse tunnels on them.
Failure. Strength DC 12 and Charisma DC 12 or site is lost.

80s. Port Events

When rolling a random d100 event, ignore these events if the civilization has no port sites. This is a seaport in a normal game and a spaceport in a Spelljammer game.

80. Great white whale. Constitution DC 10.
Success: Chef's tools DC 10 for 2 Capital.
Failure: An NPC becomes obsessed. Charisma DC 15 or they disappear.

81. Ships arrive from a foreign power. Wisdom DC 10.
Success: Peaceful trade. History DC 10 for 2 Capital.
Failure: Hostile encounters. Strength DC 15 or or roll two Invasion Events.

82. Tales of a ghost ship. Add location to map. Wisdom DC 10.
Success: Priests hold it off - for now.
Failure: Ships start disappearing. Intelligence DC 10 and Charisma DC 10 or -2 Dexterity as long as the location is on the map.

83. A new civilization is discovered. Add location to map. Intelligence DC 10.
Success: Anthropologists make peaceful contact. Persuasion DC 10 for 2 capital.
Failure: Hostile encounters. Strength DC 15 or or roll three Port Events.

84. New island appears. Add location to map. Charisma DC 10.
Success: Citizens explore and colonize. Persuasion DC 15 to make it the civ's property, which can be developed into a rural site.
Failure: It becomes a den of thieves and pirates. Strength DC 15 or -2 Wisdom as long as the location is unclaimed.

85-86. Pirates attack shipping. Strength DC 10 and Dexterity DC 10.
Success: Your navy handles them. No effect.
Failure: They rule the waves and threaten the port. Intelligence DC 15 or site is lost.

87-89. Monster. Strength DC 10 and Charisma DC 10.
Success: Harbor patrol handles it. No effect.
Failure: Constitution DC 15 or site is lost.

90s. Rural events

When rolling a random d100 event, ignore these events if the civilization has no rural sites. This is rare, but possible. A rural site is a region on the map that mainly provides food and raw materials.

90. Young adventurers find the location of an ancient site of power. Intelligence DC 10.
Success: The party may buy the map by spending 25xlevel gp.
Failure: A monster is released. Intelligence DC 15 or site is lost.

91. Aerie discovered. Add location to map. Wisdom DC 12.
Success: Peaceful contact. Diplomacy DC 15 to make flying mounts available for hire.
Failure: Flying monsters antagonized. Strength DC 15 and Constitution DC 10 or -1 Dexterity

92. Elf settlers buy land for orchards. Wisdom DC 10
Success: Higher productivity. Nature DC 10 for 2 capital.
Failure: They are isolated, leading to tension. Add location to map. Charisma DC 12 and Constitution DC 12, or -1 Wisdom until they are integrated.

93. Contact with barbarian tribe. Constitution DC 10
Success: Attracted by your lifestyle, they integrate into society. Persuasion DC 15 to gain new NPC.
Failure: They demand tribute. Add location to map. Dexterity DC 15 or roll two Invasion Events.

94. Contact with druid enclave. Add location to map. Wisdom DC 10
Success: They consider integrating into society. Persuasion DC 15 to gain new primal-caster NPC. A primal-caster PC or allied NPC can make a DC 15 Nature check to make the location the civ's property.
Failure: They denounce your destructive civilization. Charisma DC 15 or roll an Environmental Event every short rest until they are defeated or negotiated with.

95. Martial training center opens. Add location to map. Constitution DC 10
Success: They consider integrating into society. Persuasion DC 15 to gain new non-caster NPC. A non-caster PC or allied NPC can make a DC 15 History check to make the location the civ's property.
Failure: They withdraw from civilization, and attract many of your strongest people. Charisma DC 15, or -2 Strength until they are integrated.

96. Farm Animals Mutate. Intelligence DC 10.
Success: Wizards cure them.
Failure: Strength DC 15 or site is lost.

97-98. A forest becomes dark and haunted. Add location to map. Wisdom DC 10.
Success: Local druids contain the monsters - for now.
Failure: Monsters ravage farmland. Strength DC 15, or -2 Constitution while location remains.

99. Prospectors open a new mine. Add location to map. Charisma DC 10.
Success: The location is the civ's property, and can be developed into a site.
Failure: Emboldened by their wealth and a defensible position, they threaten to declare independence. Strength DC 15, Dexterity DC 15, or -2 Wisdom as long as they are independent.

100s+. Development events.

Wealth and progress brings new problems.

100. Land rush. Add a rural property to the map. Intelligence DC 15.
Success: Property rights are managed and expansion is controlled. The property can be developed into a rural site.
Failure: Settlers rush in heedlessly. Wisdom DC 15 or roll three Rural Events, each with +3 to the DC.

101. Alchemical experiments. Wisdom DC 10.
Success: History DC 10 for two Capital.
Failure: Pollution from an alchemy lab has mutated rats into monsters. Strength DC 10 and Charisma DC 10, or -1 Constitution.

102. Boom town. Wisdom DC 10.
Success: Civic projects. History DC 15 for two Capital.
Failure: Vice and corruption. Intelligence DC 15 or -1 Wisdom.

103. A World-Shaking Event (DMG pg. 27, or here) occurs. Roll randomly, or decide. Encourage all players to tell a story about how it ties into their characters' backgrounds and lives.

104. A middleman minority group arrives to trade. Wisdom DC 12.
Success: They are accepted into society. Persuasion DC 15 for an NPC of an exotic species. History DC 15 for two Capital.
Failure: They face discrimination and local officials propose confining them to a ghetto. Dexterity DC 15, or add location to map, and -1 Wisdom and roll a Political Event each short rest until they are integrated.

105. Neighbors become jealous. Charisma DC 12.
Success: Diplomats smooth it over.
Failure: Expensive concessions, or personal assurances from the party, are required to prevent war. Dexterity DC 17 or roll two Invasion Events.

106. A dragon arrives and demands tribute. Dexterity DC 12.
Success: It is paid off at a relatively low cost. Place a dragon lair on the map. -1 Dexterity, which is restored if the dragon is defeated.
Failure: It attacks. Strength DC 15 and Charisma DC 15, or site is lost.

107. An alchemist creates mechanical life. Intelligence DC 12.
Success: Autognome servitors. History DC 10 for 2 Capital.
Failure: Rampaging autognomes. Strength DC 12 or site is lost.

108. A sorcerer is attempting to summon spirits to do labor. Wisdom DC 12.
Success: Spirit servitors. Arcana DC 10 for 2 Capital.
Failure: Vengeful spirits. Charisma DC 12 or site is lost.

109. Magic item thieves. Intelligence DC 15.
Success: The ring is busted. Investigate DC 15 for a random uncommon item.
Failure: Each PC makes a DC 15 Intelligence saving throw or loses a permanent magic item at random. If they go on a mission immediately, the items can be recovered, but the items will be gone forever if the PCs delay.

110. A keystone species has been driven to local extinction. Intelligence DC 10.
Success: Druids readjust the ecosystem.
Failure: Someone needs to capture a replacement and reintroduce it. Strength DC 10 and Charisma DC 15 or roll three Environmental Events.

111-114. Development strains resources. Dex DC 10 + non-rural sites - ( 3 * rural sites).
Success: No effect.
Failure: Int DC 15 + non-rural sites - ( 3 * rural sites), or roll three Environmental Events, each with +5 to the DC. 

115. Merchants create a permanent teleportation circle. Intelligence DC 12.
Success: Party spellcasters get the sigil sequence.
Failure: Enemies come through. Strength DC 15 or site is lost.

116+. Diseases of affluence. Constitution DC 10 + Dexterity mod.
Success: No effect.
Failure: Intelligence DC 15 or -1 Strength and -1 Dexterity.

