Characters of War up at Wizards

[Nail]

Luckily it's incredibly easy to ignore if you don't like it.

I disagree.

IME, there is always someone in the group that wants to use Supplement "X". Always. (Name a group that doesn't have this happen: I want to join it!) And so there is always pressure to use Supplement "X".

By definition, that makes "ignoring it" simply impossible. Sure, you can not allow it in your game, but that's by "paying attention to it, and judging it unsound", not ignoring it.

 

[nittanytbone]

backgrounds are poorly conceived. Never shall they see the light of day on my table. As I speak, so shall it be done!

What do you mean, getting something for nothing is power creep?

Seems to me that each of these backgrounds is worth about 2-3 feats. If you had to pay your first two feats towards them, maybe they'd be ok. Maybe.

 

[Regicide]

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.

Oh, I didn't know all Faerun monsters and traps got buffed as well and skill challenges got made harder to deal with the extra skills. Because if they didn't, it's the very definition of power creep.

 

[Runestar]

Oh, I didn't know all Faerun monsters and traps got buffed as well and skill challenges got made harder to deal with the extra skills. Because if they didn't, it's the very definition of power creep.

Or in other words, MM monsters/DMG skill challenges were conceived off the assumption that PCs were built off existing PHB rules/resources (and even then, the designers likely did not use really optimized PCs in their playtesting). These backgrounds give a bonus (however minute you may deem it) for nothing, potentially making your PCs more powerful than a PC made using the PHB alone.

And this represents a slippery slope because it is not impossible for more of this sort of bonuses to crop up in future supplements. A small bonus here, another tiny boost there....this was exactly how 3e diplomancers managed the +150 diplomacy check needed to turn a demon lord into his fanatic follower!

Your PCs don't have to be stronger than the rest of the party for power creep, just stronger than the monsters they will face. It is just like having 4 pun-puns in your 3e party. Are you telling me that is not power creep because each is as strong as the other?

 

[zillah]

apparently if i call the author an idiot the post gets deleted. but if someone says slap him in the face its ok. wow. good game wizards. o, yes, noonan is an idiot btw. big. giant. tard.

 

[darkadelphia]

apparently if i call the author an idiot the post gets deleted. but if someone says slap him in the face its ok. wow. good game wizards. o, yes, noonan is an idiot btw. big. giant. tard.

...wizards isn't here, dude.

 

[zillah]

...wizards isn't here, dude.

I know this. This is why I posted it here after the post got deleted over there.

 

[Saeviomagy]

I always suspected that Noonans grasp of power gaming theory was weak, but since there were other contributors to other sources I wasn't entirely sure of it.

The quote accompanying the article really confirms it though.

All of these backgrounds give you something at least as powerful as a feat, and in a lot of cases more powerful. They're powergaming gold, even if everyone has them.

 

[MyISPHatesENWorld]

All of these backgrounds give you something at least as powerful as a feat, and in a lot of cases more powerful. They're powergaming gold.

A PC is going to be teh uber with getting Nature added to his class list with a +2 bonus and getting an additional language? A martial weapon proficiency and +1 to initiative makes a character the shizznit? And what kind of pathetic powergamer is spending so much time on the ground that getting a fourth death save is making him all warm and tingly? Is +2 to saving throws (note that's saving throws, not FORT/REF/WILL defense) when you're more than 5 squares away from your allies really going to make a character unstoppable?

IMO, these go a long way toward adding back some of what was lost in 4e in regard to flexiility in character creation.

 

[Runestar]

A PC is going to be teh uber with getting Nature added to his class list with a +2 bonus and getting an additional language?

It is a start.

For example, a dragonborn with 18cha, skill focus: intimidate and wandering duelist background starts with +15 intimidate check.

In the very least, if we assume that each player applies the skill boost to the skill they are most skilled in, this can make skill challenges that much easier.

It is still a bad precedent, IMO. At least regional benefits in 3e cost a feat, so that would make a player think twice before snapping it up.