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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Guest 6801718" data-source="post: 6975689">I think this idea with the backgrounds is really interesting.  The backgrounds section does suggest that each background come with a few skill training options and some kind of special benefit.  Perhaps if you did a custom background that swapped out the skill selection with a feat like Linguist or offered Linguist as the special benefit instead of something like Criminal Contact, the lesser used feats would find some good play.  The "trained" background could find a special niche and offer something interesting to the PC.  I'd have to look over the feats again to see which ones would fit something like this.  Though I like the idea.  I've been thinking about the encounter problem you were talking about too, where monster stat blocks don't do the monster justice.  When the PCs confront the Big Bad, the Big Bad can get stomped on.  I doubt we'd ever seen any big adjustment to some of the more deadly feats or the monsters themselves.  As mentioned, the game is based on kill monsters and get rewards.  So by design, the monsters are only meant to last an encounter.  Which can make the idea of a recurring villain or monster something of a pipe dream.  The bad guys are designed to lose, so adding some real menace can be a bit of a problem.  Especially if you don't have the prep time between sessions to come up with really complex encounters.  I was thinking about this when reading through a campaign world that is meant to be more harsh and dangerous.  So I was thinking of how I could really drive home that idea of a more deadly D&D world.  I think we both agree that adding in rules or doing some homebrewing can be a hassle.  Though I was really tempted to try out the optional critical hits tables in the DMG.  When a crit is rolled, you can consult one of the tables for some kind of more permanent or debilitating effect, like having an eye gouged out or a hand lopped off.  Now, stuff like that can be pretty scary for a PC, particularly if they don't want their hero maimed like that.  Though thanks to magical healing, some of this stuff can be taken care of fairly quickly.  Which means that it could add a complication to an encounter that those optimized heroes have to deal with.  When a GWM gets a hand torn off, what then?  How about that archer taking a shot to the face and losing an eye?  Magic can fix the problem later (should they live) but for that encounter they are suddenly working with a disadvantage.  Now, the problem is that this is all random.  You have to roll that crit and randomly determine the effect.  Plus you have to keep that crit table handy for easy access.  Though I guess you could print it out and clip it to your DM screen.  So I'm not really sure how something like this actually plays out.  Same thing with the madness tables.  You can have sanity checks for the more bizarre or menacing creatures but it requires a sanity stat and save along with a chart.  So it's an optional rule with a little bookkeeping hassle but it has the potential to slow down some optimized heroes.  Have you ever played with any of these optional rules?  I'd be curious to see how they actually work.  Unfortunately, I won't be in the DM chair for a while.  So I can't report on how they play out.  I am curious to see what they actually add to the game.  Plus they have the potential to be really deadly if multiple crits pop up against the party.</blockquote>

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