Step into the next evolution of character creation in Dungeons & Dragons 2024, where backgrounds are no longer just storytelling tools but powerful game-changers. The new Player’s Handbook transforms backgrounds into a strategic choice packed with skill proficiencies, ability score boosts, starting equipment, and most notably, the game-defining Origin Feats-unique abilities that shape your character’s strengths and playstyle from the very first roll. Whether it’s casting extra spells, gaining tactical advantages in combat, or mastering new crafts, these Origin Feats bring your character’s story and mechanics closer than ever before, making every background choice a crucial step in your adventure.
Our D&D 2024 Backgrounds and Origin Feats guide will walk you through the biggest character creation changes from D&D 5e.
Background and Origin Feats, explained
The 2024 edition of Dungeons & Dragons introduces a significant overhaul to backgrounds, transforming them from simple roleplay elements into impactful mechanical choices that shape your character’s abilities and playstyle. Backgrounds now grant ability score improvements, skill and tool proficiencies, starting equipment, and most notably, an Origin Feat-a unique, background-specific feat that provides distinct benefits and deepens the connection between your character’s history and gameplay. Unlike previous editions where background features were mostly narrative, Origin Feats offer tangible advantages such as additional spells, tool proficiencies, or combat abilities from the start, making the choice of background a crucial part of character creation and development in D&D 2024.
For a while, D&D has been working to make it easier to have your character’s personal history reflected by their stats. In the 2024 rules revisions, that’s realized through Backgrounds.
Fifth edition’s Backgrounds provided your characters skills, languages, and your starting gear. In the Player’s Handbook (2024), your Background gives you an Ability Score Increase, an Origin Feat, skill proficiencies, tool proficiencies, and your equipment.
That Ability Score Increase (the same as when you take the Ability Score Increase feat) lets you add 1 to three Ability Scores, or 2 to one Ability Score and 1 to another. The Abilities you get to pick from are determined by the Background and themed to that background – Farmers choose from Strength, Constitution, and Wisdom, for example. (For languages, by the way, every character starts with three known and Rogues and Rangers pick up more from their Class features.)
This boost lets you customize your character’s background a little more and have it reflect in their current reality (and their stats). Just like species (race) above, you can still use previously published 5e Backgrounds. For Backgrounds, though, you’ll have to do a little customization and figure out your own Abilities, tool proficiencies, and Origin Feat. Speaking of which.
Origin Feats are tied to Background – each Background has a set Origin Feat. These feats go a little further to cement your character’s backstory and history in their stats and mechanics. And it also just makes them a little cooler to have a little perk right from the start.
D&D 2024 Backgrounds list
The D&D 2024 backgrounds list includes 16 distinct options that shape your character’s ability score increases, skill proficiencies, tool proficiencies, and grant a unique Origin Feat at level one. These backgrounds, such as Acolyte, Charlatan, Farmer, Sage, and Soldier, not only provide rich narrative context but are now mechanically significant, influencing your character’s abilities and playstyle more than ever before. Each background offers three ability scores to boost, two skill proficiencies, one tool proficiency, and an Origin Feat that replaces the traditional background features from earlier editions, offering targeted and practical benefits like additional spells, crafting abilities, or combat advantages. This overhaul makes backgrounds a crucial choice alongside class and race in character creation for D&D 2024.
There are 16 Backgrounds listed in the new PHB:
PHB 2024 Backgrounds
The 2024 Player’s Handbook introduces a significant overhaul to backgrounds in Dungeons & Dragons, transforming them from primarily roleplay elements into impactful mechanical choices that shape your character’s abilities and playstyle. Backgrounds now grant ability score bonuses with flexible distribution options, two skill proficiencies, one tool proficiency, starting equipment worth 50 gold, and a new feature called the Origin Feat. Origin Feats replace the older background features and provide unique, background-specific benefits that enhance your character’s capabilities from level one, such as additional spells, tool proficiencies, or combat advantages. This system makes selecting a background a crucial part of character creation, integrating narrative and mechanics more tightly than ever before.
