Part 4: Choose a Background
We're not far off done now – the last thing that you need to do is make a choice of background for your character - you can find them collected in the Player's Handbook and Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide. There are too many to list here and they are spread quite far and wide across a variety of released material, but even just choosing from the list in the Player's Handbook gives a wide range of choice. Acolyte, Criminal, Folk Hero, Noble and Sage are available for free in the Basic Rules, too.
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Your background describes your character's origin in general terms (but allows you lots of leeway to personalise your back story). It also provides you with a few more things to add to your character sheet – most usually skills, languages and tool proficiencies. Add these to your character sheet in the usual place.
You'll also get a feature, which will usually give you a general benefit – note this down with your racial traits and class features.
Make a note of any equipment that your background grants you in the equipment section of your character sheet.
Finally, you'll see four tables, which serve as prompts for you to think about aspects of your character's personality. Feel free to roll on these, or choose from the list, or make up your own. The categories are: Personality Trait; Ideal (personal morals); Bond (what motivates you) and Flaw (a little foible that can actually help you out in the long run if you're prepared to inconvenience yourself from time to time – it's up to your DM to recognise this.)
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The next step in the character creation adventure depends on which class you have chosen. If you've chosen a spellcasting class (Artificers, Bards, Clerics, Druids, Sorcerers, Warlocks and Wizards all get spells at 1st level), now is the time to pick them out! Head on to part 5 to make your choices. If you've chosen anything else, you can skip ahead to part 6!