Does social standing have a place in your game?

[DM-Rocco]

Does social standing have a place in your game?

When you make up a background for your character how much depth do you put into it?

Do you have rules set in place for backgrounds?

Does your DM give you bonus skill points of feats to help flesh out a background?

Will your DM allow you to play a prince?

 

[Wik]

I wish it did, but no, it rarely comes up.

Maybe it will in the Eberron game I just joined up, although I imagine if it does, it's only gonna hurt me (I'm playing a black sheep of house Lyrandar).

 

[Flynn]

It definitely does in my Traveller games. For my fantasy gaming, I haven't done much with it, so I would have to say that it doesn't matter much in my fantasy stuff. I do like the RP of awarding lesser titles and such for work well done, but I have no formalized rules in place to quantify it within the gaming system.

With Regards,
Flynn

 

[TheYeti1775]

Does social standing have a place in your game?

When you make up a background for your character how much depth do you put into it?

Do you have rules set in place for backgrounds?

Does your DM give you bonus skill points of feats to help flesh out a background?

Will your DM allow you to play a prince?

1. Yes, in many it has strong implications for your responsibilities.

2. Nothing in Stone, outside of setting rules. It can vary with who DM's.

3. I would consider it as a DM. But generally no, I would use the existing points and feats to build using the background. (Case in point, had a mage I used as an apprentice to a Gnome and Dwarf architect. I used two ranks for Knowledge: Architecture.)

4. Yes and be sure to use everything about it within game.

 

[BlackMoria]

Yes, social standing comes up often in my game.

And yes, someone can create a character of royal blood in my campaign, with the caveat that the character's standing with the current liege is such that they can't leverage money or influence except in a very minor fashion. Kind of the 'yes, you can be a royal prince of the realm but you are seventh in line of succession...'

Of course, if I am running a Birthright campaign, you can do the full meal deal. 'Sure, you can be king but uneasy is the head that rests the crown.....' because the assassins and scheming nobles and spies of other nations are going to be a very real pain in the a**.

 

[painandgreed]

When playing in other people's games, sometimes. I had one character that was a high born wizard with Knowledge (Law) and a background of being one of many sons of a noble and thus trying his had at adventuring to raise the money and fame needed to enter politics. Of course, some sort of noble was asked for by the Dm to fit into her plot.

IMC, I try. In AD&D, players would roll on the social standign chart in UA. Had one roll a 98 and another a 00. Most of the campaign ended up around political plots and money for mundane items wasn't an issue. In 3.5, I'd like to make it important in the game world if not to the PCs. Thinking about using bloodlines to make the nobility actually special in many cases. For PCs, considering making nobility a feat (ony available in character creation) that would grant some amount of political power and inclass skills, but haven't come up with a good balance yet.

 

[DM-Rocco]

This is great feedback. I thought for sure it would swing the other way. Keep it coming guys.

For those of you that allow a social standing, does it give you an edge at character creation in your games you play or DM?

Would it if there where rules for such a thing?

Obviously I am not talking about filthy stinking rich as in owning +5 plate at first level, but what if you started with great influence within the royal circles and mabye started with the Favored in House feat for free.

On the other end, if you started in the lower class, what if you started with the Blooded feat for free?

I'm trying to make a set of rules for character backgrounds based on social class. Just getting ideas.

I know in the past some people have posted sub-rules for things like character background feats. I can't recall the names of the threads, but I am thinking of something like that.

 

[DM-Rocco]

When playing in other people's games, sometimes. I had one character that was a high born wizard with Knowledge (Law) and a background of being one of many sons of a noble and thus trying his had at adventuring to raise the money and fame needed to enter politics. Of course, some sort of noble was asked for by the Dm to fit into her plot.

IMC, I try. In AD&D, players would roll on the social standign chart in UA. Had one roll a 98 and another a 00. Most of the campaign ended up around political plots and money for mundane items wasn't an issue. In 3.5, I'd like to make it important in the game world if not to the PCs. Thinking about using bloodlines to make the nobility actually special in many cases. For PCs, considering making nobility a feat (ony available in character creation) that would grant some amount of political power and inclass skills, but haven't come up with a good balance yet.

Funny you mention UA, I am using that too for ideas.

I am also making social standing class feats, things simular to Favored in House, blooded and the like.

 

[Doug McCrae]

For me, fame and the media are a big deal. As in our modern world, celebrity is the shiznit. I was thinking of having a stat for it, like Glory in Pendragon.

 

[Stormborn]

Does social standing have a place in your game?
Sometimes. When we played Eberron the fact that one of the PCs was a Cannith Artificer was important. In another game the ties that the PCs had to various minor aristocratic houses became very important.

When you make up a background for your character how much depth do you put into it?
Alot. My group likes character driven play and we all like to make up intricate characters. Sometimes its just hooks, others its full short stories about important events in the PCs life.

Do you have rules set in place for backgrounds?
Not currently. However if such were going to be an important part of the game we would develop some or adapt from GoO's Game of Thrones.

Does your DM give you bonus skill points of feats to help flesh out a background?
Generally not, but at times we have used what were basically the Fantasy equivalent of d20Ms occupations. Adamant has just come out with a line of them.

Will your DM allow you to play a prince?
In a way I currently am, even if he is not and has never wielded that power due to his mother's self chosen exile and later rejection of her offspring as "unworthy". A portion of the campaign we are in now is dealing with his relatives and how he plans on adressing it. In the long run it may end up with him in a position of power.

For those of you that allow a social standing, does it give you an edge at character creation in your games you play or DM?
Again, not neccessarilly, although it may allow roleplaying opportunties that could be of benifit to the group, such as highly placed contacts and resources they might not otherwise be able to access early on.

Would it if there where rules for such a thing?
There are various rules and the inclusion of them in one of our games is more dependent on the kind of campaign we want to run than it is a particular ruleset.

On the other end, if you started in the lower class, what if you started with the Blooded feat for free?
Off the top of my head I am not sure what that feat is, but I would definetly say that a PC that was at some social disadvantage should have some mechanical compensation for it, unless the player just wanted to RP the handicap.