D&D (2024) Half Race Appreciation Society: Half Elf most popular race choice in BG3

[Vaalingrade]

Scrapping elves entirely.

now there's an idea. Sir, you have my backing. Where is the Kickstarter link?

 

[Valetudo]

It's the dms or the campaigns job to create the culture. Backgrounds is just that your starting background. I mean what culture is guild artisan?

 

[Vaalingrade]

Wouldn't it be nice if we still got Campaign Setting books to give us cultural backgrounds for a given setting?

 

[Scott Christian]

That is my point too. So far, 5e lacks the technical term "culture".

However, Background is this. It pertains to the cultural aspects of a characters upbringing, in a way that isnt species or combat-style (class).

If you want to stop using the term "Background" and instead use the term "Culture" and "Cultural Feat", in reference to a specific local culture, do that. It is the same thing.

I actually wish they had a lot more children backgrounds. It seems much more logical to have those, even though they would inevitably be culture based.

 

[Tony Vargas]

This is just excuses to change a bunch of stuff you don't like.

Congratulations, you've just summed up the edition war, in particular, and, just, like, most criticism of D&D, in general.

 

[Marandahir]

It's the dms or the campaigns job to create the culture. Backgrounds is just that your starting background. I mean what culture is guild artisan?

The culture of an artisan (pick trade) within the guild system free cities?

But I also much prefer the generic backgrounds to the specific. Candlekeep Librarian might have something weird that mechanically ties into Candlekeep when all I really want is a Librarian background I can apply to my home setting.

We ran into this problem with the Neverwinter Campaign Setting last edition. How the heck am I supposed to use the Corellon Domain for anything other than Warpriests of Corellon Larethian? At least with the Heroes of the Fallen Lands domains they were genericized and could be applied outside of PoLand and the Realms.

 

[Umbran]

Do I have that right?

Right or wrong, this discussion seems to have become antagonistic.

Do think about that as it continues, please and thanks.

 

[Yaarel]

The culture of an artisan (pick trade) within the guild system free cities?

But I also much prefer the generic backgrounds to the specific. Candlekeep Librarian might have something weird that mechanically ties into Candlekeep when all I really want is a Librarian background I can apply to my home setting.

We ran into this problem with the Neverwinter Campaign Setting last edition. How the heck am I supposed to use the Corellon Domain for anything other than Warpriests of Corellon Larethian? At least with the Heroes of the Fallen Lands domains they were genericized and could be applied outside of PoLand and the Realms.

Because the default is, a player creates ones own background for ones own character, I like the examples being highly specific to a regional setting, typically the environs of a major city.

It is easy to take a specific background and modify it, such as decoupling it from a specific locale, is easy.

I generally view a Background locale as including History proficiency about the locale, and general info about whos who and whats where, like growing up in a reallife town. Then the skill set, such as being a librarian, would apply to any library-like environment anywhere.


In my view, if the player comes up with an innovative background, it needs to be something that both player and the DM agree on. As DM, the setting (multiverse, planes, worlds, and regions) are my responsibility, and I need to determine what makes sense where. But it is a big multiverse, and whether or near or far, there is usually somewhere the character concept works well. Besides the first responsibility of a DM is to make sure the players are comfortable and having fun, and that normally means integrating things they find interesting for their character concepts.

 

[Yaarel]

From the Forgotten Realms setting, this map of the continent of Faerun (on the planet of Toril) helps get a sense of how big a "regional setting" is. If you look at the West Coast of Faerun (left), you see the northern Sword Coast as an exclave of the southern Sword Coast, with the independent region of the town of Waterdeep separating them. The northern Sword Coast is actually the region of the city of Neverwinter, and the southern Sword Coast is actually the region of the city Baldurs Gate. Each of these local regions − Neverwinter, Deepwater, and Baldurs Gate − is a useful size to determine an overall "culture" including all of the complexities within it.

I would love to see a Neverwinter Guide (adventurers setting guide), a Deepwater Guide, and a Baldurs Gate Guide covering each of these regional cultures. Each setting guide can be of a prominent city and its region, or a region of a comparable size. Probably, each region should come with an adventure for the DM.

