D&D (2024) Do you plan to adopt D&D5.5One2024Redux?

SkidAce said:

They are a fine idea as written, in my opinion.

We have a Folk Hero rakasta in our campaign. He was in a city in a different country and I told him "during the confrontation with the city watch, the populace recognized your expressions and actions as inspiring, a person on their side. You can use your Folk Hero background as leverage to investigate with the peasants what may have happened here..."

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I did not say you cannot use it that way if you want to, I only said that to me it starts becoming unbelievable, and I rather not twist myself into a pretzel to allow something that was imo poorly written and should stress that is is limited to the local area. Nothing is stopping the Folk Hero from also gaining a reputation elsewhere, just like the Criminal can establish contacts with the local thieves guild, but it is not immediate or automatic.

SkidAce said:

They are a fine idea as written, in my opinion.

We have a Folk Hero rakasta in our campaign. He was in a city in a different country and I told him "during the confrontation with the city watch, the populace recognized your expressions and actions as inspiring, a person on their side. You can use your Folk Hero background as leverage to investigate with the peasants what may have happened here..."

We like the open-endedness of the background, its a descriptor.

But then again, I let the fighter walk into a Warrior Guild or Blacksmith and have an edge on social interactions from the sheer fact of their class, and that certainly not a written rule. And it doesn't need to be mechanically laid out.

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The problem with looking/acting like a commoner is that it's easy to fake. Just check out the photos from the guys behind Duck Dynasty who are not at all the good-ol-boys they pretend to be.

Oofta said:

The problem with looking/acting like a commoner is that it's easy to fake. Just check out the photos from the guys behind Duck Dynasty who are not at all the good-ol-boys they pretend to be.

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Sure--and that's where commoner mobs come in, when they learn the truth about your pretender PC.

mamba said:

the 'shield from the law' part means they need to recognize the Folk Hero in some way to me. That is not something they do for everyone, or it would not be needed as a feature.

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But that's your reading on it, not RAW. And it's fine to have your own reading/house rule on it, but that's a far cry from saying it's useless. It's only useless at your table.

Faolyn said:

Sure--and that's where commoner mobs come in, when they learn the truth about your pretender PC.

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How? It just seems like a lot of hoops and illogical gameplay to jump through for a really minor benefit.

But, to each their own, I guess. Just telling you my perspective as both a DM an player, I don't want backgrounds to magically give me a benefit unless it makes sense in world.

Oofta said:

How? It just seems like a lot of hoops and illogical gameplay to jump through for a really minor benefit.

But, to each their own, I guess. Just telling you my perspective as both a DM an player, I don't want backgrounds to magically give me a benefit unless it makes sense in world.

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See, if you have a PC who is going out of their way to pretend to be a folk hero in order to get this benefit, and they get caught doing it, then it's not a lot of hoops to jump through--the people they relied on to help them out are going to be angry at them. Maybe it's not a pitchforks-and-torches mob, but it could be that nobody is willing to sell to them or they charge exorbitant prices, or they don't bother to warn the PCs about the dangerous conditions on the road they're going to take, or something like that.

But if you have a PC who is actually a folk hero and actually needs that benefit, then why not let them? It is, as you say, a "really minor" benefit--and it's one that can open up a lot of possibilities for adventures and RP opportunity. They helped the PCs out, now the PCs can help them out. And if the PCs don't, well, see above for options of what angry commoners can do.

tetrasodium said:

The only real difference between the two books is that FRCS2 was published under ISBN9780786965601 rather than including the words Forgotten Realms Toril -OR- Ravenloft on the cover but you had no issue with asserting that a ravenloft GM should adjust the setting for that FR-bound background earlier. AlsoI don't think you are "reading it right now" because it says this

Spoiler

"Feature: House Connections
As an agent of your house, you can always get food and lodging for yourself and your friends at a house enclave."

