Hi one and all! Welcome or welcome back to my dnd 5e backgrounds series. I am glad you being here and take a look at this blog post and thank you so much for it. Now ladies and gentlemen, caster and players of all ages we’re going to taking a look at my most favorite background in the whole game as of yet. Today we’re going to be taking a look at the dnd 5e izzet engineer background it is available in the guildmaster’s guide to ravnica.
The backgrounds that we’ve found from this book are mostly really really fantastic, to a point where a lot of dms have issue with them, specifically this one. In case if you’re a DM and you’re reading it even if you’re like the most lucy goosey DM in the world, every single person that i am aware of and everyone who’s playing the game with me like a character would be 100% okay with you, rejecting this background just banning it outright.
In any case if you’ve missed our other dnd backgrounds you can check them out now.
Apart from this if you’re thinking that the aarakocra is bad then boy you ain’t seen nothing yet. In the right hands this background is absolutely nuts. That being said, let’s start with its description first.
Description
It has got arms with an inventive intellect, a love of magical technology, and an unquenchable energy, you are an enthusiastic participant in the research work of the dnd Izzet League. Though you’re likely to start your career as a mere attendant, you can wish to become a skilled mage or alchemist, a laboratory supervisor, or even a flamethrower-wielding scorchbringer tasked with defending Izzet laboratories. The Izzet are obsessive, brilliant, inspired, and an unpredictable force of chaos in Ravnica, and you epitomize all of those qualities.
Is it guild as a whole is really familiar with just blowing things up and being a general headache in ravnica, in any case their research is top notch. Of course one of this ravnica backgrounds 5e also get an extended spell list and of course there are couple noteworthy ones here.
Izzet Guild Spells
Prerequisite: Spellcasting or Pact Magic class feature
Here you can see, the spells on the below Izzet Guild Spells table were included to the spell list of your spellcasting class. (in any case if you’re a multiclass character with multiple spell lists, these spells are added to all of them. Just bear that in mind)
| Spell Level | Spell |
|---|---|
| Cantrip | Produce Flame, Shocking Grasp. |
| 1st | Chaos Bolt, Create or Destroy Water, Unseen Servant |
| 2nd | Heat Metal, Rope Trick |
| 3rd | Call Lightning, Elemental Weapon, Glyph of Warding |
| 4th | Conjure Minor Elementals, Divination, Otiluke's Resilient Sphere |
| 5th | Animate Objects, Conjure Elemental |
Here the above spells are belongs to you now, so those spells are tend to be loud, flashy, or explosive, even whenever the effect is being unremarkable. For an instance, whenever you open the portal of a rope trick spell, the portal might be outlined by harmless, showy sparkles.
However if you would like to use or using an arcane focus, it may take probably the form of an intricate device which could include the metal gauntlets, glass canisters, copper tubing, and leather straps attaching it to your body. The mizzium apparatus is a magical version of this gear. In ancase the Chaos Bolt spell is a favorite of Izzet spellcasters why because its unpredictable nature. Now let’s move on to the mechanics here.
Mechanics
- Skill Proficiencies: Arcana, Investigation
- Tool Proficiencies: One type of artisan’s tools. Here i typically go with the alchemist supplies.
- Languages: Choose one of Draconic, Goblin, or Vedalken. The vedalkens are the type of as a unique thing to the ravnica so in this case i wouldn’t worry too much bout them.
- Equipment: An Izzet insignia, one set of artisan’s tools, the charred and twisted remains of a failed experiment, a hammer, a block and tackle, a set of common clothes, and a pouch containing 5gp (Azorius 1-zino coins)
Now let’s move on to their feature. This one is called Urban Infrastructure and it is one of my favorite features out of any background and i’ll talk about why in a little bit.
Features
Urban Infrastructure
This one of the most popular conception of an izzet league is based upon the useless inventions, most ridiculous and dangerous experiments and also the explosive blasts. Most of that perception is correct in all details, but of course the league is involved with mundane tasks of the construction and also the architecture- so first and foremost in crafting the infrastructure which permits the Ravnicans for enjoy running water, levitating platforms, and other magical and technological wonders.
You have a fundamental knowledge of the structure of buildings, including the stuff behind the walls. You can also find out the blueprints of a specific building in order to learn the details of its construction. Such as blueprints might provide knowledge of entry points, structural weaknesses, or secret spaces. Your access to such information isn’t unlimited. If obtaining or using the information gets you in trouble with the law, the guild can’t shield you from the repercussions.
Suggested Characteristics
Members of the Izzet League embody some combination of chaotic, frenetic energy with intellectual curiosity, in varying proportions. Some are committed to academic pursuits, and others just like explosions.
