Background

Backgrounds are character properties chosen during character creation that describe the origins and early life of the character, and offer a mechanical adjustment of their initial starting conditions based on what would be appropriate for their origin. They are one of three key pieces of biographical information that have a direct mechanical impact, the other two being heritage(if used by the setting) and occupation.

A character's background is immutable; it is their past, not their present or future. However, the impacts of Backgrounds can ultimately be overcome. Players are encouraged to take backgrounds based entirely on the storytelling potential of the character, in accordance with Rule Zero. While some backgrounds offer some advantages over others, in general an effort is being made to balance stock backgrounds as well as to encourage setting developers to create setting-specific backgrounds that fit that overall balance.

Reading a Background Entry

Background Name

The name of the background is provided for convenience only. It shouldn't be considered an in-world term (though it would be an appropriate term to use).

Background Description

Background descriptions should give a relatively open-to-interpretation account of the vague kind of life people with that background would identify with, rather than a play-by-play of an individual life. Players are encouraged to develop detailed backstories for their characters based on their chosen background, treating the description like a writing prompt rather than a list of prerequisite life experiences.

Background Skill Points

The main mechanical impact of a background is felt during character generation. The specific background entry will specify an amount of starting skill points (usually as a function of either Analysis or Intuition) which the player will have at their disposal during the skill selection phase of character generation.

Background Wealth Adjustment

While the stock backgrounds do not include wealth adjustments because wealth is so closely tied to settings, setting developers are strongly encouraged to include a lookup table in their setting notes that add a starting wealth adjustment to each background to represent the way our early lives impact our early professional lives.

Background Trait

Some backgrounds may attach an additional minor trait that becomes an immutable trait for the character who takes the background. This might offer a small bonus or boon to a few relevant skills to that sort of lifestyle, or modify the character's connections in a positive or negative way.