D&D 5E Traits, Flaws, and Bonds L&L May 5th

[Gundark]

Mike talks about Flaws, Traits, and Bonds

http://www.wizards.com/dnd/Article.aspx?x=dnd/4ll/20140505

 

[GravyFingerz]

I may or may not use them, but it's a nice idea. It's the type of thing to nudge creativity and to flesh out a character. I'm glad they are tailoring the table to each background rather than one massive table for each category.

It's funny, but I was creating a character recently, an elven monk who had a background as a minstrel. Something about choosing a background really fires my imagination and made me excited about the idea for the character. I hope these bits do the same.

 

[Plaguescarred]

I think that Backgrounds are a great way to flesh out a character and bring it to life using Trait/Ideal/Bond/Flaw! I also like that that they may even be generated randomly if desired. I could see a easy way of fleshing out NPCs with them too...

 

[tuxgeo]

I really enjoyed the penultimate paragraph, in which he says these things are merely guidelines; and they only apply as much as you want them to; and the random tables are there merely for inspiration, not for prescription.

 

[Philousk]

Acolyte seems to be a new background, am I wrong? I wonder how many there will be in total. I wish there was a more than playtest offers, but too much is like not enough!

 

[Ichneumon]

I've heard Acolyte and Outlander mentioned as backgrounds, and suspect Acolyte of being the new Priest. Outlander could be the new Guide. I'd expect maybe 1-3 more than there are in the last playtest (14), though if personality aspects are being done as in L&L that's about a page for each background. On second thoughts, any background that doesn't lend itself to a good variety of traits looks vulnerable. Will the Thug be knocked out?

Great to know what's been happening with these. Now Mike, about that downtime system...

 

[Blackwarder]

I wonder how many backgrounds we will get in the PHB, because it does seem that each background is going to take a good chunk of page space, I don't think it's a page per background but might be 2-3 backgrounds per page if the font is small enough.

I can certainly see WotC or a 3pp publishing a book dedicate to backgrounds and the trait, ideals, bonds and flaws system, but I can also see backgrounds being published for AP and mini settings.

I like it, it seems interesting enough and it can promote more roleplaying around the table which, IMO, is good.

Warder

 

[fjw70]

This is just meh for me. I may try it out but my games are more about big picture stories (such as defeating the big bad guy(s)) than about personality quirks of the PCs.

 

[mhensley]

Looks good to me although I'd prefer the tables to be larger. d12 tables would be better and give the poor d12 something else to do.

 

[pemerton]

I like the general idea. I was a bit disappointed by the description of these as "non-mechanical" aspects of character generation, and as mere "roleplaying guidelines". I think there is a lot of scope to use these to build mechanical systems on - for instance, when you're about to realise your "bond", or when you're forced to violate your "ideal", then things in the game have become a Big Deal, and it would be nice for this to be reflected somehow in the mechanics. (Eg in either case you can reroll one roll in the situation; but if you're violating your ideal then if you fail a roll the GM can also introduce some sort of complication into the situation to reflect that.)