Wayfarer 5e Background Guide

Published on January 1, 2025

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 excel in their adventures!

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What Is the Wayfarer Background in D&D?

The Wayfarer is a DnD 5e background designed for characters who have survived a life of hardship and uncertainty. Living by their wits and grit, Wayfarers are adept at staying unseen, reading people, and relying on their own luck to get by.

How Does the Wayfarer Background Work?

The Wayfarer 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: Dexterity, Wisdom, and Charisma.
Feat: Lucky. This feat gives you a number of Luck Points equal to your Proficiency Bonus. Spending a Luck Points gives you Advantage on a D20 Test (attack roll, saving throw, or ability check) or gives an enemy Disadvantage on their attack against you.
Skill Proficiencies: Insight and Stealth.
Tool Proficiency: Thieves’ Tools.
Equipment:
- Option A: Two daggers, thieves’ tools, a gaming set (any), a bedroll, two pouches, traveler’s clothes, and 16 GP.
- Option B: 50 GP for a more customizable loadout.

Let’s break down the benefits:

Ability Scores: While this background doesn’t provide Constitution (the ideal secondary stat for most builds), it offers Dexterity, which can help a lot of builds with their AC. Charisma- and Wisdom-based spellcasters, will be fine with this spread, as will half-casters that focus on Dexterity as their primary skill.

Lucky Feat: Lucky is an incredible feat and getting it as part of your background for free makes it all the better. Plus, the 2024 Player’s Handbook version of Lucky gives you a number of Luck Points equal to your Proficiency Bonus, which will result in way more Luck Points for higher-level characters.

Insight and Stealth Proficiencies: Both of these skills are useful pickups, making this a particularly impressive spread. Insight is useful in social situations, allowing you to read people and detect lies. Stealth is crucial for sneaky approaches, perfect for infiltration scenarios.

Thieves’ Tools: While always useful, Thieves’ Tools have been give a definititive mechanical function in the 2024 Player’s Handbook. These now allow you to pick locks and disarm traps with a DC 15 check. If you manage to pick up a proficiency in Sleight of Hand, you’ll even get Advantage on the roll.

What Type of Character is the Wayfarer Background For?

The Wayfarer background is an excellent choice for Bards, Rogues, and Rangers who rely on spellcasting, agility, and social skills. Dexterity boosts your AC, attack rolls with finesse weapons, and Stealth, making it crucial for these nimble classes. Wisdom is a must-haves for Druids, Clerics, Rangers, and Monks and Charisma is crucial for Bards, Warlocks, and Sorcerers because they improve their spell attacks and spell save DCs.

The Lucky feat is an invaluable asset for just about any character, though especially for martial characters and Rogues, who only get one Attack per turn to land their Sneak Attack. It’s also a great look for Dexterity-based classes sneaking out ahead of their parties or Bards making important social checks. Proficiencies in Insight and Stealth complete the package, ensuring you’re not only deadly in combat but also hard to pin down and great at reading people and situations.

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

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

Red : Isn’t going to contribute to the effectiveness of your character build at all
Orange : Situationally good, but a below-average option otherwise
Green : A good option
Blue : A great option, you should strongly consider this option for your character
Sky Blue: An amazing option. If you do not take this option your character would not be optimized

Artificer: Without an Intelligence boost, there isn't much here for an Artificer.

Barbarian: The Lucky feat is unfortunately not enough to make up for the fact there's not a Strength boost for Barbarians.

Bard: Boosting Charisma, Dexterity and, despite the fact Bards make attack rolls the least out of any class, gaining the Lucky feat will still be wonderful for social interaction or helping you avoid attacks from enemies.

Cleric: Boost Wisdom, Dexterity, gain the Lucky feat, and pick up great skill proficiencies in Insight and Stealth. This is a great start for any Cleric and a borderline perfect start for Trickery Clerics.

Druid: This is a great start for any Druid and a borderline perfect start for Druids who will be doing a bit more scouting for their party. Boost Wisdom, Dexterity, gain the Lucky feat, and pick up great skill proficiencies in Insight and Stealth.

Fighter: You can boost Dexterity, gain the Lucky feat, and pick up proficiencies in Stealth and Insight. This is a good start for a Finesse or Ranged weapon-wielding Fighter, but you'll need to invest in Constitution when choosing your ability scores to make up for the fact the background's ability score increases aren't ideal.

Monk: The best background for Monks, hands down. You can boost Dexterity and Wisdom, grab the Lucky feat, and gain proficiencies in Insight and Stealth.

Paladin: While this background offers a boost to Charisma, Paladins have no use for Dexterity or Wisdom, and rarely use Stealth. If you really want the Lucky feat, you'll have better luck with Merchant, which offers Charisma and Constitution.

Ranger: Probably the best choice out there for Rangers using Finesse or Ranged weapons. You can boost Dexerity, Wisdom, grab the Lucky feat, and gain proficiencies in Stealth and Insight.

Rogue: Absolutely perfect background for Rogues. You can boost Dexerity, grab the Lucky feat, and gain proficiencies in Stealth, Insight, and Thieves' Tools. For your secondary ability score increase, you can boost Charisma to help with social encounters or Wisdom if you'll be scouting for your party and want to increase the efficacy of your Perception checks.

Sorcerer: Boosting Charisma and Dexterity is okay, but Sorcerers would rather boost Constitution to help with Hit Points and Concentration checks. The Lucky feat can help you land your big spell attack rolls, but the Merchant background is a better choice because it offers Lucky and a boost to Constitution.

Warlock: If you want to pick up the Lucky feat, the Merchant background offers better ability score increases for Warlocks. That said, the Wayfarer background is still solid, offering a boost to Charisma, the Lucky feat, and useful skill and tool proficiencies.

Wizard: Without an Intelligence boost, there isn't much here for a Wizard.

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.

Wayfarer 5e Background Guide

What Is the Wayfarer Background in D&D?

How Does the Wayfarer Background Work?

What Type of Character is the Wayfarer Background For?

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

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Mike Bernier