Embark on an extraordinary journey in Dungeons & Dragons 5e with your Githzerai character as we unveil the top five backgrounds designed to enrich their unique narrative and enhance gameplay.
Selecting the right background is pivotal in crafting a captivating story for your Githzerai adventurer and steering the adventuring in a specific direction.
Contents
What Are Backgrounds in D&D 5e?
Backgrounds are more than simple stat boosts in Dungeons and Dragons 5th Edition. They reveal where your character came from, why you became an adventurer, and your place in the world.
Before choosing your Background, ask yourself a few questions:
- What was I before I became an adventurer?
- Why did I stop doing what my Background explains and become an adventurer?
- Where did I get the money to buy my starting equipment?
- Where did I learn the skills used in my class?
- What’s different about me compared to others with the same Background?
Best Backgrounds for Githzerai
5. Courtier
Skill Proficiencies – Persuasion, Insight
Tool Proficiencies – None
Languages – Choose two
Equipment – Set of fine clothes and a pouch with 5GP.
Why the Courtier?
Courtiers have the Court Functionary feature, granting you knowledge of bureaucracies and access to records of governments and noble courts. You know who to ask for favors.
Githzerai are naturally intelligent, and with their knowledge of the multiverse, nobles, and kings will hold them in high regard and respect their thoughts and opinions.
4. Mage of High Sorcery
Skill Proficiencies – History, Arcana
Languages – Choose two
Equipment – A set of common clothes, an ink pen, a bottle of colored ink, and a pouch with 10GP.
Why the Mage of High Sorcery?
Mage of High Sorcerery characters are given the Initiate of High Sorcery feat, and Mages of High Sorcery will provide you with lodging and food without end at Towers of High Sorcery.
You can even spend one night at an organization member’s home.
Githzerai are innately intelligent and are lured by the arcane arts, making them perfect for spellcasting builds.
3. Sage
Skill Proficiencies – History, Arcana
Tool Proficiencies – None
Languages – Two you choose
Equipment – A set of common clothes, a letter from a dead colleague posing a question you haven’t been able to answer, a bottle of ink, a small knife, a quill, and a pouch with 10GP.
Why the Sage?
Sages have the Researcher feature, allowing them to effortlessly recall information and lore.
If they do not know the information, they will know where to find the information, such as in a university, scriptorium, or some other place of knowledge.
However, some knowledge is extremely difficult to obtain and can take a long time to unlock or force you to perform questionable actions.
Githzerai are already infatuated with the secrets of the multiverse, and with the Sage background, this is even more apparent.
2. Noble
Skill Proficiencies – Persuasion, History
Tool Proficiencies – One type of gaming set
Languages – Choose one
Equipment – A signet ring, a set of fine clothes, a scroll of pedigree, and a purse with 25GP.
Why the Noble?
Nobles have the Position of Privilege feature that has people always think the best of them, welcoming them to high society and assuming they have the right to be in places others would barred from entering.
Commoners will try to accommodate your wishes, and avoid your displeasure, while others of high birth will treat you as a member of the same social sphere. You can even secure an audience with a noble if the need arises.
Githzerai are similar to other cultures and have their own nobles, so if you want to be nobility or think it fits with your character, take the Noble background.
1. Cloistered Scholar
Skill Proficiencies – History, plus one among Religion, Nature, and Arcana
Tool Proficiencies – None
Languages – Choose two
Equipment – The scholar’s robes of your cloister, a borrowed book on the subject of your current study, a writing kit (a pouch with a small penknife, folded parchment, a bottle of ink, and a quill), and a pouch with 10GP.
Why the Cloistered Scholar?
Cloistered Scholar gives your Githzerai Library Access, granting you entry to libraries of vast knowledge and ways to navigate through bureaucratic connections.
Gitzerai are focused on intellect, making them seek knowledge to broaden their intelligence and help them understand everything about the multiverse.
Final Thoughts
Whether immersing your character in the clandestine world of a Cloistered Scholar, embracing the spiritual depth of a Mage of High Sorcery, or navigating noble halls as a Courtier, your chosen background serves as the canvas upon which your character’s tale is smeared.
Choose deliberately, delve into the nuances of your selected background, and allow it to breathe life into your Githzerai’s journey across the expansive realms of D&D.