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

[Micah Sweet]

For a point buy Barbarian it is awful, it is lower than the quick build Barbarian. Further even if we are sticking with that it is still mechanically inferior.

If 15 is good enough it is even worse. A Barbarian with a +2 strength and +1 Constitution and a 15 on point buy could have a 14 Wisdom (S15 D14 S15 W14 I9 CH8). That is doable with a +2 Strength and +1 Constitution. With the bonuses put on Intelligence and Wisdom my Wisdom score is actually LOWER on point buy if I want a 15 Strength and 15 Constitution!

My point stands. The game doesn't need you to have higher than a +2 in any given stat to get the job done.

And I don't use point buy. Too gamist for me and my group's tastes for anything beyond the occasional experiment. Rolling is more fun anyway.

 

[ECMO3]

How exactly is your PC "hurt"? It's not like there's no benefit to being a sailor.

He does not have a feat and ability bonuses to match the backstory and class mechanics.

 

[ECMO3]

And I don't use point buy. Too gamist for me and my group's tastes for anything beyond the occasional experiment. Rolling is more fun anyway.

I agree on this, but the point is the same whether you are using point buy or rolling.

If we are going to have bonuses those bonuses should be driven by the player choices, not by the background he picked off a very short list of backgrounds.

 

[Micah Sweet]

He does not have a feat and ability bonuses to match the backstory and class mechanics.

Then pick a background that fits your backstory best or customize your own. As far as class, that has nothing to do with background. They are separate metrics in any version of 5e.

Are your character creation priorities just very tuned for maximum mechanical advantage? Is that what's going on here? Because that's fine, I'm just not getting a transparent picture of what you actually want from your posts.

 

[Micah Sweet]

I agree on this, but the point is the same whether you are using point buy or rolling.

If we are going to have bonuses those bonuses should be driven by the player choices, not by the background he picked off a very short list of backgrounds.

The background is a player choice. If none of them suit your vision, well, that's what creativity and working with your GM is for.

 

[mamba]

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.

You are a sailor if your profession revolves around ships.

yeah, that is not how that works, at all... I guess that is our main disagreement

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).

I am sure that if you asked them what they are doing, they would not call themselves sailors, unless at the barest surface level, despite being employed on a ship. A helicopter pilot is not a sailor, even if the helicopter takes off from a ship

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

so what, no one said you are restricted to the 16 backgrounds, in fact I said the opposite repeatedly

 

[mamba]

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).

yes, I see no problem with that, If it bothers you, then do not be a sailor. I have no idea why you insist on being one in the first place, you never gave any reason. If all background are the same anyway (i.e. whatever stats and feats you want, regardless of what you call the package), why even have any

 

[mamba]

He does not have a feat and ability bonuses to match the backstory and class mechanics.

because you chose the wrong background, that is entirely on you

If we are going to have bonuses those bonuses should be driven by the player choices, not by the background he picked off a very short list of backgrounds.

the choice of background also was the player's

 

[Yaarel]

Being a "sailor" can be as simple as a Survival skill or vehicle tool proficiency. Better yet, both.

 

[mamba]

Being a "sailor" can be as simple as a Survival skill or vehicle tool proficiency. Better yet, both.

anything can be whatever you design it to be. That is not what WotC chose and I see no reason why this would be any better either