4E Backgrounds


4th Edition

Scarab Sages

Has anyone made a set of background/regional benefits for Golarion for 4E yet (a la PHB 2 or FRPG)? Just curious. I know I haven't been around for quite a long time. Mostly lurking, but it was more about moving residences - twice - in a four month span that did that. Add lack of internet connectivity for quite a while, and some other issues, but I'm back to an extent.


You could look at Pathfinder's traits. They should work for 4e, and the basic traits are a free download.

Scarab Sages

KaeYoss wrote:
You could look at Pathfinder's traits. They should work for 4e, and the basic traits are a free download.

I've either been gone too long or I'm looking in the wrong place. Where do I find them?


Arovyn wrote:
KaeYoss wrote:
You could look at Pathfinder's traits. They should work for 4e, and the basic traits are a free download.
I've either been gone too long or I'm looking in the wrong place. Where do I find them?

Here are the basic set of traits that are free. (There are on the downloads page, in the top section listing several of the free items)

There are also a number of traits in Patfinder Companions: Elves of Golarion and Legacy of Fire Player's guide (appropriate for the setting of that AP).

Edit: A significant number of them give mechanical benefits other than skills, which would mean that they would likely need to be adjusted mechanically as well to just provide a skill or give a bonus similar in power to that skill bonus.

Scarab Sages

Blazej wrote:

Here are the basic set of traits that are free. (There are on the downloads page, in the top section listing several of the free items)

There are also a number of traits in Patfinder Companions: Elves of Golarion and Legacy of Fire Player's guide (appropriate for the setting of that AP).

Edit: A significant number of them give mechanical benefits other than skills, which would mean that they would likely need to be adjusted mechanically as well to just provide a skill or give a bonus similar in power to that skill bonus.

Thanks! This is pretty close to what I'm looking for. Just like PHB2, it's a build it yourself set. That's not complaining since it's pretty simple to put together. Though, I' m curious if anyone has anything beyond the two other books for the other regions, or a nice set of FRPG style regional backgrounds.


Arovyn wrote:
Thanks! This is pretty close to what I'm looking for. Just like PHB2, it's a build it yourself set. That's not complaining since it's pretty simple to put together. Though, I' m curious if anyone has anything beyond the two other books for the other regions, or a nice set of FRPG style regional backgrounds.

Also in the Pathfinder Campaign Setting there is about one regional feat per featured country, while some might not fit, I believe others could be used as a good basis for background benefits.

Scarab Sages

Blazej wrote:
Also in the Pathfinder Campaign Setting there is about one regional feat per featured country, while some might not fit, I believe others could be used as a good basis for background benefits.

With a certainty! One thing I like about 4E is being able to sneak in a basic benefit for no cost to add flavor and style to a chracter. I can convert the feats pretty easily into regional backgrounds with converted traits and PHB2 style backgrounds as a secondary means of gaining a small benefit if the regional benefit doesn't fit. I have a feeling I should post them after I make them...


Arovyn wrote:

With a certainty! One thing I like about 4E is being able to sneak in a basic benefit for no cost to add flavor and style to a chracter.

That works in 3e, 3.5e and Pathfinder, too.

In fact, those traits are supposed to be free for characters. The recommended number is 2 per character, but the GM can adjust that, and there's a feat to get two more of them.

Second Darkness and Legacy of Fire has special Campaign Traits, which tie the character into the campaign (i.e. why was he there to get involved in the campaign), and Rise of the Runelords and Curse of the Crimson Throne had similar features (which I also converted into Campaign Traits).

Elves of Golarion and Legacy of Fire Player's Guide also have regional traits, religious traits and racial traits.


Arovyn wrote:
I have a feeling I should post them after I make them...

That would be great.


Went through the Campaign Setting to give my take on converting to backgrounds. I'm planning on presenting them much like the way the are set up in the APs if I do use them, that is, each character gets around two traits and each trait has roughly the power of half a feat. For this I was shooting for 1/2 to 3/4 the power of a heroic tier feat, hopefully I hit that mark for these.

I definitely didn't do every country or every feat, but I think that this could be helpful to someone else, or someone could tell me some better way I could do something.

Noble Scion of House Charthgnion: +2 bonus when taking 10 on Wisdom-based skill checks, passive perception, and passive insight
Noble Scion of House Leroung: +1 trait bonus to any trained knowledge or monster knowledge checks
Noble Scion of House Narikopolus: You gain proficiency with longbow and a +1 trait bonus on damage rolls with the longbow
Noble Scion of House Sarini: You gain a +1 trait bonus on damage rolls when you use a power that has the charm keyword. You gain a +1 trait bonus to Bluff.

Geb Necromantic Resistance: Gain Osiriani or Kelish as a bonus language. Gain resist 2 necrotic. At 11th level this increases to resist 4 necrotic, and at 21st level this increases to resist 6 necrotic. This stacks with other forms of resistance as long they don't come from traits.

Rugged Warrior from the Realm of the Mammoth Lords: At will, can spend a minor action to gain ice walk until the end of your turn. Gain resist 2 cold. At 11th level this increases to resist 4 cold, and at 21st level this increases to resist 6 cold. This stacks with other forms of resistance as long they don't come from traits.

Mendev Demon Hunter: Add Religion to your class skill list, gain a +2 trait bonus on Monster Knowledge checks on demons, and gain a +1 bonus to damage rolls against demons.

Mendev Teleport Sense: Whenever a creature teleports, you gain combat advantage against them until the end of your next turn. You can make an opposed check (Insight vs. Stealth) to avoid being suprised when an creature teleports in.

Molthuni Discipline: Gain a +2 trait bonus on saving throws against fear and when a fear effect forces you to move-through a pull, a push, or a slide-you can move 1 square less than the effect specifies.

Mwangi Ruincaster: Gain Polygot as a known language, a +2 trait bonus on History checks, your class gains Primal as a power source in addition to the normal ones, and all of your powers with the Divine or Arcane keyword gain the Primal keyword.

Free Spirit of the River Kingdoms: +2 trait bonus on saving throws against charm and +2 bonus on checks used during the Escape action.

Sargava's Desperate Battler: +1 on damage rolls when there is no ally within 2 squares of you.

Stoic Citizen of the Sodden Lands: You can use your Charisma modifier in place of your Strength or Constitution modifier to determine your Fortitude defense. You must use your Wisdom modifier to determine your Will defense.


Some of the abilities in the Campaign Setting don't seem to be well suited for traits nor 4e feats, so I thought about doing something like the following. A power that a character from any class can pick as long as they are from the region.

Parting Shot ===== Nirmathas-Region Attack 7
Encounter * Martial, Weapon
Standard Action ===== Ranged weapon
Target: One creature
Attack: You can shift up to your speed. At any point during your movement you can make a Dexterity vs. AC attack.
Hit: 2[W] + Dexterity modifier damage, and the target is slowed until the end of your next turn.
Special: When wielding a heavy thrown weapon, the attack is Strength vs. AC and deals 2[W] + Strength modifier damage on a hit instead.

Scarab Sages

Not bad on those. I ran into much the same issue. A lot of the feats don't make sense for background use. Still working on it, though. It's between working on my campaign stuff, but I'll post some up here soon.

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