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Ancestor/background/regional feats
- Thread starter Zireael
- Start date
Li Shenron
Legend
Are you referring to a particular settings? Those names of feat types are not core but are often used in campaign settings sourcebooks (although it's also possible that some 3ed supplement attempted at giving them a more general definition), so you should check what they really mean in your setting.
If you're trying to look for a more general definition, the typical idea behind them is fairly simple, and you can guess it from their names...
Ancestor feats are used to represent a talent or potential that runs in your family's blood. Taking the feats means such talent has manifested in your character; whether this came out spontaneously or you trained to discover it, and whether it manifested gradually or was triggered by some event can be left to RP and description, or otherwise can be dictated by the campaign settings' specific take on ancestor feats.
Normally the point of ancestor feats is to be available only to characters who belong to a certain family, clan, or even race as a whole (although then they would be more likely call "racial feats"), and as such are used by the campaign setting to (a) give something more in common to every character belonging to the same clan/race and (b) differentiate between characters of different clans/races. However it is possible that a DM just gives ancestor feats more freely and then justify this by saying that the character simply discovers to be the descendant of such ancestor.
Regional feats serve pretty much the same purposes, but are instead thematically explained in terms of the character being born and raised in a specific region and therefore having been exposed to a certain culture and education. A regional feat usually represents then some superior expertise or easier approach at something that is more common/valued in such culture.
The standard is to require characters to have one and only region of origin, which gives access to a series of regional feats (and possibly something else) to choose from if you want your character to emphasize her cultural roots. An alternative approach could be to instead allow regional feats based on the time spent in such regions, thus also allowing a PC to get regional feats of different regions at different times, provided that this is backed-up somewhat by what happens in the story.
(edit) Also note that some published settings effectively use the term "regional feats" to include "racial feats" as well, to emphasize that they are more about cultures than actual geographical areas. So a character in such setting may choose "Elf" or "Dwarf" as "region", provided of course her actual race matches (or the DM has allowed concepts such as "being raised by elves").
Background feats, I actually don't know if such thing exists explicitly in published settings... to me usually "background feats" is rather a term used for any feats that the player gives her character to represent something she's learned either before being and adventurer or during her downtime off adventuring, and therefore most of the times such feats would be of the kind that don't help in action: for example, skill-related feats, item creation feats, or any feat that is related to the interaction phase.
I have actually heard some DM using house rules where feats that are recognized to be background feats (also in the sense that the DM identifies them being significantly less useful for the game itself) are made cheaper, e.g. getting two background feats in place of one regular useful feat.
If you're trying to look for a more general definition, the typical idea behind them is fairly simple, and you can guess it from their names...
Ancestor feats are used to represent a talent or potential that runs in your family's blood. Taking the feats means such talent has manifested in your character; whether this came out spontaneously or you trained to discover it, and whether it manifested gradually or was triggered by some event can be left to RP and description, or otherwise can be dictated by the campaign settings' specific take on ancestor feats.
Normally the point of ancestor feats is to be available only to characters who belong to a certain family, clan, or even race as a whole (although then they would be more likely call "racial feats"), and as such are used by the campaign setting to (a) give something more in common to every character belonging to the same clan/race and (b) differentiate between characters of different clans/races. However it is possible that a DM just gives ancestor feats more freely and then justify this by saying that the character simply discovers to be the descendant of such ancestor.
Regional feats serve pretty much the same purposes, but are instead thematically explained in terms of the character being born and raised in a specific region and therefore having been exposed to a certain culture and education. A regional feat usually represents then some superior expertise or easier approach at something that is more common/valued in such culture.
The standard is to require characters to have one and only region of origin, which gives access to a series of regional feats (and possibly something else) to choose from if you want your character to emphasize her cultural roots. An alternative approach could be to instead allow regional feats based on the time spent in such regions, thus also allowing a PC to get regional feats of different regions at different times, provided that this is backed-up somewhat by what happens in the story.
(edit) Also note that some published settings effectively use the term "regional feats" to include "racial feats" as well, to emphasize that they are more about cultures than actual geographical areas. So a character in such setting may choose "Elf" or "Dwarf" as "region", provided of course her actual race matches (or the DM has allowed concepts such as "being raised by elves").
Background feats, I actually don't know if such thing exists explicitly in published settings... to me usually "background feats" is rather a term used for any feats that the player gives her character to represent something she's learned either before being and adventurer or during her downtime off adventuring, and therefore most of the times such feats would be of the kind that don't help in action: for example, skill-related feats, item creation feats, or any feat that is related to the interaction phase.
