In D&D 2024, Ability Score boosts come from your Background, not your race

A ton of changes rework character creation in the Dungeons & Dragons 2024 Player's Handbook. Some of those changes affect your character's Background. Backgrounds tell the story of how a character got here today, at 1st level, a fresh-faced newbie in a world ripe for adventure.

A character's Background is made up of four elements:

• Proficiencies – Giving a boost to two skills, e.g., Dexterity (Acrobatics) or Wisdom (Survival). Additionally, you're given a proficiency in the use of one or more tools, e.g., a gaming set or thieves' tools.
• Languages – Some backgrounds give you additional languages beyond any you learned from your species (race).
• Equipment – A package deal on equipment that makes sense for your selected background, such as an Acolyte background giving you a holy symbol and some incense, or a Hermit background equipping you with a winter blanket and common clothes. (If anything, the meagre equipment packages can serve as a catalyst for seeking the life of an adventurer.)
• Suggested Characteristics – These speak to your personality traits, ideals, bonds, and flaws. These are things that largely took over the discussion of Alignment in D&D (Lawful Good, Chaotic Evil, etc.)

For a more comprehensive look at what's changing in D&D 2024, a D&D Beyond post maps it out. Generally, there used to be 13 backgrounds in D&D 5e (2014). But D&D 2024 has 16 backgrounds, some of which were pulled from other 5e sourcebooks, and some are reworked original backgrounds. Here are a few highlights:

• In vanilla 5e, abilities (Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, etc.) used to get a three-point boost because of your species. Like a +2 to Dexterity and a +1 to Charisma. But in D&D 2024, those ability boosts come from your background, not your species.
• Any and all Feats used to wait until 4th level in vanilla 5e. Now, Origin Feats are added to all backgrounds – which you choose at 1st level; thus, feats are now a 1st level thing.
• But hey, if you're a human, that's one way to get an additional feat at 1st level.

There are ways to get it early, but the D&D 2024 Player's Handbook launches for the masses on September 17.