Summary
The 2024 Player’s Handbook forDungeons & Dragonshas made Backgrounds more relevant than ever. Your species no longer dictates your starting attributes, making a gnome soldier have more strength than a dragonborn merchant, allowing players to roleplay their characters as they always envisioned them.
This makes backgrounds no longer an afterthought but a key component in your character build. Not only do these backgrounds dictate your ability scores, but they also give you a starting feat, meaning that you’ll have to carefully consider how your class combines with all these backgrounds.
12Barbarian - Soldier
Get Your Savage Attacks Ready
The classic way to build a barbarian is to give them the biggest axe you can find and then take the Great Weapon Fighting Style so you can reroll the lowest damage dice. Well, that Fighting Style has been reworked, so if you want to still be able to reroll damage, you’ll need the savage attacker feat.
This is why the soldier background is perfect for barbarian, since it gives you that very feat from the get-go. The other benefits fit barbarians as well, letting you choose your main attributes between Strength, Dexterity and Constitution, while also giving you proficiency in Athletics and Intimidation.
11Bard - Entertainer
A Must-Have
Bards are already good at many of the features offered by the entertainer background, particularly when it involves musical instruments and Performance. But the real kicker for entertainer being above all other backgrounds is the musician feat, letting you give out Heroic Inspiration to any allies that hear the song after a long or short rest.
Heroic Inspiration lets players reroll any die immediately after seeing the result, letting them turn a critical failure into a possible success.
Usually, Heroic Inspiration is only given by the DM whenever they deem the player did something “Heroic,” but this feat puts that ability in the hands of the players. Considering that you can recover this Inspiration after each short rest, players who don’t plan to play a bard might still consider taking this background either way.
10Cleric - Hermit
Embrace Your Inner Healer
If you are planning a more battle-focused cleric, then you might want to consider taking a background like soldier, but let’s face it: you’re probably your party’sdesignated healer. As such, you should aim to be as good as possible in your job, and the hermit background helps you do just that.
It all comes down to the healer feat, letting you reroll how much you heal if any dice end up in a 1. Beyond that, the background still fits the class, with the main ability scores being Constitution, Wisdom, and Charisma; you won’t start doing the most damage compared to your comrades, but you will keep them in top shape.
9Druid - Wayfarer
The Luckiest Druid
Druids can usually be divided into three types: spellcasters, healers, and the ones that spend too much time turning into bears. If you’re the healer type, then something like the hermit background will fit you just right, but for all other druids, wayfarer is the way to go.
You still get access to the much-needed Wisdom score, but you also gain the benefits of avery popular feat: lucky. This feat will give you advantage in any D20 roll you choose, up to your proficiency bonus per long rest, letting you land a hit at those crucial moments; you can even spend your Luck points on giving disadvantage to your enemies instead!
8Fighter - Farmer
Be The Tank You Were Born To Be
The farmer background is the tanky version of the soldier background; many classes can afford to pick them, and it all comes down to what role you want to fill within your party. Fighters with heavy armor are usually filling the tank role, hence why we recommend they pick farmer instead of soldier.
The difference, as usual, comes from the feat tough, a staple of D&D that is known to have the biggest impact the earlier you get it. The amount of health the feat gives you doesn’t change, but having it earlier means you’ll get to enjoy the benefit from way longer.
7Monk - Sailor
Brawling In Taverns
You can expect most Monastic traditions to all of a sudden includea lot of sailingin the future, since the sailor background is ideal for monks that plan to let their hands do the talking. This is all because the Sailor Background gives access to the tavern brawler feat, and said feat has been reworked in the 2024 Player’s Handbook.
The biggest improvement is the Damage Rerolls, since it lets you reroll any damage die that ends in a 1. you may also push characters away from you with your unarmed attacks, and while you can only do this once per turn, the only requirement is that you hit the creature, and the feat doesn’t specify a size limit.
6Paladin - Noble
Righteous Wealth
If you think about it, a paladin coming from nobility makes a lot of sense, since most knights needed the higher education granted only by family wealth. Either way, that isn’t why the noble background is a good fit for paladins, since the real reason is that you’re able to raise both Strength and Charisma.
The skilled feat is also a nice addition, letting you build your paladin in quite a few ways. If you want to focus on Charisma, you may take all the conversation proficiencies, but if you want to be a more athletic individual, then you’d take the ones about traversing the world.
5Ranger - Guide
Even More Attuned To Nature
The guide background seems to have been tailor-made for rangers, since even from a flavor standpoint, it fits the class really well. Beyond that, they can also raise both Dexterity and Wisdom, the two key ability scores for the class.
Since rangers already dip their toes into nature magic, the feat given by the background lets them immerse themselves some more in that area. The druid magic Initiate not only gives rangers access to level 1 spells that fit their theme, but they can also gain two cantrips to shape their character in a more unique way.
4Rogue - Charlatan
Sneaking In Plain Sight
The charlatan background was usually reserved for bards, since talking their way out of things tended to be their whole thing. The way backgrounds work now, charlatan ends up being more suited for rogues, giving them more options to cheat their way to victory while still raising their Dexterity.
The training on deception and the Forgery Kit combine well in making a rogue that not only sneaks around but also has a cover when found. The feat, skilled, is always good to have, and rogues have a use for nearly all the skills in a player’s character sheet.
3Sorcerer - Merchant
Naturally Good At Bartering
Any background that gives Charisma is a good fit for sorcerer, but a merchant variant gives them more experience with the world overall. You never know what you might find in the world, so being proficient with Persuasion or being able to use Navigator’s Tools will always come in handy.
Once again, the key feature here is the feat lucky, something many sorcerers will be happy to have. After all, wild magic sorcerers are still as popular as ever, so being able to have more control over their chaotic source of power is always a blessing.
