Changes

|While there are many reasons to restrict the previous skill abilities to characters of at least a certain level, there are basically no reasons to restrict non-magical non-combat abilities in a similar way. There are in fact several reasons not to do so. These background abilities do not scale up in “fantastic” in the same way as other skills do without problems. Perform could be made to scale nicely, but steps all over the bard class in doing so. Knowledge is just a check to see if you read up on something during downtime previously and not functionally different from visiting a library in many respects. To scale it up would make it a divination -based “learn secrets” skill that is outside of our focus here. Craft might scale acceptably well if you could make magical items, but access to that system is currently controlled by feats and class features , and reworking it to not need those or make them redundant is outside of the scope of this work. Profession just doesn’t scale up at all, as there aren’t really any fantastic uses of being a barkeep or sailor.

So direct conversion to scaling skills is unpalatable for one reason or another, but leaving them in the skill system as non-scaling (and thus low level) abilities causes other problems. While you can just let people spend skill points on them in low -level games and not worry about the lack of scaling, it fails in higher level games because the character winds up giving up high -end abilities in exchange for these very low -end ones. It is a poor trade in the long run, and not one that makes sense to write into the system in such a way unless you want to allow characters to intentionally hobble themselves.

Even if the value or conversion problems were solved, these background abilities also have the potential for tremendous bloat in skill format. Craft, knowledgeKnowledge, performPerform, and profession Profession are not just one skill each, but a collection of individual skills that are each invested in separately. Craft and knowledge Knowledge might be similar in many cases, but are likely to have a number of exceptions and alternate cases based on the specific specialty. Perform is extremely problematic, because we could write a single skill for wind instruments and stringed instruments , but it would be a great disservice to the differences between instrument types in the folklore and source material. And that’s before we get to the open -ended nature of the profession skill. There are just too many permutations of these skills to write up and not enough worth in doing so.

But a more compelling reason than the mechanical concerns is the story one. If these background abilities are tied to level in the same way as the other skills are , then they are also tied to combat ability (the alternative, where levels are not a measure of combat ability but of some other thing , is not considered here, because so much of the rest of the game assumes combat is the function of level or CR). Tying them to level means that sages with incredibly specialized knowledge never need protection or bodyguards, master crafters can not cannot be kidnapped and held against their will, and every exquisitely trained butler also knows kung fu because they all must possess sufficient levels to qualify for their level of skill in a background ability. It is a straightforward reduction in the amount of stories that can be told, and we don’t get any new stories in exchange. By breaking these background abilities away from character level or CR, you can have both helpless sage and powerful sage stories as you need them for your games.}}

A character that possesses a craft makes checks when attempting to create an item within their specialty. Generally , a roll is only required when attempting to create items of a higher quality, as the bonuses are structured to allow the creation of grade -appropriate items by taking 10.

If a character fails a background check with a craft by less than 10 points, they have instead crafted an object of a lower grade. Grade II artisans attempting to create masterwork items don’t simply create junk when they fail the check ; they simply create a standard version of the item. They lose no materials other than fuel (if appropriate) and time; they may re-attempt the item by spending half as much as the normal creation time reworking it. Failing a background check by more than 10 indicates that the item is unusable and that half of the material used in its construction is damaged beyond salvage.

Languages represent acquired skill and vocabulary in a language. As there are a wide variety of creatures and cultures in the world, so too are there many languages to study and learn. Knowledge of the spoken words does not grant any ability to read or write the language , however, and neither does literacy grant any ability to speak the language conversationally and understandably.

A creature that possesses the minimum grade in the spoken or written form of a language they is minimally proficient in it. They fail to understand almost all idioms and have a limited, if very functional, vocabulary. A creature that possesses a grade above the minimum is fluent in the language. While they may still miss the meaning of some idioms , they otherwise converse or read and write in the language freely and have a large vocabulary. A creature that has attained the maximum grade in a spoken language is almost a native speaker of that language. Their accent is basically undetectable, they understand all but the most obscure or out of date idioms, and their vocabulary covers most of the topics in the language (though it may exclude technical jargon or obscure words that native speakers would need assistance with anyway). Common and undercommon are an exception to this rule, being well -used pidgin languages rather than culturally created ones. ''Everyone'' speaks them with an accent of some sort and misses idioms from other parts of the world.

The following lists provides a number of example languages as well as the base training time to learn a language based on immersion. The list of languages is by no means complete , though, as the actual options available in game will depend on the campaign setting.

| Language is primary spoken language, not used in public or private when possible || 1 year

Note that unlike the craft or studies background ability types, some of the occupations have maximum grades less than IV. There are no Grade IV innkeepers, for example, as the skill set simply doesn’t support that level of refinement. The maximum grade of any particular occupational background ability is listed in its entry.

The following list provides a number of example occupations as well as their time to improve, but it is by no means complete. The actual options available in -game will depend on the campaign setting and culture.

| align="left" | Groom || 1 month ||III

Proficiencies are background abilities that consist of knowledge and training in the proper way to wield a weapon or wear a suit of armor. While weapon and armor proficiencies are technically combat -related and are handled by the class system, they are also extremely non-magical abilities that anyone of any level can potentially pick up with enough practice, which is a good fit with the other background abilities. The ability to wield them ''well '' is still strongly tied to level, of course.

To acquire a new proficiency, you simply spend the time required for each grade and make the appropriate checks. If you meet the previous grade requirement of a proficiency, you may skip the earlier grades and simply put in the time needed based on the final grade. For example, if you possessed a +3 base attack bonus and proficiency in a all martial weapons , you could skip Grades I and II when attempting to learn an exotic weapon. You would only need to put in the time and rolling that advancing from Grade II to Grade III requires.

|In some games , it will be acceptable for a player with a study to embellish answers to questions within their field if the DM doesn’t have anything more concrete prepared. For example, the player may invent new NPCs who have more information on the subject or make up the mating habits of a tendriculous. Unless the player states a different intent in these situations , these answers are treated as the actual truth, so far as the character knows anyway. The character could be wrong , of course, as sometimes the things in books can be wrong, but this should be rare in games that allow this. Engaging players in helping to flesh out the game is a great thing, but letting them do it only to later make them wrong on a regular basis just encourages them to stop trying and ask the DM for what they know.}}Studies are background abilities that represent a collection of facts, procedures, or other knowledge gained in a particular topic from scrolls, books, or tutoring. This pool of knowledge may be used to draw up plans for physical objects like homes or catapults, to successfully navigate a bureaucracy or legal system, to amuse or delight guests at a dinner party, or perform similar exploits within the field of study.

When a character has studied a particular topic, they gain a lot of information about the subject and related subjects that the player may not possess directly. This is represented mechanically by the ability to roll a background ability check to determine if they previously learned about the topic and can recall it at the time. A character with a study in a topic does not need to make checks to recall information about a topic within their specialization unless the information is more advanced their current Grade in the field. A character with Grade II studies in architecture, for example, does not need to make a check to draw up the plans for a cottage or a castle made with traditional local materials , but they would need to make a check if the plans called for solid gold walls. Similarly, a character with Grade III studies in the astral plane does not need to make a check to remember the existence and function of color pools, though they would need to make checks to recall anything about the social habits of an astral dreadnaught.