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<blockquote data-quote="jaer" data-source="post: 4000761" data-attributes="member: 57861">I'd like to weigh in of the &quot;setting specific fluff&quot; discussion.&nbsp; I personally like it.&nbsp; I like that they have organizations, and even that they tided PrCs in 3.5 to those organizations.&nbsp; It gave a certain amount of life to the PrC and gave me something to plunk into my homebrew if I wanted.&nbsp; One of my characters wanted to make a Knight Phantom, so we found a way to add it to the world...no big deal!&nbsp; Another character has levels in the Exersist of the Silver Flame (Eberron PrC); we didn't even both making it a church or organization.&nbsp; The powers of the PrC fit in line with something else, so it made sense else where.&nbsp; We didn't rename the PrC to fit the new organization...why would we need to?&nbsp; Just because the Silver Flame as an organization doesn't exist, the PrC is not useless or pointless.&nbsp; What is written on her character sheet does not impact how her character interacts with the world.&nbsp; She plays a priestess who is specialized to fight demons, and her powers reflect that.Similarly, the GWA feat/organization.&nbsp; I like that they created one.&nbsp; Will I use the organization?&nbsp; Maybe.&nbsp; Even as a complete world builder, it's nice to have the option of not needing to come up with everything! Will I change the name?&nbsp; If i see fit to do so.&nbsp; Will that confuse anyone?&nbsp; No.Even if the organization does not exist in my world, I can freely use the feat without confusing the players.&nbsp; Feat names, just like PrC names, are for meta-game usage anyway.&nbsp; It's so a player knows what his character can do, and if a player can't recall what a feat is (and doesn't write it down on their character sheet) then they need to look it up, and they better not slow down the game to do so.&nbsp; I'd rather the feat be called something intuative, but it shouldn't stop a world builder from using it even if the GWAs don't exist.After all, do you really think the characters talk like:&quot;I can't believe I was able to over-come that creatures spell resist.&nbsp; Good thing I learned Spell Penetration.&quot;&quot;Yeah.&nbsp; Lucky for us I could Power Attack and get through the Damage Reduction.&quot;&quot;Good thing I'm an Arcane Trickster - I never would have hit it's normal ac, but that touch AC made it easy to get my sneak attacks in!&quot; No, that's how players talk.&nbsp; If the player write's down GWA in his feat selection, it makes no impact on the game whatsoever over than the mechanics of the feat.The arguement always seems to come down to two sides:A) &quot;I don't want the fluff because I am a homebrew world-builder.&nbsp; I won't use it.&quot;B) &quot;I do want the fluff because I use the settings provided, and it's nice to have a more fleshed out world.&quot;If you are A, then it should be easy enough for you to toss the fluff and make whatever you like.&nbsp; You dislike the background and name of the GWA, kick them out!&nbsp; Make something else, or don't.&nbsp; The fact that the name is still in a feat change what the feat does; you shouldn't even need to change the name of the feat.&nbsp; Toss the fluff, build your world.&nbsp; How does it hurt you that the fluff is there?&nbsp; How does it make it harder for you to homebrew something just because the DMG lists organizations that you aren't using?If you are B, then the fluff really helps.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="jaer, post: 4000761, member: 57861"] I'd like to weigh in of the "setting specific fluff" discussion. I personally like it. I like that they have organizations, and even that they tided PrCs in 3.5 to those organizations. It gave a certain amount of life to the PrC and gave me something to plunk into my homebrew if I wanted. One of my characters wanted to make a Knight Phantom, so we found a way to add it to the world...no big deal! Another character has levels in the Exersist of the Silver Flame (Eberron PrC); we didn't even both making it a church or organization. The powers of the PrC fit in line with something else, so it made sense else where. We didn't rename the PrC to fit the new organization...why would we need to? Just because the Silver Flame as an organization doesn't exist, the PrC is not useless or pointless. What is written on her character sheet does not impact how her character interacts with the world. She plays a priestess who is specialized to fight demons, and her powers reflect that. Similarly, the GWA feat/organization. I like that they created one. Will I use the organization? Maybe. Even as a complete world builder, it's nice to have the option of not needing to come up with everything! Will I change the name? If i see fit to do so. Will that confuse anyone? No. Even if the organization does not exist in my world, I can freely use the feat without confusing the players. Feat names, just like PrC names, are for meta-game usage anyway. It's so a player knows what his character can do, and if a player can't recall what a feat is (and doesn't write it down on their character sheet) then they need to look it up, and they better not slow down the game to do so. I'd rather the feat be called something intuative, but it shouldn't stop a world builder from using it even if the GWAs don't exist. After all, do you really think the characters talk like: "I can't believe I was able to over-come that creatures spell resist. Good thing I learned Spell Penetration." "Yeah. Lucky for us I could Power Attack and get through the Damage Reduction." "Good thing I'm an Arcane Trickster - I never would have hit it's normal ac, but that touch AC made it easy to get my sneak attacks in!" No, that's how players talk. If the player write's down GWA in his feat selection, it makes no impact on the game whatsoever over than the mechanics of the feat. The arguement always seems to come down to two sides: A) "I don't want the fluff because I am a homebrew world-builder. I won't use it." B) "I do want the fluff because I use the settings provided, and it's nice to have a more fleshed out world." If you are A, then it should be easy enough for you to toss the fluff and make whatever you like. You dislike the background and name of the GWA, kick them out! Make something else, or don't. The fact that the name is still in a feat change what the feat does; you shouldn't even need to change the name of the feat. Toss the fluff, build your world. How does it hurt you that the fluff is there? How does it make it harder for you to homebrew something just because the DMG lists organizations that you aren't using? If you are B, then the fluff really helps. [/QUOTE]

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