D&D 5E Krynn's Free Feats: setting-specific or the future of the game?

[Greg Benage]

Unfortunately, it is impossible either to break ribs or to sever limbs in 5e. The states of being are alive, dying, dead, and undead.

What's funny about this is that the sword of sharpness is still in 5e, and the Lingering Injuries optional rule actually does have an option for broken ribs.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I expect they're probably here to stay.

I really hope that's not the case, at least at 1st level - IMO the fewer choices a player needs to make to create a starting character, the better. (Even beyond 1st level, I'd prefer players to be able to ignore feats if they want. But my objection is certainly less strong here.)

I really hope it IS the case, 5e desperately needs this to keep from going stale.

 

[Henadic Theologian]

I suggested that they'll be setting specific, but in every setting. Strixhaven added magic; Ravenloft added curses; Theros added heroics; Dragonlance adds soldiering and survivors.
Every setting should have this as flavor.

You still need a generic setting agnostic version for homebrewers and settings they haven't got to yet.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I think there's zero possibility of you not getting free Feat at L1 in DND2024.

Whether that Feat is determined by your background (either specifically or giving you a list), or chosen from a small list, or freely chosen, remains to be seen (I suspect both of the first two are more likely).

At this point, with 50m+ players, and only at most maybe 10m of them even potentially "burned" by Feats in 3E/4E/PF (and most people actually didn't hate Feats in those), I don't think Feats being optional or not is a "dealbreaker" for any significant proportion of the audience. So they can easily flip it so in the DMG you can just have the Background Feats and all other Feats are ASIs or whatever. Again very different to 2014 where nearly 100% of players were ex-3E/4E/PF.

Whether we also get on at L4 I think may well depend on feedback to this, but I think it's quite likely.

 

[Ruin Explorer]

I really hope that's not the case, at least at 1st level - IMO the fewer choices a player needs to make to create a starting character, the better. (Even beyond 1st level, I'd prefer players to be able to ignore feats if they want. But my objection is certainly less strong here.)

I think what they're trying to do with Dragonlance is to find a way to balance both the "more customization" and "keep it simple" sides (and I suspect the former side is a lot larger than the latter, particularly under 40), by linking the Feats to backgrounds, and by having the list for L1 for other backgrounds be extremely small - literally three Feats. You don't meaningfully complicate chargen or introduce analysis paralysis with three Feats (especially those three).

Then at 4th they have a slightly wider choice.

 

[TwoSix]

most give you 1 skill, most races 0.

Every class gives at least 2 skills, some give 3. No class gives only 1.

 

[Maxperson]

The feat at 4th is for level and has no relationship to the background you selected

That's not true at all. You get a limited selection, most of which are Knight of Solomnia orders or High Sorcery orders. The rest are a very limited set of caster or fighting feats that are appropriate for your 1st level choice. They all have a relationship to the background selected. You cannot for instance, select Observant as your 4th level feat.

For background feats I would expect that when you say take the Urchin background, you will be given a 1st level Urchin feat, and then a limited selection for your 4th level pick that are written into the Urchin background.

 

[Maxperson]

It makes your background choice more about power and less about RP, though, which is a step away from my preferred direction.

This is why I both like and dislike background feats. I'm very worried that some backgrounds will become about a specific class type when it shouldn't. Soldier background feats should probably be geared towards martial, but I really don't want to see the same thing from Sailor, but often Sailors are associated with brawling and improvised weapons, which can mean that the background will suddenly be shied away from by people playing caster.

 

[Maxperson]

backgounds have never been fluff only... they give you your skills (and in most cases they give you the only access you have to skills... some classes give you 1 or a race here or there but giving more then 1 is rare) your tool profs and your feature.

Yes and no. You are also allowed to create your own background with skills and such of your choice. If there are skills I envision for my PC and the Criminal background doesn't do it, my created Mafia background will. I still get to have a criminal background and it works for my character vision.

That allows backgrounds to be about RP and not just about what skills you get.

 

[Aldarc]

Increased options = power creep.
Inevitable really.

It's not creeping; it's jogging at a steady pace.