D&D (2024) The New Custom Backgrounds Details

[Mistwell]

no wonder that they didn't have room in PHB for more subclasses or more feats or Artificer of more spells,
they wasted NINE pages on something that takes up a quarter of the page.

Great job WotC...

People.Like.Non-Mehanics.Rules.Too.

This isn't an instruction manual. I really like the backgrounds sections! I want to play those backgrounds, and the text in those sections along with the excellent artwork is valuable to me.

 

[Mistwell]

this, maybe even more than 90%, as I said, they wasted 9 pages of PHB that could have been used better for other thing.

I guarantee it's lower than 90%. Heck, Adventurers League alone is a meaningful percentage of games. So are beginners. So are one-shots. I know for out next campaign it will start with PHB-only.

I genuinely think these houseruled backgrounds are primarily for DMs who homebrew their campaign setting, and not those who use published setting material. Nor do I think most usage is people making up some background to optimize some stuff. And even many optimizers will just pick the background right out of the book that gets them closest.

please, how can a choice of origin feat, 2 skills, ASIs and tool be outside power range of any background printed?

PHB2024 are worse part of the book and honestly a waste of printing space, we could have gotten artificer for that page count.

and people will take backgrounds for mechanics they give and not what backgrounds should be, RP ideas and flavor.

No really, the RP and flavor is super important to many players. My tables included. For some people I play with, it's nearly everything and they barely look at their character sheet for mechanic things.

I am sensing a disconnect here. I get this is not how you play. I am not judging you at all for playing that way. I am not getting why you think it's how everyone plays. See Minigiant's comment below:

One of the reasons why there are so many middling selling RPGs is that many designers design for themselves and don't make product that have a strong customer base nor revenue stream.

WOTC Litterally playtested custom backgrounds. It flopped.

People want pre built backgrounds.

Yes, this exactly.

 

[Mistwell]

Ideals, Flaws, Quirks. That is more part of the personality of the character, in the same section as describing the physical appearance, and clothing style. Alignment description also goes here, relating Ideals, Flaws, and Quirks.

Yes, I am definitely missing those things. We used them. And we used an Inspiration mechanic.

 

[bedir than]

One of the nice things they did with Greyhawk, which people should do when creating custom backgrounds for their world, is connect the backgrounds to particular places of interest.

 

[Snarf Zagyg]

One of the nice things they did with Greyhawk, which people should do when creating custom backgrounds for their world, is connect the backgrounds to particular places of interest.

 

[Kurotowa]

I think it much more likely indicates that they are anticipating adding more origin feats In future books.

Oh, absolutely they will. All those gimmicky setting or campaign specific starting packages they've been messing around with, the Ravenloft Dark Gifts and whatever the stronger Backgrounds scheme in Strixhaven was, are easily folded into specialized sets of new Backgrounds with paired Origin feats. Keith Baker already used them in his new Eberron book on DM's Guild to be a better Dragonmark system than the super cumbersome sub-races scheme in Rising from the Last War. Also they're the sort of player option catnip that a lot of players want a bit of to spice up their new books.

We're going to see them using this a lot, I'd bet on it.

 

[Demetrios1453]

Keith Baker already used them in his new Eberron book on DM's Guild to be a better Dragonmark system than the super cumbersome sub-races scheme in Rising from the Last War.

I hadn't realized that he had done this, but that's a really smart and efficient way of doing the Dragonmark system!

I'm willing to bet that the FR books next year will lean heavily into setting-specific Backgrounds and Origin Feats. The 3e FRCS gave you special equipment based on your character's place of origin, and this would be sort of an updated version of that.

 

[Parmandur]

Oh, absolutely they will. All those gimmicky setting or campaign specific starting packages they've been messing around with, the Ravenloft Dark Gifts and whatever the stronger Backgrounds scheme in Strixhaven was, are easily folded into specialized sets of new Backgrounds with paired Origin feats.

The Strixhaven Backgrounds juat gave a Feat, that was a twist on Magic Initiate. Pretty much just what we see in the new PHB.

Keith Baker already used them in his new Eberron book on DM's Guild to be a better Dragonmark system than the super cumbersome sub-races scheme in Rising from the Last War.

Well, who designed the Subrace system in Rising from the Last War...?

Keith Baker designed thar, too, I remember him discussing it on Dragon Talk back in the day. I think itnis likely only a matter of time before "Dragonmarks as Origin Gear" make it into a WotC book.

We're going to see them using this a lot, I'd bet on it.

Already confirmed for the Forgotten Realms book, and it would not shock me if a couple Dragon-y Backgrounds/Feats pop up in the Anthology.

 

[Epic Meepo]

And if the PHB choices don't suit them, well, it says right there in the text to talk to the DM about customizing.

Nothing in the PHB tells players to talk to the DM about customizing backgrounds.

 

[kittenhugs]

I've said this before, and I will mention this again.

The 2014 PHB had the custom background in it. And yet, IME, almost no one used it.

My experience is that people didn't know the 2014 background customization rules existed, because it was basically hidden in the layout as this narrow column of text in the PHB next to some art on the page before the actual backgrounds are listed. I've personally never had a game where I didn't have multiple players swap out parts of their background, usually skill and tool proficiencies.

It also got rid of a real problem 2024 backgrounds have: proficiency overlap. A criminal rogue will have thieves' tools proficiency from two locations and be unable to swap one by RAW. They just end up with one less tool proficiency than every other rogue.