PHB2 Excerpts - Backgrounds

[Rechan]

Deva coolness indeed.

 

[Chainsaw]

@MichaelSomething and Kzach on restarting using similar characters in old school gaming:

Not trying to derail this thread or open a can of worms, but have to make a quick and (hopefully) constructive comment based on my experience in "old school" gaming. In my old groups, the characters we played developed uniqueness through playing - they didn't really bring it in with them pre-game. Usually "He's a fighter from X" was enough pre-play history and flavor. If they lived long enough, THEN we started fleshing them out more, usually using their actual in-game experiences as inspiration. So yeah, you might play a fighter with stats a,b,c,d,e,f and a slightly different name three times in a row, but you didn't bother with an elaborate history. Now, rich histories eventually became part of the game for us, but like I said, usually not until it was clear the poor fool would live past level one.

I suppose my point is that we weren't playing Barrick, then Carrick, then Darrick, then Eric, then Farrick, all with the same elaborate personal history. Honestly, he's a level one guy, how varied and interesting could his personal history possibly be? Haha.

We cared about characters, but usually it was about he ones that had actually done something interesting, I guess. Until then, they were just cannon fodder.

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

@MichaelSomething and Kzach on restarting using similar characters in old school gaming:

Not trying to derail this thread or open a can of worms, but have to make a quick and (hopefully) constructive comment based on my experience in "old school" gaming. In my old groups, the characters we played developed uniqueness through playing - they didn't really bring it in with them pre-game. Usually "He's a fighter from X" was enough pre-play history and flavor. If they lived long enough, THEN we started fleshing them out more, usually using their actual in-game experiences as inspiration. So yeah, you might play a fighter with stats a,b,c,d,e,f and a slightly different name three times in a row, but you didn't bother with an elaborate history. Now, rich histories eventually became part of the game for us, but like I said, usually not until it was clear the poor fool would live past level one.

I suppose my point is that we weren't playing Barrick, then Carrick, then Darrick, then Eric, then Farrick, all with the same elaborate personal history. Honestly, he's a level one guy, how varied and interesting could his personal history possibly be? Haha.

We cared about characters, but usually it was about he ones that had actually done something interesting, I guess. Until then, they were just cannon fodder.

I think that approach works fine for D&D, at least if you start at 1st level. Characters really are at their beginning.

In a game like Shadowrun, I'd do it differently, because characters start out as experienced Runners that might be loaded with Cyberware. These characters have ability that force you to ask "What did they do to get them?"

I think beyond 1st level, the likelihood of losing your character early is lower, and you will probably come up with some ideas.

The only "weakness" I see with the 1st level background-less character I see is that there are not enough hooks. But you don't need this in every campaign or for every adventure anyway...

 

[exile]

I like the FR backgrounds and think they (and now those in PHB2) work well if you want to flesh out an extensive background early on or let it develop organically during play.

For example my LFR character started out as an elven rogue with ranger multiclass (to make her even more nature oriented) from Aglarond (complete with regional benefits). I could have very easily developed a very extensive background, but I chose a few quick details...

*She hates orcs (all good elves should).
*She skipped out on a lot of her formal education, preferring to run wild through the forests of Aglarond during her youth (as reflected in her poor INT).

As she has matured, more and more personality traits have come into play...

*She likes to go barefoot (it kind of fits with her nature vibe).
*She goes topless, especially for festive events (this started in the opening of LURU 1-1, when she encountered some topless bar patrons- when in Luruar, do as the Luruarans do- and carried on into AGLA 1-1 where she entertained some pixies with a topless dance).
*She still hates orcs in general, but will grudgingly work with them to achieve greater goals (she even joined an adventuring company led by an orc).

Alright, alright, this is a longwinded way of saying that I like backgrounds, I like that WOTC has given us mechanics for creating our own that seem in line with a lot of the FR backgrounds, even if it seems like those mechanics could have easily been extrapolated from the existing FR backgrounds. Finally, I think they work equally well if you want to develop your background before play starts or let it emerge in a more organic fashion.

Now all I need is a balanced "disadvantage" system...

Chad

 

[UngeheuerLich]

Maybe the bonus should be a racial +2 bonus... this would allow humans to be as good in one skill as an elf etc. ...

 

[Chainsaw]

@Mudstrum

I can see where you're coming from on Shadowrun (or in any game where you're starting with more elaborate abilities).

As a DM, I can also totally sympathize with your hooks comment - it was MUCH easier for me to create interesting plot hooks if my players provided me with rich character histories (careful players usually would, reckless ones wouldn't, go figure!), but I suppose now we're talking more about play style. Usually (NOT ALWAYS), our old school games (not saying all old school games) were less about story and more about "beating" a tough dungeon, so my players didn't really expect elaborate plots and story arcs and whatnot (especially at low level).

At low levels, most of the time the best hook material I had was knowing that the magic-user wanted to be a necromancer or that the fighter/magic-user wanted elven chain, etc. By the time we reached higher levels, the players had usually fleshed out their characters' histories (providing more hook material) or I'd just use previous game experiences (magic user X back from the dead).

 

[Mustrum_Ridcully]

@Mustrum

I can see where you're coming from on Shadowrun (or in any game where you're starting with more elaborate abilities).

As a DM, I can also totally sympathize with your hooks comment - it was MUCH easier for me to create interesting plot hooks if my players provided me with rich character histories (careful players usually would, reckless ones wouldn't, go figure!), but I suppose now we're talking more about play style. Usually (NOT ALWAYS), our old school games (not saying all old school games) were less about story and more about "beating" a tough dungeon, so my players didn't really expect elaborate plots and story arcs and whatnot (especially at low level).

We have run a lot of adventure path and published modules so far, and personal background is also mostly irrelevant to them. DMs can try to build it into the adventure, but the idea is to have something that's fast and easy to run, not something you have to modify.

When I ran my homebrew campaigns and adventures, I milked every little background info the PCs gave me to "motivate" them for the adventures. (My favorite background element still is the Giant "Commissar" of my Arcana Evolved Campaign. The player came up with the background that he was basically some kind of investigator/law enforcement type. Little actual power, but he would have enough informal authority to start an investigation and ask questions without needing the consent of the local official. And he would sometimes get "jobs" to investigate or to follow leads.

 

[Akaiku]

@Mudstrum
Careful players usually would, reckless ones wouldn't, go figure!

That comes from the idea that loosing a character you are attached to is bad. So generally, how much someone will invest into actually caring about a character tracks with how unlikely they are to randomly drop dead forever. For many people, me included, backstories are a sign of caring about the character.

 

[MichaelSomething]

This topic reminded me to work on my character background... I really need to finish it.

Also, so how about that PHB2? It's gonna be full of stuff for people who like D&D I hear!

 

[Negflar2099]

What I also hoped for was maybe backgrounds which allowed you to craft something... (If you were a blacksmith, you can forge armor given time and money)

They had this exact background in Dragon Magazine article a ways back, and those backgrounds show up in the Character Builder. Problem it's not that great though. Basically you can take a few days and build any armor or weapon for the same price it's listed at in the PHB. I know why they do this, I had so many players try to get infinite money by playing with the game's economy that I thought we were playing Merchants & Moneybags, but it's still a little upsetting.

By the way I really like what they've done with the former Aasimar's (Now Deva's). Very cool. They finally hit on a mechanic and concept that makes that race every bit as cool as tieflings. I like the background mechanic too but what I really want is a group background mechanic so that groups get a bonus for creating a real team instead of a bunch of individual loners. I can't tell you how much that would help me as a DM.

Maybe I'll write something up. Hmm...