D&D 5E Are you excited for the Backgrounds?

So, 5e is coming out with a new feature that is essentially your character's backstory, and while I like it, the random charts is what really has me pumped for the Player's Handbook above all else. Hell, the ones in the Basic Game are getting me pumped.

So I figured I'd ask if you guys are excited for it as well, or if you don't care for it.

Didn't vote. (I'm intrigued, not excited.)

I'm so numb from the more-than-two-years-long playtest that I don't much get excited about 5E now. However, having said that, I must also say that I am greatly looking forward to seeing the backgrounds that WotC has decided--in their game-designing wisdom--to bestow upon us via the PHB.

If we get all of the various backgrounds that were included in any of the playtest packets, I will be gratified. I honestly couldn't ask for more than that. However, if we get more pre-generated backgrounds in addition to those, I will be please at receiving more than I think I could ever reasonably expect.

Didn't vote either.

And, to be honest, I think other games have done it better. And some have done it worse.

I'm really excited by what 5E Backgrounds bring to the game in terms of skills/tools proficiency delivery system, unique feature and special equipment, as well as providing a foundation for the Personality Traits/Ideals/Flaws/Bonds. I also really liked how the Starter Set pregenerated characters backgrounds were nicely tied to the story. I feel Background are a powerful aspect of 5E supporting many aspects of your character and evolved really well from the Background/Theme originally featured in D&D Next IMO.

I am very much looking forward to the backgrounds. It is something I am hoping to port more or less wholesale to 4E.

I'd like to be as excited for the Backgrounds as most people seem to be, but for me there are two big concerns with them.

1) They might be the new default "space filler" for future WotC books.

This is a recent concern - in the playtests, backgrounds were several per page. No way they could be a space-filler effectively.

But Basic has shown that they can easily fill an entire page with the new format that extends to include the RP-boxing-filling elements, and my concern is that with the PHB, we're going to see them at 1/page (in fact, I will be shocked if not), and that in any future book which contains player-oriented info or setting material, we're doing to see a dozen plus backgrounds, essentially just taking up space, because they can only be used with new PCs, and only ever have any effect once.

So they could be a particularly useless space-filler.

To be clear again, conceptually, I like them, but I am pretty worried about this. I think it's very likely.

2) The alignment suggestions vary from the "Okay" to "OMG WHAT?!". I wish they'd just left them out. It's easy enough to say "ignore those, they're nonsense!", but I think that they're actively counter-productive and will put bad ideas into the heads of players. For example, the idea that mindlessly following orders is "Lawful" and thinking for yourself "Chaotic" seems like a simplification of the absolutely worst kind (it's not entirely wrong, it's just kind of "Oh jeez...").

So I picked the middle option. Like the concept, fear the implementation.

When I saw this on the playtest I was kind of "Why? I can create my background and my story, without the need of rules for this".
But when I read it on the Basic Set I changed my opinion. We have 4 personality hooks to put on our sheet and this is amazing. When I saw a bunch of newbies filling the sheet and creating a history based on it, I understand the need. The background helps (a lot) to create a colorful character. You can do the obvious (like a fighter soldier or a cleric acolyte) or you can create something very interesting (like a fighter sage or a healing cleric criminal) and create a very remarkable PC.

Yes, but I still prefer to see them as "what goes on in the background" rather than "what happened to you before".

Ruin Explorer said:

It's easy enough to say "ignore those, they're nonsense!", but I think that they're actively counter-productive and will put bad ideas into the heads of players. For example, the idea that mindlessly following orders is "Lawful" and thinking for yourself "Chaotic" seems like a simplification of the absolutely worst kind (it's not entirely wrong, it's just kind of "Oh jeez...").

So I picked the middle option. Like the concept, fear the implementation.

Click to expand...

Yeah. I think they're more mere suggestions. I already have an idea in mind for a Hermit character with the evil Ideal ("Solitude is a path towards power") but tie it to more of a good Ideal (Basically spiritual enlightenment).

I'd buy me the Big Book o' Backgrounds if it were something along the lines of a 96 page softcover packed with bizarre ideas that really expanded the typical horizons of the game. I find the game concept of the backgrounds to be helpful in moving character creation along and spurring character concept ideas. It seems like a component that can be easily ignored without negative effect if so desired.