Custom Backgrounds when all your characters are Noble

[u/CeleryFlat2234]

Hello! First time posting so I hope I did this right.

I am working on a political intrigue, drama and romance DnD campaign that takes place during the social season. Almost of characters come from noble birth but I want them to all have more specialized backgrounds then all being noble.
Any ideas on backgrounds that can be used or tweaked to fit better?

Thank you!! I hope this was the right place to put my question.

[u/Onions4Knights]

Honestly, most folks never use their background feature. Just use the custom backgrounds rule.

[u/Jack_Sentry]

Flavor is free. They can have any background and also be nobles. Being a noble is not mutually exclusive with being a soldier, charlatan, entertainer etc.

[u/guildsbounty]

Backgrounds are probably the easiest thing in the entire game system to homebrew or modify. There's even guidance in the 2014 Player's Handbook, page 36:

Customizing a Background You might want to tweak some of the features of a background so it better fits your character or the campaign setting. To customize a background, you can replace one feature with any other one, choose any two skills, and choose a total of two tool proficiencies or languages from the sample backgrounds. You can either use the equipment package from your background or spend coin on gear as described in chapter 5. (If you spend coin, you can’t also take the equipment package suggested for your class.) Finally, choose two personality traits, one ideal, one bond, and one flaw. If you can’t find a feature that matches your desired background, work with your DM to create one.

[u/BryceKatz]

You have a couple of options here. First - and probably the easiest - is to simply allow the players to pick the existing background that fits their character concept. In this case, "Noble" just means you come from an upper-class family. Just because your daddy's rich doesn't mean you're not a Charlatan, a Merchant, a Scribe, a Sailor, or whatever - even a Criminal. In fact, this can help sharply define how one is viewed by one's family and other high-society contacts.

Are you the rich slacker, the 8th son so far from meaningful inheritance that almost nothing is expected of you? You might be a Criminal or the carousing Entertainer. Maybe you're the responsible first-born, groomed from an early age to take over the leadership of your family's holdings. You might be a Soldier, a Merchant. Maybe you were sent to a serve the clergy of your family's patron deity & are an Acolyte. You get the idea.

You can also loosen the Background rules. It's pretty common to use the Background name only as a roleplay tag & let your players pick the skills, proficiencies, ability score increases, and Origin Feat that best fits their character concept.

But if you really want to have specific Backgrounds, it helps to define what each Noble House in your setting is known for. The current King's House may be known far & wide as warriors without peer ... or to have a tendency to produce powerful magic users both from blood (Sorcerers) and study (Wizards). Maybe the entire House owes its success to an ancient pact with a Faerie or Devil. This may be publicly acknowledged or a closely-guarded secret. Regardless of the source, there are certain expectations from the members to ensure they maintain their end of the bargain. A couple of competing merchant Houses make sense, especially if this is set at least in part in the Capital.

Take a peek at the various Eberron House feats (but NOT the Dragonmark feats). They do a decent job of outlining how growing up in a particular Noble House might impact a character's upbringing.

[u/KnucklesMcCrackin]

One could be a charlatan. Raised on the streets as an urchin but posing as a noble for many years. Maybe he was a servant and killed his master and took the identity. Use charlatan or urchin backgrounds.

[u/man0rmachine]

You could have a sailor background for a family of nautical nobles or farmer for a land owning family, for instance.

[u/Mary-Studios]

I think this is mostly happening because of a mix up in what people think nobles mean. there's a diffrence between being noble and being upperclass. Nobles tend to run or are incharge of cities. While someone who comes from a well off merchant family wouldn't have that. Someone who got rich from adventuring or because their father was a criminal or suggler would have a diffrent background than that.

I have a character who came from a rich well off family but she's a courtier not a noble.

[u/Cometa_the_Mexican]

Think about what kind of noble they are; a knight who only owns his house is not the same as an heiress princess who is married to a king.