Event Options

As you and your players gain experience with the civ events rolls, you can introduce these gradually, as appropriate:

Be creative with the interaction between map sites and events. Add bonuses for special sites the players build. If they want to do a project to protect against a certain type of event, let them. For example, if they build a fortress, give advantage on all military events near that fortress, and if they set up a druid’s sacred grove or wizard’s college, give advantage on environmental events. These special sites may or may not increase the civilization’s level, depending on how populated and integrated they are.

If a loyal NPC with appropriate skills and power is stationed at the affected location, make the initial saving throw with advantage. If a PC is at that location and has an appropriate skill, the player may spend a hit die to have the civ roll with advantage. 

If the party has NPC allies in their headquarters, they can send them to help handle event failures. Convincing the NPC may require role-playing, and/or spending one or more hit dice and succeeding on a skill check. If an NPC with appropriate skills is dispatched to a failure, these saves have advantage. 

A critical success is a natural 20, or a roll that beats the DC plus 10. It replaces the Success outcome with something you or the players deem appropriate. For example, a critical success on a monster attack might mean that a local makes friends with the monster or captures it alive, and the party can negotiate with it to become an active ally of the civilization.

A critical failure is a natural 1, or a roll that fails to meet the DC minus 10. It results in the failure event happening and being rolled immediately, with no chance for party intervention.

A critical failure on a secondary failure roll reduces its saving throw by one.

Many events will put an enemy location on the map. Each active enemy location that is in range of one of your civ's sites should roll an extra event about once per year. The party can go on a quest to an enemy site, or they can dispatch NPCs to deal with it. The roll required for an NPC to clear the site is the same as the roll that would be required if the initial event failed, but there is no consequence for failure unless the roll failed by 10 or more.

Splitting the Party

Sometimes, there will be two event failures, and the PCs will disagree on where to go. Or some PCs might care more about pursuing a different opportunity. If they are very focused on role-playing, their characters might insist on doing different things based on their strong personal beliefs.

If only one PC does something different, then that player should play an NPC ally or minion, possibly one that is a couple levels lower than the party, on the party’s main quest. Then their PC’s actions on the other event can be handled privately between sessions. If they were going to an event failure, they roll the secondary save with advantage.

If more than one PC wants to go on each option, then you can run two different game sessions. Each player will control their PC in one session, and an NPC or alternate character in the other. Alternately, the players could decide that it would not be fun to handle a certain mission in-game, even if their characters insist on handling it personally. In that case, you can have them roll a few hit-dice skill checks to determine mission success.

If the players are focused on recruiting and developing allies, they might assemble a ‘B team’ of alternates that they control. This can provide fun variety during a long campaign, especially if this group has a different alignment and goals. If the group decides that the main party’s quest would not be a fun session, they can control the B team instead.

Play Balance Notes

The only play-balance change in this system is that healing potions are much stronger relative to spending hit dice during rests. Players will have a much larger incentive to accumulate as many potions as possible, because their hit dice are much more important. This is somewhat balanced by requiring a hit die to purchase potions, although with higher-level civs it will be easy for them to purchase 4 or 8 at a time, or start mass-producing them. There are a few options for this:

1) Let it happen. Higher-level civs will give the party an extra hp reserve from the potion factory (which has a limited output), and that is part of the fun.
2) Limit healing potions to one per short rest.
3) Healing potions are made with addictive ingredients, and every one consumed after the first, per long rest, requires a Charisma saving throw (DC 10 + total potions consumed) to avoid addiction and adding a character flaw.
4) Roll on the Potion Miscibility chart (DMG pg. 140) for each potion after the first, per long rest.

Some game abilities, like the bard’s Song of Rest or the Chef feat, trigger on spending hit dice to heal. Under this system, the party cannot choose to take multiple short rests per session, so you should let these abilities work once per short rest even if no hit dice were spent to heal.

Zero hit points means temporary insanity

Here's a rules change that makes the game more of a realistic role-playing game and less of a mindless-enemy wargame:

Whenever any creature is reduced to zero hit points, that creature becomes incapable of fighting or taking any useful or strategic action. It suffers temporary insanity, which usually takes the form of wildly fleeing from combat. Most of the time, the GM can simply remove enemy minis from the table when this happens.

Players whose characters fall to zero hit points are not removed from the storytelling. When their turn comes up in the initiative order, they should narrate their character's panic attack or other emotional freakout. Allow and encourage them to chew the scenery and steal the show. Tell them that, due to the temporary insanity, they cannot be strategic or act rationally or have any self-control, so their character's most extreme personality defects should be exhibited without restraint.

Player characters or key NPCs who start their turn with 0 hit points make saving throws for prolonged insanity. These follow exactly the same rules as death saving throws, including suffering a failure when taking damage, but three failures results in prolonged insanity rather than death. Players make the saving throw before roleplaying their insanity, using its result to guide the narrative. 

Players can use their action to talk to a temporarily insane creature and attempt to stabilize it, which requires a successful DC 15 skill check. This is usually a Charisma (Persuasion) check, but other skills may apply. Give advantage on this check for good roleplaying. If the insane creature is fleeing from combat, and the person talking is also retreating alongside it, the talking can be done as part of a Dash action.
A stable creature doesn’t make insanity saving throws, even though it has 0 hit points, but it does remain unable to take any reactions or actions other than Dash, Disengage, Dodge, and Hide. The creature stops being stable, and must start making insanity saving throws again, if it takes any damage. A stable creature that isn’t healed regains 1 hit point after 1d4 hours.

A character suffering prolonged insanity becomes an NPC under the GM's control, although all of the 'revivify' and 'raise dead' type spells and effects can be used to cure this insanity and return control to the player. If the GM is feeling nice or does not want to derail the plot, they can return the character to the player's control after the episode of insanity causes at least 500 gp worth of their possessions to be lost or destroyed (or accumulates 500 gp worth of debt or obligation or legal troubles). Another option is to add a random type of Indefinite Madness.

Massive damage does not kill creatures instantly. If the remaining damage after dropping to 0 hp exceeds a creature's hit point minimum, it falls unconscious and starts to make death saving throws.

Discussion

One of the worst parts about RPGs is the fact that by default all fights end in death or incapacitation. This is completely inaccurate from a historical or scientific point of view.

Historically, almost all battles and skirmishes ended in a retreat. It was extremely rare for more than 10% of an army to actually be killed in combat. When things started to go badly, or when enough of your allies started to think that things were going badly, everyone ran away.

Similarly, in nature, it's extremely unusual for animals to fight to the death. As soon as one of them has clearly established dominance, the other submits or runs away. If a predator attacks a large prey animal and the prey animal fights back enough to be dangerous, the predator will usually give up rather than avoid risking serious injury.

I think that the 'fight to the death' trope started with Tolkien and other fantasy writers. Tolkien was enough of a historian to know the facts about ancient battles. He deliberately described his battles as unusually lethal in order to emphasize the rare nature of the events he was describing. But subsequent generations of readers didn't realize what normal was, and assumed that extremely high casualty encounters were typical.

There is a lot of discussion of this online, with many attempts at houserules to make retreating a more attractive option. But I think the cleanest way to fix this problem is to really lean into the idea that hit point loss is an erosion of willpower rather than a physical injury. Also see my Temptation and Willpower post.

With this rule change, by default, a combat loss leads to a retreat rather than everyone dying. As long as anyone capable of healing or talking is above zero hit points and chooses to retreat when they see their colleagues suffer temporary insanity, it is unlikely that anyone will suffer prolonged insanity. This allows the GM to introduce much more difficult encounters, either deliberately or by rolling at random, without risking derailing the plot or ruining everyone's day. 

