D&D 5E (2024) WotC Should Make 5.5E Specific Setting

[Hussar]

People where arriving in London by ship as late as the 50s and 60s (and still are covertly). Not everyone is rich enough to afford air travel.

If you think it takes air travel to travel the world in less than months, well, I don't really know what to say.

But, again, being able to be from "parts unknown" is perfectly fine. No problems. But, that should not be the ONLY option for a PHB PC. Those people in Surrey have families and family trees and organizations and HISTORY in Surrey. Thus, they are very much not "fish out of water" characters. They are local characters.

That's precisely what I want for all PC's made from PHB species. Not that it has to be that. It most certainly doesn't. But, it should be an option.

That's all it has to be - an OPTION. You don't need to take it. You are perfectly fine to ignore it. No problems there. But, it should be available as an option, EXACTLY the same way that it's an available option for every single AD&D PHB race in Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms or Mystara.

 

[mamba]

But, again, being able to be from "parts unknown" is perfectly fine. No problems. But, that should not be the ONLY option for a PHB PC. Those people in Surrey have families and family trees and organizations and HISTORY in Surrey. Thus, they are very much not "fish out of water" characters. They are local characters.

and your dragonborn family can have lived in Greenest for generations and have local contacts. and history in that place… the only one stopping you here seems to be you

 

[Paul Farquhar]

Those people in Surrey have families and family trees and organizations and HISTORY in Surrey

They are not Scottish though. No reason why your Dragonborn characters should have friends, family and organisations that are also Dragonborn. I have no biological relatives closer than 200 miles. And aside from that one person, I have no known biological relatives at all.

 

[Hussar]

and your dragonborn family can have lived in Greenest for generations and have local contacts. and history in that place… the only one stopping you here seems to be you

And I said exactly that. Making stuff up is not really a problem. I am capable. Thanks.

But, the point is, the background that is made up is 100% generic because you can't actually have any history in that place without rewriting that place, and I'm not the DM. It's not like I can suddenly claim that Greenest has a thriving community of Dragonborn, now can I?

 

[Hussar]

They are not Scottish though. No reason why your Dragonborn characters should have friends, family and organisations that are also Dragonborn. I have no biological relatives closer than 200 miles. And aside from that one person, I have no known biological relatives at all.

So, because you have no known biological relatives, it is impossible for everyone to have them? e

 

[Paul Farquhar]

So, because you have no known biological relatives, it is impossible for everyone to have them? e

I must have them, but I have no idea who they are or where they are. I can’t say, I’m a Farquhar, ergo I must come from from Farquharland. There is no such place. Likewise there is no need for there to be any “Dragonborn settlements” on the Sword Coast for a Dragonborn to be from the Sword Coast. We can assume they live in integrated communities with lots of other species. And the same goes for Goliaths etc. And when it comes to non-species like tieflings, aasimar and dhampir, they can’t be from monocultures, because their biological families are not the same as them.

 

[AnotherGuy]

That's precisely what I want for all PC's made from PHB species. Not that it has to be that. It most certainly doesn't. But, it should be an option.

That's all it has to be - an OPTION. You don't need to take it. You are perfectly fine to ignore it. No problems there. But, it should be available as an option, EXACTLY the same way that it's an available option for every single AD&D PHB race in Greyhawk or Forgotten Realms or Mystara.

This is an old discussion where players insist EVERYTHING in their bible must be catered for and then the DM comes with his/her own bible and smacks them over the head with it for being pesky heretics.

I believe this is a playstyle issue.

 

[mamba]

And I said exactly that. Making stuff up is not really a problem. I am capable. Thanks.

But, the point is, the background that is made up is 100% generic because you can't actually have any history in that place without rewriting that place, and I'm not the DM. It's not like I can suddenly claim that Greenest has a thriving community of Dragonborn, now can I?

I am not seeing the difference, you make stuff up whether Greenest is a dragonborn community or not. The only difference is how many other dragonborn are among the acquaintances of your character.

Why can your dragonborn only have a generic history because they live in a village with few other dragonborn, if anything being in a place where you are ‘exotic’ probably means you have a more interesting history than the average person

 

[Paul Farquhar]

It's not like I can suddenly claim that Greenest has a thriving community of Dragonborn, now can I?

Greenest has a thriving community of people, some of whom happen to be dragonborn.

 

[Parmandur]

I wonder, is this phrasing a way to "incorporate" them without doing any actual work? Seems like it.

Again, the benefit of a setting written for the new core is that you don't have to do any of that. You can just create a world that accommodates and truly integrates all the core species and important non-player beings.

But, no, apparently that is too hard and the only solution is to wedge new species and classes and etc into dusty old settings, even if they make no sense at all.

I mean, it is how Goliaths have git into Faerûn gor several editions now, since they were introduced.