I have actually heard some DM using house rules where feats that are recognized to be background feats (also in the sense that the DM identifies them being significantly less useful for the game itself) are made cheaper, e.g. getting two background feats in place of one regular useful feat.
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Li Shenron
Legend
Now I've just noticed that you are "Working on my own RPG rules", so perhaps you are indeed looking for how to make these concepts useful in your setting too.
One additional point to consider, is whether you want these concepts of feat to be mandatory or optional.
For instance, one setting could be such, that everyone must choose one and only regional feat at character creation (assuming the region is chosen first...). Another setting may give you the option to choose it in place of your 1st level regular feat. Another setting again may give you the option to choose as many regional feats offered by your region, any time during character advancement you gain a regular feat. Or even, you could grant a specific number of regional feats every X level, in addition to regular feats, and so on...
It all depends how much you want to stress the idea of culture/race of origin in your setting. Same thing goes for ancestor feats (how much you want to really stress the importance of family/clan) and background feats (how much you want to stress that the importance of downtime vs adventuring in your PC's development).
So the questions that each of these three types of feat raise are:
- do these feats require to be chosen at character creation (1st level) or can they also be chosen later?
- does each character have to take a specific number of these (are they separated from regular feats)? is there a minimum or maximum number? or can they be taken freely as regular feats?
- can you choose only one region/ancestor or multiple ones?
- do these concept merge together, e.g. you can only have either a region or an ancestor?
One additional point to consider, is whether you want these concepts of feat to be mandatory or optional.
For instance, one setting could be such, that everyone must choose one and only regional feat at character creation (assuming the region is chosen first...). Another setting may give you the option to choose it in place of your 1st level regular feat. Another setting again may give you the option to choose as many regional feats offered by your region, any time during character advancement you gain a regular feat. Or even, you could grant a specific number of regional feats every X level, in addition to regular feats, and so on...
It all depends how much you want to stress the idea of culture/race of origin in your setting. Same thing goes for ancestor feats (how much you want to really stress the importance of family/clan) and background feats (how much you want to stress that the importance of downtime vs adventuring in your PC's development).
So the questions that each of these three types of feat raise are:
- do these feats require to be chosen at character creation (1st level) or can they also be chosen later?
- does each character have to take a specific number of these (are they separated from regular feats)? is there a minimum or maximum number? or can they be taken freely as regular feats?
- can you choose only one region/ancestor or multiple ones?
- do these concept merge together, e.g. you can only have either a region or an ancestor?
I though of making the feats mandatory. The setting contains noble houses, and every one of the houses would provide a background feat, in addition to 'commoner' background.
In addition, a character from House X could choose (non-mandatory) ancestor feats.
I have examples of background feats from PGtF and FRCS. I, however, lack any examples of ancestor feats. Where can I find these?
(My rules are quite a bit removed from d20 (or D&D) - but still, having a basis to adapt is a good thing)
In addition, a character from House X could choose (non-mandatory) ancestor feats.
I have examples of background feats from PGtF and FRCS. I, however, lack any examples of ancestor feats. Where can I find these?
(My rules are quite a bit removed from d20 (or D&D) - but still, having a basis to adapt is a good thing)
Li Shenron
Legend
Rogukan (3ed Oriental Adventures default setting) uses ancestor feats.
In the setting, normally every PC is a human and belongs to a specific clan (and family within such clan), but the DM can allow exceptions. A human PC must pick exactly one ancestor feat at 1st level, while non-human characters can choose to either take it or not (humans are supposed to use their bonus feat to pick the ancestor feat). After that you can never have more ancestor feats. Each clan has a list of ancestor feats, however it is not strictly required to that you take one from your clan list, on the ground that there are intermarriages between families of different clans and so if you're clan A you can effectively be spiritually attuned to an ancestor originally from clan B.
As you can see, each setting makes its choices, but you have a wide range of possible variations for your own setting!
In the setting, normally every PC is a human and belongs to a specific clan (and family within such clan), but the DM can allow exceptions. A human PC must pick exactly one ancestor feat at 1st level, while non-human characters can choose to either take it or not (humans are supposed to use their bonus feat to pick the ancestor feat). After that you can never have more ancestor feats. Each clan has a list of ancestor feats, however it is not strictly required to that you take one from your clan list, on the ground that there are intermarriages between families of different clans and so if you're clan A you can effectively be spiritually attuned to an ancestor originally from clan B.
As you can see, each setting makes its choices, but you have a wide range of possible variations for your own setting!
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