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<blockquote data-quote="Li Shenron" data-source="post: 7937255" data-attributes="member: 1465">I don't believe anything is mandatory, not even giving stats to retainers. That's a good table however. I was already thinking that I would consider adding only racial traits that represent biological features (e.g. vision, poison resistance, charm immunity...) and avoid stuff representing training (bonus proficiencies and spells). That table pretty much fits with my idea. I was specifically worried about Drow spells and Halfling luck, which seemed too much and I don't know if everyone in the world of those races should really have it. However I was forgetting that Drow spells are based on level and NPCs don't have levels, so a Drow commoner or noble only has Dancing Lights. And retainers do only mundane tasks so even though Lucky is a powerful feature, they are only going to use it on an occasional skill check for a mundane task that requires a check at all.It should also be kept in mind that background features are all intended to be only a bit more than ribbon abilities to help outside the combat and exploration phases, and always provide non-essential benefits. NPC stats in general are meant for adversaries first, and allies later (which don't need stats in most cases). It makes sense to use these hard rules for mercenaries who will join your fights, but not so much for those who only do &quot;mundane tasks&quot;. But then, I see no harm in having drow retainers casting Dancing Lights out of combat, and say that it is in fact considered mundane among the drow.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="Li Shenron, post: 7937255, member: 1465"] I don't believe anything is mandatory, not even giving stats to retainers. That's a good table however. I was already thinking that I would consider adding only racial traits that represent biological features (e.g. vision, poison resistance, charm immunity...) and avoid stuff representing training (bonus proficiencies and spells). That table pretty much fits with my idea. I was specifically worried about Drow spells and Halfling luck, which seemed too much and I don't know if everyone in the world of those races should really have it. However I was forgetting that Drow spells are based on level and NPCs don't have levels, so a Drow commoner or noble only has Dancing Lights. And retainers do only mundane tasks so even though Lucky is a powerful feature, they are only going to use it on an occasional skill check for a mundane task that requires a check at all. It should also be kept in mind that background features are all intended to be only a bit more than ribbon abilities to help outside the combat and exploration phases, and always provide non-essential benefits. NPC stats in general are meant for adversaries first, and allies later (which don't need stats in most cases). It makes sense to use these hard rules for mercenaries who will join your fights, but not so much for those who only do "mundane tasks". But then, I see no harm in having drow retainers casting Dancing Lights out of combat, and say that it is in fact considered mundane among the drow. [/QUOTE]

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