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<blockquote data-quote="Zsig" data-source="post: 8082670" data-attributes="member: 56809">I guess you missed the &quot;Customizing a Background&quot; a few sections below that (PHB, same page):&quot;You might want to tweak some of the features of a background so it better fits your character or the campaign setting. To customize a background, you can replace one feature with any other, choose any two skills, and choose a total of two tool proficiencies or languages from the sample backgrounds&quot;It's important to note that this is not a variant rule, this is RAW.The reason backgrounds allows you to replace skill proficiencies with whatever you want when there's some sort of duplicity is because it's not supposed to matter. They are not supposed to offer meaningful mechanical elements/advantages, they are there to help provide you with a cool story for your character. If I want to make a cleric with a criminal past, I can, and the rules won't penalize me for that. If I want to make a rogue that studies and has a Sage background, I'll not be gimped by it.And that's precisely the problem I have with backgrounds offering Ability Stat Increases, because now it's no longer a tool to flesh out a character's backstory, instead it locks you out of some options when making your character.We all know that Str is a dump stat in this edition, only a few classes benefit from it, and the moment you say Nobles get +1 Str you immediately neglect the fact that over 2/3's of the character archetypes/classes don't give a damn about Str. Then, suddenly, the only characters that will ever get Noble as a background are barbarians, paladins and a few fighters and rangers.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Zsig, post: 8082670, member: 56809"] I guess you missed the "[I][B]Customizing a Background[/B][/I]" a few sections below that (PHB, same page): [I]"You might want to tweak some of the features of a background so it better fits your character or the campaign setting. To customize a background, you can replace one feature with any other,[B] choose any two skills[/B], and choose a total of two tool proficiencies or languages from the sample backgrounds"[/I] It's important to note that this is not a variant rule, this is RAW. The reason backgrounds allows you to replace skill proficiencies with whatever you want when there's some sort of duplicity is because it's not supposed to matter. They are not supposed to offer meaningful mechanical elements/advantages, they are there to help provide you with a cool story for your character. If I want to make a cleric with a criminal past, I can, and the rules won't penalize me for that. If I want to make a rogue that studies and has a Sage background, I'll not be gimped by it. And that's precisely the problem I have with backgrounds offering Ability Stat Increases, because now it's no longer a tool to flesh out a character's backstory, instead it locks you out of some options when making your character. We all know that Str is a dump stat in this edition, only a few classes benefit from it, and the moment you say Nobles get +1 Str you immediately neglect the fact that over 2/3's of the character archetypes/classes don't give a damn about Str. Then, suddenly, the only characters that will ever get Noble as a background are barbarians, paladins and a few fighters and rangers. [/QUOTE]

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