Note that what's pared down is not the ruleset, but the list of character options. Could be relevant.
It is, in fact, very relevant, because if I'm paying for the character creation data from HL, I'm assuming they have all the options available. If the SRD is the complete ruleset, then we could start playing 5e sooner, rather than later. Thanks for the info.
There are more backgrounds in the Basic pdf, which is also free to download/view online. Basic doesn't contain any feats at all, though. Those, you gotta buy the print manuals for.
Okay, I think I'm going to start a new thread actually, and point people to all the places to collect various free elements. Just in case there are other people like me who would really like to play 5e but are being stopped by the $$$ barrier.
My version of the Alchemist is here: link
I had a player play a Path of Antimony (Mutagen) alchemist from levels 12-16 and it worked pretty well. Haven't had any playtests of lower levels or Path of Arcana yet, though.
We also determined the Homunculus was pretty weak and kind of HRed it to function exactly like Find Familiar instead.
That's the better version of the alchemist I was talking about! :-D