Are you telling me that the earlier j-random criminal outfit has infiltrated & subverted ravenloft to the degree that it can get messages along with a full support network in & out for a player with the criminal background to make use of that background feature but FR is somehow shielded from similar setting pollution because Eberron's megacorp analogs lack the capabilities of some criminal outfit from FR?

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Do you consider compromise a weakness, why are you so unaccepting of any modification.

Like this issue is so easily fixed.

Oofta said:

The problem with looking/acting like a commoner is that it's easy to fake. Just check out the photos from the guys behind Duck Dynasty who are not at all the good-ol-boys they pretend to be.
View attachment 351464

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DUCK DYNASTY IS A LIE?! SAY IT AIN'T SO!

(That is a very funny picture I have to admit!)

More seriously on-topic I think you can compromise a bit re: backgrounds if you can justify it fictionally - like, being a Folk Hero isn't just dressing like a commoner or whatever, it's that you have an energy, a vibe about you, that commoners can recognise and that can't be faked - that's part of why you're a Folk Hero, and not everyone whose background is as some kind of muddy peasant is. So other commoners like, instinctively respond to this. Certainly in some books/movies/TV this would be a thing.

Faolyn said:

See, if you have a PC who is going out of their way to pretend to be a folk hero in order to get this benefit, and they get caught doing it, then it's not a lot of hoops to jump through--the people they relied on to help them out are going to be angry at them. Maybe it's not a pitchforks-and-torches mob, but it could be that nobody is willing to sell to them or they charge exorbitant prices, or they don't bother to warn the PCs about the dangerous conditions on the road they're going to take, or something like that.

But if you have a PC who is actually a folk hero and actually needs that benefit, then why not let them? It is, as you say, a "really minor" benefit--and it's one that can open up a lot of possibilities for adventures and RP opportunity. They helped the PCs out, now the PCs can help them out. And if the PCs don't, well, see above for options of what angry commoners can do.

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Assuming they get caught, and assuming it doesn't just get them a bad reputation. I have no issue with backgrounds or gaining advantage now and again; as I've said repeatedly the issue I have is the hard-coded background feature that doesn't make any sense. YMMV and I don't see this conversation going anywhere.

Faolyn said:

But that's your reading on it, not RAW.

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I disagree, that is RAW. As I said, they are not helping everyone that way, so they need to recognize the folk hero

I do not like having to turn my brain off and pretending there is no problem here, just to make bad RAW work the way you would want it to

mamba said:

I disagree, that is RAW. As I said, they are not helping everyone that way, so they need to recognize the folk hero

I do not like having to turn my brain off and pretending there is no problem here, just to make bad RAW work the way you would want it to

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They don't have to recognize that person as a specific folk hero; they need to recognize that they seem like a hero. There's no magic and no turning brains off; just a bit of creativity.

Did the PCs just arrive there minutes ago? OK, you might have a problem. Have they been there a day or longer? No problem at all. If they fought a monster, then while they were in the middle of battle some NPC woodcutter heard the sounds, saw what was going on, and then ran away because they don't want to be near a battle--but they saw the PCs. Or maybe they found the monster's corpse and then saw the PCs, spattered in blood, and put 2 and 2 together. If the PCs sat around a table at the pub talking about their plans, someone overheard them and came to the conclusion the folk hero was the leader of the party. If the PCs decided to sell some gear that they looted off of bodies they killed, word is going to get around.

Then, because the folk hero has that trait, they latch onto them as the hero they deserve.

Or maybe the PCs inadvertently did something that helped the townsfolk--remember the Firefly episode "Jaynestown"? Or maybe the PCs didn't do anything, but arrived right after something particularly fortuitous happened, and the NPCs haven't learned that post hoc doesn't necessarily mean proptor hoc.

Because when you get down to it, it is, as Oofta said, a very minor benefit--the NPC is willing to give the PC a nice bowl of hot soup and let them camp out in the barn. It seems weird to not let this happen because the PCs are new in town.