Below are backgrounds unique to Exandria. You do not have to use these, but they may help ground your character in the world!

Grinner

The Golden Grin began in the far-off land of Tal’Dorei, trading secret messages through a network of bards and minstrels to undermine an iron-fisted king’s authoritarian rule. Today, Tal’Dorei is a relatively peaceful republic, and some Grinners have grown restless while waiting for tyranny to raise its ugly head again. A contingent of such Grinners traveled to the Menagerie Coast and set up a network of secret bases in the cities of the Clovis Concord, from which they are presently working their way into the highest echelons of the Dwendalian Empire.

You are a Grinner. Your goals are to spread freedom and inspire hope—or, in time, revolution—in the hearts of the oppressed.

Skill Proficiencies: Deception, Performance

Tool Proficiencies: One type of musical instrument, thieves’ tools

Equipment: A set of fine clothes, a disguise kit, a musical instrument of your choice, a gold-plated ring depicting a smiling face, and a pouch containing 15 gp

Favorite Code-Song

All members of the Golden Grin have learned a handful of folk songs in their travels, and use those songs to send secret codes and alert fellow Grinners to danger. Choose a favorite song or roll on the Favorite Code-Songs table.

Volstrucker Agent

The Volstrucker are a clandestine organization of arcane assassins and enforcers in the service of the Cerberus Assembly. Their operatives bear no official title, but are referred to in hushed tones as “scourgers” by residents of large Dwendalian cities such as Zadash and Rexxentrum.

You are a Volstrucker agent. Your duty is to silence dissidents who would undermine the will of King Dwendal—and more importantly, the will of the Assembly.

Skill Proficiencies: Deception, Stealth

Tool Proficiencies: Poisoner’s kit

Languages: One of your choice

Equipment: A set of common clothes, a black cloak with a hood, a poisoner’s kit, and a pouch containing 10 gp

Tragedy

Happy people aren’t selected to join the Volstrucker. The Cerberus Assembly preys upon talented individuals who have been broken by tragedy—in some cases, tragedy that the Volstrucker has arranged for. A slightly broken mind is more easily reshaped and reeducated. Choose the tragedy that set you on this path, or roll on the Tragedies table.

Ashari

Isolated from the political struggles of urban Tal’Dorei, you are a member of the Ashari people—a society bound to an ancient covenant protecting the Material Plane from the chaos of the primordial elements. You’ve been raised to revere and protect the natural world, and to shepherd the tumultuous elemental forces that give it life. When the elements threaten to overwhelm the delicate balance of nature, it is the role of the Ashari to restore harmony.

You grew up in a tight-knit society, bound to a leader who successfully returned from the traditional journey to the Elemental Planes known as an Aramante. By contrast, you might well have never traveled more than a few days from your home, and thus have closer bonds with your family and neighbors than many people of Tal’Dorei.

In your early life, you likely took up one of the many roles that make up your society, whether homemaker, hunter, explorer, or protector. If you have the ability to use elemental magic, you might have had one of the most important duties of all: protecting and soothing the elemental rift at the heart of your home. And even as an adventurer now traveling far beyond that home, your loyalties still lie with the continued safety of your order. Whatever else you do as you learn about the new world around you, you’re conscious of the need to gather allies to your cause.

Each Ashari is tethered to one of the four elemental orders and their settlements. You must select Pyrah (fire), Vesrah (water), Terrah (earth), or Zephrah (wind). The rifts of earth and air are both in Tal’Dorei. If you live or lived among your people, then you are familiar with the remarkable sights of Air Ashari on skysails above the Summit Peaks, or Earth Ashari erupting from the solid stone of the Cliffkeep Mountains on their earthboards (see chapter 5 for these magic items’ game statistics).

Skill Proficiencies: Nature, plus your choice of Arcana or Survival

Tool Proficiencies: Herbalism kit

Languages: Primordial (Aquan, Auran, Ignan, or Terran, depending on the elemental affinity of your tribe)

Equipment: A set of traveler’s clothes, a staff carved with symbols of your tribe, an herbalism kit, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp

Clasp Member

Whether you grew up in the mean streets of Kymal bamboozling foolish gamblers, or spent your youth pilfering loose coin from the pockets of Emon’s many tourists, your lifestyle of deceiving-to-survive eventually drew the attention of the Clasp: a storied crime syndicate that has hideouts in every city in Tal’Dorei. In exchange for protection, a modicum of kinship, and a number of useful resources to further develop your craft as a criminal, you agreed to receive the brand of the Clasp and join their ranks.

