Building BA5eD: Foundations

If you are looking for a character creation system that focuses on story first and mechanics second, BA5eD introduces the idea of Foundations. These are the defining experiences, roles, and traits that shaped your character long before the campaign begins. Instead of relying on species templates or generic backgrounds, Foundations provide both narrative depth and simple mechanical support that keep the focus on who your character is and what they have lived through.

Who you are is not a list of numbers. It’s the stories that shaped you.

Hey all,

For the first mechanic in the BA5eD system, we are looking at the cornerstones of creating your character. These are called Foundations. In D&D 5e, similar ideas are usually covered by your Race or Species and your Background, which together define who your character is and what features they begin with.

Why Foundations Instead of Species

Species is obviously important. If your species can fly, then they can fly, barring injury or disability. If your species has darkvision, they have darkvision. There are significant biological traits that come with a species and these are not usually optional. However, BA5eD is intended to be a broader system that can be used outside traditional high fantasy. Some RPGs built from this system might only include one playable species. In those cases, tying a character’s entire identity to species would not make sense.

Foundations focus on something deeper. They capture the core experiences that shaped your character into the person they are.

What Matters More

Take a dwarven noble as an example. What shaped them more: being a dwarf or being a noble?

If they were raised in an underground kingdom filled entirely with dwarves, being a dwarf may not have mattered much at all. Without comparison to other species or the experience of being treated differently, species becomes a neutral factor in their life.

On the other hand, if they were a noble who spent their life in mixed society, being a dwarf might have shaped them far more than their station. The contrast with other species, positive or negative, would inform their sense of identity.

This context is what Foundations aim to capture.

All Rolled Into One

Foundations encompass a broad range of experiences that define your character at their core. Think of them as starting feats that represent the key elements of a character’s life before the campaign begins.

These might include status, species, profession, personality type, ambitions, or even a specific life event. The intent is to let players choose two defining elements that form the base of their character.

Original Balorg artwork by Brent Minehan

Foundations blend the roles of traditional Species and Background, while also incorporating the narrative elements from D&D 5e such as Flaws, Motivations, and Goals. This gives those ideas real mechanical significance.

Many Foundations are intentionally flexible. For example:

• Artisan grants a +2 bonus to checks involving whatever craft your character has dedicated most of their life to, such as alchemy or blacksmithing.

• Upbringing offers social bonuses depending on the company you keep. A noble knows the etiquette of high society, while a street urchin knows how to navigate life among the common folk. Both gain the same type of bonus, but the flavour is entirely different.

Each Foundation provides both a narrative influence and a mechanical benefit. These benefits are modest and often situational, designed to add flavour without overwhelming the system.

Not all defining experiences are positive ones, however.

Hardships

Hardships are not the opposite of Foundations, but they sit beside them as another significant part of who a character is. Hardships represent flaws, trauma, or burdens that weigh on the character. These can include guilt, grief, addiction, phobias, or negative personality traits.

These are not meant to be simple penalties, they exist to be roleplayed, not ignored. Hardships add story potential and offer the player an arc of personal growth.

Hardships are entirely optional. When taken, they provide narrative depth and mechanical setbacks. The intent is that a player can work to overcome their hardship through character-driven roleplay, meaningful choices, or major story milestones. When a hardship is resolved, its penalty is removed and replaced with a new Foundation that represents the character’s growth.

Foundations can only be chosen during character creation. Hardships, however, can be gained at any time during a campaign if the player wishes and if the character’s experiences naturally lead to them.

Foundations are about the moments that shaped you, not just your stats on a page. They invite players to build characters defined by who they are and what they have lived through, rather than by fixed numbers or species templates. For those willing to face their flaws, Hardships offer an even deeper path toward storytelling, growth, and meaningful play.

What Comes Next?

In our next update we’ll start taking a look at Ability Scores, giving you some insights of how we’re changing them and what this will mean for other mechanics that are tied to them. Until then…

Keep rolling those 20s folks!
Alex