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<blockquote data-quote="Oofta" data-source="post: 8999820" data-attributes="member: 6801845">Well, let's take the example of the noble background.&nbsp; The background could be helpful or harmful in social situations depending on the circumstance.&nbsp; The fluff side of things I have no problem with - by dint of their noble background they have more luxurious accommodations than they normally would and using the option to have retainers.&nbsp; However, those retainers are just that, a butler, maid, chef or squire. I've seen a player push that definition to make the servants into full-blown sidekicks that went on adventures with the group, effectively giving them multiple PCs when no one else did.&nbsp; It violates my preference of &quot;minor situational benefit and fluff&quot; that typically doesn't have an impact on combat.I don't always use, or remember backgrounds, it's something I want to give more thought to in our next campaign now that I have a stable group again (we moved).&nbsp; I have added an NPC as a person's criminal contact for example.&nbsp; I'm just not always sure how to make it really matter.&nbsp; If someone has the folk hero background, that's kind of cool at lower levels.&nbsp; You did something awesome* and now people look up to you. But after a few levels, in many cases the entire group will have the same level of adoration.So I want to give people benefits, sadly I regularly forget but want to get better at it.&nbsp; On the other hand, it rarely comes up in most games.&nbsp; A useful concept but one the group needs to decide to run with in order for it to matter.*My favorite twist on the folk hero is that the PC didn't really do anything awesome, they just happened to be the first person on the scene after the bad guys had some sort of catastrophic failure or it's just a case of mistaken identity.&nbsp; Maybe that's just my own imposter syndrome peeking through.&nbsp;&nbsp; <img src="https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f914.png" class="smilie smilie--emoji" loading="lazy" width="64" height="64" alt=":unsure:" title="Unsure&nbsp; &nbsp; :unsure:"&nbsp; data-smilie="24"data-shortname=":unsure:" /> </blockquote>

[QUOTE="Oofta, post: 8999820, member: 6801845"] Well, let's take the example of the noble background. The background could be helpful or harmful in social situations depending on the circumstance. The fluff side of things I have no problem with - by dint of their noble background they have more luxurious accommodations than they normally would and using the option to have retainers. However, those retainers are just that, a butler, maid, chef or squire. I've seen a player push that definition to make the servants into full-blown sidekicks that went on adventures with the group, effectively giving them multiple PCs when no one else did. It violates my preference of "minor situational benefit and fluff" that typically doesn't have an impact on combat. I don't always use, or remember backgrounds, it's something I want to give more thought to in our next campaign now that I have a stable group again (we moved). I have added an NPC as a person's criminal contact for example. I'm just not always sure how to make it really matter. If someone has the folk hero background, that's kind of cool at lower levels. You did something awesome* and now people look up to you. But after a few levels, in many cases the entire group will have the same level of adoration. So I want to give people benefits, sadly I regularly forget but want to get better at it. On the other hand, it rarely comes up in most games. A useful concept but one the group needs to decide to run with in order for it to matter. [I]*My favorite twist on the folk hero is that the PC didn't really do anything awesome, they just happened to be the first person on the scene after the bad guys had some sort of catastrophic failure or it's just a case of mistaken identity. Maybe that's just my own imposter syndrome peeking through. :unsure: [/I] [/QUOTE]

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