Wounds

This rule change does require you to rethink what a hit point of wounding means, but I think that is an improvement. One of the weirdest things about the game has been getting a feel for what it means for a character to increase from 10 to 100 hit points. Video games illustrate this in an absurd way, by giving characters the supernatural ability to run around after having taken half a dozen lethal wounds. But with this approach, a sword strike for 12 hit points is assumed to be a glancing blow that causes a little bit of bleeding, enough to cause someone unfamiliar with combat to freak out and run away, but something that a veteran could continue to fight through.

This framing is much more historically accurate: "Marcus Servilius, a man of consular dignity ... parted his garment and displayed upon his breast an incredible number of wounds. ... and turning to Galba, said: ‘Thou laughest at these scars, but I glory in them before my fellow-citizens, in whose defence I got them," h/t Bret Devereaux, who explains, "The modern reader may be puzzled by the repeated framing in ancient texts of units in combat being ‘wearied by wounds’ since generally speaking a soldier wounded in combat with modern weapons is typically a lot more than ‘wearied’ by the experience. But pre-gunpowder weapons aren’t that lethal, especially with blows land against the limbs instead of the head or the chest (which might be better armored in any case)." 

Special Cases

Different types of enemies will react differently to dropping to zero hit points. Some might play dead or cower in fear. Constructs, mindless undead, and some extraplanar creatures should follow the normal rules, where zero hit points is physical incapacitation.

Enemies with good unit cohesion or a sense of martial honor will not flee individually. When reduced to zero hit points, they will either fall down and fake a debilitating injury, or stay in the line of battle and simply take the Dodge action, perhaps while pretending to act. The GM can remove them from the table for convenience, while explaining they they are actually still on the field. Then, when a critical mass of the enemy unit, or its leader, has been reduced to zero hit points, they will all flee at once.

Hunting zero hit point enemies

If the players need prisoners to interrogate, or they need a key item that an enemy is carrying, they may need to attack or hunt down fleeing enemies.

When a GM-controlled creature drops to zero hit points, it immediately drops whatever it is holding and, using its reaction, moves its speed in whatever direction it thinks is most safe. This action does not provoke opportunity attacks. If a player announces that they plan on hunting it down, the GM should, instead of removing it, track its negative hit points (the remaining damage from the attack) and keep it on the map. In future rounds, it takes the Dash action to move to safety if it can. In some situations, it may instead take the Hide action. If cornered, it takes the Dodge action. When it has negative hit points equal to its hit point maximum, it falls unconscious.

If the enemy the players want to hunt was the last one fighting, then the GM should run a chase as the players track it down. If there are other enemies fighting, the players may also choose to transition into a chase by taking opportunity attacks from any remaining enemies they are adjacent to or must run past.

Set Recommendations: 2023

When running a fantasy RPG, you want a little bit of everything. You want lots of different scenes, environments, monsters, and characters. If you have the choice between a big variety of simple things or a big impressive thing, choose the variety.

Links go to Bricklink to prevent link rot, but all of them should be in normal stores, possibly at a discount, until sometime in 24.

If your budget is about $100, I'd recommend Dream Village ($30), Escape from the Lost Tomb ($40), Hunter Hound ($20), and Pancake Shop ($11). 

Dream Village is the best of the new Dreams line. The size of the houses and shops is perfect; they efficiently set the scene, and are sturdy and portable enough to be tossed into a plastic shoebox and carried around to someone else's house. This set is better and cheaper than the Elves Goblin Village, which was previously one of my favorite sets.

Small builds like this are also good because they are easy to copy and modify. Once you make these three, it will be easy to make more using other bricks. Keep the instruction book, and follow it again with a few changes to the colors and detailing. You can quickly build up a larger village with similar aesthetics.

Long ago, I was lucky enough to grab a big collection that included most of the large sets from the Adventurers Egypt theme. I rebuilt them into modular dungeon walls and dressing, and they have been a mainstay of my games for years. You can do something similar with the Lost Tomb set, which as this review discusses is a great value. I recommend splitting things up so the wall and statues are separate builds that can be repositioned on a battle mat in different configurations. And try building more statues with different heads, using the same general instructions.

In addition to scenery, you want big monsters and more minis. Ninjago reliably delivers sets that have three minis and a monster for $20, like Hunter Hound:

or Nya's Water Dragon:

I like using both the minifigs and minidolls in games; the minidolls usually represent elves, fae, or celestial creatures. Friends and Disney princess sets are not as good as the Elves sets, but many of them have good terrain. For $20, City of Rosas is a good addition to your collection of terrain and people.

Other good choices this year include Moana's Boat, Cat Hotel, Baby Dragon Battle, and Ninja Brick Box.

Polybags are often good value; never underestimate the utility of those tiny terrain pieces:

But they are often hard to find for list price. You can't just order them online like other sets. I'm not going to recommend something if I don't know how to easily get them, but if you are walking through the Lego section in a store and you see one, they are often worth grabbing.

The Viking Village is a very good set (extensive review with many pictures):

But I can't recommend it highly, compared to what else you could get for $130. Not enough of the action in a game takes place in a village. It basically does the same job as the Dream Village, but costs $100 more. Still, if you want a more immersive and realistic aesthetic, it will do very well as a medieval village, especially with the castle. If you do get it, I would recommend taking them off the water-and-docks terrain and putting them on a more generic baseplate.

Simplified Character Creation

With this site, you can easily create unique but balanced D&D characters with appropriate ability scores for their class. Lineages are split into Species and Upbringing. It is written for someone who is new to the game, but anyone can use it.

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.

Read all instructions in a section before clicking on any links.

Step 0: Read the Instructions and Print a Character Sheet

Open the Basic Rules document and read the Introduction (pages 3 through 6) and Using Ability Scores (pages 60 through 65) sections to learn the basics of the game and some key terms.

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: Choose or Roll a Class

After selecting a class, write it on your character sheet, and write down its listed ability scores and their modifiers. 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 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: Ranger. Dexterity 14, Constitution 14, Wisdom 12
4: Paladin. Strength 14, Constitution 14, Charisma 12

Step 2: Choose or Roll for Species, Upbringing, and Background

Most species, upbringings, and backgrounds will give you +2 to an ability score. Some will give +1. If you do not yet have a score in this ability score, set it to 10 before the increase. If you already have a 16 in this ability score, you must instead boost some other ability score that is 14 or less. (For example, elves get +2 Dexterity. If you are an elf druid, set your Dexterity to 12, and if you are an elf rogue, you can increase your Intelligence to 16, or some other ability score to 12.)

For '+2 Any' or '+1 Any', you must choose an ability score that is 14 or less. It is usually best to boost Constitution or your class's secondary ability score.

After choosing or rolling a species, you will click on the link to go to that species' description, and write down its features. If you want to see more details of how the species is usually seen and played in D&D, including a list of suggested names, click on the link to go to its entry in the D&D Beyond site. Ignore the rules there; I have replaced them with the species-upbringing system.

You will then choose or roll an Upbringing from the species entry list, and click on its link and write down its features. If you want to play a traditional D&D 'race', choose one of the upbringings with instructions or notes in italics and take the indicated choices in the upbringing.

Then you will choose or roll a Background from the upbringing entry, 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.

After doing all that, 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 d12, 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: Dragonborn (dragon people)
2-3: Dwarf (wombat people)
4-5: Elf (fox people)
6: Gnome (mouse people)
7: Half-Elf (dog people)
8: Half-Orc (boar people)
9-10: Halfling (weasel people)
11: Tiefling (demon people)
12-13: Human (ape people)
14: Hybrid
15-17: Monstrous Species
18-20: 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: Aasimar (angel people)
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: Goliath (mountain giants)
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: Add Backstory and Finish

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. Then choose an alignment that is compatible with your traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws:

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

After setting all of your ability scores according to the instructions, you will usually have at least one with no score. 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 scores, decrease one of them by 2.

