D&D 5E Companion thread to Survivor:Backgrounds

[bedir than]

I'd agree with this if all games started at level 1

Still ban the Folk Hero. The thing you did before you were a hero can't be "I was a hero"

 

[CleverNickName]

Still ban the Folk Hero. The thing you did before you were a hero can't be "I was a hero"

Well, there's the "I saved the world by stopping an all-powerful demon from opening a portal to Hell" hero, and there's the "I found Farmer Beauford's missing sheep and kept his family from starving" hero.

The Folk Hero background is referring to the second one.

 

[bedir than]

Well, there's the "I saved the world by stopping an all-powerful demon from opening a portal to Hell" hero, and there's the "I found Farmer Beauford's missing sheep and kept his family from starving" hero.

The Folk Hero background is referring to the second one.

Every other core background is what the person did for a living, not a single act of heroism.

Be a farmer who helped Beauford, sure! Or a cobbler, or a wainwright, or a brewer, etc

 

[Tonguez]

Still ban the Folk Hero. The thing you did before you were a hero can't be "I was a hero"

Hey mum told me I was a hero when I was 6!

 

[CleverNickName]

Every other core background is what the person did for a living, not a single act of heroism.

Eh, not necessarily. "Urchin" isn't really a job description, nor is "Noble" or "Outlander."

"Bob Dillweed, Professional Hermit" sounds just as silly as "Bob Dillweed, Professional Folk Hero. "

 

[Tonguez]

After a gruelling 69 days, over 2 months, we have a winner!

and proving that the quill is indeed mightier than the sword Sage beat Soldier

and I scored a final vote

 

[RealAlHazred]

I'm not actually unhappy with the Sage background winning. Unfortunately, a lot of campaigns I'm familiar with, the DM doesn't really make research opportunities available to the PCs.

 

[CreamCloud0]

I'm not actually unhappy with the Sage background winning. Unfortunately, a lot of campaigns I'm familiar with, the DM doesn't really make research opportunities available to the PCs.

Agreed, although not a bad background my thoughts are basically “really? This is what won, out of everything on that list, this???” Like if you took a poll of which backgrounds are actually used I don’t feel like it would’ve won that.

 

[bedir than]

Eh, not necessarily. "Urchin" isn't really a job description, nor is "Noble" or "Outlander."

"Bob Dillweed, Professional Hermit" sounds just as silly as "Bob Dillweed, Professional Folk Hero. "

Urchin, Noble, Hermit are all how people live in the times and tales that inspire D&D. Outlander is also boring. It's being defined by how others see you not how you see yourself.

 

[Swarmkeeper]

I'm not actually unhappy with the Sage background winning. Unfortunately, a lot of campaigns I'm familiar with, the DM doesn't really make research opportunities available to the PCs.

Something for players to speak up about at Session 0:
"We want our backgrounds to matter. Can we have that happen in this campaign?"

Also, something for players to speak up about during game sessions (or maybe prior to an upcoming session):
"My PC has the Sage background with the Researcher feature. While we're in this [location] is there a specific place she might go or a specific person she might seek out to gain info about [topic]?"
Sometimes this will require a healthy dose of Yes-And from a DM. But just good for players to understand that a DM doesn't necessarily have all of each character's abilities and characteristics top of mind while juggling all the other things necessary when running a game.