Background |
Ability Score improvements |
Skill Proficiencies |
Origin Feat |
|---|---|---|---|
| Acolyte | Charisma, Intelligence, Wisdom | Insight, Religion | Magic Initiate (Cleric) |
| Artisan | Dexterity, Intelligence, Strength | Investigation, Persuasion | Crafter |
| Charlatan | Charisma, Constitution, Dexterity | Deception, Sleight of Hand | Skilled |
| Criminal | Constitution, Dexterity, Intelligence | Sleight of Hand, Stealth | Alert |
| Entertainer | Charisma, Dexterity, Strength | Acrobatics, Performance | Musician |
| Farmer | Constitution, Strength, Wisdom | Animal Handling, Nature | Tough |
| Guard | Intelligence, Strength, Wisdom | History, Persuasion | Alert |
| Guide | Constitution, Dexterity, Wisdom | Arcana, History | Magic Initiate (Druid) |
| Hermit | Charisma, Constitution, Wisdom | Medicine, Religion | Healer |
| Merchant | Charisma, Constitution, Intelligence | Animal Handling, Persuasion | Lucky |
| Noble | Charisma, Intelligence, Strength | History, Persuasion | Skilled |
| Sage | Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom | Arcana, History | Magic Initiate (Wizard) |
| Sailor | Dexterity, Strength, Wisdom | Acrobatics, Perception | Tavern Brawler |
| Scribe | Dexterity, Intelligence, Wisdom | Investigation, Perception | Skilled |
| Soldier | Constitution, Dexterity, Strength | Athletics, Intimidation | Savage Attacker |
| Wayfarer | Charisma, Dexterity, Wisdom | Insight, Stealth | Lucky |
D&D 2024 Origin Feats list
The D&D 2024 Origin Feats are a set of ten feats tied directly to a character’s background, granted at character creation to provide thematic and mechanical benefits that reflect the character’s upbringing and skills. These feats include familiar options like Lucky and Alert, as well as new additions such as Crafter and Musician, which introduce fresh utility and flavor to characters. Origin Feats offer targeted boosts without increasing ability scores and can be chosen later in the game as well, giving players flexibility in character development. Notable feats include Lucky, which grants Luck Points to influence rolls, and Crafter, which enhances tool proficiencies and crafting capabilities. These feats emphasize the narrative and practical aspects of backgrounds, making them as mechanically significant as species choices in D&D 2024.
The Origin Feats provided by your Background are:
The 2024 edition of Dungeons & Dragons introduces a significant overhaul to backgrounds, transforming them from simple roleplay tools into impactful mechanical choices that shape your character’s abilities and playstyle. Backgrounds now grant ability score improvements, skill and tool proficiencies, starting equipment, and most notably, an Origin Feat-a unique feat tied to the character’s background that provides meaningful in-game benefits from level one. These Origin Feats replace the older background features and offer targeted, narrative-driven advantages such as additional spells, crafting abilities, or combat enhancements. This change makes selecting a background a crucial part of character creation, integrating backstory and mechanics more tightly than ever before.