You might have spent time working the guild’s most menial assignments, wandering the alleys as a simple cutpurse and filling your pockets with silver while you waited to climb the professional ladder. Or you might be a clever actor and liar, whose skill at blending in with all facets of society has made you an indispensable spy. Perhaps your swift technique with a blade led you to become a feared assassin for the Spireling leader of a local Clasp sect. Regardless, though the threat of the law is ever looming, the advantages to having a connection to such a powerful cartel greatly outweighs your paranoia. Most of the time.

Since the Clasp is an organization, its members can rise in rank by proving their worth, by making the right friends in high places, or even through blackmail and bribery. You and the Game Master can decide together how your actions affect your rank in the Clasp, and what benefits that rank grants you.

Skill Proficiencies: Deception, plus your choice of Sleight of Hand or Stealth

Tool Proficiencies: Disguise kit, forgery kit, or thieves’ tools (one of your choice)

Languages: Thieves’ Cant

Equipment: A set of inconspicuous common clothes, a set of tools with which you’re proficient, and a belt pouch containing 10 gp

Lyceum Scholar

You most likely came up through money or hailed from a family with social prestige if you were able to afford tuition at the Alabaster Lyceum in Emon. But whatever your origin, your interests and pursuits brought you to the hallowed halls of Tal’Dorei’s highest place of learning, where you soaked in every lesson you could, hoping to better make your mark on the world. (Or at least you pretended to. Even at the Lyceum, every class has its slackers.) Eventually, though, the call to adventure pulled you from your studies, and you now face the challenge of keeping up with your education even as the tides of destiny threaten to sweep you away.

You might have come to the Lyceum to better research and understand the history and lore of Exandria and the lands you call home. Perhaps you sought a future here as a professor—or you might hope to do so still. You could also have been drawn by the promise of prosperity in politics, learning the inner workings of government and alliances to better position yourself as a future writer of history. Or perhaps your knack for the arcane inspired you to attend the Lyceum to refine your spellcraft, following in the footsteps of some of the finest wizards to ever practice the arts of magic.

When you choose this background, you could be either an active student seeking adventures for your own research, or a graduated alumnus. With a little modification, you could easily be a professor as well.

Skill Proficiencies: Your choice of two of the following: Arcana, History, or Persuasion

Languages: Two of your choice

Equipment: A set of fine clothes, a student uniform, a writing kit (small pouch with a quill, ink, folded parchment, and a penknife), and a belt pouch containing 10 gp

Reformed Cultist

Two pantheons have battled over the fate of Exandria since the world’s founding—the Prime Deities and the Betrayer Gods. During the Calamity, the Prime Deities allied themselves with the mortal races of Exandria, their original creations, to protect their flawed world and its multifarious forms of life. The Betrayers sought to wipe the slate clean.

At the end of that devastating war, the Prime Deities established a Divine Gate that would prevent all gods, good or evil, from directly affecting the world, but which would leave the gods’ mortal followers and supernal servants to enact their will. And so the corrupting whispers of the Betrayer Gods have ensnared the minds of power-hungry mortals for centuries, promising them a sliver of the gods’ great power in exchange for dedicating their souls to occult lore.

You once belonged to such a cult of the Betrayer Gods. Perhaps this faith only briefly tempted your rebellious, youthful spirit. Perhaps the cult gave you love and family when you had none, asking only your adherence to their prophet in exchange. Or maybe you were raised from birth to pay homage to gods of selfish cruelty—until one fateful day the veil was lifted, so that nothing stood between you and the horrifying truth.

However it happened, you were freed from the shackles of this poisonous sect. Yet you know that this group does not forgive betrayers. As long as you live, you will be hunted—and if the members of the cult think you dead, their hunt will begin again the second they learn they’re wrong.

Skill Proficiencies: Deception and Religion

Languages: One of your choice

Equipment: Vestments and a holy symbol of your previous cult, a set of common clothes, a belt pouch containing 15 gp

Feature: Fell Teachings

You were inundated with knowledge about one of the Betrayer Gods, and know by heart everything from their basic commandments to some of their most esoteric secrets. Choose one of the Betrayer Gods described in chapter 2. You have advantage on Intelligence (Religion) checks to know information about their faith, including obscure secrets unknown to most worshipers.

Additionally, you can work with your GM to create a secret that you learned during your time in the cult. This secret might be the seed of a conspiracy, a myth of a legendary hero whose true meaning has mutated over the years, or even the location of a fabled artifact of the gods.

Whitestone Rifle Corps

You trained with the elite forces charged with the defense and protection of the isolated city-state of Whitestone, with much of that training focused on how to care for, protect, and safeguard the firearms that are the weapons of the Whitestone Rifle Corps. You are also entrusted with a solemn duty—to never let the secrets of your liege-lord’s deadly creations fall into the wrong hands.

