Level Up (A5E) [+] What features should a "Advanced 5E" have?

[TheSword]

Language, and a proficiency.

 

[Undrave]

What would culture do mechanically?

Say you're in a medieval-history-based campaign and your party has a human noble fighter of the Frankish culture and a human noble fighter of the Kurdish culture. These two characters, if the players know what they're doing, are going to feel very different. But how exactly does the cultural difference show up in the crunch? Their species obviously defines their broad physical capabilities. Their background defines the skills and knowledge they've gained. Their class makes them good at fighting. But their cultures, it seems to me, don't do anything like that. The only obvious thing I can think of that they affect on the character sheets is language proficiency.

Yes, in a fantasy setting, one can -- and many do -- say things like "the elves of the Forest Conclave all learn the art of archery". But real cultures seem rarely to be like that, and even in fantasy, probably not all cultures are like that. If you make culture a discrete character build option, though, you've got to give every culture something. So what would you give an elf who's from a culture that isn't as, um, focused as the Forest Conclave?

The first thing is that ‘Frankish’ might even be too wide... but anyway... probably some languages, some knowledge and probably some other fringe benefit. If you grew up in a coastal town, you have a swim speed because everybody there spent their days off enjoying the sea. If your culture looked up to knights, you probably know a lot about their past exploits and military campaigns.

Maybe you come from an isolated town where everybody had to be more self-reliant so you know how to dress a wound in an emergency.

Maybe your Elf comes from a less focused society as you say. In that case, your Elf doesn’t get much in term of proficiency, but they have more languages and they’ve gotten good at meeting new people all the time.

 

[TaranTheWanderer]

I should add:
better, more varied armour. Maybe armour does Damage reduction. Advantages/disadvantages for each kind of armour. I feel like AC20 Full Plate should have some kind of mechanical advantage and disadvantage over AC: 20 Leather.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I don't think backgrounds are deep enough, as they are now, to handle cultures. I always saw them more as every day occupation, culture is a whole kettle of fish. You can be a soldier from a culture of elves that live in harmony with nature in the wood, but also from a culture of dwarves who mine and industrialized their city with magi tech factory all over a mountain face. Culture should be its own chunk of character creation, alongside species, background and class.

Not to mention that the two should always remain separate. "I'm from Cleveland" doesn't tell you the same sorts of things as "I'm a blacksmith".

 

[Haldrik]

Not to mention that the two should always remain separate. "I'm from Cleveland" doesn't tell you the same sorts of things as "I'm a blacksmith".

I am a blacksmith from 1920s Cleveland.
I am a blacksmith from Iron Age Turkey.

 

[doctorbadwolf]

I am a blacksmith from 1920s Cleveland.
I am a blacksmith from Iron Age Turkey.

That requires Blacksmith (background) to be separate from Culture. M

 

[Haldrik]

That requires Blacksmith (background) to be separate from Culture.

1920s Cleaveland blacksmith, and pioneering Iron Age blacksmith have almost nothing in common.



Moreover, it is an example of how a specific reallife background "blacksmith" actually transforms the reallife culture "Iron Age".

A culture equals the sum total of individual backgrounds.




Say a prosperous city is chased away by a volcanic eruption. They now survive as landless roving sailors. Their backgrounds have changed significantly. Therefore their culture has changed significantly.

 

[Undrave]

1920s Cleaveland blacksmith, and pioneering Iron Age blacksmith have almost nothing in common.



Moreover, it is an example of how a specific reallife background "blacksmith" actually transforms the reallife culture "Iron Age".

A culture equals the sum total of individual backgrounds.




Say a prosperous city is chased away by a volcanic eruption. They now survive as landless roving sailors. Their backgrounds have changed significantly. Therefore their culture has changed significantly.

DnD doesn’t cover both 1920 and Iron Age Turkey.

 

[Haldrik]

DnD doesn’t cover both 1920 and Iron Age Turkey.

D&D includes 1920s pulp-fiction Eberron. (Pulp fiction genre is circa 1900-1950.)
D&D even includes Stone Age.

These cultures employ different cultural backgrounds.

 

[Micah Sweet]

D&D includes 1920s pulp-fiction Eberron. (Pulp fiction genre is circa 1900-1950.)
D&D even includes Stone Age.

These cultures employ different cultural backgrounds.

I have a question. How many cultures do you think, at the level of granularity you seem to want, should actually be in the book? With the level of specificity I'm hearing from you, I think you might run into a page count issue.