Within a broader regional culture, it is also possible to refer to a specific site, such Candlekeep which is part of the Baldurs Gate region. Some regions like Ice Wind Dales to the north and High Forest inland to the east lack a major city. Ice Wind Dales is a harsh arctic environment with a few towns holding on. High Forest is the pristine forest of a Wood culture Elf-majority region, whose small tree-house towns are often hidden. The elders of local families govern each tree-house town, but they form traderoute networks with each other to unite the region. High Forest also has small communities of High Forest Drow culture Elves and small communities of Humans from neighboring regions, who now adapt into the ecology of the forest wilderness. Planar Fey communities, even Unicorn communities along one of its rivers, are also known in the High Forest. To its east by southeast, Everelsk is a High culture Elf-majority region. Between High Forest and Neverwinter is the socalled "Savage Frontier" where small farming and mining communities of Orc, Human, Dwarf, Gnome, Goblin, and Halfling, defy interference from foreign govenments. These socalled "Savages" subdivide into the regions of Dessarin, Delimbiyr, and Fallen Lands, to the west, south, and east of the High Forest respectively. Vast regions such as the Endless Wastes (top right) of The Hoards and Shaar (along bottom left) do well to subdivide into into smaller regions, since its remote indigenous communities will tend to be quite different from each other. Generally, there is no such thing as "unclaimed" territory, since obviously the indigenous who live there claim it. However, powerful governments sometimes form peace treaties that establish a "neutral" buffer zone between the two that neither will occupy, which tends to leave the indigenous populations in peace or to fend for themselves, since assistance would require both powerful governments to agree.

I often complain about baking Forgotten Realms setting assumptions into the Players Handbook and other Core Rules. As long as it stays away from the Species descriptions and the Class descriptions (especially the Cleric class), I have to admit, I kinda like the Backgrounds doing a deep dive into the Forgotten Realms setting details. The Species themselves, such as Elf (without Wood, Drow, High cultures) and Classes such as Cleric (without specific religions or multiverse assumptions) are there to be used as-is for any setting. I am ok with each Species description being followed by a section with three Forgotten Realms cultures where the Species is notable.

The details of the Backgrounds are instructive examples for what a Background can look like, but it feels easier for the DM to ignore, while supplying different Backgrounds for a different setting instead. The DM and players are probably using a homebrew setting, and might be using an other official setting that is unrelated to Forgotten Realms, such as Eberron or one of the Magic The Gathering settings.

 

[Micah Sweet]

From the Forgotten Realms setting, this map of the continent of Faerun (on the planet of Toril) helps get a sense of how big a "regional setting" is. If you look at the West Coast of Faerun (left), you see the northern Sword Coast as an exclave of the southern Sword Coast, with the independent region of the town of Waterdeep separating them. The northern Sword Coast is actually the region of the city of Neverwinter, and the southern Sword Coast is actually the region of the city Baldurs Gate. Each of these local regions − Neverwinter, Deepwater, and Baldurs Gate − is a useful size to determine an overall "culture" including all of the complexities within it.

I would love to see a Neverwinter Guide (adventurers setting guide), a Deepwater Guide, and a Baldurs Gate Guide covering each of these regional cultures. Each setting guide can be of a prominent city and its region, or a region of a comparable size. Probably, each region should come with an adventure for the DM.

Within a broader regional culture, it is also possible to refer to a specific site, such Candlekeep which is part of the Baldurs Gate region. Some regions like Ice Wind Dales to the north and High Forest inland to the east lack a major city. Ice Wind Dales is a harsh arctic environment with a few towns holding on. High Forest is the pristine forest of a Wood culture Elf-majority region, whose small tree-house towns are often hidden. The elders of local families govern each tree-house town, but they form traderoute networks with each other to unite the region. High Forest also has small communities of High Forest Drow culture Elves and small communities of Humans from neighboring regions, who now adapt into the ecology of the forest wilderness. Planar Fey communities, even Unicorn communities along one of its rivers, are also known in the High Forest. To its east by southeast, Everelsk is a High culture Elf-majority region. Vast regions such as the Endless Wastes (top right) of The Hoards and Shaar (along bottom left) do well to subdivide into into smaller regions, since its remote indigenous communities will tend to be quite different from each other. Generally, there is no such thing as "unclaimed" territory, since obviously the indigenous who live there claim it. However, powerful governments sometimes form peace treaties that establish a "neutral" buffer zone between the two that neither will occupy, which tends to leave the indigenous populations in peace or to fend for themselves, since assistance would require both powerful governments to agree.

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I often complain about baking Forgotten Realms setting assumptions into the Players Handbook and other Core Rules. As long as it stays away from the Species descriptions and the Class descriptions (especially the Cleric class), I have to admit, I kinda like the Backgrounds doing a deep dive into the Forgotten Realms setting details. The Species themselves, such as Elf (without Wood, Drow, High cultures) and Classes such as Cleric (without specific religions or multiverse assumptions) are there to be used as-is for any setting. I am ok with each Species description being followed by a section with three Forgotten Realms cultures where the Species is notable.

The details of the Backgrounds are instructive examples for what a Background can look like, but it feels easier for the DM to ignore, while supplying different Backgrounds for a different setting instead. The DM and players are probably using a homebrew setting, and might be using an other official setting that is unrelated to Forgotten Realms, such as Eberron or one of the Magic The Gathering settings.

How do you adequately cover species and class entries with zero setting assumptions? Seriously, I want an example.