D&D (2024) D&D Background and Origin Feat Article

[Yaarel]

From the article, that isn't clear. It doesn't specify that the 20% discount applies to purchases. It's entirely possible that it applies only to crafting items, and that the person who wrote the summarised version in the article mistakenly thought that was obvious from the context of the feat.

So you are saying? Crafting. Buy an item at full price. Or. Make it yourself at a 20% discount.

That makes sense.

 

[Baumi]

Love the improved feats, but dislike the new backgrounds.

Backgrounds are a Trap Mechanic now. It will restrict players who want to optimize their character (Attribute Choice and Feat), while those who don't care about mechanics (like new players) might choose backgrounds where their Attributes and Feat is useless.

So it's Mechanics vs. Roleplaying, except if you are one of the lucky few where your Character Idea has a good class and background combo. This would not have been a problem with custom backgrounds, which you can do now .. if your gm lets you do it (this will not be a pleasent discussion on some tables).

Also I miss the personality traits. The players loved rolling them (or choosing an interesting item) which usually enrichted their characters, especially with new players. It's not a big deal, you can simply make your own or use old background tables, but it would have been helpfull if the backgrounds would have included them.

 

[dave2008]

It's a lot of social pressure though.

IT must be based on how much I hear that is the case, I've just never experienced it myself.

 

[Yaarel]

We know some of these already, but this should be close to accurate:

Acolyte - Magic Initiate Cleric
Charlatan - Skilled
Artisan - Crafter
Criminal - Alert
Entertainer - Musician
Guard - Alert
Farmer - Tough
Guide - Magic Initiate Druid
Hermit - Healer
Noble - Skilled
Merchant - Lucky
Sage - Magic Initiate Wizard
Sailor - Tavern Brawler
Solider - Savage Attacker
Scribe - (the only one we don’t know yet)
Wayfarer - Lucky

I like your list. Skilled for Noble makes most sense. Lucky for Merchant looks fun.

I associate Hermit with Healer. I can see "Hermit" in some contexts being a witch coven.


Heh, I really want to give Scribe an improved version of the Linguist feat, something like Comprehend Languages as Intelligence checks − and knowledge checks as a Bonus Action rather than an Action.

Out of the ten, perhaps the Scribe is Lucky, in the sense of "catch errors and mistakes".

Possibly Merchant is Tough to "handle a long journey".

 

[dave2008]

Also I miss the personality traits. The players loved rolling them (or choosing an interesting item) which usually enrichted their characters, especially with new players. It's not a big deal, you can simply make your own or use old background tables, but it would have been helpfull if the backgrounds would have included them.

We actually haven't see the whole background entry from the books, this was just preview. However, I do wonder if these are gone myself. I have a feeling you are correct. My group never really used them, but I thought they were interesting and good for those that did.

 

[dave2008]

You limit classes to fighters, barbarians, monks and rogues? Because otherwise there's magic in every single encounter in 5e.

That was not the thrust of the comment I was responding too.

It is all relative of course. We have just used non-caster classes before, but not generally. We have one wizard in our current group, the rest are fighters and rogues. So 1/5th of our group can cast magic. That is a lot less than the implication I was responding to that suggest the solution for everything in 5e was magic.

 

[Sulicius]

Love the improved feats, but dislike the new backgrounds.

Backgrounds are a Trap Mechanic now. It will restrict players who want to optimize their character (Attribute Choice and Feat), while those who don't care about mechanics (like new players) might choose backgrounds where their Attributes and Feat is useless.

So it's Mechanics vs. Roleplaying, except if you are one of the lucky few where your Character Idea has a good class and background combo. This would not have been a problem with custom backgrounds, which you can do now .. if your gm lets you do it (this will not be a pleasent discussion on some tables).

Also I miss the personality traits. The players loved rolling them (or choosing an interesting item) which usually enrichted their characters, especially with new players. It's not a big deal, you can simply make your own or use old background tables, but it would have been helpfull if the backgrounds would have included them.

Hey yeah, I totally forgot about traits! I've seen people use them to great effect, but maybe more people ignored them after writing them down. I am fine with either, but I liked how they helped players think about their characters.

I would say "trap mechanic" is a bit overblown, but there is definitely a more impactful restriction if you want to get all the attributes in the right places with the feat of choice. The DMG will have rules for a custom background anyway, but I personally want to have my players try the base background in my next campaign. Just to see what it feels like.

I don't really take arguments that come down on the side of optimization anyway. Players will always want the strongest options. We'll just see people cobble together a background with perception, stealth/athletics and whatever origin feat turned out the most broken.

Any of the origin feats will work fine on any character.

 

[Yaarel]

The main benefit of Tavern Brawler seems to be the Push for tactical control of the combat area on a grid map.

 

[dave2008]

Right, so literally it’s a dissociated mechanic. It doesn’t represent something your character does in the world, it’s something that because you as a player have, the world must be changed around your character to accommodate.

Maybe. I don't know that we have seen the full text, but I don't think it matters. I would assume the 20% savings comes from the fact that you are skilled at crafting and have less waste and therefore less cost to craft. That seems directly associated to me. Not that I care one way or the other, but that was my impression of the feat.

 

[Yaarel]

I don't really take arguments that come down on the side of optimization anyway. Players will always want the strongest options. We'll just see people cobble together a background with perception, stealth/athletics and whatever origin feat turned out the most broken.

Heh ...

Behold the NINJA background: Perception, Stealth/Athletics, Poisoner toolset. Lucky.