D&D General Playstyle vs Mechanics

[Maxperson]

?
The age is irrelevant. Are you saying your players choose backgrounds that don't reflect their actual background?

No. I'm saying the criminal background literally fits criminals of all ages. It's the background ability that's out of whack.

 

[prabe]

No. The PC is not both 16-18(a common age for 1st level rogues with that background) and 50 with an extensive career of network building simultaneously. We don't know the answer to that question until we see what age the player wrote down on his sheet. And I can count on 1 hand(maybe I'd need to go to my second hand) the number of PCs I've seen in the last 40 years who started at age 50 or higher.

The player chose "Criminal" not "Urchin." Doesn't matter how old their character is. Someone who grew up doing criminal things might be able to navigate city spaces more swiftly (the Urchin feature, IIRC) or they might be able to find/make non-hostile contacts (a reasonable interpretation of the Criminal one, I think). I wouldn't be inclined to limit either to the PC's home city, if only because I tend to run kinda peripatetic campaigns, and I'm not super into nuking people's build choices needlessly.

 

[Maxperson]

I'd bet a cocktail that the majority of those PCs were wizards in the days that gave extra points of int too

No bet.

 

[Maxperson]

The player chose "Criminal" not "Urchin." Doesn't matter how old their character is. Someone who grew up doing criminal things might be able to navigate city spaces more swiftly (the Urchin feature, IIRC) or they might be able to find/make non-hostile contacts (a reasonable interpretation of the Criminal one, I think). I wouldn't be inclined to limit either to the PC's home city, if only because I tend to run kinda peripatetic campaigns, and I'm not super into nuking people's build choices needlessly.

Young criminals are not all urchins. Young urchins are not all criminals.

 

[prabe]

Young criminals are not all urchins. Young urchins are not all criminals.

I think that's consistent with the point I was making, did you mean it as something other than (mostly) agreement?

 

[Maxperson]

@tetrasodium I remembered most of those being wizards, and happening a long time ago, but completely forgot about the int bonus that instigated those selections.

 

[soviet]

No. I'm saying the criminal background literally fits criminals of all ages. It's the background ability that's out of whack.

It says 'you are an experienced criminal with a history of breaking the law. You have spent a lot of time among other criminals and still have contacts within the criminal underworld'.

 

[Maxperson]

I think that's consistent with the point I was making, did you mean it as something other than (mostly) agreement?

We're discussing picking backgrounds, age, and the criminal background ability. Young criminals have this extensive network that they aren't old enough to have created just the same as the older ones. The background ability is out of whack for the background.

 

[Maxperson]

It says 'you are an experienced criminal with a history of breaking the law. You have spent a lot of time among other criminals and still have contacts within the criminal underworld'.

Which is out of whack for a young criminal.

 

[prabe]

We're discussing picking backgrounds, age, and the criminal background ability. Young criminals have this extensive network that they aren't old enough to have created just the same as the older ones. The background ability is out of whack for the background.

I would read the Criminal background feature not so much as a network as the ability to find a network (or whatever) and make non-hostile contact with it, more or less wherever they are. It doesn't seem out-of-whack to me.