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Message: <blockquote data-quote="pming" data-source="post: 7993570" data-attributes="member: 45197">Hiya!Full Disclosure: I didn't read every post, so someone may have covered this...Backgrounds: These are the "professions". This is where you get the sentences you are looking for that say things like "...the character can...", "...the character is able to...", "...the character knows all about...", and stuff like that. What you won't find... "...the character makes a DC 15 check to...", "...the character can attempt a [skill check] at a +2 bonus...", etc.Now...and this is KEY to understanding 5e...: THE GAME ABSOLUTELY REQUIRES A DM TO MAKE RULINGS!Unlike previous editions, there are far less "+X bonus" or "DC ## Check" and what I guess you could call "multifaceted knowledge capabilities". What I mean is that the way 5e works is almost the exact opposite of 3.x. Here is a typical exchange from a 3e and a 5e stand point:3eDM: The 10' corridor continues beyond the deep, dark pit in front of you. The pit is 10' square, almost wall to wall...there is about a 3 or 4 inch ledge on the left and right side of the pitPlayer: I'll jump across...I got [rolls dice] a 19 on my Jumping check.DM: Right. It was DC15 to jump, so you make it to the other side. What about the rest of you?5eDM: The corridor continues beyond the deep, dark pit in front of you. The pit is roughly 10' square on all sides"Player: Is the corridor exactly 10' here? With the pit? So no ledge or anything?DM: There is a small ledge on the left and right side, but they're only about 3 or 4 inches wide.Player: Hmmm....I think I'll try and jump it. I'll toss my backpack to the other side first...but I'll take my two potions out of it first and put them in my belt pouches. Then I'll take a running leap!DM: Good idea. You toss your pack across without any trouble, after retrieving your two potions. Make an Athletics check.Player: Can I use Acrobatics in stead? I have that as an actual proficient skill. I'll do a sort of 'wall run', where I run, jump at the side wall and use it to push off again to clear the pit!DM: Sure. Go for it.Player: [rolls dice] I got a 19...DM: You perform your little feat of acrobatics with ease and land on the other side, right next to your backpack.The biggest difference is that in 3e, it would typically be the PLAYER that "tells the DM what they are using to do something". But in 5e, it's the other way around. All the player does is describe what he want's his character to do ("jump the pit"), and maybe how ("leaping off the wall on the side"). The DM then decides first IF a roll is needed, and then WHAT Skill to use. The player often has a skill or ability in mind and can point this out, obviously, and most DM's will accept it if the Player describes how he intends to use, for example, Acrobatics in stead of Athletics to jump a pit.So, when you want to make a PC that is a Soldier, you do just that. You choose whatever class you want, then you take the "Soldier" background. That give's you "access" to anything that you and the DM think it should. That would include "Drill & Ceremony" tasks. When you want your PC to perform it, you just say so. "I was a Soldier in the Kings Army for over 8 years, so I should be able to handle this little ceremony". The DM then thinks about all that DM stuff (differences between the PC's race culture vs the race and culture of the ceremony he want's to take part in, for example), and MAKES A RULING. Remember that bold and italicized text I said waaaaay up at the top? Yeah. That. The DM then simply states "You are pleased to realize that many of the steps, timings and moves are very similar to a couple drills and ceremonies you already know. You can do it without much trouble". ...the the Player can ask, for example, "Can I roll something to see how well I do?", to which the DM, again, MAKES A RULING and says "Sure. DC 5. Make an Intelligence based Athletics check. You can't fail, but how much over 5 is how well you do". The Player rolls. The game continues.That's how 5e handles "professions"; in big, meta-groupings of descriptions....not in a dozen different Feats, Skills, Special Abilities, etc. That's going to be a strange thing to get used to if you learned with 2e/3e.That said...there is absolutely NOTHING stopping you (or your DM) from simply saying "Ok guys, all the Skills from 3.5e's PHB are going to be used in stead of the 5e PHB ones, because there's more and we're used to them". The system is exactly the same: "Roll a d20, add stuff, beat a DC". The only difference is the bonuses are much smaller and harder to come by in 5e...but that's ok because the DC's are also a lot smaller and far less rolls need to be made. You CAN make them, if you like lots of rolling in your games, but the game functions best when a PC with a particular Background, Class, Race or whatever is just assumed to be at least as competent at their "stuff" as any NPC they come across, and thus, no rolls need to be made. "You have the Soldier Background, so yeah, you can do the D&C"...for example.I guess the BIGGEST thing to accept: You, the Player, do NOT control the game....the DM does. You don't get to say "I'll use X Skill to do Y task". You can, and I suspect most tables do, but the general order of play is: "Player states what they want their PC to do. DM decides if a dice roll is needed and what adjustments the PC can apply". In short, all that "PC control of the minutia of the game" simply doesn't exist in 5e.^_^Paul L. Ming</blockquote>

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