Muldarion Treesearcher, Sage

Muldarion is a commoner sage (level 0) high elf, who is of somewhat advanced age. Every few decades he finds another area of research that takes his fancy; the last few years it's been Leander. Now that visitors have been allowed in the lionkin's nation, Muldarion is eager to be there and learn more about their history and customs.

Ordinarily I like to just roll the background details, but in this instance, I don't think the awkwardness in social situations works with his Charisma, though the others work for me. So instead I will go with:
Personality: There's nothing Muldarion likes better than a good mystery.
Ideal: Self-improvement
Bond: Muldarion has an ancient text that holds terrible secrets that must not fall into the wrong hands.
Flaw: Most people scream and run when they see a demon. I stop and take notes on its anatomy.

I somewhat like the idea that the book of terrible secrets Muldarion has is actually a Leander history book that contains details of the history of the country that the state has suppressed (they could be eldritch secrets, or simply prosaic ones about real mistakes the historical governments have made). How does that sound?

That's totally fine by me, a book of secrets of Leander could very well be a dangerous thing to have in what was a secretive state, you have Edward Snowden type material, it would seem more fitting if it was a book that was written and smuggled out of the main port of Leander during "whatever" was happening at that time, I know I say it a lot but it was almost North Korean style of a country (only country I could think off that represents it perfectly that people would understand) so if they suddenly opened up there gates invited everyone in, they wouldn't want the bad stuff that could be still happening or did happen that no one knows to get out

Also that book will give you advantage on history, investigation, nature and religion checks concerning Leander

What would a Muldarion have for its starting equipment, saplings? seeds? farming tools?

Great.
I wasn't imagining anything other than the normal sage starting equipment:
* bottle of ink
* a pen quill
* small knife (for cutting pen quills)
* letter from a dead colleague
* common clothes
* belt pouch with 10 GP

Rolling randomly on the specialty table for sages, I came up with "discredited academic" as Muldarion's specialty. Muldarion was once a professor at a prestigious elven college, the Academy on Leothas. But in his quest for knowledge, he coveted books from the rival Pellecine University of the Arcane's library. Muldarion convinced some female students to accompany him to the Pellecine library, where they sabotaged some wards and "borrowed" some books. This resulted in a huge scandal, with disgrace heaped on the students' families and the escape of some fiends that had been contained by the wards. Muldarion was fired from his position and has been blacklisted from every university's hiring department as a result.

Everything is fine with me here, you can fill out a character sheet and submit it whenever you like

Note that Muldarion is not coming to Leander to participate in the tournament, but rather to observe for cultural notes.

That said, I'm still considering which Feat makes sense for Muldarion, as a disgraced high elven professor/sage. Most of them are easy - they don't apply, as they involve martial advantages. Though he is proficient with weapons as a high elf, it's really not something that Muldarion has actively sought to develop - it's more like required service/training he's received, part of the elven compulsory military service.

But that still leaves a few to choose from:
- Keen mind
- Linguist
- Lucky
- Magic Initiate
- Observant
- Skilled
- Spell Sniper

I guess I feel like Feats are incredibly powerful, so I always feel a bit of a munchkin when choosing them. Three extra skills? Additional cantrips? A spell? Luck points? Bonus to passive perception?? I'm having a hard time choosing.

A question: for a 0-level commoner, what do I use for spell attack modifier?

What class is he, and what kind of build are you going for?

As for the spell modifier, I think for your High Elf cantrip you use Intelligence, for Magic Initiate or Spell Sniper, use the ability score used by the class you took the cantrip or spell from.

I'm personally partial to Luck.

There will be an unlikely chance you'll have cantrips starting at 0, yes there's level 0 cantrips but they only unlock when you get you're class which is usually "starting at level one get X, Y and Z" that's why it's not a simple I'll start at 0 just for the feat if it doesn't work for you're character, you're a high elf tho which gives you one cantrip of you're choice from the wizard list and as it states in the phb it's intelligence to cast it other than the one cantrip no others are unlocked till 1

My understanding has always been that can trips are zero level spells. Small magic effects that a novice or apprentice learns.

In other words, a 0-level wizard should know 3 cantrips.

Yes there zero level but you don't have any unless you're racial bonus gives you a cantrip, you only get zero level cantrips from classes, technically you aren't a class yet till level one

A level 0 wizard isn't a level 0 wizard, it's a level 0 commoner, when you reach level 1 you are you're class

What other races give cantrips?

Good, because I want to let the game play determine which class I eventually go into, rather than choosing in advance.

The following races start with magic:
* Forest gnome gets minor illusion
* High elf gets one wizard cantrip
* Tieflings get the thaumaturgy cantrip by default
- Tieflings with the Mark of Asmodeus (from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide) get the following instead: vicious mockery cantrip, and, at PC level 3, cast charm person and burning hands once each per long rest. Then, at PC level 5, you can cast enthrall once per long rest.
- Abyssal/demonic tieflings (from the Unearthed Arcana That Old Black Magic) get a random cantrip instead: after every long rest, you roll 1d6 to find out which one you have: dancing lights (1), true strike (2), light (3), message (4), spare the dying (5), prestidigitation (6). There are also random spells demonic tieflings get at PC levels 3 and 5.
* Drow get dancing lights cantrip, and, at PC level 3, faerie fire once per long rest, and darkness once per long rest at PC level 5.
* Svirfneblin (from the Elemental Evil Player's Companion) gets nondetection at will, and the following can be cast once each per long rest: blindness/deafness, blur, disguise self
* Genasi (also from EEPC) get magic abilities, depending on the "variety" of elemental that sired them:
- Air Genasi get levitate once per long rest
- Earth Genasi gets pass without trace once per long rest
- Fire Genasi get the produce flame cantrip, and, at PC level 3, can cast burning hands once per long rest
- Water Genasi get the shape water cantrip, and, at PC level 3, can cast create or destroy water once per long rest
* Changelings (from Unearthed Arcana: Eberron) get a limited polymorph self at will
* Half-elves (from the Sword Coast Adventurer's Guide) can get cantrips as a half-dark, half-sun, or half-moon elf (as per drow or high elf, respectively)

I believe that's it.

Edit: I added the Unearthed Arcana demonic tiefling.

I think Abyssal Tieflings from UA: That Old Black Magic also get a set of spells that are randomly picked every long rest.

Right you are - I hadn't been interested in that Unearthed Arcana article, so hadn't downloaded it until now. I've updated the previous post accordingly. It would be fun to have a demonic tiefling wild magic sorcerer.

This is my character concept exactly.

Putting the Chaos in ChaosZeppelin since 2016.

Abyssal Arcana. Each time you finish a long rest, you gain the ability to cast cantrips and spells randomly determined from a short list. At 1st level, you can cast a cantrip.

1st level is actually level 1, you cannot change you're race so that is technically level 1 as wizards doesn't actually have 0 levels or written for level 0, 0 is not a level either, you are actually minus a level

But if there are no official level 0 rules, shouldn't "you get this at 1st level" logically be interpreted as "you start with this?"