Make sure that no ability score is higher than 16. If it is, reduce it to 16 and increase some other ability score that is 14 or less by that amount.

Then, using the Equipment chapter of the basic rules, write down your AC, and the damage and range of all weapons you own.

If you are a spellcaster, choose spells now, making sure that you have a damage-dealing cantrip, and write it in the Attacks box.

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 (15-20 on the Other Upbringing table), instead write down a Cultural Immersion reminder for your Background.

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

Use these tables only if you rolled the 'Other' option on something:

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
13-14: Multicultural
15: Animal
16: Child Soldier
17: Fell From Heaven
18: Magemarked
19: Vampire
20: Werewolf

Other Background

Roll d6 (the tens digit) and d10:
10: Acolyte: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
11: Anthropologist: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
12: Archaeologist: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
13: Astral Drifter: +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: Charlatan: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
18: City Watch: +2 Strength or Wisdom
19: Costumed Hero: +2 Constitution or Charisma
20: Courtier: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
21: Criminal: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
22: Detective: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
23: Dragon Casualty: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
24: Entertainer: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
25: Ex-Convict: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
26: Failed Merchant: +2 Intelligence or Charisma
27: Far Traveler: +2 Constitution or Wisdom
28: Feylost: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
29: Fisher: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
30: Folk Hero: +2 Strength or Wisdom
31: Gambler: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
32: Gladiator: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
33: Guild Artisan: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
34: Guild Merchant: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
35: Haunted One: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
36: Hermit: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
37: Inheritor: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
38: Inquisitor: +2 Constitution or Intelligence
39: Insurgent: +2 Dexterity or Wisdom
40: Investigator: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
41: Knight: +2 Intelligence or Charisma
42: Livestock Rustler: +2 Dexterity or Wisdom
43: Marine: +2 Strength or Wisdom
44: Miner: +2 Strength or Wisdom
45: Noble: +2 Intelligence or Charisma
46: Outlander: +2 Strength or Wisdom
47: Pirate: +2 Strength or Wisdom
48: Sage: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
49: Sailor: +2 Strength or Wisdom
50: Smuggler: +2 Strength or Charisma
51: Soldier: +2 Strength or Charisma
52: Spy: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
53: Urban Bounty Hunter: +2 Wisdom or Charisma
54: Urchin: +2 Dexterity or Wisdom
55: Wildspacer: +2 Strength or Wisdom
56-59: 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.
60-62: Astral Drifter: +2 Intelligence or Wisdom
63-69: Wildspacer: +2 Strength or Wisdom

Species List

Aasimar

Whether descended from a celestial being or infused with heavenly power, aasimar are mortals who carry a spark of the Upper Planes within their souls.

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. Your walking speed is 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)
3-4: Mystic (Resistance(Necrotic), Charisma, Transformation(radiant, flying))
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. Your walking speed is 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. Your base walking speed is 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 (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. Your base walking speed is 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 (Charge)
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. Your base walking speed is 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: Slum
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 1.

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. Your base walking speed is 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, and you have advantage on saving throws against being paralyzed or poisoned. 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 Integrated Protection or Nimble Design: (If your class gives you proficiency with medium or heavy armor, choose Integrated Protection)

*Integrated Protection. Your body has built-in defensive layers, which can be enhanced with armor.
You gain a +1 bonus to Armor Class.
You can don only armor with which you have proficiency. To don armor, you must incorporate it into your body over the course of 1 hour, during which you must remain in contact with the armor. To doff armor, you must spend 1 hour removing it. You can rest while donning or doffing armor in this way.
While you live, your armor can't be removed from your body against your will.

*Nimble Design. You are encased in a thin metal or some other durable material.
While you aren't wearing armor, your base Armor Class is 13 + your Dexterity modifier.
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.

Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: City
2: Factory
3-4: Outcast (Constitution and your class's secondary ability score, Specialized)
5: Suburb
6: Other

Dragonborn

Dragonborn are scaly humanoids with the facial features of dragons and elemental breath attacks. 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 1.

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. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Draconic Link. Through either heritage or magical influence, you are tied to a particular type of dragon. This determines the damage type for your other traits. 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

Breath Weapon. 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. Each creature in that area must make a Dexterity saving throw (DC = 8 + your Constitution modifier + your proficiency bonus). On a failed save, the creature takes 1d10 damage of the type associated with your Metallic Ancestry. On a successful save, it takes half as much damage. This damage increases by 1d10 when you reach 5th level (2d10), 11th level (3d10), and 17th level (4d10). You can use your Breath Weapon 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: Factory
2: Freehold
3-4: Outcast (Strength, Charisma, Resistance based on Draconic Link)
5: Tribal
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. Your base walking speed is 25 feet. Your speed is not reduced by wearing armor.

Burrowing Instinct. You have advantage on all Survival checks in underground environments; on all skill and tool checks to create or repair tunnels, basements, and other excavations; and on all 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: Labor-Mason's tools)
3-4: Freehold (hill dwarf: Poison Resistance, Lumberjack, Scab(Mason))
5: Magemarked (Warding)
6: Mystic (duergar: Mystic Arts or Mental Discipline, 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. Your walking speed is 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
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. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Fey Ancestry. You have advantage on saving throws against being charmed, and magic can't put you to sleep.

Trance. Elves do not sleep. Instead they meditate deeply, remaining semi-conscious, for 4 hours a day. The Common word for this meditation is "trance." While meditating, you dream after a fashion; such dreams are actually mental exercises that have become reflexive after years of practice. After resting in this way, you gain the same benefit most people would from 8 hours of sleep.

Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1-2: City (high elf: Cantrip, Cosmopolitan, Field Work(Perception), Physical Education(longsword, shortsword), Physical Education(shortbow, longbow))
3: Magemarked (Shadow)
4-5: Mystic
(drow: Charisma, Weapons(rapier, shortsword, hand crossbow), Lightbending)
(eladrin: Charisma, Weapons(longsword, shortsword, longbow), Spacebending)
6-7: Orchard
(wood elf: Wisdom, Fleet of Foot, Mask of the Wild, Warden Training(longsword, shortsword, longbow))
(aquatic elf: Wisdom, Speak with Beasts, Child of the Water, Warden Training(trident, light crossbow, net))
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.

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. Your base walking speed is 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: Quiet Survivor, Wild Magic (Gust of Wind))
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. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

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)
3-4: Orchard (Speak with Beasts, Nature Magic(Fleshbending))
5: Suburb
6: Other

Fire Genasi

Fire genasi are part elemental, imbued with elemental fire. Most are descended from efreet, the genies of the Elemental Plane of Fire, 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 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. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Flame Essence. You have resistance to fire damage.

Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: City
2: Factory
3: Magemarked
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. Your walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed.

Large Build. You have advantage on Strength-based ability checks and Strength saving throws. In addition, you count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Caravan
2: City
3: Outcast
4-5: Suburb (Charisma, Firearms, Weapon Modding, and you start with a pistol or musket instead of rolling 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. Your walking speed is 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. In addition, you may take the Astral Drifter background instead of rolling on your Upbringing's table, and if you do, you may choose any class for its Magic Initiate feat.

Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Factory (Githyanki: Magewright, Spacebending)
2: Fell from Heaven
3: Magemarked
4: Mystic (Githzerai: Mental Discipline, Spacebending)
5-6: 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. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.

Gnome Cunning. You have advantage on all Intelligence, Wisdom, and Charisma saves against magic.

Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: City
2: Factory
2: Magemarked (Scribing)
3-4: Orchard
(forest gnome: Intelligence, Fleet of Foot, Natural Illusionist, Speak with Beasts)
(deep gnome: Intelligence, Darkvision, Fleet of Foot, Stone Camouflage)
5-6: Suburb (rock gnome: Intelligence, Tinkering, Artificer's Lore)
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. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Grit. You have resistance to one or more damage types of your choice. Choose or roll:
1: Acid and Lightning
2: Cold and Necrotic
3: Fire
4: Force, Psychic, Radiant, and Thunder
5: Poison
6: Roll twice on this table, rerolling duplicates. Your Strength score decreases by 1.

Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Factory
2: Nomad
3: Slum
4-5: Tribal (Defiance, Fury of the Small, Nimble Escape)
6: Other

Goliath

Goliaths are over 7 feet tall and have a wide array of skin tones resembling different types of stone. The first goliaths lived on the highest mountain peaks. You could be 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 1.

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. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Little Giant. You have proficiency in the Athletics skill, and you count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift. You also naturally acclimate to high altitudes, even if you’ve never been to one. This includes elevations above 20,000 feet.

Stone's Endurance. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to roll a d12. Add your Constitution modifier to the number rolled and reduce the damage by that total. 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 for Upbringing:
1: Freehold
2-3: Outcast (Strength, Constitution, cold resistance)
4: Slum
5: Tribal
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.

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. Your walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed.

Dexterous Feet. 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.

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.

Hadozee Resilience. When you take damage, you can use your reaction to roll a d6. Add your proficiency bonus to the number rolled, and reduce the damage you take by an amount equal to that total (minimum of 0 damage). You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus. You regain all expended uses when you finish a long rest.

Choose or roll for Upbringing:

1: City
2-3: Farmland (but roll on the Other Background table)
4: Orchard
5: Outcast
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. Your base walking speed is 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.

Half Orc

"Half-orc" is the common term for anyone with features from a strong and bulky humanoid species. Usually they have prominent 'monstrous' facial features. Some are the result of recent hybridization, others are from two half-orc parents, others are actually full-blooded orcs, and a few are the result of deliberate or accidental magic. You decide your character's origin.

Ability Score Increase. Your Strength score increases by 2, and your Constitution score increases by 1.

Age. Half-orcs reaching adulthood around age 14 and rarely live longer than 75 years.

Creature Type. You are a Humanoid.

Size. Half-orcs range from 5 to well over 6 feet tall. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Choose or roll for Upbringing:

1: Freehold
2: Magemarked (Finding)
3: Slum
4-5: Tribal
(half-orc: Intuition, Relentless Endurance, Savage Attacks)
(orc: Adrenaline Rush, Powerful Build, Relentless Endurance or Intuition)
6: Other

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. Your base walking speed is 25 feet.

Second Chance. When you roll a 2 on an attack roll, ability check, or saving throw, reroll the die and use the new result.

Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1-2: Freehold (stout: Poison Resistance, Dirt Farmer, Moonshiner (Dancing))
3: Magemarked (Hospitality or Healing)
4: Orchard
5-6: Suburb (lightfoot: Charisma, Avoiding Attention, Dancing)
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 1.

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. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Hare-Trigger. You can add your proficiency bonus to your initiative rolls.

Lucky Footwork. 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.

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
2-3: Outcast (Perception)
4: Farmland
5: Freehold
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. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Child Soldier
2: Farmland
3-4: Factory (Senior Management(Physical Education) 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. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Marathon Endurance. You have advantage on Athletics checks to run, jog, and hike long distances, and on Constitution saving throws to avoid exhaustion from extended exercise.

Choose or roll for Upbringing:

1-2: Caravan (variant human: Esoteric Knowledge)
3-4: Farmland (base human)
5: Magemarked (Finding, Handling, Making, Passage, or Sentinel)
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. Your walking speed is 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, Field Work, Recall, any two Studies)
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. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Choose or roll for Upbringing:

1: Mystic
2: Suburb
3: Slum
4-5: Tribal (Defiance, Pack Tactics, Sneaky)
6: Other

Leonin

Leonin descended from savannah predators.

Ability Score Increase. Your Constitution score increases by 2, and your Strength 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. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Caravan
2: Nomad
3-4: Slum (Quiet Survivor, Cause Fear, Fleet of Foot)
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, and their colorful frills make them appear even larger. Your size is Medium.

Speed. Your base walking speed is 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 (Quiet Survivor, Scavenger, Frenzy)
6: Other

Loxodon

Loxodon descended from elephants and are noted for their trunk.

Ability Score Increase. Your Constutution score increases by 1.

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. Your base walking speed is 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 (Thick Hide, Dirt Farmer, Hunter (Powerful Build))
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. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

Powerful Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift.

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: Farmland
2: Orchard
3: Outcast
4-5: Slum (Hustler (Intimidation, Persuasion), Hammering, Rush)
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. Your walking speed is 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: Caravan
2: Factory
3: Nomad
4-5: Outcast (Constitution and your class's secondary ability score, poison resistance)
6: Other

Satyr

Satyrs have goatlike legs, cloven hooves, and ram or goat horns.

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. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Creature Type. You are a Fey.

Resilience. Choose either Dexterity or Constitution. Increase the chosen ability score by 2. You gain proficiency in saving throws using the chosen ability.

Roll d6 for Upbringing:

1: Caravan
2: Freehold
3: Orchard
4-5: Slum (Hustler(Performance, Persuasion), Fleet of Foot, Leaps)
6: Other

Tabaxi

Tabaxi descended from catlike creatures, and most resemble cats. They have claws that allow them to quickly climb.

Ability Score Increase. +2 Dex

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. Your walking speed is 30 feet, and you have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed.

Roll d6 for Upbringing:
1: Animal
2: City
3-4: Slum (Quiet Survivor(Perception and Stealth), Agility, Tremorsense)
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. Your walking speed is 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.

Ability Score Increase. Your Charisma score increases by 2.

Ability Score Decrease. You are cursed by fiendish impulses. Your Wisdom score decreases by 1.

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. Your base walking speed is 30 feet.

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. You can't discern color in darkness, only shades of gray.

Infernal Legacy. You have the ability to cast spells. Charisma is your spellcasting ability for these spells. Each legacy has a cantrip and two spells. You know the 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. Choose or roll d10:

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 1d10 on the Mystic Innate Magic table. Gain the three spells, but not the other ability. Charisma is your spellcasting modifier for these spells.

Choose or roll for Upbringing:

1: Caravan
2: Mystic
3-4: Outcast (Intelligence, Charisma, fire resistance)
5: Slum
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 1.

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. Your walking speed is 30 feet.

Claws. You have claws that you can use to make unarmed strikes. When you hit with them, the strike deals 1d6 + your Strength modifier slashing damage, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.

Hold Breath. You can hold your breath for up to 1 hour.

Natural Armor. Your shell provides you a base AC of 17 (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.

Shell Defense. You can withdraw into your shell as an action. Until you emerge, you gain a +4 bonus to your AC, and you have advantage on Strength and Constitution saving throws. While in your shell, 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 shell..

Choose or roll for Upbringing:
1: Caravan
2: Farmland
3: Mystic
4-5: Outcast (Survival)
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. Your walking speed is 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
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. Your base walking speed is 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: City
2: Factory
3-4: Mystic (Spell Resilience, Charisma, Venombending or Mindbending)
5: Freehold
6: Other

Upbringing List

Animal

You were an animal for most of your life. 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.

Speak (but do not read or write) Common and one language of your choice.

Transformation. Choose a beast of challenge rating 0. You can, once per short rest, transform into that animal. 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:

1-2: Pet. You were once a pampered pet and now you are an uncannily attractive member of your species. +3 Charisma. Gain proficiency with the Persuasion and Performance skills.

3-4: Wild. You were once a wild animal. +3 Wisdom. Gain proficiency with the Perception and Survival skills.

