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<blockquote data-quote="Celebrim" data-source="post: 5475488" data-attributes="member: 4937">Bingo.&nbsp; I would have nailed it in one except that I'm so used to playing by my rules I forgot about some of the expanded classes.It seems to me that the DM is using this background to justify in game the character's abilities as a Dragon Shaman.&nbsp; Effectively he's saying, &quot;Your power as a Dragon Shaman is how your character's heritage is manifesting itself.&quot;&nbsp; In this case, the characters class is his racial template.&nbsp; He's mostly human, but his heritage is slowly manifesting itself over time.&nbsp; Geneticly, to the extent such a thing has meaning in magical world, he's maybe 80% human.&nbsp; There is no need for additional templating or the like, and so far as I can tell the DM is not forcing additional templates on to the character.&nbsp;&nbsp; Instead, it seems the player is saying, &quot;Look, you just gave me this cool background (fluff).&nbsp; Now, I want to get some mechanical advantage from it (crunch).&quot;&nbsp;&nbsp; And I would guess that the DM was thinking, &quot;Ok, the player has some cool crunch and a mysterious past.&nbsp; I need to think up some cool fluff that ties to the existing crunch.&quot;, and is now thinking, &quot;Sheesh, why am I getting beat up on for not transforming the character into a +4 LA race.&nbsp; All I was doing was trying to add some story to the game.&quot;Speaking as a DM, players arguing for mechanical advantage beyond what is on their sheet on the basis of their background is one of my pet peeves.&nbsp; It might not be as famous as &quot;rules lawyering&quot;, but &quot;story lawyering&quot; is often just as annoying.&nbsp;&nbsp; Maybe its my natural inclination to defend any DM vs. any conflict with a player, but your DM may be brushing you off because anything that begins, &quot;In my background it says [I've spent signficant time at sea/my parents are dragons/I'm been a tourist in Hell], shouldn't that apply in this particular favorable way in this particular situation?&quot;, makes me at least want to throw a book at a player.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Celebrim, post: 5475488, member: 4937"] Bingo. I would have nailed it in one except that I'm so used to playing by my rules I forgot about some of the expanded classes. It seems to me that the DM is using this background to justify in game the character's abilities as a Dragon Shaman. Effectively he's saying, "Your power as a Dragon Shaman is how your character's heritage is manifesting itself." In this case, the characters class is his racial template. He's mostly human, but his heritage is slowly manifesting itself over time. Geneticly, to the extent such a thing has meaning in magical world, he's maybe 80% human. There is no need for additional templating or the like, and so far as I can tell the DM is not forcing additional templates on to the character. Instead, it seems the player is saying, "Look, you just gave me this cool background (fluff). Now, I want to get some mechanical advantage from it (crunch)." And I would guess that the DM was thinking, "Ok, the player has some cool crunch and a mysterious past. I need to think up some cool fluff that ties to the existing crunch.", and is now thinking, "Sheesh, why am I getting beat up on for not transforming the character into a +4 LA race. All I was doing was trying to add some story to the game." Speaking as a DM, players arguing for mechanical advantage beyond what is on their sheet on the basis of their background is one of my pet peeves. It might not be as famous as "rules lawyering", but "story lawyering" is often just as annoying. Maybe its my natural inclination to defend any DM vs. any conflict with a player, but your DM may be brushing you off because anything that begins, "In my background it says [I've spent signficant time at sea/my parents are dragons/I'm been a tourist in Hell], shouldn't that apply in this particular favorable way in this particular situation?", makes me at least want to throw a book at a player. [/QUOTE]

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