Every story has a beginning. Your character's background reveals where you came from, how you became an adventurer, and your place in the world. Your warrior may have been a brave knight or a veteran soldier. Your sorcerer may have been a sage or a craftsman. Your rogue may have been in a thieves guild or performed to large audiences as a buffoon.
Choosing a background provides you with important clues about your character's identity. The most important question about your background is what has changed? Why did you stop doing whatever your background describes to start an adventurous life? Where did you get the money for your starting team, or, if you come from a wealthy background, why don't you have more money? How did you learn the skills of your class? What is it that separates you from normal people who share your background?
Backgrounds provide specific benefits (features, skills and languages) and interpretation suggestions
Each background grants the character proficiency in two abilities. Additionally, most backgrounds give the character a proficiency with one or more tools. If a character wins the same skill from two different sources, he can choose a different skill of the same type (skill or tool).
Some backgrounds allow characters to learn additional languages in addition to those granted by race.
Each background grants an initial set of equipment. If you use the optional rule to spend money on equipment, you will not receive the starting equipment from your background.
A background contains suggested personal characteristics based on your background. You can pick features, roll to randomly pick them, or use the hints as inspiration to use features of your own creation.
You may be interested in adjusting some of the characteristics of a background to better suit your character or campaign. To adjust a background, you can replace one characteristic with another, choose any two skills, and choose a total of two competencies with tools or languages from the example backgrounds.
You can use the equipment set from your background or spend money on equipment (If you spend money, you cannot choose the starting equipment set for your class).
Lastly, pick two personality traits, an ideal, a bond, and a flaw. If you can't find a feature that matches the background you're looking for, work with your Dungeon Master to create one.
You have spent your life serving a temple dedicated to a specific god or pantheon. You act as an intermediary between
the realm of the sacred and the world of mortals, performing sacred rites and offering sacrifices in order to lead
the faithful into the presence of the divine. This does not mean that you are a clergyman - performing sacred rites is not the same as
channeling divine energy.
Choose a god, pantheon of gods, or some other quasi-divine being from the lists to detail the nature of your religious services. Did you perform minor functions in a temple, living there since childhood helping the priests in the sacred rites? Or were you a high priest who was suddenly summoned to serve his god in a different way? Or maybe you were the leader of a small cult outside of any established temple structure, or even an occult group that served a diabolical teacher that you now deny.
Skills Competence: Finding Intentions, Religion.
Languages: Two of your choice.
Equipment: A sacred symbol (a gift from when you entered the priesthood), a prayer book or a prayer wheel, 5 sticks of incense, clothes, a set of common clothing, and a sack containing 15 pieces of gold.
Trait: Refuge of the Faithful
As an acolyte, you inspire respect in those who share your faith and can perform the religious ceremonies of your deity. You and your fellow adventurers can expect to receive free healing and care at a temple, shrine, or any establishment of your faith, although you must provide the necessary material components. Those who share your religion will finance a moderate lifestyle (but only for you).
You can also have ties to a specific temple dedicated to your chosen deity or pantheon and have a residence there. It may be the temple you used to serve, if you were on good terms with them, or one where you have found a new home. As long as you are near your temple, you can turn to their priests for help, as long as what you ask is not dangerous and fits your temple well.
Suggested Features
Acolytes are formed through experience in temples and in other religious communities. Their study of the history and dogmas of their faith, as well as their relationship with temples, shrines, and hierarchies, affect their customs and ideals. Its disadvantages may be some hypocritical or sacrilegious idea, or an ideal or a bond taken to the extreme.