Wildspacer 5E Guide
The list of available backgrounds in Dungeons & Dragons continues to grow, but not every option will be suitable for your next campaign. If you intend to take a stab at a Spelljammer campaign, the Wildspacer background might be perfect for you. Learn all about it with our Wildspacer 5E Guide.
Wildspacer 5E
the Wildspacer is a character that has always called the Astral Sea home. Their origins often include families of moon farmers and asteroid miners. Many of the crew on Spelljamming vessels throughout the universe are piloted by Wildspacer. These individuals have been made hearty by their time in space, and this fortitude benefits them when adventuring.
In addition to the Astral Drifter, the Wildspacer is one of two Spelljammer-specific backgrounds available in D&D 5E. Just like the Astral Drifter, this background has adopted the approach of providing a free feat in addition to the traditional list of languages and skills. For that reason, these backgrounds are particularly powerful from an optimization standpoint. The backgrounds offered in Spelljammer: Adventures in Space have a lot in common with the proposed backgrounds for One D&D, and could be a precursor for what is to come in the future.
Background Traits
- Skill Proficiencies: Athletics, Survival
- Tool Proficiencies: Navigator’s tools, vehicles (space)
- Equipment: A belaying pin (club), a set of traveler’s clothes, a grappling hook, 50 feet of hempen rope, and a pouch containing 10 gp
- Close Encounter:You had a harrowing encounter with one of Wildspace’s many terrors. You escaped with your life, but the encounter left you with a scar or two, or perhaps a recurring nightmare. Roll on the Close Encounter table to determine which creature nearly got the best of you. Creatures marked with an asterisk appear in Boo’s Astral Menagerie; the others are described in the Monster Manual.
- Feature: Wildspace AdaptationYou gain the Tough feat from the Player’s Handbook. In addition, you learned how to adapt to zero gravity. Being weightless doesn’t give you disadvantage on any of your melee attack rolls.
Close Encounter Table
| D10 | Creature |
| 1 | Beholder |
| 2 | Cosmic horror |
| 3 | Feyr |
| 4 | Lunar dragon |
| 5 | Mind flayer |
| 6 | Neh-tahlggu |
| 7 | Neogi |
| 8 | Space clown |
| 9 | Vampirate |
| 10 | Void scavver |
Background Breakdown
The Wildspacer is an excellent background for a martial character in a Spelljammer campaign. Athletics and Survival are fine skill proficiencies, and the tool proficiencies are great if you expect to pilot your own spelljammer vessel at some point.
The real highlight of this background is the Wildspace Adaptation feature. The Tough feat is nice for anyone but especially useful for martial characters who are likely to soak up damage. The same is true for the other aspect of this feature. Weightloss combat can be frustrating since attacks are usually made with disadvantage. You can ignore that downside with this background. it’s a very nice option for a Spelljammer campaign.
Conclusion: The Wildspacer 5E Background
That’s it for our Wildspacer 5E rundown. This background is solid in a thematic way, providing players with relevant tools and skills to build a spacefaring scoundrel. It’s also a great background for melee characters in a Spelljammer campaign, thanks to the tough feat and the lack of disadvantage on melee attacks in space.