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. Traditionally this upbringing was associated with humans and half-elves.

Alignment. Tends toward chaotic good, although individuals can be of any alignment.

Speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.

Choose or roll:
1: Diplomat. +2 Charisma. Gain proficiency with two of the following skills of your choice: Deception, Insight, Intimidation, and Persuasion. Gain the Linguist feat.
2: Esoteric Knowledge. +1 Any. Gain a feat of your choice. Gain proficiency in a skill of your choice.
3. Job Change. Choose or roll an additional Background. Gain its ability score increase and all features and benefits, including money and equipment.
4: Well Traveled. You have picked up a lot of random things, including some scars and injuries. Roll d12 on the City Education table, d12 on the Freehold Hardscrabble table, d8 on the Orchard Ways of Nature table, d12 on the Suburb Hobbies table, d12 on the Tribal Primal table, and d8 on the Slum Survival Strategy table. (You may not choose on any table.) Your Constitution score decreases by 2.

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: Sailor: +2 Strength or Wisdom
13: Smuggler: +2 Strength or Charisma
14: Spy: +2 Dexterity or Charisma
15: Wildspacer: +2 Strength or Wisdom
16-20: Other

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.

Speak (but do not read or write) Common and one language of your choice.

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, 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.

Speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice. Read and write (but do not speak) Elvish or an exotic language.

Well Educated. +2 Intelligence. Repeat five times: Choose or roll d12 on the Education table (rerolling duplicates only for Expert Duplication or Recall). No option can be chosen more than twice:

Education

1: Arcana Study. Gain proficiency in the Arcana skill. If you already have proficiency in Arcana, or you gain it later, then instead of gaining proficiency in a different skill, you may gain expertise in Arcana, which means your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make with it, and read and write (but not speak) Infernal and Primordial. If you choose or roll the 'Other' background, then you may instead take the STEM Grad Student (+2 Constitution or Intelligence) background.
2: Cantrip. You know one cantrip of your choice from the Wizard spell list. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for it.
3: Cosmopolitan. Speak, read, and write a standard language of your choice. Then choose another upbringing, and gain the Cultural Immersion benefits for it. If you would choose or roll the 'Other' background, then you may instead take the Master of Fine Arts (+2 Dexterity or Charisma) background.
4: Expert Duplication. When you copy writing or craftwork produced by yourself or someone else, you have advantage on any ability checks you make to produce an exact duplicate.
5: Field Work. Gain proficiency with the Investigation or Perception skill.
6: Goofing Off. Choose or roll d10 on the Suburb Hobbies table. Your Intelligence score decreases by 1.
7: History Study. Gain proficiency in the History skill. If you already have proficiency in History, or you gain it later, then instead of gaining proficiency in a different skill, you may gain expertise in History, which means your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make with it, and read and write (but not speak) Draconic and Undercommon. If you choose or roll the 'Other' background, then you may instead take the History Grad Student (+2 Constitution or Intelligence) background.
8: Nature Study. Gain proficiency in the Nature skill. If you already have proficiency in Nature, or you gain it later, then instead of gaining proficiency in a different skill, you may gain expertise in Nature, which means your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make with it, and read and write (but not speak) Druidic and Sylvan. If you choose or roll the 'Other' background, then you may instead take the Biology Grad Student (+2 Intelligence or Wisdom) background.
9: Physical Education. Gain proficiency with two weapons of your choice.
10: 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.
11: Religion Study. Gain proficiency in the Religion skill. If you already have proficiency in Religion, or you gain it later, then instead of gaining proficiency in a different skill, you may gain expertise in Religion, which means your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make with it, and read and write (but not speak) Celestial and Abyssal. If you choose or roll the 'Other' background, then you may instead take the Philosophy Grad Student (+2 Constitution or Charisma) background.
12: Spellcasting. Choose one 1st-level spell from from the Wizard spell list. You can cast that spell once per long rest. Intelligence is your spellcasting ability for it.

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.

If you were laborer, you were expected to handle roughness and violence, either to protect your homeland from outsiders, to fight management and scabs, or in off-hours brawls with other workers. You became familiar with personal protective equipment, and learned how to use your tools to fight. You also become accustomed to bad food and toxic industrial chemicals.

Alignment. Tends toward lawful neutral, although individuals can be of any alignment.

Speak, read, and write Common, Dwarvish, and one other language that uses the Dwarvish script.

Protective equipment. You have proficiency with light armor.

Choose or roll d10 on the Jobs table:

Jobs

1: Senior Management. Gain all of the following:
*Basic Education. Choose or roll d12 on the City Education table.
*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.
*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:
*Heard It All. Speak (but do not read or write) four additional languages of your choice. You gain proficiency in the Insight skill, and 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:
*Education. Repeat two times: Choose or roll Roll d12 on the City Education table.
*Production Magic. Choose or roll d10 on the Mystic Innate Magic table.

Choose or roll a background from the City list.

5-10: Labor. Gain all of the following:
*Strength of the Worker. +1 Strength. You have proficiency with medium armor. You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.
*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 are proficient in the tool, and you gain expertise with that tool, which means your proficiency bonus is doubled for any ability check you make with it.
You are proficient in the indicated weapons that resemble the tool, and 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.
Additionally, 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 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.

Speak, read, and write Common and one other language of your choice.

Well-rounded. At the end of character creation, after all ability scores have been assigned, gain +2 in each of your lowest three scores.

Roll d20 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.

Speak, read and write Celestial. Speak (but do not read or write) Common and one language of your choice.

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.

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.

Speak (but do not read or write) Common and one other language of your choice.

Frontier Resilience. Choose Poison Resistance or Thick Hide:
*Poison Resistance. You have advantage on saving throws against poison, and you have resistance against poison damage.
*Thick Hide. You have thick, leathery skin. 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.

Repeat two times: Choose or roll d12 (rerolling any features you already have), on the Hardscrabble table:

Hardscrabble

1-4: Dirt Farmer. +1 Constitution. You have advantage on saving throws to avoid or end the frightened condition on yourself. You gain proficiency with either sickle, flail, and trident; or cook's utensils and weaver's tools.
5: Hunter. You gain proficiency with the light or heavy crossbow. Roll d12 on the Tribal Primal table.
6: Interesting Past. You've done a lot, but it wore you out. Choose or roll an extra background on the Freehold Background Table. Do not gain any ability score increase, but take all other benefits of the background. You get all of its starting equipment except the money. Your Constitution score decreases by 1, and your age increases by at least 10 years.
7: Lumberjack. +1 Wisdom. You gain proficiency with battleaxe and handaxe. Your hit point maximum increases by 1 per level.
8: Moonshiner. You gain proficiency with brewer's supplies. Either take Dancing from the Suburb Hobbies table, or gain +1 Constitution and roll d8 on the Slum Survival Strategy table.
9: Prospector. +1 Constitution. You gain proficiency with light hammer, warhammer, war pick, alchemist's supplies, and cartographer's tools. You gain advantage on Perception and Investigation checks to locate ores or precious metals.
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. +1 Wisdom. You gain proficiency with whip, land vehicles, and the Animal Handling skill.
12: Trapper. +1 Wisdom. When you use a Hunting Trap (PHB pg 152), 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 d8 on the Orchard Ways of Nature table.

Roll d20 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

You have a magical marking on your body that gives you powers. Either you were born with it, or it manifested at some point in your childhood or adolescence. This set you apart from society, and you focused your efforts on mastering your powers and figuring out what they mean for your place in the world.

Alignment. Any. Decide how society reacted to your appearance and powers, and how that shaped you.

Speak, read and write Common and one language of your choice.

Mark. Choose or roll d12. 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 spells once per long rest. The ability score that the mark increased is your spellcasting ability for these spells.
*Ability Boost. Whenever you make an ability check using the listed tools or skills, you can roll a d4 and add the number rolled to the total ability check.

