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<blockquote data-quote="KidSnide" data-source="post: 5983463" data-attributes="member: 54710">I think this is a great argument for adding &quot;social favored terrain&quot; to Backgrounds.&nbsp; Essentially you're saying that a good DM already gives this kind of bonus.&nbsp; That's exactly the type of sign that suggests the bonus should be baked into the system.&nbsp; The DM guide isn't for good DMs.&nbsp; It's for average DMs and new DMs, and those folks should be given the strong guidance that players should get a powerful familiarity bonus in the appropriate social contexts.&nbsp; Yes, a good or great DM will provide a more nuanced social familiarity bonus (e.g. to handle social status of a bounty hunter who is really the son of a duke), but the existence of a better and more game-specific method of handling this type of rule is not an argument to leave out the basic rule for the benefit of DMs and players who are just learning how to play.Also, lets remember that this isn't an issue if you're ignoring dice.&nbsp; This is an issue when social interactions are a mixture of dice rolling and role playing.&nbsp; This is to solve the problem where the background of one PC makes that person the right candidate to conduct a social interaction, but where another PC has better bluff/diplomacy/insight skills.&nbsp; I think it sucks when it's super appropriate for one PC to interact with an NPC it's connected to his background, but yet the rules make it tactically superior for a PC with superior Charisma skills to handle it instead.&nbsp; Usually, this is a &quot;face&quot; PC who already does the lion share of social interaction.Backgrounds should let PCs have the &quot;moment in the spotlight&quot; during interactions.&nbsp; If they don't help that happen, I don't think they are fulfilling their function.-KS</blockquote>

[QUOTE="KidSnide, post: 5983463, member: 54710"] I think this is a great argument for adding "social favored terrain" to Backgrounds. Essentially you're saying that a good DM already gives this kind of bonus. That's exactly the type of sign that suggests the bonus should be baked into the system. The DM guide isn't for good DMs. It's for average DMs and new DMs, and those folks should be given the strong guidance that players should get a powerful familiarity bonus in the appropriate social contexts. Yes, a good or great DM will provide a more nuanced social familiarity bonus (e.g. to handle social status of a bounty hunter who is really the son of a duke), but the existence of a better and more game-specific method of handling this type of rule is not an argument to leave out the basic rule for the benefit of DMs and players who are just learning how to play. Also, lets remember that this isn't an issue if you're ignoring dice. This is an issue when social interactions are a mixture of dice rolling and role playing. This is to solve the problem where the background of one PC makes that person the right candidate to conduct a social interaction, but where another PC has better bluff/diplomacy/insight skills. I think it sucks when it's super appropriate for one PC to interact with an NPC it's connected to his background, but yet the rules make it tactically superior for a PC with superior Charisma skills to handle it instead. Usually, this is a "face" PC who already does the lion share of social interaction. Backgrounds should let PCs have the "moment in the spotlight" during interactions. If they don't help that happen, I don't think they are fulfilling their function. -KS [/QUOTE]

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