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Message: <blockquote data-quote="AbdulAlhazred" data-source="post: 5098050" data-attributes="member: 82106">The PHB2 style backgrounds work fine. What's really nice about them is that they ARE all mechanically pretty much equivalent. Since a character can pick pretty close to any number of background elements from a whole slew of books they are virtually assured of getting whatever mechanical bonus they want. Sure you could just say "you get an extra language, an extra skill added to your skill list, or a +2 bonus to one skill." but attaching them to the backgrounds gives some hints and inspiration. The player says "hmmm, I want to be extra sneaky" and then they poke around and find an appropriate background that lets them do that. If they don't find one they like, then they can darn well just make one up! If the backgrounds are bland in your game its not the fault of the backgrounds not having exciting mechanical bonuses. Its just a fault of nobody bothering to think about their background and customize it. They're a tool that players can use as a starting point, not the be-all and end-all on the subject.What is annoying is when you have these FR/Dragon style backgrounds that 9 out of 10 players are convinced are the best things since sliced bread and as happened with the OP they all take the same one or two of them. It really doesn't matter if they actually are better or not. When they all give basically the same bonus though, then everyone gets that they are the same and it just becomes a little hook for the player during character creation to get them thinking.</blockquote>

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