D&D (2024) Learning to Love the Background System

[Remathilis]

Basically rolling for stats is too fun to get rid of.

Then accept what the dice give you rather than adding three after the fact.

 

[Parmandur]

Yes it does. ASI doesn't need to exist if point buy is the default method of character generation. You simply increase the # of points and the cap to 16. If you get rid of ASI and put that extra into the point pool, you end up statistically similar without needing an extra step.

If you got rid of ASI at chargen and added that equivalent to the point buy pool:
1. Background would not suffer since they still would have plenty of mechanical heft
2. Point bought/default array characters would not suffer since their stats with be similar to the current system's totals
3. Rolled characters would suffer since they would have to accept exactly what they rolled rather than being able to massage their scores with +1/+2 or three+1s.

But it's that third group of people who want both "the freedom of the dice" and their 16+ starting score that forces ASI to remain as a second unnecessary step.

Sed contra, 4E had made the array or point buybdefault and still had Level 1 ASI tied to the character origin. The two concepts are unrelated.

 

[Shardstone]

Basically rolling for stats is too fun to get rid of.

This, and tbh, it doesn't break the game, just ups the power a little bit in T1.

 

[Minigiant]

Then accept what the dice give you rather than adding three after the fact.

No because they want the chance to start at 20.

 

[Parmandur]

This, and tbh, it doesn't break the game, just ups the power a little bit in T1.

On average, it doesn't even do that.

 

[Remathilis]

No because they want the chance to start at 20.

Exactly. "I want a chance to start at the Pinnacle of Power" isn't a particularly sympathetic stance.

 

[Arilyn]

If rolling isn't allowed to be redone, you also risk starting well below the pinnacle of power. The danger is allowing players to scrap bad rolls and rerolling until the perfect array comes forth. Ideally, rolling is done for surprise purposes and the thrill of gambling. But you have to be willing to settle for sub-par stats if the dice gods are not smiling.

 

[CreamCloud0]

4d6 isn't 'broken' per se, but lets face it, if it wasn't derived from the OG method of stat generation it would not be listed as the primary method of stat generation, you'd have standard array as the first introduction, point buy for people who want to customise their builds more than that and finally then 4d6 for those who like to gamble on what their stats will be.

 

[Bacon Bits]

Backgrounds in the playtest (that weren’t custom) had set ASIs and were more restrictive. They got a +2 and +1 to specific stats and no choice of a third or anything. Yea, Custom existed so most people ignored it, but they were in the playtest and they were more restrictive than the official version.

OK, sure, I did forget about that.

But that's kind of just it. The first background they present is the Custom Background rules to build your own. They don't present a pick list. They present a system for making your own. It's presented in Playtest 1 like the custom rule is the default with a number of "sample backgrounds" you could make. And given that they just eliminated hard-linking ASI with race, I can't believe anyone would expect anything different.

What we got is almost the polar opposite, with the former samples being the fixed list of choices and the custom rule being in the DMG.

 

[Parmandur]

OK, sure, I did forget about that.

But that's kind of just it. The first background they present is the Custom Background rules to build your own. They don't present a pick list. They present a system for making your own. It's presented in Playtest 1 like the custom rule is the default with a number of "sample backgrounds" you could make. And given that they just eliminated hard-linking ASI with race, I can't believe anyone would expect anything different.

What we got is almost the polar opposite, with the former samples being the fixed list of choices and the custom rule being in the DMG.

That is what they presented, but we do not know what feedback they got.