Backgrounds A–E

This section contains backgrounds from Acolyte through Entertainer. Each entry presents the background as it is used in Eldareth, together with its published source and any setting-specific adaptation made for the campaign.

Acolyte

Source: Player's Handbook (2024)

You spent part of your life in the service of a temple or religious community, learning its rites, teachings, and responsibilities. Your time among clergy gave you a grounding in matters of faith and a small measure of divine magic.

Origin Feat: Magic Initiate (Cleric)

Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Religion

Tool Proficiency: Calligrapher's Supplies

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Calligrapher's Supplies, Book (prayers), Holy Symbol, Parchment (10 sheets), Robe, 8 GP
B. 50 GP

Arcane Experiment

Source: Arcana Unleashed (published as Cosmic Dawn Experiment)

Magic altered your body in ways that have never entirely faded. The change may have resulted from deliberate experimentation, an accident, exposure to an unusual magical phenomenon, or circumstances beyond your control. Whatever caused it, you learned to live with a body that no longer behaves quite as it once did.

Origin Feat: Transmuted Anatomy

Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, Survival

Tool Proficiency: Choose one kind of Artisan's Tools

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Artisan's Tools of the chosen kind, Backpack, Robe, Traveler's Clothes, 30 GP
B. 50 GP

Arcane Infiltrator

Source: Arcana Unleashed (published as Agent of the Ninth Quill)

You learned to combine magical knowledge with the practical skills needed to enter places where you were not invited. Your experience may have involved theft, espionage, recovery work, or other assignments where discretion and quick thinking mattered more than open confrontation.

Origin Feat: Arcane Infiltrator

Skill Proficiencies: Arcana, Sleight of Hand

Tool Proficiency: Thieves' Tools

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Dagger, Light Hammer, Thieves' Tools, Iron Spikes, Rope, Traveler's Clothes, 17 GP
B. 50 GP

Arcane Trouper

Source: Arcana Unleashed (published as Phantasmic Circus Trouper)

You learned your craft among performers who used magic as part of their art. Illusion, misdirection, costume, and stagecraft became as familiar to you as performing before an audience, leaving you equally comfortable entertaining a crowd or deceiving one.

Origin Feat: Arcane Artist

Skill Proficiencies: Deception, Performance

Tool Proficiency: Disguise Kit

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Disguise Kit, Gaming Set (any), Costume, Mirror, Traveler's Clothes, 12 GP
B. 50 GP

Archaeologist

Source: Eberron: Forge of the Artificer

You have devoted yourself to studying the people and places of the past through their ruins, records, and surviving works. Your experience combines historical study with the practical skills needed to reach and investigate sites far from settled lands.

Origin Feat: Skilled

Skill Proficiencies: History, Survival

Tool Proficiency: Cartographer's Tools

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Cartographer's Tools, Bullseye Lantern, Map, Map or Scroll Case, Shovel, Tent, Traveler's Clothes, 17 GP
B. 50 GP

Artisan

Source: Player's Handbook (2024)

You learned a trade through practical work and apprenticeship, eventually becoming capable of producing work of your own. Years spent dealing with materials, commissions, and customers sharpened both your attention to detail and your ability to handle the business surrounding your craft.

Origin Feat: Crafter

Skill Proficiencies: Investigation, Persuasion

Tool Proficiency: Choose one kind of Artisan's Tools

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Artisan's Tools of the chosen kind, 2 Pouches, Traveler's Clothes, 32 GP
B. 50 GP

Assembly Functionary

Source: Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn (published as Lords' Alliance Vassal)

You entered the service of Vel'Nathar's national government and learned to work within the political and administrative world surrounding the Iron Assembly. Your duties may have placed you close to officials, negotiations, or matters where the interests of the country had to be represented beyond a single community.

Origin Feat: Assembly Agent

Skill Proficiencies: Insight, Persuasion

Tool Proficiency: Calligrapher's Supplies

Equipment: Choose one:
A. 2 Javelins, Calligrapher's Supplies, Fine Clothes, Ink, 5 Ink Pens, Parchment (9 sheets), 13 GP
B. 50 GP

Feat Reference: Assembly Agent

Assembly Agent is the Eldareth name for Lords' Alliance Agent, published in Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn. Only the setting-specific name has been changed; use the published feat rules.

Carouser

Source: Astarion's Book of Hungers

You became comfortable in the social life of a busy town or city, spending your time among celebrations, games, gatherings, and late nights. You learned how to read a room, win people over, and draw out information while appearing to do little more than enjoy yourself.

Origin Feat: Tireless Reveler

Skill Proficiencies: Deception, Persuasion

Tool Proficiency: Choose one kind of Gaming Set

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Dagger, Gaming Set of the chosen kind, Fine Clothes, Glass Bottle, Mirror, Perfume, Pouch, Tinderbox, 19 GP
B. 50 GP

Charlatan

Source: Player's Handbook (2024)

You learned to make your way through deception. Whether through false identities, forged documents, confidence tricks, or convincing stories, you became skilled at presenting people with whatever version of the truth they were most willing to believe.

Origin Feat: Skilled

Skill Proficiencies: Deception, Sleight of Hand

Tool Proficiency: Forgery Kit

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Forgery Kit, Costume, Fine Clothes, 15 GP
B. 50 GP

Criminal

Source: Player's Handbook (2024)

You survived through work that placed you on the wrong side of the law. You may have worked with others or operated alone, but your experience taught you how to move quietly, handle stolen goods, and use the tools needed to bypass ordinary security.

Origin Feat: Alert

Skill Proficiencies: Sleight of Hand, Stealth

Tool Proficiency: Thieves' Tools

Equipment: Choose one:
A. 2 Daggers, Thieves' Tools, Crowbar, 2 Pouches, Traveler's Clothes, 16 GP
B. 50 GP

Dead Magic Dweller

Source: Forgotten Realms: Heroes of Faerûn

You learned to survive in a place where the Weave has been damaged badly enough that ordinary magic cannot be relied upon. Life under those conditions taught you to depend on practical medicine, preparation, and your own ability to endure difficult environments.

Origin Feat: Healer

Skill Proficiencies: Medicine, Survival

Tool Proficiency: Leatherworker's Tools

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Greatclub, Leatherworker's Tools, Bedroll, Blanket, Healer's Kit, Pole, Rations (3 days), Tent, Tinderbox, 5 Torches, Traveler's Clothes, Waterskin, 32 GP
B. 50 GP

Entertainer

Source: Player's Handbook (2024)

You spent your formative years learning how to hold an audience's attention. Whether your craft lies in music, acrobatics, storytelling, acting, or another form of performance, you are accustomed to life before a crowd and the work required to keep people watching.

Origin Feat: Musician

Skill Proficiencies: Acrobatics, Performance

Tool Proficiency: Choose one kind of Musical Instrument

Equipment: Choose one:
A. Musical Instrument of the chosen kind, 2 Costumes, Mirror, Perfume, Traveler's Clothes, 11 GP
B. 50 GP