D&D 5E PH(B) Hermit Background

[pemerton]

Sure, it's just not much of a benefit. It's a plot hook.

<snip>

The central appeal is that the DM can screw with you. That's not a real advantage.

Like I said, that wasn't how I read it. Being able to establish a key secret for the campaign isn't the GM "screwing with me". To use that language, it's me "screwing with the GM".

 

[I'm A Banana]

Like I said, that wasn't how I read it. Being able to establish a key secret for the campaign isn't the GM "screwing with me". To use that language, it's me "screwing with the GM".

'course the GM can always pull rank. You only screw with the GM as much as the GM allows.

 

[Thaumaturge]

'course the GM can always pull rank. You only screw with the GM as much as the GM allows.

Ah, so you play a "GM may I (screw with you)?" style game.

Thaumaturge.

 

[I'm A Banana]

Ah, so you play a "GM may I (screw with you)?" style game.

Thaumaturge.

You've always gotta get consent before you screw with your GM! And no means no, it doesn't matter how he's dressed.

 

[Ruzak]

If anyone cares, I have a Secret mechanism in my eternally-being-written-game, which is a little different from the hermit's. Each character has a secret, which is known by the character but not by player. The player picks a question, such as What crime did I commit or Who are my parents. It is then up to the GM to answer that question at some point in the story. The goal is to have a big reveal to a secret from the past, which is as surprising to the PC's player as to the rest of the group. The game as a whole is very cooperative story telling, and so while the players get to tell some of the story of the adventure, the GM tells some of the story of the characters.

 

[Crothian]

You've always gotta get consent before you screw with your GM! And no means no, it doesn't matter how he's dressed.

But the way he rolled the dice said yes!

 

[MarkB]

If anyone cares, I have a Secret mechanism in my eternally-being-written-game, which is a little different from the hermit's. Each character has a secret, which is known by the character but not by player. The player picks a question, such as What crime did I commit or Who are my parents. It is then up to the GM to answer that question at some point in the story. The goal is to have a big reveal to a secret from the past, which is as surprising to the PC's player as to the rest of the group. The game as a whole is very cooperative story telling, and so while the players get to tell some of the story of the adventure, the GM tells some of the story of the characters.

That would just feel really weird to me. If there was an amnesia element it might work, but the idea of playing a character while not knowing some major aspect of their motivation or background seems like it would feel really fake to me.

 

[Ruzak]

That would just feel really weird to me. If there was an amnesia element it might work, but the idea of playing a character while not knowing some major aspect of their motivation or background seems like it would feel really fake to me.

It is kind of weird, and certainly not for everyone.
For what it's worth, the nature of your secret is a known part of your character, but the specifics are not. So while you may know your character is hiding from his wealthy or noble parentage, you don't know who they are until your character runs into them in the course of an adventure. Or you know your character committed some atrocity in war, but not what until someone comes looking for revenge. The details of the secret themselves have little effect on how you play your character.
I am trying to emulate the situation in fiction where the protagonist has a secret revealed later in the story. We know who this character is and how he acts, but not this one aspect of his past.
I have always made my characters have some aspect of their life hidden from me as the player. For me it is intriguing, and makes me want to play them more and learn more about them.

 

[beej]

Clearly, being a hermit comes with gym memberships. That's the most buff hermit, ever. And here we were talking about "realistic expectations."

/ragequit

 

[Gold Roger]

I guess I'd play the secret feature less as a factual knowledge you could share but a mystical insight or rare understanding.

So, for example, I wouldn't make the secret the answer to the question "How did the ancient civilisation of the Eskrin become extinct?", but the existence of secret Eskrin runesigns, as well as how to find and read them.

Others I could imagine would be:
-How to grow a plant that is thought not to grow anymore

-how to communicate with a form of far realm creature

-how to repair or replicate a lost form of crafting

-how to decipher messages from the howling winds of Pandemonium

-the conditions of a contract all devils under the command of Dispater are forced to observe.

Such secrets couldn't be easily shared, but stay relevant and unique to the character.

I know that may playing it fast and loose with the feature, but I intend to do that for all backgrounds.