Additional Background Features

Certain books have released custom background features not featured on any background list. They are listed below. A list of actual backgrounds can be found on Backgrounds page.

= Van Richten's Guide to Ravenloft = The following background features explore origins suited to characters in horror adventures. Optional features and characteristics for characters of any background suggest how portentous forces might influence anyone's life.

General Background Features
This section presents optional features for any background. You may replace the standard feature of your background with any one of the options presented here.

Inheritor
An ancestor or mentor's deeds earned them a place in legend. Now it's your turn. You are the clear inheritor of a famed legacy. You've inherited a token from your predecessor, something that marks you as their inheritor, such as a signet ring, signature piece of clothing, or notable weapon.

Additionally, any time you reveal your legacy, you swiftly learn the local opinion of your predecessor. If locals have never heard of your predecessor,nothing changes. If they have, rumors of your connection spread swiftly, and many locals consider you either a hero or a threat. Heroes are welcomed and might easily gain an audience with local leaders. Threats are encouraged to leave before they invite danger.

Mist Wanderer
The Mists whisper to you and guide you through their mysterious eddies. You immediately know if an object you're touching is a Mist talisman. You recognize where the talisman originates from if you have been to its domain of origin.

Spirit Medium
After a fateful experience, you believe you're aligned with spirits and can serve as a conduit for their insights and goals. You have advantage on any Arcana or Religion check you make to remember or research information about spirits and the afterlife. Additionally, you begin your adventuring career with a custom-made device for communing with otherworldly forces, perhaps a spirit board, a tarokka deck, an automatic writing planchette, dowsing rods, a cup for tea leaves, or a device of your own design. Add your proficiency bonus to any ability check you make using this type of divining tool.

Trauma Survivor
You survived. Whatever it was, you made it through, and you can help others do the same. People view you as an expert on the traumatic situation you faced — be it a specific sort of violence, illness, or otherwise. You are aware of nonmagical recovery techniques, common resources, and misinformation. You know how to speak to sympathetic doctors, clergy, and local leaders and can convince them to shelter one person (other than yourself) at a modest lifestyle for up to one month.

Traveler
You come from somewhere else, a place others couldn't begin to understand. Perhaps your home is a unique corner of the Land of the Mists or another world entirely. In any case, you and other travelers have shared experiences. You can find a place to hide, rest, or recuperate among sympathetic trading caravans, itinerant families, or displaced groups, so long as you don't present yourself as a danger. Such groups will hide you from the law or anyone searching for you, though they won't risk their lives for you. Additionally, you can tell whether an object you can see and touch is from your homeland with near perfect accuracy.

Horror Characteristics
Characters in a horror-focused campaign might have distinct motivations and characteristics. Use the following tables to supplement your background's suggested characteristics or to inspire those of your own design.

Horror Character Flaws
= The Wild Beyond the Witchlight = As the players choose backgrounds for their characters, they can use the following tables to help determine their characters' personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws. Players can use these tables instead of the ones that appear in the Player's Handbook, or they can mix and match them. If a rolled result doesn't make sense for a character, the player can roll again or choose a more appropriate entry on the table.

These tables, while optional, are well suited to Feywild-themed adventures and are ideal for any character who has the feylost or Witchlight hand background.