D&D General Playstyle vs Mechanics

[TwoSix]

To defend my previous example, the PC was a criminal their entire life up to that point, but only became a "level 1 Rogue" in their 50s.

I don't consider commoners as having a Class at all, but that's just me.

That's why I always tell my players to come to me with their concept, and we'll figure out the mechanics to make it work. If we have to bend backgrounds, or class or subclass features to make it work, then that's we'll do.

 

[soviet]

Sure. I can do so without a background feature prompting me to, but I understand if some people need training wheels.

Like having to prep it in advance, such that any impromptu used must be rejected as 'uh, implausible'? Those kind of training wheels?

 

[Bae'zel]

which is how I handle it, they know messengers in their ‘home’ region but outside of that they need new contacts, because chances are no one ever heard of their contact or how to reach them.

Being a criminal makes you fit in better and pick up on signs others would miss however. That still means you need to earn the trust, but you have an in and you get there faster than one without the background

Which is super interesting potential for roleplaying and adventure hooks.

I'm thinking of Artemis Entreri trying to climb back up the ranks of the Thieves' Guild in Calimshan after being away for a few years, his previous allies and contacts dead or out of favor.

 

[prabe]

That's why I always tell my players to come to me with their concept, and we'll figure out the mechanics to make it work. If we have to bend backgrounds, or class or subclass features to make it work, then that's we'll do.

Even leaving my tendencies to ask the players for setting things, I generally have a standing offer like this in games I run, and if someone comes with something on their own I'll make an effort to find a place for it.

 

[mamba]

Considering "local" directly follows "even over great distances", it would certainly imply that local means "your current region", not "your region of origin".

the caravans might travel over great distances, but they do not go everywhere either and the two shady guys that you know that travel with them might not be in the same town as you even when you travel along the caravan route

That's seriously the issue that has people posting for hundreds of posts? What a nothingburger of an issue. That is so trivial to arbitrate in game.

since when has that ever stopped anyone

 

[TwoSix]

Even leaving my tendencies to ask the players for setting things, I generally have a standing offer like this in games I run, and if someone comes with something on their own I'll make an effort to find a place for it.

Especially for 5e, since I have a large amount of homebrew for it; far more than is easily digestible by one player just diving in.

 

[Maxperson]

I don't know what you mean by this, nor do I really understand how it relates to my post.

For instance:

GM describes "You see a person walking towards you" while reading their notes that this is a 4 hp village elder.​

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Player responds "I zap them with a lightning bolt."​

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Dice are rolled - but the minimum damage, even if the GM rolls a successful saving throw, is 4 hp.​

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GM notes that the village elder drops to zero hp, and narrates "The lightning bolt strikes them dead."​

How is this anything other than the fiction "serving" (more precisely, being constrained and shaped by) the mechanics? You can add all the fluff you want, all the creative explanations in the world or none at all, and the PC still casts the spell, it still deals the damage that it deals, in the fiction the NPC keels over dead.

Because lightning bolt does not have to work. There could be an anti-magic zone in the fiction and the lightning bolt mechanic would be subservient to that area and fail to go off when cast. When people here talk about the mechanic being subservient to the fiction, they are talking about a mechanic that always works, even when the fiction says it shouldn't.

 

[mamba]

To defend my previous example, the PC was a criminal their entire life up to that point, but only became a "level 1 Rogue" in their 50s.

I don't consider commoners as having a Class at all, but that's just me.

you do not need to have a class to commit crimes, and it is not limited to Rogue either…

Your ‘forced to take on a life of crime late in life’ did sound like they fell on hard times to me, not like they were a criminal for the last 30 years already

Guess I understood you wrong then

 

[mamba]

It doesn't even say that. ALL it says is they know how to get a message to their 1 contact.

by knowing the messengers, not by recognizing a mailbox…

An before we fall back on not liking the "automatic nature..." The DM controls pretty much every aspect of the feature and it will work as well as poorly as they deem it to

when why does denying the feature even once result in such pushback…

I doubt me saying ‘it takes a month to reach your contact and another for you to receive the answer’ is all that different from a denial when you need the help in two days

 

[Maxperson]

Maybe the background just makes you like Dave.

Dave was bragging to his boss one day, "You know, I know everyone there is to know. Just name someone, anyone, and I know them."

Tired of his boasting, his boss called his bluff, "OK, Dave, how about Tom Cruise?"

"No dramas boss, Tom and I are old friends, and I can prove it." So Dave and his boss fly out to Hollywood and knock on Tom Cruise's door, and Tom Cruise shouts,

"Dave! What's happening? Great to see you! Come on in for a beer!"

Although impressed, Dave's boss is still skeptical. After they leave Cruise's house, he tells Dave that he thinks him knowing Cruise was just lucky.

"No, no, just name anyone else," Dave says.

"President Biden," his boss quickly retorts.

"Yup," Dave says, "Old buddies, let's fly out to Washington," and off they go.

At the White House, Biden spots Dave on the tour and motions him and his boss over, saying, "Dave, what a surprise, I was just on my way to a meeting, but you and your friend come on in and let's have a beer first and catch up."

Well, the boss is very shaken by now but still not totally convinced. After they leave the White House grounds he expresses his doubts to Dave, who again implores him to name anyone else.

"Pope Francis," his boss replies.

"Sure!" says Dave. "I've known the Pope for years." So off they fly to Rome.

Dave and his boss are assembled with the masses at the Vatican's St. Peter's Square when Dave says, "This will never work. I can't catch the Pope's eye among all these people. Tell you what, I know all the guards so let me just go upstairs and I'll come out on the balcony with the Pope." He disappears into the crowd headed towards the Vatican.

Sure enough, half an hour later Dave emerges with the Pope on the balcony, but by the time Dave returns, he finds that his boss has had a heart attack and is surrounded by paramedics.

Making his way to his boss' side, Dave asks him, "What happened?"

His boss looks up and says, "It was the final straw... you and the Pope came out on to the balcony and the man next to me said, 'Who the heck is that on the balcony with Dave?'

Dave's boss wasn't very bright. Instead of picking famous people who Dave might want to get to know, he should have picked Sarah Little from some small town in North Dakota.