Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Next
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
Twitch
YouTube
Facebook (EN Publishing)
Facebook (EN World)
Twitter
Instagram
TikTok
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
The
VOIDRUNNER'S CODEX
is LIVE! Explore new worlds, fight oppressive empires, fend off fearsome aliens, and wield deadly psionics with this comprehensive boxed set expansion for 5E and A5E!
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Do you plan to adopt D&D5.5One2024Redux?
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="James Gasik" data-source="post: 9332883" data-attributes="member: 6877472"><p>The PHB kind of flip flops on background features a lot. Early in the section on character creation, it describes features as "general benefits". Later on they're described as "concrete benefits". Neither of which means a lot, but to me, concrete sounds a bit more important than "general". YMMV.</p><p></p><p>But as far as backgrounds "always working", that's not universal. The Acolyte Feature says "you and your adventuring companions <em>can expect to</em> receive free healing and care". Just because you can expect it doesn't mean you always get it!</p><p></p><p>The Guild Artisan says things like: "In <em>some</em> cities and towns, a guildhall offers a central place to meet other members of your profession" and "You <em>can</em> also gain access to powerful political figures through the guild, <em>if</em> you are a member in good standing". (Here, I assume can means "it's possible", not "always", but that's my interpretation).</p><p></p><p>The Sage says "...if you do not know that information, you <em>often</em> know where and from whom you can obtain it. Usually, this comes from... Your DM <em>might</em> rule that the knowledge you seek...or that <em>it simply cannot be found</em>."</p><p></p><p>The Soldier says: "You can also <em>usually</em> gain access to friendly military encampments...".</p><p></p><p>Now having said this, most of the backgrounds are written without these qualifiers. Why this is so, I can't say- my only guess is that the writers thought some benefits were so minor (free passage on a ship, being able to quickly navigate in a city, free room and board) that there wasn't much reason to ever deny them, while access to secret information or free healing was something that could be abused more readily and thus there needed to be levels of uncertainty.</p><p></p><p>But of course, this isn't stated, nor is the DM instructed about how to use backgrounds (as I've stated before) beyond "work with your players to figure out how their backgrounds can matter in the game".</p><p></p><p>The sad part is, I don't think it would have taken a lot of text to make this more clear. And obviously, YMMV about how useful it is to have peasants grovel before you and being able to drop in on the King for a chat.</p><p></p><p>Given that some Backgrounds have alternative features presented, perhaps the easiest way to have prevented issues would be to say "every Background is intended to have useful benefits to the player. The Features presented are <strong>examples</strong> of how this works in a game- you and your DM will have to work out the specifics".</p><p></p><p>Alas...</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="James Gasik, post: 9332883, member: 6877472"] The PHB kind of flip flops on background features a lot. Early in the section on character creation, it describes features as "general benefits". Later on they're described as "concrete benefits". Neither of which means a lot, but to me, concrete sounds a bit more important than "general". YMMV. But as far as backgrounds "always working", that's not universal. The Acolyte Feature says "you and your adventuring companions [I]can expect to[/I] receive free healing and care". Just because you can expect it doesn't mean you always get it! The Guild Artisan says things like: "In [I]some[/I] cities and towns, a guildhall offers a central place to meet other members of your profession" and "You [I]can[/I] also gain access to powerful political figures through the guild, [I]if[/I] you are a member in good standing". (Here, I assume can means "it's possible", not "always", but that's my interpretation). The Sage says "...if you do not know that information, you [I]often[/I] know where and from whom you can obtain it. Usually, this comes from... Your DM [I]might[/I] rule that the knowledge you seek...or that [I]it simply cannot be found[/I]." The Soldier says: "You can also [I]usually[/I] gain access to friendly military encampments...". Now having said this, most of the backgrounds are written without these qualifiers. Why this is so, I can't say- my only guess is that the writers thought some benefits were so minor (free passage on a ship, being able to quickly navigate in a city, free room and board) that there wasn't much reason to ever deny them, while access to secret information or free healing was something that could be abused more readily and thus there needed to be levels of uncertainty. But of course, this isn't stated, nor is the DM instructed about how to use backgrounds (as I've stated before) beyond "work with your players to figure out how their backgrounds can matter in the game". The sad part is, I don't think it would have taken a lot of text to make this more clear. And obviously, YMMV about how useful it is to have peasants grovel before you and being able to drop in on the King for a chat. Given that some Backgrounds have alternative features presented, perhaps the easiest way to have prevented issues would be to say "every Background is intended to have useful benefits to the player. The Features presented are [B]examples[/B] of how this works in a game- you and your DM will have to work out the specifics". Alas... [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
Do you plan to adopt D&D5.5One2024Redux?
Top