D&D 5E [5e] Parties whose characters all share a background - thoughts?

[Particle_Man]

For soldiers it would be rather simple to have them all be in the same military unit and go on adventures as that unit (or the special forces part of it). Since they would all have the althletics skill, presumably the DM would provide athletic things to do.

For criminals, well they could all have been from the same gang. All having stealth means some probably restriction on armour choices, but then again, bypassing encounters becomes a more likely option.

For acolytes, they could all have the same god and church. A different kind of special forces with a different kind of theme. But all having insight also allows for a heavier emphasis on interaction, perhaps even "father brown" style mysteries.

For folk heroes, the great outdoors provides a comfortable living. The focus could be more on the wilderness and less on the town adventures. Or one could have a "Robin Hood" or "Serving the prince in exile" theme.

Sages is a bit of a stumbling block. All having the ability to know where a certain piece of information could be found, and all having proficiency in the same knowledge skills, doesn't provide the same sort of opportunity for benefits from overlap as the other four types do.

Anyhow, just my thoughts. What do you guys think of one background parties?

 

[sidonunspa]

they could work for sure...

I'm already thinking up a Oceans 11 one shot game for my friends..

 

[Abstruse]

I plan to run an all-criminal story in Waterdeep. They're given some seed money and sent into the town to attempt to start a thieves guild. The classes aren't as important as them all sharing a criminal background.

 

[andreww]

I can see it working quite well for providing a starting rationale for the group working together. I think it is an awful idea o lock everyone into the same two skills. I would much rather have had backgrounds which gave people a bit of a choice of skills from half a dozen or so applicable ones. Soldier could easily include:

Athletics - lugging lots of gear everywhere
Stealth - lots of army units involve scouts
Animal Handling - you were part of the quartermaster division handling supplies
Perception - stuck on guard duty again, who did you piss off this time?
Survival - armies often live off the land
Intimidation - Soldiers can be a scary lot

That would allow for a larger degree of customisation without presenting people with an overwhelming choice. It could also fit nicely into some of the bond/ideal/flaw stuff.

 

[JC99]

For soldiers it would be rather simple to have them all be in the same military unit and go on adventures as that unit (or the special forces part of it). Since they would all have the althletics skill, presumably the DM would provide athletic things to do.

For criminals, well they could all have been from the same gang. All having stealth means some probably restriction on armour choices, but then again, bypassing encounters becomes a more likely option.

For acolytes, they could all have the same god and church. A different kind of special forces with a different kind of theme. But all having insight also allows for a heavier emphasis on interaction, perhaps even "father brown" style mysteries.

For folk heroes, the great outdoors provides a comfortable living. The focus could be more on the wilderness and less on the town adventures. Or one could have a "Robin Hood" or "Serving the prince in exile" theme.

Sages is a bit of a stumbling block. All having the ability to know where a certain piece of information could be found, and all having proficiency in the same knowledge skills, doesn't provide the same sort of opportunity for benefits from overlap as the other four types do.

Anyhow, just my thoughts. What do you guys think of one background parties?

The sage's researcher ability is very much written to allow for DM discretion, so you could always have them roll/pick a specialty from the Sage table (Alchemist, astronomer, librarian, etc) and have each PC's Reasearcher ability focus on their area of expertise.

Need to know where to find refined dragon's blood? Ask the alchemist. Looking for The Tome of Evil Things? The librarian might have an idea where to start looking.

 

[ccooke]

Through most of the playtest, I ran frequent one-offs in a megacity setting I've been working on. The players were told they could make any character they liked so long as they were a believable member of a thieves' guild. I think this is where I really started to love the 5e chargen system - the number of ways you can get at least one thief-like feature are huge. Some of the methods that worked during the playtest:

* A Rogue. Obviously.
* A Cleric with the Trickery domain. (I understand that's confirmed for the PHB)
* A Wizard Illusionist specialist
* Neutral-ish Paladin with the Oath of Vengence (Guild enforcer for the God of Thieves, anyone?)
* Any Lightfoot Halfling
* Any character with the Guild Thief (Now Criminal), Spy, Charlatan, Jester or Thug background
* Any character with at least one of the obvious skills (Stealth, Deception, Sleight of Hand, etc)

Basically, it's possible to create lots of groups with a common theme in a very flexible manner.

 

[JC99]

Through most of the playtest, I ran frequent one-offs in a megacity setting I've been working on. The players were told they could make any character they liked so long as they were a believable member of a thieves' guild. I think this is where I really started to love the 5e chargen system - the number of ways you can get at least one thief-like feature are huge. Some of the methods that worked during the playtest:

* A Rogue. Obviously.
* A Cleric with the Trickery domain. (I understand that's confirmed for the PHB)
* A Wizard Illusionist specialist
* Neutral-ish Paladin with the Oath of Vengence (Guild enforcer for the God of Thieves, anyone?)
* Any Lightfoot Halfling
* Any character with the Guild Thief (Now Criminal), Spy, Charlatan, Jester or Thug background
* Any character with at least one of the obvious skills (Stealth, Deception, Sleight of Hand, etc)

Basically, it's possible to create lots of groups with a common theme in a very flexible manner.

* Any High Elf with Minor Illusion as their cantrip.

 

[Patrick McGill]

I prefer the idea of a "party background", which might give all the members the same synergistic benefit, or provide a pool of benefits that compliment each other, to further drive the idea of a team working together. I actually made a rough module about that on my blog if any one is interested: here. It was earlier on in the playtest, and not really playtested (except the airship crew one, worked pretty well). Not profesional quality, but I was excited about the idea!

I think that Party Backgrounds can just be another layer on top of personal backgrounds, since personal backgrounds don't really confer much in the way of mechanics really.

 

[ccooke]

I prefer the idea of a "party background", which might give all the members the same synergistic benefit, or provide a pool of benefits that compliment each other, to further drive the idea of a team working together. I actually made a rough module about that on my blog if any one is interested: here. It was earlier on in the playtest, and not really playtested (except the airship crew one, worked pretty well). Not profesional quality, but I was excited about the idea!

I think that Party Backgrounds can just be another layer on top of personal backgrounds, since personal backgrounds don't really confer much in the way of mechanics really.

Hmm. I'd say that Backgrounds provide quite a lot of mechanics, actually. Two skills, some tools, often languages, a trait. That's a pretty big packet of mechanics.

 

[Patrick McGill]

Hmm. I'd say that Backgrounds provide quite a lot of mechanics, actually. Two skills, some tools, often languages, a trait. That's a pretty big packet of mechanics.

I suppose I mean different mechanics. Everyone is going to have skills and languages, adding a few more isn't going to make the game more complicated for you. If that makes sense. So it might add a significant amount of benefit, I wouldn't say it adds any more mechanical complexity.