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

[Scott Christian]

All @Ruin Explorer seems to be saying is that a lot of people are going to complain about this, and that stats matter rather a lot in 5e. I find it hard to argue with either point.

And I agreed with him on that point. A lot of players will complain when they don't get to start with a 16. He is correct. My claim was that for many players, it won't matter. And equally, the mindset needs to be taught that a 15 vs a 16 is not as big as what it seems in our heads. With all the table variants and variables, a 15 vs 16 is miniscule over the course of a campaign.

The same can be said for species.

I don't understand your point here. I claimed that both a 15 and 16 are way above the general population for a D&D world. Therefore, it is not essentialism (an inflammatory argument) when someone starts out with a 15 intelligence versus a 16. Both scores put the PC in the top 10% of the population using the old bell curve.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The odd part of this discussion to me is how it is again predicated on moar power!

The last time thing I have heard and experienced in 5e is how hard it is. But we are tripping out over 15 vs 16 in a score.

In fact I see more concern that the game and monsters are too easy. So what do we do? Remove any impediments to bringing maximum firepower every round of combat. God forbid I choose to drink a potion or cast a non combat spell! We need to make sure we kill those monsters quick!

With this ASI stuff, we wring our hands because whether it’s racial or background based, we are worried we might miss out on a plus one for a few levels.

I get it. When I arrange stats and feats, I am keenly aware of how and when I get a bonus to hit, etc. it’s just a funny bit of human nature I guess.

I am amused about how much we all fuss and it really does not matter much. But it sure “feels” like it does.

To ground he scores in some way, I would say +1 from race, +1 from back ground and one point you are free to place.

(Though honestly I was fine with half orcs getting +2 str and +1 con). But that ship has sailed and here we are…

It's all about "number go up" and how that is appealing psychologically. None of this has anything to do with better gameplay, just what they think will sell more units.

 

[Cadence]

What's a PC aura? Please let the answer not be what I think it is.

A much less severe case of plot armor. In 13th Age I want to say one doesn't die to unnamed bad guys. (Which makes it fun when the bard asks every opponent they meat what there name is).

If nothing else, even in games where the DM tries not to do anything special to favor the PCs, I'm guessing their speed of advancement is vastly out of scale with what the world building would imply (especially for spell casters).

 

[Blue]

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.

My suggestion decreases class influence on character creation.

In which of these does class have more influence?
1. You may pick any background with any class freely without mechanical repercussions.
2. To avoid mechanical repercussions, you must limit which background you pick to those that favor the ability scores your class needs.

It should be clear that the first one class has less influence. So I agree with your goal, and moving class-related mechanics (like ability score matching) to class so it doesn't influence your other choices is an important part of meeting that goal.

BTW, I really do agree with that goal - one of my pet peeves is how little design space is given to race in the 2014 PHB. They are kept so "eh" that there's no room for a race to be more powerful. Centaurs that are large in the MM are only medium-sized Pony People as a playable race, because they can't deal with a large creature. Think of all of the outcry about flying races, when if there was a still opportunity cost of losing out on all the goodies from a powerful race it wouldn't be as big a deal.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I definitely think that's better than attaching stat boosts to game concepts that should be focused on narrative and aesthetics.

What game concepts are those, in your opinion?

 

[Micah Sweet]

And I prefer that to the constantly escalating numbers in previous editions.

I don't really care how fast the numbers go up so long as there's a logical in-setting reason why they do.

 

[TwoSix]

What game concepts are those, in your opinion?

Race and background.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I'm not against darkvision, but I was hoping to reduce it a little, maybe 40/80 instead of 60/120

It's much harder to ignore lighting as a concern your way.

 

[Micah Sweet]

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 and 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.

Welcome to modern gaming culture, I guess.

 

[Micah Sweet]

Or just common sense.

The general concept of an outlander was that they were a traveler from somewhere else - what are they then if the campaign happens to take the party back to where the outlander originally came from? Are they still an outlander in their own homeland? Is everyone else in the party now outlanders, since they've now traveled to someplace far from their homelands?

It is a bit nonsensical to define a character solely by being from somewhere else... If I was trained as a doctor, I don't stop being a doctor if I travel halfway around the world. Travelers and migrants had a life before they became travelers and migrants.

Do the mechanics still exist in 5.5 under another name? If so, I'll consider your argument.