New Background - Raised by Animals

[Jimbro]

I wanted to create a background inspired by the stories of Romulus and Remus, Mowgli, Tarzan, etc. So I created the Raised by Animals background and posted it on my blog. Check it out and let me know what you think. Thanks so much!

http://worldbuilderblog.me/2015/11/12/new-background-raised-by-animals/

 

[transcendantviewer]

The problem with this is that it's already covered under the Outlander Background. One of the table examples is "I was, in fact, raised by wolves." Any DM worth his salt can just reflavor "Wolves" into any other animal. It still gets the same result, and in this edition, if something ain't broke, don't fix it.

 

[Jimbro]

I definitely saw that before I made the background, but I disagree with the sentiment. In this edition if you want to expand a personality trait into an entire background - go for it.

I think one personality trait does not an entire background make. It's great to be able to expand that idea into something a little more specific and deeper.

 

[Celebrim]

I'm going to agree with transcendentviewer here. There isn't enough substance to this background, and it doesn't to me scream, "I'm Tarzan" or "I'm Mowgli".

In my house rules for 3e, the "I want to be Tarzan" proposition, led to the following trait:

FERAL [TRAIT]
You grew up alone far from civilized lands and call animals brothers.
Prerequisite: Not fey, appropriate background
Benefit: You were raised by animals. If you take the Feral trait, you are automatically assumed to have both the Primitive trait and the Illiterate disadvantage as well.
Empathy (Animal) is always a class skill for you. You begin play knowing the secret language of one group of animals (4 ranks) and may purchase others as bonus languages, but you lose all normal racial bonus languages from your list of bonus languages.
You find the civilized world to be frequently baffling; no matter how long you remain in it. You have a -4 penalty on all craft, bluff, diplomacy, disable device, open lock, perform, and sense motive checks. On the other hand, you have a +2 bonus on all Knowledge (Nature) and Survival skill checks, and climb, jump, survival and swim are always class skills for you. You also have a +4 bonus on skill and ability checks to notice or recognize smells.
Special: You may not take both this trait and the Adopted trait. If you take the Feral Trait, you are automatically assumed to begin with the Primitive trait as well.

That's a pretty dense set of modifiers, and I won't try to unpack them all in detail because most of them aren't applicable to 5e or outside of my house rules.

But the point is that this trait gives you a lot of baggage - which is what you'd expect of a very abnormal background like 'raised by wolves'. You can't read or write unless you spend future resources. You'll never be good at a lot of skills unless you spend future resources, and even then you'll never be as good. You pretty much aren't going to be wearing armor without spending a lot of character building resources. But you have a lot of natural talents and things you can always be good at, regardless of your class. You can speak to animals in their own language, but you can't speak to a lot of non-animals without spending expensive future resources, and if you invest it in, you can be really good at handling animals indeed.

Compared to your example, you are gaining what - a small animal friend? There just isn't enough in what you purpose or that makes the character different to justify the rules bloat. Try to make it more different, give more small advantages, and a few penalties that amount to things that can really be a hinderance. It's going to be a tricky background to make, because you don't want a background that gives you a straight up boost for no cost depending on the class you play. In my example, no armor and no literacy together strikes out a huge array of potential 'hide the disadvantage' win-win concepts.

As a smaller note, why does being raised by animals make you more likely to be a mason, and why is that under 'languages'?

 

[transcendantviewer]

Well, that depends on how resourceful the player is. I have an Outlander Barbarian that, according to his backstory, is the son of a successful nomadic caravan of traders and went to a Bard's College for further education. He is a gentleman and a scholar and is very well-educated, but despite that, he's, mechanically, an Outlander. Backgrounds are just flavor given mechanics. I'm not sure creating an entire background is necessary when Outlanders are already pretty much children of the wilds. Something like an animal friend could be something you talk to the DM about, I wouldn't personally spend a Background Feature for one.

 

[transcendantviewer]

Celebrim, I don't think you're in the proper forums. This is 5th Edition D&D. 5e does not get that complex and there are no "Traits" in this edition.

 

[dmnqwk]

I like the idea of being raised by animals and would definitely use this with a couple of changes.

1. Remove kit use. Kits are a more civilised way of achieving things.
2. Change the Feature to - Feature: Another kind of family. You were raised by an animal to be their child, adopting several mannerisms and developing a better understanding of how they function as a society. You gain advantage on all animal handling checks when dealing with this type of creature.

I feel the idea is great and love the jungle book picture you used, Balou is awesome after all and to be raised by Bears would be excellent!

 

[Celebrim]

Celebrim, I don't think you're in the proper forums. This is 5th Edition D&D. 5e does not get that complex and there are no "Traits" in this edition.

First, this is the "House Rules" forum.

Secondly, I'm well aware that there are differences between 3e and 5e, which is why I said things like, "I won't try to unpack them all in detail because most of them aren't applicable to 5e or outside of my house rules."

Thirdly, the criticisms I made of the proposed rule still remain valid. The rule has too little variation from existing rules to justify the bloat. The rule does not in fact carry the feel and flavor of something like, "Raised by wolves" or "Raised by apes", well. If you took that as a background, you would not in fact feel like you were playing a young Tarzan type character. Jimbro has said he's looking for something "more specific and deeper", and my criticism is, "This isn't specific and deeper".

The intention in presenting the trait was to give ideas which could be translated into 5e mechanics. Normally, I'd attempt that myself, but with very little knowledge of 5e I don't think my translations would likely be elegant and balanced.

You suggest that the player just ought to be creative and get a background like Outlander to fit, but I personally feel that there are limits to that.

dmnqwk's "Another kind of family." suggestion to my mind at least goes part way toward creating that idea, though even his idea seems a little weak. Tarzan or Mowgli certainly does have advantage on animal handling checks, but he can also handle at least some wild animals as if they were tame, and he can also communicate with at least some animals in their own language. Maybe Tarzan or Mowgli are high level, but at least some of that ought to be available to 'boy Tarzan' or 'boy Mowgli'.

Ideas of that sort, collected together, would I think capture the feel the OP is going for here. Since the advantages conveyed by 'being raised by animals' are probably greater than ordinary backgrounds (being rather magical in nature), it would I think be reasonable if the background also conveyed certain penalties. The 5e'y way to do this might be something like "You have disadvantage on all tool use checks.", which has 5e simplicity going for it while still being very broad.

As for 'animal friend', it seems to me anyone with enough skill in animal handling could have an animal friend of they choose to do so. It doesn't take someone 'raised by wolves' to have a pet dog or parrot. Good mechanics are specific about what they are providing that wouldn't otherwise be allowed.

 

[dmnqwk]

For the most part I see backgrounds as "2 free skills, maybe a tool proficiency" in terms of power, hence why I would water this down to what I stated.

Now, I don't mean I only see them as that in terms of creating characters but I had a player who wanted to be a Spin Doctor of sorts, none of the current backgrounds really fitted so I basically had him make one up as Politician with Deception and Persuasion. I gave him the Advantage on Charisma checks when dealing with political entities as a Feature, since it fitted.

I think it's very easy to get carried away with the power level of backgrounds, but really I like to think up a character concept or backstory first, then see if there's a background that applies. If not just give 2 skills and a little something on top (only a little something, not multiple proficiencies and a cr0 animal companion!) and bam! you got yourself a background.