Feat |
Description |
|---|---|
| Alert | Initiative Proficiency. When you roll Initiative, you can add your Proficiency Bonus to the roll.Initiative Swap. Immediately after you roll Initiative, you can swap your Initiative with the Initiative of one willing ally in the same combat. You can’t make this swap if you or the ally has the Incapacitated condition. |
| Crafter | Tool Proficiency. You gain proficiency with three different Artisan’s Tools of your choice from the Fast Crafting table.Discount. Whenever you buy a nonmagical item, you receive a 20 percent discount on it.Fast Crafting. When you finish a Long Rest, you can craft one piece of gear from the Fast Crafting table, provided you have the Artisan’s Tools associated with that item and have proficiency with those tools. The item lasts until you finish another Long Rest, at which point the item falls apart. |
| Healer | Battle Medic. If you have a Healer’s Kit, you can expend one use of it and tend to a creature within 5 feet of ourself as a Utilize action. That creature can expend one of its Hit Point Dice, and you then roll that die. The creature regains a number of Hit Points equal to the roll plus your Proficiency Bonus.Healing Rerolls. Whenever you roll a die to determine the number of Hit Points you restore with a spell or with this feat’s Battle Medic benefit, you can reroll the die if it rolls a 1, and you must use the new roll. |
| Lucky | Luck Points. You have a number of Luck Points equal to your Proficiency Bonus and can spend the points on the benefits below. You regain your expended Luck Points when you finish a Long Rest.Advantage. When you roll a d20 for a D20 Test, you can spend 1 Luck Point to give yourself Advantage on the roll.Disadvantage. When a creature rolls a d20 for an attack roll against you, you can spend 1 Luck Point to impose Disadvantage on that roll. |
| Magic Initiate | Two Cantrips. You learn two cantrips of your choice from the Cleric, Druid, or Wizard spell list. Intelligence, Wisdom, or Charisma is your spellcasting ability for this feat’s spells (choose when you select this feat).Level 1 Spell. Choose a level 1 spell from the same list you selected for this feat’s cantrips. You always have that spell prepared. You can cast it once without a spell slot, and you regain the ability to cast it in that way when you finish a Long Rest. You can also cast the spell using any spell slots you have.Spell Change. Whenever you gain a new level, you can replace one of the spells you chose for this feat with a different spell of the same level from the chosen spell list.Repeatable. You can take this feat more than once, but you must choose a different spell list each time. |
| Musician | Instrument Training. You gain proficiency with three Musical Instruments of your choice.Encouraging Song. As you finish a Short or Long Rest, you can play a song on a Musical Instrument with which you have proficiency and give Heroic Inspiration to allies who hear the song. The number of allies you can affect in this way equals your Proficiency Bonus. |
| Savage Attacker | You’ve trained to deal particularly damaging strikes. Once per turn when you hit a target with a weapon, you can roll the weapon’s damage dice twice and use either roll against the target. |
| Skilled | You gain proficiency in any combination of three skills or tools of your choice.Repeatable. You can take this feat more than once. |
| Tavern Brawler | Enhanced Unarmed Strike. When you hit with your Unarmed Strike and deal damage, you can deal Bludgeoning damage equal to 1d4 plus your Strength modifier instead of the normal damage of an Unarmed Strike.Damage Rerolls. Whenever you roll a damage die for your Unarmed Strike, you can reroll the die if it rolls a 1, and you must use the new roll.Improvised Weaponry. You have proficiency with improvised weapons. Push. When you hit a creature with an Unarmed Strike as part of the Attack action on your turn, you can deal damage to the target and also push it 5 feet away from you. You can use this benefit only once per turn. |
| Tough | Your Hit Point maximum increases by an amount equal to twice your character level when you gain this feat. Whenever you gain a character level thereafter, your Hit Point maximum increases by an additional 2 Hit Points. |
How do Origin Feats redefine character backstories in D&D 2024
Origin Feats in D&D 2024 fundamentally redefine character backstories by transforming backgrounds from mere narrative flavor into tangible mechanical benefits that reflect a character’s history and skills. Each Background now includes a specific Origin Feat that grants unique abilities or proficiencies tied directly to the character’s past experiences, making the backstory an active part of gameplay from level one. These feats provide targeted, narratively appropriate boosts-such as proficiency with artisan tools, special combat maneuvers, or magical talents-that deepen the connection between who your character was and what they can do, enriching both roleplaying and tactical options. Unlike previous editions, Origin Feats offer more utility in day-to-day adventuring without necessarily boosting ability scores, thereby weaving a character’s origin story into their core mechanics and making backgrounds a crucial element of character identity and power.
How do Origin Feats deepen my character’s backstory and abilities in 2024
Origin Feats in D&D 2024 deepen your character’s backstory and abilities by directly linking your character’s background to unique, narratively fitting mechanical benefits unlocked right from level one. Each Background grants a specific Origin Feat that reflects the talents and experiences your character developed before adventuring, such as proficiency with artisan tools, musical instruments, or special combat skills. These feats provide practical advantages like improved initiative, crafting discounts, healing boosts, or magical cantrips, which enhance both roleplay and gameplay without simply increasing ability scores. This integration makes your character’s history a meaningful part of their capabilities, giving your backstory a tangible impact on your adventurer’s day-to-day life and strategic options from the start of the campaign.