You might have come to Whitestone to prove yourself worthy of wielding the secretive and highly coveted firearms created there, and to seek instruction from warriors who have mastered those weapons. Or you might have grown up in Whitestone, perhaps even remembering the brutal days when Lord and Lady Briarwood ruled your homeland—a reign that began some thirty years ago and lasted for six harrowing years.

Alternatively, you or your parents might have come to Whitestone as refugees fleeing the destruction of the Chroma Conclave’s attack on Tal’Dorei. If so, your life in the city-state might have been a relatively peaceful one, dwelling among the engineers, artisans, and merchants seeking to capitalize upon Whitestone’s reputation as an up-and-coming center of trade, culture, and invention.

When you choose this background, decide whether you were a member of the Rifle Corps, the Pale Guard, or the Whitestone Hunters. The “Whitestone” section in chapter 3 has more information about the Pale Guard, as well as the armaments and militia in the city-state. See below for more information on the Whitestone Hunters.

Skill Proficiencies: Your choice of two of the following: Athletics, Perception, or Survival

Weapon Proficiencies: Firearms

Languages: One of your choice

Equipment: Your choice of a musket or a pistol, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 10 gp

Adapting Backgrounds

All the backgrounds from the Player’s Handbook fit perfectly into Wildemount. Additionally, though, a number of existing backgrounds can be adapted to represent specific factions in the campaign.

Acolyte (Luxonborn)

Every acolyte is a servant of some god. But you serve the Luxon, a being that you believe transcends godhood and created the cosmos. No mere priest, you are a student of potential, for the Luxon is potentiality incarnate. Your Shelter of the Faithful feature applies to all who venerate the Luxon, and to all who practice the art of dunamancy that the Luxon bestowed upon the world.

Criminal (Myriad Operative)

Most criminals in Wildemount are petty thieves and cutpurses who operate out of desperation. You, however, are a criminal of a higher caliber. You are a member of the Myriad, the greatest crime syndicate to ever grace the face of Exandria. You have a network of criminal contacts and allies to help you in your crimes—but you also have rivals and superiors that would gladly throw you to the wolves to save their own skins.

The Myriad has bases of operation in every major city outside Eastern Wynandir, even if those bases are made up of only two or three members. Wherever you find the Myriad, you can find temporary shelter from the law—for a price.

Sailor (Revelry Pirate)

It seems that just about everyone is a sailor on the Menagerie Coast. Plenty of pirates ply the waters of the coast as well, but none are as infamous or as organized as the mighty Revelry. If you’re a pirate of the Revelry, you serve the Plank King and return a cut of all your plunder to him on the island of Darktow.

The Revelry doesn’t take kindly to traitors and deserters, so if you count yourself a former member of that crew, you’ll want to watch your back while traveling on the Menagerie Coast. Thugs might hassle you and your allies until you even the score with the Revelry, either by paying up, submitting to imprisonment, or proving that you’re too dangerous to tangle with.

Sage (Cobalt Scholar)

The Cobalt Soul is an organization of monastic scholars dedicated to preserving knowledge and recorded history, not just across Wildemount but all of Exandria. Its operations are primarily based out of the cities of Zadash and Rexxentrum in the Dwendalian Empire, and you likely studied at one of those sites.

As a rank-and-file pupil of the Cobalt Soul, you adventure to help expand your mind. Alternatively (and with the DM’s permission), you might also take on a more specific role within the organization. Expositors are secret agents who gather information in the field, while archivists are the curators who ensure the well-being of the Cobalt Soul’s many Archives. Monks of the Cobalt Soul are enlightened scholars who lead expeditions into ancient and forgotten places, hoping to reclaim their lost knowledge and history.

Spy (Augen Trust)

Little is known about the Augen Trust, even within the court of the Dwendalian Empire. Only one person knows all the members of this elite network of imperial spies: its leader, Oliver Schreiber, a noble gnome with the ear of King Dwendal.

If you were favored with membership in the Augen Trust, your entire life was laid bare before the secret spymaster at one point, and you were found to be a loyal servant of the empire with a particular set of skills. Betraying the Trust is high treason against the crown, and defectors are hunted down and quickly slain.

Most defectors from the Augen Trust flee to the Biting North, beyond the reach of the empire. The Clovis Concord would extradite traitors in a heartbeat to maintain diplomatic relations with the empire, and fleeing to Xhorhas is tantamount to suicide in the present political climate.

If you are a member of the Trust going on adventures, you are either a traitor who has somehow managed to keep your true identity secret from the greatest spies in the empire—or you are still on active duty. In the latter case, you can work with your DM to figure out why you are traveling with outside adventurers.