DnD 5e Backgrounds

Entertainer 5e Background Guide

Mike Bernier

Last updated: December 28th, 2024

Explore the Entertainer background in D&D 5e, its benefits for audacious characters, and how it can help buff your entire party.

A Dragonborn Bard serenades her party members as they travel along a road.

Rudy Siswanto - Wizards of the Coast - Wandering Troubadour

Arcane Eye may earn a small commission from affiliate links in this article. Learn more.

What Is the Entertainer Background in D&D?

The Entertainer is a DnD 5e background that represents a character who has spent their life performing, whether as a musician, acrobat, poet, or actor. Growing up amidst traveling fairs or bustling city theaters, you’ve learned to captivate audiences with skill, artistry, and charisma. This background suits characters who thrive on creativity, applause, and the thrill of the stage.

How Does the Entertainer Background Work?

The Entertainer background offers the following features:

  • Ability Scores: Receive a +2 bonus to one ability and +1 to another, or a +1 bonus to all three: Strength, Dexterity, and Charisma.
  • Feat: Musician. This feat grants proficiency with three Musical Instruments of your choice and allows you to inspire allies during rests, giving Heroic Inspiration to a number of allies equal to your Proficiency Bonus.
  • Skill Proficiencies: Acrobatics and Performance.
  • Tool Proficiency: One kind of Musical Instrument (your choice).
  • Equipment:
    • Option A: A Musical Instrument (your choice), two costumes, a mirror, perfume, traveler’s clothes, and 11 GP.
    • Option B: 50 GP for a customizable loadout.

Let’s break down the benefits:

Ability Scores: Strength and Dexterity boosts make this a strong choice for martial characters, especially those who use Strength to attack and Dexterity for AC. The ability to boost Charisma and Dexterity is also solid for any Charisma-based full caster, as they can boost their spellcasting ability and AC.

Musician Feat: The ability to give out a bunch of Heroic Inspiration to your allies during Short or Long rests is a fantastic utility. The biggest downside might be if you have a party full of Humans, who automatically get Heroic Inspiration after a Long Rest in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. Seeing as you can’t have more than one instance of Heroic Inspiration at a time, this may cause these feat’s most important ability to go to waste. Proficiency with three instruments won’t come up mechanically, and maybe not in roleplaying unless you’re a Bard.

Acrobatics and Performance Proficiencies: Two pretty low-tier skill proficiencies.

Musical Instrument Proficiency: While most tools have been given actual mechanical features in the 2024 Player’s Handbook, musical instruments only allow you to play a known tune (DC 10) or improvise a song (DC 15), making them among the most useless tools.

What Type of Character is the Entertainer Background For?

Thanks to increases to Dexterity, Strength, and Charisma, the Entertainer background is a natural fit for Bards, Rogues, Warlocks, Paladins, and Sorcerers, but it can also suit Fighters or Monks who want lean into their creative side. It offers boosts to physical and social abilities, making it an excellent pick for versatile characters who want to excel both in and out of combat. The Musician feat offers a solid boost to any class’s utility as a party buffer.

This background is also a creative outlet for players who enjoy roleplaying, as the tools and proficiencies provided can pave the way to some awesome opportunities for improvising.

Which 5e Classes Make the Most of the Entertainer Background?

The color code below has been implemented to help you identify, at a glance, how good the Entertainer 5e background is for a specific class/subclass.

  • Red: Weak, unlikely to contribute to your build
  • Orange: Situationally good, but below average
  • Green: A solid choice
  • Blue: A great option worth considering
  • Sky Blue: One of the best choices for optimization

Artificer: Without a Intelligence boost, there's not much here for an Artificer.

Barbarian: While you can boost your Strength, the Musician feat and a proficiency in Acrobatic and Performance don't mesh well with the Barbarian's focuses.

Bard: Unsurprisingly, the Entertainer background is perfect for Bards. With bonuses to Charisma, Dexterity, and the Musician feat, this background amplifies your ability to inspire and perform, making it an optimal pick for nearly any Bard subclass.

Cleric: Without a Wisdom boost, there's not much here for a Cleric.

Druid: Without a Wisdom boost, there's not much here for a Druid.

Fighter: You can +2 Strength and +1 Dexterity, which is okay if you're going to be wearing Medium armor as a Fighter. The skill and tool proficiency isn't much, but the Musician feat helps you to support your party.

Monk: You can +2 Dexterity and buff your party with Heroic Inspiration each Long Rest thanks to the Musician feat, but this isn't an incredibly exciting background for Monks.

Paladin: You can boost Strength and Charisma and pick up a solid party buffing feat, which makes this an excellent background for Paladins. The skill and tool proficiencies won't offer much benefit, however.

Ranger: Boosting Dexterity and being able to buff your party on a Short or Long rest is solid, but the skill and tool proficiencies won't offer much benefit.

Rogue: Dexterity and Charisma is a solid spread for Rogues who will be doing the talking for their party, as is the Musician feat, which allows you to hand out Heroic Inspiration to your party every Short or Long Rest. Acrobatics is an okay skill proficiency, and Performance and proficiency in a couple musical instruments can help you maintain a facade.

Sorcerer: Boost Charisma and Dexterity, and pick up a solid feat that helps you buff your party on a Short and Long Rest, pretty solid choice for Sorcerers.

Warlock: Boost Charisma and Dexterity, and pick up a solid feat that helps you buff your party on a Short and Long Rest. Maybe your party won't mind as much that you're always asking for Short Rests if they get Heroic Inspiration out of the deal. Great choice for Warlocks.

Wizard: Without an Intelligence boost, there's not much here for a Wizard.

Related Backgrounds

A mysterious wanderer stands at the edge of a precipice looking out at a skyline featuring the setting sun.
DnD Backgrounds

Wayfarer Guide 5e

Explore which D&D classes work best with the Wayfarer background and how it can help your street-smart character with the luck they need to…

Wednesday January 1, 2025

Read More
A Solider in ornate gold plate leading a squad of other soldiers
DnD Backgrounds

Soldier Guide 5e

Explore which D&D classes work best with the Soldier background and how it can help your martial character develop the discipline they need to…

Wednesday January 1, 2025

Read More
A Scribe Wizard reading a book from an ancient library
DnD Backgrounds

Scribe Guide 5e

Explore which D&D classes work best with the Scribe background and how it can help your bookish character write their own adventure!

Tuesday December 31, 2024

Read More
A Sailor laughing behind the wheel of a cutter ship
DnD Backgrounds

Sailor Guide 5e

Explore which D&D classes work best with the Sailor background and how it can help your character navigate nautical adventure!

Monday December 30, 2024

Read More

Or follow us on Instagram, Twitter, and YouTube.

Mike Bernier

Mike Bernier

Mike Bernier is the lead content writer and founder of Arcane Eye. He is a Adamantine best-selling author of Strixhaven: A Syllabus of Sorcery on DMs Guild and is a contributing author at D&D Beyond. Follow Mike on Twitter.