Characters of War up at Wizards

[Starbuck_II]

Well, power issues aside, something I dislike is that they strongy encourage playing against your role. Not that that's inherently bad - but let's see:

What would be wrong with having a missionary Rogue? Religion has nothing to do with role.
Remember, Wizard, Cleric, and Pally have religion. Not just Divine guys.

 

[WhatGravitas]

What would be wrong with having a missionary Rogue? Religion has nothing to do with role.
Remember, Wizard, Cleric, and Pally have religion. Not just Divine guys.

Sure, there's nothing wrong with it.

The problem is that a character gets more out of it if he hasn't a class fitting the background:

If you have a class like the cleric, you get a language and a skill bonus.
If you have a class like the rogue, you get a language, an extra class skill and a skill bonus.

As a non-religious class, you get it on your class list, meaning you can pick up the skill without burning a feat. AND you get a bonus. The class with Religion on the list ONLY gets a bonus. Basically, your background is worth less, if you want to play a character with a class that is very close to his background.

I'd like it a lot more if they reduced the bonuses slightly, but give you an extra bonus if you already have it on your class list.

EDIT: This is even better illustrated with the last background - Imbuer. If you're wizard (for which the background is intended), you can create implements. If you're a warlock, you can create implements AND use Creation rituals.

So the intended classes get the least out of their background - that rubs me in the wrong way.

Cheers, LT.

 

[Runestar]

As minor a benefit it may be, it is still a free one at that. Who can resist saying no to that?

I wonder if it is possible to stack it with the FR regional background benefits...

 

[Saben]

I wonder if it is possible to stack it with the FR regional background benefits...

I can understand the logic. Most people have a background and a geographic origin. But as far as I'm concerned they'll be able to choose a single RULES background that fits their storyline background. They don't have to be a missionary to get the missionary rules if they can demonstrate their background deserves religious and language bonuses (maybe they went to a religious school).

 

[eamon]

If this isn't power creep then I don't know what is.

Not all power creep is a problem. The initial release was bound to offer less flexibility that the ruleset would provide later on - and flexibility is power. As long as the additions don't fundamentally change game balance, I'm not too worried.

Let's see what the final version in Dragon magazine looks like, and compare that to the Character Background rules in the Forgotten Realms Player's Guide. Some kind of character background rules were almost certain to come out sometime, and granting skill bonuses for background a time-honored tradition.

As long as everyone in the party uses one, there doesn't need to be a problem, so long as they're balanced and don't increase power significantly. The hitpoint-boosting background is right out, for instance.

 

[Regicide]

Not all power creep is a problem. The initial release was bound to offer less flexibility that the ruleset would provide later on - and flexibility is power. As long as the additions don't fundamentally change game balance, I'm not too worried.

Flexibility isn't necessarily power, and no, all power creep is a problem. When you can't pick up a module and use it anymore because your recommended level characters blow through it like tissue paper as happened with 3E as more splatbooks came out, it's a problem. Or when you as a DM have to go through contortions to deal with splatbook min-maxed character in a party of people just using PHB characters, it's a problem.

 

[Wepwawet]

If you have a class like the cleric, you get a language and a skill bonus.
If you have a class like the rogue, you get a language, an extra class skill and a skill bonus.

As a non-religious class, you get it on your class list, meaning you can pick up the skill without burning a feat. AND you get a bonus. The class with Religion on the list ONLY gets a bonus. Basically, your background is worth less, if you want to play a character with a class that is very close to his background.

Not really. You don't get a new skill for free, you just get a new skill you can choose. You still get 4 skills like every other class.
For clerics it's obviously good because they get a base +7 religion (+5 skill training and +2 from the background)
For any other class, it's just the possibility to have religion if it fits your concept, with a base +2 anyway.

 

[keterys]

Could allow people who already have the skill to reroll that skill. I think I'd prefer if the backgrounds actually matched up a little more exactly to being worth a feat, so that you could also let people pick up additional backgrounds or be from an area and get a different feat instead.

 

[Cadfan]

It isn't power creep. If a setting book or article says "Everyone in this setting gets X for free," that's not power creep. Its a setting specific rule.

It can't be power creep because its not in competition with the regular rules.

 

[mattdm]

Also, noone's reacted to the +2 to saves one yet?

Yeah, that one struck me as Teh Awesome, basically must-have for any controller or ranged striker.