D&D (2024) Bonus languages in One D&D backgrounds goes contrary to their other goals

[Charlaquin]

I've got friends who are videogame designers and one thing they all have to eventually let go is designing for the platonic ideal of how players ought to play their games and instead design for how players actually play their games. (The same is also true of every sort of designers. One of my favorite concepts is "desire paths," which are the paths pedestrians wear in landscaping when they ignore the circuitous sidewalks and paths designers put in place in favor of the way they actually want to walk.)

Like it or not -- and there are clearly people who are very much "not" -- I don't think it's realistic to expect players, especially new players, not to just grab an example and go, especially if WotC is trying to streamline play for newbies.

But that’s just the thing. The fact that most players are just going to grab an example and go is exactly why these example backgrounds are needed. Ultimately everyone gets a floating +2/+1, two floating skills, one floating tool, one floating language, one floating Feat, and 50 gp to spend on whatever equipment they want. But since ain’t nobody got time for that, they offer several pre-selected sets of the above and call them “backgrounds.”

 

[Charlaquin]

I’m sure you’re being sarcastic but that feels more intellectually honest than the current “these example backgrounds are very carefully thought out, as shown by the flavor text but feel free to change literally anything you want because we know you’re just picking stuff off a menu” we currently have.

But this IS LITERALLY WHAT THEY SAY. They just say it once, before showing you 17 pre-chosen sets of these options, instead of saying it 18 times.

 

[Charlaquin]

You've mentioned this a few times, that the gladiator background doesn't represent a generalized gladiator in the D&D world, but a specific gladiator in the D&D world. And . . . that's not what the playtest document actually says. The document does say each background has "story-orientated details meant to inspire", but that's not the same thing as saying, "This is A gladiator, not ALL gladiators." Perhaps this was their intent, but if so, it's not clear (to me). And even if they did outright say what you put forth, I still think the example backgrounds ARE world-building, and unintentionally, negatively doing so.

D&D players are used to general archetypal options that define their character, classically race and class, but also backgrounds with the 2014 rules. In the potential upcoming 2024 rules, many players will customize their backgrounds, but many others will take the example backgrounds given along with their uncomfortable world-building. Games will be filled with gladiators all knowing orcish, reinforcing the already existing trope of savage, aggressive warriors reminiscent of some real-world stereotypes.

I think it only feels this way because you’re filtering this though how backgrounds work in the 2014 PHB instead of taking this as written. Instead of thinking of this step as “choose a background” and having the option to customize a background, think of the step as “create your background,” and having the option to choose one WotC created for you. Because that’s what the packet says.

A minor tweak makes this go away . . . don't assign languages to most backgrounds. Some make sense, like Thieves' Cant for criminals, or celestial for acolytes (as a liturgical language), but each background doesn't need an assigned language, even when player's can customize it to something different. Bring the tool and language traits together, each background gets two, rather than one of each.

Yeah, I think that would be a good decision. It is pretty odd to me that they decided to go with one language and one tool instead of two total between languages and tools. Not only because of what we’re discussing in this thread, but also because it’s weird that every PC in 1D&D is trilingual. I’ll definitely be bringing this up in my response to the survey.

OR, give different "story-orientated details". Make the gladiator background come packaged with the halfling language, because THIS gladiator had a halfling trainer . . . . I don't really like that idea, but it's better (to me) that what the current document has.

But some background is going to need to grant Orcish if Orcish is going to exist as a language. And whatever background does that is going to have unfortunate implications about orcs. This is why I’ve come to the conclusion that the real problem here is that languages are racialized in D&D. They took the languages out of race without taking the race out of languages.

 

[Ondath]

A minor tweak makes this go away . . . don't assign languages to most backgrounds. Some make sense, like Thieves' Cant for criminals, or celestial for acolytes (as a liturgical language), but each background doesn't need an assigned language, even when player's can customize it to something different. Bring the tool and language traits together, each background gets two, rather than one of each. OR, give different "story-orientated details". Make the gladiator background come packaged with the halfling language, because THIS gladiator had a halfling trainer . . . . I don't really like that idea, but it's better (to me) that what the current document has.

I don't know to what extent we're allowed to point others to another thread we've created in the forums, but I just want to point out that I've started another thread to discuss the place languages should or shouldn't have in D&D mechanics, as I feel like that's a discussion worthy of its own thread beyond their place in One D&D Backgrounds: Languages in D&D Are Weird, Let's Get Rid of Them.

