D&D (2024) 2024 Player's Handbook Reveal: Feats/Backgrounds/Species

[mellored]

I like totals of

+0 Peasant
+4 Nonwarriors
+7 Warriors

But that ship sailed.

I mean, if your -7 why even bother?

Peasants: does nothing
Nonwarrior: 0
Warrior: +3

 

[Micah Sweet]

Again, not really. Is that urchin a little less smart. Well yes, if the point buy can't exceed 15. They will be a +1 behind the top most optimized. Might they gain something else from the street urchin background that makes them unique, and dare I say, even better than that +1 optimizer? The answer is yes.

It is less inflammatory. Racial, even fantasy racial makeups, are frowned upon by many. An orc being less intelligent than a gnome is not the same thing as a street urchin being less intelligent than a noble. One comes from an innate/genetic disposition, the other comes from a lack of exposure.

Both choices are me building a fantasy character that I imagined. I really don't play out the boons and banes of selecting a specific combo. I think of a character, their history, upbringing, and desires. Then I pick a culture, class, and background that represent what I envisioned. What combo that produces, and its mechanical benefits, is not at the forefront of my mind.
That said, I have min/maxed before. And when I do, the mechanical benefits I'm after always come first. I think there is an in between that most people use, and I think the system they created will suffice for most of those that fall in between.

According to 5.5 you're supposed to pick your class first.

 

[Blue]

i find it hilarious they said they didn't want to replicate the stat distribution limitations of species and then immediately went into how they basically did just that anyways, granted maybe with a little more leeway in it, but like, after tasha's floating for so long it's by comparason putting restrictions back onto the system rather than removing them.

i would've liked if they'd split the difference between species or background providing your potential ASI placement and had two stat choices given from each.

Or go even further - put an ability increase in Class, like 13th Age.

13th Age 1e has race giving a +2 to one of several ability choices, and class gives +2 to one of several ability choice, you just can't pick the same one. So you will always be able to increase the prime ability for your class without limiting your racial choices (including classes that can use multiple ones, like STR or DEX), plus your race does have a cohesion to it. So a halfling wizard might be +2 INT & DEX, and a dwarf wizard might be +2 INT and CON.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I just noticed something. Without custom backgrounds, the only two wilderness-themed background options in the Player's Handbook are Guide and (possibly) Hermit. Now I miss the nice, generic Outlander background, where you could have any of at least ten wilderness-themed backstories, only one of which was guide.

I suspect someone WotC hired told them outlander was a "social red flag", and that's why it's gone.

 

[Micah Sweet]

That's not a palatable justification for anything. It's promoting a narrative that the economically disadvantaged are incapable of learning from their life experiences. That's literally one step removed from saying, "Orcs are nomads with no formal schooling, so orcs can't be as smart as sedentary people." Which, of course, is total BS.

Sure, but economic class is not what social media has been complaining to WotC about. It's race.

 

[Micah Sweet]

You're right. Intelligence is knowledge. For example: knowing which gangs operate in a particular neighborhood; knowing where you can sleep in the park without being harassed by local law enforcement; knowing which commercial kitchens are willing to hand out leftovers; knowing which locals hire undocumented workers, no questions asked.

There's arguably no 5e skill that covers any of the above knowledge, so the only way for someone living on the street to know any of it would be to make an unmodified Intelligence check. So it's kind of silly the Wayfarer background, which is all about living on the street, can't improve Intelligence.

Level Up's Culture skill would cover all of this.

 

[Scribe]

Tasha version with floating starting ASIs was good enough, why backtrack on it?

I suppose because there is logical reason to have an association with something and the designers realized they couldn't put it on Species for reasons, so they stapled it to Backgrounds.

 

[Bagpuss]

i find it hilarious they said they didn't want to replicate the stat distribution limitations of species and then immediately went into how they basically did just that anyways, granted maybe with a little more leeway in it, but like, after tasha's floating for so long it's by comparason putting restrictions back onto the system rather than removing them.

Restrictions are a good thing.

i would've liked if they'd split the difference between species or background providing your potential ASI placement and had two stat choices given from each.

I'm glad you agree having two lots of restrictions would have been better, they never should have been removed from race.

 

[Epic Meepo]

I suspect someone WotC hired told them outlander was a "social red flag", and that's why it's gone.

I have no idea if that's true, but a similar narrative would explain why "urchins" are "wayfarers" now. That's another one that really annoys me, because "wayfarer" just means "someone who travels a lot, usually on foot." There is no connotation of growing up on the streets and learning to use thieves' tools, both of which we've been told are baked into the "wayfarer" background. That background isn't describing a wayfarer, it's describing an urchin.

 

[CreamCloud0]

Or go even further - put an ability increase in Class, like 13th Age.

I mentioned earlier in the thread but I think it’s been long enough to bear repeating: I’m loathe to increase the amount of influence your class has on character creation, it’s already like 95% of it considering species and background don’t typically add anything past 1st level, maybe it’s a tiny bit less with background feats being added but class is still the overwhelming majority.