D&D (2024) Is anyone going to use the new 2024 backgrounds?

[Yaarel]

I wonder if the DMs Guide in its Greyhawk setting, offers backgrounds that are specific to this city.

 

[mamba]

Anyone on a ship is "Sailor". That includes the "navigator" and the "captain", and there may be other specialists on board.

so if a noble books passage on a ship that makes him a sailor for the duration of the trip? What about the ship’s cook, or the harpoonier of a whaling ship?

No, if you are a person on board a ship with a specialized profession, then you are that profession, not a sailor. Heck, you could be on a ship and not even specialized enough for sailor (deckhand).

That the PHB limits it to 16 backgrounds is a matter of space, not an indication that these are all the ones that can possibly exist so anything has to be shoehorned into one of them

 

[Yaarel]

so if a noble books passage on a ship that makes him a sailor for the duration of the trip? What about the ship’s cook, or the harpoonier of a whaling ship?

Some nobles spend their time at sea, either as navy officers or yacht residents. These are sailors.

A whaler is a sailor. Good example of a specialist.

Whatever the concept is, the choice of proficiencies − skills, tools − need to mechanically actualize it.

No, if you are a person on board a ship with a specialized profession, then you are that profession, not a sailor. Heck, you could be on a ship and not even specialized enough for sailor (deckhand).

Even a deckhand needs to understand and handle sails.

That the PHB limits it to 16 backgrounds is a matter of space, not an indication that these are all the ones that can possibly exist so anything has to be shoehorned into one of them

Exactly. These 16 backgrounds are broad, multinational, possibilities for a medievalesque feel. There will almost certainly be more backgrounds in future products, and some of them highly specialized.

Many of the over 100 different kinds of D&D Elves are actually 5e 2024 backgrounds.

 

[Micah Sweet]

The highest that my rolls allow more specifically. But if I can't make a Sailor with an intelligence bonus why even have the bonuses at all?

In Level Up ASIs are also tied to backgrounds, but there they are all +1 to a particular stat and +1 to any stat (the A5e origin system includes a culture metric, so the PCs come out a bit more powerful and lose one ASI to compensate).

 

[tetrasodium]

Anyone on a ship is "Sailor". That includes the "navigator" and the "captain", and there may be other specialists on board.

Choosing the abilities (while customizing proficiencies and feat) helps articulate what kind of "Sailor".

I assure you that everyone I've ever met who can claim to be a "sailor", or anything similar, sees things very differently. It's also part of the reason why you see things like captains quarters captains greater cabin & captain's aft cabin while crew had densely packed hammocks in part of the ship's hold.

Some nobles spend their time at sea, either as navy officers or yacht residents. These are sailors.

A whaler is a sailor. Good example of a specialist.

Whatever the concept is, the choice of proficiencies − skills, tools − need to mechanically actualize it.



Even a deckhand needs to understand and handle sails.



Exactly. These 16 backgrounds are broad, multinational, possibilities for a medievalesque feel. There will almost certainly be more backgrounds in future products, and some of them highly specialized.

Many of the over 100 different kinds of D&D Elves are actually 5e 2024 backgrounds.

The bold bits are where you distinguished how those individuals are not mere sailors. You may as well be claiming that the ceo of an oil company is also a rig worker & that a saudi citizen is an oil worker despite employment that has nothing to do with the oil industry

 

[Yaarel]

You may as well be claiming that the ceo of an oil company is also a rig worker & that a saudi citizen is an oil worker despite employment that has nothing to do with the oil industry

If these executive individuals genuinely know what they are doing with the hands-on work, then they are this background too.

Again, pick the options that make the concept happen.

 

[tetrasodium]

If these executive individuals genuinely know what they are doing with the hands-on work, then they are this background too.

Again, pick the options that make the concept happen.

While true, those skills have never been a stated concern driving this int based sailor tangent. The root problem at the core of this whole tangent is the fact that "sailor" is not the option that makes the concept happen because the primary stated concern is just getting +int instead of whatever sailor allows followed by backstory. All of the story & background stuff is just set dressing to justify it unless there are unstated concerns like the other mechanical elements that sailor grants.

 

[ECMO3]

so if a noble books passage on a ship that makes him a sailor for the duration of the trip? What about the ship’s cook, or the harpoonier of a whaling ship?

A Noble who booked passage would not be.

But the Harpooner on a whaleing ship, the helicopter pilot on a Navy Destroyer, the gunner on a world war 2 battleship, the cook, the quartermaster, the first mate on a 20 foot fishing charter - they are all sailors.

No, if you are a person on board a ship with a specialized profession, then you are that profession, not a sailor. Heck, you could be on a ship and not even specialized enough for sailor (deckhand).

You are a sailor if your profession revolves around ships.

The United States Navy has about 400,000 Sailors and very few of them are Bosuns (the actual specialty for handling a ship, working mooring lines, windlass and in the olden days sails).

That the PHB limits it to 16 backgrounds is a matter of space, not an indication that these are all the ones that can possibly exist so anything has to be shoehorned into one of them

Well if there are others you are going to use then by definition you are not using one of the 2024 PHB backgrounds.

 

[ECMO3]

You want your character to be a Fighter, the class's Quick Build suggests that you take up the Soldier background. However, you don't have to take up this background for your Fighter if you don't want to.

Which is exactly the same situation we were in with races. Yes I can play a Elf Paladin before Tasha's, but it was mechanically inferior to the Dragonborn Paladin.

Same thing now. If I want to play a Fighter who is a Sage I have to accept being inferior to the Sailor Fighter (assuming the latter gets Strength, Constitution and a feat good for a fighter).

 

[Corinnguard]

Same thing now. If I want to play a Fighter who is a Sage I have to accept being inferior to the Sailor Fighter (assuming the latter gets Strength, Constitution and a feat good for a fighter).

At least until you reached 3rd level and became a Fighter (Eldritch Knight). And like I mentioned in my last post, choosing another background would make for an interesting element for that character's backstory. The son of a sage who decided to become an Eldritch Knight.