Menu
News
All News
Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
Pathfinder
Starfinder
Warhammer
2d20 System
Year Zero Engine
Industry News
Reviews
Dragon Reflections
White Dwarf Reflections
Columns
Weekly Digests
Weekly News Digest
Freebies, Sales & Bundles
RPG Print News
RPG Crowdfunding News
Game Content
ENterplanetary DimENsions
Mythological Figures
Opinion
Worlds of Design
Peregrine's Nest
RPG Evolution
Other Columns
From the Freelancing Frontline
Monster ENcyclopedia
WotC/TSR Alumni Look Back
4 Hours w/RSD (Ryan Dancey)
The Road to 3E (Jonathan Tweet)
Greenwood's Realms (Ed Greenwood)
Drawmij's TSR (Jim Ward)
Community
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Resources
Wiki
Pages
Latest activity
Media
New media
New comments
Search media
Downloads
Latest reviews
Search resources
EN Publishing
Store
EN5ider
Adventures in ZEITGEIST
Awfully Cheerful Engine
What's OLD is NEW
Judge Dredd & The Worlds Of 2000AD
War of the Burning Sky
Level Up: Advanced 5E
Events & Releases
Upcoming Events
Private Events
Featured Events
Socials!
EN Publishing
Twitter
BlueSky
Facebook
Instagram
EN World
BlueSky
YouTube
Facebook
Twitter
Twitch
Podcast
Features
Top 5 RPGs Compiled Charts 2004-Present
Adventure Game Industry Market Research Summary (RPGs) V1.0
Ryan Dancey: Acquiring TSR
Q&A With Gary Gygax
D&D Rules FAQs
TSR, WotC, & Paizo: A Comparative History
D&D Pronunciation Guide
Million Dollar TTRPG Kickstarters
Tabletop RPG Podcast Hall of Fame
Eric Noah's Unofficial D&D 3rd Edition News
D&D in the Mainstream
D&D & RPG History
About Morrus
Log in
Register
What's new
Search
Search
Search titles only
By:
Forums & Topics
Forum List
Latest Posts
Forum list
*Dungeons & Dragons
Level Up: Advanced 5th Edition
D&D Older Editions, OSR, & D&D Variants
*TTRPGs General
*Pathfinder & Starfinder
EN Publishing
*Geek Talk & Media
Search forums
Chat/Discord
Menu
Log in
Register
Install the app
Install
Upgrade your account to a Community Supporter account and remove most of the site ads.
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
forget classes, i want more backgrounds
JavaScript is disabled. For a better experience, please enable JavaScript in your browser before proceeding.
You are using an out of date browser. It may not display this or other websites correctly.
You should upgrade or use an
alternative browser
.
Reply to thread
Message
<blockquote data-quote="evilbob" data-source="post: 6333487" data-attributes="member: 9789"><p>The trick with backgrounds is that they should only provide the barest minimum mechanical benefit just to get people to look at them. Any more than that is too much. I think they're at a good level so far - 2 skills, that's it - and I would think they'll never stray from that.</p><p></p><p>The real bonus for backgrounds is the non-mechanical benefit: making you think about your character and giving you ready-made hooks and quirks that make playing them more interesting than just reading stats on a page. Like the list a few posts earlier. Or the "one unique thing" from 13th Age. Or really any of the jillions of things people have come up with over the last 10 years to encourage more than combat. Yes: the aren't necessary, but yes: it's nice to have them and they can help.</p><p></p><p>What I particularly like about 5.0 is that they go further than 4.0, somehow, in my opinion. Maybe this will change down the line but baking in choices like ideals and flaws and traits just seems to extend their reach more than a pre-made paragraph; it gives you more to work with than just a couple of bonuses. Again, that's just my take, though. (Don't hurt me!)</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="evilbob, post: 6333487, member: 9789"] The trick with backgrounds is that they should only provide the barest minimum mechanical benefit just to get people to look at them. Any more than that is too much. I think they're at a good level so far - 2 skills, that's it - and I would think they'll never stray from that. The real bonus for backgrounds is the non-mechanical benefit: making you think about your character and giving you ready-made hooks and quirks that make playing them more interesting than just reading stats on a page. Like the list a few posts earlier. Or the "one unique thing" from 13th Age. Or really any of the jillions of things people have come up with over the last 10 years to encourage more than combat. Yes: the aren't necessary, but yes: it's nice to have them and they can help. What I particularly like about 5.0 is that they go further than 4.0, somehow, in my opinion. Maybe this will change down the line but baking in choices like ideals and flaws and traits just seems to extend their reach more than a pre-made paragraph; it gives you more to work with than just a couple of bonuses. Again, that's just my take, though. (Don't hurt me!) [/QUOTE]
Insert quotes…
Verification
Post reply
Community
General Tabletop Discussion
*Dungeons & Dragons
forget classes, i want more backgrounds
Top