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Message: <blockquote data-quote="DEFCON 1" data-source="post: 6331899" data-attributes="member: 7006">Last week when on Twitter, television showrunner and RPG writer John Rogers ('Leverage', 4E Manual of the Planes 'Feywild' section) live-tweeted his reading of the Basic Game.  And during the course of his tweeting, he made this interesting observation:<a href="https://twitter.com/jonrog1/status/484914126406180865" target="_blank">"Ability check/proficiency screams Fate accelerated/stunts vibe. A lot of cross pollination here. #DnD5e reads most like Fate Freeport"</a>As I started thinking about this, I came to realize how correct John really was.  When you unpack the 5E Ability Modifiers / Skills / Ideals, Bonds & Flaws and put them up against Fate Accelerated Edition's (FAE) Aspects / Approaches / Stunts... they actually are exceedingly similar.In 5E... you accomplish things using one of six methods of bodily action-- your Strength, Dexterity, Constitution, Intelligence, Wisdom and Charisma.  And these are ranked from -1 up to +3 (and higher after advancement).In FAE... you accomplish things in one of six descriptive ways-- Careful, Clever, Flashy, Forceful, Quick, and Sneaky.  And these are ranked from +0 to +3 (and higher after advancement.)In 5E... there are specific areas wherein you get a bonus to those bodily actions, which are called 'Skills'.  And that bonus is +2 (and higher after advancement.)In FAE... there are specific areas of expertise wherein you get a bonus to those descriptive ways of doing things, which are called 'Stunts'.  And that bonus is usually always +2.In 5E... there is a Background and five sentences of character description used to illustrate what is special or different about the character (two Personality Traits, an Ideal the PC holds, a Bond the PC has with someone or something else, and a Flaw the PC has.)  Whenever the player acts out those descriptions they gain a point of Inspiration, and they can later on spend that point to gain a bonus on an action.In FAE... there are three to five sentences of character description, called 'Aspects', that illustrate what is special or different about the character (a High Concept, a Trouble, and one to three past details, personality traits, goals or groups you belong to.)  Whenever the player acts in accordance to these Aspects, they gain a Fate Point that can be used later on to gain a bonus to an action.Now obviously there are small differences between the two systems... the Stunt system in FAE is more descriptive than 5E.  So for instance, a Stunt might be written as "Because I am a Smooth Talker, I get a +2 when I Sneakily create advantages when I’m in conversation with someone", whereas 5E just condenses this down into a Skill called 'Negotiation'.  Stunts describe the PC a bit more, but the bonus is acquired in a slightly more restrictive situation.But overall... the two systems are remarkably similar, and Rogers' noting of this has adjusted the way I now look at the game (positively).  For a long time I found the Skills system that 5E settled on to be underwhelming based upon how much I enjoyed Fate's way of doing them.  But now I'm seeing Skills through a different prism, and I'm wondering if perhaps the system will actually suit my needs.  If I work 5E's Backgrounds, Traits, Ideals, Bonds, and Flaws in the same manner and with the same import as I do Aspects in Fate... the Skills might not need to hold as much weight as I originally thought they should.5E and FAE being functionally similar might be just the way for me to look at 5E in the best light for my game.</blockquote>

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