1. Detection: +3 Intelligence; Detect Magic, Detect Poison and Disease, See Invisibility; Investigation, Insight
2. Finding: +3 Wisdom; Hunter's Mark, Longstrider, Locate Object; Perception, Survival
3. Handling: +3 Wisdom; Animal Friendship, Speak With Animals, Calm Emotions; Animal Handling, Nature
4. Healing: +3 Wisdom; Cure Wounds, Healing Word, Lesser Restoration; Medicine, Herbalism Kit
5. Hospitality: +3 Charisma; Prestidigitation, Purify Food and Drink, Unseen Servant; Persuasion, Brewer's Tools, Cook's Utensils
6. Making: +3 Intelligence; Mending, Identify, Magic Weapon (does not require concentration); Arcana, Artisan's Tools you are proficient with
7. Passage: +3 Dexterity; Expeditious Retreat, Jump, Misty Step; Acrobatics, one type of vehicles
8. Scribing: +3 Intelligence; Message, Comprehend Languages, Magic Mouth; History, Calligrapher's Tools
9. Sentinel: +3 Wisdom; Compelled Duel, Shield, Shield of Faith; Insight, Perception
10. Shadow: +3 Charisma; Minor Illusion, Disguise Self, Invisibility; Stealth, Performance
11. Storm: +3 Charisma; Feather Fall, Fog Cloud, Gust of Wind; Acrobatics, Navigator's Tools
12. Warding: +3 Intelligence; Alarm, Mage Armor, Arcane Lock; Investigation, Thieves' Tools

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. You also get the Cultural Immersion benefit for both upbringings.

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.

Speak, read, and write Common and two other languages of your choice, one of which must be an exotic language.

You may choose to gain both Darkvision and Sunlight Sensitivity:
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.
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:

1: Mystic Arts. You have proficiency with three weapons of your choice.
2: Resistance. You have resistance to one or more damage types of your choice. 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
3: Mental Discipline. You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the charmed,  frightened, and stunned conditions on yourself. Your Constitution score decreases by 1.
4: Spell Resilience. You have advantage on saving throws against spells. Once you use this trait, you can't use it again until you finish a short rest.

Choose Intelligence or Charisma. Gain +2 in the chosen ability score. Then choose or roll d12 on the Innate Magic table.

Innate Magic

1-10: Spellcasting. Your innate magic manifests in the ability to cast spells. The ability you chose is your spellcasting ability for these spells. Each entry has a cantrip, two spells, and an additional ability. You know the 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. These spells don't require the material components normally required.

1: Airbending. Shocking Grasp, Feather Fall, Levitate. You have resistance to lightning damage.
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.
3: Firebending. Produce Flame, Burning Hands, Flame Blade. You have advantage on saving throws against fire damage.
4: Fleshbending. Blade Ward, Enlarge/Reduce, Invisibility. You have resistance to necrotic damage.
5: Lightbending. Dancing Lights, Faerie Fire, Darkness. You gain proficiency in the Perception skill.
6: Mindbending. Friends, Sleep, Suggestion. You have resistance to psychic damage.
7: 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.
8: Spacebending. Mage Hand, Jump, Misty Step. You have advantage on all saving throws against effects that would push, pull, teleport, or banish you.
9: Venombending. Poison Spray, Detect Poison and Disease, Dragon's Breath (poison only). You have resistance against poison damage.
10: Waterbending. Acid Splash , Create or Destroy Water, Water Walk. You have resistance to acid damage.

11-12: Transformation. Your innate magic manifests in the ability to magically transform for a total of one minute (ten combat rounds) per long rest. Beginning or ending the transformation is a bonus action. Choose a transformation tied to your culture or heritage. (For example, aasimar have a radiant angelic form, and drow usually choose a poisonous spider-like form.) All details are chosen at character creation and do not change without a special quest. Your equipment is incorporated into or carried by the new form, and your game statistics do not change, except as follows:
*While transformed, you have a flying, climbing or swimming speed equal to your movement, or a burrowing speed equal to half your movement. If you choose a flying speed, you have disadvantage on Stealth checks while transformed.
*Choose a damage type. While transformed, you have resistance against that damage.
*Starting at 3rd level, while transformed, once on each of your turns, you can deal extra damage of the chosen type to one target when you deal damage to it with an attack or a spell. The extra damage equals your proficiency bonus.

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 are a centaur, or you spent so much time in the saddle that you know how to act as one with your mount.

Alignment. Tends toward neutral, although individuals can be of any alignment.

Speak (but do not read or write) Common and two other languages of your choice.

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 longbow or shortbow.

Choose Caracole or Charge. If you have the Equine Build or Shape Self ability, or you are transformed into a creature with four or more legs, you are considered mounted for these features, and 'your mount' refers to you: (If you plan on fighting with a melee weapon, choose Charge, otherwise choose Caracole.) 
*Caracole. While you are mounted and wielding a ranged weapon or spellcasting focus, you may use a bonus action to direct your mount to take the Disengage or Dodge action.
*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, making one attack against the target with one of your mount's natural or unarmed attacks.

If you have the Equine Build or Shape Self ability:
*You are proficient with the lance and can wield it 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 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.

If you do not have the Equine Build or Shape Self ability:
*You are proficient in the Animal Handling skill.
*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.
*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 it 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.

Roll d20 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.

Speak, read, and write Elvish and Sylvan. Speak (but do not read or write) Common and one other language of your choice.

Natural Observer. +2 Intelligence or Wisdom. You gain proficiency in the Perception skill.

Repeat three times: Choose or roll d10 (rerolling any features you already have), on the Ways of Nature table:

Ways of Nature

1. Camouflage. You have advantage on Dexterity (Stealth) checks to hide in natural terrain.
2. 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.
3. Fleet of Foot. Your base walking speed increases by 5 feet.
4. Mask of the Wild. You can attempt to hide even when you are only lightly obscured by foliage, heavy rain, falling snow, mist, and other natural phenomena.
5. Natural Illusionist. You know the Minor Illusion cantrip. Choose Intelligence or Wisdom to be your spellcasting modifier for it.
6. Speak with Beasts. Through sound and gestures, you may communicate simple ideas with beasts and sapient plants native to the environment you grew up in.
7. Timberwalk. 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.
8. Warden Training. You have proficiency with three weapons of your choice.
9. Child of the Water. You have a swimming speed equal to your walking speed, and you can breathe air and water.
10. Nature Magic. Choose or roll 1d10 on the Mystic Innate Magic table. Gain the three spells, but not the other ability. Choose Intelligence or Wisdom to be your spellcasting modifier for these spells. Your Charisma score decreases by 1.

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.

Speak, read and write Common and one exotic language.

Personal Training. +2 to two different ability scores

Choose or roll:
1: Creature of the Night. You have 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. Additionally, you are proficient in the Stealth skill.
2: Resistance. You have resistance to one or more damage types of your choice. 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
3: Specialized. You gain one skill proficiency and one tool proficiency of your choice.

Roll d20 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

Slum

You grew up 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.

Speak, read, and write one language of your choice. Speak (but do not read or write) Common.

Hard Lessons. Choose one:
*Quiet Survivor. Your Wisdom score increases by 2, and you gain proficiency with two of the following skills of your choice: Animal Handling, Nature, Perception, Stealth, and Survival.
*Hustler. Your Charisma score increases by 2, and you gain proficiency with a musical instrument of your choice and two of the following skills of your choice: Deception, Intimidation, Performance, and Persuasion.

Packrat Poverty. After collecting the equipment from your background and class, replace the money with 3 copper pieces. Roll a random trinket for each 3 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.