Personality Traits
| d8 | Personality Trait |
|---|---|
| 1 | I have a hard time staying focused on … oh, and my brain tends to jump from one … did I mention focus? |
| 2 | I get really excited about my ideas and I can't wait to talk about them and start putting them into practice and tinkering with them and I want to tell you about how exciting it all is! |
| 3 | It's not magic - or anything, really - if you do it only halfway. Whatever I do, I give it all I've got. |
| 4 | I do what my gut tells me. |
| 5 | Life's an experiment, and I can't wait to see what happens. |
| 6 | I pepper my speech with the incomprehensible jargon of my trade, like mizzium droplets inserted into a weird-field suspension. |
| 7 | Great ideas are fine, but great results are what counts. |
| 8 | If you can guess what I'm about to do, that means I've run out of imagination. |
Ideals
| d6 | Ideals |
|---|---|
| 1 | Guild. My guild is all that really matters. (Any) |
| 2 | Creativity. Half the world's troubles come from stodgy thinking, stuck in the past. We need innovative solutions. (Chaotic) |
| 3 | Discovery. Every experiment has the potential to reveal more secrets of the multiverse. (Any) |
| 4 | Science. A rigorous application of logical principles and protocols will lead us toward progress more surely than any belief system. (Lawful) |
| 5 | Fun. I love my job! Despite the dangerous working conditions, there's nothing I'd rather do. (Chaotic) |
| 6 | Power. Someday I'll find or create the magic that will make me the most powerful being in Ravnica. (Evil) |
Bonds
| d6 | Bond |
|---|---|
| 1 | I have dedicated my life to finding a solution to a scientific problem. |
| 2 | I'll never forget the laboratory where I learned my skills, or the other attendants who learned alongside me. |
| 3 | I'm convinced it was sabotage that destroyed my first laboratory and killed many of my friends, and I seek revenge against whoever did it. |
| 4 | I have the schematics for an invention that I hope to build one day, once I have the necessary resources. |
| 5 | A fellow student and I are racing to solve the same scientific puzzle. |
| 6 | I would do anything the guildmaster told me to do. |
Flaws
| d6 | Flaw |
|---|---|
| 1 | If there's a plan, I'll probably forget it. If I don't forget it, I'll probably ignore it. |
| 2 | I get bored easily, and if nothing is happening I'll make something happen. |
| 3 | Nothing is ever simple, and if it seems simple, I'll find a way to make it complicated. |
| 4 | I tend to ignore sleep for days when I'm conducting research, often at the expense of my own health and safety. |
| 5 | I'm convinced there's not a soul in Ravnica, except maybe the great Niv-Mizzet, who can match my boundless intellect. |
| 6 | I'm incapable of admitting a flaw in my logic. |
Contacts
The laboratories of the Izzet League are consistently starting up new projects and dissolving old ones, so it’s easy for even the lowliest attendant to make friends (and enemies) in laboratories across Ravnica.
Roll twice on the Izzet Contacts table (for an ally and a rival) and once on the Non-Izzet Contacts table.
Izzet Contacts
| d8 | Contact |
|---|---|
| 1 | An older relative is a member of the guild's board of directors. |
| 2 | I know a sprite who carries important messages among the guild's laboratories. |
| 3 | A sibling is the head of a laboratory doing exotic research. |
| 4 | A former colleague is now an attendant in a laboratory in the central guildhall. |
| 5 | I'm in regular communication with an instructor who set me on the course of my life and research. |
| 6 | I had a romance with a chemister working in the Blistercoils. |
| 7 | As an attendant, I had a fierce rivalry with another attendant for our supervisor's attention. |
| 8 | The guildmaster, Niv-Mizzet, took note of one of my experiments! |
Non-Izzet Contacts
| d10 | Contact |
|---|---|
| 1 | An Azorius inspector seems interested in my work. |
| 2 | I was ready to join the Boros before I decided on Izzet, and I sometimes still hear from the sergeant who tried to recruit me. |
| 3 | One of my former assistants turned out to be a Dimir spy. We're not on friendly terms anymore, but we have a habit of running into each other. |
| 4 | A Golgari assassin killed a bitter rival of mine, leaving me with conflicted feelings. |
| 5 | I helped a minor Gruul chieftain acquire an Izzet weapon. |
| 6 | Roll an additional Izzet contact; you can decide if the contact is an ally or a rival. |
| 7 | An Orzhov banker financed my laboratory's current work and expects great returns. |
| 8 | I have a cousin in the Cult of Rakdos, and we get along quite well. |
| 9 | A former attendant from the same laboratory ran off to join the Selesnya, and we get into a big argument every time we run into each other. |
| 10 | I compare notes and techniques with a Simic scientist over lunch sometimes. |