 

[Sorcerers Apprentice]

Race doesn’t grant languages in the UA. Except Dragonborn, which I don’t think should, in much the same way that I don’t think dwarf should grant tool proficiencies. Language is cultural, not biological.

I agree for most languages, but I think it's cool if Draconic is a genetic language that all dragons and dragon-kin instinctively know even if they never meet another speaker. It highlights that dragons are not just flying lizards with human intelligence, but a different kind of creature with a different mental model.

 

[Thommy H-H]

I think the one thing we can all agree on is that, whatever the final form of these Backgrounds in 2024 is, there needs to be proper guidance on how to create your own - as in, how to create the backstory elements - alongside the samples. This UA is just the rules, presented to experienced players, used to coming up with character concepts. One of the strengths of the Traits/Ideals/Bonds/Flaws framework is that it gives you a way to generate a character by rolling on a few tables. I'd like to see these Backgrounds combined with similar tables:

E.g.
Gladiator - Language (d6)
1: Your comrades in the arena included outsiders from the ungoverned lands to the north, many of whom boasted orc ancestry. (Orcish)
2: You were trained by an elven weaponmaster, rumoured to be an exiled noble from a distant land. (Elvish)
3. Your main rival was a dwarf berserker, with whom you traded many insults before bouts to whip up the crowd's fervour. (Dwarvish)
4. You trained in esoteric, mystic fighting styles with a master of unarmed combat whose people revered angelic overlords. (Celestial)
5. A young kobold was your friend and protégé in the fighters' barracks, but you couldn't protect him in the end. (Draconic)
6. The patron of the arena where you fought was a notorious beholder crime lord, and for a time you became one of its inner circle. (Deep Speech)

 

[Charlaquin]

I think the one thing we can all agree on is that, whatever the final form of these Backgrounds in 2024 is, there needs to be proper guidance on how to create your own - as in, how to create the backstory elements - alongside the samples. This UA is just the rules, presented to experienced players, used to coming up with character concepts. One of the strengths of the Traits/Ideals/Bonds/Flaws framework is that it gives you a way to generate a character by rolling on a few tables. I'd like to see these Backgrounds combined with similar tables:

E.g.
Gladiator - Language (d6)
1: Your comrades in the arena included outsiders from the ungoverned lands to the north, many of whom boasted orc ancestry. (Orcish)
2: You were trained by an elven weaponmaster, rumoured to be an exiled noble from a distant land. (Elvish)
3. Your main rival was a dwarf berserker, with whom you traded many insults before bouts to whip up the crowd's fervour. (Dwarvish)
4. You trained in esoteric, mystic fighting styles with a master of unarmed combat whose people revered angelic overlords. (Celestial)
5. A young kobold was your friend and protégé in the fighters' barracks, but you couldn't protect him in the end. (Draconic)
6. The patron of the arena where you fought was a notorious beholder crime lord, and for a time you became one of its inner circle. (Deep Speech)

You know, that’s a pretty neat idea.

 

[Thommy H-H]

You know, that’s a pretty neat idea.

It's basically how the 2014 backgrounds work, with Ideals keyed to alignments, etc. I would imagine this is what they're planning to do already, but it was too much content for the playtest document.

 

[Charlaquin]

It's basically how the 2014 backgrounds work, with Ideals keyed to alignments, etc. I would imagine this is what they're planning to do already, but it was too much content for the playtest document.

It is, but it’s way cooler when applied to traits like languages than to Personality traits &c.

 

[Thommy H-H]

It is, but it’s way cooler when applied to traits like languages than to Personality traits &c.

I kind of want to do all of them now, but it would be wasted effort! For the sake of demonstrating what I think WOTC was going for though, here's the noble:

Noble - Language (d6)
1. Your stuffy tutors insisted your learn the histories of the ancient dragonborn empires that once ruled your home region in the original language. (Draconic)
2. In your youth, border skirmishes with a hobgoblin city state eventually turned into lengthy peace negotiations, and goblinoid envoys became a common sight at court. (Goblin)
3. Stubborn halfling landlords controlled the fertile heartlands of your family's territory, and negotiating with them was your first experience of real diplomacy. (Halfling)
4. A retired orc mercenary was hired to teach you how to use weapons, but her advice went much further than merely how to defend yourself in battle. (Orcish)
5. A Feywild crossing in your family's territory provided unusual and sometimes capricious allies. (Sylvan)
6. Disaster forced your family from their lands when you were young, and you fled into the Underdark where you relied on the kindness of strangers to survive. (Undercommon)