Repeat two times: Choose or roll d12 (rerolling any features you already have) on the Survival Strategy table:

Survival Strategy

1: Agility. 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.

2: 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.

3: 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.

4: Leaps. +1 Dexterity. 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.

5: Fleet of Foot. Your base walking speed increases by 5 feet.

6: 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.

7: Tremorsense. As long as you are barefoot, you can detect and pinpoint the origin of vibrations within 60 feet, provided that your skin and the source of the vibrations are in contact with the same ground or substance. Tremorsense can't be used to detect flying or incorporeal creatures.

8: Wild Magic. Choose a 1st-level spell. You can cast that spell once per long rest. Charisma or Wisdom is your spellcasting ability for it. When you reach 3rd level, you may change it to a 2nd-level spell.

9: 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.

10: 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.

11: 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.

12: 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.

Roll d20 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. Suburbs originally developed from gnomish Bright Burrows culture and halfling Pastoral culture.

Speak, read, and write Common and one other language that uses either the Common or Dwarvish script. Read and write (but do not speak) Dwarvish or an exotic language.

Alignment. Tends toward lawful good, although individuals can be of any alignment.

Attic Rummaging. Roll d10. You begin the game with the additional equipment indicated. This equipment is light and well-made, and possibly imbued with some minor magic, so that you can carry it in addition to your normal starting equipment without any encumbrance:

1: Burglar's Pack and a random trinket
2: Diplomat's Pack
3: Dungeoneer's Pack and a random trinket
4: Entertainer's Pack
5: Explorer's Pack and a random trinket
6: Priest's Pack
7: Scholar's Pack
8: A pistol with a -1 penalty to damage, which can be removed by spending 200 gp or doing the equivalent work in item crafting.
9: A musket with a -2 penalty to damage. Spending 200 gp or the equivalent in item crafting reduces this to a -1 penalty, and another 200 gp removes it.
10: A random uncommon item (Table F, DMG pg 146). You begin the game attuned to it, even if it does not normally require attunement. It has three random minor detrimental properties (DMG pg 220), 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.

Good-Natured Cleverness. +2 Intelligence or Charisma.

Repeat two times: Choose or roll d12 (rerolling any features you already have) on the Hobbies table:

Hobbies

1: Avoiding Attention. You have advantage on saving throws to avoid or end the frightened condition on yourself. You can attempt to hide when in a crowd of people your size, or when you are only obscured by a creature that is at least one size larger than you.

2: Dancing. You can move through the space of any creature by making a Dexterity (Acrobatics) check, DC 5 if it is friendly and opposed by its Wisdom (Insight) check if it is hostile. You get advantage on this check if the creature is of a size larger than yours. When dancing as part of a performance, you add your proficiency bonus, in addition to any other proficiency bonus that may apply.

3: Firearms. +1 Intelligence or Charisma. 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.

4: Parkour. You can move through difficult terrain in an artificial environment, such as rubble and fences, without expending extra movement. If you move at least 10 feet, then for the rest of your move action, you have a climbing speed equal to your walking speed. Additionally, if 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.

5: Rock throwing. You are proficient with darts, and you may treat rocks as though they were darts, except they do bludgeoning rather than piercing damage. Additionally, you may have a number of special rocks equal to your proficiency bonus. You start the game with one special rock, and once per long rest, you can find another one. When throwing a special rock, you gain the benefits of the sharpshooter feat (PHB pg 170) for that rock, and it counts as a magic weapon for the purposes of overcoming damage reduction. Special rocks do not lose their power after they are used, although you may have to roll an Intelligence (Investigation) check to find it.

6: Tinkering. You have proficiency with tinker's tools, and own a set of them. Using those tools, you can spend 1 hour and 10 gp worth of materials to construct a Tiny clockwork device (AC 5, 1 hp). You can have up to three such devices active at a time. When you create a device, choose one effect of the Prestidigitation cantrip for it to replicate, or create a similar effect with DM approval. Using any device is an action.

7: Weapon Modding. You have proficiency with tinker's tools, and own a set of them. Using those tools, during a long rest, you can 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.

8-12: Special Study. +1 Intelligence. 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.

8: Animal Lore.
9. Artificer's Lore. magical, alchemical, or technological items
10. Culture Lore. art items, clothing, food and drink
11. Plant Lore.
12. Crafting Lore. Roll d6+4 on the Factory Jobs table. The object of your study is the indicated crafted items, and you gain the indicated tool proficiency, but not the weapon proficiencies.

Choose or Roll for Background:

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.

Repeat three times: Choose or roll d12 (rerolling any features you already have) on the Primal table:

Primal

1: Adrenaline Rush. +1 Constitution. You can take the Dash action as a bonus action. 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. Whenever you use this trait, you gain a number of temporary hit points equal to your proficiency bonus.

2: Defiance. +1 Wisdom. You have advantage on saving throws you make to avoid or end the charmed or frightened conditions on yourself.

3: Fury of the Small. +1 Constitution. When you damage a creature with an attack or a spell and the creature’s size is larger than yours, you can cause the attack or spell to deal extra damage to the creature. The extra damage equals your proficiency bonus. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all expended uses when you finish a long rest, and you can use it no more than once per turn.

4: Intuition. You gain 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.

5: Nimble Escape. You can take the Disengage or Hide action as a bonus action on each of your turns.

6: Pack Tactics. You have advantage on an attack roll against a creature if at least one of your allies is within 5 feet of the creature and the ally isn't incapacitated. You can use this trait a number of times equal to your proficiency bonus, regaining all expended uses when you finish a short rest.

7: Powerful Build. +1 Strength. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push, drag, or lift. Additionally, you gain advantage on Strength saving throws.

8: Primal Magic. +1 Constitution. You know one cantrip of your choice from the sorcerer spell list. Constitution is your spellcasting ability for that cantrip.

9: Relentless Endurance. +1 Constitution. When you are reduced to 0 hit points but not killed outright, you can drop to 1 hit point instead. You can't use this feature again until you finish a long rest.

10: Savage Attacks. +1 Strength. 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.

11: Sneaky. +1 Dexterity. 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.

12: Surprise Attack. If you hit a creature with an attack roll, the creature takes an extra 2d6 damage if it hasn’t taken a turn yet in the current combat.

Roll d20 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.

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 Dex. Your 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 Common (but do not read or write) and one language of your choice.

Wild Nature. +2 Strength. Gain 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 now an elf can do a good job any class, but it's very rare for any of them to be clumsy.

My species and upbringings give more than the default-rules races and subraces, because ability scores are attached to character options instead of assigned separately. In the default rules, the standard array is 15, 14, 13, 12, 10, 8, and every lineage gives +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. That leaves 7 for me to distribute. I want backgrounds to boost one of the ability scores attached to their skills, so that leaves 5 ability scores for the species-upbringing combo to distribute, in addition to the features.

Each lineage gives 3-4 worth of features (or it should if they were balanced), so that is a total of 8-9 worth of value in my system (instead of the 6-7 of value a lineage gives in the base rules). I've decided that every species should give 3 and every upbringing should give 5-6. Biological things are in species and socially learned things are in upbringing. Most species-upbringing combos give +2 to two different ability scores, and 4-5 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.

It is possible to get fairly close to almost all existing races and subraces, although some sacrifices were made for balance and flavor and keeping things simple. The two base-game things I nerfed were choosing a feat, and mountain dwarf (mountain was obviously OP compared to hill: 2 ability score boosts and 2 half-feats rather than 1 and 1. I bumped the strength boost down to 1; they still get all their features and a little more). Everyone else can be replicated.

The main difference is I took darkvision away from most races. 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.

Races 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 rhinoslike. I avoided most non-spelljammer setting-specific races, but made an exception for Leonin and Loxodon because we have Chima minis for them.