Post/Author/DateTime	Post
#1 Mirtek Aug 20, 2014 11:18:34	Is it allowed to simply not take a background?   The idea is a warlock who paid for his pact with his past. No name, no background or other memories, just what he received from his patron (aka his warlock class abilities, but no skills, proficiencies, whatever from a background)
#2 Pauper Aug 20, 2014 12:42:46	Just because your character doesn't think he has a past doesn't mean that people from that past don't remember him. Or is your patron really that powerful?   I would just take advantage of the background customization rules to swap out 'mental' for 'physical' skills (he didn't train to be athletic -- he just naturally is) and take languages instead of tool proficiencies. (The patron certainly could have granted the ability to speak and understand languages as part of the pact.)   You could probably make this work for most tables, just as a character with no Bonds or Flaws would work at most tables, but there would be some weirdness. Maybe that's appropriate for this character.   -- Pauper
#3 Setzer_G Aug 20, 2014 13:48:00	I'm having trouble wording the response, but here it goes:   The character may still have skills/proficiencies/abilites that they don't remember. They may have a past, as Pauper suggest, and those people, or connections will still remember him, but he won't remember them. There might be proficiencies that you have that you aren't actively aware of. Background give you prof with Deception? Doesn't really come up if you don't remember you're good at lieing. Maybe you were a really good blacksmith, but unless you pick up the hammer again, there isn't any reason to think that you were. I hope I'm making sense.It's been a long day.
#4 Mirtek Aug 20, 2014 14:39:31	Pauper wrote:
#5 Setzer_G Aug 20, 2014 14:49:36	I clearly was under the wrong impression, serves me right for not clarifying....
#6 Dooflegna Aug 21, 2014 1:28:57	Since this is in the D&D Adventurer's League forum, I'm going to assume that this pertains to an Adventurer's League character.   My answer would be that you have to take a published background, for two reasons:   1 - The RAW Answer: Page 3 of the Adventurer's League Player's Guide shows you what you have to do in order to create a character, and part of that is picking the following: Name Alignment Ideals Bonds Flaws Background Faction (optional) Note that Faction is listed as optional, but the rest of those are not. Also note that the backgrounds listed show starting lifestyles from the PHB--there's no listing for custom background. Now there are rules in the PHB that allow you to customize a specific background and tailor it to your character, and these are not specifically excluded from the Adventurer's League Player's Guide. But that said, the spirit of the Adventurer's League is generally against custom/alternate rules, and exceptions are usually called out. I would guess that this was an oversight in the rules.   2 - The Fit Answer: Characters made for the D&D Adventurer's League are designed to be as balanced/equal as possible to make play easy. Your idea is super cool for a home campaign where a DM could come up with all sorts of shenanigans to engage the character who lost his background. For Organized Play, it doesn't seem like a great fit. It limits your opportunities to earn inspiration, and I doubt that you'd ever get the payoff that you were truly looking for.   You could always have the skills and features and just choose to never use them as part of your character's backstory. You could also take the Gold Dragon background from Tyranny of Dragons, which sorta fits with what you're going.   All that said--extremely cool idea, and if I were your DM, I'd be all 'heck yes, let's rock this thing'.
#7 Kaitengiri Aug 24, 2014 12:25:29	I agree with Dooflegna on all points.  However, I wanted to add in that having an amnesia background basically gives the DM a blank check.   What I would do in this situation as DM is basically write a backstory for your character, and then secretly assign two profiencies plus maybe a tool profiency, or even a language.  With that, as the game progressed, if you ever used that skill, I would tell you that you feel "strangely profiencient" with it and add your prof. bonus.  It gives you clues to figure out while also not crippling your character on skills as much.   But, as said before, super not legal for League Play as is.  I could imagine someone taking some weird beef with that and harassing you over it.
#8 greyhobbit13 Aug 26, 2014 20:17:10	Man this is a cool idea.  If you could build a custom Background.....Cipher: pick two skills (maybe you would pick them during play and not know where they come from), pick 2 proficiencies (again, maybe later).  The hard part is what would the feature be?  Well, maybe the feature would be that you pick your skills and proficiencies later.  Just a random thought.
#9 Prom Aug 26, 2014 22:05:49	I've noticed players building characters with no background, and it's usually because they can't be bothered at the time. I'm fine with that as a DM and organizer, but expect players to eventually have a completely legal character build. It's also taking away from the players and DM the concept that DnD is more than just numbers. I want players to earn Inspiration. I want DM's to have easy PC hooks they can connect to the adventure, through backgrounds.   Your situation sounds different. I would request that the DM select a background for your character after a few sessions, to represent the loss of memory. Memory loss can also be part of your own custom background as greyhobbit13, suggests.