SmokeyCriminal
Explorer
I think it would be really hard to design characters like that. You're basically creating Category A puzzle piece, and Category B puzzle piece. So that would mean that you would have to take 'Woodsman' and put it with 'Sneaky', 'Tradesman', 'Acrobatic', and make sure that the pieces fit together and that they are relatively equal. And then you have to take 'Sneaky' and put it with 'Woodsman', 'Barbarian', and the rest of category A and make sure that the pieces fit together and that they are all relatively balanced.
From what I understand, when Mearls creates a new subclass, he comes up with a story of a character and then he uses that story as a guide, and he chooses a class who's 'theme' and mechanics can help with that story, and then he builds the subclass mechanics to tell that story. I think of it like, the Class is a theater, and the Sub Class is a story, so you need to figure out which theater is going to accommodate your story the best. It's why we saw the Scout jump around Classes.
I don't think you can design characters in that way using your new template. It feels more like 'Linking' mechanics as a posed to 'Stacking' mechanics.
But, if you do manage to figure out how to implement it, you could link more then just 2 pieces together. Maybe after a few levels or when you reach a new tier you can add another adjective/verb. So you can become a 'Sneaky Woodsman Noble'.
I like the direction you're going with Backgrounds. Backgrounds are there to "tie" you into the world, expanding on that would be good. You can have...Fore?ground. Basically a "new Background" when you enter a new Tier, a sort of "Checking in" with the world. where depending on what you did for the last few Levels/Arc, you get a new minor "perk." It could be as simple as choosing from the existing list of Backgrounds, or maybe create new ones specific to Tier. Just no skills, or maybe do add skills, idk. Maybe get one skill for your Background during creation, and one for every "new background."
I know Mearls would love to get rid of Bonus Actions.
What I would really like is Countdown Clocks, like they have in Blades in the Dark, for Downtime actions. If you want to build/create something or research/study/practice. They should be tied to a Countdown clock instead of just "X days." It's more flexible and elegant and simple.
From what I understand, when Mearls creates a new subclass, he comes up with a story of a character and then he uses that story as a guide, and he chooses a class who's 'theme' and mechanics can help with that story, and then he builds the subclass mechanics to tell that story. I think of it like, the Class is a theater, and the Sub Class is a story, so you need to figure out which theater is going to accommodate your story the best. It's why we saw the Scout jump around Classes.
I don't think you can design characters in that way using your new template. It feels more like 'Linking' mechanics as a posed to 'Stacking' mechanics.
But, if you do manage to figure out how to implement it, you could link more then just 2 pieces together. Maybe after a few levels or when you reach a new tier you can add another adjective/verb. So you can become a 'Sneaky Woodsman Noble'.
I like the direction you're going with Backgrounds. Backgrounds are there to "tie" you into the world, expanding on that would be good. You can have...Fore?ground. Basically a "new Background" when you enter a new Tier, a sort of "Checking in" with the world. where depending on what you did for the last few Levels/Arc, you get a new minor "perk." It could be as simple as choosing from the existing list of Backgrounds, or maybe create new ones specific to Tier. Just no skills, or maybe do add skills, idk. Maybe get one skill for your Background during creation, and one for every "new background."
I know Mearls would love to get rid of Bonus Actions.
What I would really like is Countdown Clocks, like they have in Blades in the Dark, for Downtime actions. If you want to build/create something or research/study/practice. They should be tied to a Countdown clock instead of just "X days." It's more flexible and elegant and simple.