Hadozee, the agile and adventurous simian race in D&D, bring a blend of agility and curiosity to any adventuring party.
Selecting the perfect background for your Hadozee character can enhance their natural abilities and add depth to their role-playing potential.
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 Hadozee
5. Haunted One
Skill Proficiencies – Choose two of Survival, Religion, Investigation, or Arcana
Tool Proficiencies – None
Languages – Choose two languages, one of which being an exotic language (Undercommon, Sylvan, Primordial, Infernal, Draconic, Deep Speech, Celestial, or Abyssal)
Equipment – A set of common clothes, a monster hunter’s pack, one trinket of special significance (you may choose one or roll for one on the Gothic Trinkets table), and 1SP.
Why the Haunted One?
Shaped by a Harrowing Event, Haunted One Hadozee have experienced some of the most horrific atrocities known to any living creature, especially because they inhabit Shadowfell.
Their Heart of Darkness fills your eyes with unimaginable horror, noticed by those who speak to you, understanding that you are no stranger to darkness.
Hadozee may recall their gruesome main planet, which not only claimed many lives but enforced a primal fear in the Hadozee that forced them to evolve and leave their godforsaken home.
Few Hadozee speak of these horrors, but from various accounts, some Hadozee were more affected than others, becoming haunted by the place they call home.
4. Spy
Skill Proficiencies – Stealth, Deception
Tool Proficiencies – Thieves’ tools, One type of gaming set
Languages – None
Equipment – A set of dark common clothes, including a hood, a crowbar, and a pouch with 15GP.
Why the Spy?
Spies aren’t much different from normal Criminals or Smugglers, but they have practiced in vastly different ways.
In fact, most spies are trained espionage agents. Many work as sanctioned agents of the crown or sell uncovered secrets to the highest bidder.
Hadozee are already small, and with their Glide and Dexterous Feet abilities, they make perfect Face or Scout characters.
3. Far Traveler
Skill Proficiencies – Perception, Insight
Tool Proficiencies – One musical instrument or gaming set you choose (most likely something native to your homeland)
Languages – Choose one
Equipment – Set of traveler’s clothes, one gaming set or musical instrument you’re proficient with, a small piece of jewelry worth 10GP in the style of your homeland’s craftsmanship, poorly wrought maps from your homeland depicting where you are in Faerûn, and a pouch with 5GP.
Why the Far Traveler?
Far Traveler gives you the All Eyes on You feature, marking you as foreign and garnering attention from everyone, including commoners, scholars, nobles, merchants, princes, and kings.
Through evolution, the Hadozee have outdone their natural predators, and some have migrated to safer destinations in the multiverse, such as the Material Plane.
Their appearance might be sapien-like, but nothing similar is found in civilized areas of the Material Plane, garnering many funny looks from those around them.
2. Entertainer
Skill Proficiencies – Performance, Acrobatics
Tool Proficiencies – One type of musical instrument and a Disguise kit
Languages – None
Equipment – One musical instrument you choose, a costume, the favor of an admirer (trinket, love letter, or lock of hair), and a pouch with 15GP.
Why the Entertainer?
Entertainers have the By Popular Demand feature, allowing them to perform in places like taverns or courts for free lodging and food.
This stay can be lengthened by performing for the owners every night, and with each performance, your fame with the locals will increase.
Because of the Hadozee’s bizarre appearance and natural dexterity, they make excellent performers. Some Hadozee might even tell tales of their times on distant planes, which most tavern-goers can only dream of.
1. Outlander
Skill Proficiencies – Survival, Athletics
Tool Proficiencies – One type of musical instrument
Languages – One you choose
Equipment – A trophy from an animal you killed, a set of traveler’s clothes, a hunting trap, a staff, and a pouch with 10GP.
Why the Outlander?
Outlanders have the Wanderer feature, giving them an excellent memory for geography and maps. Allowing them to always recall the general layout of settlements, terrain, and features around them.
They can also find fresh water and food for themselves and up to five others every day if the land offers water, small game, berries, and other things.
Since the Hadozee have survived for so long in their inhospitable home world, one of the main reasons they survived was because of their knowledge of nature.
Their ability to effortlessly glide from tree to tree means they can easily find food and outrun foes that can’t ascend trees.
Final Thoughts
Backgrounds such as the Haunted One, Spy, or Entertainer can deepen your Hadozee’s backstory, while the Outlander or Far Traveler backgrounds can enhance their sense of wanderlust and exploration.
Choose a background that resonates with your Hadozee’s character and backstory, and embark on a journey filled with magic, mystery, and adventure.