D&D (2024) Just drop the backgrounds.

[Micah Sweet]

I think there's fear of backlash, just like they've experienced with race. Culture is another concept that people can be touchy about, even if it's not supposed to correlate with anything IRL. Unlike A5E, there's people out there looking for things to get offended about from WotC, so they have to be much more careful.

Yeah, it's mostly fear of social media.

 

[Micah Sweet]

If this is a problem with 1D&D backgrounds, it’s a problem with 5e backgrounds too. 5e backgrounds have always been fully customizable and it’s not even an optional rule. People who didn’t allow their players to swap out any and all background elements may not have realized it, but they were house ruling. This is barely a mechanical chance at all, it’s mostly a change of presentation. The only mechanical changes is that the total gp values of background equipment was standardized to 50 gp, all backgrounds give 1 tool and 1 language instead of a total of 2 between them, and the background feature and traits everyone forgot about anyway were removed.

It is a problem with 5e backgrounds. This is why I prefer Level Up's origin system.

 

[delericho]

That makes no sense at all to me.

In my experience, class is almost always the first choice made, regardless of what the book says. Then the player decides which type of elf provides the best ASIs for the chosen class, and then the various options from there.

Removing ASIs from the races was, IMO, a really good move - it made race much less important, with the knock-on effect that we could see a greater variety of options. No need to choose the type of elf to get the 'best' ASIs; you can now choose any type of elf you prefer! (Of course, for the same reason putting them, and feats, into backgrounds has the opposite effect.)

 

[Micah Sweet]

In my experience, class is almost always the first choice made, regardless of what the book says. Then the player decides which type of elf provides the best ASIs for the chosen class, and then the various options from there.

Removing ASIs from the races was, IMO, a really good move - it made race much less important, with the knock-on effect that we could see a greater variety of options. No need to choose the type of elf to get the 'best' ASIs; you can now choose any type of elf you prefer! (Of course, for the same reason putting them, and feats, into backgrounds has the opposite effect.)

I'm not talking about ASIs. I'm talking about how a person in a fantasy world has a race long before they have a class.

 

[shadowoflameth]

With backgrounds being fully customizable, there is no need for them at all mechanically.
Keep them in description chapter of character creation as fluff.

Add 2 skills to you 1st level class proficiencies. Drop the class skills limit.
add choice of 2 languages/tool/weapons total to your 1st level class proficiencies.
Take one feat.

I've seen a lot of discussion about preferences on backgrounds and especially the implications of giving a background a feat. This affects backward compatibility and also implies that feats may not be an optional rule going forward. Simply making the backgrounds customizable and also making them an optional rule solves both problems. My own preference is for backgrounds to have skills and some to have a language, but not all backgrounds need a language or a feat.

 

[Parmandur]

That makes no sense at all to me.

That's what the document says, but it also makes sense from a character creation perspective rather than a biography perspective: the Class is the main source of powers and abilities for a character, the archetype in play. I actually usually think "Idlike to try a Wizard, or maybe a Fighter" before Race selection, and it makes sense that WotC may have found people usually are doing that.

 

[Parmandur]

I'm not talking about ASIs. I'm talking about how a person in a fantasy world has a race long before they have a class.

During character creation, a player is making a mechanical game piece as much as a fictional character. Form follows function.

 

[Yaarel]

During character creation, a player is making a mechanical game piece as much as a fictional character. Form follows function.

An Orc Wizard will feel different from an Elf Wizard, and sometimes even tend to do things differently.

Use is meaning.

The narrative and the mechanics are equally important, and it is important they can inform each other.

 

[Parmandur]

An Orc Wizard will feel different from an Elf Wizard, and sometimes even tend to do things differently.

Use is meaning.

The narrative and the mechanics are equally important, and it is important they can inform each other.

Sure, it makes a difference, but mechanically Class dictates 95% of what a PC can do in game and provides the main bulk of narrative, too. Race and Background are important, but they are riders to Class, as far as the game is concerned.

 

[Micah Sweet]

During character creation, a player is making a mechanical game piece as much as a fictional character. Form follows function.

Not for me. That is relentlessly gamist.